After nearly seven years and billions upon billions of dollars spent on preparation, China is finally on the cusp of hosting its coming-out party: the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
On July 13, 2001, the International Olympic Committee awarded the Games to Beijing, to an uproar of dissent. Critics said China's record of human rights abuses should have excluded it from consideration. But Olympic officials wanted to give China a chance to change, while the world watched. By two votes, Beijing beat out Toronto for the 2008 Games.
So, next summer, whether it is ready or not, China will host its first Olympics, and it will open itself up to scrutiny. For more than two weeks, a spotlight will shine brightly on its 1.3 billion people, its culture and its politics. Outsiders will get a glimpse of why China is an emerging global power.
Already revealed, though, have been some glaring ugly spots, like the recent issues with lead paint in Chinese-made toys and the tainted pet food that came from Chinese plants. And there have been questions about other issues, which has put China in a less-than-favorable light.
Many of the steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs, like human growth hormone, that found their way into recent large-scale Drug Enforcement Agency raids have originated in China. It was not the first link from China to doping products. Members of past Chinese national track teams and swimming teams have been caught doping, after emerging from nowhere to win gold medals at world championships. Last August, systematic doping was found in two sports schools in China, where coaches were found to have given drugs to athletes as young as 15.
Now teams outside of China are wondering if these Chinese athletes, who feel so much pressure to win gold medals on their home soil, will compete clean. After the Athens Olympics began in 2004 with Greece's two track stars avoiding a drug test, will these Games also be marred by drug scandals?
Competitors, coaches and national federations are also wondering how China's pollution problem will affect the Olympics. The thick smog over Beijing could cause endurance events to be canceled or postponed. In 2001, the Chinese government planned to spend more than $112 billion on the improvement of air and water quality, but since then - with more factories and cars and less environmental regulation - it has only worsened.
Jacques Rogge, the International Olympic Committee president, said he is confident that the city and its environment will be ready for the competition. Still, the concerns over air quality have grown so grave that some nations are researching the use of masks by their athletes to filter the pollutants, if necessary.
Peter Ueberroth, the United States Olympic Committee chairman, also said all the question marks surrounding the Beijing Games will disappear once the Opening Ceremony begins the event Aug. 8. There is always panic about things before the Games begin, he said.
And so, athletes all over the world have already started to compete for spots on their Olympic teams, for a chance to make it to Beijing. The Olympic trials have begun. This time, all their work and sweat will be for more than an Olympic berth or a gold medal.
It will also be for an opportunity to see China, spit-shined for the Olympics, perhaps. It will be a chance to see a country revealing itself for the first time.
--Juliet Macur
