Olympic Failure

Following on in the true spirit of the Games, ie it's the money not the sport that counts, over a dozen government officials and executives from major property and construction companies have been detained/questioned by Chinese officials as they investigate Liu Zhihua the ex vice mayor of Beijing responsible for 2008 Olympic projects.

Liu Zhihua oversaw much of the $40BN being spent on the Beijing Olympics. This means that many people are very nervous as to what will be uncovered.

Liu was dismissed in early June for corrupt acts, there is also an explicit six-hour videotape of Liu cavorting with prostitutes in Hong Kong that was sent to Chinese leaders.

Chinese leaders have told the International Olympic Committee (IOC) that the Games would be a fine example of environmental protection, cultural preservation and government openness.

Unfortunately the reality is a little different.

In the rush to build the Olympic infrastructure vast swathes of old Beijing have been knocked down, despite the protest of the residents.

The air quality in Beijing is the worst in five years, leading many to question the city's development model.

Funny that the IOC remain silent on all of this?

Couch Potatoes

Beijing residents have said that TV will be the most important medium for them to experience the Beijing 2008 Olympics, followed by newspaper and radio.

Those are the survey results released by researchers from the Beijing Academy of Social Sciences (BASS).

Approximately 85% of those surveyed said they would watch the Games on TV, while 42% would use newspapers and 35% would listen to the radio.

Only 24% would go to the sports venues.

Over half of those surveyed, 52%, said that high prices would prohibit them from buying tickets to events.

The results are published in the book "The Social Development Report of China's Capital (2006)".