Opening thoughts

Still reeling from sensory overload from the opening ceremony. The one in Turin was my first in person and it was lovely. But it’s hard to believe anything ever will compare with the precision of Sunday’s opener in Beijing.

The artistry was overwhelming, the precision was stunning, and the power was awe-inspiring. Mind you, as a friendly reporter next to me noted, it’s a little easier to gather 10,000 army acrobats when you’re a totalitarian government.

It’s an advantage Vancouver won’t have in 2010, that’s for sure. But 2010 winter chief John Furlong didn’t sound too worried about it when he spoke with Canadian Press in the afterglow of the closing fireworks.

“Will we have a show like that? No. Will we have a show that’s wholly Canadian? Of course it will and it will inspire the world,” he said.

Furlong said there were more than a few times he looked at the show and wondered, “How did they do that?

“But also, if they can do that, then I can do something as creative.”

There certainly is no shortage of creativity in Canada. The trick will be to pick the right folks and let them loose.

Perhaps Canada will want to throw a changeup, if you want to use the sports parlance. China was very high-brow and cultured on Friday night. Sydney’s show in 2000 was more fun, and it might be wise for Vancouver to take a page from Australia’s book and have a little bit of fun with things.

In an interview with the Star in June in his Vancouver office, Furlong said Canadians don’t necessarily want to be defined by stereotypical Moose and Mountie shows. “Except the rest of the world gets great pleasure out of seeing those things.”

Furlong said he remembers making his presentation to International Olympic Committee members in Prague in 2004, when Vancouver was given the Winter Olympics.

“We had two RCMP officers in the room during the presentation. When it was over, one of the IOC members told me, ‘When they walked into that hall, they had our complete attention.’”

WHAT’S IN A NAME

Hard to believe, but there’s an equestrian athlete representing Britain who goes by the name of Daisy Dick. And she’s actually a pretty good quote. She was asked about her dressage performance down in Hong Kong on Saturday and replied, “I am not satisfied. I find the horse a bit tense and he finds every flower-pot terrifying.”
-
JIN GAME

Australian women’s basketball coach Jan Stirling got to meet Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd at a game the other day. Obviously, the guy makes friends fast. “I’ve never really met Kev before, it was wonderful to have the Prime Minister there and a great thrill for the girls.”

You gotta love a country where they refer to the PM by half of his first name. You think anyone from China calls President Hu Jintao “Jin?” And lives to tell about?

IT HAD TO BE HU

Chinese leader Hu Jintao had a busy time of things on Thursday. Xinhua News Agency put out a list of his appointments late that day that read something like:

15:41: Chinese president meets Laotian president

16:12: Chinese president meets Serbian president

16:42: Chinese president meets Belarus president

17:12: Chinese president meets president of Montenegro

17:42: Chinese president meets Brazilian president

Wow. Think they talked about Brett Favre going to the Jets? How boring could this possibly be for Hu, anyway? And where was Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s session? Oh, yeah, we forgot.

++++

BREW CREW

It costs eight RMB (about $1.35) for a tall Tsing Tao beer at the media village. It’s also 8 RMB for a smaller one. Which begs the question, who’s buying the small ones for the same price as a large? And how do we get their journalists’ license revoked?

Colleague Doug Smith we think has already mentioned this, but the rooftop Coca-Cola bar at the main press centre here has last call at midnight. A lot of sports don’t even end until 11, and guys – and girls – don’t finish work until 2 or 3 a.m. many days. So what’s with the earlier closing? Is this Toronto 1956 or something?

Opening Ceremony

Jim Byers brought running updates from the Opening Ceremony in Beijing. Beijing time is 12 hours ahead of Toronto. Click here to see a photo gallery of full size images from the event.

12:05 a.m. Beijing time:

Li Ning has lit the Olympic torch. Suspended high above the stadium, he lit a pipe that shot a flame into the curlicued base and shot, spiral-form, to the top of the cauldron. Spectacular. Fireworks of all colours exploding all over Beijing.

12 a.m. Beijing time:

Li Ning, Olympic gold medallist for China, is being hoisted into the sky to light the Olympic torch. He's on a rope, suspended above the stadium floor, and is giving the appearance of running on the side of the vertical wall at the top of the stadium, perpendicular to the ground if you get the drift. Ridiculously cool. He's halfway around now and it's something to behold.

11:50 p.m. Beijing time:

Xu Haifeng, the first Chinese olympic gold medallist, has brought the Olympic torch into the Bird's Nest Stadium.

11:35 p.m. Beijing time:

Chinese president Hu Jintao has officially declared the opening of the Summer Olympic Games. He and IOC president Jacques Rogge have each delivered their speeches. Now comes the Olympic flag, and, soon, the lighting of the torch.

11:12 p.m. Beijing time:

Here comes China, led by towering NBA superstar Yao Ming and a small boy who was a victim of the Sichuan earthquake. Needless to say, the crowd erupts in a frenzy of cheering. They've waited a long time for this and the fans are chanting "China" in unison and waving flags and scarves in the air. As they should.

11:05 p.m. Beijing time:

Here comes the Swiss, led by fading tennis star (again, a feeble joke) Roger Federer. The Swedes, meanwhile, are sporting protest badges with Don Cherry's face and a chicken.

It's hotter than blazes, and the guy waving New Zealand's flag appears to have a poncho over his shoulders with feathers from a Kiwi. How nationalistic. The Italians have silver shoes and silver jackets with white pants, and how great is that? On the other hand, when will they get to wear those again?

Asked by the CBC how it felt to carry Canada's flag, Adam Van Koeverden replied, "It was the best experience of my life thus far."

Awwww.....

10:55p.m. Beijing time:

The Canadian Press reports that George W. Bush is the first U.S. president to attend an Olympics on foreign soil. Isn't that weird? I mean, what did the U.S. have against Norway that they stayed away from Lillehammer in 1994? Albertville and France, we can understand (and that would be a joke, folks). Wonder if Obama/McCain will venture all the way north to Vancouver for 2010?

Lots of solid colours for athletes marching in the parade. Plenty of white pants (it's not after Labour Day, unless you mean Chinese Labour Day) so that's okay. And lots of solid jackets; powder blue, red, grey, navy. And lots of hats, including a solid smattering of straw hats.

A big cheer for North Korea; probably no surprise.

Speaking of Canada:

"As we were coming through the tunnel we were singing O Canada a couple times," field hockey player Mike Mahood of Vancouver told the CBC. “The energy is the best part about this thing.
"It’s energy from a Canadian perspective and energy from a global perspective as well. It’s pretty awesome."

Shooter Avianna Chao (born in China but now lives in Toronto): "It’s an extremely powerful experience ... I’m just extremely proud to be Canadian today."

PAUL CHAISSON/THE CANADIAN PRESS

Canada arrives.

10:40 p.m. Beijing time:

A decidely mixed reaction for the Americans, decked out in white pants, blue blazers and white caps that looked like tam o'shanters. Immediately after the enormous American team came in - they took up an entire length of the stadium and then some - came the Virgin Islands. They, too, had white pants, but sported wild print shirts. Somewhere, Jimmy Buffett is standing naked.

Whew, it's still smoking hot in Beijing at 10:40 p.m. They handed out rain ponchos to the media a while ago, and that's not a good sign.

Here comes Zimbabwe, marking 144 of 205 countries who are participating and marching here. Time for a double-tall-no-whip-fat-free-low-tar-fragrance-free-dermatologist-tested latte and a brownie for you. Me, I'd pay a very large amount of RMB for a very cold Tsing Tao.

Numbers Part V:

26 - waiting ambulances

13 - months of rehearsal

4 - depicted inventions of China featured in the ceremony; compass, gunpowder, paper and moveable type

10:05 p.m. in Beijing:

Guys who wear Dockers and golf shirts shouldn't issue clothing critiques. But it's so much fun. I've always enjoyed it when Toronto councillor Pam McConnell wears her "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat" outfit to council meetings. So, I'm wondering why would someone from Guam come here and dress in what one Globe guy next to me dismissed as "funeral director outfits."

Can't figure out what's with the pipe band that's playing as Croatia comes into the stadium. But they've been at it for a while, and now it's "Scotland the Brave."

The Surinam athletes look regal dressed all in white, and now comes Libyan Arab Jamahiriya. Raise your hand if you can describe their flag.

10 a.m. in Beijing:

Spain came in and we spotted NBA star Pau Gasol with his shaggy beard. Looked pretty good in a straw hat, too. Didn't spot Jose Calderon of the Raptors, but figure he was probably there.

Big cheer from the Chinese for the small contingent from Iraq. Not sure what kind of reaction they got from U.S.President George W. Bush. On a related topic, Canadian foreign minister David Emerson doesn't seem to be getting much face time on the Jumbotron.

Hungarian athletes appear to be wearing red maple leaves on their uniforms. Or maybe paint splotches. But we love their country, so no nasty emails, folks. They weren't to everyone's taste, but they're more interesting than the Canadians were. Still don't get the Chinese motif with the Canadian uniforms.

9:47 p.m. in Beijing:

As Canada marches in, some folks were on cell phones back home to family or friends. The women were in white skirts, worn just above the knee; the men wore long white pants. Included in the Canadian contingent was the southern Ontario entertainer known universally in China as "Dashan." Canadians have been known to toss frisbees in the past but that's apparently a no-no in these parts. Most of the Canucks were in white ball caps, but there were a few sporting red turbans; a nice nod to Canada's multiculturalism.

9:45 p.m. in Beijing:

Team Canada has entered the building. Led by Oakville kayaker Adam Van Koeverden, the Canadians came into the giant Bird's Nest stadium in north Beijing decked out, naturally enough, in red and white. There were the requisite waves to the crowd and a few folks were sporting video cameras in the hope of capturing some life-long memories.

Numbers Part IV:

147 - length in meters of the paper scroll laid out on the stadium floor

110 - minutes of music, provided by 18 composers

100 - girls who played the pipa, a pear-shaped Chinese instrument

9:35 p.m. in Beijing:

Getting close to Van Koeverden and Canada, folks. Turn off your email and check out your TV while the boss is busy. Or you could always keep reading this.

9:25 p.m. in Beijing:

Jamaica looking spiffy in yellow and black. The Ukraine, well, we'll leave that to Mr. Blackwell. Yellow and blue with weird piping and yellow socks for the women like the ones Elaine wears on Seinfeld. Papua New Guinea, in the 38th spot, looks very authentic. And the Barbados athletes look pretty darn happy.

A nice roar of approval from the crowd for Chinese Taipei. And we noticed that one of the guys carrying the Olympic flag is a mountaineer of Tibetan nationality.

9:10 p.m. in Beijing:

The athletes are finally showing up, and last time we checked they're the reason for the season. Greece traditionally leads the way, and they're coming in now, clad entirely in white and looking very smart. Because of the Chinese alphabet or writing system, Guinea is second on the list for an athlete's parade that will go on for nearly two hours. Canada is 63rd, so there's time to make some coffee and a bagel, folks.

9:05 p.m. in Beijing:

The fireworks are beginning in earnest, shooting red and green stars into the night sky above the stadium as dancers from all the various segments of the show parade on th estadium floor. Red and green-decked women with giant silver headresses, men in black hats that rise high over their heads, folks dressed as dragons, twirling women in fuchsia silk dresses and pink fans, military men in shades of grey or tan and young women in tennis dresses and white boots.

8:55 p.m. in Beijing:

Giant doves in all colours are being displayed on the upper walls of the stadium as school children in bright clothes talk about nature and global warming. Acrobatic male dancers dressed all in white flip and dance in a powerful display of athletic prowess that's most impressive.

As yours truly was watching all of these billions of peope act with such precision, I couldn't help wondering, "How do these people not own the entire planet?"
"It's early," replied an American reporter in the same row of seats.

Now there's a giant, blue globe emerging from the floor and people are running upside down as lights come on to illustrate the green and blue colours of the earth. But then it changes to a Chinese lantern. Amazing stuff.

BULLIT MARQUEZ/AP

And the view from outside the National Stadium.

8:40 p.m. in Beijing:

A small girl just floated from end of the stadium to another, suspended some 40 feet off the ground. Somewhere, 2 parents were very nervous.

8:35 p.m. in Beijing:

We're 40 minutes into the show, and the colour and drama keeps climbing higher and higher. Opera, costumes that would make legendary Hollywood designer Edith Head green with envy, stirring music and, of course, plenty of fireworks mixed in. The Aussies had a fair bit of whimsy at the 2000 show, but this one's pretty darned serious. Beautiful beyond belief, but not exactly playful. Then again, there's more time to come.

8:30 p.m. in Beijing:

Lang Lang, the young piano-playing star of China, just made an appearance. He's modern and flamboyant and looks like nothing Chairman Mao ever saw in his time of leader of this country. Unless he was taking secret trips to Vegas, of course.

Numbers Part III:

9,000 - performers in the People’s Liberation Army

2,488 - volunteers at the stadium

287 - fireworks points at the top of the stadium

8:25 p.m. in Beijing:

The costumes in this ceremony are beyond stunning. The latest group is wearing what look like giant strands of tan and white silk, with enormous, thin, ivory-coloured sticks emerging from their hats. There also are moveable type blocks dancing up and down on the stadium floor, all powered by humans hidden inside the blocks. Impossible to describe, really. The Chinese invented paper and moveable type, as well as gunpowder and the compass. This part of the ceremony is called "Writing."

8:20 p.m. in Beijing:

A giant scroll has been unrolled on the field, and acrobatic dancers dressed all in black are painting script on the paper as Chinese music plays. You have to think Vancouver 2010 chief organizer John Furlong is taking notes, and probably sweating a little bit over what he'll do to follow China's lead. Anyone for "I'm a lumberjack, and I'm okay?"

8:12 p.m.in Beijing

56 kids from 56 ethnic groups are marching the Chnese flag into the Bird's Nest stadium while a little girl sings. They're beyond adorable.

8:10 p.m. in Beijing:

They're playing the Chinese anthem. Considering their Olympic team, get used to it.

8:08 p.m.in Beijing:

29 fireworks marching north, like giant footprints in the sky, from Tiananmen Square to the Bird's Nest. The fireworks are in full force, and giant, colourfully-dressed "fairies" are floating into the stadium from the sky as fot music plays and giant Olympic rings of light are raised off the stadium floor.

8:01 p.m. in Beijing:

The Games have begun. The Bird's Nest stadium is aglow with fireworks.

7:58 p.m. in Beijing:

Here we go. Fireworks are ringing the Bird's Nest. The Fou players are drumming under strobe lights and red, green and blue flashlights are twinkling in the stands. This is awesome.

Numbers Part II:

15,153 - costumes featured in the ceremony

14,000 - performers on the floor

10,000 - estimated number of potential marriages in China on 08/08/2008 (eight is a lucky number in China, the ceremony started local time at 8:08 p.m.)

7:55 in Beijing:

The audience is doing the wave. Who on earth is responsible for teaching the Chinese to do this?

The music is starting. Very anthem-like music. Much clapping of hands. Chinese president Hu Jintao is waving to the crowd, and International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge is standing next to him in the VIP box.

7:45p.m. in Beijing:

The audience is beginning to chant. They’ve done their pre-game routines with flashlights and there are 2,008 Chinese percussive instruments on the stadium floor. They’re called “fous,” and they’re made of clay or bronze. It’s a hugely impressive sight to see 2,000-plus of these all in precision order. My god, the work that went into this night. Less than 20 minutes to go.

No sign of U.S. President George W. Bush, but the media has pretty good seats. The Star is only about six rows from the floor, right about on the 35-yard line. The atmosphere is 5,000 degrees beyond electric.

Numbers Part I:

4,000,000,000 - estimated worldwide television audience

91,000 - seating capacity of the Bird’s Nest (National Stadium)

60,207 - tickets sold for the Opening Ceremony (which means 30,793 IOC members, National Olympic types, sponsors and media freeloaders)

7 p.m. in Beijing:

Lots of wild costumes for pre-game show … neon lime green and pinks, giant red and yellow umbrellas, Shanghai folk dangers and Uyghur dancers from western China. Pretty cool mix of old and new.

They’re forming the Olympic rings now; wildly dressed folks from the Hui people, performing something called the Passionate Heart Dance. They have to be sweating like crazy in long-sleeved pants, heavy ponchos over their shoulders and big hats.

Boy, the average Canadian may not have a clue as to the ethnic diversity of this country. There are folks dressed like Russians from the west, folks in bright pink outfits that look like something from Thailand and music that alternately sounds Mexican and native American/Canadian. Fascinating.

6 p.m. in Beijing:

The Opening Ceremony for the Beijing Olympics is a couple hours away and it’s stinkin’ hot in the Bird’s Nest. My goodness. We all forgot to bring the little fans they gave us when we checked in that plug into your USB ports on your laptop. Not good.

Looking at the back of the ticket that lets people in, there’s a notice that says people cannot bring in musical instruments, beverages and “large quantities of easily-thrown food, balls, rackets (????), Frisbees and similar objects, large objects such as suitcases (????), bags, flagpoles (surely, they’re kidding), flags of countries or regions not participating in the Games.” I guess the latter means the French CBC reporter who demanded to know if the IOC thought French was being given its rightful due in Beijing can’t float the Quebec drapeau in the press zone.

There’s a video being played on the big screen and Jackie Chan is singing from the top of the Great Wall. Down on the floor fo the stadium, a young man in a bright yellow skirt and open-necked shirt with red trim - very colourful - is standing next to a giant red ball made of steel that looks like the trim on the outside of the Bird’s Nest stadium. A few feet away, an old man is keeping himself cool with a tan-coloured Chinese fan. A couple of nice-looking young girls are standing a few feet away, grinning for a camera and looking as if they can’t believe they’re really here. Neither can I if you want to know the truth.

They say a pre-ceremony show is about to begin. Damned considerate. Stay tuned for details....

Almost Showtime

Looking forward to the opening ceremonies tonight, from which I’ll be filing web updates and a couple of items for Twitter, which I’m still figuring out. Caught the opener in Turin, and they were awesome. Don’t know if there will be a guy on a tractor like we had in Sydney (never figured that one out). But we know the Chinese won’t follow the Greek lead and have a guy appear with a drill and a hammer, pretending to put together seats at the last minute. Everything here was finished round about the end of 2001, six months after they won the Games. Okay, that’s a bit of an exaggeration. They actually had everything ready in 2002.

++++

HOME AWAY FROM HOME

Canada Olympic House was officially opened on Thursday night with a lovely reception. It’s a restaurant called the Yellowstone BBQ and it’s only a short walk from the Bird’s Nest stadium. Canadian Olympic Committee CEO Chris Rudge got in a good shot at the Can West guys, who were first at the buffet table and first to belly up to the free bar.

++++

IT HAD TO BE HU

Chinese leader Hu Jintao had a busy time of things on Thursday. Xinhua News Agency put out a list of his appointments late that day that read something like: 15:41: Chinese president meets Laotian president 16:12: Chinese president meets Serbian president 16:42: Chinese president meets Belarus president 17:12: Chinese president meets president of Montenegro 17:42: Chinese president meets Brazilian president Wow. Think they talked about the Oakland A’s nine-game losing streak? Or the hazy Beijing skies, maybe? How boring could this possibly be for Hu, anyway? And where was Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s session? Oh, yeah, we forgot.

++++

CH – CH – CH – CHANGES

Not to beat a dead horse, but it’s quite remarkable how different this city looks when the weather clears versus how it looks now. I can see a corner of the Bird’s Nest stadium from the hallway of my media village apartment building, and I snapped two pictures; one on a brilliant day a week ago and another today. Check out the differenc.

++++

DECISIONS, DECISIONS

It costs eight RMB (about $1.35) for a tall Tsing Tao beer at the media village. It’s also 8 RMB for a smaller one. Which begs the question, who’s buying the small ones for the same price as a large? And how do we get their journalists’ license revoked? Colleague Doug Smith we think has already mentioned this, but the rooftop Coca-Cola bar at the main press centre here has last call at midnight. A lot of sports don’t even end until 11, and guys – and girls – don’t finish work until 2 or 3 many days. So what’s with the earlier closing? Is this Toronto circa 1956 or something?

++++

MAYTAG MAN

We guess they have these in those small closets that Europeans live in, but it’s weird for a North American to see a machine that both washes and dries your clothes. How do they do that? Doesn’t something get electrocuted or something?

++++

FAIR TRADE

Went to give out a Canada flag pin I bought in downtown Toronto before leaving and noticed the writing on the back: “Made in China.” Sigh.

++++

ZOOM ZOOM ZOOM

The fastest man in Palau, Jesse Tamangrow, hopes to break his personal best time of 11.00 seconds at the Olympic Games. There are only 20,000 people in the Pacific island republic of Palau, but they’ve sent five athletes to Beijing. Besides Tamangrow, there’s a women’s 100 meter runner, a women’s 50 meter swimmer, a men’s Greco-roman wrestler and a male wrestler. All five athletes were trained in other countries because Palau doesn’t have the facilities. 30

New Sports R Us

What’s gone wrong with this country? It used to be that anytime the tall foreheads in charge of the IOC invented another sport, Canada would kick some serious booty. We did it with synchro swimming. We did it again with trampoline. We’ve done it with flip skiers in the Winter Games, too.
So, this time, we’ve got BMX mountain biking, which is supposed to appeal to the sorts of people who stick pins and needles in places nature never intended and sprout tattoos like some south seas islander stumbled upon by Captain Cook. The sport sounds something like roller derby or snowboard cross on wheels, and what could go wrong with that other than smashed bones and foreheads dripping with blood?
The point we’re making (slowly) is that Canucks have always outsmarted other countries by quickly jumping on the new sports and boosting our medal counts. But there’s no Canadian favoured in BMX, despite the fact Toronto is the bike-stealing capital of the world and that we’ve got more mountains to ride bikes down than any country in civilization.
Definitely something amiss.

++++

PURPLE HAZE

Woke up to the thickest, glommiest air we’ve seen here in the capital of all Olympism, at least until Aug. 25.
Most days you can at least see the buildings down the road from the media village. Not on Thursday, though. Visibility MIGHT have been a third of a mile. But you’d have had a hard time describing anything that far away except to say, “Hey, that looks like a building.’”
Haven’t seen anything like this since Los Angeles in the 1960s.
(Folks love to make fun of LA’s air, but it really hasn’t been that bad in a long time. As a student at UCLA back in the late 1970s, my family in northern California loved to make a joke that went along the lines of, “You know what happens when the smog clears? You see LA.” Ha, ha).
This has nothing to do with anything, but if you think folks outside Toronto hate Canada’s most populous city, it doesn’t compare to how folks north of Santa Barbara (more or less) feel about the water stealing, celebrity-loving, smog-inhaling, shallow-minded, overly-tanned and botoxed denizens of southern California. It’s tons of fun.

++++

WHY BUY A MATTRESS ….

Everyone talks about the water cube Olympic swimming pool looking like bubble wrap or some such. Personally I think it resembles a giant mattress. I keep having nightmares about seeing Christine Magee from Sleep Country Canada pop up and start talking about a mismatched bed set sale.

++++

QUIET, PLEASE

You’d think home crowds would be a help for the Chinese. Not everyone sees it that way, though.
“Fighting on home soil may be an advantage in other sports, but in shooting we call it the ’home venue curse’,” said team head coach Wang Yifu in an Associated Press report.
“Mother tongue interference and home advantage pressure are the biggest obstacles,” he said, with his proteges complaining that fans chattering in Chinese was a distraction.
"If they talk in foreign languages, it’s just a noise. But if they talk in Chinese I will subconsciously try to understand and this is a distraction I have to overcome," said Wei Ning, the women’s skeet silver medallist in 2004.

++++

LOVE THOSE AUSSIES

Great item from colleague Jacquie Magnay in the Sydney Morning Herald about a "stoush" that took place between two long-time IOC rivals the other day.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/latest-news/coles-gosper-tell-it-like-it-is/2008/08/06/1217702146306.html

Gotta love it.

++++

OOPS

During the flag-raising ceremony the other night, one of the athletes from Tanzania was nicely standing with his hand over his heart. As the TV cameras used to provide pictures on the big screen at the village panned over his compatriots, you could clearly see that he was the only person making the gesture. One of them happened to look up at the screen, however, and noticed the faux pas was being broadcast to one and all. Quickly, three or four arms snapped to attention and hands fell into place. You never know when the president or prime minister is watching.

+++

JUST FINE, LAUREN

Canadian softballer Lauren Bay spoke passionately at a Canadian Olympic Committee "here's how we're going to do at the Summer Games" press conference on Thursday. Bay talked about the coming softball tournament and how proud she is to represent her country. When her turn at the microphone was over, she turned to chef de mission Sylvie Bernier and whispered, "Was that okay?" Awwww.

-

++++

BE VERY CAREFUL

Speaking of people in power, was rubbing scapulas with an IOC member the other day who was talking about visiting the St. Petersburg office of Russia’s head honcho, Vladimir Putin. Apparently, the joke goes that the old KGB office in St. Petersburg was known as “all of Russia.” The punch line is that it was known as all of Russia because “from here you can see Siberia.”

++++

BONN JOAR

Poor Adam Van Koeverden was asked to say hello to the folks in Quebec on CBC French television the other night after the Canadian flag was raised at the media village. If you missed it, consider yourself fortunate. It wasn’t pretty. But he had a good laugh and at least gave it a shot.

++++

SYLVIE SHINES

Canadian chef de mission Sylvie Bernier is one of only 11 women in charge of team delegations at the Olympics. Considering there are 205 countries here, that’s not very good in the female leadership department.
Bernier, by the way, was a gold medalist in three-meter springboard diving at the 1984 Games in Los Angeles. She’s the last non-Chinese woman to have copped a gold in that event, and that’s saying something.

++++

HEY, AREN’T YOU ….

Spotted at the athletes village the other night were Raptors star point guard Jose Calderon and Sydney Olympic wrestling hero Daniel Igali.
30

Dick Pound at his critical best

Canada’s only International Olympic Committee member has in the past defended his colleagues’ choice of this city as host for the coming Summer Olympic Games. But with the Games only a few hours away, Montreal lawyer Dick Pound today finds himself at the centre of a five-ring controversy that is surely leaving a sour taste in the mouths of his proud hosts.
In a group that prides itself on being politically correct and that’s led by a button-down surgeon from Belgium, the free-spirited Pound once again finds himself standing out in a crowd after levelling criticism at the Beijing torch relay and at the way IOC higher-ups handled a controversy over Internet access for Olympic journalists.
Pound specializes in ruffling feathers with his quick wit and willingness to engage his sharp tongue. Tuesday, during an otherwise routine IOC session, he suggested the Beijing Games might have faced political boycotts if not for the goodwill that poured in from around the world after the May earthquake in Sichuan province.
Pound said the relay should never have been allowed to be run outside China because outsiders were sure to protest the country’s handling of human rights issues and the situation in Tibet.
“This came very close to becoming a disaster,” he said as Chinese organizing committee leaders sat in silence at the front of the posh convention room at a hotel just a few blocks from Tiananmen Square. “The risks were obvious and should have been assessed a little more carefully."
In addition to taking on his IOC colleagues for allowing the torch relay to go outside China, the former McGill University chancellor blasted the committee’s handling of press complaints about China’s blocking of Internet sites it doesn’t like. Pound riled up Canada’s hockey community a couple years ago when, as head of the World Anti-Doping Agency, he suggested that as many as one-third of NHL players might be using performance-enhancing drugs.
IOC chief Jacques Rogge defeated Pound and a couple other candidates in an IOC presidential race in 2001, just days after Beijing beat Toronto and other cities for the 2008 Games A former IOC vice president, Pound has never been a fan of Rogge’s cautious approach at the Olympic helm.
Whether others take up his position and start firing away at the president remains to be seen. But for one day, at least, he seemed to have the leader of the Olympic movement back on his heels.

++++

Got to talking with colleague Dave Perkins about Pound’s remarks over dinner at a terrific restaurant on Dongzhemin Tuesday night when it suddenly occurred to me  (I’ve only covered Olympic issues for 20 years; gimme a break) that Canada is a country known for polite and reticent folks. Yet two of the most outspoken IOC members of the past couple decades come from Canada; Pound and former IOC member Paul Henderson of Toronto.
Henderson, of course, led Toronto’s 1996 Summer Olympic bid, which many said was destined for Athens but which Henderson thought – rightly, as it turned out - was North America’s for the taking. He was undone by a lack of support at Toronto city council and perhaps by some interesting bid work by Atlanta bid officials.
Henderson is the first to call a spade a spade, and he has consistently blasted away at bureaucrats who starve Canadian amateur athletes but then happily hook their wagons onto the Olympic bus and ride around to photo ops, their arms draped around the very athletes they failed to support. And good for him.
Somebody’s got to push the pencil-pushers in Ottawa and at Queen’s Park (and at City Hall and probably the school board), and Henderson’s not one to shy away.
Although he’s no longer an official IOC member, he still knows anyone and everyone in the movement. And he’s a huge supporter of the southern Ontario Pan American Games bid for 2015, figuring that an Olympics might never come our way but that the Pan Ams could bring some desperately needed upgrades to leaking swimming pools and deteriorating gyms and tracks.
Funny that a nice country like ours would spawn both Henderson and Pound. But good for us.

++++

ESCORT SERVICE

A cab dropped a couple of us off in the wrong spot for dinner the other night. We knew we had the right street, Dongzhemin, but it was littered with restaurants and we had no idea how to find the address we wanted. We showed the Chinese script someone had written out for us in the media centre and showed it to a guy on the street. In Toronto, the guy would’ve pointed in the right direction and left it at that. (In Paris, he’d have pointed in the wrong direction just to have a little fun, but that’s another story). Anyway, the young gentleman nodded and started walking with us. Every 50 or 100 yards he’d turn around to see where we were, and he kept pointing further down the street. We walked a block. Then another block. Then crossed a main street. Then walked another block. Then another. Finally, we find the right number and the right place. We offer up about $20 Canadian and he refuses – firmly – and walks away. My God, these people are remarkable.

++++

ULTRA COOL
Erin McLean of Whitby, one of the Canadian softball team members, is pretty happy to be in Beijing. Asked how it feels to be at the Olympics on a scale of 1 to 10, she replied, “It’s about a 12. It’s about as cool as it gets right now.”
McLean was to get a tour of the village on Wednesday and said her dad and aunts and uncles, as well as a couple of friends from back home, will be coming to watch her.

++++

SAY AGAIN?
Australian Olympic Committee vice president Peter Montgomery was asked about Aussie runner Tamsin Lewis saying she’s afraid she’ll have to run against drug cheats at the Beijing Games, thus hurting her chances at a medal.
“Tamsin is not known for hiding her light under a bushel,” he said.
Mind you, that’s not as good as my favourite Australian journalist, Jacqueline Magnay of the Sydney Morning Herald. Jacquie was decked out in a bright red, flowing dress the other night for the opening of the IOC session.
Asked about her attire, Magnay smiled and said she was simply getting a little “frocked up” for the occasion.

++++

COVER UP
Vancouver 2010 chief John Furlong revealed Wednesday that General Motors Place, home for hockey during the Winter Olympics, will officially be known as Canada Hockey Place once the Games begin. IOC rules forbid advertising on venues, so the name on the outside of the building will have to be covered up. That’s one thing if you’re an “outsider” to the Olympics. But GM happens to be an official sponsor of the Vancouver Winter Olympics. But IOC rules are IOC rules, and the General Motors section of the outside sign will have to go under wraps once the Games start.

++++

FRIES WITH THAT?
We’re beginning to like Canadian archer Jay Lyon. Lyon was joking the other day about how it’s still ice-skating season in Canada. He also was asked about his fitness regimen.
“I’m not much of an athlete,” he said. “I eat a lot of McDonald’s.”
McDonald’s being an official sponsor of the Olympics, methinks the comments did not go over well with the IOC’s sponsorship people.

++++

DAILY BLAST:
God, we love the China Daily. The newspaper had some real gems the other day.
One report told the story of a man in Urumqi, capital of the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, has been blind since the age of eight but enjoys sewing. Instead of asking others to thread needles for him, the man, Gao Zhongsheng, has taught himself to do the job with his tongue.
The paper also reported that a woman in Xi’an, capital of Shaanxi province, was driven off a bus when her “loud and prolonged” phone call irritated other passengers. The woman is said to have used foul language and the paper said she “punctuated (her conversation) with raucous peals of laughter.” (We could use some vigilantes like that on the TTC).

A Night at the Opera

One of the advantages of being a media person at the Olympics is that you can wrangle yourself an invitation to the opening ceremony of the International Olympic Committee’s sessions.
The IOC holds meetings every couple years, and there’s always a big foofaraw at the start of one of their sessions, the 120th of which was held here the other day.
When the Sydney Games were held, the opening ceremony for the session was held, naturally, at the Sydney Opera House. There was local opera and aboriginal music, and it was terrific. In Moscow, when the IOC met to award the 2008 Games to Beijing instead of Toronto or Paris or Fresno (okay, it was Istanbul and Osaka), the celebration was at the Bolshoi, which is where colleague Dave Perkins and I rubbed shoulders with the guy he calls “Rootin’ Tootin’ Vladimir Putin.”
So it was with great anticipation that a couple dozen journalists rolled up to the stunning National Grand Theatre the other night in IOC buses (they had blocked half of downtown Beijing for us to go from the official IOC hotel to the concert venue, which always kind of troubles me. It’s nice to get special treatment, but I hate inconveniencing the locals just so I can get to a concert on time, and I also have to think they’re looking at some idiot from Toronto getting off a bus and thinking to themselves, who the hell is that guy and why does he get a police escort?. Anyway, the centre is a stunner; a glass and steel structure designed in the shape of an egg just a few yards down the road from Tiananmen Square. It’s gorgeous to behold, and it’s surrounded by a shimmering, man-made lake.
We entered from below, so when we stood in the reception area sipping our Tsing Tao and wine we could look up at the glass roof above us and see the “lake” waters shimmering.
A band in the upper balcony, hard by the media types, played the Chinese anthem, which is stirring but surprisingly short, and the Olympic anthem.
After the requisite “peace and harmony and sportsmanship” speeches from Chinese president Hu Jintao and IOC chief Jacques Rogge, the Chinese national orchestra appeared on a stage that rolled towards the audience on a hidden mechanism and clicked into place.
The music was lovely. But they had a fellow from southern California singing The Barber of Seville, and at the end they played “All Toast” from La Traviata. Only a couple numbers had any sort of Chinese sound to them.
The Beijing duck afterwards was great, and the post-concert reception showed off the stunning wood and glass roof in the centre. But it seemed like many folks were disappointed there wasn’t more of an Asian theme to the evening. We can hear La Traviata anywhere. But most of us who came from halfway around the world were dying for some Beijing opera or at least a couple acrobats.
++++
WHAT IF …
With the ceremony taking place in Beijing, someone who wrote about the 2008 Summer Olympic vote (Beijing, you may recall, defeated Toronto, Paris and Fresno, or was Toronto, Paris, Istanbul and Osaka; the memory fades) wondered what would’ve happened if Canada had somehow defeated the Chinese back at the IOC vote in Moscow in 2001.
“Everybody does it their own way,” said Bob Elphinston, who helped organize the Sydney Games and served on the evaluation commission that gave the white glove treatment to the 2008 bid cities prior to the IOC vote. “Nobody could hope to prepare anything the way the Chinese have. The scale is immense and the buildings are spectacular. The way they’ve dressed up the city, it’s fantastic.
“Canada is a great sports country and Toronto would’ve been terrific. You would’ve redeveloped your waterfront. But Beijing is different.”
Elphiston said some folks will compare Vancouver to Beijing, but the big pressure will be on London to try to live up to China’s Games when it hosts the 2012 Summer Olympics.
“This,” he said, “is going to be a tough act to follow.”
++++
FASHIONISTA
When it’s hot in Beijing, and it has been, it’s not uncommon to see men roll up their t-shirts over the top of their pot bellies. One guy the other day rolled his up to his breasts and rolled his sleeves over so it looked like he was wearing a white, cotton bra. That’s one fashion trend we hope doesn’t make its way to North America.
++++
FEELING THE HEAT
Chinese artistic gymnast Cheng Fei was talking the other day about the expectations placed on her and other athletes from China. “So many people expect us to get gold medals, and it’s really a great pressure for us. Sometimes I feel it’s hard to breathe or even cry under the pressure.”
Wow.
++++
ICE ICE BABY
We think he was kidding, but someone on Monday asked Canadian archer Jay Lyon how his training was going. “It took me a while to adjust,” he said. “I'm from Canada; it’s practically still winter there. People are still ice skating.”
Nice job perpetuating the stereotypes there, buddy.
++++
PRIORITIES
Canadian sailor Zac Plavsic was asked about his favourite things in life. “I love RS:X sailing,” he said, “but playing guitar is more important to me.” Guess we shouldn’t be penciling him in for a medal?

A three-hour tour

Got our first visit of a Chinese hutong the other day, the famous neighborhoods that feature old-fashioned, narrow streets and courtyards filled with small homes. Many have been razed in the name of progress, but there’s a number still remaining. The media was given a three-hour tour of Beijing and only allowed to stop once, that to check on one of the hutongs after much pleading with tour organizers. It was only a glimpse, but it was pretty cool. Neighbors greeted each other as if long lost friends the way they only do in places with close surroundings (ever see anyone jump out of their SUV in a large mansion and run next door to hug their neighbor? I mean, without spilling their latte?). Kids clambered on steps and bikes of all shapes and sizes rambled past with racks overflowing with vegetables or parcels wrapped in brown paper. A row of bikes stood silently in one of the narrow alleyways, and the family’s laundry was flapping in the breeze perhaps six inches from the curb of the street.

Our tour guide, who was pretty good despite refusing to stop at Tiananmen Square so we could take pictures, explained that families usually lived in prescribed styles in courtyard homes. The rooms in the southern parts were given to the elderly because they would be warmer in winter (with the sun coming from the south at that time of year) and cooler in the summer, when the sun was higher in the sky. Males were in the eastern portion of the courtyards, while females and married couples took up shelter in the west. At least I think that’s what she said. Definitely an experience.

++++

HOOPS NATION

Badminton and ping pong still rule, but basketball has become increasingly popular in China. There’s a giant likeness of Yao Ming outside a sporting good store on Wanfujing Street, near Tiananmen Square. Not far away on Sunday night, a huge throng of youths, perhaps a couple hundred, were gathered under the lights playing pickup games in the gathering dark. Not far away were huge stores for everything from Gucci to Dolce and Gabbana and Ferragamo. You wonder if Chairman Mao, who’s buried nearby, would recognize the place.

++++

COME ON IN

Spotted on the street near Tiananmen Square: a restaurant with the name “Palatable Pizza.” It’s not very good, folks, but it’s palatable.

++++

WHOLE LOTTA CARS

Sunday night it took 50 minutes to drive five miles in choking traffic. Whatever happened to the city where everyone used to ride bikes, anyway?

A story in the China Daily states that Beijing’s subway system will be the world’s largest by the middle of the next decade, surpassing the 415 km kilometers of subway in London. The city has since 2002 has invested more than $7.69 billion U.S. on the subway, and yet the traffic is still thick.

The first subway track in the city wasn’t built until 1969 but there’s now 200 kilometers of subway line in the city.

It costs only two yuan, about 27 cents Canadian, to buy a subway ticket. Guess they get a bit more subsidy than the Toronto Transit Commission.

30

The kindness of strangers

Say what you want about the Chinese government, and lots of people do, but the people are as friendly as you can imagine at the Olympic centres. A straggling reporter arrived late at the media village the other night to find the shop that sells Tsing Tao beers for $1.50 Cdn was closed. He was visibly shaken by the experience. But no problem. A key was produced, a cash register powered up and a smiling worker was happy to help. Great folks. Later, that same reporter (okay, guilty as charged) misplaced his Chinese address book on a media bus. An eager volunteer called the phone number on the business card inside and brought it back to the Main Press Centre a couple hours later.

HEY SAILOR: The people in the tourist business also are super-friendly in these parts. One woman spotted a Canadian with his knapsack and Olympic accreditation and stopped him on the street near Tiananmen Square. “You a visitor?” she asked in halting English. “Yes,” came the reply. “Here, you call,” she said. The card she handed the reporter showed her company as the China International Travel Service Head Office and Beijing Air Service Company. “You call,” she said. “Full body massage. You call.”

WHEELS UP: China has increasingly become a city of cars. But a trip downtown the other day revealed plenty of people still out on bikes. Oddly enough, a lot of the bikes parked on the sidewalk aren’t even locked. Of course, nobody wears a helmet. And most of the bikes are pretty old and rickety. But it’s fun to see women in slinky dresses riding their bikes alongside grungy looking older men. And there’s a wide variety of styles, including some with small motors or second seats for passengers. One guy yesterday was towing a small cart with two buddies lying down (pictured), both of them shielding their eyes and faces from the searing afternoon sun.

TOILETGATE: Goofy as it may be, it’s common for journalists at the Olympics to be told to tape over the logos on their computers if they’re not made by the company that happens to be the official laptop supplier of the Olympic Games. But someone at the Main Press Centre has taken it to another level by placing small strips of grey duct tape over the logo of the urinals in the men’s washrooms. We kid you not. American Standard apparently isn’t the official toilet of the Olympics. Or maybe somebody doesn’t like Americans, which is kinda hard to believe in China. Isn’t it?

HEADING OUT? International Olympic Committee member Kevan Gosper, who’s been head of the IOC’s press commission for a couple of decades, is said to be on his way out the door. Gosper raised eyebrows this week when he told reporters he was sure his boss, president Jacques Rogge, knew that Internet sites in China had been blocked from journalists’ view by the Chinese government. You don’t hang your boss out to dry like that in any world, let alone the cutthroat world of the IOC.

WEB TROUBLE: There’s been tons written on the issue of Internet access. You can blame the Chinese for blocking journalists’ access to websites they don’t like, but this comes as a surprise? And the IOC didn’t know about this? What a load. Olympic voters knew what precisely what type of bed they were climbing into when they checked their ballots next to “Beijing” back in 2001, bypassing Paris, Toronto and other cities. Many IOC types come from countries that are just as undemocratic as China, and they don’t really care who they give the Games to as long as the buses run on time (buses for journalists, that is; they all take private limos in specially designated Olympic lanes) and provided there are plenty of nice, five-star restaurants. For the IOC to say all they can do is encourage the Chinese to provide full Internet access is a complete load. They could’ve written a demand for full access into the contract when they gave China the Games. They didn’t do it.

MIA: By the way, whatever happened to the torch relay?

HONEST MAN: Give Turkish sailor Ates Cinar full marks for honesty. Apparently his coach had a dream that Cinar would win a medal. Asked about the coach, Cinar replied, “I’ll give this dream a one per cent chance.”

SPEED KILLS: Australian swimmer Markus Rogan was asked abut the new Speedo LZR suits that have helped his fellow swimmers set new records almost daily. "I tested it," Rogan said. "I threw it in the pool and it didn't move at all. So I'll still have to swim."