Beijing 2008 Olympics 到北京看奧運 (Aug 2008)

[chin]

Even though I had spent a few years studying in the US, I confess I had never watched a game of NBA, NFL or MLB. Not even the Super Bowl.

So this is the first time I see NBA style cheerleading. It was quite entertaining.

From my own observation and reading other people's comment, the Beijing Olympics injected lots of entertainment elements into the competitive events.

Almost every time out was filled with upbeat music. Even fencing, so I heard.

And many intervals were filled with cheerleader shows, even in sports without such tradition, such as volleyball.

I guess the Beijing Olympics Organizing Committee has learned a bit from NBA and beach volleyball.

[chin]

More pictures of cheerleading and side shows.

I was kind of surprised to see the large number of non-Chinese looking people working the "front" - the blond cheerleaders, the American looking guys who did the basket stunts, and the large number of westerners manning the TV cameras. (See pictures in the later athletics events.)

And I read later that a large number of Chinese cheerleaders were coached by a Korean cheerleading school in Beijing.

I was surprised because a few years ago, the use of non-Chinese in front line would be seen as lost face, because as if Chinese could not perform the job.

In fact, people critical of the Beijing Olympics, or critical of China in general, frequently point out that the Chinese government bought the Olympics, that the landmark venues were designed and project managed by foreigners, etc.

I, on the other hand, think it's a good sign. A sign that the country and its government is gaining confident in itself, thus "small thing" like whether using foreign talents are judged on merit basis, instead of on face or political basis.

I don't think anyone who has attended the Beijing Olympics in person could argue that Beijing had put on a very good show.

We came away very impressed (besides the lack of food choice). More on this later.

[chin]

20-Aug-2008. Today we watched two volleyball matches.

I was kind of tired for the day, and knew we would be sitting at the far back, so I decided not to bring my camera gears. Big mistake! Luckily my kids brought theirs.

The venue is an old stadium in the middle of the city. As we got off the taxi, we had to push through a thick wall of ticket scalpers.

The stadium was jam packed, because the first match was China vs Brazil. This was the first of the 2 or 3 full houses I saw in this trip. After the Chinese team was defeated, the stadium was half emptied.

This phenomenon may help explain one of the most commonly raised complaints by TV audience about empty seats. Try to put the following together and see if it makes any sense.

- The face values of the Olympic tickets were generally very cheap. The tickets to 1/4 finals and qualifying round were sold for RMB40 to 60 each, or US$5 to $8. The final, gold medal producing events are a bit more expensive at RMB200 - 400 each, or US$25 to $50.

- Organized ticket scalpers can easily afford to purchase most the tickets at the initial offer price, hoping the Chinese team will be in many of these 1/4 or 1/2 finals.

- The mainland audience is mainly interested in events where the Chinese team is present, or the finals of popular sports. These are event where the ticket scalpers can sell the tickets at good multiples of the face value. Profit from these events would cover the cost of holding unsold tickets to events where the Chinese team was not present.

- Given the wealth gap in the mainland is quite big, it's also very possible that people would purchase multiple tickets, even with conflicting time. So they will choose which event to go depending on which teams are competing.

I don't know if the above are true, but for sure the secondary market for tickets were very active, judging from the amount of people offering to sell or buy tickets.

BTW my friend who works in Beijing told me that all his friends applied for the lottery for the RMB4000 closing ceremony tickets, because they could easily re-sell the ticket for RMB8000 to 26k depending on timing!

[chin]

The Chinese team was not even close to match the Brazilians.

But that did not stop the fans from loud cheers. It was loud. Very loud. Thundering shaking kind of loud that cannot be experienced on TV. I guess this is the fun of participating in live sport events.

In western culture, you boo a team usually because it has done something wrong, such as behaving unfairly. You don't usually boo a team just because it's against the home team.

But not in China. The boos to the Brazilians were equally thundering and shaking, kind of. Do you call this cultural difference, or lack of sophistication (from western point of view?)

At the end, the Brazilians got the last laugh, plus the last dance and party, in the stadium during the break. They were loud and colorful. Many local audiences were fascinated by their very outward unrestrained display of joy.

I did not detect any hostility from the Chinese audience. So I guess the boos were just a (wrong) way to support the home team.

2nd picture is the cheerleading in volleyball. With some loud music. Almost like beach volleyball? I have never seen this before.

[chin]

22-Aug-2008.

We got up very early in the morning to see Taekwondo. We requested tickets for this event because one of my kids is practicing the sport.

Whatever happened to these women, it was very emotional. I have no idea what they were talking. From the uniform, they seem to be from Greece and Germany.

Another ticketing related story.

In the second picture, the venue did not look too full. But apparently all tickets were gone.

As we were leaving the venue, we overheard a central Asian looking man outside the gate saying that he was waiting for his wife. His wife was competing inside, but he had no ticket to go in!!!

[chin]

The earlier sessions were all girls' fights. By the time for the men's competitions, my kids had lost interest in the fights already. So my pictures are all girls' fights.

[chin]

If it was fun to watch two women fight, wouldn't it be more fun to watch a princess fight?

That's right!

The woman in red gear was Princess Sheikha Maitha al-Maktoum from the United Arab Emirates. Her father is the ruler of Dubai and owner of the biggest race horse stable in the world.

Her Highness fought aggressively, perhaps including some unusual moves in the second picture

[chin]

Princess al-Maktoum was definitely not a push over, although she eventually lost to the Korean

[chin]

Looked like a whole clan was cheering for Yoriko.

Let's see how she fought...

[chin]

There is an old Chinese saying "先禮後兵". And I believe the similar philosophy in this expression was widely adopted by the nearby Asian cultures.

This expression can be roughly translated as:

1. First negotiation then war. OR

2. First rituals then war.

Yoriko was definitely taken the second meaning to heart.

Every time after she got on the stage, the first thing would be to turn around and bow to the coach, as if a general bowing to the lord before leaving for war.

The second bow was a bit of a puzzle to me. I am not sure she was bowing to the opponent out of politeness, or bowing to the arena.

A friend of mine who is highly ranked in Japanese martial arts told me that bowing to and respecting the arena is a deep rooted tradition in Japanese martial arts. Although Taekwondo is Korean, she could be acting out simply being Japanese.

Nonetheless, once the bows were done, the fight was as fierce as it can be.