There are two restaurants on the Olympic Green that surrounds the Bird’s Nest and the Water Cube (now being called the Ice Cube by us westerners). They are both Scottish. They serve an incredibly American menu of burgers, fries and chicken nuggets. But they don’t serve chopsticks. That seems to frustrate the locals a bit but they have developed a unique solution to the problem. It’s amazing what you can pick up with two beverage straws. I’ve been awed by the Chinese ability to eat French fries with “straw” chopsticks. Yes, I tried it…but it didn’t work.
These two McDonald’s restaurants are open 24 hours and packed almost all the time with as many athletes as visitors. The only addition I have noticed to the menu is corn-on-the-cob, which is a Chinese breakfast and lunch staple. It is eaten cold after steaming or boiling. I ate some but, frankly, it didn’t seem to be a delicacy for me. It’s clear though that I am the exception here. The franchise is certainly alive and well in Beijing.
The city of Beijing, which stretches for 6500 square miles (compared to LA at 500) in all directions, has been completely been taken over by the Games. There is not a street without a banner; a home or business without a poster or flag; cars have stickers; even the entrance to the Temple of Heaven, which has become the icon for Beijing, has given over its long entrance walkway to pictogram sculptures of the athletic events of the Games.
There are 34 different venues for the competitions. Some brand new with 21st Century designs and others that were around during the Cultural Revolution of the 1960’s. The Bird’s Nest has become the symbol of the Beijing Olympics. It’s a remarkably designed stadium. And within a mile or so of it are 12 other venues for these Games that are fresh and new and exciting. The athletes village where they are housed is brand new with all the modern amenities you can imagine, including wi-fi everywhere. The accommodations are as good as any downtown hi-rise hotel! And I’m sure appreciated even more.
My closest association to the venues is with the Workers’ Stadium back closer to the center of town. Soccer is being played there today, just as it was15 years ago when I toured the facility with a client to evaluate it for concerts. It was old and tired then. Still, it was the "national" stadium with a seating capacity of 60,000 . Whitney Houston wouldn’t perform there because we couldn’t get enough seats on the field to meet her attendance expectations. The stadium has been completely renovated for the Games. Can Whitney say the same?
Almost 11,000 athletes are taking part in the competition and, from my observation, they are being well cared for. They are very visible in town, touring, shopping, eating in restaurants and the nationalism of their teams and followers is inspiring. We toured one day with the family and supporters of an American judo competitor. All they could talk about was the wonderful treatment they were receiving from their hosts. Special events, discount cards, help with travel and tour arrangements, even tickets to movies (they wanted to see “The Dark Knight), of course!) were readily available to them. The sister of the competitor introduced him to judo when he was six. And his mother said she didn’t need any more souvenirs because the night before her son had given her an Olympic locket with his picture inside. How cool is that!
The organizers even spent a healthy chunk of the estimated $40 billion budget on a special lane on the new highway for the exclusive use of the competitors and officials travelling between venues. The athletes are the center of this huge event. If anyone deserves special attention, it’s them. We’re hearing no complaints what-so-ever.
Event tickets are another issue. The question is being raised on a daily basis as to why the stands are half empty for many of the competitions. Like other large-scale attractions these days, selling tickets over the internet has changed the make-up of the spectator base dramatically. The largest group of event tickets offered on line were sold out in 18 minutes. Overall, the Beijing Games generated about nine million tickets, but a large chunk of those were set aside for the International Olympic Committee, sponsors, dignitaries and TV broadcasters — reducing the total available to the public to a reported 6.8 million Still watching the events on television continually showed many empty seats during the daily competitions. Those of us in the event business know that selling tickets does not mean that they get used. It’s an unfortunate reality, as witnessed by our recent Dalai Lama visit in Seattle when many of the “sold out” sessions had open seats. For the past few days, organizers have offered 5,000 free tickets daily to locals in order to fill in the stands at many of the events.
Because I was working for the host committee, we did not have regular credentials, nor were tickets set aside for us. When time allowed, we were given special credentials and could fill-in when certain venues were not full. We saw table tennis (like nothing I’ve ever seen) at the Peking University Gymnasium; wrestling at the Chinese Agricultural University Gymnasium; weight lifting at the Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics Gymnasium. I don’t think I’d ever heard of synchronized diving before but watching it at the Ice Cube was a truly thrilling experience. Every competition at an event like this takes on a heightened level of expectation and reality. Like nothing you can imagine without witnessing it.
As the Games race toward a conclusion, I am beginning to reflect on the true meaning of this edition of our world’s most famous sporting competition. Both China and the US have made their countries proud on the playing field. China has offered the rest of us at taste of their culture that is fresh and new. Whether there is more to all this or not, only the future can tell us.
What I do know is that the sight of the Bird’s Nest at midnight with the flame burning brightly and a full moon hanging low over the top still gives me chills. It is an indelible picture of this experience that will remain in my mind forever. We are so fortunate to have been witness to this momentous gathering and to feel the earth move just a teeny bit toward making us closer together.
We arrived on opening day and will be home again at the close. Like you, we saw the opening ceremony on television and will do the same for the closing. My final report on Monday will recount a very personal experience Jane and I had with one of America’s strongest links to this event, NBC’s Today Show. In some small manner, I hope these reports have offered you a part of this experience that you could not find elsewhere. I know writing them has for me.
Until Monday,Dan Mc
Posted by Dan McConnell on August 22, 2008 2:31 PM Permalink
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