Recently my friend Rattan Mall of the Indo Canadian Voice phoned me up to ask me what kind of responses the Chinese community has over the lack of multicultural representation in the opening and closing ceremonies of the Winter Olympic.

I told him, other than what Mr Tung Chan of SUCCESS told the Vancouver Sun in this report, I have not heard any complaint from people around me, nor did I receive a single letter/email/fax to our newsroom that vent grievances about either ceremony.

Mr Mall was shocked, saying it’s the complete opposite to the Indo-Canadian community. His newsroom was flushed with emails/calls and radio phone-ins are flooded with angry voices. Their community is outraged of the lack of mention in the ceremonies about Indo-Canadian contribution to Canada and their history in Canada.

On the other hand, the topic is not hot at all in the Chinese Canadian community. I asked a few friends why and this is what I generally heard from them (far from representative of the views of the community I must add):

• it’s just a show, an entertainment; as long as it’s entertaining enough and interesting enough, it has completed its mission
• the way the First Nations were included in the opening ceremony was so fake… native people were still portrayed as primitive and backward as if they were too happy to open their arms when white colonists came to kill them; if that’s the mindset of the organizers of the ceremony, it’s better to not have us being included rather than having old stereotypoes being reinforced.
• not enough French? I thought there was too much French!
• I have not thought of the issue [lacking multicultural elements] before I read what Tung Chan said in Vancouver Sun; why would I feel sad? It was a boring show after all…
• I’m more concerned and feel embarrassed by the malfunction of one of the poles and the overly long torch trip of Wayne Gretzkey…

I’d like to add another point. The opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics in 2008 included representation of each and every ethnic moniories of the country. But I found the token dressing-up stuff so fake and so propaganda-ish. I have the same feelings when I watched our opening ceremony in Vancouver. Why were all performers white? First Nations were included only as background dancers. Why weren’t they made a more central role of the main performance? I don’t want to see any dragon dancing if Chinese Canadians were there only because VANOC wanted the world to see Canada was inclusive when in daily life it’s more complicated than that… I don’t want to see that kind of comsetic playout. I’d rather see a pure entertaining show.

What do you think?

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2010 olympic opening ceremony

Beijing Olympic opening ceremony

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Canadian snowboarder Justin Lamoureux, of Squamish, B.C., carries the Olympic flame while riding on top of a cable car at Grouse Mountain in North Vancouver, B.C., on Wednesday February 10, 2010. The Olympic flame is on a 106 day journey across Canada in the longest domestic torch relay in Olympic history. It will end with the lighting of the Olympic cauldron at the opening ceremonies for the Vancouver Winter Olympics on February 12. (CP)

Former Canadian freestyle skier Kennedy Raine, of Whistler, B.C., carries the Olympic flame while riding on top of a cable car at Grouse Mountain during the Olympic torch relay in North Vancouver, B.C., on Wednesday February 10, 2010. The Olympic flame is on a 106 day journey across Canada in the longest domestic torch relay in Olympic history. It will end with the lighting of the Olympic cauldron at the opening ceremonies for the Vancouver Winter Olympics on February 12. (CP)

Canadian singer Sarah McLachlan carries the Olympic flame during the Olympic torch relay in Vancouver, B.C., on Thursday February 11, 2010. The Olympic flame is on a 106 day journey across Canada in the longest domestic torch relay in Olympic history. It will end with the lighting of the Olympic cauldron at the opening ceremonies for the Vancouver Winter Olympics on February 12. (CP)

A member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police watches as the Olympic flame burns during the Olympic torch run in Vancouver, B.C., on Thursday February 11, 2010. The Olympic flame is on a 106 day journey across Canada in the longest domestic torch relay in Olympic history. It will end with the lighting of the Olympic cauldron at the opening ceremonies for the Vancouver Winter Olympics on February 12. (CP)

Phoenix Suns' Steve Nash, of Victoria, B.C., carries the Olympic flame during the Olympic torch relay in Vancouver, B.C., on Thursday February 11, 2010. The Olympic flame is on a 106 day journey across Canada in the longest domestic torch relay in Olympic history. It will end with the lighting of the Olympic cauldron at the opening ceremonies for the Vancouver Winter Olympics on February 12. (CP)

George McRae carries the Olympic flame during the Olympic torch relay before dawn in Belcarra, B.C., on Thursday February 11, 2010. The Olympic flame is on a 106 day journey across Canada in the longest domestic torch relay in Olympic history. It will end with the lighting of the Olympic cauldron at the opening ceremonies for the Vancouver Winter Olympics on February 12. (CP)

Torchbearer and former World Cup and Olympic downhill ski racer Steve Podborski skis the Olympic Flame into Whistler, B.C. Friday, Feb. 5, 2010. The Olympic Flame which traveled all the way from Olympia in Greece is now on a 106 day cross country relay which will end in Vancouver on Feb. 12, 2010 to mark the start of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Games. (CP)

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THE

Watch out, world. They are coming after you, on skeleton sleds, speed skates and, oh yeah, while wielding big old curling brooms. They used to be the nice guys (and gals); now they’d rather leave you buried in the snow on a ski trail. They will no longer be embarrassed.

Fellow biathletes and bobsledders, beware: the Canadian Olympic team is going to crush you.

So that IS the heart of the American ego? That the little brother, Canada, could only be “nice guys and gals” if he remains submissive to the big brother Sam? Now when Canada is about to usurp the crown from the Americans for most medal winner this year, we are no longer nice people? How ridiculous!

The article continues to tease Canada:

Or so they say. With the Vancouver Olympics, which begin on Feb. 12, fast approaching, north-of-the-border expectations are at an all-time high. Canada has hosted the Olympics twice before — the 1976 Summer Games in Montreal and the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary. In both cases, no Canadian athlete won a gold medal on home soil. That’s right; even though Canada is very cold and was blessed with home-field advantage in 1988, the country couldn’t win a single Winter Olympics gold. They didn’t even medal in ice hockey, Canada’s own game.

Oh yes, we didn’t do it last two times. Therefore, we for sure should not be believed to be a gold medal winner this time? What a lame kind of logic.

Here’s what Canada has to respond in a Reuter report:

Own the Podium CEO Roger Jackson, a 1964 Olympic medallist, laughed when asked. He said the reality is the two countries are neck and neck at the Winter Games.

“I have no idea where some of this has come from,” said Jackson said, speaking from Calgary Tuesday.

“It’s interesting that media interviews I have had with American outlets have really concentrated on, in effect, little Canada challenging the U.S.A. and they found it very interesting that we would say almost that we’ve had enough having sand kicked in our face; we’re ready to do battle.”

But, what can we say, when our own newspaper, the Globe and Mail, calls China’s rise in snowboarding a
“China Invasion”? It’s just the same inferiority complex that we are showing. Perhaps, this has become the collective sense of insecurity of the West in general?

Every participant of the Olympic should realize that the Games is all about winning. You come to win, not to be nice “please, take my medal”. It might not be the original ideology of the Olympics, but sorry, it’s an ever competitive world that we’re living in. Perhaps, social Darwinism in a global scale?

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Halfpipe gold medallist Xuetong Cai of China is flanked by compatriots Zhifeng Sun (left), silver, and Xu Cheng, bronze as they stand on the podium at the FIS snowboard world cup Friday, Jan. 22, 2010 in Stoneham Que. (CP)

With the Winter Olympics just weeks away from opening, I was shocked at the narrow-sightedness or interpretation of snowboarding in an Globe and Mail article today, titled “Once out-of-place gymnasts, now halfpipe heroes: Chinese reach summit of snowboarding world”. When describing the Chinese snowboarding atheletes, one paragraph says:

Their lack of English and their difficult names forced their Canadian halfpipe instructors to improvise. The
instructors gave the teenagers nicknames such as Sun and Cliff, based on natural features seen from the mountain.

“Difficult names”? I mean, the author and people alike are falling in love with the westerners’ superiority complex again. The connotation here is so colonial. Obviously, the author thinks Chinese names are “difficult” as compared to Anglo names. Well, it’s completely western-centric. To me, phonetic-transliterated Anglo names in Chinese are forever harder to read. Such as:

民主黨參議員芭芭拉·博克瑟和拉塞爾·范戈爾德２２日宣布反對伯南克連任，批評這名美國中央銀行負責人應對金融危機時偏愛銀行業，犧牲普通民眾利益。(from Xinhua)

Oh, I forgot. The Chinese language is not an internationally acclaimed language or commonly used language (yet) so who cares about how the language is used?

“Improvising” these Chinese atheletes into names “based on natural features seen from the mountain” is itself an act of total discrimination and disrespect of others’ cultures. It’s like “Charlie Chan” all over again.

Oh yes, people could argue the Chinese people also use all kinds of “improved” names calling foreigners. Yes, it happens all over the world. Oh yes, this argument is very true, and true for any culture. But accusing foreigners’ names as “difficult” and need to be “improved” in a NATIONAL newspaper? Well, I think the Globe should explain itself.

Here’s another paragraph that pisses me off:

As word spread about China’s fledgling snowboard team, people flocked to the halfpipe to see the spectacle. Tom Hutchinson, the head freestyle coach for Canada’s national team, found the scene darkly comic. The teens seemed unsure on their boards, but if they launched off the five-metre-high wall of the halfpipe, they twisted and flipped like acrobats.

Some members of the national team pitied the young athletes who seemed so out of place in Whistler-Blackcomb’s close-knit snowboard community. But Mr. Hutchinson’s initial thought was, “We’re in trouble.” Five years later, China has tipped the snowboarding halfpipe world off its axis.

“Darkly comic”? Yes, these atheletes might not understand the “rebellious” nature and/or history of snowboarding in the West. But their relentless effort into training of the sports — and all kinds of sports — should be appreciated and not laughed at. Isn’t that the spirits of the Olympics? If westerners believe any sports should be prescribed in western cultural terms and that people from other cultures should abide by the western definitions, then such sports should NOT be included in the Olympics. Such sports should remain as geographically-specific. Don’t make it an international one that supposed to be as inclusive as possible.

I’d say to the ego-centric westerners: Redefine the meaning of the “Olympics” to be exclusively a western game. Before then, don’t pretend to be fair and open on one hand and teasing other peoples who are interpreting sports in other terms as being “at odds” with their “traditions”.

At the root of Ms. Liu’s rapid ascent is a tried and true Chinese strategy: Pick an underdeveloped event, pluck young athletes with the appropriate body and skills out of government-funded sports schools, and hire expert foreign coaches. Ben Wainwright, the owner of Glacier Snowboard Camp and the man Chinese officials hired for the six-week camp sponsored by Burton, said the 12 gymnasts and martial artists had never set foot inside a halfpipe before they arrived in Blackcomb. But their goal was to reach the podium in 2010.

The strategy may seem uncomfortably formulaic to most Westerners, and it is especially at odds in snowboarding, a sport that has traditionally attracted rebels and free spirits raised on snow. Big sponsors and the debut of the halfpipe and parallel giant slalom events at the 1998 Olympics have transformed it into a sophisticated and competitive sport, but many of the world’s top riders still espouse the mantra that snowboarding is, above all else, about having fun with your friends.

“That’s not the heart and soul of snowboarding,” says Dominique Vallée, a member of Canada’s halfpipe team. “It’s not a boot camp, and it’s not at all costs.”

And this one is most offensive:

Nevertheless, the Chinese invasion has forced the sport’s old guard to face a choice: Raise the ante, or learn to lose.

Chinese invasion????? Excuse me??? The intent of the author is very clear here: that snowboarding is a western sports and only atheletes who should be good at is must be the westerners. Outsiders who try to succeed in this sports is INVASION!

This is completely anti-Olympian, if not just anti-China.

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Germany
11 golds
12 silvers
6 bronzes
29 total medals

Canada
7 golds
10 silvers
7 bronzes
24 total medals

If we got 27 in total this time, we might be able to rank 2nd or 3rd? Canada ranked #3 in Turin, with 24 medals, including 7 golds. I hope we won’t get fewer golds than last time…

Canada to top medal standings: Economics prof
Toronto Sun – Canada will own the podium at Vancouver’s 2010 Winter Olympics, according to the medal forecasts of a Canadian-born economics professor at Colorado College.

“If Canada performs as expected, given what we’ve done over the last 56 years, then Canada is expected to win 27 medals, five of them gold,” said Daniel Johnson in a telephone interview from Colorado Springs.

The Moose Jaw, Sask., native who was raised in Vancouver and Ottawa recorded a 94% accuracy rate over the last five Olympics using five non-sports variables: per capita income, population, climate, political structure and proximity to the host country.

“I honestly don’t know the name of a single athlete performing this year,” Johnson said. “I’ve deliberately kept myself in a news blackout because I don’t want to be swayed.”

Should Johnson be correct, Canada would be the top medal winner for the first time in Olympic history.

Johnson predicts the United States will also win five gold medals, but fall one short of Canada’s overall total with 26. Norway (26) and Austria (25) will have four gold each, but eight of Russia’s 23 medals will be gold, he said.

Johnson’s prediction of 17 Canadian medals at Beijing 2008 was one below the actual total. He expected Canadians to win no gold medals, but they instead brought home three.

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To clearly stand out a guest blogger entry, all such headlines will begin with [GB].

The BC Liberals often claimed that economic development and management are their strengths but this bubble is bursting right in front of our eyes.

BC’s economic performance record was second last in Canada last year and the number of jobs we are losing also leads the rest of the country. Well, the Liberals might try to shed the blame on the financial tsunami but the question is, why do other provinces which also suffer from the global economic downturn do better than us?

The bigger question is, why is it that after spending $7 billion to host the Olympics with all the big tag constructions, our GDP was negative and trailed behind other provinces?

PriceWaterhouseCooper has recently released their report commissioned by the federal and provincial governments with the brief to find out the economic benefits brought about by hosting the Olympics. Boy, it’s quite a contrast to what the Liberal government was telling us. Before the election, Gordon Campbell said the Olympics’ economic benefit would be $10 billion. The finding of the PwC is that in the 6 years between 2003 and 2008, being host to the Olympics generated $680 million to $880 million of economic benefit. The report said the Olympic economic benefit is insignificant. It only added 0.1% to BC’s GDP, i.e. one-thousandth of our GDP! The report also found that the effect of job creation was an increase of a mere 0.1%.

So the huge economic benefits of the Olympics claimed by Premier Campbell and Finance Minister Hansen year after year are either all bluff or a colossal mismanagement of the economy of the Olympics. They have simply screwed up the once-in-a-life-time Olympic opportunity.

The Liberal government said the tourism industry would be greatly benefited by the Olympics before, during and after the games. It would attract a great many tourists and bring in $500 million of revenue. The conclusion of the PwC report is that the Winter Games gave no help to tourism. What the government boasted simply “did not materialize.” “The 2010 Winter Games have not had a measurable impact on tourism’s gross domestic product and share of the economy.” The report stated that during that period, the total number of international inbound travelers to Canada declined by 22%.

And what about the Liberal government’s claim that hosting the Olympics would promote our convention and exhibition business?

The PwC report states: “The number of attendees to conventions actually declined 40 per cent in the period… More facilities to host meetings, more upgrades to existing infrastructure, increased industry capacity…” have “no impacts.”

The government spent almost $900 million to expand the Vancouver Convention and Exhibition Centre three times its old capacity, while our convention business is dropping.

And what about the claim that hosting the Olympics would help diversify BC’s economic development? Again, the report concluded that there is no impact.

The PwC report is yet another reflection on whether Gordon Campbell is trustworthy (especially when you compare what he and his government said before and after the election). It has also shown the Liberals’ capability in terms of management and economic development. The actual economic benefit is merely one-tenth of Mr. Campbell’s $10 billion claim. The $500 million tourism benefit ended up between $1 to $5 million; that is 0.2% to 1% of the Liberals’ original target. This kind of management capability is truly amazing. If Gordon Campbell and his team work in a private company, they will either get fired or the company goes bankrupt.

The more stunning part is this: the period of time that PwC looked into was a time when the global economy was rosy and the US economy red hot. Not only have the BC Liberals not made good use of the Olympics to diversify our economy or boost our tourism, but our tourism and convention businesses have gone downhill instead. Spending $7 billion to host the Olympics but our GDP still falling behind other provinces’ — what can it be if not bad management and lousy economic development?

While we are talking about tourism, Guangzhou is currently running the huge Guangdong Cultural and Tourism Festival. Although our sister province has eagerly invited BC to participate, the Liberal government has declined the great promotion opportunity. No wonder BC’s tourism has been struggling, and the Liberals are responsible.

If BC implements HST next year, our tourism industry will receive an even bigger hit. According to the latest report of the Council of Tourism Associations, the HST could mean the loss of 10,000 jobs and $540 million revenue.

BC’s tourism industry hasn’t been doing well since the Liberal got into power. The $500 million Olympic benefits promised by the Liberals have never materialized. Recently, several cruise ships have left Vancouver out from their ports of call. Next year, the HST would cost the tourism industry a reduction in revenue of half a billion. The government is truly reckless. Is this how it should treat this province’s fourth biggest industry?

—————————————

Disclaimer: Views expressed by guest bloggers are theirs and may not represent those of CIV.

By inviting guest bloggers to write here, I’d like to see us grow together with more diverse ideas and perspectives. If anyone believe the idea is cool, please don’t hesitate to submit your stuff to me. We use real names and identities here. Thank you.

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And, the more such photos appear, I feel more connected to the Games each day. :)

The men's eight Olympic gold medalists carry the Olympic Flame on their boat during the Olympic Torch Relay in Victoria, B.C., Friday, Oct. 30, 2009. The Olympic Flame which travelled from Olympia in Athens will now start a 106 day cross country relay which will end in Vancouver on Feb. 12, 2010 to mark the start of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Games. (CP)

Men's eight Olympic gold medalist teammate Kevin Light of Sidney, B.C., right, passes on the Olympic Flame to the coxsain of the junior team during the Olympic Torch Relay in Victoria, B.C., Friday, Oct. 30, 2009. The Olympic Flame which travelled from Olympia in Athens will now start a 106 day cross country relay which will end in Vancouver on Feb. 12, 2010 to mark the start of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Games. (CP)

Surfer Raph Bruhwiler, right, falls as he receives the Olympic flame from surfer Ruth Sadler (centre), 72, after she walked into the Pacific Ocean to meet him during the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Games torch relay in Pacific Rim National Park near Tofino, B.C., on Sunday November 1, 2009. Bruhwiler then surfed to shore. (CP)

Ruth Sadler, left, hands off the Olympic Torch to Raph Bruhwiler as he surfs at Long Beach in Pacific Rim National Park located near Tofino, B.C., Sunday, Nov. 1, 2009. The Olympic Flame which travelled all the way from Olympia in Greece is now on a 106 day cross country relay which will end in Vancouver on Feb. 12, 2010 to mark the start of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Games. (CP)

Torchbearer Percy Williams is seen in a Haida canoe as he arrives to a blessing ceremony in Skidegate, B.C. Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2009. The Olympic Flame which travelled all the way from Olympia in Greece is now on a 106 day cross country relay which will end in Vancouver on Feb. 12, 2010 to mark the start of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Games. (CP)

Torchbearer Martha Benjamin carries the Olympic Flame on a dogsled in Old Crow, Yukon, Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2009. The Olympic Flame which travelled all the way from Olympia in Greece is now on a 106 day cross country relay which will end in Vancouver on Feb. 12, 2010 to mark the start of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Games. (CP)

Torchbearer Erika Tizya-Tramm, hugs Allan Benjamin after she passed the Olympic Flame on to him in Old Crow, Yukon, Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2009. The Olympic Flame which travelled all the way from Olympia in Greece is now on a 106 day cross country relay which will end in Vancouver on Feb. 12, 2010 to mark the start of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Games. (CP)

Torchbearer Annika Trimble, left, passes the Olympic Flame off to Mark Lee Orbell who is traveling in a snow grooming machine in Inuvik, NWT, Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2009. The Olympic Flame which traveled from Olympia in Greece is now on a 106 day cross country relay which will end in Vancouver on Feb. 12, 2010 to mark the start of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Games. (CP)

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A man wears Olympic mittens as he photographs the Olympic countdown clock displaying 100 days until the start of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver, B.C., on Wednesday November 4, 2009. (CP)

2010 Olympic torch relay warms up frigid Yukon village

THE CANADIAN PRESS

OLD CROW, Yukon – The 2010 Olympic torch warmed up this frigid Arctic community Wednesday as it was carried into a town celebration on a dogsled.

Residents of the Yukon village north of the Arctic Circle waved and smiled as the Olympic flame was carried off the plane into the -36C winter air.

Relay organizers were bundled into a sled pulled by snowmobiles as they travelled into Old Crow to prepare for the community celebration.

Meanwhile, the flame was transported by four torchbearers. Two of them ran with the flame, before passing it off to a torchbearer on snowshoe.

At one point, the flame went out when the fuel cannister ran dry. Relay organizers have discovered the flame can burn only about half as long in the extreme cold.

The torch was re-lit with the original flame, which is carried in a specially made miner’s lantern along the relay route, and the run proceeded.

The flame was then zipped into town by another torchbearer, Martha Benjamin, a 1964 Canadian cross-country ski champion.

She was on a dogsled pulled by a team of yelping, barking dogs that charged past several historic buildings on the picturesque route toward a community feast and aboriginal blessing ceremony.

The torch relay is taking the 2010 Olympic flame to some of the most extreme places in Canada during its trip to the North, including a stop Sunday in Alert, the northernmost inhabited community on the planet.

Earlier Wednesday, the torch was taken through Dawson City, where Australian ski champion Alisa Camplin carried it.

Camplin made history in 2002 when she became Australia’s first female Olympic Winter Games gold medalist. She won for aerials at the Salt Lake City Games, then won bronze in the same event in Turin in 2006.

Camplin is one of 15 international torchbearers in the 106-day relay.

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