The 2008 Olympics – the designer’s color commentary

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“Where is everybody?” I wondered yesterday, as the Critter and I mosied around the triangle on his Kettler yesterday morning. Then, like a V-8 moment, I realized that people are watching the Olympics!

It should come as no surprise to my readers that I am no follower of sports. I am often grateful that the Husband does not leave me a football widow each fall, but God he loves these Olympics. He also enjoys asking me to check what time the “scuba diving” event and the “poker” events are just to see if I’m as clueless as I appear. So, in the spirit of family unity, we holed up Friday night and parts of yesterday and watched the spectacle in Beijing.

So far, the things I find most interesting are the Bird’s Nest Stadium and the official costumes of the nations’ teams. The Bird’s Nest is the brand spanking new National Stadium , and its design was chosen from thirteen proposals of very innovative architects to be built for the 2008 Olympics. It’s truly incredible – a capacity of 91,000!! The visual feast that was the opening ceremony was truly without peer – from Peking Opera to walking in space! I love the little Chinese go go girl cheerleaders who clapped and waved the teams on – wonder who designed their boots? The USA Team’s official walking parade uniform was designed by the original purveyor of the All American lifestyle himself – Ralph Lauren.

If the US were judged on appearance alone, we would certainly have won on opening night. We have some absolutely gorgeous competitors, and our country can be very proud of the sheer number of our citizens who are allowed to compete – that Americans regard talented athletes as a treasure and that we reward hard work with support and the means to go to Beijing to compete. My very astute friend Robert made the observation that the sparse numbers of athletes from certain countries shows that “dictatorships can really kill art”.

I told the Husband to call me when the men’s gymnastics events start…



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