By Jon Singer
It began with the opening ceremonies. Choreographed by Chinese filmmaker Zhang Yimou, the overly ostentatious presentation commenced the quadrennial political circle jerk known as the Summer Olympics.
Talk about pretension: the opening ceremony featured a human representation of the Beijing National Stadium, manifested in 2008. Chinese people standing on top of each other to mimic the unique shape of the “bird’s nest” stadium. Then the Chinese man who lit the torch apparently walked on the upper wall of the stadium to light the cauldron. I say “apparently” because I didn’t see that part of the ceremony live. The show clocked in at over four hours, and I got sick of the commercial interruptions.
The thing is that NBC didn’t broadcast the opening ceremonies live. The show began at 8 p.m. Beijing time, leaving people in Toronto to wake up at 8 a.m. to watch the show on CBC. NBC however, chose to play the ceremony on a 12-hour tape delay, to maximize the amount of American viewers in their countries prime time slot. So much for “One World, One Dream.” NBC even worked with foreign media outlets to block live streaming video from reaching American computers.
I know I’m not supposed to watch the Olympics. I’ve heard The People’s Republic of China does some bad shit, like supporting the Sudanese government’s activities in Darfur. Not to mention the gross Internet censorship, leaving foreign journalists to complain that they can’t reach their newspaper’s websites to upload their Olympic reports. Not to mention the occupation of Tibet, and the dispute between The PRC and The Republic of China.
The ROC is forced to compete under the banner of “Chinese Taipei,” as opposed to being called “Republic of China” or even simply “Taiwan.” While the International Olympic Committee recognizes the country, the United Nations doesn’t.
I’m obsessed with the Olympic Games. Once every four years Americans for some reason, care about swimming, gymnastics and track and field and to a lesser extent fencing, volleyball, handball, rowing and some other sports.
Look at basketball and tennis: For two weeks, millionaires Kobe Bryant and Serena Williams forgo the thought of prize money to represent their country and compete for a gold medal. It would be a romantic thought, if the games weren’t some big political freak show. It’s too bad Serena Williams was eliminated by a Russian and that her sister Venus, was eliminated by a Chinese athlete.
Bob Costas and Matt Lauer predicted that China would top the medal rankings, and as I write this the PRC is head to head with the USA in the Olympic Medal count. While the Americans have more medals in total, the Chinese have twice as many golds. I guess the Chinese are not used to second place. Maybe it’s the state run athletic programs, which identifies athletes at a young age and breeds them for Olympic glory. That leaves little Jimmy’s mom in Michigan to wake up at 3 a.m. to drive her son to rowing practice. Michael Phelps has won more gold medals than most nations at these games. How about Zimbabwean swimmer Kristy Coventry? She’s white and attends Auburn University during the year, but for a while she united the white minority with the black majority in her home country with Olympic medal wins. Then a civil war broke out.
Last week I watched Sean Rosenthal compete in Men’s Beach volleyball. This isn’t the 1936 Berlin Olympics or the 1972 Munich Olympics, so I guess athletes named Sean Rosenthal are welcome in Beijing. In 1936 the Third Reich ran Germany. In 1972 Palestinian terrorists/militants took the Israeli delegation hostage, ultimately resulting in the death of 11 Israelis and the 2005 Steven Spielberg blockbuster Munich.
It’s normal for Iranian Olympians to forfeit whenever they are placed in the same heat as an Israeli. So far in these games Russia has faced off against Georgia on a few occasions. In a shooting event a member from both dueling nations ended up on the medal podium and of all the things they could have done, they hugged each other. If it had happened during the Winter Olympics, nobody would have cared.
Based on what I can see on tape delay on NBC, the PRC is trying to prove something. Team USA’s snazzy uniforms designed by Ralph Lauren? Made in China, according to Reuters. According to The Associated Press, Mongolians in Ulan Bator rejoiced over their country’s first ever gold medal, won by Tuvshinbayar Naidan in Judo. The AP is also reporting that eight Tibetan activists were detained after protesting near an Olympic venue, along with the seizure of a British Journalist. Reporter Jon Ray’s ITV report was syndicated on CNN and I don’t think the story will show up on MSNBC. I watched as Ray flipped his shit when he was forced into a police van. He was eventually released after being questioned about his views on Tibet.
Before I finish, I would like to congratulate McDonalds on their gold medal, Coca-Cola on their silver and Visa on their bronze. After the commercial break, Lauer and Costas reminded viewers that Greece is still in debt from hosting the 2004 Olympics.
