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The Beijing Games have drawn to a spectacular close, the flame is newly extinguished and already it's easy enough to tally up the lessons learned from what's taken place over the past 2 1/2 weeks.
Lesson No. 1: Apparently, despite all of the accumulated cynicism of the past 20 years, it is still possible to appreciate off-the-charts athletic performances like those of Michael Phelps and Usain Bolt with more joy than suspicion. Not to suggest anything about either one of them. But it says a lot about what we need from spectator sport that, on seeing numbers that redefined human athletic potential, the reaction was, by and large, to suspend disbelief and celebrate.
Lesson No. 2: An economic superpower willing to invest unlimited resources and unburdened by the messy business of democracy and dissent (and, arguably, a conscience) can put on one hell of a show. There has never been, and probably will never be, a more lavish production, because nearly anywhere else on Earth, spending hundreds of millions of dollars on fireworks or a billion plus on a stadium with no post-Olympic utility alone might cause some to question priorities.
No one was questioning the Chinese government — not in the empty "official" protest zones, not in the streets and not among the cowed ranks of the International Olympic Committee and, by and large, not in the visiting foreign press, where the folks on the ground were thrilled to be part of an event in which everything worked, in which nothing was left to chance. Geoffrey York, The Globe and Mail's estimable China correspondent, called them the "Potemkin Olympics," but from inside the village, the view was apparently just fine. From the friendly airport greeters on, China received glowing press — over and over again it was reported the air quality was better than expected, the security less oppressive and the city prettier and cleaner than imagined — which satisfied half the mandate for staging the greatest show on Earth.
The other half, the domestic agenda, stoking national pride with both the grand spectacle and dominance of the medal tables, seems to have worked flawlessly as well (though any sweeping statements about such a massive, diverse place have to be in part naive). These Games gave the world a taste of the potent force that is Chinese nationalism, which easily brushed aside the few minor embarrassments, including the lip-synching tot in the opening ceremony and what appeared to be some of her classmates winning medals in gymnastics.
In the face of all that, never has the self-appointed guardian of world sport, the IOC, seemed less relevant, more impotent and more beside the point. No big-name dopers were caught at the Olympics — again — though they did nab a couple of dirty Norwegian horses in the equestrian competition. Jacques Rogge, who as the Games wore on seemed ever more the weakling, sounded like someone's out-of-touch granny voicing his displeasure with the way Bolt celebrated his gold medals and world records, while remaining mostly mute on the subject of China's multiple broken promises.
During the lead-up to these Games, there was all kinds of empty talk from the folks in Lausanne about how the Olympics effect change, how China would be transformed by their presence and about the power of the Olympic "movement" to make the world a better place.
Truth is, it was the other way around. China has forever transformed the business of the Olympics. The Chinese government did it their way, on their terms, with precious little compromise or accommodation. Now every future host is left to deal with what was left in the wake.
And, yes, that would be us.
Someone will suggest here that it's a completely different proposition, that the Vancouver Games will be a relatively modest affair, that in a country that has twice staged the big party and twice failed to win a single gold medal on home soil, we will stand dutifully in line and apologize too often and refrain from imposing glorious, chauvinistic Canadianness on the rest of the planet because it might be seen as bad manners.
Guess again. With (relatively) enormous sums of cash invested in winning medals, with a massive sports/entertainment/media complex (including this newspaper) betting huge amounts that the Games will be a national cultural watershed moment, with the implicit message that a new confident, butt-kicking Canada will emerge from the rinks and slopes and speed-skating ovals, there's more than an echo of Beijing, minus the most extravagant aspects and, one hopes, plus a degree of social and political accountability.
Now, to pull it off.
