Where-were-you-when?
Each generation has its where-were-you-when moment(s). Where were you when you heard about Pearl Harbor? Where were you when Truman dropped the atomic bomb? Where were you when John F. Kennedy was shot? Where were you when Dr. Martin Luther King was shot? Where were you when Robert Kennedy was shot? Where were you when the space shuttle Columbia blew up? Where were you when the Berlin Wall came down? No doubt, the generations before and after these had and will have their own where-were-you-when moments.
Similarly, every four years, when the world gathers to compete in the largest, most global of sporting events, the Olympics, these two weeks of athletics almost always create their own where-were-you-when moments. Where were you when Jesse Owen single-handedly destroyed the Aryan Nation? Where were you Paavo Nurmi won his last medal? Where were you when Cassius Clay became The Greatest? Where were you when Nadia received the first perfect 10.0? Where were you when Mark Spitz swam to seven gold medals? Where were you when The Miracle on Ice stunned the Soviets? Where were you when Carl Lewis landed his fourth Olympic winning long jump? Where were you when the Dream Team dismantled the basketball world?
In Kunming, the closest most of us came to physically being a part of the 2008 Olympics was the mysterious running of the torch, an event that was curiously over before most people had even come out to see it. However, on 08 August 2008, a small group of youth and adults gathered at the Spring City Garden Hotel on Kunming's west side to compete in our own tribute to the Olympics and watch the opening ceremonies on China's first-ever Olympic Games.
For anyone from Whitefish, Montana, the volume of traffic in the picture above may appear to be rush hour. However, for those of you who have spent anytime in the Far East, and more importantly in an Asian city of several million people, you will realize that the amount of vehicles present in the photo is a mere trickle of movement. This photo was taken during the second hour of the Opening Ceremonies. The traffic would grow steadily less busy as the four-hour spectacle of drums, dancers, painting, and fireworks progressed. At least 90 percent of China came to a standstill, and that standstill stood in front of their televisions watching the most spectacular Opening Ceremonies ever.
As a prelude to the 2008 Opening Ceremonies, we held our own "Backward Olympic Games." The signature event was the team "un-rhythmic gymnastics." Our competitors put both their left feet forward in an effort to be the most rhythmically challenged. And like the 2008 Beijing Olympics gymnastics competition could not settle for merely a perfect 10.0, our competition redefined clumsy with scores below zero.
Students and adults also competed in relay races, like the under-leg relay. In this picture, Miss Ektrakul (Thailand) looked to represent her South-East Asian country with her hands-and-knees crawling prowess. These teams of four raced from one end of the room and back, crawling through each others legs (and laughing).
After too much fun and laughter, we broke out the sodas, chips, cookies, and peanuts and sat down to watch the 2008 Opening Ceremonies live and in Chinese. With Miss Suli's help, we received a Chinese history lesson. She explained each of the images created during the ceremonies, and told us who were each of the torch bearers, including Li Ning, a former Chinese gymnast who now owns a large chain of sporting goods retailers (like Nike and Adidas). His name brand is one of the sponsors of the Spanish basketball team.
And I could not end my blog without an Olympic photo of Miss Suli. Pictured here with NiNi (kneeknee), the last of the five FuWa. FuWa literally means "Blessed Child," and for the Olympic purposes have become known as the friendlies. BeiBei (baybay) represents fish, JingJing represents pandas, HuanHuan (hwonhwon) represents fire, YinYin (yeenyeen) represents the Tibetan antelope, and NiNi represents the Chinese Swiftlet. Together, there names--Beijing huan yin ni--mean Beijing Welcomes You. And welcome the world they have. So now I have to ask, where-were-you-when Michael Phelps redefined Olympic Champion?
Similarly, every four years, when the world gathers to compete in the largest, most global of sporting events, the Olympics, these two weeks of athletics almost always create their own where-were-you-when moments. Where were you when Jesse Owen single-handedly destroyed the Aryan Nation? Where were you Paavo Nurmi won his last medal? Where were you when Cassius Clay became The Greatest? Where were you when Nadia received the first perfect 10.0? Where were you when Mark Spitz swam to seven gold medals? Where were you when The Miracle on Ice stunned the Soviets? Where were you when Carl Lewis landed his fourth Olympic winning long jump? Where were you when the Dream Team dismantled the basketball world?
In Kunming, the closest most of us came to physically being a part of the 2008 Olympics was the mysterious running of the torch, an event that was curiously over before most people had even come out to see it. However, on 08 August 2008, a small group of youth and adults gathered at the Spring City Garden Hotel on Kunming's west side to compete in our own tribute to the Olympics and watch the opening ceremonies on China's first-ever Olympic Games.
For anyone from Whitefish, Montana, the volume of traffic in the picture above may appear to be rush hour. However, for those of you who have spent anytime in the Far East, and more importantly in an Asian city of several million people, you will realize that the amount of vehicles present in the photo is a mere trickle of movement. This photo was taken during the second hour of the Opening Ceremonies. The traffic would grow steadily less busy as the four-hour spectacle of drums, dancers, painting, and fireworks progressed. At least 90 percent of China came to a standstill, and that standstill stood in front of their televisions watching the most spectacular Opening Ceremonies ever.
As a prelude to the 2008 Opening Ceremonies, we held our own "Backward Olympic Games." The signature event was the team "un-rhythmic gymnastics." Our competitors put both their left feet forward in an effort to be the most rhythmically challenged. And like the 2008 Beijing Olympics gymnastics competition could not settle for merely a perfect 10.0, our competition redefined clumsy with scores below zero.
Students and adults also competed in relay races, like the under-leg relay. In this picture, Miss Ektrakul (Thailand) looked to represent her South-East Asian country with her hands-and-knees crawling prowess. These teams of four raced from one end of the room and back, crawling through each others legs (and laughing).
After too much fun and laughter, we broke out the sodas, chips, cookies, and peanuts and sat down to watch the 2008 Opening Ceremonies live and in Chinese. With Miss Suli's help, we received a Chinese history lesson. She explained each of the images created during the ceremonies, and told us who were each of the torch bearers, including Li Ning, a former Chinese gymnast who now owns a large chain of sporting goods retailers (like Nike and Adidas). His name brand is one of the sponsors of the Spanish basketball team.
And I could not end my blog without an Olympic photo of Miss Suli. Pictured here with NiNi (kneeknee), the last of the five FuWa. FuWa literally means "Blessed Child," and for the Olympic purposes have become known as the friendlies. BeiBei (baybay) represents fish, JingJing represents pandas, HuanHuan (hwonhwon) represents fire, YinYin (yeenyeen) represents the Tibetan antelope, and NiNi represents the Chinese Swiftlet. Together, there names--Beijing huan yin ni--mean Beijing Welcomes You. And welcome the world they have. So now I have to ask, where-were-you-when Michael Phelps redefined Olympic Champion?
posted by Roland at 7:25 PM
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