The Olympics

It was impressive: colorful, artsy and well synchronized. I'm talking about the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympic Games. With all the talks and politics leading into it, I half expected some incident, but thankfully nothing happened. Now, if only the politicians could just take the back seats for a couple of weeks and let the sport rule. But, that's like asking the thief to be honest and a psychopathic murderer not to kill. I'm sorry, no other analogy seems appropriate for the politicians... But, back to the opening ceremony. It took us through the history of China and its discoveries of the gunpowder, paper scrolls, printing and compass. Through the flurry of colorful costumes and scenery, smiling faces, flying acrobats, to the gracefulness of dancers in traditional garbs, all spiced up with the fireworks, it was an event to remember. Of course, the culmination of the show was the lighting of the Olympic flame. Although, in my opinion, nothing can come close to the Barcelona games opening, when the flame was lit by a burning arrow shot over the crowd, this one was impressive in its own way. Partly because the last torch bearer was Li Ning, a gymnastic legend, and partly because of the way he lit the Flame.

Li Ning and me go way back, precisely 26 years back, when he was winning his Olympic and World Championships medals. The World Cup 1982 was held in Zagreb. He was an easy character to spot even before he started "cleaning" the gold. He wore the greenest green shirt for the warm-up, so uncommon in the sea of white, red and blue, which were the colors of the gymnastic elite. We even tried to buy that shirt from him, but he just smiled and went on winning his golds, six gold medals in total at that World Cup. So, he was a familiar name when he held that last torch, hoisted at the top of the Bird's Nest stadium. I wouldn't recognize him without the name tag--he's older, grey-haired gentleman with a potbelly. Besides, he didn't wear the trademark green shirt! He ran a perfect slow-mo round around the roof of the stadium, dangling off the ropes in the air and set ablaze the end of a giant scroll which enveloped the Olympic flame's bowl. As a former athlete and a current running fanatic, now I can lay back and enjoy the two weeks of sports on TV. Let the games begin!