London 2012 vs Beijing 2008

The Olympic Flame was extinguished. The Olympic Logo Flag was passed on to the next hosting city, London. The renowned red double-decker bus entered the stadium. The extravaganza performances by the Chinese suddenly transformed into a hip-hop dance by the British. China had officially passed on the Games to the next hosting country England.

After watching the thrilling closing ceremony of the Beijing Olympic Games 2008, I was awestruck by the brilliant performance from the patriotic Chinese volunteers. Not only me, but the whole world which had witnessed the amazing show. China had shown everyone that this was the best Olympic Game ever and they had used this opportunity to prove to everyone too that it had finally emerged into one of the world superpower. The over-the-top pageantry of the 2008 Beijing Olympics has left many Londoners wondering how London can live up to expectations when it hosts the next summer Olympiad in 2012.

What really amused me during the ending ceremony was none other than the next hosting city's eccentric mayor, Boris Johnson. He promised that 'London 2012 is going to be a hoot'. He also added, "We (Londoners) have been dazzled, impressed, and blown away by these Beijing Games but we have not been intimidated". Brave words, but the London mayor knows he's got his work cut out to match what International Olympic Committee Chairman Jacques Rogge rightfully called an "extraordinary Games".

I personally feel that Beijing will be the last Olympics of its kind and London will not be able to repeat the good organization skill and creativity shown by the Chinese.

As can be seen during the closing ceremony, the performance done by the British was pathetic, and to me, a joke. Britain's eight-minute chance to tell the world what the London Games would offer the world in 2012 featured guitarist Jimmy Page and British pop-singer Leona Lewis, who launched into the riff from "Whole Lotta Love" This is something rather unoriginal, and it definitely was not able to enlighten anyone about London. I mean how can a song about love tell us about London? Simply put, there is no connection. Maybe it was not their fault, as China had a five thousand years of history, they are not able to match China in terms of cultural performances. And in a quest for authenticity, the iconic London bus also took ages to travel the short distance around the Bird’s Nest Stadium. No one anticipated that the 2012 organizers would strive to recreate London’s traffic crawl quite so accurately. By the time the bus arrived, most of the spectators had given up and left in black taxi.

The ‘highlight’ of London’s mini-presentation was undoubtedly the emergence of the global superstar formerly known as a footballer. To me, it is the most anti-climatic sporting moment in the Beijing Game, when David Beckham appeared on top of the bus. I mean we never heard of the ‘superstar’ anymore, since he announced “After Man United and Real Madrid, my next club will be… LA Galaxy!”, yet he was chosen to be the dude who represent London. Ironic. Worst, it was a disappointment to see him with his lame kick, which did not reached the spectator, but the nearest volunteer below the bus. This sounds like a funny teaser to parody of Olympic from the next hosting city to me. Talking about a ‘witty’ London 2012 Olympic, I doubt there was anything close to witty in this short-performance.

Other reason why London should not boost before the Game begins is their notorious history of project delays. The British capital doesn't have the best track record for managing multi-billion dollar projects. Most recently, the new Wembley Stadium was completed a year late and roughly $200 million over budget. The so-called Millennium Dome similarly cost $1.3 billion to build in the late 1990s, but after a brief series of events around the turn of the millennium, it sat unused for years before American billionaire Philip Anschutz bought the tent-like structure at a huge discount and turned it into a successful concert venue. If they cannot even make a proper stadium in time of the Game, they will not even come close to competing with the Bird’s Nest Stadium and the Ice Cube, yet become the better host city.
With less than half of the Beijing Game’s budget, estimated 45-billion dollar, and much lesser volunteers to help out during the event itself, the London Game will not be expected to have a grand performance like Beijing and most likely, there may even be lesser games to compete.

Boris Johnson should start doing something about the London Game 2012. Not only had Beijing started a new standard of the Olympic Game, he had also foolishly challenged it, with a mocking tone and complacent attitude. Instead of boasting and mocking the Beijing Game, he should be more worried with the opening ceremony performance, how the ‘witty’ performance will leave an impression on everyone and more importantly, how they are going to solve their organizing problem in their history of project delays.

Action still speaks louder than word.