Olympian

I've been experiencing mixed feelings about the Olympics, which is hardly news since that's what every games induces in me. First of all, I don't watch all that much of the games (any Olympics in recent memory) since I don't have time. But when I do catch a bit I can get engrossed fairly quickly, usually in the less glamorous events. I caught about 10 minutes of the women's weightlifting the other day, sitting at a coffeeshop after work, and found myself cheering for the winner at the end. (A Korean lady who seemed to be lifting something a lot bigger than she was overhead.) It's the sheer unlikeliness of human endeavour involved I think I find captivating. So I'm never quite sure whether I'm actually interested or not.

Then there's the dreary politics behind it all. A big part of me enjoys the spectacle of people celebrating their nations' achievements. It's good for people to feel good about themselves. I quite like the idea of China arriving big-time on the world stage. But the obvious manipulation of it all (and I'm talking about all nations here, not just China) is tiresome, and sometimes scary. I like to think I'd find the time to protest against any version of the games (any government anywhere is up to something sneaky) and then go in and thoroughly enjoy myself.

Last night I caught a little bit of the repeat of the opening ceremony and thoroughly confused myself. Way too much show business and too much money spent but several genuinely lovely moments. That lip-synching little girl wasn't one of them though. Apart from the fact she obviously wasn't doing any singing the whole routine was yucky. I was reading today that references to the debacle have been censored in China, a fact (assuming it is one and not something made up by the wicked western media) which manages to be both funny and sinister at the same time.

Oddly enough I've not yet heard anyone yet point out that the bad taste of the organisers lay not so much in trying to dupe Joe Public (who's always ready and willing to fall for anything) but in putting on that poor plastic-looking girl for the cameras in the first place. The original ordinary-looking kid was a lot cuter, in the real sense of that much misused word.