The Beijing Olympics

Yahoo Sports: Opening Ceremony’s memorable moments (8-8-08)

Friday’s Opening Ceremony was one of the few moments in the fantastical world of sports when superlatives had no shot.

NYTimes: NBC Gets Record Rating for Tape-Delayed Opening Ceremony (8-9-08)

NBC: U.S., China put on a show for the fans by Alan Paul (8-10-08)

The China/USA basketball game is said to have been the most watched ever, with over 1 billion viewers. It was certainly the most exciting I've ever been to over a decade of covering NBA and college games as a Senior Writer for Slam magazine.

The intensity of the anticipation before the game was palpable. The walls of the building felt like they were pulsating. What made for such a remarkable atmosphere was that the sold out crowd was rooting almost equally hard for both teams.

Team USA's introduction induced cheers every bit as hearty as those that greeted the Chinese players. Kobe Bryant's greeting was louder and more positive than anyone's. And the crowd was cheering every great move by both teams.

Center Chris Bosh said that seeing the President before the game and knowing he was watching gave the team an extra push.

"Playing with USA on your chest and knowing the President is watching makes for a very patriotic moment," he said.

NYTimes: Beijing Puts On Happy Face for Games, Without Wrinkles (8-10-08)

An immense number of young people are working at the Olympics, seemingly all of them cheerful and friendly.

Almost a million people applied to be volunteers; a tenth of them were chosen. Successful applicants had to pass two rounds of written examinations and interviews. Tony Qi, who is working as a driver, said he had to pass tests in English, in driving skill and in knowledge of the Olympics.

Volunteers with the best linguistic skills appear to have been assigned the best jobs — the indoor ones, interacting with the news media. Those less fluent were put on traffic or security detail and stand out in the smog all day.

But almost everyone knows at least “Hello,” “O.K.” and “Have a good day,” so it’s possible for English-speaking visitors to have friendly conversations not much different from the ones they have in the elevator every morning back home.

NYTimes: After Glow of Games, What Next for China? (8-24-08)

In its post-Olympic era, the question is whether the success of the games will lead China to domestic reforms or convince leaders that their current model is working.

张五常：雄军尽墨话当年─忆容国团 (4-28-89)

一九八九年世界乒乓球赛在西德举行，中国大陆的男子选手全军尽墨!三十年前，在同一地方，我的好友容国团在世界男子单打的决赛中，左推右扫，把匈牙利名将西多杀得片甲...

十年后，我从芝加哥转到西雅图的华盛顿大学任教，驾车到温哥华一行，遇到了一位从中国大陆来的乒乓球员，就很自然地向他问及容国团的情况。他回答说：“他在去年(六八年)死了，是自杀的。”晴天霹雳，我泪下如雨。

我一向知道容国团热爱国家。但当我在一九六三年回港一行时，一位共识的朋友对我说，他变得很崇拜毛主席，对共产主义有万分热情，当时我就有点替他担心。一九六七年我到了芝加哥大学，在邹谠那里知道不少有关文革的事情，也知道那些小小的红卫兵像费沙那样，将资本的概念一般化。我于是想，乒乓的球技也是资本，不知容国团怎样了?一九六八年，我为此在《政治经济学报》上发表了《费沙与红卫兵》(《Irving Fisher and the Red Guards》)，指出红卫兵的资本概念是正确的，但假若他们真的要消灭资产阶级，乒乓球的高手也...