As the year draws to a close, various industries are once again entering the routine time for inventory and summary, and sports are no exception. Recently, on various portal websites, one can see the top ten sports news, top ten moments, top ten interesting events, and top ten beauties everywhere.
As someone with a deep passion and affection for sports, I also want to review the world of sports in 2012 from the perspective of an ordinary citizen.
There are three biggest surprises:
At the London Olympics, Xu Lijia achieved a breakthrough by winning a gold medal in the relatively less popular sailing windsurfing event; the seemingly fragile Italian team made it to the European Championship final; and Murray finally broke his mental barrier to win the Grand Slam singles title.
Following Yin Jian's achievement in 2008, Xu Lijia once again won a gold medal in sailing windsurfing. To be honest, upon hearing this news, I was a thousand times happier than when the badminton and table tennis teams won nine gold medals.
Before the start of the European Championship, the prospects for the Italian team were not optimistic at all, as their attacking and defensive levels had dropped several notches since their World Cup victory in 2006. However, unexpectedly, Pirlo rejuvenated and shone in his second spring, and Balotelli scored crucial goals, leading the Italian team to an "unexpected" final.
In men's tennis, the title of the "Big Four" has been called for several years, but while Federer, Nadal, and Djokovic have been collecting Grand Slam trophies one after another, Murray was still empty-handed. Finally, at this year's US Open, Murray broke the curse of always losing in Grand Slam finals.
The two biggest disappointments are:
The Chinese men's football team's performance shows no signs of a complete transformation; the Dutch men's football team suffered a humiliating exit from the European Championship.
Honestly, I really didn't want to mention the Chinese men's football team, but I keep circling back to it. This year, the national team played numerous warm-up matches but only won one against Vietnam, with the rest being losses or draws, including an 0-8 defeat to Brazil.
The national football team remains a national disgrace, and the Spanish "international friend" Camacho, who came to China with the purpose of rescuing the suffering, continues to draw a high salary from our taxpayers while achieving nothing.
In the European Championship, the Dutch team lost all three group matches and was disgracefully eliminated, turning them into a laughingstock for fans worldwide, despite being labeled as "favorites to win." Internal conflicts remain a hurdle they cannot overcome, leaving me, as a Dutch fan, disappointed for a long time.
Perhaps my review is not as grand and lofty as the official ones, but I hope it can reflect the voices of some, if not many, people. Of course, these reflections also carry a bit of my own "self-interest," as my surprises and disappointments often belong solely to me as an ordinary citizen.