The Games and I

If you'd asked me a month ago, I would have told you in regretful tones that despite living in the host city I didn't hold out much prospect of seeing anything. But thanks to several rounds of good fortune all that changed...


On the 8th of August I caught the opening ceremony of the XXIX Olympiad on a big screen in the Sanlitun area, next to the Apple store (yes really). I was with a large group of friends from AIESEC, the Chinese among them able to explain some of the more obtuse historical references in what everyone agreed was a memorable spectacle. The crowd was diverse and enthusiastic, with every country in the athletes' parade receiving a cheer and many inspiring spontaneous flag-waving, hip-shaking performances from those present. Yours truly made some noise for Team GB, but unfortunately lacked a giant flag.

The following week some friends arrived from the UK bearing good news - they had been able to obtain Olympic tickets back home! They were for women's football in the city of Tianjin. Here you expect me to say "beggars can't be choosers". Well that's true, but we were fortunate enough to see the Chinese women's team play - and as anyone here will tell you that's a lot more promising than a game featuring the national men's squad. You may be surprised to know that this was my first live football game experience - the result was a draw, but the crowd were impressed and generally respectful.

So all was well and good - during my friends' stay I was able to show off my Chinese, my boat-piloting abilities (again) and the not at all narcissistic article I had published in the company magazine.

Then cityweekend came through for me - deciding that my riff on the chances of Team GB's footballing glory (zero: they don't have a team) was adequately amusing to win their latest competition - and the prize was two tickets to see, well, you can guess. It was my fellow trainee Angel's last full day in Beijing before she headed back home to Hong Kong, so she seemed an appropriate choice for the other ticket (far more deserving than me anyway).

Italy vs. Belgium, men's teams! Naturally as a true Brit I supported the latter as underdogs, and we were both thrilled when they turned out to be less "under" than we thought. The style of play was in predictable contrast to that of the women; two red cards and four yellows were testament to that. Final result: 3-2 to Belgium. A great day was topped off with dinner at a conveniently-placed Belgian restaurant opposite the stadium, followed by 6 straight hours of KTV starting around midnight.

The next week another surprise. My quite ridiculously generous friend from work had ordered tickets to the athletics events, and... you can guess this part too. A sort of early birthday present.

So it's 20th August, and we ride the Olympic line (8 of course) to the big park, see the exhibitions, listen to some French women warbling at a small sort of concert - and catch sight of the new landmarks. The Bird's Nest really is stunning. From a distance it may appear menacing, even brutalist, but when you're close up the lights from inside and the fog of angles on every surface create the impression of something warm and alive. Its concourses are so vast and stairwells so numerous that 90,000 people may enter or leave without a crush, and the seating is more spaced out than at either of the other stadiums I visited.


Among the events we witnessed were:

• Usain Bolt winning the men's 200m sprint and capturing another world record
• The women's hammer throw - and lots of grunting
• Pole vaulting
• Women's 400m hurdles - and a bronze for Team GB's Natasha Danvers
• The medal ceremony for a very amusing Estonian discus-thrower who won gold the day before

Afterwards we wandered around the park at night, gawping at the Water Cube like everyone else.

So the Olympics have now finished. My closing ceremony venue was a bar in Sanlitun (the outdoor area there and Chaoyang park being packed). There were Brits, there was a big red bus, and there was Boris Johnson shambling around in front of a billion people. A less impressive spectacle overall, with 8-minute London segment generating universal confusion but not distaste.

I am loath to pontificate on the lasting impact on the city and the country until after the Paralympic Games, when the traffic will return and the foreign journalists fly home (having only scratched the surface). So that's your lot!

It's China's big day

Whatever your opinions on Beijing's eligibility to host this event or the value of sport itself - today is pretty momentous. In a little under 6 hours' time it's reckoned that two-thirds of the entire human family will turn their heads this way.

I'll likely be at Chaoyang Park South Gate, one of the umpteen "live sites" broadcasting an opening ceremony that promises to astound everybody. It's being directed by Zhang Yimou, once criticised and censored by the government for slamming the Cultural Revolution, now embraced and celebrated for his colourful and "apolitical" epics - a label he claims for himself despite having joined the CPPCC.

Of course everything is politics. The banners are everywhere; support for the Olympics is quite explicitly linked with love for a "united China" and for "scientific and harmonious development", the line oft repeated by Hu Jintao, keen to make a natty catchphrase his legacy.

But tonight I will stand in a smiling crowd of Beijingers and feel happy for them. The vast majority will be good people, to whom too many of us attribute the sins of the few.

In other news: I cooked my first omelette and my fish perished. The two are unrelated.

A proper AIESEC day

Today I had the kind of day that an AIESEC internship is uniquely able to create.

We're welcoming two new interns this week - one from Norway and one from Taiwan - and to celebrate we headed to Chaoyang Park. We rented a pedal-powered 6-seater and trundled around on the pavements discussing point scores for flattening various classes of pedestrian, rode the spinning roller coaster, log flume and spinny-octopus-thing and went to the Sony ExploraScience museum (great exhibits; shame about the café). Later we rented a boat and generally lazed around in under a perfect blue sky.

What a difference taking half the cars off the roads, shutting down the factories and the chance arrival of torrential rainfall makes! Yesterday we were able to see from the middle of town all the way North to the mountains. The city looks wonderful when it's clear.





This evening we went to the AIESEC office and each of us cooked something "native". I went for mashed potato. It was a resounding success (though I say it myself), despite the oddly coloured margarine and UHT milk that went into it. So far no-one has had to bring it back up again, and we all live in hope.



The Olympics start on Friday. We all have the afternoon off, so will either head to a sports bar or one of the humongous outdoor screens to catch the no-doubt arse-achingly long Opening Ceremony in Beijingovision.