JANE

   MPs criticized the organizers of the 2012 Olympic Games as “willing to spend money like water”. The Aquatics Centre had received the most criticism as its costs trippled from the 75million pounds when London bid for the Games to the current 242million pounds announced in April. It says though it was not surprising that the original London 2012 budget of 3.4 billion pounds was underestimated, the current 9.325 billion has affected public confidence in the management of the Games a lot.

    I think the Britons should think about this problem. During the past few decades we already had several Games which could not cover their costs or budgets after they were over. Even till now Montreal citizens are still paying for the Olympics, also are the Sydney citizens, as to the Athens Games, I’m not sure, but I guess they are also in debt. I myself am very concerned about our own Olympics. I think we are spending too much money on them, and frankly speaking, I doubt whether we will be able to cover all the costs after the Games.

   1.05 million tickets for the UEFA EURO CUP will be printed and issued from Vienna during the next four weeks, and they will include the Unite Against Racism message. The tickets will demonstrate a strong statement against racism and discrimination, folowing the success of similar activities in Portugal four years ago. A variety of activities will be held duing the final matches to express this theme, and team captains at the semi-finals are expected to read out an announcement before kick-off.

   I think this is a good sign of the development of anti-racism movement in Europe. Europe has been a main area of strong racism in sports. The one I know best is discrimination towards Hamilton in Spain. Sports should provide everyone a level field to demonstrate the power, talent and persistence of human beings. Anything or anyone against this principle should be prohibited. I believe the measures taken by UEFA will have great effects on people’s behavior and mind.

   The article says with 100 days to go, Beijing Olympic Games are facing new challenges after the torch relay turbulance. But IOC president Jacques Rogge expressed his confidence in the organizers and the Games, and urged athlets to come to Beijing to participate in the Olympics. Chinese officials also showed their confidence in holding a successful Olympics. The article also says some western journalists even received death threats from some Chinese nationalists, and some world leaders threat not to attend the opening ceremony. It also says the Chinese government has become very touchy and it is now harder to manage cooporation project with it, and terrorrists may lunch attacks during the Games.

   I don’t understand why foreign media always like to target China. Whenever China has a good opportunity to show the world her culture and goodwill, western media will cause trouble for her. No matter what, I believe we will still hold great Olympics, and I hope people from other parts of the world who can see China’s genuine intension will support the Olympics as always. 

Protesters during the Paris Olympic torch relay caused the cancellation of the last third which would pass some of Paris’ most famous landmarks, and one third of the 80 athletes and VIPs could not carry on the torch relay as planned. The Chinese officials had to take the torch into the bus in order to protect it.

Thousands of protesters slowed down the relay demonstrating impassioned displays of anger over China’s human rights record, its control of Tibet and support for Sudan despite years of bloodshed in Darfur. Chinese officials and the IOC criticized the behavior strongly.

I don’t understand why French people are doing this. I used to think France is beautiful country, and French people are friendly and peace-loving. But I think they are not alone, many people in the western countries hold bias towards China, believing we have no human rights, and we are trying to contrl Tibet from its “freedom”. I think media and education plays an important role in this. I really hope the western media can report things as they are and do not judge things according to their way of thinking. And I believe the majority of people around the world still hold good wishes of the Beijing Olympics.

   On March 24, the Beijing Olympic Torch was lighted. I heard of the news a few months before, but didn’t plan to watch it on tv. But after I finished studying and was heading for the canteen, I suddenly found the big screen hanging in the front of the canteen was broadcasting the ceremony, so I decided to stay and witness the great moment.

   It was very windy and cold that day. Many people standing in front of the big screen gave up because of the chilly wind, but I endured cold weather and my protesting stomach and carried on. The ceremony was quite long. I stood there for almost an hour watching those Greek actresses’ performance. It was quite formal and everyone was quiet. Finally the great moment came. A strong sense of pride ascended from my heart as I watched the priestess lighted the torch. I always believe I am a patriot, but I seldom feel so proud being a Chinese. Plus, the day before the torch was lighted was my birthday, which made me feel more special.

     After Spanish fans’ abuse towards Hamilton was known around the world, Lewis’ father revealed that there were some people in China who were also quite abusive, not Chinese fans, but people who had travelled from Spain. The FIA president said it would be an overreaction to cancel the Spanish Grand Prix, but they already had taken measures to ensure that this kind of behavior will not be tolerated. He also said motorsport shouldn’t be affected by racism, since in motorsport no one cares about your background, race, gender or religion; people only care about how fast you are; and because of this it has brought people from different part of the world together.

     I don’t know whether this kind of abuse has happened before. But being a passionate Formula 1 lover myself, I was shocked by the news. I feel great resonance to the FIA president’s words. I love this sport, and I love all those excellent drivers, no matter what his skin color is. Shummi has been the hero in my heart for years because of his unparallelled achievements, his determination and strong will. Since Shummi retired, I’ve been very upset, and I felt there was no one to watch any more on the track, until I saw him, Lewis Hamilton. His talent, his modesty, his smile…everything is so impressive. I believe he will rule the sport for the next maybe decade or even longer.

     I simply just cannot understand why people are so intolerant. Everyone is born to be equal despite his or her skin color. Those Spanish are not real F1 fans; they are just a group of undercivilized racists. They cannot stand Lewis’ talent and accomplishment; they cannot bear their “national hero” Fernando Alonso been beaten by his more promising teammate. I think this kind of people should be banned from entering the track, because their purpose is not to enjoy the match, but to bring in disharmony and hatred which is against the ethos of this sport.

     Go! Lewis! No matter what, there are always people like me behind you!

     I went to the Beijing Olympics and Paralympics Core-Volunteer Foreign Languages Winter Training Camp during the first week of our winter break. It was pretty much a coincidence that I could go there, and I had doubt before I made that decision since I had no idea what it would be like. But I don’t regret going there.

     Actually I didn’t learn much during that week since they just taught some very basic things of English, like pronunciation. What impressed me most was the atmosphere and the friendships we formed. The teachers were so enthusiastic, it’s totally beyond your imagination. We got up at around six in the morning, then an unimaginable busy day started. We had to get to the classroom before seven, then it’s morning exercise time, mostly jogging,  under the leadership of an “officer”. It was a semi-military winter camp. Even when we went to the canteen we marched in procession. We had four quizzes each day, before the three meals and one before going back to dorm at around 9:40 pm. Very tight timetable indeed.

     Thought it was not that comfortable living there, a suburban university of Beijing, I enjoyed it. Even when I met a stranger in the canteen or down the hallway we usually would smile at each other. It’s such a wonderful experience. We learned we are not just volunteers of the Beijing Olympics, we are also the face of China.

    Britain has decided that their athletes will wear masks while competing during the Beijing Olympic Games in order to protect them from the heavy pollution. Many leading Olympic countries are working on how to solve this pollution issue during the Games, but they decide to take different measures. The US team will wear masks but not in competition while the Australian and the Canadian teams will not wear masks at all. Britain decided to do this because they want to offer their athletes the best chances to win. The Americans are more concerned about their relations with China. They don’t want to create embarrassment. The Australians have prepared a large team of medical specialists and they believe their medical strategy will give them an edge.     

     Britain’s decision is understandable. If I were the authorities I probably would do the same thing since I want to protect our athletes’ health. But is Beijing’s air quality really that bad? I’m not sure. Having lived here for nearly three years, I do feel this is a polluted city. I once heard a piece of news saying the so-called “quality air condition” in China cannot be counted as “qualified” in many other countries. That’s ironic. Anyways, hope no events will be postponed during the Games due to the air quality.

     Elizabeth Loisel, the head coach of China’s women football team was fined for tardiness.

     I first heard this piece of news several days ago on TV. I think this is a good start. China’s national teams tend to prefer foreign coaches. It seems that foreigners know us better than ourselves. That’s ridiculous of course. But maybe they are more experienced, or they have more advanced training methods. And that’s the main reason why we spend so much money hiring foreign coaches. Foreigners tend to have more privileges than we original Chinese in China. This has become a tradition. And just because of that many foreigne coaches are spoiled. They think they can do whatever they want, however they want it. And we used to endure them for a long time. But what did we get? Maybe a little better scores, a little higher ranks, but we never got what we expected. Of course this is not all the coaches’ fault. We have problems too. A big one is, I think, we don’t give them enough time. Usually before they are hired a goal is set for them in a limited period of time. And if they can’t reach that goal within that time which is uaually quite short, they will be fired. I don’t think that’s the right way of doing things. When it comes to training a team, it takes time. How can we expect those coaches to achieve something amazing if we don’t give them enough time? That’s our part of fault. Back to the foreign coaches, they have to be clear about what their job is, and work hard for their goal. Not everyone is like Ms Loisel, but obviously her behavior represents some of the problems of the foreign coaches in China.

     I support the team’s decision. It is time to let those coaches know what is discipline.

     As the Olympics approaching, China will be under unprecedented scrutiny in many aspects, such as economical, social, environmental, ethical etc. Meanwhile, criticism will follow.

     Consumers are already concerned about “Made in China”, since it seems there’s no safety guaranty as long as the products are produced in China. And employees’ working conditions are also “very concerned indeed”. Companies linked to China through their supply chains start to think about whether this connection will harm their brand. The answer depends on the brand itself, its involvement with China and how China and the company will respond to the increasing doubt. If China can reassure consumers by implementing credible audit systems things will become better.

     Two people added their experience and opinions below this article. Some are true I believe, but some are just totally bias. We admit that we still have a lot of problems that are waiting to be solved, but we also see the prejudice and antagonism against China. We will do our best not only to present splendid Games but also a modern, independent and strong China.