Olympic Mania

We are enjoying the Olympic Games. Thankfully, one of the three channels we can get is KUAM, the Guam NBC affiliate. The only bad result is lack of sleep because the rebroadcast here goes until 12 or 1 in the morning. We have caught a few events live during the morning.

The opening ceremony was quite impressive, complete with the moving boxes that had people inside and 2008 drummers. I was a bit disillusioned later to learn that the fireworks display was superimposed and the Chinese girl singer was lip synching, but such is "show business," and the Chinese put on a good show. I wonder how much that program cost to produce.

Four years ago we cheered for the U.S. and Ecuador during the parade of the athletes from the different countries. This year we cheered for those two countries plus Guam and Palau, the Marshall Islands, and the Federated States of Micronesia, where many of our students come from. We are becoming a more international family as time goes on.

Yao Ming and the boy hero Lin Hao led the Chinese delegation. Lin saved two of his classmates during the devastating Sichuan earthquake earlier this year that claimed over 70,000 lives. He may look tiny next to the statuesque frame of Ming, but I am sure that Lin has been a giant in the eyes of his classmates and now is in the rest of the world also.

Along with my joy I could not resist being saddened as well. Of course, China wants to put on a "good face" for the spectators. In the government's eyes, this includes silencing anyone protesting official policies. Voice of the Martyrs magazine reports that this year has brought about a huge crackdown on the Christians in China. One pastor's door was soldered shut, effectively maintaining him on "house arrest." When our brothers and sisters in one place suffer, we should all suffer. Christians in China are considered rebels. That puts them in a similar category as those who protest the government's policies in places such as Sudan and Tibet.

Michael Phelps has certainly provided some drama for this 29th Olympiad. His first of seven gold medals (so far) in these games came when Jason Lezak overtook the French swimmer Bernard in the final stretch of the 4X100m relay. What emotion! And today when Michael outreached Serbia's Milorad Cevic for the win in the 100m Butterfly. Wow! It was great to see the mutual admiration that Phelps and Mark Spitz have for each other during a joint interview with Bob Costas.

We will continue to watch and enjoy the Olympics for the week that remains. Today Jefferson Perez of Ecuador obtained the silver medal in the 20,000m race walk. He won the gold medal in Atlanta in 1996. I particularly like watching the track and field events. It brings back memories of my track days in high school and college.