It was a cool rainy day as we set out to attend our Olympic event out in the Beijing suburbs. After following some excellent written directions from our friend Jessie, we arrived at Shunyi to find ourselves in the midst of some heavy rain.
One observation I had when I arrived at the venue was to note that China is not all that interested in generating much economic activity as a result of the events. The ponchos they gave out to people to ward off the rain were free (which was appreciated), there was very limited food choices (and a lot of the choices were sold out) and there weren't any vendors selling stuff save for a few tents. It was nice not to have things shoved our way for purchase, but it was an odd thing to realize that China appears to not put much emphasis on the economic benefits that could be leveraged from the games, instead, focussing on making the games a success, defined by their own criteria.
As for the event itself, we watched a race of men's canoeing. We sat in front of a large group of French supporters who made a ton of noise when their athletes raced. There were no Canadians in the race so we just enjoyed taking in all the other fans, especially when the Chinese "jia you" cheering machine got into full swing. The event was great to watch and the athletes were amazing in their ability to control their boats and the speed they ripped through the course.
Eventually, the poor weather got the best of the race and the event was postponed. After a bit of a lineup we loaded into a bus and headed back for central Beijing. Despite the poor weather, it was a surprisingly satisfying Olympic experience. I'm glad we had a chance to take in the atmosphere of the Games and experience going to an Olympic event.
G
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