It’s unlikely you will read the real reaction from the Chinese public. There is strong criticism from the Chinese public but their reactions are promptly removed from websites, generating further protests. So, expect nothing but praise in the local media. All are happy and positive.
For some Chinese it was great indeed and most foreigners I met were overly positive. A bit like it was for the Athens closing ceremony: foreigners happy, Chinese not at all (for the Chinese performance).
Now why was the weather so bad? We were expecting rain in the afternoon to clean and cool the air. They fired something like thousand rockets before the clouds reached Beijing, bringing heavy rain in other areas. During the ceremony at one point the staff were preparing raincoats for the people as they feared a coming downpour – that never reached the Bird’s Nest.
I guess you’ll never read about that either. And there are more interesting stories…

It was a looooong day for me, starting before 4pm in the hotel of RTBF. The adventure of joining the Belgian TV was in part a disappointment, planning was poor and we nearly failed to starting shooting at the location near the Bird’s Nest. The diva François De Brigode cannot handle any pressure and thinks he is the super star needing everybody’s attention but once on the air pops up a seducing smile. Except for some brief sights of the impressive panorama of the Bird’s Nest and Watercube I missed the Opening Ceremony, ending up spending a miserable night until 3am, mostly in a shabby office without windows, no decent seating. But it was nice to meet Philippe Rogge (chef de mission, Belgian Olympic Team) who was the ultimate example of patience. I had to listen to CRI 91.5 on my mobile to know what was going on.
As for the Ceremony, opinions greatly differ. Some found it fantastic and impressive. Some found it disappointing and blame Zhang Yimou for a bad job – I agree at least in part. All this flying around, come on, we’ve seen that dozens of time, the first time it was Whaw!, but after a couple of times… Many of the acts were nothing special for those of us who are used to this type of performance. Often boring and with some hilarious hick-ups that will quickly disappear from the repeats on TV after some editing. Like the little girl yawning and poking her nose. In all I found the opening ceremony of the International Athletics in Chaoyang, a few years ago, even better. And they were all flying around in the air too. China can do great shows, so the real Chinese public is extra demanding.
The weather was just horrible. Pollution at levels close to 100, poor visibility. Officially over 600 people suffered a heath stroke in the sauna stadium. Chaos all around in the area as the normal people tried to have a glimpse of the fireworks but were kept very far and left disappointed.
It will be interesting to read more in the Chinese media. Of course not the official ones, neither for once the SCMP that paints a sugar-coated picture. Talk to some Chinese officials I know and they were mostly disappointed.
Not to mention the extreme case of ambush marketing in the history of the Olympics. Li Ning flying around to light the cauldron. Adidas must be fuming. What a bad idea, what genius came up with that? Li Ning is a great person but it was like Mr. Nike snubbing Adidas. (“Li Ning” is also a company, competing directly with Adidas and Nike).
Pics will follow in due time. Haven’t slept much and have to run out.

Friday morning 11am in Beijing, the sky is gray, the World Trade Center Tower 3 is nowhere to be seen. On my balcony it’s sticky, over 30C. But little or no dust. Unlucky Beijing really, pollution levels (API) have been going up and were yesterday around 100. We all hope there will be some rain in the afternoon to cool down the city, wash away the fog.
Yesterday I went to the opening of the Holland Heineken House, a very select crowd so it was not packed and it was great to have a tour of the facilities before they become off limits for people like me. They did a great job really. Hein Verbruggen was there, well hidden from the public. I did not feel I should talk with him as he would probably tell me (again) the air was fine in Beijing. As for the BOIC, nothing much from that corner. Never mind the Belgian team and all those people flocking around. They only contacted in the past to get something solved and then disappeared. Well, to their credit they just offered us tickets for some of the Games and I will be one of the lucky ones. Sunday evening I will join the Aussies. Sunday lunch I will join the French community with all the big shots in town from French countries. I guess Belgium will not be there.
I also had my first ride on Metro Line 10. Great, very modern and pleasant.
In the evening I watched Shanghai TV, a more than 2 hour program on the history of the Olympics, as seen by China. I was the only foreigner interviewed… The producer promised the DVD, hopefully I’ll get it. This follows the 15 min. footage about me last Monday on CCTV2 (will be shown again on Sunday, on CCTV4). Included me running on the treadmill in California Fitness and the usual interviews. They also called me a “party animal”. How they have this impression I don’t know. Maybe because I went to Tango, Suzie Wong, 1949 1/5, China Doll, The Den(mark) and others recently? Well, looks like the nightlife here is still going strong, at least in some discos and bars. Clubbing goes on. No panic.
Today will be a long day (and night). I will join the crew of RTBF (Belgian French TV) as from 4pm till 1am, we will be in two locations next to the Bird’s Nest and Watercube, in TV studios. Life interviews are planned (for the news over there in Belgium) and I should be on air except I fall asleep, I get drunk (unlikely), I did not get a drink to wake up (likely), we are stopped by the dozens of security screenings, or any other Act of God.
So, I might not see much of the Opening Ceremony except the fireworks. As I saw most of it already anyway, no big worry. Anyway it will be shown over and over again.
Wish Beijing luck, as well as all of us here. Sorry for not posting some of the nice pics I have… too busy… Later…

We have been assisting the emergency medical center “120” with tips, screening call center candidates etc.
Now Valerie (and also Sun) is on standby whenever foreigners call and the 120 people are “lost in translation”, during the two weeks of the Olympics.
Over the weekend we got the first calls… Always a challenge with the different “English” and some Spanish speakers (Valerie speaks Spanish too, as well as English, French and Chinese).
A couple of days ago I had to make a test call to 120 to play a sick foreigner. I found inspiration in Don Corleone, the mafia guy speaking with a deep voice. Well, I had COPD and an attack of asthma you see. They handled it quite well and we made some suggestions for improvement.
Hopefully none of you will have to call us!

I would say, unlucky Beijing and very unlucky all of us.
During the Olympics, no pollution – guaranteed. But despite the tremendous efforts and restrictions, Beijing has been plagued by lack of wind, sultry weather, bad visibility. And higher than expected API.
I have now on record all data from 21 May 2008 till 2 August. You can’t find that back by the way. Anybody interested, let me know. I would like to put some figures on my blog but I always run out of time.
Some conclusions:
– dust really has drastically been reduced as I can see on my balcony; no need to measure, just wipe the dust from the inox rails; they never have been so clean.
– I thought the official API were unreliable but I think they are closer to reality than expected; the point is they don’t give the API of some critical locations such as Qianmen (disappeared from all listings – was the worst location) nor the Olympic Green (there is an hidden advanced meteorology station in the Park, never mentioned – I have pics of it).
– the API supplied as usual actually only refers to PM10; in a distant past you could read daily figures on SO2 and NO2 but they all disappeared, probably because they are too bad; with the new additional data for the Olympics one immediately sees the API is only the PM10; SO2 and NO2 are listed again; other dangerous pollutants are not listed, such as ozone and many others
– in the same way China Daily stopped publishing national API because it was too horrible anyway
– for the poor of us, it only proves once and for all the battle against pollution is hopeless; just think – if with all the efforts it is hard to go below API 100, how bad it must be under “normal” conditions.
As I said already – living in Beijing is hazardous to your health. Only moron foreigners or dinosaur bureaucrats deny it.

See also a chart and a cartoon from the South China Morning Post. Of course some of the IOC officials belong to the “All is well” category.