Rogge Says Beijing Games Add To Olympic Movement, Air Not Issue

Rogge Says Beijing Games  Will Add To Olympic Movement

Quality Of Air In Beijing Remains An Issue As Opening Ceremony Launches Games

RIGHT PLACE, WRONG TIME: The FINANCIAL TIMES' Matthew Engel writes of the Games, "This isn't the wrong place. But it is certainly the wrong time." The Chinese "wanted to hold the Olympics in September, when the Beijing air was clearer, cooler and drier," but they "lost the argument to what in Olympic terms is a far more powerful force," NBC. Meanwhile, the IOC is "in total denial about the weather," which is "grotesquely inappropriate for the Olympic Games which, by definition, should offer its athletes and spectators optimum conditions" (FINANCIAL TIMES, 8/8).

Bush Rebukes China Over Political And Religious Freedoms While In Beijing For Olympics

IOC'S DECISION LOOKS BAD: A DAILY OKLAHOMAN editorial states the IOC's gamble on Beijing "looks anything but justified." The editorial: "Too much attention will be given to Beijing's air quality, hardly a novel concern. ... Preoccupation with the environment, swimmers' bathing suits and track athletes' choices in sunglasses will mask the underlying conundrum that is China." China is a "riddle without an answer. In hindsight, how naive to wager that handing over the Olympic plum would cause such profound change and the welling up of liberty so long deprived" (DAILY OKLAHOMAN, 8/8). A WALL STREET JOURNAL editorial states, "So far the Olympics has not fulfilled the hopes of those who thought, naively, that it would lead to a freer media or more political tolerance." In an "echo of the old regimes of Eastern Europe, with their infamous national sport combines, China is clearly using its athletes and the medal count to burnish its national legitimacy" (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 8/8). In L.A., Bill Plaschke writes, "More than any Games in recent memory, the Beijing Olympics will truly make us think. Can we celebrate the coronation of a world power amid the suffocation of its human rights? Can we cheer the Olympics' sacred freedom of movement while the local sheriff monitors our every step?" (L.A. TIMES, 8/8). A SACRAMENTO BEE editorial states it is "wishful thinking to believe that the Olympics alone will temper China's human rights record." But the Olympics, "while they highlight world politics, ought not have to carry the burden of transformational political change" (SACRAMENTO BEE, 8/8).

PLAYING NICE: A LONDON TIMES editorial states China, so far, has "acted with restraint, sensing that an overreaction to criticism or to demonstrations would itself make headlines and be counterproductive." But there is a "danger of the Chinese perceiving the world as a 'bad guest' at their Olympics. Intensely proud of what they see as a glorious national achievement and the symbolic emergence of their nation on the world stage, many people would feel a lasting resentment if outside views were solely negative" (LONDON TIMES, 8/8). A PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER editorial states China "has changed some because it wants its Olympics to be remembered positively." Enough pollution "remains to threaten the health of athletes, but transportation and environmental changes have been made that should positively impact the population long after the Games are over" (PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER, 8/8). In DC, Edward Cody notes in a front-page story while the Games "will have an international audience," they have "been aimed primarily at China's own people." Chinese analysts and other sources have indicated that the Beijing Games "have worked their magic in this regard, drawing broad enthusiasm from millions of people and effectively crystallizing the message that China can be proud of the distance it has come" (WASHINGTON POST, 8/8).

No Signs Of Preparation For "Protest Zone" At Beijing's World Park

VENERATED VENUES: In Boston, Bob Ryan writes in a front-page story of Beijing's preparations, "The facilities are uniformly excellent. Athletes are raving about the Olympic Village, which many Olympic veterans have proclaimed as the best they've ever seen. The big challenge, as always, will be transportation. There are some relatively far-flung venues, and there is more of a language issue than one might have suspected" (BOSTON GLOBE, 8/8). Also in Boston, Shira Springer writes the main venues "project a Disney-esque quality." USOC Chair Peter Ueberroth: "The stadiums are as good as anything I've ever seen." Springer notes the Chinese "have held test events in many of the new venues," but for "all the iconic design and innovation in the facilities, how they function is what matters most." With air quality and weather "less than ideal, there is anxiety over how the venues will be received" (BOSTON GLOBE, 8/8).

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