Olympics

All the waiting is over – ever since I came to China, it has been Olympics, Olympics, Olympics. TV, radio, newspapers, billboards, product labels, clothes, toys, tattoos ... Unless you were living under a really heavy rock, it would have been hard to escape it all! As you would expect, the locals are really hyped about the whole thing!

I was never much of an Olympics fan. I never really watched it unless there was an Irish athlete taking part. I am more of a World Cup fan rather than an Olympics fan. So, because it was on my doorstep this time, I paid more attention. I watched the opening ceremony and was really impressed! Zhang Yimou certainly did an impressive job! I really liked the drummers at the start and the sort of matrix of people who rose and fell to form various pictures and Chinese characters. The performances did give an impressive account of Chinese history and culture. Performances like these are definitely something that China does well. Zhang Yimou allegedly remarked that Western countries couldn’t compete with China in putting on these types of shows because westerners don’t work as hard as Chinese people. He said that westerners wouldn’t work the long hours and unions would demand breaks etc. Well, he’s damn right! I can’t see London putting on as extravagant a show as China has.

Opening ceremony aside, the atmosphere in Beijing is great – and contagious. The Chinese are sport-crazy, eyes are glued to every TV screen! I’ve even watched things like diving and ping-pong, that I’ve never watched before!

The organisers seem to have done a good job and the city is looking very well for the games. A few new subway lines have opened, which greatly improves transport in the city. Since I hadn’t anticipated being in Beijing at the time of the games, I didn’t buy tickets for any of the events. The guy I stayed with in Beijing went to 7 events! Sort of makes me wish I’d bought a ticket for something!


What China has plenty of is people, and all around the city, you could see the familiar blue and white of the Olympic volunteers (above pic): mostly university students whose job it is to help out tourists and participants in the games. On a few occasions, confusing me for a tourist, I was asked if I needed help with something. Fair play to them anyway.