Saturday, August 9, 2008

Sportsman in Chief

The President's visit to Beijing just highlights his fun-loving nature. Oh, and not everyone hates him.
After an early wake-up call, the president headed straight to the Laoshan Olympic mountain-biking course, passing Tiananmen Square along the way. His wife, Laura, went on a tour of the Forbidden City.

Bush, a regular biker, had been itching to get back to the course that he tried out with Chinese Olympic hopefuls in 2005 during his last visit to Beijing.

In a green T-shirt and black shorts, the president biked more than an hour on the course on a warm, muggy, hazy day, accompanied by secret service agents and aides. He dabbed at his face with a towel as he left, then called the course "really, really difficult."

"That's why I'm an amateur and they're Olympians," Bush added

....and later at Softball:
Leaning against the chain-link fence surrounding the field, Bush watched the players warm up with calisthenics, then take batting practice.

Softball is being dropped as a medal event after Beijing, and the earliest it could be reinstated is 2016. Bush, one-time co-owner of the Texas Rangers major league baseball team, said he hopes that happens.

"It's good for the world to have girls playing softball," he said. "And these women are going to show young girls how to win."
Good stuff.

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