Althouse: Beijing gets the Olympics again.

July 31, 2015

Beijing gets the Olympics again.

This time it's the winter.

In the future, all the Olympics will be Beijing Olympics.

40 comments:

rhhardin said...: I've never paid attention to any Olympics, so as far away as possible is good.; 7/31/15, 6:08 AM
RMc said...: There are no mountains nor snow in Beijing, but, hey, dictators are always ready to pony up the cash. "You wanna host two Olympics just 14 years apart? Sure! Just send the money to my private account in the Cayman Islands!"

The IOC makes FIFA look like boy scouts.; 7/31/15, 6:19 AM
David said...: I don't think I will be going to that one.; 7/31/15, 6:34 AM
Eric the Fruit Bat said...: It's a shame that Valerie Harper can't rejoice in China's great fortune.; 7/31/15, 6:53 AM
BarrySanders20 said...: Bob Costas wants to know the Chinese word for pink eye.; 7/31/15, 7:09 AM
Eleanor said...: You have no idea how happy I am Boston backed out of its bid for the Summer Olympics.; 7/31/15, 7:20 AM
Alexander said...: This actually is for the best. The Olympics is all about massive cost overruns of public money, unnecessary city 'planning', and the inevitable police state experimentation during the even itself.

China has the advantage in all the areas, and I'm not particularly inclined to compete. I would vote in favor of all Olympics being Beijing Olympics. If they want the 'prestige', by all means.

An alternative could be taking the failed state of Somalia and turning the whole area into a sort of international sports convention center. Labor would be cheap and we could feel good about employing masses of Somalis to build a giant line of different shaped stadiums. It would also negate a 'home team' advantage and would allow records to be judged year-to-year with similar climate conditions.; 7/31/15, 7:39 AM
Hagar said...: I thought the Chinese were faster learners than that.; 7/31/15, 7:54 AM
David Begley said...: Better for the ChiComs to be spending money on circuses rather than aircraft carriers.; 7/31/15, 8:22 AM
CWJ said...: "I would vote in favor of all Olympics being Beijing Olympics."

Seconded! Since the Olympics themselves are named after their original venue, I propose they be renamed the "Beijympics!"; 7/31/15, 8:23 AM
Chris N said...: I was fortunate enough to be a mole on a study abroad law program in Barcelona.

One professor just called Juan Antonio Samaranch out of the blue (the guy who brought the '92 Olympics to Barcelona) and tried to appeal to his vanity and sense of duty over his steep speaking fees and star status over there. Eventually, it worked enough for a meeting.

I heard a few stories and anecdotes and just observed. All I will say is that the Olympic committee is probably better than FIFA.; 7/31/15, 8:26 AM
Beorn said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 7/31/15, 8:43 AM
Eric the Fruit Bat said...: I listened to some audio lecture series about modern Chinese culture. Taught by one of those guys who takes college students overseas for the summer. Not a professor. Maybe an instructor or something.

I learned a lot.

Hey! Did you know that middle-class Chinese people have all of the same freedoms that we have so long as they don't criticize the government? But it's all good because Chinese people don't mind because they don't want to criticize the government, anyway, because they're more interested in making money and enjoying all of the same freedoms that we enjoy so long as they don't criticize the government which they're not the least bit interested in doing.

Kind of made me wonder what would happen if you showed the guy the Queen of Diamonds.; 7/31/15, 8:43 AM
Eric the Fruit Bat said...: Oh, yeah. And Chinese people love American movies only because the movies confirm all of the negative stereotypes that Chinese people believe about Americans.

I am not making this up.; 7/31/15, 8:46 AM
Beorn said...: In Soviet Russia, Olympics have you!; 7/31/15, 8:46 AM
Eric the Fruit Bat said...: One more. Proof positive that China is not becoming "westernized" (whatever the hell that means -- he never defines the term) is the fact that one can go to a McDonalds and spot grandparents who are only drinking tea while they watch their little grandkid shoves food in his or her face. You see, bread and meat and sandwiches and such are repugnant to old Chinese people, especially those from the South East, because they're not used to it. See? No westernization going on there!

I am not making this up.; 7/31/15, 8:52 AM
Gahrie said...: confirm all of the negative stereotypes that Chinese people believe about Americans.

Are you calling the Chinese people racists?

How dare you?

Everyone knows the only racists are White people.; 7/31/15, 8:54 AM
Gahrie said...: An alternative could be taking the failed state of Somalia and turning the whole area into a sort of international sports convention center

Why not just go back to the original and use the failed state of Greece?; 7/31/15, 8:56 AM
mikee said...: When the Chinese decide they have enough prestige worldwide, based on hosting Olympics, and manufacturing trillions of dollars of stuff they sell to everyone else at a profit, and having secured their borders with allied buffer states like North Korea and Tibet and Pakistan, and having obtained long term resources like the oil under the South China Sea and all the minerals of Africa, hopefully that prestige will make them secure enough as a modern empire not to go all imperialist and decide that actual colonies would be a great way to expand Chinese prestige worldwide.

I note that extremes of Chinese nationalism are somehow a good thing, whereas American exceptionalism, patriotism, nationalism, are somehow bat things. That might be a problem in years to come.; 7/31/15, 9:17 AM
Original Mike said...: Too bad. I actually like the Winter Olympics.; 7/31/15, 9:20 AM
Gahrie said...: not to go all imperialist and decide that actual colonies would be a great way to expand Chinese prestige worldwide.

At this point, i think they're waiting for Africa to depopulate itself (largely due to aids) and then they'll just walk in sometime in the next 50 years or so.

Parts of Asia are in trouble too.; 7/31/15, 9:28 AM
Wilbur said...: The Olympics are unwatchable for me. NBC drowns the telecast with the athlete profiles - human interest angles designed to draw female viewers - to an extent that I just don't watch.

I I don't get the "patriotism" angle either. The US athletes are not there because of me and I don't indulge in the fiction that they somehow represent me. They have their own motives for training and competing, none of which are truly inspired by love of country.

I'll have an interest in some of the sports: golf, soccer, maybe others, but I can't sit through the maudlin crap you have to sit through to actually watch the events.

If you enjoy it, great. Knock yourself out.; 7/31/15, 9:37 AM
Birches said...: So I guess the IOC is still corrupt, sky is still blue, sun will rise tomorrow....; 7/31/15, 9:39 AM
furious_a said...: I I don't get the "patriotism" angle either. The US athletes are not there because of me and I don't indulge in the fiction that they somehow represent me.

It was different during the 70s and 80s when the CCCP was still around and the Russians played the Czechs in hockey or Sugar Ray beat the Cuban for the gold in '76.; 7/31/15, 9:57 AM
Swifty Quick said...: The US hosted the winter games in 1980 and 2002, and the summer games in 1984 and 1996. So who are we to complain? Besides, they did a pretty good job with the '08 summer games, so why not?; 7/31/15, 10:15 AM
Anonymous said...: They could provide the Security. They could drag away the homeless, jail dissidents, kill a few "terrorists", nobody makes a squeak.

'I don't get the "patriotism" angle either."
Patriotism when Americans refused to dip the Old Glory to Hitler. Nowadays, our Dear Leader bows to any despots on earth. Wonder if our athletes would kowtow to Chicom. In any case, athletes do what they do for themselves, not for the country. Nothing patriotic about that.; 7/31/15, 10:21 AM
lgv said...: Birches, it's not about corruption this time. It's about the fact that only two countries bid. Sorry, Kazakhstan. But, really, who wants to go to Kazakhstan.

It takes a lot of vanity money to host an Olympics. Most countries have realized that. Let China waste money on Olympics and space travel. I think Boston is realizing that the Olympics might not be a great idea. I'm thinking the only democracies that will want to host are those that have already hosted and have the infrastructure.

The thrill is gone.; 7/31/15, 10:29 AM
Eric the Fruit Bat said...: Maybe the next winter Olympics will be the one where we finally get same-sex ice dancing.; 7/31/15, 10:36 AM
Alexander said...: Why not just go back to the original and use the failed state of Greece?

I laughed.

Maybe the next winter Olympics will be the one where we finally get same-sex ice dancing.

Well, I'm no enthusiast but from what I've gathered they've had cis-women and trans-women dancing together for quite some time.; 7/31/15, 10:48 AM
William said...: Most of the winter events don't involve deep breathing, so it should be good. Perhaps Nike can develop a sports breathing apparatus for some of the other events.; 7/31/15, 11:45 AM
Qwinn said...: The first time I truly grokked the impending demise of Western Civilization was when I saw that Speed Walking had been made an olympic event.

I mean seriously. Its like competing to see who can whisper the loudest. It is inane to the level of... well, garage mahal and Victoria. We really need to codify a unit of measurement for idiocy. I propose Speed Walking as an Olympic Event to be equal to 1 Mahal.; 7/31/15, 12:13 PM
tim maguire said...: When you have as much money socked away as they do, you can buy all the Olympics you want.; 7/31/15, 1:12 PM
lgv said...: "When you have as much money socked away as they do, you can buy all the Olympics you want."

It may all be gone trying to prop up their economy.; 7/31/15, 1:51 PM
furious_a said...: Sorry, Kazakhstan. But, really, who wants to go to Kazakhstan.

I dunno, they have buzkashi and Borat.; 7/31/15, 4:56 PM
Gahrie said...: When you have as much money socked away as they do, you can buy all the Olympics you want.

It is being overshadowed by the poor lion, but China is in a major financial crisis right now, and their stock market is plummeting.; 7/31/15, 5:08 PM
Static Ping said...: Originally, Greece wanted to host the Olympics every four years. They actually did a fine job in 1896 at the first modern games. This did not pan out as Pierre de Coubertin, who founded the Olympic committee, wanted the first modern Olympics to be held in Paris and having failed at that made sure that Greece would not be the permanent home. The compromise was to have the games every two years with one in a chosen host city, then two years later one in Greece, then two years later in another chosen city, then two years later back in Greece, etc. However, Greece only hosted one of their games in 1906, now known as the Intercalated Games of 1906, and there was never another. The 1906 games were a success, in comparison to the Paris and St. Louis games which did not go well, but Greece could not get its act together in 1910, then there was WWI, then the Olympic Committee decided to forget the idea and pretend the 1906 games were not really the Olympics.

In any case, if there was a permanent home for the Olympics, that could be cost effective. Rather than each city having to build a bunch of new facilities, one city could just maintain the same set for every four years. It makes sense, assuming they can find a use for those facilities during the meantime.; 7/31/15, 5:22 PM
Bob Ellison said...: I love the curling competition. Wish they didn't use so much hairspray, though.; 7/31/15, 7:43 PM
J. Farmer said...: I have never followed professional sports in my life. Once when a guy across from a rent-a-car counter was chatting me up while I was waiting for the car, he inquired about the local football team (Tampa Bay Bucs). I replied, "I've never seen a football game from beginning to end in my life." He looked at me like I had two heads. With the exception of the occasional gymnastics routine, I have never seen a single Olympic event. In addition to the sporting aspect, it seems to be a symptom of our over-the-top preoccupation with Ancient Greece.; 7/31/15, 8:55 PM
Anonymous said...: Everyone knows the only racists are White people.

Once again you focus in on the color of skin and absolutely nothing else. You just can't help yourself, can you?; 7/31/15, 9:49 PM
Gahrie said...: Once again you focus in on the color of skin and absolutely nothing else. You just can't help yourself, can you?

Fuck you and the horse you rode in on.; 7/31/15, 11:48 PM