2008 Olympics: Beijing

[Jonathan]

I've very much enjoyed the Beijing Olympics. Kudos to the Chinese organisers and volunteers! Both the opening and closing ceremonies had me nailed to the tv. Director Zhang Yimou put on an exquisite show in the gorgeous Bird's Nest!

The competitions have been great and I don't know how many hours I've spent watching all kinds of sports. There was an amazing number of five new world records in the track and field events! Three of them involving Usain Bolt. And in the swimming there was an unprecedented slaughter of records, including the astonishing 8 gold medal feat by Michael Phelps. Bolt and Phelps are the undisputed kings of these Olympics. I'm glad I got to see them both in action, for what they accomplished will be remembered for many years to come.

My most heart-warming memory from the Olympics is when road cyclist Gustav Larsson of Sweden surprised the top cyclists and crossed the finish line with the best time of them all in the time trial. He eventually ended up with a silver medal. He's my friend's brother and my friend was really excited afterwards. And so was I

One of my favourite sports is tennis and it was nice to see both Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal end up with gold medals (Federer in doubles, Nadal in singles). Fun was also the fact that the Swedish duo Simon Aspelin and Thomas Johansson won an unexpected silver medal! Their fantastic semifinal was the longest tennis match ever to be played in the Olympics - almost five hours. I watched every minute of it

On the flip side, Sweden hasn't won this few Olympic medals in a hundred years . And not a single gold medal was conquered! It could have been worse though - four silver medals and one bronze (and quite a few fourth places) is better than no medals at all. But if we keep this up, there's no way we're going to retain our position as the 10th most successful nation of all times in the Olympics.
I've been able to rejoice in other nations' successes instead. I watched as China won its 50th gold and later won its 100th medal overall. It was also fun to see Britain do so well. I was pleased when Norway and Iceland reached the women's and men's handball finals respectively. I crossed my fingers that Phelps would make the US proud and that Bolt would bless Jamaica. Good to see the Dream Team redeem themselves in the basketball too

Nothing left now but to look forward to the London 2012 Olympics. According to what was shown during the closing ceremony, it seems that we've got double-deckers and umbrellas to expect Well, I bet the London Olympics to be much more down to earth than the preceding Games


谢谢中国！(Thanks, China!)

[Earniel]

Originally Posted by Jonathan

What am I going to do now that there's no more sports on tv?

I'm feeling some withdrawal effects too. I came this close to asking my dad this morning if anything interesting had happened on the Games today.

Hey Jonathan, did you know Tia Hellebaut made a deal with Sweden's Carolina Klüft that they will be in London in 4 years, but in the audience and with kids? Pity it means both will quit, but it sounded so cute.

[Jonathan]

Really? With kids? Huh, I guess we'll just have to see whether they'll live up to that promise. It's both cute and a bit sad from a sports fan's point of view

I heard that Tia and Carolina, both ex-heptathlonists, are very good friends. I noticed them both standing together at the closing ceremony.

[The Gaffer]

Nice review, Jonathan. I would second the congrats to China on an amazing Games. And for winning the medal race (the odd bit of dodgy judging notwithstanding).

I suspect London knew all along that, especially wrt the opening and closing ceremonies, it was going to be a hard act to follow. I liked the anarchic card they played: the complete flip side to the mass hygeine of the Beijing style. Harder to make that work as a theme for a whole production though. Maybe they'll just let a load of binge drinkers loose in the stadium with a bunch of fireworks and a box of matches and see what happens.

GB has invested around £100m in training, but even so, finishing 4th in the table is a fantastic achievement. My favourite moment was Chris Hoy winning the insane keirin. 3 golds at one games is the best by any Brit for 100 years.

[Nurvingiel]

Driving out in a double-decker bus was pretty awesome, I agree.

Great review Jonathan.

[Finarfin-1]

Well,
As a major follower of gymnastics (not just the summer Olympics) I have to say that the Chinese deeply offended me. Their pawning off underage competitors is all the more deeply offensive to the spirit behind the Olympics because they had the honor of hosting the Games. It is my sincere hope that the IOC does SOMETHING about He Kexin (sp?) at the VERY least. That 14yr old STOLE a gold medal from Nastia Liukin on the Balance Beam apparatus finals.

We can't simply blame the countries, the athletes are after all their accomplices in these fraudulent acts. What worth can a Gold Medal have to someone who knew they had to cheat to win it?

Then there's the fact that two of the three underage Chinese gymnasts were MAJOR factors in China securing the Women's Team Competition.

Finally, if Nastia wasn't robbed often enough the fact that the brand-new-for-this-Olympics tie-breaking process awarded a Gold to the Chinese in spite of their exact tie on final scores. I don't blame China for that one, that's pure IOC nonsense. In past years they would have shared the Gold, an honorable enough conclusion.

Honestly, China could have fielded a completely legal Men's team, dominated as they did to the credit of themselves and their nation, and then gone on to take their chances with Of-Age female gymnasts against the American women's team. They wouldn't have walked away with as many gold medals, but they would've retained their honor.

I guess I shouldn't be surprised that the heirs of Mao Zedong were so willing to lie cheat and steal to accomplish their ends, but it still made the part of me that expects the Olympics to be held in reverence by all nations sad and angry.

Anyone who watched the Chinese Bronze Medalist in the Women's All Around Finals staggering around with her ELEVEN balance-checks and horrible mount AND dismount receive the EXACT same score as Nastia's much more difficult and visibly flawless routine knows that something was rotten in Denmark. The marks that night were incredibly forgiving for the Chinese and the Romanian gymnast, and as brutally unforgiving as could be for the Americans. It's a testament to Ms. Liukin and Johnson that in spite of the wretched judging they went 1-2 in the All-Around Finals.

Still bothers me though. I had some hope after the conventional gymnastics ended when it was announced new evidence of age-falsifying had prompted the IOC to launch an official investigation, but nothing came of it

When you combine all the various aspects of China's conduct during these games I think it's almost inarguable that the Chinese placed ambition above honor, medals above fair play and sportsmanship, and lies above the truth. It is my sincerest hope that China never be allowed to host another Olympics. It will take a great many years for the stain upon the honor of the Games to fade.

[sisterandcousinandaunt]

Nice round-up, Jonathan. I agree...I watch for individuals who touch me, and several did, but this belonged to Phelps and Bolt.

Hello, Finarfin. I'm not sure I agree about the age limits.

I think Our boy Bela has the right of it. If we can't enforce an age limit (and clearly, we can't) we might consider doing away with it. Personally, I think the point system is at fault, but I'll admit I'm no expert. If the woman had compulsory rings, for example, it'd be hard for some of those 9 year olds to qualify.

You can't blame the kids though. Adults exploiting kids is a really old story, and they're in no position, mostly, to resist.

[Coffeehouse]

Originally Posted by Finarfin-1

Well,
As a major follower of gymnastics (not just the summer Olympics) I have to say that the Chinese deeply offended me. Their pawning off underage competitors is all the more deeply offensive to the spirit behind the Olympics because they had the honor of hosting the Games. It is my sincere hope that the IOC does SOMETHING about He Kexin (sp?) at the VERY least. That 14yr old STOLE a gold medal from Nastia Liukin on the Balance Beam apparatus finals.

We can't simply blame the countries, the athletes are after all their accomplices in these fraudulent acts. What worth can a Gold Medal have to someone who knew they had to cheat to win it?

Then there's the fact that two of the three underage Chinese gymnasts were MAJOR factors in China securing the Women's Team Competition.

Finally, if Nastia wasn't robbed often enough the fact that the brand-new-for-this-Olympics tie-breaking process awarded a Gold to the Chinese in spite of their exact tie on final scores. I don't blame China for that one, that's pure IOC nonsense. In past years they would have shared the Gold, an honorable enough conclusion.

Honestly, China could have fielded a completely legal Men's team, dominated as they did to the credit of themselves and their nation, and then gone on to take their chances with Of-Age female gymnasts against the American women's team. They wouldn't have walked away with as many gold medals, but they would've retained their honor.

I guess I shouldn't be surprised that the heirs of Mao Zedong were so willing to lie cheat and steal to accomplish their ends, but it still made the part of me that expects the Olympics to be held in reverence by all nations sad and angry.

Anyone who watched the Chinese Bronze Medalist in the Women's All Around Finals staggering around with her ELEVEN balance-checks and horrible mount AND dismount receive the EXACT same score as Nastia's much more difficult and visibly flawless routine knows that something was rotten in Denmark. The marks that night were incredibly forgiving for the Chinese and the Romanian gymnast, and as brutally unforgiving as could be for the Americans. It's a testament to Ms. Liukin and Johnson that in spite of the wretched judging they went 1-2 in the All-Around Finals.

Still bothers me though. I had some hope after the conventional gymnastics ended when it was announced new evidence of age-falsifying had prompted the IOC to launch an official investigation, but nothing came of it

When you combine all the various aspects of China's conduct during these games I think it's almost inarguable that the Chinese placed ambition above honor, medals above fair play and sportsmanship, and lies above the truth. It is my sincerest hope that China never be allowed to host another Olympics. It will take a great many years for the stain upon the honor of the Games to fade.

Touching.

[Meriadoc Brandybuck]

Merry and Pippin's Olympic Favorites! (Part One)

Most Awesomest/Winningest: Michael Phelps. 8 Events, 8 Golds, 7 World Records. What's not awesome about that? AND he gets away with eating 12,000 freakin calories a day!


Most Memerable: Micheal Phelps. Duh.

Most Adorable: Shawn Johnson! Shorter than me!


Most Flexible: Nastia Liukin.

[Thain Peregrin Took I]

Merry and Pippin's Olympic Favorites! (Part Two)

Opening Ceremonies vs. Closing Ceremonies: Definetly opening. I missed a lot of it, but I loved what I saw! (Except it was pretty stupid that they had the little girl lip sync [which was one of the parts that I didn't see] because the original performer didn't look "suitable".)

Best Comeback: U.S. Men's Basketball. Gold. (haven't won a medal since 2000), and U.S. Men's Water Polo. Silver. (hadn't won a medal in 20 years).




Awsomest Women: Kerri Walsh and Misty May-Treanor.


Hottest: You choose.

[Tessar]

Originally Posted by Finarfin-1

Well,
As a major follower of gymnastics (not just the summer Olympics) I have to say that the Chinese deeply offended me. Their pawning off underage competitors is all the more deeply offensive to the spirit behind the Olympics because they had the honor of hosting the Games. It is my sincere hope that the IOC does SOMETHING about He Kexin (sp?) at the VERY least. That 14yr old STOLE a gold medal from Nastia Liukin on the Balance Beam apparatus finals.

We can't simply blame the countries, the athletes are after all their accomplices in these fraudulent acts. What worth can a Gold Medal have to someone who knew they had to cheat to win it?

Then there's the fact that two of the three underage Chinese gymnasts were MAJOR factors in China securing the Women's Team Competition.

Finally, if Nastia wasn't robbed often enough the fact that the brand-new-for-this-Olympics tie-breaking process awarded a Gold to the Chinese in spite of their exact tie on final scores. I don't blame China for that one, that's pure IOC nonsense. In past years they would have shared the Gold, an honorable enough conclusion.

Honestly, China could have fielded a completely legal Men's team, dominated as they did to the credit of themselves and their nation, and then gone on to take their chances with Of-Age female gymnasts against the American women's team. They wouldn't have walked away with as many gold medals, but they would've retained their honor.

I guess I shouldn't be surprised that the heirs of Mao Zedong were so willing to lie cheat and steal to accomplish their ends, but it still made the part of me that expects the Olympics to be held in reverence by all nations sad and angry.

Anyone who watched the Chinese Bronze Medalist in the Women's All Around Finals staggering around with her ELEVEN balance-checks and horrible mount AND dismount receive the EXACT same score as Nastia's much more difficult and visibly flawless routine knows that something was rotten in Denmark. The marks that night were incredibly forgiving for the Chinese and the Romanian gymnast, and as brutally unforgiving as could be for the Americans. It's a testament to Ms. Liukin and Johnson that in spite of the wretched judging they went 1-2 in the All-Around Finals.

Still bothers me though. I had some hope after the conventional gymnastics ended when it was announced new evidence of age-falsifying had prompted the IOC to launch an official investigation, but nothing came of it

When you combine all the various aspects of China's conduct during these games I think it's almost inarguable that the Chinese placed ambition above honor, medals above fair play and sportsmanship, and lies above the truth. It is my sincerest hope that China never be allowed to host another Olympics. It will take a great many years for the stain upon the honor of the Games to fade.

I agree that a medal isn't worth having if you had to cheat to win. But that's because I have a Western self-rewarding mentality that would consider the medal mine, and not my country's... I don't have the hyper-patriotic sensibilities that seem to dominate the leadership of some Eastern countries.


BUT. I disagree very much with a few things you said.

If those girls were good enough to help win the gold medals, then GOOD ON THEM. Being a little younger doesn't help... We're talking about being among the best in the world at a young age. Plus lets face it... by the time the next olympics rolls around those girls will be 18-19. Getting pretty close to being too old for the sport. They had this window of opportunity and they chose/were told to take it.

I'm not all knowing when it comes to gymnastics... I took it for a few years and was fanatic about following it for even longer, but I'm no expert. I'm impressed with the girls, though.

It was dishonorable to put them in, but I'm impressed they were so good none the less.


Also I don't blame the girls. They're -14-. Blame the adults who put them there.

[Nurvingiel]

I don't blame the 14-year-old gymnasts either, but the fact is you had to have been born on or before January 1, 1993 to complete in this year's Olympics. This article elaborates further.

Finarfin, I would actually lay the blame squarely at the feet of the coaches, who were under a lot, and I do mea a lot of pressure from China. I wouldn't blame the teenagers here.

[Jonathan]

Welcome to Entmoot Finarfin

I sense prejudice against the Chinese in your post ("I guess I shouldn't be surprised that the heirs of Mao Zedong were so willing to lie cheat and steal to accomplish their ends").

You are right of course that it's against the rules to send under-aged gymnasts to the Olympics. If their ages are unveiled, it would be appropriate to take back the medals they and their team have won. Mind though that there are only indications of their being under-aged and it has yet to be proven (although the media has found them guilty already, it seems).

Should the gymnasts be too young to compete, it is likely their coaches are to blame rather than China per se. As Nurv said, coaches in all sports have been under extreme pressure from the Chinese public and leaders to produce gold medal contenders for the home games. It is probable that many coaches have tried to bend some rules and maybe in these two gymnasts' case, their coaches got away with it. It is unlikely that the Chinese Olympics Committee chose to turn a blind eye, because what they feared the most was the risk of China losing its face to the world due to a Chinese doping scandal or similar. If the Committee could have taken action, I believe they would have.

Originally Posted by Finarfin-1

When you combine all the various aspects of China's conduct during these games I think it's almost inarguable that the Chinese placed ambition above honor, medals above fair play and sportsmanship, and lies above the truth. It is my sincerest hope that China never be allowed to host another Olympics. It will take a great many years for the stain upon the honor of the Games to fade.

I must say I have a completely different view of it all. Of course it depends a bit on the eventual outcome of the gymnasts' case. But looking outside the realm of gymnastics I feel that China, its athletes and its organisers have displayed an admirable conduct. Sure we have seen fair play and sportsmanship from the Chinese. I can see no stain upon the honour of the Olympics.

[The Gaffer]

Well, as a "neutral", I watched some of those gymnastics events and it looked hellish dodgy to me. It seemed the American was clearly better, yet scored consistently lower. I saw the same thing in boxing, taekwondo and just about any event that involved judges awarding points.

As for "stains on the honour of the Olympics", well, hmm, that wouldn't be hard. The IOC are unbelievably sanctimonious and notoriously corrupt, particularly when it comes to inspect-the-candidate-host-city time. They remind me of FIFA and UEFA. You also have to remember that in order to appear to remain apolitical, they have to skirt around certain sensitivities.

Let's keep things in perspective here. Judges always favour the home team, generally. Maybe it was worse at these games. Whatever. There may be some interesting revelations once the judges are safely out of the country (though don't bank on it: the IOC probably has that one well policed). However, there are plenty of countries (i.e. all of them) where elections are fixed, phone-ins rigged, referees bribed, lip-synched pop groups miming to someone else's music (hell - there's an entire industry of that; the Chinese must be scratching their heads going "Isn't this how you do things in a democracy??"), etc, so let's not throw too many stones.

For me, the "honour of the Olympics" is the individual and collective effort of the athletes, and the Chinese competitors showed that in abundance.

If there is one genuinely good thing to come out of the Olympics, it's greater understanding and awareness of each other. So while these games have clearly put a marker in the sand telling us how far China has(n't) come along the road to openness, let's not throw that away on squabbles.

[Coffeehouse]

Meanwhile, whilst I don't want to appear as the anti-Western Westerner, I will with great joy and consent let the Chinese round up a shipload of gold medals in their own (most of them deserved!), very well executed Olympics, and that it ruffle the feathers of the other medal-sweeping nations such as the USA, Russia, Great Britain, etc., considering that for the Chinese these Olympics have been a show of Face and Honour which they have not been able to do since the Europeans and the Americans began ****ing with China, with the Chinese, ruining their nation and trade in the 19th century (read up on the Opium War or the invasion of China by the Eight-Nation Alliance) of which one consequence was the abysmal fall into Communism. Let's remember that one of the reasons why Mao Tse-Tung managed to win the Chinese Civil War in the first place, after years of warlordism in China, was because the Europeans and the Americans had done a hell of a job tearing up the social and intellectual fabric of the nation.
Now, this did happen a long time ago in Western minds, but this is recent history for the Chinese. It matters and I think we should take it into consideration when we look at the Chinese' profound efforts to put their nation in the best light possible.

So! After 2 centuries of almost continuous loss of face (buffered for a few years by the sick policies of Mao Tse-Tung, the Chinese deserve some credit for staging some Brilliant games (highest viewer numbers ever!). I'll hand it to them: they sorely needed some face-saving recognition by the world community, because if it's one thing we don't want to do, is push the Chinese further away from us.

Cheating isn't okay (but I think the Gaffer has a point concerning the age and the benefits), but neither is whining about not getting this and that Gold medal. The Chinese beat the Americans in the Gold Medal count, the Americans beat the Chinese in the Total Medal Count. Deal with it.

[Jonathan]

I did some medal counting just for the fun of it. If Europe had competed under the same flag, we would have won the medal league by far.
*waves a small EU flag*

• Europe (~50 nations):

  131 golds

• Europe minus Russia (which won 23 golds), Turkey and
  countries east thereof (44 nations):

  101 golds

• European Union (27 nations):

  87 golds

• EU "Big Four" (France, Germany, Great Britain and Italy):

  50 golds

[sisterandcousinandaunt]

Originally Posted by Jonathan

I did some medal counting just for the fun of it. If Europe had competed under the same flag, we would have won the medal league by far.
*waves a small EU flag*

I kinda don't get this whole business, of the medals.

Everyone seems to compete kinda trans-nationally, anyway. People who have parents from various places, go to school here, or work there... They all seem to complete however they get a shot. *shrug*

I have trouble taking it seriously as a statement about "nations". If you'd competed under one flag, you'd have had a lot fewer people competing, wouldn't you? I mean, one soccer team, one rowing 4's, etc.

[Mari]

I was wondering, how was the coverage on China itself?
Here besides the Olympics itself, every evening there would be another report on a poor farmer living an hour outside of Beijing who couldn't care less about the Olympics and who is being suppressed or evicted because of the games or whatever.
I felt there was a lot of negative propaganda going on from 'my' media. The commentating on the games itself was fairly neutral though, just not the news and documentaries.

[Jonathan]

Same thing all over Europe and America I believe, with massive coverage prior to and during the Olympics, on China itself. It's true that both tv and newspapers have often focused on whatever aspects of the Chinese society that don't ring well in the ears of a Western audience. Still, I've happily revelled in all the information about China that the media has provided me with! I started taking a big interest in China five years ago already and this Olympic hype came like a god's send. It made it sooo easy for me to learn more about this fascinating country

But we are undoubtedly very biased here in the West. Western mainstream behaviour seems to be condemning and I dare say even demonising China at all times.

[sisterandcousinandaunt]

Originally Posted by Mari

I was wondering, how was the coverage on China itself?
Here besides the Olympics itself, every evening there would be another report on a poor farmer living an hour outside of Beijing who couldn't care less about the Olympics and who is being suppressed or evicted because of the games or whatever.
I felt there was a lot of negative propaganda going on from 'my' media. The commentating on the games itself was fairly neutral though, just not the news and documentaries.

Originally Posted by Jonathan

Same thing all over Europe and America I believe, with massive coverage prior to and during the Olympics, on China itself. It's true that both tv and newspapers have often focused on whatever aspects of the Chinese society that don't ring well in the ears of a Western audience. Still, I've happily revelled in all the information about China that the media has provided me with! I started taking a big interest in China five years ago already and this Olympic hype came like a god's send. It made it sooo easy for me to learn more about this fascinating country

But we are undoubtedly very biased here in the West. Western mainstream behaviour seems to be condemning and I dare say even demonising China at all times.

Not at all, in the coverage I saw. Quite the opposite. The only negative press I saw was 'They eat scorpions on a stick. Those crazy kids.'

For someone who remembers Pandas and table tennis, and watched the Tiananmen Square stuff unfold, begining to end, it was kinda surreal.