Beijing, aha!

Written on 8/08/2008 06:46:00 pm by Swift!

Was watching the Olympics Opening Ceremony till now, but the "power cut" played the show-stopper...oops I can't watch it right now as there is no power supply.

It was really nice. Especially the play with electronics... who else can excel in it other than the Chinese?

The part which impressed me the most was that where tiny box shaped blocks moved up and down to create various formations. It was spectacular. While I kept thinking how many computers were involved and how many months of coding was required to achieve the precision of these movements, came the shock! Humans were inside these blocks (unseen to us) and they were moving each of the blocks up and down. Just imagine their memory and synchrony, in a situation where they can't even see how the other blocks are moving!

Ho! The power supply is on... Hope that the lighting of the Cauldron is not over. If it's, then I will miss what I really wanted to see.
******************************************************
Yea, I made it! A Chinese gymnast, with the spotlight focussed on him, ran 360 degrees around the stadium before lighting the Cauldron. Yes, but he ran through the air, at a height of hundreds of feet! It was spectacular. In recent years we have seen the dominance of technology over the conventional way of shooting an arrow to light up the Cauldron. But here they merged human skills and technology to produce a wonderful show for millions of viewers worldwide. And the fireworks were magnificent! It was better than the one seen in Sydney Olympics. When the athletes from different nations marched past the audience it seemed that it was a fusion of culture. From the darkest to the fairest, the strongest to the fastest, everyone was here. I saw that I hadn't even heard of many of the countries before. Some had only a handful of athletes. But at the event of the event they will have a handful of medals too. What about the nation with a billion population. Each time we get away with a single face-saving medal, and that too from a "not-so-popular" athlete. By the way, are athletes popular in India?

Not so this time, it seems. With a silver medalist leading the "Indian Army" and Mrs. Sonia Gandhi herself waving to the athletes, it seemed that the Indian camp is very enthusiastic. And we have more medal hopes in this Olympics than in recent ones. RVS Rathore is on the top of the list, with his body language indicating that he is thirsty for gold. Anju Bobby George is another; though she is a performer, medals have been evading her. We have hopes in the boxing and shooting teams also. The tennis duo, Paes-Bhoopathi too can bring in a medal provided they don't contend individually for the Double's title. And the point is that we have similar hopes for every Olympics, until we realise that though we are as good as we expected, others are better! Let's hope there is a change this time.

Trivia:

  • Around 40 billion$ USD spent for Beijing Olympics.
  • The order in which the nations appeared in the march past was based on the number of strokes required in the Chinese alphabet to represent the first letter of the country's name.
  • At least one of the colours in the five Olympic rings is present in the flags of each of the member nations.
  • The Mascots

Like the Five Olympic Rings from which they draw their color and inspiration, Fuwa will serve as the Official Mascots of Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, carrying a message of friendship and peace -- and good wishes from China -- to children all over the world.

Designed to express the playful qualities of five little children who form an intimate circle of friends, Fuwa also embody the natural characteristics of four of China's most popular animals -- the Fish, the Panda, the Tibetan Antelope, the Swallow -- and the Olympic Flame.

Each of Fuwa has a rhyming two-syllable name -- a traditional way of expressing affection for children in China. Beibei is the Fish, Jingjing is the Panda, Huanhuan is the Olympic Flame, Yingying is the Tibetan Antelope and Nini is the Swallow.

When you put their names together -- Bei Jing Huan Ying Ni -- they say "Welcome to Beijing," offering a warm invitation that reflects the mission of Fuwa as young ambassadors for the Olympic Games!

Let the Olympics make human kind Swifter, Higher and Stronger!

Once again trivia: "It doesn't matter whether you win or lose, what is important is that you participate", was probably said by an Indian athlete.

If you enjoyed this post Subscribe to our feed