Rec’ing On…Beijing Olympics – Final Thoughts

When the torch is extinguished at the end of an Olympic Games, I’m always driven to pause and reflect on what the past 16 days hath wrought.

The first thing that comes to mind is how generally successful these games were. China proved to be good hosts. Politics and policies aside, China pulled out all the stops to ensure that the games were a good experience to their visitors. Sure, there were problems, but fewer than I think anyone expected. From an Olympics perspective, China was, as IOC President Jacques Rogge put it, “truly exceptional“.

Many people in the U.S. made a lot of the “Redeem Team”, the USA men’s basketball team. For me, I got greater joy not from redemption, but from vindication. I had thought that USA Women’s Soccer team goalkeeper Hope Solo was ill-used in the 2007 FIFA Women’s World Cup when coach Greg Ryan took her out of goal for the semi-final game against Brazil. When she complained about it, she was booted from the team. On the heels of the U.S.’s subsequent loss, in came a new coach who committed to Solo. And Hope endured…shunning all attempts at scoring during the gold medal game against, ironically, Brazil.

Also strong in my mind is the image of behaving with maturity and class: no, definitely not Usain Bolt, but US hurdler Lolo Jones. Lolo went from a sure gold medal to seventh place as a result of clipping the ninth of ten hurdles with her heel. Despite her disappointment, she continued doing interviews and hoped that kids could learn that sometimes life gives you disappointment yet you have to get back up again and soldier on.

One of the games that my brother and I can’t help playing is trying to pick out the cheaters during a games. With each olympiad, this becomes tougher as some of the doping procedures have become very sophisticated. Sometimes it’s easy to see as with a Ben Johnson, sometimes it’s tough, as with Marion Jones. Certainly there were athletes at this games from many countries, including my own, that have managed to this point to not get caught.

Still, cheating isn’t just done through doping. It’s a little insulting that China’s gymnastic federation foisted girls younger than allowed competition age on the field. Humans know what children look like, and it isn’t just a genome thing: we have a large Asian population in the US and we know that there isn’t as much difference between the races as some Chinese officials have argued. We also saw a lot of judging-fudging in the judging (as usual). Some scores in the judged events didn’t make any sense at all if there was fair judging. Some of the problem is that often the best judges aren’t available because athletes from the same countries are competing and it’s a valid attempt to avoid jingoistic scoring.

Sometimes it’s the little things that I think make a difference. Clearly the entire USA team was instructed that when the US National Anthem is played, simply standing at attention is not acceptable salute. Almost every American athlete placed their hand over their heart as outlined in the US Flag Code (yes, it’s an actual law). PIty that they sometimes forgot to remove their head wear, but overall it was much better than in the past. It made members of the USA team seem to be people representing their country over representing only themselves.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t give a huge shout-out to NBC for making this the most Olympiphile-friendly viewing experience ever. With almost ’round the clock coverage on the various NBC-owned networks, combined with outstanding online access, though often without the option of audio commentary, there were few moments that weren’t available almost immediately. With a 12-hour time difference between Beijing and the US Eastern Time Zone, it was clear that many live events would be taking place in the middle of the US night and early morning. This sort of blanket coverage was exactly what was needed. I hope they do at least as well in the coming Olympics.

As for the medals…the United States did about what they’ve averaging in recent games. China got a huge boost in gold medals, mostly at the expense of Russia. If you look at medal counts over the years, it’s clear that Russia was the victim of Chinese success. I do have to mention that a mention should be made about the disproportionate number of golds that China won. Countries that earn a non-trivial amount of medals typically have a more-or-less even distribution (i.e. about 1/3 of each color). Over half of China’s medals were of a golden hue. “Why” will be examined over time. Was it mostly due to the host-country boost that frequently happens due to the host nation being able to enter just about every sport. Was it due to a focus on dominating certain specific sports (table tennis, diving, gymnastics)? Was it simply due to them having better athletes? Was is due to having an almost Soviet-like focus on a victory via sports philosophy that culls budding athletes from the 1.3 billion population?  It will be interesting to see how this plays out over time.

Before I wrap this up, I want to make mention of some of the people of the games. Sylvia Fowles for being dominant and a good teammate. Natalie Coughlin for her remarkable medal run in the pool, and for grace in the shadow of that Phelps guy. USA and Japan softball, for giving an exciting final that may have saved the sport in future Olympics. To all the equestrians…y’all just make me smile (hey, I like horses). Liukin and Johnson—stay friends and you’ll both go farther together than either will go separately. The USA women’s eight team in rowing. Russian pole-vaulter, Yelena Isinbayeva was such a treat to watch given her joie de vivre. Dara Torres for showing that age isn’t necessarily a limit. To both USA beach volleyball teams: it was fun to watch your success. Mariel Zagunis, Sada Jacobson, and Becca Ward for the Fencing medals in saber: y’all made me go to bed later than I liked so I could watch your performances. Lisa Leslie for being such a great athlete, teacher, and ambassador.

Lastly, I want to thank the organizers for the 2008 games for doing such a fantastic job. I’m sure that more money was spent than anyone will ever admit. If done in many countries, game of this quality will all but cripple the economy. London has a very tough act to follow.