Reputation... and Image and Sportsmanship?

So, Olympics Games is well on its way. Athletes are breaking records like mindless rules, they are just proving mankind is getting stronger, faster and better, at least physically. However, of all the things that happened, one thing came to my mind - how important reputation and image of a person/country is.

First, a day after the opening ceremony, it was revealed that some of the fireworks TV audience saw were actually faked. It was added using computer graphics. For me, that was acceptable, as fireworks, not being at the location, be it CGI or real, was not that big a deal. Then, a couple of days after the opening ceremony, it was revealed that the child singer at the greatest opening event yet in recent history was actually miming. That was still not the shocker. The knockout punch was the reason the girl that sang with such beautiful voice was removed from the front. She wasn't cute enough. What makes it worse was, some of the comments were along the line that, it was a shameful act, now, foreigners will think that we can't find a young singer with a perfect look and a perfect voice.

Now, for me, that's wrong. Very wrong. It was a shameful act because it was the wrong thing to do. In my opinion, that's a very wrong message for the organizer/country to be sending to the world. The very same logic that size-zero models are portraying that being anorexic was the way to go. A child singer shouldn't be judged by her look. Scrap that. A singer, be it young or old, shouldn't be judged by his/her look. They are singer, not looker.

To be continued...

Continuing...
Where was I?

Then, there's the whole Chinese gymnasts age issue. No doubt that these gymnasts are great. However, did they meet the minimum age requirement? I don't know for sure. But, some of them really don't look 16. And, I'm not comparing a 16-year-old Asian to a 16-year-old American. I think I have yet to experiencing so much changes that I can't tell a 16-year-old Asian from a 16-year-old Asian. And, even though there's passport as proof of their age, I still have my reservation. Why? Again, I don't have something against China, but, just that their reputation in something still lingers. That's why, reputation is very important. Once you lose it, good luck gaining it back.

Really. As I was watching the closing ceremony, when the fireworks were all magnificent. I can't help but wonder: Any CGI this time around? What's not "real"? Call me skeptical, but, I was just being myself. Once 'bitten'.

And sportsmanship? While watching all the games, I can't help but wonder, how do one differentiate professionalism and sportsmanship? On one hand, looking at all the professional athletes, some of them 'cheat' - well, at least didn't admit the wrong call from the umpire when the decision was for their favor. It's understandable that in a competitive game, one would just keep quiet and let the umpire's decision stand. But, is this what Olympics games promote? Sportsmanship? Professionalism? I can't help but wonder.

These past 2 weeks had been great. I enjoyed watching all the different games, and witnessing all the records being shattered, and all. Even though I did sacrificed some sleep and study time. Kudos to China for being topping the medal tally (if you are like the rest of the world, that look at the number of Gold medals won). Kudos to USA for winning the most number of medals (that's how the US count). I do hope that all these strong contingents will try to put in more effort in their not-so-strong events, or else, the Olympic Games will be killed, by different countries dominating different sports.

London 2012... I'll definitely try to make my way there! Tremayne, if you are reading this, you better stay in London til at least Summer of 2012. :)

Chicago? Tokyo? Madrid? Rio de Janeiro? for Summer Olympic 2016? Who knows? Will be wonderful if it's in Chicago. But that's 8 years down the road.