Well its over. Two amazing weeks of international competition. I'm an Olympics geek. I cry. And watching the Closing Ceremonies tonight was no exception. I sobbed.
Many pooh-pooh the commercialism of the Olympics. NBC always gets grief for poor coverage. And this year, China got much criticism for the exorbitant amount of money spent (43 Billion dollars!!), its politics, and for giving a cherubic gap-toothed young girl the Milli Vanilli treatment. I've even read some articles playing down the monumental accomplishment of Michael Phelps' 8 gold medals. Are you KIDDING me??! You try having 17 swims, in a variety of 4 different strokes, against the best swimmers in the world. I normally enjoy rooting for the underdog, sometimes the inevitable wins by the United States can make me cringe... but he swam and won with such sincerity and humility, you just had to root for him.
And here it is, are we so defiantly jaded that we cannot enjoy these Olympics? Are we so vehemently so opposed to the thought of the unifying power of the Olympics? Is there possibly a dry eye in the house when you see Iran and Iraq athletes marching in the parade of nations back to back? How about when you see the female athletes marching in for Afghanistan?
I normally love the Olympics anyway. I love seeing the one athlete arriving, proud to compete on behalf of their country. I share the heartbreaking joy when an athlete has their dreams come alive. I cry when I see the agony of a dream dashed in a mere second of a mistake. And this year, I was even more touched watching China stake its claim in history.
As a Chinese-American, I was so absolutely proud to see my countrymen produce such a jaw-dropping spectacle. I teared when I heard Yao-Ming say "I've waited for this day my whole life. Not just me, the whole country." And I can say my entire family was glued to the competition, well into the morning light. For 2 weeks straight I finally saw Asian people, Chinese people on TV. I saw them being competitive, strong, full of life and grace. The Today Show actually highlighted Chinese without accents speaking of fashion, cuisine, culture. I saw small pieces of me finally reflected back, and yes it felt great.
The Beijing Olympics meant so much to its Country and its People. It was opportunity to show the world what The People are all about. And here, on the other side of the world, I think the Chinese community waited with bated breath, hoping we would be proud of what we saw. And, underage gymnasts aside, by no means do I think we were disappointed.
Did we think we'd be alive for this day?
