Events

Olympic thoughts

I watched television for the first time in a while the other day and noticed that, with a hiss and a roar and a dash of David Beckham, the Beijing 2008 Summer Olympic Games had finished, just as quickly as they had begun.  This always seems to happen with the Olympics, don’t you think?  Four years of construction of Bird’s Nests, selection of mascots, international political controversy, promotion, preparation and excitement and then - in the blink of an eye - it’s over.

Perhaps it felt that way for the poor old German athletes who aimed for 50 gold medals and came away with 16  - although I think saying “Crisis is putting it mildly” (as the Süddeutsche Zeitung did) is a bit harsh.   If they want to feel good about themselves, they can always compare themselves to Neuseeland, with our 3  (count them, three) glorious golds.

At least some of the downtrodden Sportlers could enrich themselves linguistically in the ‘Chinese Learning Area’ of the Athlete’s Village, or culinarily with traditional Chinese street food.  How do you say ’seahorse-on-stick’?