Reflections on sunday: Last word on China’s Olympics

The Olympics in China passed as the very first games where politics and power play are at centre stage. The Far East super powers and upcoming economies were looking forward to challenge their Western counterparts in the battle of egos, with China, South Korea and Japan leading the way. No doubt that the games were the most competitive ever, with China and group not leaving any room for defeat in their home turf. Me not being Usain Bolt (The king of 100m) or Asafa Powell or even Kobe Bryant, and since I tried my luck writing sports and failed, I was left out and did not go to Beijing but sat somewhere in a Bar, trying not to miss the action. All I did was to sit on the Internet and google about the games, so much that in my dreams I was almost in China. I was in ‘Beijing in mind and Soul, only needed somebody to give my body a return ticket to Beijing, and also put a few Yuan’s in my Wallet but my soul was already there, I have seen the Birds Nest, China’s Olympic Stadium and it looks awesome….what a piece of architecture! My concerns though have not been the air, the doping or not winning the medals. The first one is Athletes getting lost. China is so populated that you could easily get lost on the streets, never to find your way home. With 1bllion or so Chinese and the 500.000 tourists who turned up, one could easily get lost. A Ugandan athlete, Edwin Ekiring and medal hopeful got lost for a day and he could not trace his way back to the camp. The poor guy could not work his way out of the look-alike mazes of roads and building units in the carefully planned Olympic Village, adding that all people look alike, making it hard to differentiate the one you were with a minute ago and the person in front of you. My second concern was language, did anybody watch that Jackie Chan movie where Chris Tucker asked for directions and he was handed chicken? What’s more to say about the Chinese knowing little about English and French and more about Chinese? Well, it required somebody to move with ‘Learn Chinese’ books to negotiate his way out of the many shopping malls in China. My other myth was about martial arts. I have watched many movies and I’ve come to believe that every Chinese can kick. Many sports tourists behaved well and never offended the Jet-Li, Jackie Chan wannabes on the streets of Beijing or else would have risked being kicked to pulp. Contact: kagire_eddie@yahoo.com