Articles

[armageddon818]

I'm on the newspaper at my highschool, and since I am currently writing my next piece, I figured I could post some of my other works (well, news articles/features) up here in the meantime. I plan on having my next one be On the Capacity to Speak... because I am a Language nerd! Anyway, here is one of them...something i wrote about the Olympics last summer...enjoy! Something tells me this is not the edited one though...sorry!

 

China on the World Stage:

Scandals Marr 08’ Beijing Olympic Games

 

On the morning of August 8, 2008 in the United States, it seemed as though no one was paying much attention to the pink-washed sky of a New England sunrise, but instead were entranced by a sunset in a distant land. It was Beijing, China which captured the world’s attention, hosting for an Olympiad for the first time. The 2008 Summer Olympics were kicked off by a spectacular opening ceremony held by the Chinese, aimed at making the world just a little bit smaller.

However, it was this very ceremony that sparked an unprecedented number of scandals during these supposedly “sportsmanship-oriented” games. Even so, with a turnout of about 211 countries from across the globe, and a U.S. total medal count of 110, one might ask: “What got more publicity, the games or the gossip surrounding them?”

To answer that question, one must look at the media coverage of the preliminary Olympic procedures. Thousands of protesters around the world appeared on the streets where the symbolic Olympic torch was paraded about to combat China’s selection as a host country due to their mixed background in civil rights and the oppression of Tibet. Hundred of broadcasters everywhere covered this, but did anyone really get much news about the athletes themselves? No, until the actual start of the games themselves, the public heard next to nothing about the games, but plenty of controversy and rumors going on about China and which countries were going to boycott the Olympics.

During the games, the score began to even out with exciting coverage on athletes such as the now legendary Michael Phelps, a swimmer who broke the life-long gold medal holding record (he has 14 total gold medals), as well as the all around record for most gold medals earned in one Olympic Games (8 of his 14 gold medals were from the 2008 games), formerly held by fellow swimmer Mark Spitz. Shawn Johnson and Nastia Liuken of the U.S. Olympic Women’s Gymnastics team also received plenty of publicity as they won the gold medal on the beam apparatus and the all-around gold medalist respectively. And yet it seems as though the athletes were undermined again by a string scandals.

The opening ceremony itself served as the venue for three of the earliest discrepancies. A seven year old Chinese girl named Yang Peiyi was originally selected to sing “Ode to the Motherland” at the opening ceremony, but was replaced by nine year old Lin Maioke, who merely lip-synched and mimed the rendition. More startling was the fact that no injury or emergency caused Peiyi to be excluded; instead, she was deemed “not cute enough” because of minor orthodontic imperfections. Another dispute in the ceremony involving children was the dressing of young Chinese boys and girls in Tibetan clothing in an attempt to show a politically neutral environment. In short, that plan backfired, as it only succeeded in creating a more politically-charged situation. To cap off the opening celebrations, a grand display of technologically advanced fireworks were displayed- well, they were if you saw it on television. These “technologically-enhanced” fireworks were computer generated, making a visible representation of the footprint fireworks sparkling across the Beijing sky. The imposters were indeed excellent in quality, having taken years to conjure up; it is just a shame that the people who actually were there could not have witnessed them.

The 16 day Olympiad was characterized by a back and forth tug-of-war between the athletes’ and rumor’s control over the media. The American total medal count rose to the top; reporters found out that merchandise being sold at the Olympics was made in abusive sweatshops. Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh won the gold medal again, keeping their title; the Chinese government tore down poor neighborhoods to build the Olympic Green, leaving thousands homeless. The Chinese almost completed their sweep of the diving events’ gold medals; another scandal popped up that the Chinese audiences were paid to attend games for extra media coverage. The U.S. Olympic Men’s Gymnastics team won the bronze in a stunning upset for Russia; female Chinese gymnasts were thought to be underage and the judges biased.

This flip-flopping of coverage between the players and the scandals only served to hurt the integrity and peaceful nature of the games. Perhaps the Chinese were under excessive pressure from too many places to not find some fault in the events of these Olympic Games. Perhaps the Chinese government could have tried a little harder to improve its image on the global stage. Perhaps some people thought that the games were just as good as always, but there are many who would disagree. Yet above all else, two new questions present themselves after the close of the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China: What were the Olympics about before? What are they about now?