(ATR) Going to the World Cup can be a logistical challenge and a life-culminating goal for many football fans.
Norman Li has managed to make it to his third World Cup, although his time in Russia was purely as a fan. Li previously covered the 2010 and 2014 World Cups for Tencent, the Chinese media outlet. It was through this position that he became a contributor to Around the Ringsand remains a friend of the website.
Li is now an Assistant Professor in Sports Management at St. Ambrose University in Iowa, where his research focuses on the nexus of social media and sports. Li sat down for a discussion to provide some insights into how the World Cup was going in Russia, and some stories from watching matches in Moscow and visiting St. Petersburg.
"I really enjoyed my experience in Russia this time because I don't have to work!" Li said of the main difference between his experiences. "I have met a lot of great people, and the most important thing is to see how soccer has the power to unite the whole world together."
Russia's organization has been smooth according to Li, but the sheer size of the country may have dampened a little of the enthusiasm with fans having to juggle logistics to follow their teams. Listen below for the full episode of ATRadio:
Written by Aaron Bauer
For general comments or questions, click here .
25 Years at # 1: Your best source for news about the Olympics is AroundTheRings.com , for subscribers only.
Recent Articles
Sinner-Alcaraz, the duel that came to succeed the three phenomenons
Beyond the final result, Roland Garros left the feeling that the Italian and the Spaniard will shape the great duel that came to help us through the duel for the end of the Federer-Nadal-Djokovic era.
Table tennis: Brazil’s Bruna Costa Alexandre will be Olympic and Paralympic in Paris 2024
She is the third in her sport and the seventh athlete to achieve it in the same edition; in Santiago 2023 she was the first athlete with disabilities to compete at the Pan American level and won a medal.
Rugby 7s: the best player of 2023 would only play the medal match in Paris
Argentinian Rodrigo Isgró received a five-game suspension for an indiscipline in the circuit’s decisive clash that would exclude him until the final or the bronze match; the Federation will seek to make the appeal successful.
Rhonex Kipruto, owner of the world record for the 10000 meters on the road, was suspended for six years
The Kenyan received the maximum sanction for irregularities in his biological passport and the Court considered that he was part of a system of “deliberate and sophisticated doping” to improve his performance. He will lose his record and the bronze medal at the Doha World Cup.
Katie Ledecky spoke about doping Chinese swimmers: “It’s difficult to go to Paris knowing that we’re going to compete with some of these athletes”
The American, a seven-time Olympic champion, referred to the case of the 23 positive controls before the Tokyo Games that were announced a few weeks ago and shook the swimming world. “I think our faith in some of the systems is at an all-time low,” he said.
