Olympic Games, Beijing, 2008

Last Friday I watched the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games on TV, and then over the past two days, I spent time watching the broadcasting of various competitions, both national and international. It is something I've been doing for as long as I can remember, and whenever I can, I take the opportunity to watch the opening ceremony plus all the competitions that catch my eye—and if possible, I watch them all.

Regarding the Beijing 2008 opening ceremony, it was very good. When the country delegations entered, the vast majority were dressed in traditional outfits representing each nation. However, the Argentine delegation did not join this practice and walked in wearing casual activewear. I don't know what the idea behind it was—whether they wanted to avoid choosing a specific attire, such as the gaucho suit, leaving aside other cultures that define us—but I would have liked it because that was the whole point. Walking in activewear, unlike the few others who wore formal suits, felt out of place compared to the majority. Perhaps they were trying to project a sense of equality through their clothing, similar to the purpose school smocks serve; a matter of personal preference, I suppose.

As for the political figures present at the opening ceremony, from South America, only the President of Brazil was there. Every time a delegation entered, the camera focused on their political "representative" in the stands, and that is something to pay attention to. It shows an interest in something like sports—it serves as an encouragement, showing that those leading the country care. Even if it was just a physical presence and a few seconds of camera time, the "political leaders" of the US, France, Russia, China, the Netherlands, Germany, Brazil, etc., were all there... and later, you see how those same countries excel in the competitions. It is true that a whole web of economic and commercial interests surrounds the Games, but when you start bringing it down to the local and smaller scale, that is where you find the true importance of sports.

I notice that in the media—specifically broadcast TV channels, which are ultimately the ones that reach everyone—they have completely ignored the Games; only public television is broadcasting them. Now they call it "public television"—they have adopted that slogan—when sports should also be considered something public, something to invest in. But reality is different; there isn't even investment in education, much less in sports.

I remember that "public" television—which gives the impression of only caring about promoting itself and not much else, given that the quality is among the worst—referred to the Argentines as entering dressed in a "traditional" way when all the other delegations were entering in typical, traditional regional attire. They used a play on words to equate it with saying they were dressed "as usual," but the word "traditional" carries a different connotation; it can be taken with another meaning, when in reality it was just casual activewear and nothing more. The others were the ones wearing traditional clothes.

When I say they are only interested in advertising, I should mention that they seem to have added a watermark of sorts, where every channel broadcasting the feed ends up with the Channel 7 logo right in the middle—or so it appears. They run a lot of promos referring to athletes who had good performances in previous Games. Yet, in these first two days, those athletes competed against others and lost, which was not surprising. They built up expectations around something that isn't real. So far, the only medal won by an athlete was someone who wasn't even in the plans—just like what happened in previous Games with a couple of medals. This doesn't mean discredit to the effort and merit of the athlete, but when you come from a country that doesn't care about sports and you face countries that do, it seems those who prepare have a much better chance than those who don't.

Take Brazil as an example: they have appeared in several sports where no other South American country even had representatives—for instance, in artistic gymnastics. When you listen to the TV commentary, you learn that Brazil has been preparing in sports for years, hiring specialists from other nations, and sending athletes abroad. In other words, the State is present (or at least it seems that way), which is why they arrive with so many athletes. The presence of their president showed something beyond mere image; underneath, there was real work, not indifference. When I look at my country, what I see in comparison is a lot of self-promotion, a lot of advertising, and very few actions.

It is clear that Beijing prepared very well for the Games. Despite that, one can read plenty of criticism regarding individual freedoms, mainly due to its regime. But strictly regarding the Games themselves, it seems very well organized. To think that Buenos Aires was put forward as a candidate for the 2004 Games—and, of course, lost; I remember the logo with the flying bird. I was reading a bit, and now they visit candidate cities and assign them scores. The cities that pass—meaning they exceed the minimum score—have so far all been from the first world.

In just two days, many records have been broken, both Olympic and world records. I enjoy watching almost all the televised sports, even the ones that consist mainly of trials, usually in gymnastics or diving in swimming. Following the commentary, searching the internet for illustrative data like watching videos on YouTube, or looking up records held for many years—it all contributes to one's general knowledge and is something we can make great use of with a tool like the internet.

(Originally published on August 10, 2008)