Beijing Olympics 2008-Countdown Begins

The Beijing Olympics opening ceremony on 8 August 2008 is now in sight. The final rehearsals are underway; the torch-relay nears its final destination; display-boards and front-pages feature clocks ticking down the hours; the stringent security-checks at the airports are in place; a few protestors who managed to get visas are protesting. The sign at Beijing airport proclaims the official message of controlled harmony as well as the Olympic slogan: “one world, one dream”.The progress in Beijing has been dramatic as China has sought to make bold statement about the progress it has made as a country economically, technologically, and even ecologically.


In anticipation of the Olympics, Beijing became a massive construction site. Its stadiums and buildings are an impressive site. A 91,000 seat stadium wrapped in tensile like steel dubbed the bird’s nest and a giant cube of plastic bubbles mimicking water molecules surrounding the Olympic swimming pool are but a couple of examples that have been applauded by the architecture and design community for their design and innovation. Architects have seen in China the chance to try anything: the chance to build the gargantuan and the outlandish, to leave an indelible impression in the history of Architecture, to build modern monuments.


As I'm a big fan of the Summer Olympics, mainly because I like watching gorgeous people with perfect musculature do bendy things, especially at high speed and with very little clothing. The women's high jump is basically heaven on earth as far as I'm concerned, and don't even ask me about the pole vault. But these games sort of seem like a bit of a corporate and political sell-out. Suck it, IOC! You seem to have screwed this up. I just hope the biggest records set in the games aren't for air quality or human rights violations, or the amount of pollutants emitted. It should not be too much to ask.