Rick Reilly (formerly of Sports Illustrated, now of ESPN) is one of the most popular and respected sports journalists in America. He's done well for himself writing mostly puff pieces, and last month's article about Charles Barley's horrendous golf swing is pretty indicative of what he usually puts out.
That's why his latest piece surprised me.
He pretty much takes China apart, calling the Olympics the "Fauxlympics" and listing off the many reasons why he thinks the Games have been a farce. And don't get me wrong, China has handled some things poorly during these last couple weeks, but I think in general, it's gone pretty well. So I have some real problems with this article.
Firstly, he frames the piece by describing a building under construction in downtown Beijing that has been made to look finished through the use of tarps and computer projectors. It's apparently a microcosm of all the Olympic fakery that's been going on. What he fails to mention is that this is done in Europe all the time. I took this picture in London two years ago, and I took it because I was amused by it, not appalled. He's making this fake building thing into an issue when it really has nothing to do with anything (and especially not the Olympics).
He also ends it by casting a negative light on the cloud seeding China did to ensure clear skies for the Games (it's really worked, by the way). But it's not like China's the first one to do something like that. Russia, for example, seeded clouds to clear away the rain during the 2006 G8 summit. (It didn't work, but at least it ended better than that other time they tried it.)
The stuff in the middle is mostly accurate, but a lot of it's been slanted in a very non-flattering way. Yes, there are empty seats at the events, and "volunteer fans" are being used to fill them. But those seats were legitimately sold/given to sponsors; how would you solve that problem? Yes, China used CGI to spruce up the Opening Ceremonies. But what's the harm in that? The world wanted to see a show, and it got one. And yes, I can see how the Great Firewall adds to the "fakery" going on. But if you're going to rip the government for it, rip it for keeping it up during the Olympics, and not for putting it up in the first place. Internet censorship is just a part of life here, and that issue goes way above and beyond the scope of your article.
What's frustrating about this article is not its factual inaccuracy. It's that Reilly makes no effort to see the issue from the other side. These Games are really, really important to China. And though that doesn't justify all of what's happened, it does explain it a little. Given the huge cultural difference between the East and West, isn't it possible that some of China's try-hardness has just come off the wrong way?
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