And for those of you who missed our post at the time: this is Liu Xuan's first single, an infuriatingly catchy rock tune called "Setting Out."
Showing posts with label liu xuan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label liu xuan. Show all posts
January 21, 2009
Now with a Link: Liu Xuan's Second Single
A while ago we told you that 2000 Olympic beam champion Liu Xuan was about to release her second single, "Like a Baby." We now have a link for you, courtesy of one of our readers (thanks!). Here it is. In our opinion, Liu doesn't have a truly great voice, and she seems to overenunciate her syllables a bit, but it's pleasant enough music - better than most gymnasts-turned-singers'. We'll be interested to see how the single fares in China.
And for those of you who missed our post at the time: this is Liu Xuan's first single, an infuriatingly catchy rock tune called "Setting Out."
And for those of you who missed our post at the time: this is Liu Xuan's first single, an infuriatingly catchy rock tune called "Setting Out."
December 30, 2008
Liu Xuan to Release Second Single
We have a ton of Chinese news to catch up on, and catch up we will over the next few weeks. Here's a tiny little update on 2000 Olympic beam champ Liu Xuan for starters.
A while ago we reported that Liu Xuan had released a single entitled "Setting Out," an Olympics-themed song meant to describe an athlete's feelings just before the Games. (The original post contains a link to the song.)
Sohu now reports that Liu is about to release her second single, entitled "Like a Baby," written and produced by Xiao Ke. Described as a fresh, cheerful popular ballad (or is that a fresh, cheerful folk rhyme? We're not sure about the translation...), the song is said to be in line with the kind of music Liu Xuan herself likes. According to Sohu, Liu's only goal is "to sing songs I actually like myself."
The article also mentions that the production team was surprised at how "non-mainstream" Liu Xuan's tastes in music are. Reportedly Liu will bravely try her hand at "modern folk rhymes" (or "modern popular ballads" - again, we're not sure of the translation) and "modern rock 'n' roll" in 2009.
As far as we know, "Like a Baby" hasn't been posted on YouTube yet, but if anyone has a link, we'll be happy to post it!
Liu Xuan tells more about her experiences in the music world and her gymnastics career in this interesting recentish English-language interview from the Air Macau Inflight Magazine (yes, we get our information from all the place).
A while ago we reported that Liu Xuan had released a single entitled "Setting Out," an Olympics-themed song meant to describe an athlete's feelings just before the Games. (The original post contains a link to the song.)
Sohu now reports that Liu is about to release her second single, entitled "Like a Baby," written and produced by Xiao Ke. Described as a fresh, cheerful popular ballad (or is that a fresh, cheerful folk rhyme? We're not sure about the translation...), the song is said to be in line with the kind of music Liu Xuan herself likes. According to Sohu, Liu's only goal is "to sing songs I actually like myself."
The article also mentions that the production team was surprised at how "non-mainstream" Liu Xuan's tastes in music are. Reportedly Liu will bravely try her hand at "modern folk rhymes" (or "modern popular ballads" - again, we're not sure of the translation) and "modern rock 'n' roll" in 2009.
As far as we know, "Like a Baby" hasn't been posted on YouTube yet, but if anyone has a link, we'll be happy to post it!
Liu Xuan tells more about her experiences in the music world and her gymnastics career in this interesting recentish English-language interview from the Air Macau Inflight Magazine (yes, we get our information from all the place).
December 10, 2008
Liu Xuan Encourages Chinese Juniors
The Sina story below has no news value whatsoever, but we liked it, so we thought we'd share it with you.
Liu Xuan appears before juniors and is revealed by her coach to have been a short, fat stump of a girl
It's only been 3 months since the end of the Beijing Olympic Games, but the country's troops are already preparing for the London Olympics. Recently, 22 junior gymnasts trained together in Beijing for a week, meaning they were very close to the national team. On December 8, Sydney Olympic champion Liu Xuan made an appearance at the training center. She spoke about her own entry into the national team, and how coach Lu Shanzhen "mercilessly" called her "a small, fat stump of a girl."
Liu Xuan, looking not the slightest bit like a small, fat stump of a girl
Yesterday, the 22 juniors, who hail from all over China, trained on all 4 events at the national training center, under the watchful eyes of all the national team coaches. The coaches will choose the very best from among these juniors, after which the girls in question will enter the national team to prepare for the London Olympics. Although these gymnasts are young, they're all very much aware of what is at stake at this training camp, so they're trying with all their might to show off what they're capable of. The coaches say they don't have any requirements which the girls have to meet; basically, the coaches are relying on their experience to pick the girls with the greatest potential.
For all this, the young girls are still doing their utmost to make sure the coaches remember them. Coach He Hua told us an interesting story: "These young girls are really cute. I'm spending all my time with 4 juniors at the moment, but I kept forgetting their names. Then out of the blue, they told me their childhood names [terms of endearment used by the parents while the kids are young, comparable to "Katie" for "Katrina", etc.], and suddenly I found myself able to remember their names."
It so happened that Sydney Olympic champion Liu Xuan paid a visit to the national training center while the juniors were there. Seeing how seriously the young girls were taking their tryout for the national team, people got very curious as to how Liu's tryout for the national team had been. Perhaps seeing that his young hopefuls were very promising, coach Lu Shanzhen, who was in a very good mood, also "mercilessly" recounted his memories of Liu Xuan attending the training camp to try out for the national team: "What I remember most about her [Liu Xuan] is that she had very large hands and feet. These things are really prominent in athletes. At the time Liu Xuan was a small, fat stump of a girl with very dark eyebrows." In addition, coach Lu revealed that Liu Xuan wasn't a very cheerful-looking girl at the time, perhaps because she'd been a bit of cry-baby ever since she was a small child.
But the nicely dressed Liu Xuan made no bones about telling the truth either, telling the juniors about her own experience of being booted off the national team. "After the first time I was removed from the team, they said it was because my body shape didn't meet their requirements. I wasn't slender enough. So my then coach was absolutely determined to give me high-quality routines, and the year after I won the national championships."
Liu Xuan, 2000 Olympic champion on beam
It's generally known that of the 22 juniors at the training camp, only about 10 will officially make the national team. It seems that Liu Xuan is telling these young girls her personal history to let them know that setbacks don't matter. So long as you have the perseverance to train hard, you can become an Olympic champion.
Amen to that.
And for those of you who missed our earlier post on this, here's a video of Liu Xuan plying her new trade!
Liu Xuan appears before juniors and is revealed by her coach to have been a short, fat stump of a girl
It's only been 3 months since the end of the Beijing Olympic Games, but the country's troops are already preparing for the London Olympics. Recently, 22 junior gymnasts trained together in Beijing for a week, meaning they were very close to the national team. On December 8, Sydney Olympic champion Liu Xuan made an appearance at the training center. She spoke about her own entry into the national team, and how coach Lu Shanzhen "mercilessly" called her "a small, fat stump of a girl."
Liu Xuan, looking not the slightest bit like a small, fat stump of a girl
Yesterday, the 22 juniors, who hail from all over China, trained on all 4 events at the national training center, under the watchful eyes of all the national team coaches. The coaches will choose the very best from among these juniors, after which the girls in question will enter the national team to prepare for the London Olympics. Although these gymnasts are young, they're all very much aware of what is at stake at this training camp, so they're trying with all their might to show off what they're capable of. The coaches say they don't have any requirements which the girls have to meet; basically, the coaches are relying on their experience to pick the girls with the greatest potential.
For all this, the young girls are still doing their utmost to make sure the coaches remember them. Coach He Hua told us an interesting story: "These young girls are really cute. I'm spending all my time with 4 juniors at the moment, but I kept forgetting their names. Then out of the blue, they told me their childhood names [terms of endearment used by the parents while the kids are young, comparable to "Katie" for "Katrina", etc.], and suddenly I found myself able to remember their names."
It so happened that Sydney Olympic champion Liu Xuan paid a visit to the national training center while the juniors were there. Seeing how seriously the young girls were taking their tryout for the national team, people got very curious as to how Liu's tryout for the national team had been. Perhaps seeing that his young hopefuls were very promising, coach Lu Shanzhen, who was in a very good mood, also "mercilessly" recounted his memories of Liu Xuan attending the training camp to try out for the national team: "What I remember most about her [Liu Xuan] is that she had very large hands and feet. These things are really prominent in athletes. At the time Liu Xuan was a small, fat stump of a girl with very dark eyebrows." In addition, coach Lu revealed that Liu Xuan wasn't a very cheerful-looking girl at the time, perhaps because she'd been a bit of cry-baby ever since she was a small child.
But the nicely dressed Liu Xuan made no bones about telling the truth either, telling the juniors about her own experience of being booted off the national team. "After the first time I was removed from the team, they said it was because my body shape didn't meet their requirements. I wasn't slender enough. So my then coach was absolutely determined to give me high-quality routines, and the year after I won the national championships."
Liu Xuan, 2000 Olympic champion on beam
It's generally known that of the 22 juniors at the training camp, only about 10 will officially make the national team. It seems that Liu Xuan is telling these young girls her personal history to let them know that setbacks don't matter. So long as you have the perseverance to train hard, you can become an Olympic champion.
Amen to that.
And for those of you who missed our earlier post on this, here's a video of Liu Xuan plying her new trade!
October 10, 2008
Gymnasts Turned Singers
Think Carly Patterson is the only out there trying to make a name for herself as a singer? Think again.
This is 2000 Olympic champion Liu Xuan belting out a tune called "Setting Out", whose chorus translates as, "We'll just go together / We'll just hold hands / Outside it's raining hard again and there's a lot of wind / But you and I will just set out into the world together again..."
Liu Xuan (photo: Sina)
And this is former Romanian national team member Sabina Cojocar singing "I Don't Wanna Lose You" - in English!
Sabina Cojocar (photo: Romaniangymnastics)
Although her English needs a little work, we think Sabina wins this one hands down. You go, girl!
This is 2000 Olympic champion Liu Xuan belting out a tune called "Setting Out", whose chorus translates as, "We'll just go together / We'll just hold hands / Outside it's raining hard again and there's a lot of wind / But you and I will just set out into the world together again..."
Liu Xuan (photo: Sina)
And this is former Romanian national team member Sabina Cojocar singing "I Don't Wanna Lose You" - in English!
Sabina Cojocar (photo: Romaniangymnastics)
Although her English needs a little work, we think Sabina wins this one hands down. You go, girl!
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