I must be out of the loop, but what Billions of US Dollars were spent on the Bejing Olympics? I thought the hosting country paid in exchange for all the money they will earn hosting the event.

How can the upcoming Olympics be “right on the money” as a sporting event, with all that pollution? I mean, the world’s fastest marathoner ever, Haile Gebrselassie of Ethiopia, refuses to run in what is supposed to be the premier event of the Games. That’s how the original Games started in ancient Greece- remember? Maybe Gebrselassie didn’t want to risk the same fate as Philippides!

Clearly, awarding the 2008 Summer Games to Beijing is the most colossal error the IOC has ever made, and that’s saying alot.

First Olympics Games on record 776 BC: Battle at Marathon 490 BC. The marathon appears to be a modern additition, starting around the turn of the 20th Century.

The worst stain on the Olympics is China’s complicitness with the genocide in the Darfur region of Sudan. China gets 6% of their oil from Sudan, and in return they sell arms to Sudan – the same arms that are used against the people of Darfur.

The world must stand up and stop genocide. China could stop the genocide so quickly if it would suspend arms trading with Sudan and insist that the Sudanese negotiate a peace agreement.

I went to Beijing last summer. I did not see the Sun in the first week when I travel from Bejing to XiAn. The sky was always gray, and the air smell like coal. The locals told me that they did not usually see the Sun. I felt that there was thick layer of dust on my face only two hours after being outside . I can not imagine how bad it is now.

In regards to the original start of marathon competitions, Mr. Graham is correct in saying that the runner did run in the Battle of Marathon. He ran to tell the Athenian city state the outcome of the battle fought in the plains of Marathon. According to legend, the runner ran approximately the distance of a modern day marathon hence the name given to race today. After running the great distance, he died as soon as he gave the news of the victory.

Linda,
You misread the article, China has spent the equivalent of billions of US dollars to pay for the Olympics. The article didn’t mean money from the US was spent.

Linda,

The Chinese government spent tens of billions of yuan on the Olympic sites. Converted to US currency, that’s billions of dollars. The reporter was just citing the currency figures in USD, as is commonly done in international reporting of financial figures.

The article refers to “billions of US dollars” to provide an idea on how much the chinese have spent on construction, citing the amount spent in US dollars. These are not actually dollars spent by the US on chinese construction.

In response to Mr Sayres, what complicitness are you talking about, exactly? According to a Stockholm International Peace Institute Report issued this year in March, China supplied 8% of Sudan’s arms from 2003 to 2007. Wow, 8% = complete responsibility for the Sudanese rebels, that really makes sense.
You cannot blatantly accuse China of being responsible for the genocide simply because they supply a small percentage of arms. If you look at history, it has traditionally been Western countries that supply these weapons, which are more advanced than the ones the government possesses. And how does it affect the Olympics directly? China is hosting the Games yes, but Darfur has been an ongoing issue since February 2003. You could say it’s a stain on China’s history (still stretching it, again I say, 8%?), but not that of the Olympics.
It is the entire world’s responsibility to stop genocide from being carried out, not one rapidly developing nation that everyone seems eager to pin their troubles on.

the IOC said china has set a new GOLD standard in hosting the olympics, we can now see the future of the games, the STANDARD will be jailing protesters, cheating doping, banning the media, dislocating residence,pollution……….. maybe zimbabwe could next host the olympics, but its a small country, then share the privilege with sudan, surely that will be keeping up with china’s new gold standard.
but its not all bad there will be good things like stopping the pollution for two months, and hiding the killings,…… all bad attempt of cosmetic facelift……….will not even last more than two months.

She is referring to the conversion from Chinese currency to the U.S. dollar being comparable, not the flat out use of the U.S. dollar for preparation.

Gerald Graham,

“Clearly, awarding the 2008 Summer Games to Beijing is the most colossal error the IOC has ever made, and that’s saying alot.”

Clearly, humans have been making colossal errors all along its history (bloody). WW I and WW II are recent two. The parents are sure that the children are not mistakes before they are made. Glad we have you here talking!

I have a question for anyone at CNN who has done a report in China, especially in the last few months when the treaty came in allowing free reporting of worldwide media in China… When doing a report or documentry in China, does a civil servent from the Chinese government insist of tagging along to make sure you dont report anything that is sensitive in the countrys history. Just that im from England, and there was a documentry about how british journalists were even being provented from reporting certain things, even thought they had every right to be there and report. Do you at CNN experence this when ‘in the field’?

Thanks, kieran (krazykizza)