YOG success bodes well for Winter Olympic bid
- By Mitchell Blatt
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E-mail China.org.cn, September 5, 2014
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With the successful hosting of the Second Summer Youth Olympic Games, China has once again proved that it takes international events seriously and puts on a great show. [Xinhua photo] |
On August 28, the Nanjing Youth Olympic Games (YOG) ended just the way it started: beautifully. With the successful hosting of the Second Summer Youth Olympic Games, China has once again proved that it takes international events seriously and puts on a great show.
From start to finish, the Nanjing YOG was a complete success. The opening ceremony used modern technology to convey China's traditions and history in a vivid and astonishing way. The lights lit up the stadium with Chinese characters and spectacular backgrounds and colors. The performances were exciting, especially the 520 acrobats from the Tagou Martial Arts School dancing in mid-air in the "Dream Tower," and it brought to mind the epic opening ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Indeed, a journalist from NBC Sports, a leading American network, wrote on NBC's website: "The artistic portion of the evening was a little reminiscent of the unforgettable and unparalleled Beijing 2008 Olympic Opening Ceremony."
The 2008 opening ceremony was greeted with almost universal awe. It certainly made a big impact on the Western world's view of China, as many Westerners were paying attention to China for the first time and saw it dazzling on the world stage. Three-time Academy Award-winning film director Stephen Spielberg said that the opening ceremony was "arguably the grandest spectacle of the new millennium."
Chen Weiya, the director of the 2014 Youth Olympics opening ceremony, was one of the directors for the artists assisting with the 2008 opening ceremonies.
The Games themselves also went well. With special YOG bus routes, smiling volunteers and a welcoming city, the visitors who came from around the world for the Games were conveniently accommodated. A friend of mine even came up from Hunan for the early rounds of the table tennis competition. It was the first time that I went to the Wutaishan Sports Center, but a volunteer happily greeted us on the street and led us, along with some Israeli fans, to the entrance.
There was a lot of technology involved in promoting the Games, too. A digital torch relay went to 258 online locations in the 204 countries. Social media was used to promote the games, with 60 million people sharing #YOGSelfies. Ten thousand people participated in the Cultural Education Program in Nanjing. During the summer, many events were hosted in Nanjing, such as flash mobs, which attracted lots of attention and shares on social media, as the clock in Xinjiekou counted down.
But what made the YOG a success started long before the torch was lit or the countdown started. Nanjing had been preparing many years in advance. It had built new subway lines before the Games started, including one linking the airport to the city. In fact, after the latest expansion of the Nanjing Metro, it is already the fourth longest metro system in China.
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