Bye Bye Beijing

As the last fireworks faded into the night and athletes hugged each other at the closing ceremonies, my mind began to recount the past five months of this unbelievable adventure that has been the Beijing Olympics for me. It was a winding road but every turn has brought new horizons. The roots of this trip were in China’s most famous autonomous region, Tibet, when the Dali Lama came to Seattle for five days in April to talk about compassion. My involvement there formed the link that became a highlight of the visit to Beijing. Then we were off to Uruguay in May to celebrate with friends who were on the Olympic Committee there and who we would connect with in Beijing while they got the favored nation treatment as VIPs. And finally, my Chinese friend and colleague opened the last door in June that made the whole visit a reality.
When we flew into Beijing from our Tokyo stopover, I spotted NBC’s Ann Curry on our flight. She had not forgotten the help we had given her to get an exclusive interview with the Dali Lama in Seattle and she was still very appreciative. After chatting about the situation in Tibet, she said if we were near the Today Show set during the Games to let her know and she would love to see us again. I tucked that in the back of mind and got down to business after our arrival.
The time in Beijing literally flew by. We were up at 6am every morning and the day’s activities were non-stop until midnight. We then spent the next 6 hours trying to tell ourselves that we should be sleeping. Sometimes it worked. Sometimes it didn’t. But sleep deprivation was something worth dealing with for the experience we were having.
The international media center was on the north side of the Bird’s Nest and very near it was the outdoor set for NBC’s Today Show. NBC was America’s official broadcast partner for the Games. Unless you were watching Canadian television, NBC was your lifeline to Beijing. Much of their reporting was live in New York but most of the competitions were taped and edited before you saw them in the evenings. New York and Beijing are exactly 12 hours apart. So 7am in New York was 7pm in Beijing and essentially, the day was over. The Today Show did its broadcast live for New York from 7 to 10pm Beijing time each day throughout the Games.
If you’ve read any of my previous reports, you know something about the two weeks we had there. Almost every minute was spoken for but we hardly noticed because it was such an incredible experience. Near the end of last week as our time was winding down, we made an afternoon trip to the Hutongs with our guide and driver. These are the “old” Beijing neighborhoods where families live in very Spartan buildings around a courtyard. They eat together in one place; sleep in another and congregate and visit in the courtyard or “living room”. The Chinese people were very gracious to allow us into their homes for this experience.
When we came out, very near the Drum Tower, we had the opportunity to take a rickshaw ride around the neighborhood. It was fun but before we completed the tour, an horrendous thunderstorm came through that completely swamped the area in 8 to 10 inches of water. We were soaked to the skin so we decided to go back to the apartment and change into dry clothing. By that time, our choice was what to do for dinner. It was then we realized that if we were ever going to try to see Ann Curry and the Today Show, this was going to be our only shot before leaving for home.
We grabbed a taxi and the adventure began. The accepted means of directions for a taxi were to go to one of the many local volunteers who would write your destination in Chinese on a small card which you would give to the driver. (Seattle sportswriter Art Thiel evidently tried to do this at the media center before leaving for a restaurant but, from his article, it seems he wanted to make it as hard as possible, and he did! We never had a problem.) The key to reaching the Today Show set was to break through the layers of security that surrounded the Olympic Green and the Bird’s Nest.
Fortunately, our driver was tenacious. The city is laid out with ring roads that emanate from the Forbidden City. The second ring road is the closest to the downtown and therefore almost always the most crowded. Our apartment was between the 3rd and 4th ring roads and therefore not quite as busy. The Bird’s Nest is just outside the 6th ring road and security begins to get real tight after the 5th. We did circles for awhile until our driver stopped to find a security guard who could help us. Without a formal credential, my only piece of related communication was the email on my iPhone that Ann Curry had sent me after we arrived. Both the driver and I kept saying “NBC” and “Today Show” but we were getting little response.
We did finally make it through the 5th ring but now getting to the International Broadcast Center was the problem. We tried the bus lane that takes journalists to the venues. We made it into a couple of the media parking lots but weren’t allowed to get out of the car. Finally, in sight of the Bird’s Nest, we encountered a volunteer who had been educated in the US and he recognized all the pieces of the puzzle. He walked us into the Media Guest Center where I promptly showed my iPhone email and was directed to a young man holding a sign that said “Today Show”. After I told him my story, the doors began to open. We were given credentials and soon two runners showed up with a golf cart to drive us to the set. This was the “internship” of a lifetime for these two young women who were just out of college. And when they found out where we were from, their faces lit up and they told us that the other person they were working with was a brand new graduate of the University of Washington. A little bit of luck goes a long way in these situations.
After getting acquainted with the backstage folks, we were left near the stage in a place where we could see the set with the Bird’s Nest and the flame burning brightly in the background. It's fascinating to watch an experienced group of professionals do what they do best when they're 7000 miles from home in a strange country. They pull it off with such elan.
We stayed there, feeling very special, until Ann Curry spotted me at the break and came over to talk to us. She said she wanted to spend more time after the show but she would like us to come up and sit on the set. Two director’s chairs appeared and we were introduced to the whole gang. Many of their interviews were conducted about 4 feet from where we were sitting. Mary Lou Retton was on the show talking about gymnastics, as well as a young man who made the swimming team and then found out he had cancer. He still came and competed. It was a very inspiring story. As the camera pulled away from his segment, if you look very closely, you can see Jane and me perched on our director’s chair in the extreme left corner of the photo. Our two seconds of fame…still pretty cool!
Ann introduced us around after the show and we were offered a couple of the bugs from the Night Market that Al had sampled on the show. We spent as much time as she had talking about Tibet which is obviously a subject very near and dear to her, and about our individual hopes for the effect of these Games on our world. She is such a gentle and genuine person. It is easy to see how comfortable she can make the people around her as she does her job. We walked her to her car and said our goodbyes. Suddenly, there we were in front of the Bird’s Nest, the flame aglow and the full moon looking down on us. It was just before midnight and we were flying high as a kite! Could anything be much better than that? Certainly nothing we could think of right then.
The memory of the Today Show now joins the other remarkable experiences that were the Beijing Olympics for us. I am too close to China now to be completely objective but I think that the 2008 Olympics were an astounding achievement. There was so much to overcome for the hosts but they did it…and they did it in style. It was safe and the Games introduced the rest of the world to a China we had no idea existed. It ultimately comes down to the people and they could not have been more welcoming or inviting. I was so deeply touched by this experience that it is hard to express. I can only say that the world is different now for me and I hope that feeling rubs off on all of us.
My hat is in the ring for London in 2012. Our reservations are already made. Couple that with Vancouver and the Winter Games in 2010 where the agency has a committed piece of the action and the future continues to hold very exciting prospects. But there will never be another Beijing 2008. You’ve now heard what this experience has meant to my life. I wish you the same kind of adventures in yours.
It's good to be home,Dan Mc
“Ten thousand miles this autumn. I will always be a traveler.” Du Fu, Tang Dynasty, 618-907 A.D.
Posted by Dan McConnell on August 25, 2008 12:23 PM Permalink