Torch Relay for the Beijing Olympics.
I love the Olympics.
Have been the Games and seen three torch runs thru the city. It's a wonderful thing to experience. The best part about hosting the party is the cooperation from the locals and the 'team' spirit that, if only for 17 days, everyone manages to bask in.
I am a little shocked and amused by the current problems that the BOOC has had with their run.
I saw the clip of the torch taken out of the hands of the person in the wheelchair and extinguished. Not fair to the people selected to carry it!
For the record- when the flame is lit in Greece and there are a number of lamps that carry the flame- backup flames in case the torch is put out.
I feel for all the athletes who have spent the last 4 years preparing-it sucks to get prepared and then get the rug pulled out from under you.
From what I have heard about Beijing, it's not going to be any fun for the athletes or tourists.
One report stated that a nutritionist made a trip there to check out the local food - to see what was available to the participants. They tested the meat and found that the hormone levels would get an athlete in trouble if they ate it and were tested later for performance enchancing drugs. :eek:
There are also reports of cameras being installed in tourist rooms, Media not being allowed to film or report from Tianneman Square and the terrible air quality in the city.
The situation in Tibet isn't helping the situation. Today there was a protest on the Golden Gate Bridge. Protestors hung flags and banners across the span. The part that angers me about the demostrators -and will probably take place on Wednesday - is their inability to behave themselves and allow an event to take place without all the malicious activities that they take part in.
Yeah, protest, hang banners, chant and yell.
But why do you have to ruin it for everyone else?
The idiot with the fire extinguisher was pretty funny-no thought about spraying the crowd with it. The barricade jumpers that tried to wrestle the torch away from the runners. Lovely! That cancels the rest of the run for the runners and crowd.....I'd be ticked...
"I took off of work to see the Olympic Flame and some morons who can't behave or separate civil disobedience from freedom of speech.
I don't care for China's human rights records or what they are doing in Tibet..but, I just dislike it when politics leaks into what should be fun and games. :(