Will you be watching the Olympic Games?

August 6, 2008
by Rodney Olsen
12 Comments

Will you be watching the Olympic Games from Beijing this year?

Many people are boycotting the games in protest of what they see as China’s appalling human rights record.

I must admit that I’m not a big Olympics watcher usually but I’m even less enthused than normal this time around.

I’m certainly not thrilled by the way that politics has been dragged into the equation for the Olympic Games once again but I also realise that no matter where the games are held, someone will be trying to score political points. There isn’t a place on this globe that doesn’t cause questions to be asked about certain behaviours or lack of action on some topic.

No one country has it completely right and so if we wanted to we could find reasons to boycott every sporting event, no matter where it’s held around the world.

While I won’t be watching too much of the games I might just sneak a peak when Cadel Evans jumps on his bike.

Amnesty International is hoping to make the most of the event and use the attention on the Olympics to hold China accountable for its human rights record. They have a comprehensive explanation of their concerns and actions on their site under the title Human rights in China and the Beijing Olympics. They also have a seperate site called The China Debate dedicated to debating the issues where they encourage people from around the world to discuss the

What about you? Will you be watching? Do you think that not watching will achieve anything? Do you think that we should just forget about the politics and focus on the sporting contest? Does holding the games in China help us to shine a spotlight on what’s going on there or do you think that once the carnival leaves town it’ll be business as usual?



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Who'll stop the rain?

January 31, 2008
by Rodney Olsen
2 Comments

Have you seen that authorities in Beijing have successfully managed to stop light rainfall in experiments aimed at guaranteeing a dry opening ceremony for the Olympic Games?

There’s no roof on the showpiece Bird’s Nest stadium, so the Beijing Meteorological Bureau has been given the job of developing methods of preventing wet weather spoiling the spectacular opening to the Games on the evening of the 8th of August.

I wonder what was going through the minds of those at the bureau when they were first told that they needed to not only forecast the weather but control it. They must have thought it was quite a joke until they realised the authorities were deadly serious.

All I can say is that I they do have any rain that they don’t want, they’re welcome to send it our way.



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