Olympics 2008

Here we are at the Beijing 2008 Olympics! This first post will just be a quick one, as we can't upload any photos from our camera yet, but so far the Games have been nothing short of amazing.

We arrived on the 18th and have already seen lightweight freestyle wrestling and men's beach volleyball semi-finals. Wrestling was INCREDIBLE. If you happened to catch the men's 55kg, you saw the 21 year-old American, Henry Cejudo win gold. We got to see him from his very first match all the way to the finals as wrestling is completed in one day. His energy was contagious, his enthusiasm electrifying. The athletes at this level are nothing short of inspiring, and wrestling is an amazingly emotional sport. If you are headed this way, don't worry about getting tickets. We went to the volleyball match this morning without them and ended up getting tickets for 100RMB, 50RMB less than the original listed price.

During this olympic experience, we have noticed that there are some categories that are tragically under-represented. In fact, they aren't even Olympic events. So in the spirit of these, 2008 Beijing games, we have comprised a small medal presentation of our own:

Gold Medal for Opening Ceremony National Flag-waving goes to:
El Salvador! The woman from this central American country really took the important but largely mundane task of carrying the delegation's national flag to the next level, with spins, beautiful arching waves and not a single flag pole wrap-up. Congratulations, El Salvador

Silver Medal goes to Beijing Olympic venues' concession prices!
The probability for food and drink price-jacking seemed very high at such a high level sporting event, but the prices are in fact remarkably reasonable! 5RMB for a can of Tsingtao Beer! 3RMB for a bottle of water! 10RMB for a healthy amount of kettle corn! Congratulations, Beijing Olympic venue concession stands!

Gold Medal for best cheering goes to:
Iranian wrestling fans! Take the the ho hum "Iran!" or the horribly square "U.S.A.!" add some syncopated rythms, elaborate hand clap sequences, whole notes, and dramatic pauses, and you will begin to understand what it feels like to be across the stadium from these cheering maestros. Congrats wrestling fans from IRI.

Finally, the tinfoil medal for worst uniforms goes to:
The Australian Women's Basketball Team. With their all-spandex, high-hipped unitard, no other team even came close to medal contention in this event. This outfit isn't fit for an 80's workout video, much less a basketball court.

Stay tuned for more olympic coverage, tomorrow we see Track and field with a possible bid for the women's beach volleyball finals between China and the US, then diving on the 23rd! Pictures to come as well. Jia You!

Post Olympicos

We're coming at ya from Chengdu (our home city) where we are now living with some incredible new roommates and living the good life.

Upon post-Olympic reflection we realize there is one final medal that must be awarded.
The event:Best plan-B living arangements in Olympic Beijing.
The bronze medal goes to: An underground internet bar! With dormatory beds going for over 200 RMB a night in Beijing (where all hotel prices were increased 3-10 fold for the Games!), and us needing a place to stay before we caught a train the next morning, we found our way to a 'wang ba' (web bar) and for 20 RMB a person, we had unlimited internet access and a place to stay between the hours of 12 and 8AM. The internet bar was just about at capacity, as other thrify internet surfers/sleepers had the same idea as us, leading to a time-warp of a youtube and flash-game filled all-nighter, harkening back to the college years. The reasons this plan-B living arangement didn't get the gold (or the silver) are that as it is a good place to spend the night, it is not a place to get a good night's rest. Also, it is widely known that the price of an all-night internet bar stay should be no more than 8 RMB, so it is evident that the Olympic price inflation even spreads to the train station neighborhood web bars... Congratulations Underground Internet Bar!

The most common question posed to us during and after the Olympics was "Have you heard about the shady stuff surrounding the Olympics, how much was true, were there protestors?"

We did get wind of some of the scandalous happenings, but mostly through emails and online news sources, not the Chinese evening news. The age of the gymnasts seemed to be quite the scandal, with cover-ups and plenty of embarassment, but pending further updates, it doesn't seem to be tarnishing the image of the Olympics. Protests? We didn't see any in person, but we heard some foreigners had their visas revoked (were deported), and the bigger scandal of the Chinese government using 'Organized Protest' application forms (allowing you to apply to protest in designated protest zones) to actually single out potential protestors and prevent dissent. That was bad. Then there was the tragic injury of one of the opening ceremony dancers which left her paralyzed. An article we read said it was downplayed/covered up in an effort to maintain the Olympic spirit, but all of our Chinese friends heard about it, so we don't know if that 'cover up' story was actually true. Though the protests in Beijing during the Games were nixed, Chinese people were very aware of the protests happening abroad during the torch relay, and Jin Jing (the parolympian fencer who guarded the torch from protestors in Paris) is now a national hero. Whether her stardom came from protecting the Olympic spirit, or from protecting China's stance on Tibet?-- you'll get a different answer depending on who you ask.

Overall, the olympics were an amazing experience for us, and everything in Beijing was polished, even the weather (while we were there, anyway) was beautiful. We felt priveledged to be there, and appreciated the opportunity to come together and cheer among spectators from all over the globe for the greatest althletes in the world. We are hopeful that the Olympics will prove to be a positive step forward for the people of China.

Thanks for reading!

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