Beijing Remembers Olympics

A two-hour musical review marked the official celebration of the one-year anniversary of the 2008 Beijing Games. (ATR/Panasonic:Lumix)Anniversary Concert at Olympic Green

A two-hour musical review featuring Jackie Chan, Olympians, volunteers, politicians and pop stars marked the official celebration of the one year anniversary of the 2008 Olympics.

Held in a lakeside meadow on the Olympic Green under a full moon, the temperature was close to 15 degrees cooler than the sweltering evening of Aug. 8 last year when the opening ceremony was held three km south at the Bird’s Nest Stadium.

An audience of 5,000 was invited to the Thursday night event. Guests were drawn from the ranks of government, sponsors, sports groups, volunteers and BOCOG.

With the Beijing Symphony Orchestra backing him up, Chan sang the theme song of the anniversary “Just Like a Dream”. Swimming Olympian and new world champion in the 800m freestyle, Zhang Lin, took a turn on the stage not to answer rehearsed questions from an mc, but to actually sing in a duet. BOCOG president Liu Qi speaks to the crowd. (ATR/Panasonic:Lumix)

BOCOG President Liu Qi offered his upbeat review of the Games, all part of the self-congratulatory mood of the evening.

But there is clearly work to be done. Buses taking a small media contingent back from the show travelled down the six-lane boulevard that a year ago was an artery at the heart of the Games.

The Olympic Village, meant to become private housing post-Games, lies behind the same double fence that served as a barrier during the Olympics, dark. Nobody lives there now.

A minute or two further and the bus passes the former Main Press Centre and International Broadcast Centre, giant hulks without a purpose. One year ago they streamed with activity.

Perhaps more poignantly, the bus then reaches the Water Cube, the stunning aquatics venue that glowed blue for the Olympics. Tonight the lights are off, as if nothing happened there.

Heiberg to Speak for IOC, Legacy Issues Remain

Gilbert Felli, IOC executive director, is shown on a big screen at the one year anniversary event. (ATR/Panasonic:Lumix) The official word from the IOC on the one year mark comes Friday from Gerhard Heiberg. The IOC member from Norway is a member of the IOC Executive Board and chair of the marketing commission.

He will speak at a forum to mark the anniversary at the Intercontinental Hotel. It was built and is still open on one corner of the shuttered MPC, which is supposed to become a convention center one day.

The speech is expected to have a positive spin on the Beijing Games, which by most accounts were a smooth-running affair.

Obviously legacy issues should be one of the key topics addressed by Heiberg and others at the forum. Beyond the Water Cube, other venues built for the Games, such as the National Stadium, are seeing little use a year later, although they have become major tourist attractions.

A ferris wheel and other carnival rides have been in place at the Olympic Green since the start of the year. (ATR/Panasonic:Lumix). The environmental legacy of the Beijing Olympics is also expected to be mentioned at the Olympic forum. Transportation improvements and industrial relocation that were part of Games preparation are being credited with bettering the air quality of the city steadily.

In an op-ed pieced in China Daily newspaper, BOCOG Media and Communications director Jiang Xiaoyu suggests that the venues in Beijing need “policy support” to provide a lasting value.

“The Olympic Green has to be managed well so that people can enjoy the fruits of the Olympics and feel inspired by the Olympic culture and by sport,” he writes.

Written by Ed Hula.