Sunday, August 24, 2008

London or Bust

Maybe it's just me, but as overwhelming as the opening ceremonies were, the closing ceremonies were that much underwhelming. Even the fireworks were less, in my opinion, than the Sydney games. The performers the closing ceremonies looked like they were just kind of going through the motions. (And actually, so did the performers in the opening ceremony.) Well, except Jackie Chan... but he always has a goofy, fun-loving grin on his face.

I watched a great deal of the Olympics (darn live streaming video on the Internet and gobs of cable channels). I watched more than I probably should have given I'm supposed to be dedicating my time to school... ah, well, the Olympics only happen every 4 years. (Okay, okay, every two years since they split them up after the 1992 games.) There was one thing I noticed through it all was a distinct lack of joy on the faces of the Chinese people I saw in the crowds. None of them looked like they were actually having fun.

Oh, there were exceptions to this of course, but for the most part, the smiles looked forced. Now, maybe it is a cultural thing and we Americans are a bit too exuberant at winning, but it wasn't just our athletes who looked really excited, and genuinely so, at winning medals. Still, the only real emotion I remember seeing was when the Chinese women's doubles team won gold in badminton. (I told you I watched too much of the Olympics.)

3 comments:

Carrie said...

The Chinese do love them some badminton. It was fun to watch the odd and offbeat sports--nothing like a good handball match to bring back memories of elementary P.E.

Patsy said...

I'm in love with water polo. I had a fleeting moment of --Ahhh I could have played that sport. And of course syncronized swimming --- still love that one. :)

Donna said...

Yeah, I played water polo in my swimming class in college... no, couldn't have played that for real. Too much treading water and not nearly enough getting to hang on the side...