Dispatch: Bird's Nest

The summer rain challenged our indomitable spirit today, but we donned our poncho’s, caught our taxis and bee-lined to the competition. The stadium filled slowly and the events were postponed for about an hour, but everything ultimately went as planned. After giving the issue serious consideration I have come to the conclusion that women speed walkers have the best rear ends of any of the athletes. That is not to dismiss runners, jumpers, throwers, fighters, or shooters as all of the athletes are amazing to look at, but there is something about the walkers.  Perhaps it is the particular discipline or maybe the muscles that are used but those little puppies stand proud and firm.

While we are on the subject, do you have any idea how many pretty Chinese women and girls there are? Literally hundreds of millions, but you only have to look at one to imagine the possible variations on this theme. The younger generation is particularly hip and stylish. They love to wear bold colors and logo shirts. They are not as sophisticated in their choices as say, Europeans, American’s or New Zealanders, but if history is any kind of guide it won’t be long before they catch up.

Bei Jing Huan Ying Ni (Beijing Welcomes You) is the unofficial theme song of these Olympics. It drills itself into your brain like a McDonald’s commercial. Not unlike 1985’s We Are the World, it features national and international celebrities endlessly repeating a cute but annoying chorus at various cultural sites throughout China.   Jackie Chan’s voice is so filtered that it sounds like he is channeling Mili Vanilli. Violet has taken to humming the repetitive little ditty in her sleep.

The days of U.S. Olympic track and field domination are but a memory. While we definitely hold our own, international competition is fierce, determined and bows to no one. With the exception of China, which is the obvious favorite in this city of 15.8 million and country of 1.35 billion people, all of the athletes are cheered on with equal enthusiasm. The other day when we were at the Silk Road a tall black athlete was mistaken for Kobe Bryant. The ensuing near riot was the closest thing to violence that I have heard about thus far.

For dinner we taxied to a restaurant called the Noodle Loft that we first heard about on Anthony Bourdain’s No Reservations. They serve a variety of noodles that are prepared with flair in the open kitchen. Justine wanted ‘noodles made with one chopstick’ while I opted for ‘noodles made with scissors’. Eva didn’t like her endless green noodle tossed from afar into boiling water. Perhaps she should have ordered ‘noodles made with a knife instead.

Russian speed walker Olga Kaniskina totally dominated the women’s 20 Km. walk this morning and entered the Bird’s Nest to a standing ovation a good minute ahead of her nearest competitor. Fifteen minutes later the last and 41^st place finisher entered the stadium to a nearly equal reception.