Olympic Games Beijing 2008

Oscar Pistorius, the South African, is the carbon fiber legged man. Can his dream of competing with the valids in Beijing become reality?

On May 16th, the CAS (Court of Arbitration for Sports) allowed the 21 year old sprinter to compete with valids and over ruled the IAAF verdict.

Nown the athlete has to make it to the Olympics. He has to make the 400 meters in the time of 45s 85, when his personnal record is 46 s46.
Born without calf bone, Oscar was ambuted below the knee at the age of 11 months. He learnt walking on prothesis. In the 2004 Games, he was crown 200meters olympic champion. In 2007 he finished second of the South African 400 meters national championship with the valids and made public his desire to compete in Beijing.
The IAAF turned his demand down. A inquiry was made by professor Gert-Peter Brüggemann. His conclusion was that the prothesis, called “Cheetah”, on which Oscar was running was producing energy. The sprinter went to court against the IAAF. Later, another conclusion by professor Hugh M. Herr from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) said that it did not give Oscar any advantages.
The CAS considered that the IAAF did not have any proof that the biomechanical effects from the use of the prothesis did give Oscar any kind of advantages over others.
Last week, Oscar Pistorius was ecstatic. It was a great day for sports and people.
Even if he has little chance to make the Games indivudualy, he can hope to make it with the South African 4 x 400 relay, if the country qualifies. Oscar Pistorius will for sure participate to the Paralympics Games from Sept. 6th to 17th, also in the Chinese capital.

A terrible earthquake struck the Sichuan region in China last week.A week later, survivors are scarce. Three days of national mourning were enforced by the Chinese government yesterday. Bars, clubs and karaokes will be closed. The Olympic relay will be suspended. The cities of Shanghai, Ningbo and Jiaxing might not get there stop. Today, China tries to help its people, not to promote any kind of recreation. Lives are worth much more than yuans.

The scene took place in Mexico in 1968. Two Americans, John Carlos and Tommie Smith were given their medals. During their national anthems, both showed their fist high in the sky, wearing a black glove. A legendary gesture showing their support for the Civil rights in the US. A legendary gesture that would destroy the career of both athletes.

Forty years later, both men haven’t changed. They are still fighting for the Human Rights. They demonstrated against the 2008 Games, like John Carlos in San Francisco.

Tommie Smith recently said it took him time to overcome the result of his action, but that he would still do the same thing today.

The two are calling the athletes to show their support during the Games in Beijing. Few will have the courage and the guts to do it.

Grace Wang is a Chinese student living in the US. From the Duke University, she tried to be a messenger betwwen the pro-Chinese and the pro-Tibet. She received death threats for that and her parents in China also had tourble. When sport make people crazy. She decided to tell her story in the Washington Post.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/18/AR2008041802635_pf.html

The Chinese authorities did not say they won’t block the web during the Games. They will also continue to allow any kind of bootleg.

Wang Wei, vice president of the BOCOG, promised to the international media no internet censorship during the Games. Human rights activists criticized that China did not respect its word.

China watches the use of the internet while the number of users is surging. Anti government sites like the Falung Gong, free Tibet sites, even the US Wikipedia are blocked.
“We will try to do our best to unblock them” during the Games, said the minister of Technology, Wang Gang in a press conference for the arrival of the torch in on Mt Everest.
“I don’t have any info on which site will be open, close or watched. However some sites will be controlled to protect the youth. Every country limits the access to the internet. Even in developed countries, all sites are not available to the public” said the minister.

Source: Reuters

Today, the flame went up the symbol of Tibet.

No information was released by the Chinese authorities, not even the weather forecast for this national event. That had to be protected from Human rights and pro Tibet NGOs. The Everest belongs to Tibet and Tibet is part of China. That had to be clear and it is now clearer in everybody’s eyes. The torch was carried by 36 people, 24 Tibetans, 10 Hans, 1 Tujia and 1 Tu, two other ethnics from China. For 4 days they went up the Everest. The event was “live” on CCTV, the Chinese broadcaster, with a precise countdown. The last relay was a young woman from Tibet. All the members also took their oxygen masks off in order to screan their joy to the Chinese people. Great national event or propaganda? A little bit of both.

The Hongkongese stage of the Olympic torch was the last democratic stage of the torch relay. A week from now, when the torch will enter mainland China, human rights activists will be replaced by a marketing propaganda by the main sponsors. In Hong Kong, some activists and pro Tibet were seen. Many Chinese from mainland China were there due to the holidays in China. The NGO, Dream for Darfur, held an event criticizing the position of China towards Sudan and Darfur. The actress Mia Farrow spoke there. She flew 32 hours to attend the event. Sponsors were criticized, especially Coca Cola; sponsor of the 1936 Games and the 1940 winter Games in Germany that were cancelled. Funny thing to see that Coke is always obeying its thirst. China recently changed it position towards Sudan. Will China ever have exemplary position on the political world stage? One day maybe.

The torch also went through Macao and its 29 casinos. The time spent there was 3 hours at the most. Two Human rights activists from Hong Kong were stopped at the border. No trouble was made. The torch will continue to Hainan, and then will be in Guangzhou and its new stadium. There will be 113 stops in mainland China before entering the Olympic stadium in Beijing on August 8th.

Patrice Leconte, a French movie maker was asked by the Chinese government to shoot a promotion ad called “Vision Beijing”.

Far from the sports community and the political stress before the games, Leconte did a very lyrical and neutral movie.
The Chinese government tries to show the best image they can. The French director forgot to show the 1989 Tiananmen events, to talk about the Human rights, the press and the pollution. He also confirmed that the movie was pure propaganda.

Steven Spielberg walked out of his supervisor job. He was supposed to help the BOCOG doing the opening ceremony. Since the Schindler’s List, Spielberg tries to make humanist and political movies. Leconte, him, did not follow Godard’s advice “The point is not to make political movies, but to make movie politically”
Four other film makers participated in the event: the British Daryl Goodrich, the Hong-kongese Andrew Lau Wai-Keung, the Iranian Majid Majidi and the Italian Giuseppe Tornatore.

We thought the communist party was ready to talk to the Tibetan government. Between approaches from the Dalai Lama, a positive communication, China now seems to position itself on the sports side only.

Their marketing is cheap. We can see that nobody will tell China what to do and China won’t let anybody’s rules. On April 29th, the first Tibetan demonstrators were sentenced for the March uprising. The first seven sentences ranged from 3 years to life. China accused these people of murder of 18 Chinese-Han civilians and a police officer. They are also said to have burnt 7 schools, 5 hospitals and a 120 homes. 908 shops were robbed evaluating damages at 244 millions Yuan. Yesterday, China acknowledged the assassination of a Tibetan demonstrator.