2008 Olympics Updates

Media Village, Beijing

From the moment Nicole Cooke surged past four rivals on an uphill sprint to win Great Britain’s first gold of the 2008 Games in the women’s road race, I thought we could be on to something. Not “our best Games for 100 years” something, but certainly a fortnight to be pleased with.

Those thoughts were back two days later when Rebecca Adlington pipped American favourite Katie Hoff in the women’s 400m freestyle to earn our first gold medal in the pool since 1988. British team-mate Joanne Jackson came home third in the same race and suddenly our often-maligned swimming squad was on the board.

And so it continued. We never had to wait too long for a success of some sort in that first week and our wildest dreams were delivered in spades over the middle weekend, when we leapt up the medal table to heights we haven’t seen since the Liberal Party were in power.

So what next? Having arrived at our 2012 target of fourth in the medal table four years early, do we dig in or take the next ridge?

But before we leap ahead, let’s reflect a little longer on just how great Britain has been in Beijing.

When UK Sport, the agency that dishes out money to the national governing bodies, announced its targets for 2008 they appeared about right – 35 to 41 medals in total, with 10 to 12 of those gold. These seemed reasonable increases on what we had done in Athens and Sydney, and a huge advance on what we had achieved (or failed to achieve) in Atlanta.

I thought they adequately reflected the improved performances many of our Olympic sports had posted in their own events since 2004, without unnecessarily creating a rod for our own backs. It also set these Games up nicely to be a “staging post” on the road to our “stretch target” of fourth in London. Having come 10th in the table in 2000 and 2004, I was looking for progress up the ladder – eighth sounded reasonable.

So when we sailed past the top end of that gold medal target on Tuesday, with five days of competition still to come, I couldn’t help wondering if UKS had pulled off one of the cleverest cases of managing expectations in British sporting history. If it had, it will have a job to do so again in four years’ time.

The Beijing total of 19 golds, 13 silver and 15 bronzes (47 medals in all) is by some margin our best tally ever apart from 1908, which if it were a country on a medal table would be a rogue state.

We finished third on the medal table in 1920 and fourth in 1924, but from there it went downhill. We were 11th in 1928 and have more or less remained there for 80 years. During this period of mediocrity, we would win on average 4.5 gold medals an Olympics – less than a quarter of the number we have earned in the last fortnight.

Compare our Great Haul of China to the gold medals we won in four Games from 1980 to 1992. We claimed 20 golds during that time, just one more than we’ve managed in the last 17 days, despite two of those Games being weakened by boycotts.

So how have we done this? Well, it’s simple really – money goes a long way to deciding success in Olympic sport and our boys and girls didn’t have much of either before 1996.

Our Atlanta horror show, which saw us win one gold and come 36th in the table, brought a resolve to never stoop that low again. It was clear we needed to spend more on sport and the advent of the National Lottery seemed to provide the answer. The government agreed and lotto lolly was diverted in sport’s direction.

Our Olympians have been reaping the benefit ever since – £265m was spent on Team GB over the last Olympic cycle – and increased funding has already been agreed in the run-up to London.

But is money alone enough? Will having £600m to spend over five years in this cycle enable us to find an extra Adlington or a Chris Hoy clone?

No, you need good people and a clear mission too. And even then it’s a challenge but I’m delighted to see how far we have come already. Adlington would later add to her 400m gold with an emphatic victory in her strongest event, the 800m. She is only 19.

And it wasn’t just in the Water Cube where evidence of something building towards London and beyond could be detected. Hoy’s heroics – the Scottish cyclist was the first Brit to win three gold medals at a Games since swimmer Henry Taylor managed it in (yes, you guessed it) 1908 – stole the headlines but it was the youth elsewhere in the team that impressed most.

British cycling’s domination at the velodrome was breathtaking at times – we were that far in front.

Our rowers and sailors also won their regattas – the first time ever for British rowing at an Olympics and third straight for sailing. And the good news was that both teams think they’ve got room to improve.

To be honest, we’ve won so many medals, it would be pointless for me to list them all. You can find them elsewhere. But I should perhaps flag up our first gymnastics medal for 80 years (won by 19-year-old Louis Smith), our first taekwondo medal (Sarah Stevenson), our first women’s windsurfing medal (Byrony Shaw) and our first women’s 400m gold (Christine Ohuruogu).

Inevitably, there were some sports that failed to deliver. In fact, six of the 17 sports predicted to win at least one medal failed to do so, and two more, including high-profile athletics, did not reach their targets.

For some (badminton and diving), the target was a reach; for others, Beijing must go down as a missed opportunity. Sports like archery and judo will have much to discuss when they return. As will boxing but for entirely different reasons – the sport surpassed its target but appears to be split into factions.

I would also like to see a far greater focus on the team sports: we really didn’t make any kind of a mark in these events at all, although hockey is heading in the right direction.

Athletics could also use a period of reflection. It missed its target but can point to a number of near misses as evidence it is going in the right direction. This is true but the British public will expect much more from the Olympics’ main event in 2012.

So it’s been a great Olympics for Britain – best of the rest, top EU nation and ahead of Australia – but there is room still for improvement. We’ve left a few shots out there.

The task now will be to instil the virtues of our most successful sports across the spectrum. We must also, as host nation, attempt to take our place in every possible event. To squander this opportunity would be a crushing failure and a denial of our legacy goals for increased participation in sport.

Roll on London.

China showed overall dominance in table tennis event at Beijing Olympic Games, winning eight gold medals. Chinese men and women earlier confirmed their gold in team events. Later on, Chinese women kept hundred percent success rate in singles two days ago. On the last day of Beijing Olympic, it was men’s turn to prove their dominance in men’s singles. Actually, Jorgen Persson from Sweden was not only player outside China in men’s gold medal round, but he was easily outclassed by Wang Liqin in the singles.

China is always a big name in table tennis, but winning eight gold medals in one single Olympic Games has been something special for the Chinese. In fact, this has been the first time a team sweeps eight gold medals in table tennis in the history of Olympic Games.

Related article:

International Herald Tribune

China’s Olympic team has done so well that it’s beginning to suffer from the Brazil football team syndrome. When you expect to win every time you turn up, it becomes a national tragedy when you happen to lose (parliamentary inquiries, coroners’ inquests, calls for the immediate exile of the coach, etc).

The Chinese diver Zhou Luxin was expected to win a gold medal in the men’s 10m diving on Saturday night. A victory for him would have given China all eight gold medals in the diving at the Beijing Games.

But Zhou came second. Not a good move.

An interviewer from Chinese state TV asked Zhou why he hadn’t performed well enough. Commentators said his failure had cost China its chance at perfection.

I’ve just had a look at some comments on Chinese online chat rooms (we’ve translated them into English)…

“Very disappointed! Everyone expected Zhou to get the 50th gold. But he lost, he is the criminal of our country. We lost the most important gold medal in men’s diving event. It is a huge shame, Zhou Jiehong, the team leader of China’s diving team, should quit her post!”

“What Zhou lost is not a gold medal. He disappointed the hopes of the entire country. Hosting the Olympics is the dream of several generations.”

Some are more sympathetic …

“Every Chinese athlete knows how important the Beijing Olympics is, and they have much more pressure than the foreign athletes. Zhou is still young and has lots of chances. It is okay not to win a gold at this Olympics. He has done really well. The failure can get him to work harder in the future.”

“Those people criticising our athletes are so bad in their attitude! Is it necessary for them to do that? Why should our athletes be regarded as medal machines? If they can’t get gold medals, they will be criticised, if they get golds, everybody says loving words. These people are so nasty!”

Can two weeks and several bagfuls of gold medals change the way an entire country sees itself?

I’ve written here before that China often sees itself as a victim. Generations have grown up learning about this country’s century of humiliation – how the West and Japan once bit chunks out of China, and how they still want to keep China down.

But does China now have to get a new national story?

The success of the Beijing Olympics may make China reassess its belief that it is a victim. It may also have to re-think its view that the West is determined to stop China from retaking its rightful place as a world power.

Here’s why…

• Everyone has come to Beijing. 205 nations were invited to compete at these Games – and 204 showed up (Brunei managed to get its paperwork in a muddle and failed to register its athletes on time). So, there were no boycotts. The most important world leaders even came to the opening ceremony as well (one of the only ones who didn’t, Gordon Brown, has now arrived in Beijing for the closing ceremony).

• China is winning more golds than anyone else. Before the Games, China played down its gold medal chances – saying that it was just a minor, second-rank, developing country which would probably be annihilated by the sporting powers of the world (and would be lucky to rub two bronzes together, that kind of thing). But, in the end, it’s come out ahead. So, the next time that China plays down its chances, no-one will believe a word.

In the end, it’s pretty hard to carry on feeling like a victim when every country on earth comes to your party and proceeds to watch you win.

“Now we can say goodbye to our image as the sick man of Asia,” said Shen Ming, a Chinese fan watching the final of the women’s beach volleyball told my colleague.

“Hosting the Olympics means that China’s power has grown,” said Hao Ning at the final of the men’s springboard diving (which China won).

On to the next question then. What does China do when it no longer feels picked on by the rest of the world?

Here are the most outlandish fears of the lying-awake-at-night-worrying-about-China club (slightly exaggerated for effect): China will go ahead and conquer the world, raise the red flag over Big Ben and the Eiffel Tower, and make the rest of the world come to Beijing every once in a while to prostrate themselves and generally grovel in a humiliating way.

China says that no-one has to worry about anything like that. People here tell me they just want to be respected and taken seriously as equals – nothing more.

What do a billion people do when their country finds its confidence?

Fire. Moon. Speed. Sky. Gold. Respect.

Not my words, but those of a Brazilian friend who was in the Bird’s Nest Stadium on the night Usain Bolt won the 100m in world record time.

The Jamaican burned down the track on a crisp, clean, dry night in Beijing with the moon, almost in full bloom, appearing in the sky as if itself wanting to witness the special moment.

Bolt’s two record shattering performances in achieving the sprint double are two of my main highlights of these Beijing Games, two memories I undoubtedly share with hundreds of millions of others around the globe.

Michael Phelps swimming to an Olympic record of eight gold medals at a single Games is another collective memory I and many others will take from Beijing 2008.

But what else has truly stuck in your mind?

On Saturday’s My Games programme we’re going to look at some of your favourite Olympic moments, so send us your thoughts, either through this blog or via e-mail to mygames@bbc.co.uk.

In terms of the sport, other highlights for me include;

Yang Wei’s gold medal in the all-round men’s gymnastics;

Natalie Du Toit’s participation in the women’s 10 km open water event, in which she finished a disappointing 16th but proved there are more important things than winning even at an Olympic Games;

Afghanistan winning its first ever medal, which came thanks to Rohullah Nikpai in Taekwondo’s 58 kilogramme category.

Nikpai comes from the Maidan Wardak region in Afghanistan, an area which has been rife with insurgency, and after winning a bronze, the 21 year old said he hoped his medal could be a message for peace in his country.

That is also the message China has been trying to convey to the watching world during these Games. One World, One Dream is the slogan of Beijing 2008, and China has certainly won many new admirers over the course of the Games.

No-one is naïve enough to think the picture of Beijing being represented through their televisions is the real China. But after seven years of controversy in the build-up to the event, things have gone even better than the ultra-organised organisers could have hoped for.

Think back just a couple of weeks and all the worries about how the smog in Beijing might affect the athletes, how the algae at the sailing venue in Qingdao might have ruined the competition there and how doping scandals would wreck the credibility of the sporting competition.

Hardly any of it has materialised. Thank goodness.

And finally, for me personally, having been lucky enough to be right here in the thick of the action, another major highlight for me came one late night as I was walking back to my accommodation at the media village. A Chinese gentleman stopped me in the street and asked me where I was from. He introduced me to his wife, his son, his young baby daughter and his grandmother. We spent about five minutes chatting, he and his wife wanted to know about my life in England, and I asked him about their life in Beijing. I carried a smile with me through the rest of the next day. Thank you sir, even though I don’t even know your name.

One day, because of all of this, I will return to Beijing with my own family.

Don’t forget to send us your highlights of Beijing 2008. Bye bye.