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Beijing Olympics a showcase for China
The latest Olympic games didn’t lack for drama. American swimmer Michael Phelps’ eight-gold-medal achievement will mark these games for decades, if not longer. Other athletes also created memorable sports moments, such as the American women’s beach volleyball team of Kerri Walsh and Misty May-Treanor who set a new Olympic standard by capturing their second consecutive gold medal, and 108 consecutive victories. Then there was the flash of speed demonstrated by Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt who set new world records in the 100-meter and 200-meter races, a pace likely to stand through several Olympics. Those and other snapshots of athletic prowess will be remembered and a reminder of Beijing and the Olympic-sized production that the host Chinese created for the games. With a price tag of $40 billion, the cost of these games doubled previous expenditures for a single Olympics. It showed. The venue, production and orchestration were first class, creating both athletic and cultural extravaganzas for the athletes, spectators and the rest of us viewing from afar. It was an obvious effort to put China’s heritage, evolving economy and technology on a world stage for all to see. Even those of us who detest the repressive communist leadership that rules China must admit that the effort that went into hosting this Olympics was, in fact, Olympian. Now, if the Chinese people could just get the same consideration for democratic principles and human rights.
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