2008 Olympics-Beijing

by Ghulam Suhrawardi

Being at the Olympics this year as spectator was something special. The way the Chinese organized this event cannot be cited in the history of the world. The entire nation was a part of it; from the President on down to the man on the street. Every Chinese took it upon him or herself about the event for Almost 5 years. They prepared themselves for all these years for a climax that happened for 16 days this month.

There were about 1.5 million workers that participated in organizing the game. Of this, about 1 million were unpaid volunteers. One has to wonder why the Chinese people are so enthusiastic about this event.

They wanted to show the world that they are great and that theirs is a great nation. Above all I felt that their spirit is incomparable to anything I have seen anywhere. Being a business traveler round the world, I take a philosophical view to people and their civilization. The Chinese always fascinated me.

Being an American of Bangladeshi origin, I always remain in a dilemma. Most of the time, I take the side of Bangladesh. When I see a player or a reporter from Bangladesh, I invite them to a dinner or some events and love to get into their mindset. Conversing with them, I learn our nation has not caught up to the competitiveness in the world arena.

I keep thinking why not? When I was a child in the sixties, our parents always wanted us to be a doctor, engineer or a civil servant as these gave a steady career and a guaranteed future. Parents could not take a chance with their children falling ashtray with a thing like sports.

Then I wonder why do the Chinese triumph in such a big way? Their economic background was similar to ours just a few years ago. They were a third world economy. How did the Chinese become so competitive and raced up so fast? How did they get into sports in such a big way? It puzzles me. I have no answer.

In China, there is a Sports University. Why did they build a university just for sports? They have realized sports are as important as any other activities in life. Sports are healthy, it builds character and the dynamics of competitiveness. Above all, the young people will become creative, proud citizens and productive force in nation building.

Then why do we not take it up seriously? I do not have the answer. Being a sportsman myself, I take sports as seriously as business. I feel my success in business is related to stiff competitiveness I experienced in sports. Sports kept my mind clear from social disruptions. I believe “healthy body creates a healthy mind”.

I spoke to the Bangladeshi sportsman and their sponsors and all agreed our nation must give more importance to sports and probably make it a curriculum in the schools and colleges giving it as much importance as other subjects. Or perhaps give other incentives to entice young people into sports.

The Opening ceremony

August 8, 2008

Beijing held its formal opening ceremony on August 8, 2008 for the 2008 Summer Olympics. The ceremony, held in the National Stadium known as the Bird’s Nest, was attended by thousands, and watched by millions more on television.)

                  

The closing ceremony

August 24, 2008

After attending the spectacular closing ceremony at the Beijing Olympics and feeling the vibrations from hundreds of Chinese drummers pulsating in my ear drums, I was thinking of two things,  one: “the energy coming out of this country is unrivaled.” And, two: “How do we catch up with them?”

On one hand, one has to reckon, a two-week Olympic event should not be over interpreted. Olympics don’t change history. They are mere snapshots — a country posing in its best garb, putting up the best face. They drove the poor migrant workers out, kept the reporters at bay, and almost stopped giving tourist visas to foreigners. All actions taken fearing someone may spoil the show. But, as snapshots go, the one China presented through the Olympics was enormously powerful — and it’s one that everyone in the world should look closely and examine themselves.

China did not build the magnificent $43 billion infrastructure for these games, or put on the unparalleled opening and closing ceremonies, simply by the dumb luck of discovering oil. It was the culmination of seven years of national investment, planning, concentrated state power, national mobilization and hard work.

As I sat in my seat at the Bird’s Nest, watching thousands of Chinese dancers, drummers, singers and acrobats on stilts perform their magic at the closing ceremony, I couldn’t help but reflect on how China and the rest of the world have spent the last seven years: China has been preparing for the Olympics; America has been preparing for Al Qaeda. They’ve been building better stadiums, subways, airports, roads and parks. And Americans have been building better metal detectors, armored Humvees and pilotless drones. The third world got poorer and like a long distance race, their gap was getting larger and larger.

While most second and third world countries were having crumbling  infrastructure, the Chinese built a sleek airport in Shanghai and taking the 220-mile-per-hour magnetic levitation train, which uses electromagnetic propulsion instead of steel wheels and tracks, to get to town in a blink.

Then ask yourself: Who is living in this third world country?

Yes, if you drive an hour out of Beijing, you meet the vast dirt-poor third world of China. But here’s what’s new: The rich parts of China, the modern parts of Beijing or Shanghai or Dalian, are now more state of the art than rich America. The buildings are architecturally more interesting, the wireless networks more sophisticated, the roads and trains more efficient and nicer. And, I repeat, they did not get all this by discovering oil. They got it by digging inside themselves.

While the Americans were busy trying to eliminate the Al Qaeda base in Afghanistan and investing in tighter homeland security, trying to build democracy in Iraq, the Chinese were busy building their nation.

The Closing Ceremony of the 2008 Olympic Games

 

 

Entrance of the President of PRC, the President of IOC and VIP

 

Entrance of the NOC Flags

 

 Entrance of the Athletes

 

 Marathon Victory Ceremony

 Lowering the Olympic Flag and singing the Olympic Hymn

 

Handover Performance

The 2012 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games reunites the world’s greatest sporting event with one of the world’s greatest sporting event with one of the world’s great cities. In the year in which we mark the anniversaries of the 1908 and 1948 Olympic Games in London, we are enormously proud to receive the Olympic Flag tonight as we begin our journey tonight from Beijing to London, where the Games will be held in the heart of one of the world’s most culturally vibrant, diverse and sports passionate cities.

London Mayor Boris Johnson waves the Olympic flag.

Red double-decker bus (Photo credit: Xinhua)

 

Extinguishing the Olympic Flame

 

Bangladesh’s Olympic participation

Since independence in 1971, Bangladesh has never qualified for the Olympics. In order to increase the number of countries to be present in the Games, the International Olympic Committee issues some wild cards every time to those countries who are not qualified.

Bangladesh got six wild cards for the Beijing Olympics, two each for the three sports.

Six players from Bangladesh to compete in three  sports of athletics, shooting and swimming.

Bangladesh sent observer to Olympic Games in 1976, and sent players for the first time to 1996 Atlanta Olympics.

Bangladesh Olympic Association director and CEO Wali Ullah told Xinhua in an interview that Bangladesh is weak in sports, because the country’s economy is not developed.

“In order to improve our sports, we must develop our economy, because sports and economy are related,” he said.

Ullah said Bangladesh is well preparing for the Beijing Olympics, all the players who will attend the Games are under hard training.

Although eligible to compete in 1980, Bangladesh boycotted the Moscow Games. Made its Olympic debut in Los Angeles in 1984, when it sent one athlete. Has never won an Olympic medal.

 

Beauty’s long journey from Bangladesh

Orphaned as a child, Bangladesh’s fastest woman was taken in by her next door neighbors and later encouraged into athletics by a coach who spotted her potential.

Beauty, like the other five members of the country’s team, have made Beijing after struggling through abject poverty.

Swimmer Dolly Akthar, who competed at Sydney and Athens, learned to swim in ponds, while sprinter Abu Abdullah, placed his athletics career on hold to join the Bangladesh army and was a member of the United Nations peacekeeping force in Ivory Coast.

Abdullah returned home in late 2007 in an effort to regain his fitness before Beijing and, like Beauty and Akhtar, was granted an International Olympic Council (IOC) wild card to ensure all member countries were represented at Beijing.

The real reward for the six athletes and seven officials, however, is from marching behind their team’s flag at Beijing’s National Stadium on the opening day.

Bangladesh’s fastest woman Beauty, who took part in heat number seven, finished last among the eight participants with a timing of 12.52 seconds at the National Stadium in Beijing.

Beauty went behind Pakistan competitor Sadaf Siddique, who finished 61st with a timing of 12.41 seconds while other South Asian athletes Chandra Kala Thapa from Nepal and Rabina Muqimyar of Afghanistan finished 72nd and 80th covering the distance in 13.15 and 14.80 seconds respectively.

Earlier, Bangladesh’s fastest man Mohammad Abu Abdullah finished 67th among 80 contenders in the heats of the men’s 100-metre sprint at the same venue Friday. He took 11.07 seconds – a fall from his previous best 10.30 seconds – and finished ahead of 13 athletes.

Like Beauty, Abu Abdullah also finished last in the heat number 8 where Derrick Atkins of Bahamas was placed the first covering the distance in 10.28 seconds.

Bangladesh swimmer Dolly Akhter, in her hattrick participation in the Olympic Games, was placed 73rd among the 90 competitors in the heats with a timing of 30.23 seconds.

 

Pakistani perspective

The Pakistani contingent for Beijing Olympic Games comprised of 35 people including 21 players and 14 officials. Pakistan is only qualified for the men’s field hockey and some wild card holders who participated in the Olympic Games.

Pakistan’s head coach Khawaja Zakauddin has resigned following his team’s poor showing in the Olympic Games hockey tournament in Beijing. Zaka, a former Olympian who took over as Pakistan’s manager and chief coach last year, “accepted the responsibility” for the Greenshirts’ unimpressive performance in Beijing and said that he has decided to quit.

Three-time champions Pakistan made a poor start to their Olympic campaign in Beijing by losing to lower-rated Great Britain in the opening game and were never able to recover from that setback. They beat Canada and South Africa, but lost to defending champions Australia and Holland to go out of the race for the last-four stage.

Pakistan’s plight was worsened in the play-offs when they lost to New Zealand to finish eighth.

Their failure to finish among the top-six in Beijing means that Pakistan will not be able to feature in the 2009 Champions Trophy. It is a huge blow for the country that started the elite six-nation tournament in the early 1980s.

Indian perspective

After a resounding campaign at the 29th Olympic Games in Beijing, the Indian contingent including the two bronze medalists, boxer Vijender Singh and wrestler Sushil Kumar arrived at the Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi on Monday night.

The Indian contingent, which created history by winning as many as three medals including one gold was received by the Union Sports Minister MS GILL at the airport.

Director General Sports Authority of India Shyan Chatterjee along with other important officials of SAI were also present there.

Speaking to the media, Sushil Kumar exuded, “Although I have won bronze this time, I am confident of winning a gold medal in the forthcoming Asian and Commonwealth Games in addition to the London Olympics.”

Thousands of fans gathered at the airport to welcome the heroes waving the tricolour and chanting slogans in praise of the Beijing Olympic heroes. A placard read ‘East or west, Vijender is the best.’

Vijender’s father Mahipal Singh Beniwal and uncle Ramesh Singh were initially not allowed to enter the enclosure by the Delhi Police. However, they were allowed in after media’s intervention.

 

THE BUSINESS OF SPORT

Fun, games and money

Sport has become a global business as well as a recreation for billions

In 1908, as the fourth modern Olympic games took place in London, a magazine called Tianjin Youth posed three questions. When would a Chinese athlete take part in the games? When would the country send a team? And when would it stage the games?

The answer to the first question turned out to be 1932, when Liu Changchun, a sprinter, made his way to Los Angeles from his home in north-eastern China, then under Japanese occupation. He won nothing, but is remembered as a hero.

China sent teams to the Olympics in 1936, 1948 and 1952, but then stayed away until the winter games of 1980. Four years after that, when the summer games returned to Los Angeles, Xu Haifeng, a pistol-shooter, won China’s first gold medal

Beijing surely got its festival of sport, with 10,700 competitors from more than 200 countries playing 28 sports. In September it will also play host to 4,000 athletes with disabilities, in the Paralympics.

China wants to be a great power in sport as well as in economics and international affairs. Ask Chinese officials whether they care about winning the most gold medals, and they will demur politely: winning, they say, isn’t everything. But winning does matter, as it does to Americans, Russians or Germans.

Festival of commerce

However, the Olympics can also be seen as another sort of festival: of global business. True believers in the Olympic spirit might balk at this. There is no prize money on offer: athletes compete only for the glory of gold, silver and bronze. Most of them are thrilled just to be there. The IOC insists it is not a profit making body. And Olympic venues are free of the advertisements that encircle other sporting arenas.

Nasty, brutish, but sport

If people are willing to pay, just about anything can find a niche, on television or online. Among the most successful recent arrivals is mixed martial arts, a combination of boxing and ju-jitsu.

The Olympics allowed broadcasters to show off their ability to present lots of sport simultaneously. They used to be limited to one event at a time. Now they can put several on at once, using digital channels and websites, as well as making highlights available online for days afterwards. Fans of judo should thus be as easy to satisfy as those of the 100-metre sprint. CCTV will show the whole of the Olympics on digital platforms. NBC, which has the American rights to the games, plans to show 3,500 hours of Olympic sport online, 2,200 of them streamed live.

By and large, technological change has made sport much more fun to follow, and better to watch at home. It has also made sport a much more lucrative business and a far better-paid occupation. And in recent years another old relationship—with sponsors—has become more fruitful too.

Local heroes

Sporting labor markets are becoming global. But what about sports themselves?

Virtuous circle

It is not surprising that sport’s labor markets are globalizing. The most talented people are gravitating towards the richest employers, whose ability to pay has been enhanced further by juicy television contracts. In turn, the best players make the sport more enjoyable to watch, bringing in more fans and more revenue.

The television money and fan base attract capital too. The globalization of sport’s capital markets may not have gone as far as that of its labor markets, but it is under way. Several English football clubs are owned by foreigners, among them owners of American baseball and football franchises. In cricket, one franchise in the Indian Premier League has owners based in Australia and Britain.

Now several sports—and sports leagues in particular—are trying to expand their product markets beyond their borders as well, by staging games abroad. This is easier said than done. Sport, says Andrew Zimbalist, an economist at Smith College in Massachusetts, is different from other industries: “You can’t produce your product in one country and sell it in another. You can do it with laptop computers, but you can’t do it with a game.”

It is possible to export sport indirectly, by selling media rights. Most globalizing leagues hope to make their money from fans in front of television sets rather than inside stadiums, and games abroad are one way of building a brand. But it may not work, because local loyalties matter. “It’s hard to get people interested in a baseball team on the other side of the world,” Mr. Zimbalist says. “It’s an emotional thing.”

Cricket, lovely cricket

And lolly, lovely lolly

LALIT MODI might have written the script himself. Tense to the end, the match was not settled until the stroke of midnight and the last ball. Lakshmipathy Balaji, of the Chennai Super Kings, bowled it: Sohail Tanvir, of the Rajasthan Royals, hit it through midwicket for one run. And with that Rajasthan won the final of the inaugural Indian Premier League (IPL).

No follower of cricket needs to be told who Mr. Modi is. As vice-president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), the national governing body, he conceived and now runs the IPL. The sudden arrival and apparent success of the new league has shaken cricket from top to bottom. It is the most vivid illustration in sport of the shift in the global economy from rich countries to the emerging world.

The IPL is bright and brash; mixing India’s great sporting passion and Bollywood’s glamour, topped with lashings of money. The fun starts with the format: “Twenty20”, a short version of cricket in which each team bowls 20 overs (sets of six balls). Matches last three hours or so, about as long as a baseball game—just right for an evening’s entertainment. By contrast, international Test matches, the purist’s favorite form, can take five days.

Twenty20 is not Mr. Modi’s invention. It was devised in England in 2003, as a way of reviving interest in county cricket—as, in the 1960s, was “one-day” cricket, now usually 50 overs a side. Twenty20 was not the settled choice when planning for the IPL began in earnest, as Mr. Modi and IMG’s Mr. Wildblood talked over a cup of tea at Wimbledon last July. The shortest form had not yet caught on in India.

That changed with the first World Twenty20 Cup, held in South Africa last September. Millions upon millions watched India beat Pakistan in the final. A photograph in “Wisden”, the bible of cricket, shows India’s players parading the trophy back in Mumbai. You can scarcely see their open-top bus for the throng.

Chunnis on the tree

Sport and sponsorship are not always about fame and fortune

LOOK both ways and listen before you cross the railway. Go down the slope and past the mosque. Give the buffalo a wide berth. There, on the patch of grass in front of you, are the goalposts. This is where the young women of Aligaon, on the outskirts of Delhi, play netball.

The players are mainly from conservative Muslim families. Most had only a year or two’s schooling. Sport would not normally be part of their lives; the Indian Premier League could be on another planet. But these girls, aged 12 to 18 (with others from Govindpuri and Sanjay Camp, also in Delhi), are taking part in a project called Goal, which has been set up by Standard Chartered, an international bank. The bank’s partners are Naz India, an NGO dedicated to preventing the spread of HIV/AIDS, and the International Federation of Netball Associations.

Do the girls like netball? “Yes!” they shout. They are pretty good, too. Neha, from Govindpuri, played for Delhi’s under-19 team in the Indian interstate championships this year; they came second.

“What I have learnt from here is confidence and how to speak,” says one. “We’ve got a direction,” says another. At first, recalls Mrs. Sethi, the girls would not take off their chunnis (loose scarves worn over their salwar kameez, or tunic and trousers, to hide the line of the body) when they played. Now they hang their chunnis on a tree by their makeshift court before they start their game.

To err is human

But the incentives to cheat are increasing all the time as sport becomes more and more commercialized. Greater rewards make for fiercer competition, and fiercer competition makes it harder to keep up and hence harder to resist reaching for the syringe. Sometimes the fans do not care. During baseball’s steroids era it became plain that plenty of players were using extra help. But the game was exciting and balls were being hit farther than ever, so people did not ask too many questions.

Sport has plenty of problems, of which drugs are just one. Some sports have incompetent administrators; some have corrupt ones. Worse, some have corrupt players. Nothing, perhaps not even drugs, taints a contest as much as the suspicion that it has been fixed with an envelope full of notes. Players sometimes act like spoilt children on the field. Some are drunks or criminals off it. And too often spectators are the worst of all. Sport has sparked riots, knifings, murders and even a war (in 1969, between El Salvador and Honduras).

Sport, in other words, involves just as much nastiness, cheating and corruption as life in general. But sports enthusiasts may prefer not to look, at least for a few hours. They are not in the factory or the office but in another world. Even the clocks are different. There are ten minutes remaining, plus injury time. It’s the bottom of the ninth. This is the last over, the last lap, the 18th hole.