Spectators wait in Tiananmen square for the closing ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. (Grace Liang/Reuters)
Under blue skies, Beijing dazzled as Olympic host
Gloomy forecasts of smog, terrorism, and rude hosts all but evaporated during the 17-day sports extravaganza, though concern remained about human rights.
Simon Montlake | Correspondent / August 24, 2008 edition
Beijing
Choking pollution. Terrorist plots. Jeering Chinese fans.
These are just some of the gloomier forecasts for the Olympics that ended Sunday – forecasts that all but evaporated in unexpectedly blue skies over Beijing. Instead, the world watched a 17-day sports extravaganza that delivered drama, passion, and medals with a dash of controversy, but not the strong political undertow that some had predicted.
Fans behaved themselves and a security blanket kept out saboteurs. Only a smattering of athletes tested positive for banned substances. Most visitors found decent food, lodgings, and entertainment, even if the nightly carnival spirit of previous Summer Games was missed. Traffic flowed. Olympic venues dazzled. Gold medals fell to China at a breathless clip, sealing its sporting rise.
One prediction that did ring true was that China refused to allow protests, contrary to its past pledges. Domestic critics were silenced beforehand or snared by catch-22 rules on protest permits. Foreign activists seeking to publicize the cause of Tibet pulled off symbolic stunts that few spectators noticed.
Curbs on foreign media were partially lifted, but critical websites and foreign radio broadcasts remained blocked and Tibetan areas of China were off-limits to reporters. Far from improving human rights in the run-up to the Games, as promised, China was accused by international rights watchdogs of tightening political controls and harassing free-speech activists. The International Olympics Committee did little to enforce China’s earlier pledges.
But for a proud nation that has waited seven years for this moment in the spotlight, such criticisms are unlikely to tarnish the overall success of the Games, or the sense that China’s sporting achievements have been commensurate with its display of modern urbanity and economic might.
“In terms of sports, it was a really high level. Look at the performances in track and field and many other events. They were really fine,” says Ren Hai, director of the Olympics Studies Center at Beijing Sports University.
“This was the first time that Beijing has held such an event … according to an international standard. There were many things that were new for China learn.”
That learning extended to Chinese citizens who were asked to act with greater civility and friendliness when the world showed up at their doorstep. Authorities in Beijing launched campaigns to minimize spitting, littering, and queue jumping, while promoting sportsmanship and cheering for one’s team without belittling opponents.
For the Olympics, tens of thousands of young volunteers were recruited to guide visitors smoothly from point A to B. Taxi drivers in Beijing donned new uniforms and learned to speak some English phrases, however haltingly.
These campaigns paid off during the Olympics as levels of public civility improved, says Sha Lianxiang, a sociology professor at Renmin University in Beijing who tracks attitudes on the subject. She says most local residents support continued government action on antisocial behavior after the athletes and spectators have packed up and left.
“The Beijing Olympics is an opportunity for Chinese people to know themselves, to improve themselves and even to reform themselves,” she writes in an email.
The friendliness has impressed first-time visitors to Beijing. “People here are really, really nice. Everyone wants to help you. It seems as if the government has told people to help tourists. It wasn’t like this in Shanghai,” says Carol Montpart, a graphic designer from Barcelona.
Some spectators grumbled at the lack of proper food inside Olympic venues, as well as long, if orderly, lines for refreshments. Smiling volunteers who were supposedly vetted for English language skills sometimes stumbled over simple requests.
In recent months, Chinese authorities had warned that domestic terrorist groups could strike during the Games. None did in Beijing or any of the other six Olympics cities, but Islamic separatists in western China were alleged to be behind a spate of lethal attacks there. The emphasis on securing the events led organizers to fence off the Olympics Green and require day passes to visit its attractions.
Perhaps the biggest fear voiced before the Games was that persistent air pollution in Beijing would ruin the spectacle and hamper athletes’ performance. As a result, some US athletes arrived in Beijing sporting customized facemasks. Earlier this year, Haile Gebrselassie, the record holder from Ethiopia, citing sensitivity to smog, announced he would not run in the men’s marathon. Smog hung over the opening ceremony on Aug. 8.
But a two-month stoppage at construction sites and polluting factories, along with severe traffic restrictions, eventually managed to shift the noxious haze from the city. As summer rains gave way to blue skies, pollution indices dropped to almost unheard-of lows. Last week, Mr. Gebrselassie said he regretted dropping out of the marathon, as he hadn’t expected such clear weather. He came in sixth in the race in which he did participate, the men’s 10,000-meter.
One sour note for China in recent days has been allegations that several of its female gymnasts, which took gold in the team competition, were underage. The International Gymnastics Federation has said it is investigating apparent discrepancies in the records of the gold medalists’ birthdates. Another disappointment for China was that its great hope for track and field gold, hurdler Liu Xiang, pulled out with an injury.
The Games yielded plenty of heroic achievements, too, from the dazzling opening ceremonies to Michael Phelps’ gold-medal haul in the pool to Usain Bolt’s lightning dashes on the track. The pressure is now on London, the host of the next Summer Olympics, to match Beijing’s grandeur.
Comments
2. Brandon | 08.24.08
Li Man, nobody believes that human rights in China will improve overnight, but the boost of confidence will likely help this to unfold in the medium term. The first thing for the government in Beijing to do is to improve rule of law and introduce checks and balances, including stronger courts, to remove the repressive One Child Policy (people will choose smaller families anyhow as they grow wealthier), and to release political prisoners. This will likely take many years, but once this is in place, the Tibet problem can be handled more calmly.
I should remind you that the USA hardly has an admirable record on minority rights. Americans all but mass-murdered the indigenous peoples in North America, while occupying Hawaii (even as the Hawaiians still demand freedom) and also occupying the US Southwest from Latinos. The British of course mass-murdered aboriginal peoples in the S. Pacific, in Ireland and in India. Even Canada, which has a better record overall, mass-murdered many native peoples such as the Mikmaqs, and the First Nations in Canada are still afflicted with severe health ailments and economic squalor which is largely ignored.
I would suggest that the USA in particular take the lead, and grant full autonomy to the Hawaiians, the Alaskan Aleuts and the Latinos in the Southwestern States in Florida, who had been guaranteed their rights under prior treaties even though these treaties were not honored. The British should do the same for Northern Ireland, the Falklands, Gibraltar, Wales and Scotland. When this happens, the Chinese will have a decent example to follow. Otherwise, the Chinese will simply accuse of hypocrisy, and they’ll be right.
3. John | 08.24.08
As a native american/hispanic I totally agree with Brandon, before we start judging the world and specially China, we should set the example by respecting human rights here and abroad. look at the discrimination and human right violations we commit against our own people (native american, latinos, blacks)then we go and invade countries and violate their own human rights. who are we? we are not God. why should we demand something we do not do.
4. Tony Pow | 08.24.08
Celebration of Olympics Bronzes
What happened?
How can we lose gold count to China, a third world country?
Let’s have a national holiday of mourning. No one objects I bet!
Let’s have a national contest of the best excuses of winning so less gold medals.
It has to be the BEST, so it could worth a gold in this category.
What to do?
Borrow more money from China to buy foreign coaches…
No Speedo to Australia and China.
My secret weapon is to import 8 Jamaican runners. Money talks!
Bribe the judges (a little harder as everyone hates us but money talks again).
Change all the rules to our favor: 5 medals for basketball, 1 for table tennis, 0 for diving…
All tiebreakers must go our way as our sponsors own the Olympics.
We will amplify their “shortcomings” like copying our advance lip sing technique (how dare you’re), small size advantage, large size advantage, working too hard…
The Chinese must have put slippery jell on our batons and/or the gym apparatus.
Develop a dope that can take out all dope traces from our body so we take it before dope tests.
“One country, all medals” is our new Olympics slogan.
The more wishfully we think, the closer we succeed.
How to heal now, really?
Write to Dear Abby for starter.
Bronze is the same as gold if not better. If you do not believe me, ask any blind person.
It is harder to get a bronze as we have to LET two others to win.
We’ll train our athletes for the bronze from now on.
We will ask NBC to interview bronze winners only as they are the real winners.
Actually we’ll be happier to be #3 and build a better relationship with other nations. Stop laughing. It is a fact!!!
Phelps, we love you more with 8 bronze medals - it is no easy job to let 2 and ONLY 2 pass you 8 times.
If everything does not work, turn ugly.
Ask McDonald’s and KFC to give away their “food” (better than opium) to China FREE, so their next generation will be so fat that they cannot walk to the subway station.
Send soldiers to grab the medals, esp. gold. Hey, we have the best offense.
Will the world be better if we only fought for gold medals only (bronze medals in our case)?
What an Olympic spirit to celebrate the winning of the bronze!
– The author is Tony Pow. 8/22/08. Created for fun. No politics. No dumb nationalism. No ego. 90% false, 10% true. 100% fun. Hope no offense to you. Please feel free to distribute/change… —
5. Chris Chase | 08.24.08
I can’t wait until NBC’s broadcast tonight, when the rude American show hosts will show their finest skills of annoying the audience with their endless smart-a** commentaries, just like those “know-it-all” middle school kids who talk through a movie. Oh but I guess they have that Chinese Information Analyst (c.i. a.) guy (the guy who just popped up from the left screen during the last broadcast — such a scary sight) to bolster any shaky hypocritical claim Bob might provide (to give you an example, when Bob Costa talks about how Bahrain are “stealing” talents from the developing countries — anyone with a sense of irony would say “Hello?” What about those “stolen talents” competing for Britain? or the table tennis players of the U.S.? or Karolyi? Good job, N.B.C., let me do the Chinese-smashing from my Yahoo column, where it’s more effective.
6. Wang Yamin | 08.24.08
As a Chinese, I am proud of Beijing Olympic games and we have been in a kind festival even over a thousand miles from Beijing. These days,it’s easier than anytime for the people to access to the internet and click the foreign websites - my experience, and the band-width, speed of the connection to the web, has been doubled. I would say that most of people around are more than willing to say thanks to Olympics. About the human right, I feel sorry for the bias from the western world. It’s true that the government hasn’t been giving enougn democracy and autonomy to the Chinese people as well as Tibetans, but the truth is here in China not in USA, or any other western country. The world should listen to the people in China instead of those groups living overseas and boasting they understand China better than Chinese. In the media, China is a small voice and Chinese people have even smaller voicese. I hope that more voices from Tibet be heard,not only Tibetans, but other minorities,including other tribes of original inhabitants and Han people.
7. keith | 08.25.08
What was the state of China when she was awarded the Olympics all those years ago? Yu’d have to be pretty stupid to believe the conditions in China haven’t improved in those 7 years. China said that the Olympics will improve human rights in China, she didn’t say there will be a big bang approach and that when the Olympics began all the doors will open at once and full democracy announced. The detractors are living in cloud cuckoo land.
The consequence for all these rabid dog attacks against China regardless of merit will just cause China to ignore everyone and do her own thing. Why on earth should she listen to any of it when nothing she does is right and even if she did something right it is ignored and some other pretext will be used to bash her?
8. Chixy | 08.25.08
China will kick @$$ even more in 2012. The facilities are definately an investment worth investing in. With all the newest technology in the tracks, they’re equipped to train their athletes in world class standard (if not exceeding standards) facilities! GO CHINA! and to all those sour pusses who can’t accept the fact that China can be so awesome, get over it! It’s here to stay and China will only get “faster, higher and stronger” over time! w00t!
9. Craig | 08.25.08
“The British should do the same for Northern Ireland, the Falklands, Gibraltar, Wales and Scotland.” - Brandon
Do you actually know what the level of support for full independence is in those places? Last time it was polled, 20% of Scots favoured it, while in Wales it’s half that. In Northern Ireland - and listen up, because everyone in China likes to jump on this bandwagon as well - less than one quarter of the populace favours re-unification with the South. A majority favour remaining British, and as long as that’s the case their will must prevail. The people of Gibraltar affirmed their support for the current constitution in a referendum at the end of 2006, and continue to vote for overwhelmingly pro-British leaders. The Falklands is smaller than most villages and there is no popular independence movement there either.
So here are the big ones, lest you continue to be befuddled:
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Welsh_nationalism
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scottish_independence#Public_opinion
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_Ireland#Demography_and_politics
Unlike in China, support for constitutional reform in the UK is frequently and widely measured and reported (I personally favour a federal arrangement with a devolved English assembly). Don’t assume that every autonomy movement globally has popular support. There are probably people in your town who would favour giving it independent status…
10. Hank | 08.27.08
Whatever happened to innocent until proven guilty? The western propaganda machine already found the Chinese gymnasts to be guilty of being under aged when there is no fact to support it. The IOC already accepted the girls’ ages as being correct. Do you really think China would risk tainting the Olympics on it’s own soil to do something that stupid? This is a case of the Korali’s being mad about losing the gold medals to a bunch of slanted eyed, yellow skinned girls who happened to kicked the rears off their pampered gymnasts. This cannot happen so they had to plant the seed of excuses for their failures. All it takes is some allegation and the viral effect of the media to make these allegations become fact. If there is any justice in the world, the media should spend the same amount of time exonerating the Chinese gymnasts so that the world would know the truth. By the way, how old do you think Nadia of Romania was when she earned seven perfect 10’s? The answer is 14 years old. Korali of all people should know because he was her coach back then.
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1. li man | 08.24.08
As a Chinese-Canadian, I enjoy the best human rights protection under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedom, so I am fully aware of the poor record of human rights in China. Two weeks of Olympic games will NOT be a miraculous fix for human rights violations in China. Changes in China will have to come from within. Tibet will get more autonomy & freedom if the majority of Han Chinese push the Chinese government in that direction. That will happen when the Chinese realize that for them to have human rights protection the same must be granted to the Tibetans.
Just like the Canadian Charter of Rights & Freedom is there to protect the most vulnerable in Canadian society