The Olympic Torch and Tibetan protestors

It seems as though every Olympic games has its troubles. The '96 games in Atlanta had traffic problems, allegations of bribery, and a terrorist incident that killed 11 people¹. The '00 games in Sydney seemed "mired in troubles" less than five months out². The '04 games barely finished their venues, and was a financial disaster for Athens³. So it should come as little surprise that Beijing is having troubles of its own in the months leading up to its opening ceremonies.

As you may well know, the Olympic torch relay has had considerable controversy surrounding it. The torch (pictured right), as I noted earlier, is going all over the world, and is currently going between some of the major European capitals, including London and Paris. Each of its stops has sparked protest from groups opposed to China's takeover of Tibet in 1959. In Paris, the torch was extinguished during the turmoil of protesters⁴.

The protests have not been limited to cities where the torch is. In San Francisco on April 7, climbers got onto the Golden Gate Bridge and put up signs with slogans along the lines of, "Free Tibet 08". Senator and presidential candidate Hillary Clinton announced that she wanted President Bush to impose a "partial boycott" of the Olympics by not participating in the Opening Ceremony because of China's failure to deal with both Tibet and the Sudanese situation in Darfur⁵.

Chinese embassies from places like Budapest, Vilnius, Rome, and Reykjavik have been bombarded with protesters, symbolizing international pressure on China to do something regarding Tibet. In The Hague, protesters stormed the consulate, replacing the Chinese flag with a Tibetan flag (pictured below: this flag is illegal in China)⁶.

The problems the Chinese have had with their torch relay from Greece to the U.K. to France may cause significant changes in the route. For example, the section of the route scheduled to go to Tibet may be canceled or altered⁷.

For China, this is an international PR disaster. The torch relay was, in a sense, China's big "homecoming," with its magnificence. The Chinese have been planning everything down to a tee to make sure that everything ran flawlessly. 123 days before the opening ceremonies, the torch relay has been in every sense a nightmare. Mobs, protesters, Tibetan flags: the magnificence of China's torch relay is, in a poetic sense, going up in flames.

The only people in the world unaware of the disaster that is slowing unfolding toward Beijing are, unsurprisingly, the Chinese themselves. Extensive censorship of news coming into the country (and news coming out of Tibet) has limited the government's image in its own people⁸.

Nonetheless, China must be worried right now about what's going to happen. After all, if protesters are doing this to torchbearers in their own countries, what could happen in Beijing. With on the order of two million people headed to Beijing in August, how many of them could be protesters, and of those, who might become violent, resorting to terrorism? Big name events (especially where the Chinese may be favored and the opening and closing ceremonies) could be especially lucrative terrorist attacks. The question now is what China will plan on doing to protect its tourists (and thus, its image--the all important factor of the 2008 games)? It remains to be seen how China will work out its Olympic troubles.

References
1. Wikipedia: 1996 Summer Olympics
2. IOC plays down troubles as Sydney Olympics approach
3. Wikipedia: 2004 Summer Olympics
4. Olympic Torch Run in Paris Halted as Protests Spread
5. Clinton calls for partial boycott; torch protesters scale Golden Gate Bridge
6. Wikipedia: 2008 Tibetan Unrest
7. Olympic Officials May Reconsider Torch Relay
8. Chinese Media in Spin of Indignation

Trials Update and Odd Olympic Events

This blog is about the selection process for the Olympic teams we hope to see win gold in Beijing this summer. For the four events we're going to, none of them have yet decided their full Olympic teams. We're a little over four months out from the opening ceremonies, and it may be surprising that we have relatively few people officially guaranteed a spot on the team, but it makes sense, because a lot can happen in a short period of time, and the United States wants to go to the Olympics with the team at its absolute peak. The second part is a listing of a few random Olympic games that we will not be watching, but which nonetheless caught my attention as interesting or odd.

Olympic Trials Update
For the swimming events, the Olympic trials will be held June 29 to July 6 in Omaha, Nebraska. For the athletic events, are held from June 27 to July 6 in Eugene, Oregon. Both will be huge events, coinciding nicely with the July 4 holiday weekend.

For the traithlon events, selection is slightly more complicated there are three events that will decide who goes to the Olympics:

• The Beijing ITU World Cup (completed last September), with Laura Bennett and Jarrod Shoemaker earning automatic bids
• The 2008 U.S. Olympic Team Trials in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, will be on April 19, and the top finisher will earn an automatic bid
• The The 2008 USA Team Selection Event in Des Moines, Iowa, will be in June, and will help decide the third at-large member of the US Olympic team

For the rowing events, it becomes even more complicated. Events are divided into "Big Boats" and "Small Boats," and then qualified and unqualified boats. All 6 big boats qualified at the World Championships last year in Munich, Germany, and their crews will be announced by late June. All but three of the small boats qualified as well. The three that did not qualify have another chance this June in Poznan, Poland. In order to get there there will be a trial in West Windsor, New Jersey in May. Trials for crews are a slightly complicated process of several trials, including the World Cup and one or two trials in New Jersey. In any case, the US Olympic rowing team will be known by the end of June.

Weird Olympic Events
Imagine devoting your life to training for an event or sport that no one has heard of. Well, here, in this obscure blog, I will share the limelight with (fittingly) obscure Olympic events:

1. Racewalking: It comes in men's 20km, men's 50km, and women's 20km. You are required to walk the entire distance (i.e., one foot must be on the ground at all times). The top 20 (out of 30) times for these events are held by people from either Russia (or the Soviet Union, since one time was recorded in 1989) or China.
2. Triple Jump: This event is exactly as it sounds: you jump three times without a start, and you see how far you can get. It's also known as "Hop, Step, and Jump." The father of former Ohio State basketball star Mike Conley, Jr. was a standout in this event.
   
3. Steeplechase: This event is running through an obstacle course. Training begins at Vacation Bible School.
4. Modern Pentathlon: It used to be javelin throwing, discus throwing, sprinting, and the long jump. But that was ancient times and we've moved beyond that to swimming, fencing, pistol shooting, cross-country running, and swimming. How...modern...and civilized! It's supposed to be based on abilities needed by soldiers. Perhaps the IOC should consider Humvee driving, machine gun firing, supersonic jet flying, night vision goggling, and target choosing. Or to make it more cost effective, borrow a playbook from the Navy SEAL training program.
   
5. Windsurfing: One question. How do you win windsurfing?
   
6. Table Tennis: The names of several Olympic gold medalists: Ryu Seung-Min, Chen Qi, Ma Lin, Zhang Yining, Wang Nan (in Athens). The only non-Chinese/Korean to win Olympic gold in this "sport" is Jan-Ove Waldner of Sweden. The Chinese have won 16 out of 20 gold medals since its inception in 1988. Behold! The great Chinese dynasty of...Ping Pong! Too bad this wasn't an Olympic event when Forrest Gump was around.
   
7. Beach Volleyball: The only reason why this gets airtime are well-toned (and tanned) athletes in skimpy bathing suits. No one cares about the sport*.

So come August, NBC will be airing converage of high-flying gynmasts, Michael Phelps (assuredly in both his events and during the commericial breaks), high-speed track races, and perhaps a couple slightly more obscure events. Look for hints of the previous 7 events. It's doubtful many Americans will medal in those events, but August will be the closest these events get to having national attention.

*I realize some people do care about this sport, and I apologize to you for the gross generalization.