The Beijing Olympics ended with a blaze of deafening fireworks on Sunday, bringing down the curtain on a Games that dazzled the world with sporting brilliance and showcased the might of modern day China. The sporting extravaganza failed to quell criticism of China’s human rights record, although the International Olympic Committee (IOC) gave the organizers the thumbs-up and said the Games would leave a positive legacy for future generations.
The IOC said 43 world records and 132 Olympic records were broken in China, which spent $43 billion on the event—three times more than the budget for the 2012 Games in London. Reflecting China’s new-found confidence, the nation’s athletes took their gold medal tally on the final day to 51 after winning their first two Olympic boxing titles, the most any country has bagged since the Soviet Union in Seoul in 1988. The United States finished with 36 golds, level with their table-topping haul in 2004, but way behind the host nation. China’s Communist leadership no doubt breathed a collective sigh of relief as the giant Olympic torch was extinguished. The run-up to the Games had cast a harsh light on China, bringing unrest in its Tibetan region to a global audience and showing that its rulers would not brook internal dissent. But over the past two weeks, Beijing has wowed the visiting world with its superlative venues, army of smiling volunteers, glitch-free transport and seamless organization. Fears about pollution evaporated as blue skies finally broke through the haze. Criticism of China’s human rights record took a backseat as two athletes redefined sporting excellence.
Michael Phelps swam into the record books by winning an astonishing eight gold medals in the translucent Water Cube. On the track, Jamaica’s Usain Bolt captivated the crowds with three sprint gold medals, all secured in world record times. But critics said enough jarring notes had sounded to spoil the symphony, with China refusing any protests during the Games, and sentencing two elderly women to a year of re-education for pushing for the right to demonstrate. Rogge told reporters on Sunday the IOC could not force change on a state “or solve all the ills of the world,” but that the Games had promoted a heightened awareness of the environment in China and left an array of venues to nurture future champions. The United States took a tougher line, pressing for the immediate release of eight Americans detained for staging protests in favor of Tibetan independence during the Games. The British have made clear they will not even try to emulate the Beijing epic and showed on Sunday a youthful, exuberant image of London life, complete with a double decker bus bearing rock icon Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin and David Beckham, the world’s most famous soccer player. Delighted after their best Olympic performance in a century that left Britain fourth in the medals table, Britain also celebrated the handover of the Olympic flag on Sunday with a street party outside the gold-tipped gates of Buckingham Palace.
The London cameo was dwarfed by the grandiose set pieces put on by China to wrap up its show, with hundreds of performers climbing a huge tower and acrobats in illuminated outfits soaring into the night sky, set alight by the fireworks. Ordinary Chinese glowed with national pride at their achievement in staging the Games and at their athletes’ prowess, coming in their thousands to gawp at the paranoiac venues. [End of report]
Finally, the Games is over. Im not particularly a big fan of the Olympic, so I wasnt that excited when it began. Nevertheless, I would like to think that everyone, even myself enjoyed the entire competition. I think it would be an overstatement to say that it is the best Olympic Game, but it is probably one of the best Games ever there is no doubt about that. There was a lot of criticism surrounding China before the event started such as the pollution and the human rights issue, but Im glad that all those things did not have a huge effect on the Games and I think that goes to show what a great job that the Chinese government has done. They have invested a lot of money into the preparation of the Games, making sure that everything will go smoothly and I think all their hard work has paid off. It was still unfortunate to hear about the sentencing of the two elderly women to a year of re-education for pushing for the right to demonstrate. I hope the Chinese government will drop those charges. Anyway back to the Games, I believe it has been a very successful one. I mean, just take a look at the number of new world and Olympic records that were made during the Games, it is pretty mind blowing.
Of course all of that wouldnt have been possible without the athletes themselves and there are two of them in particular that have been the real star of the Games. Im talking about none other than Michael Phelps and Usain Bolt. Both of them were phenomenal in the competitions that they took part respectively and they are just one of the reason why this year's Olympics has been great to watch. Im not a fan of either one, so their victories doesnt mean much to me but on a personal note, I had something to cheer for too and that was because of our women table tennis team having managed to win the Silver medal in the competition they took part in. Im sure you are feeling happy for them as well unless of course you dont take pride in their achievement because they are not born in Singapore. I have spoken on a great length regarding the issue in one of my previous post if you are interested to read, so I wont be commenting much on that. We also had Tao Li who managed to set not one, but two new Asian records if Im not wrong in the women's butterfly event, even though she didnt win any medal. It just shows that our athletes are improving everytime you see them and that can only mean good for our future in sports.
Well, it has been 4 years in the making. The Beijing Olympics certainly have been great to watch and it wont be forgotten anytime soon I think. The good thing about the ending is that I can finally watch my favourite TV programme on Channel 5 again and we dont have to watch the Jackie Chan's VISA card advertisement anymore in the cinema. Its not that I hate him but Im bored watching the same stuff over and over again. Thank You Beijing for being a great host city. You have certainly not disappoint the world. I shall see you all again in 2012 for the London Games, which Im sure will be just as great or even better. But before that, we will have the Olympic Youth Games in 2010 right here in Singapore so do watch out for that too. Till then, take care.
*The report was taken from Reuters.
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