Olympic Thoughts

Here’s what I took away from the opening weekend of the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympic Games:

• The Chinese are unbelievable artists. The opening ceremonies took place in a gorgeous building (National Stadium a.k.a the Bird’s Nest) that played as the canvas for a motion painting. There were brilliant colors surrounding ingenious choreography. The earth coming out the floor was great; but the hundreds of tai chi masters all performing in sync especially impressed me.

• The most important thing to come out of the opening ceremonies was the announcement that Russia had bombed inside Georgia. Despite the intoxicating ceremonies and the moving inclusion of the nine-year-old earthquake hero marching in with the Chinese flag-bearer, Yao Ming, the world was reminded of the sobering reality of international conflict.

• Though not the intention back in 1896, the Olympics are a quad-annual political summit of the world. It was impossible not to notice the gobs of leaders at the Games, from U.S. President George Bush, to French President Nicolas Sarkozy, to Russian Prime Minister Valdimir Putin.

• For Americans, no one could miss Bush’s four-day romp around Beijing. And he did a marvelous job as the ultimate ambassador. Everything he set out to do he did. Bush denounced the lack of human rights in China. He attacked the lack of religious freedom from a state-sponsored church. He praised China’s economic and industrial progress. He spoke both in private and openly – including a funny, honest, and “candid” interview with Bob Costas. The operative word for Bush was “candid.” His straightforward approach at a delicate event earned him more respect in my eyes, and hopefully in many others’. And he wasted no time speaking to Putin about the escalating situation in South Ossetia.

• It’s good that the Olympics are so politically charged. Besides the obvious pressure on the host country to get its ducks in a row, it brings political friction to the forefront for the layman international politico to view. How many fewer people would know of and care about the Georgia-Russia confrontation if it hadn’t occurred during the opening ceremonies? It forced Sarkozy to make a decision about whether to support cooperation with China or not. It gave Bush the stage in China to draw a definitive line of where the Western world believes China should be. The IOC had to make a decision on Iraq. They showed how weak and partisan they are in letting Iraq in but so late as to shut out the majority of its qualifiers. In short, the Olympics forces the political issue and provides a benchmark to hold world players accountable.

• Michael Phelps is a freak of nature.

• Olympic basketball will continually fall by the wayside as a result of allowing professionals to participate. It’s just not as interesting as an NBA game.

• It’s a shame that despite advancements China has made on the international level, North Korea – a major country under China’s sphere of influence – has not made comparable advancements. It squandered much of the goodwill it earned with shutting down nuclear facilities by refusing to march with South Korea in the opening ceremonies.

• Chinese architecture may be the most innovative in the world. The swimming cube may be the coolest athletic facility ever constructed. And it all takes place among magnificent natural scenery. It’s an absolute shame that it’s set in a smoggy haze as well. I have not once seen a clear day in an outdoor sport. However, once China’s industrial revolution slows, its air-cleaning technology should more consistently improve, as has been the pattern in every other country that has progressed through an industrial revolution.

• As an American sports fan, the U.S. men’s 4x100-meter freestyle relay gold-medal race packed the most excitement since Keri Stugg’s broken-ankle vault. And they beat the arrogant French head-to-head!