Olympics in my memory

jingswee

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It was 24 years ago, when the Summer Olympics was held in Los Angeles (U.S.) in 1984, I was in China, and just graduated from high school. I had a whole summer playing with friends before I was off to Beijing for college. We watched a lot of the games. It was the first time China sent a team to the Olympics after 1949 and China was experiencing significant social, political and economic changes. The Olympics were a big thing. It was such a joy watching the games with family and friends, seeing all the different games and also surprisingly seeing Chinese players winning medals. This was my very first memory about the Olympics, it is joyful, energetic; it is about people, sports, fairness, and friendship. It was a precious time of celebration for many Chinese.

The Olympics mean a lot to a Chinese like me; I am just happy that it will be held in China this year.

I was as excited as so many local Chinese when the torch relay came to San Francisco in April. While I knew many Chinese, be they from Mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, or the U.S., would share my sentiment about the Olympics, still I was happily shocked when I saw tens of thousands of Chinese that showed up to celebrate the torch relay. I took my 10-year-old daughter with me. It was hard for her to comprehend the situation. She couldn't believe so many Chinese people went crazy and she was at first embarrassed that her mother kept humming Chinese songs in public! However, she enjoyed it--it felt like a holiday to us in San Francisco.

To me, the Olympic is about people. This is a time we switch our focus and celebrate the Olympic spirit. This is a time to let all the challenges we face day to day go off our shoulder and celebrate. It is once every four years. And this year it is in China, for the first time.

I just read an article about a self-organized torch relay in a poor village in China. I get to share this link, http://news.wenxuecity.com/messages/200808/news-gb2312-669875.html. You do not need to learn Chinese first but look at some pictures that show how a village of people celebrate the Olympics in their own way (I attached one here). It touched my heart.

The Olympics is starting on Aug 8. Eight is a lucky number for many Chinese, with which we wish good luck for ourselves and all human beings-let's keep building toward a harmonious global community. It is about people, sports and celebration.