Olympic wrap up

Well, what a way to finish up. I’m still recovering from the hungover created by too many drinks last night and 25 straight days working but it’s been such an experience. I’ve worked with an incredible team of people, some who have been to every Olympics for the past two decades. I’ve actually learnt something about sport – the last time one country won more than 50 Gold medals was in Seoul 1988 (it was the Soviet Union), only six athletes tested positive to drugs in Beijing (they were expecting more than 40) and they had to stop using live doves in the opening ceremony because they kept on getting charred in the Olympic flame (well that’s not really sport but interesting!)

I’ve seen some incredible, heart stopping sporting moments. Some live, others cutting together packages and highlights. Although Michael Phelps and Usain Bolt will forever be remembered as the standout performances of Beijing, for me there were some more magical or dare I say ‘special’ moments.

Matthew Mitchum winning Gold – I’d been to the semi finals of the men’s diving in the morning and he looked like a medal chance then. I was thinking wow, he could get a Bronze. The Chinese were just too good and at least 30 points ahead of the next competitors but come the finals Matthew executed the highest scoring dive in Olympic history and no one seemed more shocked then him.Here’s a photo of his bum in the semi finals.



Steve Hooker – we all gathered around the TV in the Seven office to see the spine tingling final of the pole vault. Apart from the amazing ability to spring off a pole and over a bar, he just seems like such a cool guy. Ended up coming down to almost a jump off for Gold. One of those moments no one expected but now everyone will remember.

The Softball team – they ended up winning Bronze and most of the team was crying on the podium. It’s the last time Softball and Baseball will be played at the Olympics and the last time these girls will ever get a chance to win.

And off the field I had some highlights of my own:

Being Bruce McAvaney's assistant of course tops the list. The man is a sporting machine and if you think he sounds like he knows his stuff on tellie, you should try having a conversation with him. In his house, he has walls and walls of notebooks he compiles statistics in. He can’t use a computer but the books are filled with highlighted stats and times for competitors. He had about five of them here. He’s also quite possibly the nicest man you’ll ever meet.



Going to the swimming - I’ve blogged about it before so I won’t delve too much into it but it was such a thrill to see Michael Phelps in the pool and witness history first hand.

The Fuwas – I developed a slight obsession with the Beijing mascots. Here’s a photo of me with a Fuwa, in my Fuwa t-shirt. Unfortunately I chose the one with the pretty colours and then realised it was the Tibetan antelope. I hope by wearing it, I’m not showing my support for China’s treatment of Tibet. I could be shunned by other backpackers.

US v China

The US is struggling with the fact China is beating them resoundly in the medal count to the point that American network NBC has started reordering the medal tally by total number of medals, instead of gold.
At the moment that puts the USA on a total of 93 medals and China on 83 (China has 46 gold to America's 28)
Below is an interesting article from the New York Times about the rise of China, not only in sport but politics and power.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/21/opinion/21kristof.html?_r=1&ref=opinion&oref=slogin

The journo makes an interesting point about flashing your Olympic accreditation to get anywhere. Usually I'd have trouble blogging from China, watching the news and reading certain websites but during the Games so many restrictions have been lifted. I wonder what will happen after Sunday?

Ping Pong

Forget swimming.. Table Tennis is the big deal here. So much so that a ticket to the Peking University Gymnasium costs twice as much as the Water Cube. I was lucky enough to nab one. I saw Austria play (which is the closest Australia will ever come to the finals) and this fierce Japanese women who did a Hewitt style 'come on' after each shot.



The cutest little kid was sitting behind us. I'm pretty sure he knows more about the rules of ping pong then I do.



It took the first few sets to work out how the game works and after that I was right into it. The Doubles are the funniest.. you think they could stretch to a bigger table. The other matter is how you decide you're good at ping pong - do you practice in your backyard and then suddenly realise you could go to the Olympics? Perhaps there's hope for me yet.

The Olympic junket

The Olympic games is not only about glorious sporting achievements, blood, sweat and tears and camaraderie... it's mostly about money. Money to make your athletes the best, money to get them to the games, money for the IOC officials and money in multi million dollar sponsorship deals. I see the point of Speedo sponsoring athletes and omega sponsoring the clock to time the races but I'm not so sure about some of the other sponsors that have climbed on board for the Beijing Olympics. I'd like to share some of the more unusual ones:

Here's me, officially endorsing the official noodles of the 2008 Beijing Olympics - 'They are delicious' (Yes Mum, that is my laundry hanging up behind me. I've really made myself at home!)




The official yoghurt of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games



And my favourite, the official iron of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.



Coincidentially Sach sent me this article today from the Wall Street Journal about the lengths organisers are going to to keep non sponsors out of sight. Good read.

http://www.wsj.com/article/SB121885240984946511.html

Soundtrack to my travels

I've been listening to my ipod a lot since i've been here especially on the way to the IBC in the mornings, like any other commuter.
Before I came I dumped all the CDs i've ever owned onto my computer and now have a very eclectic mix from 2 Unlimited, Get Ready for This, the 1996 Grammy Nominees (has Seal done anything since then except marry Heidi Klum?), classical stuff, Floor fillers 1 2 and 3 and some more recent additions, A & J Stone, the Waifs etc.
Now and again a great song pops up, others are slowly being culled.
So I need some help from you all to get some good tunes on there - send me your favourites and they'll become the soundtrack to my trip.

The Swimming Finals!

I was lucky enough to get a ticket to the swimming finals on Monday - including the 4 x 100 men's relay. It seems George Bush was also given a ticket. Here he is en route! He had a motorcade of about 30 cars with secret service men leaning out the window. The road from the Broadcast Centre to the Water Cube was lined with volunteers keeping people moving while George W dropped into the NBC studios and then made his way to the swimming. Laura Bush came in separate entourage. A little bit of overkill perhaps!



Once inside, the amazing construction of the cube is evident. It honestly looks like glad wrap but I'm assuming it isn't.



Libby Trickett streaming ahead in the 100 m butterfly - she took Gold, Jessica Schipper, Bronze. It was great to sing the national anthem and see the Australian flag being raised but it is times like these that remind me how average our anthem is compared to others. We were surrounded by Japanese and Americans and they were belting it out. Ours is very hard to sing and I think even the athletes struggle with the words. I still gave it my best!



As you can see, I was sitting just opposite George. He's second tier, third row up, fifth from the right.



And then there was the climax for me.. the 4 x 100 men's relay. It was incredible. The French and US were in a dead heat right at the end and the US took it away. Everyone was on their feet, screaming and waving flags. I had goose bumps. The top six teams all broke the world record which just shows the power of these suits and the pool. Instead of eight lanes, there are ten which apparently makes the water 'tighter'. I myself am not a fan because the suits cover up the extraordinary bodies of the swimmers but I guess my say doesn't count with FINA.

Hungary

Where the Budapest Times failed... Chris Whitnall has triumphed.
Find below a photo of Hungary in the Opening Ceremony.

http://popwatch.ew.com/popwatch/2008/08/olympics-openin.html?iid=top25-20080810-The+Best+and+Worst+of+the+Olympics+Opening+Ceremony

The Opening Ceremony

Spectacular. Probably the only word to describe the Opening Ceremony. You all would have seen the pictures - highlights for me, the Birds Nest created in people, the drumming lights at the beginning and the national outfit of Hungary. I've searched high and low for a picture but it seems event the Budapest Times is too embarrassed to show it.

I spent the first part of the night in the room with Tom (thanks for all the useful suggestions for conversation topics, turns out he really opened up - told me of his dismay at the young men of today and how image conscious they are and his respect for ancient Chinese culture). It may have been the fact I had to do his make-up as well as produce the segment, must have a soft touch. Below us, they bused in hundreds of thousands of people to watch the ceremony. With the top price of a ticket $900 dollars or three months wage, many people had to watch from surrounding areas.



Watched the countdown and fireworks from Pangu Plaza, overlooking the Olympic Stadium. Bill Gates has a 35 million dollar apartment in the same building (he didn't offer us his TV to watch the rest)





Then i tried to get back into the Olympic green, very tight security and had to go through mag and bag at every point, not sure what mag stands for but basically you have to scan your pass, scan your bag, scan yourself and then take a sip from every bottle in your bag and take a photo with your camera to prove it's not a detonation device - here's the photo I took.



I was lucky to get one of the best seats in the house for watch the rest of the ceremony - just like everyone else on TV

My mate Bruce

I've been tossing up whether to write a blog while i'm away - they seem so 2007. But clearly I've decided to go ahead with it because there are so many funny, once in a lifetime moments here to share.

As well as making coffee while I'm in Beijing , I've been given the job of Bruce McAvaney's assistant. So far I've written a speech for him for the announcement of the flag bearer - granted he made up most of it but here's a snippet of my contribution:

'One of the most magical Olympic moments for me is watching an athlete, standing on the dias as the Australian anthem plays. Tonight we sing it together, the next time will be when our team wins its first gold medal'.

I don't want to talk it up but Bruce loved it.

I've also made another friend over here.. you may remember him from Dancing with the Stars and his more recent work with the Great Outdoors. His name is Tom Williams and on the night of the opening ceremony we have to sit in a room together for two hours straight. We've already had a practice run through and I used up a lot of my conversation. Any more suggestions?!

I've tried to make witty Olympic banter over the past week - so far no one has noticed I know nothing about sport!

Ikea

Ikea seems like a strange thing to mention and an even stranger place to go when in another country (except perhaps Sweden) but I'm glad I did. The term 'display' seems to be very relaxed here to the point that there were people sleeping in the fake bedrooms and sitting around the display tables. Hilarious. I was also pleased to discover Ikea Beijing sells Vodka in the food mart for about 15 dollar a bottle. I bought one - yet to drink it but the novelty value is still worth it!

Sewage

Possibly the worst place for something to happen is right outside the press centre at the Olympic village... but it has.

A sewage pipe burst on our first day here and the Chinese have been frantically repaving the road overnight to fix it. By morning, not a trace of what's happened! Wouldn't happen in Sydney.