Let the Olympic Games Begin !!!!

[Dodgy Loner]

I was at the Olympics in Atlanta in 1996, and unfortunately, my memories of those Olympics are tainted because I was in Centennial Olympica Park the same day the bomb went off.  I still remember my mom waking me up in the wee hours of the morning to tell me about it :-[.

I was watching Kerri Strug as she brought home the gold for the American gymnansts with her incredible performance, and that's definitely in my top 3 Olympic memories .

[DouginUtah]

It was a display that I don't see ever being matched by another opening ceremony.

I don't mean to rain on anyone's parade, but I ran across this...

UK Telegraph: Beijing Olympic Giant Fireworks Footprints "Faked"
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/othersports/olympics/2534499/Beijing-Olympic-2008-opening-ceremony-
As the ceremony got under way with a dramatic, drummed countdown, viewers watching at home and on giant screens inside the Bird's Nest National Stadium watched as a series of giant footprints outlined in fireworks processed gloriously above the city from Tiananmen Square.

What they did not realize was that what they were watching was in fact computer graphics, meticulously created over a period of months and inserted into the coverage electronically at exactly the right moment.

[Tom]

Maybe.  Do I have to take the word of a ......gag.........Reporter??

Did we actually land a man on the moon?? :D :D

I think I'll wait for confirmation from a reputable source, like, someone who was there. 

[Jeff]

The link is not found now.

[logwalker]

They looked real to me. Maybe they were put on by that eyetalian family in New York. unhuh, I think they were. Joe Spagettio

[SwampDonkey]

Which US TV network is covering the Olympics? Come to think of it, they may be televising during the working hours and I am not in front of the tube then. I know it is big coverage here in Canada on CBC, everything else takes a back seat. I'm not a big fan I have to admit, but will sometimes sit for an hour to see the events.

[DouginUtah]

Would you believe a colaborating report from Yahoo?

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/afp/080812/world/oly2008_china_ceremony_song_fake

BEIJING (AFP) - The little girl who starred at the Olympic opening ceremony was miming and only put on stage because the real singer was not considered attractive enough, the show's musical director has revealed.

Pigtailed Lin Miaoke was selected to appear because of her cute appearance and did not sing a note, Chen Qigang, the general music designer of the ceremony, said in an interview with a state broadcaster aired Tuesday.

Photographs of Lin in a bright red party dress were published in newspapers and websites all over the world and the official China Daily hailed her as a rising star on Tuesday.

But Chen said the girl whose voice was actually heard by the 91,000 capacity crowd at the Olympic stadium during the spectacular ceremony was in fact seven-year-old Yang Peiyi, who has a chubby face and uneven teeth.

"The reason why little Yang was not chosen to appear was because we wanted to project the right image, we were thinking about what was best for the nation," Chen said in an interview that appeared briefly on the news website Sina.com before it was apparently wiped from the Internet in China.

Lin was seen to perform the patriotic song "Ode to the Motherland" as China's national flag was carried into the stadium, a key moment in the three hour ceremony.

"The reason was for the national interest. The child on camera should be flawless in image, internal feelings, and expression," said Chen, a renowned contemporary composer and French citizen.

"Lin Miaoke is excellent in those aspects. But in terms of voice, Yang Peiyi is perfect, each member of our team agreed," he said.

He said the final decision to stage the event with Lin lip-synching to another girl's voice was taken after a senior member of China's ruling Communist Party politburo attended a rehearsal.

"He told us there was a problem that we needed to fix it, so we did," he said, without disclosing further details of the order.

The Beijing Olympic organising committee confirmed the episode with spokesman Sun Weide saying the decision was taken in the interests of providing the best possible show.

"A number of girls were on the short list for the show and Lin was the best actress while Yang had the best voice," he said. "So at the end of the day they decided to have both."

The ceremony directed by China's Oscar-nominated filmmaker Zhang Yimou and featuring more than 15,000 performers won high praise in China and overseas for its breadth, scope and flawless execution.

However criticism began to build after it emerged that another part of the opening ceremony had been faked.


Supposedly live pictures of fireworks depicting footprints moving from central Beijing's Tiananmen Square to the Olympic stadium in the north of the capital were actually partly computer-generated or pre-recorded for TV, organisers have admitted.

Wang Wei, vice president of the organising committee, Tuesday insisted the fireworks had actually exploded on the night and that most of the television images used were genuine.

"However, because of the poor visibility of the night some previously recorded foots may have been used," he said.

Xiao Qiang, the director of the China Internet project at the University of California at Berkeley and former dissident, said the two incidents illustrated the political nature of the Games for China.

"I do not think the Chinese state realises how unethical this is, they don't understand what kind of values they are reflecting," he said.

Earlier this year Olympic organisers preoccupied with the right image for the country were criticised for insisting that only tall, slim, young and attractive women could serve as medal award ceremony hostesses.

-------

I have no problem with either of these two issues being the case. I just don't understand why they can't be honest about it.

Bill, the Olympics is broadcast on NBC--even preempting Jay Leno.

[SwampDonkey]

Ah, that explains it Doug. I don't get NBC or ABC in my area, just a CBS affiliate. And they only give a 2 minute blip on the news at night.  :-\ Way past my bedtime at midnight to watch, but I think they cover it here at 7:00 am on CBC, some is likely recorded.

Back to the singing part of the opening, I wouldn't think it would be difficult to select a singer for looks when you have a gene pool of over a billion. ;D

And as far as fireworks is concerned, if China couldn't put on a good fireworks display, then the rest of us have no hope.  :D :D

[beenthere]

Here is a link to what I assume is a spoof of the Olympic coverage.

http://www.borowitzreport.com/article.aspx?ID=6920

A stretch if it is true, but is one of the coverage tidbits that I get tired of the commentators interjecting into the broadcasts.

A good read.

[Tom]

Some folks would complain if you hung them with a rotten rope. :-\

The opening ceremonies are a show, are they not?   They are, aren't they.  I mean, really, is it a true documentary?  Are you trying to tell me that there really is no Santa Claus?   Oh my!

And, all these years I just knew that Tarzan was fighting that crocodile hand to hand.....   and fighting that lion hand to hand....... and fighting that python hand to, ...well....  coil.   Tarzan was a real person, wasn't he.  Wasn't he?

I'm so disillusioned :-\ :-\  :P

[Jeff]

I dont see how it matters or weather saying something was faked is even relative. It was a show. A production. Theater. It really doesn't matter how it was created as long as it had the desired effect of the producers of the show. If it did, then it was a total success. We all know that the guy running around the top of the stadium wasn't really running around the top of the stadium. We all know that that wasn't really the earth that erupted from the center of the stadium.

However did you know that when the Olympic flame was ignited by the flaming arrow in the 1992 Olympics that was "Faked" too?  It was.

[SwampDonkey]

I can't follow if beenthere was joking with the news link or serious.  I hope he was joking, that must have been the worst nonsense I read. Some of you guys are up on these talk show personalities. Me, I equate all their ramblings with scandal sheets such as the "National Enquirer". You give those guys a thread from this forum here and it will erupt into something it never was to begin with. :D ;D

[Jeff]

Donk, that would be Satire.

[Tom]

 



No, Jeff.   this is a Satyr.  :D

[beenthere]

 ;D ;D

And now SD is trying to expose me.... : : :

[Tom]

You gotta be careful exposing yourself around that Satyr.  :D

[SwampDonkey]

Tom, your such a beast.  :D :D

[asy]

Sheesh guys, next yer gonna tell me that dude running around the side wall of the stadium really CAN run sideways, and that slowly without falling... 

As Tom said, it's a production. BILLIONS of people watching...  of COURSE they wanted to project the best image.

In any case, other than feeling sorry for the little girl who wasn't judged pretty enough (I mean what an AWFUL thing to do to a kid) it was all good.

I'm enjoying watching the swimming, but, being unwell, I'm not getting much watched, I keep falling asleep :(

asy :D

[logwalker]

However did you know that when the Olympic flame was ignited by the flaming arrow in the 1992 Olympics that was "Faked" too?  It was.

"Say it ain't so, Joe. Say it ain't so."

[isawlogs]

The lip sink I could do with out , they had ,on the news this evening , a pic of both children . I dont care what she looks like ( even though she was not the cuttest of the two ) I think she should of had her moment of fame . If they could make foot prints in the sky , make a lot of the starlets loook good  : They sure as hell could of made this kid sing  her song . That being said , it was one of the best yet .

  Asy ... I was sure he was running ...ya telling me other wise  :-\  Was he tied in up there  :-\

[dundee]

All I am seeing here on the thread is fake this and fake that, what I saw last night on TV was the Chinese girls (ladies)? gymnasts, what they performed ain't faked, it was real and remarkable.

Now see there is comment if in-fact these girls were under aged??, 16 years of age is the requirement I understand, they looked less than that!, just wondering if this is another fake job?

if it is, I luv it 8)

Richard

[Jeff]

I keep wondering why this thread keeps having negative undertones. Its a bleeping shame in my opinion. I think some should just watch the competitions. Turn off the sound if you have to. Quit watching the *DanG news and commentary for awhile and appreciate the individual efforts that go into what you see on the Olympics. Regardless of the politics or other cr@p that creeps into it, these are fellow human beings striving to be the best they can be and doing the best that they can do for not only themselves, but for the enjoyment and wonderment of the world. At least appreciate that.

[dundee]

Jeff, your onto it--totaly agree
Richard

[SwampDonkey]

  Yip!

[SwampDonkey]

Michael Felps is cleaning up at the pool isn't he?  4 seconds ahead of Russia in time, in one race. ;D

Poor old Canada hasn't a metal yet.  :-\  Go Canada Go!  ;D