- 15 Aug 08, 07:15 AM
Over dinner on Thursday night colleagues complained about the atmosphere, or lack of it, in Beijing.
And yes the area we were in was a bit empty, and it's been hard to fill the vast space that is Olympic green.
The capital city of the world's most populous nation has been strangely quiet. But when I walked into the Birds Nest this morning I was gob smacked.
This immense stadium was almost full for the start of the athletics programme. That simply never happens.
With the greatest respect the qualifying round for the men's hammer is not the biggest draw, although there was the first round of the 100 metres.
It was wonderful, the excitement was contagious and it suggests the atmosphere for the night time finals is going to be electric, I can't wait.
I always think it's a tad arrogant of track and field afficianados to declare that the Games only really begin when their sport gets underway. Right now I kind of agree with them.
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Comments
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Yup - I agree with you - it is a bit arrogant.
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The swim cube seems to have been pretty full though?
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Maybe you just haven't been to the right events?
I went to a swimming qualifier where the Cube was packed and a really buzzing atmosphere.
I saw China Vs USA basketball and the atmosphere was electric, hugely partisan crowd cheering on the home team but also cheering on their heros Kobe and Lebron on the USA team.
Also went to Beach Volleyball which was only around half full but had a real carnival style atmosphere to it.
Maybe the BBC sent too many bloggers and you got the crappy tickets?
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Why are we concentrating so much on the athletics when we are likely to get a zero in medal tallies - we are already watching our girls go out in early heats and Kelly Sotherton is already down and with a naff javelin is hardly likely to end in the medals
Pay more attention to the sports that might cheer us all up at home ( ok only cycling and rowing left then !!) - spare a thought for us stuck in the office at home sighing when GB puts up yet another valliant effort but dont progress!!
As an aside why do so many GB athletes retire so early?? I'm currently watching Mutola who seems to have been there forever?
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How are you going to inspire new generations if you only focus on the stuff you are good at. Man, I thought China was myopic and bad. Chinese people only think their children should do sports we are godo at. Then I lived in the UK for 15 years, and thought the UK was bad. Showing mostly British medal hopes. Then I went and toured Europe and realised, it was even worse.
China are getting medals in places that it wouldn't have done 10 years ago, because people are changing attitudes and believing that there are chances in some sports dominated by other nations.
Like UK beating China in badminton. I too believe the UK can do well in anything it puts its mind too.
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It's definitely arrogant to think the games only begin with the athletics.
Would you say that in front of any of the individuals who have given their all in the last week? Emms, Daley, Cooke, etc.
If you dared to voice this to them instead of from the security of your blog, I would hope you got a right earful, and rightly so.
The same attitude was being voiced on Radio 5 this morning. It really hacks me off to hear people belittling the efforts, acheivements, disappointments and emotions of all the athletes who've spent the previous week giving everything they can to the Olympics.
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"Chinese people only think their children should do sports we are godo at." ( from a previous post )
If this is the case why are the Chinese great at diving ,table tennis , gymnastics etc that GB have never been good at?? I dont understand your comment ...
Funding and Facilities are key plus success breeds success - we need to do something and quick to improve the disastrous judo/archery and now in all probability the athletics results to make our youth interested in these disciplines
( Still mad at the comment re the athletics being the only interesting part of the olympics though )
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I am aware there were medal expactations for the archery athletes however I would not ground the results as desastrous. There has been an improvement overall with complete women and mens teams. I hope every sport gets the attention and support it needs to get to and to continue to compete on the highest level. The other dimension is, many Olympic sports get only attention at the Olympics. It is soo different the atmosphere and environment from a World Championship in some instances.
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Nowhere to post this soooo well done GB men in the cycling - great gold - you could see the determination in their faces !!
Ok back to all our 1500 m runners failing to qualify!!
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It surely isn't a great surprise to find the Bird's Nest Stadium full for the athletics. China's Rent-A-Mob policy has kept pretty much every stadium chocka with hordes of dutifully grinning, flag-waving locals over the last week so why should the athletics be any different?
However, on the subject of "Do the Games start properly when athletics begins?"
No, No, No.
For a great number of the so-called "minority sports" we have been watching over the past few days the Olympics IS their Blue Riband event.
In rowing, for example, it is almost irrelevant who wins the annual World Championship races in the years between Olympic Games. They are seen as a marker for possible Olympic form, nothing more, nothing less. You can be World Champion 3 years on the spin but miss out on Olympic Gold and you're simply an also-ran.
Likewise in Swimming, Badminton, Judo, 3-Day eventing, Cycling and so on. Only the Olympics really matter. Everything in between is nice, but just not the same.
The problem of course is that Athletics is able to stake a claim to being closest to the original Games format - running, jumping and throwing things - and so it has a faux image of "purity" in terms of human physical prowess.
Of course the Citius, Altius and Fortius can all be measured more easily in pure terms in athletics. But that surely makes the dedication, skill and sheer bl**dy-minded effort of our cyclists, swimmers and rowers no less impressive? In fact, given the financial rewards on offer for the minority events by comparison to the aristocracy of top-end track and field stars you could argue that it is more impressive still.
I suggest the track and field "purists" try telling Steve Redgrave, Chris Hoy, Rebecca Adlington or Nicole Cooke that their heroic achievments are only a sideshow warm-up for the main event and don't mean as much as track and field medals. They may quickly have to find out just how fast they can run themselves.
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well said! LondonYC!
I was watching women volleyball US VS CHINA earlier, it was a wonderful game although China lost.
just like many other Chinese, I used to criticize Lang ping as she went to US to help their team. but now I realise what she did is actually the best way to improve the game!
it's boring to watch a game between a strong team and a weak team.
Never think we are not so good at this and we are doomed to loose. People from any country have the possiblity to be the best at any sport!
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