Sports September 02, 2008 The Games were great, but at what COSE? 5, cas seven Tre 2008 summer Olympics in Beijing this year have been heralded as the most organized games in Olympic history. Without a doubt, they went off without a hitch; officially, at least. That’s as much as can be expected when you spend an estimated two billion dollars on security to keep everyone in order. Unofficially however, there were plenty of incidents and controversies to keep the rest of the world talking for years to come. It starts with why China, a country whose human rights record is laughable at best and morally appalling at worst, was awarded an event as respectable and prestigious as the Olympics in the first place. The atrocities committed in Tibet alone should have removed China from any consideration. Next, the Chinese government’s promises about press freedom were certainly not lived up to. Visiting journalists were barred from such poisonous sites as Wikipedia, Amnesty International and the Right to Play Foundation. Basically everything that was critical of the Chinese government in any way was not permitted. I guess that leaves...uh....well, not a whole lot. What is really insulting though is that the media was promised unfettered access in the lead up to the Games. The opening ceremonies were spectacular, right? Well, if there was a gold medal for dishonesty, they definitely would have won it. Remember all those pyrotechnically stunning fireworks that made the world drop their jaws in wonder? Well, as it turns out, a large percent of that display was Photoshopped onto television screens. It wasn’t real. That wasn’t the only trickery by the Chinese government though. How could anyone forget Lin Miaoke, the cute little girl who sang so beautifully at the opening ceremonies? Well, it turns out that she wasn’t the one who sang at all. Miaoke was just a lip-syncer. The real star was seven-year-old Yang Peiyi, who was deemed not cute enough for the camera and was forced to utilize her vocal talents backstage where no one could see her. “The audience will understand that it’s in the national interest. The national interest requires that the girl should have good looks and a good grasp of the song and look good on screen. Lin Miaoke was the best in this,” said Chen Qigang, the music director for the opening ceremonies. Wow. That’s a truly fantastic message to send out to billions of people on the grandest stage of the world. All that’s important is looks. Even when it comes to children, it doesn’t matter how skilled or talented you are, if you aren’t good- looking, it’s game over for you. I know that this sounds crazy, but don’t forget that this was orchestrated by the country that branded the Dalai Lama as a terrorist. Then there’s the matter of Olympic protests. Chine being a repressive communist nation, protesting isn’t exactly something the government encourages. However, they did relent for the Olympics. Sort of. Well, not really. In fact, with further thought, not at all. They did say that protests would be permitted with government approval. However, when you consider that almost all of the protests are intended to criticize the government’s human rights violations, their decision to forcibly evict over 1.5 million people to make room for Olympic venues, their terrorist actions in Tibet, and...wow, that’s a lot. Over the course of the Olympics, 77 applications were filed officially for permission to protest legally. All 77 were denied. In fact, two elderly women who asked to protest the evictions were sentenced to labor camps for asking to protest. Now, doesn’t that sound like a country that is suitable for the biggest sporting event in history? The Bullet and the Bolt 5, ccs: Te Beijing Olympics are over and this one has no want for stories that will endure over the years. The two most awe-inspiring ones are the two major Olympic heroes, Michael Phelps and Usain Bolt. Phelps, 23, broke Mark Spitz’s 36-year old record of seven Olympic gold medals in a single Games with eight. Phelps, who shattered every world record in the pool that he attempted to break, is nicknamed the Baltimore Bullet. With his eight gold medals this year, he brought his career Olympic medal count to 16, with 14 gold medals and two bronzes. That put him in first place of all time for gold medals. He also landed a cool one million dollar bonus from Speedo for his gold medal perfection. He’s been called the Tiger Woods of swimming, and is one of the hottest athletes in the world at the moment. Phelps dove into the pool for eight separate races: the 400m individual medley, the 4x100m freestyle relay, the 200m freestyle, the 200m butterfly, the 4x200m freestyle relay, the 200m individual medley, the 100m butterfly, and the 4x100m medley relay. He won gold and broke the world records in all of them. Phelps’ accomplishments took place during the first half of the Olympic games. Usain Bolt’s happened during the second half. Bolt (great name, by the way), who turned 22 during the Games, has been compared to Phelps for his track victories. Bolt, who is from Jamaica and is now a national hero there, entered in and emerged a gold medalist in three events. He gained his hero level status and cemented his place in sprinting history with his jaw-dropping performance in the 100 meter dash. He ran the 100 meters in just 9.69 seconds, destroying the competition and second place finisher Richard Thompson’s 9.89. What is truly astounding is that that he was projected to run the race in only 9.52 seconds. The reason for the delay is that he slowed down and started celebrating partway through the race when he realized that he was blowing the other runners away. Bolt also triumphed in the 200-meter dash and the 2x 100 meter relay. His first high-level 100-meter race took place just last July. What is a little frightening, of course, is the matter of drugs. How could someone post such otherworldly racing times and be clean? Well, he was tested for a wide variety of performance enhancing substances 16 times in Jamaica for various competitions and was tested a further four times prior to the beginning of 18 the Olympics. Both Bolt and Phelps are exactly what competitive running and swimming need to launch their popularity to the next level. Both sports don’t exactly compare to baseball in terms of mainstream media coverage when the Olympic games aren’t in the picture. Phelps and Bolt are two larger than life personalities that can raise the image of their respective sports to new levels. The IOC was less than impressed with Bolt’s celebrations during and after his Olympic wins. However, most have said that it is good for track to have a superstar that can make the average person excited to watch and that has an appealing personality. The performances turned in by both Bolt and Phelps are so amazing that they’ll be talked about for years and decades to come.