Athens vs. Beijing vs. London

The 29th Olympiad in Beijing has come to an end. In the few days since then there has been much speculation about the success of the Games. Most people will agree that they have been the best Games ever (well if one billion people can’t pull it off no one can). It is also agreed that we saw the most lavish Ceremonies and an Olympic park built in abundance. The Games have been a success… to various degree depending on who you ask and if you discount the whole Tibet protests.

Of course the current Olympiad will always be compared to the previous one. In this case: Athens. Slammed would be the best way to describe the Athens Olympics when compared to Beijing. So, yes, the Greek are like their music, slow at the beginning and then fast towards the end. And there were delays in construction. But didn’t they pull it off in the end? True, the Olympic venues have turned into white elephants and need to be maintained. Does that still have an impact on how successful the Games were? Because if we are going to compare what happens after a Games as in Athens’ case, we should also consider what happened before the Games, such as the protests for Tibet. Or how the Games were won, in Salt Lake City’s case it was with the help of various favours.

One article states that the Games will never return to Athens’ as the Olympic venues are left in ruins. Hello… it’s Greece. Ruins are their thing! Take a look at the Acropolis. But seriously though, if that is a reason not to award the Games to Greece again, (and as the reporter suggests only won due to ancient Olympia) then why did they award them to China as it has such a bad human rights issue. And couldn’t you argue that London only won the 2012 Games only because Chirac insulted Finnish cuisine, and so the Finns voted for London instead.

I was waiting for the backlash against Athens. I’m not surprised by what I read and in fact I expected it sooner. Maybe people are running out of praise for Beijing and feel it’s time to know its predecessor. Not wanting to sound nationalistic (I’m not Greek and so I can’t be) I feel that many people want to knock Greece. Maybe that’s because Greeks just don’t care about what others think of them. Like American they are very self-centric but without the emotions. And this can be very potent. It also leads them to believe that so far these are so good and do not progress, hence the white elephants.

The only uncomfortable consolation is when London hosts the Games, everyone will start knocking the Beijing Games, which truth be told, we a good Games regardless of all the controversy. But let’s face it, will London be able to compete against Beijing? Even the British are admitting that they can’t even beat it.