August 14, 2016 – AssociatedNews.info

Sports August 14, 2016

Chinese Divers Get Engaged On Medals Podium At Rio Olympics

Chinese diver Qin Kai proposes marriage to He Zi, who had just received a silver medal in the women’s diving 3m springboard final in Rio Sunday. Clive Rose/Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption Clive Rose/Getty Images

Call it the Summer (Olympics) of love: He Zi of China was standing on the podium after receiving a silver medal for diving in Rio Sunday when her boyfriend, fellow diver Qin Kai, pulled out a ring and proposed marriage. It’s the second proposal of the Rio Games.

Moments before Sunday’s proposal, He had been dueling teammate and world champion Shi Tingmao for the gold medal in the 3m springboard final. It was shortly after the medal presentation that Qin – who owns gold medals from previous Olympics and has won bronze here in Rio – seized the moment.

“We are dating now for over 6 years and I didn’t know he would do this proposal,” He said, according to the Federation Internationale de Natation, which oversees diving.

With tears and a hug, He accepted Qin’s proposal.

We’ve seen another version of events from He, a 25-year-old who lives in Beijing, that’s a bit more lively. Here it is, from Reuters:

“I’ve forgotten most of what he’s said (during the proposal), but it’s largely what you can expect like promises, but what touched me the most is that he said he was willing to be bullied by me for life.”

The proposal took place at the Maria Lenk Aquatics Centre in Rio. If you’re wondering how the dramatic moment struck the other athletes on the podium with He – her teammate Shi, along with bronze medalist Tania Cagnotto of Italy – it turns out they already knew.

Shi said, “They have passed through a lot of things over the last years, and this is the perfect moment to do this proposal. I am very happy for both of them.”

Cagnotto says, “Shi Tingmao knew about the surprise before the medal ceremony and told me, so I was informed. Anyway, it was a very nice moment.”

The proposal is the second that we’ve heard about at the Rio Summer Olympics. Last week, Marjorie Enya, the girlfriend of Brazilian rugby player Isadora Cerullo asked Cerullo to marry her after a match between New Zealand and Australia.

Marjorie Enya (left) and rugby player Isadora Cerullo of Brazil smile after Enya proposed marriage following the Rugby Sevens gold medal match between Australia and New Zealand. Alexander Hassenstein/Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption Alexander Hassenstein/Getty Images

On that occasion, Enya, who’s part of the staff at the games, coordinated the moment with friends who held heart-shaped balloons as she and Cerullo embraced.

“As soon as I knew she was in the squad I thought I have to make this special,” Enya told BBC Sport afterwards. “I know rugby people are amazing and they would embrace it.”

Let’s block ads! (Why?)

Business August 14, 2016

How Gig Economy Workers Make A Living

NPR’s Rachel Martin speaks with economics professor Alan Krueger of Princeton University about how people participate in the gig economy — particularly as Uber drivers — to supplement their incomes.

Transcript

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #1: I think most people hate to think of themselves as middle class.

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN #2: Have what you need but maybe not everything you want?

UNIDENTIFIED MAN #1: We have a car, but we live in an apartment. That’s middle class.

UNIDENTIFIED MAN #2: If you add a boat, then you’re not middle class anymore. That’s what changes it right there.

UNIDENTIFIED MAN #3: The middle class are families who are earning six-figures.

UNIDENTIFIED MAN #4: Thirty thousand, $35,000 probably.

UNIDENTIFIED MAN #5: That means me (laughter). And it means I’m in trouble (laughter).

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

This is Hanging On, our series about the economic pressures of American life. This week – the online gig economy, a growing sector built by people who want to be their own bosses, make their own schedules and sometimes set their own prices. Uber, Lyft, TaskRabbit, Seamless – these companies allow people to do just that. For some, it’s a critical supplemental income. For others, it’s just a way to add flexibility to their lives.

Alan Krueger is an economics professor at Princeton University and the former chairman of President Obama’s Council of Economic Advisers. He’s been studying the gig economy and Uber drivers, in particular. He tells us who’s benefiting.

ALAN KRUEGER: Some workers do it full time, but most do it on a part-time basis. And most do it on an intermittent basis, where they don’t do it every week. They choose their own schedule from day to day. And they have the opportunity to decide whether they want to work on any particular day and what hours they want to work.

MARTIN: Do they usually have other, what we would consider to be more traditional, jobs that they do for maybe eight hours during the day and then they’re just filling out a 24-hour period with a couple of gig-economy jobs?

KRUEGER: Again it’s a mixture. Almost a third of the Uber drivers have a full-time job. And they’re driving for Uber in addition to their full-time job. About a third have a part-time job. And a little over a third have no other work that they’re doing, and they may have other activities in their daily life like watching children or going to school. And they’re using part of their time to drive for Uber.

MARTIN: How has the online gig economy affected our recovery as a country from the recession?

KRUEGER: Well, I think the online gig economy is really separate from the recovery. I think it’s being driven by technology and entrepreneurship, which are providing new opportunities for workers. What we saw in studying Uber is that workers are more likely to provide services in the online gig economy when they have a drop in income from other sources. So it helps them to smooth their income volatility, which, I think, is an indication of the new ways in which the opportunity can help people to adjust for income losses in other areas.

MARTIN: Is this whole space being regulated? I mean, there are some risks associated with diving into this world, right, if you’re a worker?

KRUEGER: Absolutely. And I think it’s very important that we look closely at the labor protections in this area. I think it’s important that we try to maintain the flexibility that this new development affords. But I think it’s also important that we extend as much of our social safety net as we can to this group of workers. And for the most part, the courts and the companies have defined the workers as independent contractors, which means that they don’t have many of the protections that traditional employees have.

MARTIN: Professor Alan Krueger talking to us about the gig economy.

Thanks so much for your time.

KRUEGER: Thanks for having me.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by Verb8tm, Inc., an NPR contractor, and produced using a proprietary transcription process developed with NPR. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.

Let’s block ads! (Why?)