Quest for Gold

This is the IDEAL time to discuss politics!!! The Olympics is supposed to be about bring everyone to th table to celebrate the things we have in common, sportsmanship, and etc. This is teh perfect venue for opening up the discussion about politics, without guns and bombs. A time when we can talk about things, then set those thoughts aside to watch our athletes compete. I want to be supportive of Bejing 2008, but the Chinese refuse to accept the true purpose of the Olympics, and that just ruins it for me.

this is Olympics. Keep away from politics.

Isn't Olympic games really about, as their repeated TV advertisements say year after year, "celebrating humanism"?
What we saw yesterday at the opening ceremony was nothing but, only China and their emphasised message was clear - China was, is and will be great. What every Olympics game needs to emphasize - ideas of humanism and bringing in world peace through sports lacked so much that the release of doves and so on at the end was just so out of the place. It shows that Chinese have totally different idea of celebrating Olympics to the rest.
And what was with that pale "Red Globe", supposedly to represent planet Earth, at the near end of the opening ceremony? Clearly, Mao was not to be seen at the ceremony, but his ideas were.

What redemption? Where is the need? Why keep harping on the negatives?
Would anyone not agree that the opening ceremony of the 29th Olympic was brilliant, dazzling and spectacular?
Wasn???t the giant Bird???s Nest happily basking in the glory of the majestic yet sparkling fireworks?
Did the world dignitaries and the Chinese common folks not awed by the wonderful mid-air lighting of the great torch?
The Games had begun with a real big bang as predicted. Half the world population watched it live. Well done, Beijing! Congratulation, China!
(Tan Boon Tee)