An old flame – 9 May 2008
The Olympic Flame, or at least an Olympic flame, made it to the top of Mount Everest yesterday – a triumph of perseverance, or perhaps PR. “One World, One Dream” shouted the Tibetan team-leader Nyima Cering as the torch reached the summit. One suspects that his down-jacket would have been confiscated for the downward leg had he not said something appropriate. Comments from other climbers were more cryptic – attempted “interference” with the torch’s progress up the mountain was alleged: “Right up to now, there are still people trying to interfere with us. We were not afraid. We overcame these interferences.” One wonders what sort of interference this might have been, given that both the Chinese and Nepalese sides of the mountain were closed to climbers and a shoot-to-kill policy in force.
When the torch came through HK last week, potential protesters were cleared off the streets by police “for their own protection”. “All Chinese come over here and sing the National Anthem!” shouted one particularly patriotic Chinese mainlander, brandishing a megaphone in one hand and a large red flag in the other. Half the street promptly did as he said, following up their rousing chorus with shouts of “Zhongguo jiayou!”. Most local HKers seemed bemused by the spectacle.
More than a few residents of this hazy city have since complained to me that the displays of loyalty to the Chinese motherland along the roadside seemed to demonstrate a profound misunderstanding of the Olympic Spirit (http://www.olympicspirit.org/mission.php). And presumably the same goes for the somewhat overzealous behaviour of the Chinese security guards worldwide who have been guarding the flame’s passage.
I would argue, however, that even if the torch relay for the 2008 Olympics has not yet succeeded in “building a peaceful and better world in the Olympic Spirit… with a spirit of friendship, solidarity and fair play”, the exercise has at least been conceived in the mould of the original torch relay. This, of course, was held in the run-up to the Munich Olympics of 1936. Proposed by the controversial Carl Diem to showcase Nazi power, the relay was immortalized on celluloid by Leni Riefenstahl in her classic Olympia. One of the crowning scenes of the film is when Fritz Schilgen (who had been chosen by the Fuhrer for his aesthetic running style) trotted gracefully up to light the Olympic cauldron.
But times have moved on, and even greater spectacles are expected. In Barcelona (1992) an archer fired a burning arrow over the stadium to light the cauldron and launch the games. The question now is, who will light the Olympic cauldron in the Bird’s Nest Stadium in Beijing at the opening ceremony on 8 August 2008, and how? This person’s identity is still shrouded in the utmost secrecy, but I think I know who it will be… The towering Yao Ming will light the cauldron by slam-dunking a flaming basketball through the Olympic rings and bringing the so-far-so-farcical torch relay to a suitably entertaining end.
