For those who don’t know, the opening ceremony of the 2008 Paralympic Games will be held tomorrow in Beijing. The Paralympics have been around in some form since the late 1940s, but the current version, where the event is held in the same city as the Olympics, began in 1988.

I am sure that equality is the genesis behind the establishment of the Paralympics. However, in the past couple of weeks, I haven’t seen much equality in the coverage given to the Paralympics. If the Paralympics are really focused on equality, then we would place as much importance on the results of the Games as we do with the Olympics. However, we don’t, and instead the Paralympics is reduced to a series of puff pieces in the media.

The Chinese government, who is always on the lookout for propaganda, has seized on the Paralympics as way of promoting its benevolence. Check out this article on the official Paralympic website.

The Olympics was all about personalities – superman Phelps, sexy Stephanie, elegant Nastia and forlorn Liu. But I do not know a single Paralympian as they have been reduced to a nameless mush of one-legged and wheelchair-bound athletes. Sure, if someone wins gold then they will briefly make a name for themselves in their home country. However, for the most part, the Paralympians are the unfortunate souls who keep on trying, but to hell with learning their names.

Through being dwarfed by the mega-size of the Olympics, the Paralympics shows that the world is really not a fair place. This is a real shame because the achievements of Paralympians are in many ways more admirable than the achievements of their able-bodied counterparts. Take Natalia Partyka as an example (I finally learnt the name of a Paralympian), the Polish table tennis player who is competing at both the Olympics and Paralympics. To witness a woman serve a table tennis ball with only one arm is truly incredible, but let us focus on the fact that she is a really outstanding performer. Partyka beat Singapore’s Li Jiawei, the World No.6, at the World Championships this year and will start as the No.1 seed at the Paralympics.

Netease published an absolutely hilarious article today, alleging that basketball player Lauren Jackson has been wooing Yao Ming. Apparently she has publicly expressed her love for China's man monster. No mention of when and where she actually expressed this love, but no doubt a bit of Jackson sarcasm has been mistranslated.

When recently asked whether the Australian men’s team could beat the US Redeem team, Jackson said she would run naked around the Olympic Village five times if the Boomers won. I think the Chinese media should have picked up that comment as a sign that Jackson likes to add a bit of colour to her quotes. Please keep reading for a translation of the Netease article.

Lauren Jackson, the woman who is allegedly trying to steal Yao Ming away from China. Picture from Sports Illustrated.

Ye Li’s love rival stops Chinese basketball miracle in its tracks – Jackson has expressed her love for Yao Ming

At a height of 1.98m, not bad-looking and dressed in a figure-hugging basketball jersey, Lauren Jackson, Australia’s No.15, has been the most-watched female basketball player at the Beijing Olympics. Last night, this beautiful woman, who has actively sought a date with Yao Ming, grabbed 11 points and 10 rebounds. Apart from totally dominating Chen Nan, Jackson was the key force behind Australia’s 90-56 victory over China.

Although they lost the match, the Chinese women’s basketball team still has the chance to win a medal – tomorrow they will fight against an ailing Russia.

The 27-year-old Jackson is averaging 27 minutes, 18 points, 7.4 rebounds and 0.8 assists per game at the Beijing Olympics. She has even been called the ‘No.1 sister’ of women’s basketball.

 

However, of more importance is that Jackson publicly expressed her love for Yao Ming even after the romance between Yao and Ye Li (Yao's wife) became common knowledge. She actively asked Yao out on a date, but he refused. Regardless of whether it is on the court or off, Jackson is the ‘enemy’ of the Chinese women’s team. If Ye Li didn’t retire, she would probably take on her former ‘love rival’ directly. Now the job of keeping Jackson under control has naturally fallen on the shoulders of centre Chen Nan.

However, after the match started, the difference between Australia and China’s offensive set-ups (led by Chen Nan) became evident. From the very first quarter, Jackson controlled the rebounds. Before the end of the first quarter, Australia had 13 rebounds to China’s three. By the end of the first half, it was 31 rebounds to 16. Dominated on the boards, China fell into complete passivity. At the end of the first half, China was losing 18-34.

The rest of the match became a training exercise for Australia. China’s coach Tom Maher did not receive any mercy from Jackson and the other disciples that he once coached. Instead they used a strong defence and an accurate offence to increase the lead. Australia ran out winners by a massive 34 points, ensuring that they will meet the United States in the gold medal match. 

When watching the semi-final of the team event in the Olympic men’s table tennis competition yesterday, I discovered that one of the German players looks like the famous tennis player Boris Becker. The table tennis player goes by the name of Christian Suss, and he mustn’t be a bad player because Germany made it to the gold medal match after defeating Japan in the semi-final. Of course, Germany is greatly aided by the fact that it has Timo Boll, the only laowai who has a remote chance of beating the top Chinese players.

After seeing Suss in action, I excitedly told my workmates of his resemblance to Boris Becker, but unfortunately no one knew the German tennis champ. After getting such a poor reaction from my workmates, I have decided to inflict this set of look-alikes on the readers of my blog (who seem to have increased since the start of the Olympics – I have been receiving quite a number of critical comments).

The gold medal match between China and Germany will start tonight at 7:30pm Beijing time.

At first glance, it seems that the Beijing Olympics has been ruined even before the opening ceremony.  The torch relay legs in London, Paris and San Francisco have all been met with fierce protests about the Chinese ‘crackdown’ in Tibet.  However, I believe that one thing needs to be remembered – the Chinese government doesn’t care if the entire world supports the Dalai Lama, just as long as the majority of Chinese citizens still believe the aging monk is a diabolical separatist. 

I believe Andrew Fischer in The Guardian is pretty much spot on – the demonstrations that have dogged the torch relay are actually of benefit to the Chinese government.  Very much like the US government’s War on Terrorism, the Chinese government also thrives on conflict, except a lot of its conflict are being directed at the West.  The Chinese government and the Chinese media are using the protests to further isolate Chinese citizens.  Olympic tourists may now be greeted with the sentence, ‘why are you ruining our Games’, instead of the Olympic song ‘We are ready’. 

Basically, the Chinese government wants to manufacture a world where it is Chinese people against the rest of the world.  The protests have not ruined the Games, but they provided proof that the world is trying to crush Chinese people – and only the Chinese government is fit for the task of protecting them.  Jin Jing, the disabled woman who nearly had the torch snatched from her grasp, has become another Lei Feng, a tale of strength against adversity. 

According to the Chinese government, overseas Chinese are uniting and trying to protect the Olympic torch against all odds.  If you ask me, the Chinese government’s depiction of overseas Chinese blatantly disrespects national boundaries and should be stopped.  It is using the citizens of another country to promote racist and nationalistic policies.  I am sure that not all overseas Chinese support the Chinese government and the Beijing Olympics, but if you watch the Chinese media, you would believe that overseas Chinese are still loyal to the Chinese government.  The protests have attempted to ruin the Olympic torch relay, but they have proved useful to the Chinese government.  Divisions between Chinese people and the rest of the world have widened. 

I recently read an online Chinese article that had the amusing title:  ‘Miss World is from the same industry as Liu Xiang’.  Liu Xiang, of course, is China’s version of Cathy Freeman – the poor and unfortunate soul who has to carry an entire nation’s hopes for Olympic glory.  Liu won a gold medal for the 110m hurdles at the Athens Olympics and is expected to win another gold medal at the Beijing Olympics.  On the other hand, Miss World is 182cm Zhang Zilin, a Shijiazhuang native who works as a secretary in Beijing.  She recently became China’s first Miss World, which I view as a long awaited pay-off for China’s long support of the pageant. 

What could Liu Xiang and Miss World have in common?  Have they dated?  Does Zhang work as the secretary for Liu Xiang’s agent?  These suspicions are all wrong because Zhang’s connection with Liu Xiang is that she actually used to be a hurdler as well.  The article doesn’t mention whether the two have met on the track, but the connection is good enough for Zhang to be sprinkled with Olympic stardust.  She confides to the reporter that she is looking forward to watching the Olympics from the stands. 

Another interesting snippet in the article is that Miss World is currently unattached.  According to Zhang, men are scared off because of her towering height.  The article even lays down a challenge to Chinese men, suggesting that Miss World needs to find a yáng shuài gē (handsome foreign man).    I think that Zhang is a bit too skinny and looks very similar to actress Zhang Ziyi (who I don’t like), but I know a lot of people will disagree with me. 

China's Miss World (centre) with two of her model pals.

The suggestions contained in this post are rather futile, since they don't take into account that the Olympics are solely for money and nothing else.  However, I'll soldier on and make the following suggestions under the premise that the Olympics are really trying to promote world peace and are not a load of marketing claptrap. 

Abolish the medal table.  This will ensure that government funding for the Olympics will decrease quite severely, but it will probably level out the playing field.  Without the ability to measure their relative strength with gold medals, powers such as the US, China and Russia will probably throw in the towel and invest their money elsewhere.  The medal tables are strange – most of the Olympic television coverage shows individual success, so why accumulate the collective strength of countries?  The Australian rowing team probably has very little to do with the track and field team – they would have different coaches and systems of management.  Therefore let's not group them together and slot their gold medals into the same piggy bank.  World peace obviously won't come from rivalry between countries and rivalry is what the medal table represents. 

Abolish national representation.  This suggestion is closely connected with the first one.  Why should nations gain credit for the toil of outstanding individual athletes?  Nations chuck in a lot of funding for some sports, but they only fund the sports that can be used to promote patriotism.  How much money did the Jamaican government give to the famous Jamaican bobsled team?  Probably not much.  In the spirit of the slogan for the Beijing Olympics – One World, One Dream – I hereby declare that the Olympics should be about global citizens competing for individual glory, rather than different nations trying to beef up their egos.  No longer shall Olympians wear national colours and drape themselves with their national flag after victory.  National anthems will not be played, with winners presented to the crowd and television audience as outstanding global citizens.  The traditional opening ceremony precession of national teams should also be abolished, with athletes walking onto the field as a glorious entanglement.  Note that North and South Korea have already set a precedent in this regard. 

Decrease the number of sports at the Olympic Games.  This suggestion is much more realistic than the first two, so I expect the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to heed my words and promptly carry out the suggestion.  Sports that already have a well-known championship, such as soccer, basketball and tennis should be the ones that are dumped. 

As you can see, my suggestions are silly, especially since the Olympics are over-hyped rubbish dedicated to money, money, money.  Nevertheless, the first two suggestions can be implemented - the IOC just needs to remember the One World, One Dream slogan that the Chinese are so proud of.  For those who are actually interested in the real nuts and bolts of the Beijing Olympics, Positive Solutions has a good post about punishments dished out to Chinese Olympians who prefer being individuals rather than robots. 

The big news over the last couple of days has been the soccer brawl between the China Olympic team and the Queens Park Rangers.  The Chinese media has seemingly looked at the brawl with an air of frankness, with the Beijing News even referring to the Olympic team's history of being involved in on field fights.  It is a major disgrace for the team - seven players have been sent home while being on a Chelsea-sponsored training trip to England.  One player, Zheng Tao, had his jaw broken during the fight and the English Bobbies were forced to step in.  I am not sure about the reason for the fight as it was just a practice match.  The English players towered above their opponents and the Chinese may have not liked being niggled.  Last night CCTV 9 showed footage of the brawl and it looked very ugly.  As described in The Australian article (link above), there were some kung fu kicks flying at the English players, but most of them seemed pretty harmless.  I reckon the Chinese are proud of almost everything except their national football teams (women's team excluded).  This debacle further accentuates their sense of depreciation when it comes to Chinese football prowess. 

Link to footage of the brawl at Tudou

Last week I saw that China's champion breaststroker, Luo Xuejuan retired at the ripe old age of 23.  Like Ian Thorpe, Luo's retirement was caused by health problems.   The retirement was even covered in The Age because it had a suitable Australian angle ?namely Luo's retirement improves the chances of Australia's Leisel Jones to win gold at the Beijing Olympics.  What The Age didn't report on though, was that Luo has been admitted into a course at China's premier university, Beijing University.  Admitting champion athletes into top universities is common practice in every part of the world; I can remember that Ian Thorpe was once offered a place at a top university in Sydney.  The offer was reported in the Australian media and a lot of people (or a lot of journalists) were angry that the Thorpedo was getting a free ride into academia.  Top athletes are obviously hard workers that can probably easily adapt to the long hours of study, but I think that they should still be treated according to their academic ability.  They should not be given scholarships because they won a gold medal. 

Chinese athletes are very lucky to be admitted into Beijing University.  Every year the hair of Chinese high school students prematurely turns grey as they stress their way through probably the most rigorous series of exams in the world.  Only a very small percentage will be admitted into China's top universities such as Beijing University and Qinghua.  I think that the ability of champion athletes and other famous people to skip this process cheapens the reputation of Chinese universities.  If diver and airhead Guo Jingjing gains acceptance into Beijing University after she retires, then students should launch a protest march around the Olympic Stadium. 

Will Guo Jingjing be admitted into Beijing University after retirement? 

Former gymnast Lu Xuan is a graduate of Beijing University's faculty of journalism.  She is currently appearing on talk shows around the country trying to kick-start a career as a singer and a television host.  Although it is quite easy to question journalism's place in the academic world (especially in journalist-free China), Lu should have not been allowed to study if her one aspiration is to be a singer.  I am happy for athletes to run successful Nike imitations (gymnast Li Ning) or use their name to promote hair supplement products (Greg Matthews and Shane Warne) but please don't let them into universities for free. 

One of the big stories that occurred this week was the name change of the Olympic mascots.  The Friendlies have had their name changed to Fuwa, which is the pinyin translation of the Chinese name.  This is a very strange move that hasn't been sufficiently explained by the Chinese media.  A report published by YNET.COM explained that Dr Li from Lanzhou University's Academy of Resources and Environment was the first to bring up three major dissatisfactions with the translation of the mascots' name: 

"Firstly, the word 'friendly' has two meanings – 1) 'a friendly person' and 2) 'a match between two sport teams (also a friendly match).  Friendlies is a plural form of both these two meanings.  Secondly, the pronunciation of 'friendlies' and 'friendless' (no friends) is more or less the same and is easily misunderstood.  Thirdly, reading the word makes people believe that 'friendlies = friends + lies', thus causing ambiguity."

Are the reasons above the real reason for the name change?  It seems like nitpicking to me.  I am also confused about the first reason that is offered by Dr Li.  There is nothing bad about a word having plural meanings, especially one that is used to describe the spirit that should be encountered during the Olympics.  The YNET.COM report also said that the name was changed because the English name of the Paralympics mascot is also a pinyin translation of the Chinese name.  In this case, we have discovered the strange precedent of the original product conforming to the latter one.  It is all very strange indeed.  Friendlies was an ugly and contrived name, but at least foreigners could understand its meaning.  By changing the name to Fuwa, is the Beijing Olympic Organising Committee trying to popularise pinyin around the globe?  Or has it realised the main market for the mascots is in China?  Maybe it is actually trying to jack up the price of old mascot toys by giving them new value for collectors.  Now collectors will be vying to buy sets of mascots with both the Friendlies and Fuwa nametags. 

The Australian's Nicole Jeffery wrote a comprehensive report about the trial events that were held in preparation for the 2008 Olympics.  Australia’s sailing team is preparing for light wind conditions after competing in this year’s Qingdao regatta.  Triathlon Australia's high performance director Bill Davoren said that half of the team that competed in the Beijing round of the World Cup was affected by either food poisoning or respiratory infections.  Personally, I find allegations of food poisoning puzzling because I have been in China for three years and have only been affected by food poisoning once after having some bad crab.  Perhaps Australian athletes should be more careful about what they eat.  On the other hand, respiratory infections are more understandable especially for triathletes who are required to swim in lakes. 

The article also mentioned the positive reaction of the Australian softball team after competing in the world softball championships in Beijing.  They were only disappointed by the crowd's lack of basic softball knowledge.  I think that the organisers didn't market the event very well and were happy to give free tickets away to schoolchildren.  The same thing happened with the IAAF World Junior Championships that occurred this year.  It is disappointing that Olympic organisers do not see trial events as a viable way of making money. 

Yesterday I read up on the ‘Bird’s Nest’, the name given to the main stadium for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.  The stadium is called the Bird’s Nest due to its unusual architectural style – the outer wall of the stadium consists of metal strands that weave together like a bird’s nest.  A few weeks ago, the Chinese media widely reported that the steel supports of the stadium have successfully been removed and that the stadium is now standing independently.  The tone of these reports was overly triumphant, especially considering that plans to build a stadium roof have already been cancelled in order to cut costs.  I also heard the TV journalists proclaiming the stadium as being designed by Chinese, but I assumed that I had misunderstood because I remembered reading in That’s Beijing about the stadium being designed by foreigners. 

A model of the Bird's Nest

Yesterday I conducted a search on Bloglines to see if any blogs were talking about the Bird’s Nest.  A blog on Sina written by a man called Ai Weiwei has published a robust article that criticised Chinese attempts to claim the design of the Bird's Nest as their own (ed. - the words on the post seem to have been removed today).  The article has conveniently been translated into English.  I reckon that the Bird's Nest can be interpreted as a reflection of the difficulties that China is having at the moment.  On the one hand, they want to be seen as a rising power and an innovative state.  But the innovative designs of the Bird’s Nest and the Aquatic Centre seem a little bit too much - it is as though China is trying too hard.  Meanwhile, it shows that China really is lacking in innovation because it is so prepared to spend big bucks on importing foreign designs.  I have heard that the design of the stadium cost as much as the stadium’s total construction costs. 

Away from sport, another interesting story about China’s need for foreign ideas surfaced this week in the Australian.  A man involved in the design of a hi-tech weapon that is being developed in Brisbane has accused the Chinese government of offering him $US100 million to move to China and help them develop a similar weapon. 

Yesterday on the TV show Shenbian, a Chinese official (I didn't catch his name) recounted how the President of the Australian Olympic Committee bribed two African officials and ensured that Sydney beat Beijing for the 2000 Olympic Games.  I didn't actually realise that bribery by Australian Olympic officials was common knowledge, but a quick Google search found that the scandal broke in 1999, at the same time that Salt Lake City was found to have used bribery as a means to win the 2002 Winter Olympic Games. 

It seems that China was, and probably still is, mightily pissed off about losing the 2000 bid.  Some people have even linked it to football commentator Huang Jianxiang's dislike of Australia.  Perhaps China is mad because Australia beat them at their own game – courting African officials to deliver votes.  That's what China does on a regular basis when it needs to pass something through the UN or make sure that Taiwan remains on the outer. 

And there's something else that irks me about China using Australian corruption as a reason for losing the Games.  Does anybody else believe that Beijing would've been ready by 2000 to host the Olympic Games?   They're struggling to get the city ready for 2008, so hosting the Games eight years ago would've been no small feat.  I think China was lucky to lose the 2000 bid because that gave them more time to prepare and try to turn Beijing into an "advanced" city. 

The Beijing Olympics is fast-approaching and a recent glut of events has given Olympic preparations a test run.  International athletes were forced to trek out to the Chaoyang Sports Stadium for the International Youth Athletic Championships and yachts dealt with windless conditions in Qingdao. The world softball championship is currently being held at the Fengtai Sports Centre, the first Olympic venue in Beijing to reach completion. 

The Fengtai Sports Centre is situated on the western side of the fourth ring road and is a long trek for most Beijing residents.  The centre currently consists of two baseball diamonds and a bigger stadium which is used for football and athletics.  Yesterday I watched China play Canada at the no.1 diamond and Australia play Holland at the no.2 diamond.  The no.1 diamond has a bigger crowd capacity, thus making it more suitable for hosting games that involve China.  Despite the cheap tickets, the match against Canada wasn’t a sellout and there seemed to be many vacant seats in the temporary grandstand that faces the batter.  Under the dreary grey skies, fans were treated to a tight tussle between two well-disciplined sides. 

The match marked the first time that I have attended a match with Chinese sports fans.  I did attend a match between the Beijing and Australian women’s volleyball teams in 2002, but that only gave me a small taste of Chinese sporting culture.  Yesterday a man in the crowd frequently stood up, waved a Chinese flag and shouted “Zhongguo dui (team China.)”  I actually suspected that the organisers had planted him there as a way of building up atmosphere.  If that was the case, then he was very effective because many of the crowd replied “jia you (add oil)” which is the standard way of voicing encouragement in sporting matches. 

China's 182cm-tall pitcher Lu Wei

The game ended abruptly with China in front by one run.  Even after watching several games of softball on TV, I am still not sure of what dictates the end of the match.  Before the game between Australia and Holland, I watched the start of the match between Greece and Taiwan.  The Taiwanese team was introduced as Chinese Taipei and surprisingly received warm applause from the crowd. 

A small crowd watched Australia lose to Holland 4-2.  The match highlighted the problem of malfunctioning scoreboards that has dogged the entire tournament.  Both diamonds have big electronic scoreboards which clearly show the score and other match details.  Often details such as the number of strikes or bad balls are painfully slow to be displayed, thus making it hard for the crowd to follow the game, especially for those who cannot see the referee.  I wonder whether the people in charge of the scoreboard actually have an interest in the game because it often seems that they nod off.  At one crucial stage of the match between Australia and Holland, an entire Dutch innings was not shown because the scoreboard operator thought that the teams had already switched over. 

Other problems with the scoreboard include the time allowed for the pitcher to deliver the ball and the name of the batter.  The pitcher has 20 seconds to deliver the ball and the countdown from 20 is shown on the scoreboard.  However, there seems to be no rhyme or reason about when those 20 seconds actually start.  According to a friend knowledgeable about softball, the 20 seconds should begin when the two hands of the pitcher come together. 

The scoreboard showed the name of each batter as they came to the plate.  There was, however, a definite lack of consistency in displaying the names of foreign players, with the scoreboard showing a variety of first names, first and last names and last names with initials.  The collection of player details should be more meticulously looked after because this hodgepodge of names looked unprofessional. 

I enjoyed my day out at the softball and the organisation of the tournament seemed well-polished.  There were hordes of geeky-looking student volunteers who would scurry around and take back balls that were hit into the crowd.  Transport to the ground seemed difficult and finding our seats wasn’t easy.   Perhaps volunteers should escort people to their seats to avoid mix-ups.  Crowd numbers have been small, so I am not sure whether security measures are being adequately tested.  I hope to see bigger practice events in the future to ensure a safe Olympics. 

The flags of the 16 teams competing in the competition.  Notice that the flag on the bottom-left is the one Taiwan uses for Olympic competitions and is different from their national flag.