The Games of the 29th Olympiad are now underway.
Chinese president Hu Jintao declared the Games open at approximately 11:00 PM China Standard Time, upon which moment the IOC brought the Olympic flag into the stadium. This blog wants to make something clear: that declaration is the only political element in the Olympic Opening Ceremony, and it signals a handoff.
The Olympic venues, for the next 16 days, are not in Beijing, not in China... this is Olympia, a temporary nation where each sport federation are leaders of states. The IOC rules the gates to this kingdom, and many things are forbidden inside. They may knock at the gates, but politics and advertisement are unwelcome here. And for this reason, boycotts and protests are complete nonsense, and always tragically misdirected.
Chinese table tennis player Zhang Yining spoke the oath that will govern athletes' behavior during the next two weeks. It's a simple statement, as well as words only a fool would say out loud. To believe those words is to deny a darker side of human nature that perpetually seeks to turn competition into domination. Some will think these Games are so important, believe that they have so much to gain or lose, that they will cheat to win. Some will be caught, and some won't. In the big picture, it matters not.
In the name of all competitors, I promise that we shall take part in these Olympic Games, respecting and abiding by the rules that govern them, in the true spirit of sportsmanship, for the glory of sport and the honor of our teams.
Most of the competitors here in Olympia won't end up having their lives defined by their athletic achievements. The athletes who will get the most out of this experience will be the ones who take those words uttered by the founder a century ago: "The most important thing is not to win, but to take part."
The final bearer of Beijing's torch was Li Ning, the "Prince of Gymnastics" who won three gold medals for China in 1984. Suspended by wires, he was lifted into the air (the gasp from the crowd was audible on the feed) and ran a lap of the Bird's Nest stadium while airborne while a digital scroll followed his progress on the stadium's interior wall, images from the Olympic torch relay projected upon it. When he reached his destination, the cauldron glowed red as the flame shot in an arc into the bowl.
Scrolls were a key theme in the one-hour artistic presentation that preceded the 204-strong Parade of Nations. A long illuminated parchment lay across the stadium infield as centuries of Chinese history leapt to life from its surface.
In one scene, which will always be this blog's defining and lasting image of the Opening Ceremony, laughing children drew mountains and a giant smiley face on the scroll, while thousands of tai chi artists surrounded them in a giant white band of disciplined fighters... all facing outward.
Innocence, protected by a supreme ultimate fist.
Photo © Icon SMI
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