The Sun-Herald

A bumbling beacon of hope

You find truth in the oddest places, and I certainly hadn't expected to glimpse it at the Olympics closing ceremony.

But there, during the hyperbolic finale to a two-week triumph of facade over reality, I saw the first real glimmer of hope for the future of these sullied games.
I was slumped on the couch so half-dazed by the combination of exorbitant bombast, cinematic excess and a takeaway curry that I nearly missed the moment - or rather, the eight minutes. That's all it took for Great Britain to restore honour to the Olympics. And we did it by being completely, joyously, honestly crap.
It takes guts to bumble into the middle of a multi-million dollar spectacular armed only with lame jokes, B-grade celebs and David Beckham, but that's why I found the British delegation so inspiring. The Chinese had their human tower, their movie stars and their endless drummers and dancers and pyrotechnics, but when the 2012 hosts wheeled in our cheery London bus, our dishevelled, socially inept London mayor, a reality TV winner and a fading rockstar, we restored integrity to the whole pantomime.
There was Becks doing what he always does - lobbing a ball and grinning foolishly, Boris Johnson with his toe-curling ping pong asides and the implausibly fossilised Jimmy Page.Right down to the bus passengers toting umbrellas to symbolise the Poms' fondess for weather smalltalk, it was Britain as it really is: a bit daft, somewhat underwhelming, short on glamour and definitely not sunny. And how refreshing it was to behold, after 16 days of artifice and duplicity on a breathtaking scale.
Some of the Beijing Olympic smoke-and-mirrors highlights, which range from mildly amusing to downright horrifying, included: a pretty child miming to the voice of a not-so-telegenic one; CGI-enhanced fireworks, old ladies from Beijing sent off to 're-education through labour' because they applied to the government for permission to protest their forcible relocation; peaceful protesters from overseas detained and then spirited back to their home countries during the closing ceremony; domestic dissenters detained and disappeared, and of course the brutal grip maintained on Tibet the whole way through to prevent any further embarrassing displays of insubordination after the March protests. And as for the promised freedom of press, the Foreign Correspondents Club in China says the group confirmed more than 30 cases of reporting interference, and heard of another 20 during the Games. Not exactly the new era of truth and transparency that was promised.
The human cost of the Beijing 2008 show was far more than the cash billions on the final balance sheet. We'll most likely never know its true value. And now the games are over, the Chinese government won't have to put such scrupulous effort into concealing its sinister side. With the world's scrutiny removed, human rights watchdogs fear there will be grim repercussions for those who dared defy their leaders - especially those who participated in the protests in Tibetan areas, many of whom are in detention still.
Says the International Campaign for Tibet's latest report: "According to numerous reports received by ICT, there are serious fears that the crackdown could worsen still further after the Olympics, once the global focus is no longer on China. Many Tibetans are concerned - and in some cases, have been warned by Chinese security personnel - that more reprisals may follow the Olympics, with people who are now being monitored being taken into custody later. One source referred, chillingly, to the well-known Chinese phrase of "settling accounts after autumn harvest" (qiu hou suan zhang)."
Once the euphoria and the back-slapping subside, the free world must continue to watch what's happening behind China's iron curtain. These activities won't look half as pretty under a spotlight as the Olympics razzle-dazzle, but it's crucial we do not turn our gaze away.
In the meantime, the free world now has the Olympics back and - though I never thought I'd say it - I'm glad they're heading to London. Watching the torch handover was like seeing the fat, rich school bully forced to give up a coveted toy to the class geek. Britain can never match the billions thrown at the tournament by a dictatorship desperate to buy the world's respect, but we'll provide something that was sadly lacking in 2008: soul.
There will be blunders, fumbles, and things won't be slick and seamless. We won't be able to blast the clouds out of the sky to make it blue. We'll put our ugly kids on stage and instead of locking up our grumbling grannies, we'll probably let them present medals or run the Olympic Village cafeteria. Hell, someone will probably trip and fall on their butt at the London opening ceremony. But at least they won't be afraid of going to prison if they do.
The 2012 Olympics will be a warts n' all production. And the best part: no-one will mind if you say so.