Beijing Olympic Games 2008 Closing Ceremony
Beijing Olympic Games 2008 Closing Ceremony
Phew! It sure ended with a bang. The birdsnest stadium looked like it was on fire(works). I’m ignoring the media opinions in making this post. From what I can see and feel for myself and the sentiments of the ground visitors (the Tourists) this was a very well organized Olympics. In fact, according to some German and even British Olympic chasing veterans, this was the best Olypics event ever organized. It is no doubt that China has exceeded herself during these Olympics. The entire infrastructure built up on display for the world to see from the super airport, new high speed rail system, new roads, pollution controls, new sports arenas, and the largest and most luxurius and eco friendly Olympics Village ever built.
Have you ever seen anything so well organized as this? What a spectacular formation. Notice the mega sized drums with drummers hanging overhead? This was part of the spectacular show China put on throughout.
But the medal count from China’s athelets was nothing short of fantastic – their best ever. Chinese atheletes won 51 gold medals, with a total of a nicely rounded 100 in total. For the first time, the US did not take the greatest number of gold medals despite winning 110 medals overall. However, the performance of their swim team was their best ever with “Phelps Mania” not ever dying down anytime soon. He won 8 golds – a new Olympic record.
Well, here’s a closer look at the super sized drums again. Go to MacDonalds if you want to supersize your oder. Go to China to supersize your drums.
Let’s not forget London four years from now. London’s double decker bus made it very clear where the Olympics will be headed to next! Kudos to the London contingent for acknowledging the fine organization that beijing had demonstrated. This will be a tough act to follow. It’s a new standard for all Olympiads to come.
Oh yes, not to forget, the Chinese Authorities made these pictures available on their official web-sites.
And finally, it has to be mentioned that though security was ever present throughout and made for a very safe Olympics. I can tell you the hundreds of thousands of visitors here were quite appreciative of that fact. This is despite the western medias’ many reports of dissension, unrest, protests, the Tibet issues, terrorist threats, human rights’ groups protests, and what else have you? No, in truth, I have to hand it to Beijing for pulling it all off. I must admit, I was a little cynical about their “freedoms” at first, but things have changed for the better.
I’m expecting this success will be great for their overall outlook on the world stage. They should be encouraged to participate and not be bombarded with outright criticism. It reminds me of a tough old tartar of a school master yelling at a deaf child to do somthing – but that kid just didn’t understand until a kindly teacher showed him what to do. Not that China is a kid, but you get my point. After all, do all these free Tibet and free whatevers around the world really have the full story? Often times, stories told form one end tends to built on one side only till all truths and facts become buried in fiction. And then it takes generations later to filter out the truth.
So, asking politely, can we all give China a thumbs up for a masssive job well done? And then welcome her into the world stage.
Tags: Beijing, Closing Ceremony, Human Rights, Olympics, The Standard, to London
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