Hi EMN1964 and Slaveboy 19,
I've lived in Asia for 3 decades now so I do understand the Asian psyche a little bit. The current century is not called the Asian Century for nothing! Heck, China is marching inexorably on to be acknowledged as the next great economic powerhouse. Add Japan, South Korea, India and the SE Asian Tiger economies, and it is almost a fait accompli - the Asian economy would be the next world leader!
Asian countries as a whole, think as a united country does - very much like the US of A was, especially during the early days of your founding fathers. National pride was almost exclusively an American commodity then. Until the disastrous American military campaigns in Vietnam, the American psyche was similar to what Asian countries are displaying now. Remember "Only in America!" or "America the Beautiful"? Heck, you even call your baseball championship "The World Series" when it only involves less than 5 countries!!
The American military machine has always kicked ass (ask Saddam and the Talibans), except...except Asia. Vietnam, a small Asian nation whupped the US military. Japan whupped the US military machine, until the Atom bomb. China, with their primitive weapons fought the US to a stalemate in North Korea... So you've whupped every country in the world, except...except Asian ones!
Now, with the little history lesson aside...let's understand this. Asian countries will stop at nothing to achieve supremacy or at least the veneer of supremacy in any field ...sports included. These IOC sanctioned Games, regional though they may be, do add to the sometimes illusory varnish and glow of national pride. First comes Olympic Gold Medals, then the Asian Games followed by the SEA Games. You could bring home the MR. Olympia title and that would excite a small coterie of BB loving exoteric crowd. But no money would be forthcoming. Why? Because that event is not sanctioned by the IOC, only an alphabet soup sounding organization called the IFBB!
It's true that IOC sanctioned events are strictly amateur, so Gold Medallists do not receive cash on the podium, like the professional athlete does. But hey, have you heard of a trust? A trust is set up and money is poured into this trust for the "Amateur" BBer who's lucky enough to win a Games Gold. Do that and you're really set for life! It's like you've struck the lottery! In many respects, the financial rewards are no different from what, say Marion Jones enjoyed when she won her Golds in the Sydney Games (until her latest confession)....except that it's done, not through endorsements, but through Government initiated "Golden Handshakes"!
This culture is what Paul Chua exploits to line his pockets! It would not concern you all at all, except that he's the second most powerful official in the IFBB - it certainly doesn't reflect well on the IFBB! Now, what's that about alphabet soup???
