THE HEROIC story of China's first-ever team appearance at an Olympic Games has lain dormant for many years, perhaps because the Delegation had filed an unflattering report upon its return from Germany in 1936.
But the passing of time provides a new perspective and receptivity. Since the awarding of the 2008 Summer Games to Beijing in July 2001, interest in the nation's pioneering athletes has gained momentum.
It is in marked contrast to the Delegation's summary that “We were a far cry from many countries in the results and athletic abilities. We were ridiculed as having brought back nothing but a ‘duck's egg' ”.
Now, with the motherland hosting the Olympics for the first time, it is apt to go back over “three score years and ten”, 72 to be precise, and attempt to bring this pioneering episode in history to life. Moreover, it provides the opportunity to expand on an officially acknowledged honour...
[ Read more ]
|
AS the People's Republic of China braces itself for hosting the Games of the 28th Olympiad in the ancient city of Peking, the rest of the world waits with both pregnant apprehension and serious speculation relative to several questions: (1)Will the Games be celebrated amidst conditions of peace and safekeeping for all—Olympic pilgrims and athletes and their entourages from other lands as well as Chinese citizens? (2)Will improvements in vast urban environmental conditions be equal to the task of gaining an A in both effort and end result for a transformation unequalled in modern times? (3)Will the “human rights” of citizens, greater-Olympic and Chinese alike, be respected? (4)Will the overpowering, and to many, the obnoxious parameters of Olympic commercialism be sublimated to the point that folks will go away from the event truly feeling that the Games were for the athletes and not for business enterprise? (5)Will “the story” of the Games be told to the world by a media unfettered by coercion and restriction?
[ Read more ] |
