The Olympics are over, and while some may point to all the scandals and things that went wrong. There was of course, the tragedy on the 9th, in which Minnesotan Todd Bachman was murdered. There was the Opening Ceremonies, in which both the fireworks and the Chinese anthem were faked. There was the gymnastics scandal. There were all the protesters that were silenced by being sent off to work camps if they even thought about protesting.
But really, compared to the worst case scenarios that were bandied about, things could certainly have been a lot worse. For example, with the undercurrent of terrorism through the world today, the Beijing games, held in a secular nation that is nearly as hated as the United States by some fundamentalists, were a huge target. That there was only one violent death, committed by a madman and not an act of terror is certainly a tribute to Chinese paranoia and state security.
Both incidents at the Opening Ceremonies weren’t well kept secrets. Even though these incidents were objectionable, especially by Western eyes, the Chinese have been surprisingly willing to cop to these stories. During the ceremony, NBC even said that the fireworks leading into the stadium were faked.
The common theory now with He Kexin is that the documents that were uncovered by Stryde Hax were the forgery, and in fact, she had cheated by entering a town competition saying she was younger than she was. In any event, there is always some speculation in every Olympiad that there is an athlete juicing or cheating in some way. Even if Kexin is cheating, the only thing that makes this different is her appearance in a prominent sport for the host country,
The greatest concern for many was that one of the various protest groups would lead to a major confrontation with the Chinese government during the games, and that the Chinese security would visit crushing vengeance upon them. While the means in which they prevented these protests (sending people away for a month) are objectionable, it may have prevented a bloodbath for the world to see.
Yes, there were a lot of problems with these Olympics. Yes, China’s totalitatian regime was apparent. But all told, it definitely could have been a lot worse. Frankly, the 29th Olympiad was the San Francisco Giants of all Olympics.
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