From Thursday's Globe and Mail Published on Thursday, Aug. 28, 2008 9:09AM EDT Last updated on Tuesday, Mar. 31, 2009 8:37PM EDT
After the scripted spectacular of co-ordinated drumming and mass pageantry that was the Beijing Olympics' send-off to the world, it was hard not be moved by the sight of a red double-decker bus careening through the Bird's Nest stadium with the legendary rocker Jimmy Page aboard to mark the hand-over of the Games to their next host. Boris Johnson, London's recently elected and somewhat bumbling mayor, then managed to completely fumble the transfer of the Olympic flag from his (never elected) Beijing counterpart.
It was all rather human, and a brilliant reminder that the London Games are likely to be everything Beijing's were not: spontaneous, free, imperfect, and great, great fun. They will also be participatory - as Mr. Johnson announced this week, community sports grounds will get a huge upgrade in honour of 2012.
This is not to say that the 2008 affair was not a tremendous success.
The skies were clear, the athletic performances incredible, and camera-unfriendly distractions like migrant labourers and political protesters nowhere to be seen. Beijing's Olympics were the most dramatic demonstration in history of the raw power of the totalitarian state, bulldozing and building anything it wanted in the service of sport and spectacle. China's leaders are undoubtedly pleased.
London's show, by contrast, promises to be an expression of the best the Western world is capable of with the freewheeling metropolis that is arguably its greatest as a stage.
In London, the authorities will, alas, be unable to carry out mass uncompensated evictions in order to build a monumental Olympic plaza. Their budget will be only half that of the Chinese Games, and they will have to rely on performers for the opening and closing ceremonies who are not conscripted "volunteers." They will, especially, need to learn to live with Britons' flawed smiles, the vast majority of which have never come within spitting distance of an orthodontist capable of sculpting nashers as sparkling as those on Lin Miaoke, the little girl who lip-synched a patriotic song at the Beijing kick-off.
London's organizers will be relying on something else to make their Games a success: the energy, diversity and individuality of a free society.
Join the Discussion: