How do you ever top the Beijing's Games?

[SAMURAISAN]

Last week in Bangkok, was talking to a Brit girl who was lamenting how London was going to upstage the Beijing's Games.

Looking at the Games as a whole including the now closing Ceremony, one wonders who can ever top the Beijing Games.

Truly a superlative performance by the most populous nation. Spectacular organisation, beautiful men and women, great colours and uniforms, costumes, exotic props and extraordinary effort and all with flowing grace.

The Chinese spent between USD40-60 billion (no one will know for sure) and had the services of millions of cheap (if not free) volunteers. It has the financial muscle and the popular will to succeed as a matter of national pride.

Britain, on the other hand, do not even come close to a fraction of the budget the Chinese expended (and this does not even account for inflation between now and 2012). It has to do it at the British level of costs and without the mass (free) support of the British people. London is one of the most expensive capitals of the world, and one of the most gridlocked. There is no way the Brits can centralise most of the Games the way the Chinese did..the facilities are just not there. Again it's national pride, not cow sense that drives nations to bid for the games and expect to break even. With hotel prices that are legendary in London I wonder how the hundreds of thousands that are coming for the games are going to be house. And really..if David Beckham and "A Whole Lotta Love" are the only ideas that the London organising committee can come out with... the 2012 games may only click with those who enjoy the quirkiness of The Goon Show.

Unless they subcontract the whole show to the Chinese !!

 

[Loongsam]

I was decidedly disappointed with the phuiview of Great Britain during the closing ceremony of the Beijing games. You are right. London games suck big time right now unless these jocks pull up their socks or the athletes will end up in Olympic Village, and I mean VILLAGE.

 

[SAMURAISAN]

The easiest way to upstage the "fakes" is to come up with the genuine article.

Fake ceremonies, fake singers, fake birth certs and worst of all, the Chinese don't even have the guts to admit their deceit after being caught with their pants down. Instead, they make more fakes to cover up their sins.

You are sounding like the sour grapes in the western media who know there will be no way on earth London or Los Angeles can ever come close to replicating the grandeur of the Beijing games.

Fake Ceremonies? Come come...the opening extravaganza is worthy of George Lucas, not just Zhang Yimou !! Only difference is that Zhang had the budget, and Lucasfilms will never have.

Fake singers? What's the fuss over lip sync-ing ? How do you know for sure that all the other world famous artistes weren't also doing it? Do you think any orchestrator of a show the scale we saw would take chances with live singing if they can lipsync it ? Anyone who has done our National Day parade can attest to the frequent use of lipsync-ing if there is any doubt over the singer's ability to deliver note for note. BTW, that handover bit with Jimmy Page playing guitar was completely faked too ( cannot blame the Chinese here).

Fake birth certs ? media clips vs official certs? Where does the sensationalism stop? Even if a 14 year old underaged gymnast did win..what does it prove ? Sour grapes again?

Let's see if the London games will be as free from drugs, scandals, and security fiasco. Frankly I wouldn't bet my money on it.

 

[scroobal]

The Chinese spent between USD40-60 billion (no one will know for sure) and had the services of millions of cheap (if not free) volunteers. It has the financial muscle and the popular will to succeed as a matter of national pride.

Britain, on the other hand, do not even come close to a fraction of the

Unless they subcontract the whole show to the Chinese !!

Good post bro. Agree. They might call for volunteers as well. But like Sydney, anti discrimination laws will prevent just taking chiobus only but aunty, uncle, ah kong and all.

Well the west is known for its innovation and creativity, and hopefully they might spring a surprise. Its the home of the Harrier Jump Jet, the London Eye and practically everything else we copied.

 

[pweesng]

Do agree bro. I hope some NGO out there can do a financial and social impact study which may set down a set of guidelines. My understanding is that except for Atlanta which was financial and organisation disaster, the rest indeed made money or broke even. Beijing however has not been looked at. By the fact that the Chinese were putting $30BUSD each month in their reserves shows that they can afford it.

The fear of course is that they might have stamped on individuals and society to get there. Am aware of forced relocation and also that the construction industry will nosedive now is very real.

actually olympic is a vanity event... no country made money from running olympic... the capital outlay is simply too large and the tourist spending cannot cover the expenditure.

except for Alanta, where they use existing infrastructures... they were the only one that made money out of holding the event....

 

[po2wq]

y has 2 go 1 up? ...

beijing has done it juz ze beijing way ...

if bejing had spent 100b ... it doesn't mean dat london hv 2 spend 101b ... or, 4 dat matter, half dat amt juz 2 go 1 up on others ...

london shld juz do it in juz her london way ... let evry1 find it njoyable n b delighted wif ze equally unique london charms ...

u dun need 2 go 1 up others juz 2 boost yr ego ... dat is a trait of oni ze sg gahmen ...

 

[snrcitizen]

Wonder why nobody, especially the western world, raised even a whimper about the counterfeit Barcelona games and the counterfeit Sydney games.

 

[z_z]

Hmmm the opening and closing ceremony of the Beijing Olympics is like our national day parade - beautiful, spectacular but utterly pointless.

I am glad to witness some great sportsmen / women in action though. The male chinese table tennis finals, Phelps and Bolt. These are memories that will last longer than any opening and closing ceremonies. My 2 cents.

 

[Cestbon]

Lucky our PM LHL didn't bid for the Olympic games for a record. So for ASEAN country have not host the Olympics Games. The biggest Asean host for the sport is Commonwealth Games by Malaysia.
I predict that after the new Stadium complete Singapore will bid for the Commanwealth Games that about 50+ country.

 

[Leongsam]

You are sounding like the sour grapes in the western media who know there will be no way on earth London or Los Angeles can ever come close to replicating the grandeur of the Beijing games.

If London can operate sweat shops between now and 2012, if it can demolish the homes of citizens and business premises without compensation to build Olympic infrastructure, if it can disregard international copyright laws and churn out fake products for the next 4 years, it may be able to come close. :p

If it can peg the £ to some arbitrary value against the currency of the UKs biggest trading partner, it would help heaps too.

 

[PropertyWatcher]

Last week in Bangkok, was talking to a Brit girl who was lamenting how London was going to upstage the Beijing's Games.

Looking at the Games as a whole including the now closing Ceremony, one wonders who can ever top the Beijing Games.

Truly a superlative performance by the most populous nation. Spectacular organisation, beautiful men and women, great colours and uniforms, costumes, exotic props and extraordinary effort and all with flowing grace.

Of course the Beijing Games can be topped...

..... by holding the next Games in Shanghai

 

[aakumu]

Hi bro,
By the next one in four years.

My humble two cents.

 

[tommyh]

London arrived about 100 years ago. Ever since then it has been on the down hill . There is no point competing with beijing. They are just not in the same league.

We are talking about a huge country, with a large economy and fast stable double digit growth for the last 10 years vs a country with a population 1/20th the size with a stagnant economy.

There was some talk about spielberg quitting but heck local talent Zhang Yimou was super giving it a Chinese flavor.

Agreed. China did all that to show the world it has arrived. London does not need to do that.

 

[banova888]

The Olympics games is not measured by the opening or closing ceremony but by the athletics who took part. Michael Phelps, Usain Bolts and even our athletics who won the second Olympics medal. These are the moments people will remember.

The opening and closing ceremony are spectacular, you will need lots of cheap labour, low cost of building and massive budget. Very few can or willing to match that. Probably in North Korea, you can see a bigger scale spectacle but the people are too starved to put up a show.

Question is whether North Korea can put up a show as impressive as China.

Compae Apples with Apples and not Orange Juice.