China goes the extra half meter
FRANCK FIFE/AFP/Getty Images Whatever considerable flaws China may have as Olympic hosts, you can’t accuse them of not sweating the details. Just ask Brazilian triple jumper Jadel Gregorio: His Chinese hosts, who are wowing foreign guests with their organizational feats, had already figured out Gregorio’s 2.03 meter (6 ft 8 in) frame would overhang the ...
FRANCK FIFE/AFP/Getty Images
Whatever considerable flaws China may have as Olympic hosts, you can’t accuse them of not sweating the details. Just ask Brazilian triple jumper Jadel Gregorio:
His Chinese hosts, who are wowing foreign guests with their organizational feats, had already figured out Gregorio’s 2.03 meter (6 ft 8 in) frame would overhang the Olympic Village beds and had tacked on a special half-meter extension.
They had also raised his shower head — to as high as they could without lifting the ceiling. “These people think of every little thing,” Gregorio told Reuters as he finished a high-carb pasta lunch in the Olympic Village, his impossibly long legs somehow folded under the table.
At 6-foot-8, Gregorio barely reaches Yao Ming’s chin. I imagine his room must be something else.
Joshua Keating was an associate editor at Foreign Policy. Twitter: @joshuakeating
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