Thursday, Aug. 14, 2008

Beijing has been a lot of fun so far

The Beijing Olympics have dazzled, entertained and sometimes shocked its viewers.

And that was only two hours into the opening ceremony.

Less than a week later, we're already overwhelmed by spectacular victories, numbing defeats and a host country that says with every gesture, "We're really trying to impress you."

And you respond, "Which Olympic host doesn't try to impress?"

Answer: Some venues — Barcelona in 1992 comes to mind — welcomed guests and global viewers with warmness and homespun courtesy. The best Olympics, like the Winter Games in Lillehammer, Norway (1994), greeted you with a hug.

Instead, Beijing has bowled us over with mass precision, the power of the collective whole, high-tech wonder and air quality worse than Los Angeles on a Tuesday afternoon. Everyone has an agenda. China has a cause, and its hello-world message in the opening ceremony was hard to miss.

A few Olympian thoughts:

• LOCALS — Discus thrower Suzy Powell and rower Erin Cafaro are supported by their families in Beijing. Cafaro, a finalist with her women's eight teammates, can become the first Modestan since swimmer Laura Siering in 1976 to medal at the Olympics. She's already won NCAA and world titles, and an Olympic alloy would bring proper career symmetry. Powell, one day before her third Olympics appearance, was believed to be finished by some track observers when she failed to qualify for the 2004 Olympics in Athens. Today, she's the American record-holder who's determined to reach the Olympic finals.

• MICHAEL PHELPS — All the superlatives have been written, but he's not yet finished. My concern is the reaction if he comes home with six or seven golds, rather than the goal of eight. Is he tossed into the Didn't-Get-The-Job-Done bin, or is he saluted as the most golden athlete in Olympic history? All I know is, he's positively freakish: size-14 shoes, double-jointed, 12,000-calorie-intake per day, and he's accomplishing something that, before him, wasn't even attempted. The man's breakfast menu could feed a family of four for a week. What he's doing demands more graciousness from Modesto native Mark Spitz, whose record Phelps might break.

• JASON LEZAK — So far, Lezak's unprecedented anchor leg in the men's 4-by-100 freestyle relay is the highlight moment for the Americans. That race had it all in today's market-driven world: Phelps, the trash-talking French and the underdog Americans trying to reclaim an event they used to own. Lezak then did the near-impossible — erasing a near body-length deficit in the final 50 meters, inch by inch, and out-touching his rival. Five teams broke the world record in that race, which leads to ...

• SWIMMING RECORDS — What's in that pool? Disguised air? All the reasons — faster-than-skin body suits, wave-killing pool depth, empty outside lanes, etc. — don't fully explain what's happening here. I think it's two things: the revolutionary attire and the presence of the greatest swimmer of all time (Phelps).

• GYMNASTICS — The American men, minus the injured Hamm brothers, pulled through with an unexpected bronze. They seemed to enjoy each minute. The American women, pointing toward gold, stumbled and fell into a silver. They looked like they had just been blindsided by a bus. They lost to the Chinese by more than two points, the largest margin between gold and silver in 32 years. Simply, the Americans melted down at the wrong time.

• TOO YOUNG — Team USA also lost to a team that, if my eyes and other evidence aren't deceiving me, clearly was too young. I think the International Olympic Committee and other gymnastics officials deferred to the home team and OK'd at least two sub-16 Chinese gymnasts. The hue and cry already has begun to ban all age limits in Olympic gymnastics. This is a terrible idea, unless you like prepubescent 70-pound pixies dominating the world stage. Here's a simple solution: Enforce the existing rule.

• ALICIA SACRAMONE — I'm rooting for Sacramone, the 20-year-old American team captain who stumbled twice, the rest of the week. Unlike the USA baseball team that stiffed the media after its tough loss to South Korea, Sacramone articulated her misery even as she felt the weight of a country on her shoulders.

Which do you admire: Smug minor leaguers, or a gymnast responding with class in a tough situation? It may be one reason why baseball will disappear as an Olympic sport (and pulling down softball with it, which is extremely unfair), while gymnastics continues as one of the glamour events.

Bee sports columnist Ron Agostini can be reached at ragostini@modbee.com or 578-2302.