Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Game time in Beijing

Well the moment we have all been waiting for is almost here. The next three days will be big for us. Charlotte Craig will get things rolling for the U.S. Taekwondo team on Wednesday and then Marky and Diana go on Thursday.

Those who know me and for others you have probably read, it is a known fact that I get way more nervous watching my brother and sister compete than when I step on the mat. Watching them I feel so helpless, so it will be interesting to see how I handle it all on Thursday. I guess you could say I am a lot like my mom in that regard as she has a hard time watching as well. However, I am excited to see Mark and Diana go out there and give it there all.

As for my draw, my first opponent will be the silver medalist from the 2004 Games in Athens. Nothing like starting out with a bang.

Everyone is looking good and we have trained our whole lives for this moment. We are ready to go out there and represent ourselves, our family, our friends, our sponsors and our country. We promise to make you all proud.

Steven

61 comments:

Alex B said...

Good Luck Steven with your fight Steven

Alex B (girl from Detroit)

JavaVoodoo said...

Good luck to you and your family! We're all excited and wish you the best.

Unknown said...

You all will do great. I just watched Diana in the Preliminary and she did a magnificent job. Can't wait to see all 3 of you with your Gold medals around your necks. :) Cheers from Miami, Florida.


God bless,
Yani

JenLaSalsera said...

hey guys I'm very proud thats you cant translate your family on to the mats I just wanted to know what nationality if your family originally an do you have a myspace or facebook

BrattyLori said...

Go Team Lopez!!! :D
We're watching ;)
peace, love, support
Lori and James

grapekiff said...

We are so excited to watch the Tae Kwon Do matches. Ironically, we just saw the Visa commercial spotlighting your family. Best of luck! Go Team USA!

Unknown said...

Mark and Diana Lopez whatever the outcome we are so proud of you and everything you do on and off your matches... I trust believe you will do your best and God bless you and your family...

Living and working and China... Coverage is difficult to see our Olympians but I hope we can all see you guys at the winners spot...

Go, USA

The Mussell Family

Unknown said...

Dear Mark and Diana Lopez, No matter what happens we are very proud of everything you've done on and off your discipline and I have been working and living and China for 7 years and coverage is very difficult to watch USA events but we all hope to see you at the winners circle... I trust and believe you'll do your best to meet your own personal goals... My family hopes to see you at the winner circle... We are with you during every step, push, breath, pulse, kick and hit. Gold bless you and your family...

Go, USA!

Love,
The Mussell Family

Rami Taibah said...

Hard luck to Mark, it's a shame he lost in the dying seconds like that. It was one of those sudden death things. I would've held my ground and not attack I guess. Anyways what do I know, you are the champions :D

Anonymous said...

Mark,
We have enjoyed cheering you all on for the last couple of days!! Excellent job to Charlotte, Diana and Mark!! We are looking forward to seeing Steven finish up today.

We are so proud of you all!! What great memories you are making together!!

~Anthony, Gabbi, and Family~ Team New England

Unknown said...

Hi!steven
i just hear your history form CCTV's hierophant,you are so famous in this field,they look upon you as the king in the 80kg level.I havd a little disappointment for missing your show in that time.i hope you can loadup your process in your blog.
hope you win in the final.
minton

Jake Platt said...

Congratulations Steven, Diana, Mark and Jean! You all are amazing!

Wish we were there!

Jake and Jaeger

Dr. Cooper said...

Congratulations on your medals! You guys and gal are awesome. Go USA!

kim2891TKD said...

Congratulations to all the Lopez family. Whan an achievement on you all medalling at the same olympics. Steven i must say i think you were definatley robbed of being in the final. Mark and DIana you both gave excellent performances!!!
Well done to all you
Kimberley xx
(GB)

Compassblogger said...

Well done. As a Chinese man, I'd like to say my best wishes for you.

eagletflying said...

Congratulations to you.
You and your family have already done wo well.
Welcome back to China any time.
I am from Dalian, so welcome to Dalian. Here has another style of beauty comparing with Beijing.

Kirat Singh said...

Awesome.
You don't get to read blogs by Olympians on Blogger everyday.

LODS said...

hi...just dropping by to say goodluck and kick some a_ _ !!!lol..i have read abt you guys and i know you will do america proud

Michele said...

Congratulations on your medals! You have worked long and hard for these and they are well deserved! Excellent job at representing your family and USA!

Anonymous said...

GOOD LUCK TO U ALL~

DelorumRex said...

Wow!
It is all I can think to say... WOW!

Larry said...

Thank you for bringing to my attention your family. It is great that you three siblings all medaled in the Olympics.

You have great cause to be proud of yourself. Thank you for representing our country well.

Journey said...

Congratulations to you all! You have made us all very proud and have inspired my son to take up sport.

If you could only see my 8 year old son (with ADHD) doing push ups, pull ups, stetches, and jumping jacks whenever he gets bored, anxious or tense, it would surely bring a smile to your face.

A very thin small boy he was bullied most of the spring at school by a very aggressive little girl who was learning Karate. After I spoke to her sensei she back off but still he refused to take up the same sport/art in which I had achieved a green belt.
You see as a single-parent mom's don't always have as much weight as the guys.

After seeing you profiled in June he began to follow your stories on your road to Beijing. The result, WOW! You have transformed a timid, victimized child into one looking forward to learning how to defend himself and feels proud of his little bicep muscles that he shows me every day, so I can measure his progress.

Now he can't wait for his first Tae Kwon Do class in 2 weeks. Thanks go to all of your family members and to you for inspiring my son to be, do and live more!

Anonymous said...

Good Luck! Thanks for sharing your adventure "The Road to Beijing". Wishing you and your family Gold Medals and thank you for all your dedication to your sport and representing the U.S.A.

Chloe-Maharani said...

Hi Steven,

Anyhow, you are the greatest ever!

Maharani..

Xaxeila said...

Good luck for you in every and all moments of your life!!

Congratulation for all your efforts!!!

Xaxeila

petra michelle; Whose role is it anyway? said...

Congratulations! You were awesome and are wonderful role models for our children!

Méghan Smith said...

I idolize you guys so friging much I have my black belt ad you make me wana start up again!!

Mark S. Rogers, LPC. said...

The power of each of us comes from all of us!

Congrats to your entire family. You are an incredible story!!

Mark Rogers from Michigan.

Unknown said...

Congratulations ~
u did a very good job on beijing olympic games~
good luck to u

huan_joy said...

ni hao ma? hoho~
I watch you guys in our TV program
you know, at lest 1oo million chinese know your whole family
awesome!
hope you enjoy your time in china!

Unknown said...

I am chinese and i'm very happy to see that you like Beijing.
Good luck to everyone!

Alexi Frest said...

Congratulations!
Your achievement can be a good example for anyone!

By the way, I'm fond of Tae Kwon Do. This is one of my favourite sport, besides Shaolin Kung Fu and Krav Maga.

Mr. Nissan said...

hope you did well

Fabshirls said...

waiting to hear how you did at the olympics, it was as usual a great outing for the USA.

wellsleep said...

Congratulations, and welcome to Beijing next time!
CCTV reported ur family story to all Chinese audiences, and everyone thought it was amazing.

Liuzheng
from China.

Geeky Girl - 小阴 said...

So~you are the famouse Lopez family! can't believe meeting you on blogger!i was just casually browsing. ur family's got pretty well-know here in Beijing during the Games. great job!

best wishes
from BJ

Kustud21 said...

Hey man I just want to say that everyone who is apart of the Olympics and call yourslef olympians get all my props. I wish I had the willpower and the heart each and everyone of you have. I enjoyed being able to sit in my house and watch all the Americans compete and represent the United States of America which alone is a big feat and congratulations on your accomplishments.

Unknown said...

Just getting there was agreat accomplishment. Congratulations.!

Mr. Fork said...

Good luck to you..
you will do great!

Sanja said...

hope all went well at the olympics!

Unknown said...

You guys are hard to get a hold of! This is Lascelles McCarthy III. I used to train with you guys a few years back. Jean, mark and diane might remember me better, or at least my father. When you are back and settled shoot me an email. I have a Taekwondo film project i wanted to speak with you about. lascelles@plus2studioproductions.com. Congratulations to you guys. You make me proud to be a black belt in TKD. Talk to you soon.

Brian's said...

awesome man, you did great in beijing,

Vera Ezimora said...

Congrats, team LOPEZ USA!!!

The Ronn Family said...

You did awesome. Congratulations for getting to go to the Olympics. That bird's nest look sweet.

Venti said...

I am the Chinese girl, I watched your performance, unusual stick, also hoped that you make the outstanding progress in 2012 London.

Anonymous said...

WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY COOL :D

Nomad Diplomat said...

So how did it go? u shud do a follow-up blog!

Efraim Fernandes said...

Hi, I'm From Brazil! Man, my taekwondo teacher, Alexandre Bandeira, is always talking about many fighters and you, Steven, is definitly one of them. See ya!

Yukio said...

Unfortunately I missed the tae kwon do events; that was my top priority.

You and your family are incredible and are part of my inspiration to become a better martial artist. Keep up the good work; it's only a dream for me to achieve what you guys have done. Congratulations.

Yukio said...

I hope to be half as skilled as you guys are someday.

Linda Obilo said...

Hey!
To say I am inspired by your story is an understatement of the Year!!
Its just wonderful how you guys have worked so hard all these years(over20yrs!! WOW)

I would love it if you posted a bit more so we can all know if you guys swept the Gold, and how it has changed your life and what prospects you guys are now considering.

I am from Kenya, Africa and we had a lady and a guy competing in the TKD but they both were no.5 which I thought was fabulous since this is a new field for my country in Olympics. The Government is now looking into working with young children to prepare them for 2012, 2016, 2020...if possible. I just think that you guys are a BIG inspiration!!
It is wonderful to have young people working so hard and diligently to meet goals, and achieve their dreams.

Please post some more..

Congratulations for coming so far and achieving so much!!
Linda

Peters said...

good to knowam family of champions :)

Coach B. said...

They'll do great! Just close your eyes and peak through your fingers...kinda like a watching a horror movie.

Sukkim Lama said...

Nice team, hope again you will be on the top list.

John said...

Congratulations and best wishes!

Sylvester Ade Arokoyo said...

Nice family, Good job, keep it up.

Sylvester

Ana Wohlfahrt said...

Congratulations Lopez family!! You make us so proud :)
Many hugs,
Ana Montoya

Raquel M. said...

Seeing the Olympics it was exciting and US won alot of medals and you all put up a fight. Thank You for representing us with pride.
Raquel M

Adam said...

Hey guys, I know you must be very busy since returning from the Olympics with sponsorship and every thing that goes with being a world class athlete and now world famous.

But I am wondering when and if you are going to update this blog with your thoughts and comments on how on a personal level things turned out in china...

I am a tkd fan, from England and would love to know some of your thoughts.

Personally I was hoping for Steven to play the young Aaron cook from the uk. I think that would have made for some good TV viewing

Anonymous said...

The Best Blog !!!