The number eight (ba) is important in Chinese culture. It sounds similar to the word for (and is often associated with) wealth and prosperity.Ba Gua Zhang is an internal martial art related to Tai Chi and Qi Gong. The Ba Gua trigrams (eight symbols) appear in Taoist cosmology, the I Ching, and Feng Shui.

Recently and famously, the opening ceremony for the Beijing Olympics started at 8:08:08 (local time) on 8/8/08. American swimmer Michael Phelps earned an unprecedented eight gold medals in this Olympics.

I started looking for other patterns of eights.

The Olympics are broadcast in the U.S. on NBC. Their corporate logo is a peacock.

In badminton, players hit a shuttlecock.

In shooting, a competitor might cock the gun. (China has won eight medals in shooting as I write this….)

Some people think that Usain “Lightning” Bolt was a bit cocky when he shattered the 100m record on the track.

Hmm… that’s only four cocks. This is more difficult than I thought it would be. A lot of people think that this guy who wrestled for Sweden was a prick. Does that count?

Posted by Tim