Olympics and money-making

(This column appears in today's edition of the Leyte-Samar Daily Express)

Hi there! First things first. Mayor Mel Senen Sarmiento will turn a year older today. Happy Birthday!

* * *

Today is the feast of St. Clare. It’s another week and yup, in the next two weeks, sports enthusiasts will be glued to TV and what have you observing (and absorbing?) everything and anything that is offered by the greatest show on earth, a.k.a. the Olympic Games which opened to much fanfare last Saturday. Ahh, I loved the lighting of the torch. That was indeed something. But nothing beats the drama of the Barcelona games, remember the archer lighting the torch via an arrow he shot from the ground? Anyway, we wish our athletes well.

* * *

So, what’s with today’s title? Much has been said about the game, and one that caught my attention was Businessweek’s account on security preparations, and well, some issues on the side. If I may feature a few lines from that report:

Even as the likes of McDonald's, Adidas, and Coca-Cola spend millions of dollars trumpeting their affiliation with the Beijing Olympics, a different group of multinationals is less eager for the spotlight. China is spending some $6.5 billion on security for the Games, and much of that has gone to foreigners. But given the sensitive nature of those contracts—and a skittishness over being perceived as supporting China's authoritarian government—these companies are often reluctant to discuss what they're doing or how much they're making. "We want to avoid answering sensitive questions," says a staffer in the Beijing office of Panasonic, which has sold surveillance cameras for use at the Games.

That doesn't mean these companies haven't been aggressive in courting business. General Electric, IBM, Honeywell, Siemens, Panasonic, and LG have all won major contracts providing security technology for the Olympics—one of the biggest security-business opportunities ever, and a shot at lots of ongoing business for those that get in early. The Chinese are laying out more than four times the $1.5 billion that Athens spent on security in 2004, says the Security Industry Assn., a Washington trade group.

The hefty increase is due in part to the immense size of the 2008 Games. Beijing alone has 31 Olympic venues; six other cities—the most ever for an Olympics—will play host to soccer, equestrian events, and sailing. In attendance will be 10,000 athletes, 30,000 journalists, and more than 80 heads of state, including George W. Bush and France's Nicolas Sarkozy. "Hosting the Games is, in the context of the U.S., like having two Super Bowls every day for 16 days," says Harvey W. Schiller, chairman of New York risk consultant GlobalOptions Group and a former executive director of the U.S. Olympic Committee.

Beijing's legitimate concerns about terrorism also are behind the big spending. On Aug. 4 two men attacked a group of policemen in western China, killing 16 of them. So China has deployed 34,000 People's Liberation Army soldiers and more than 75,000 other security personnel to keep an eye on the Games. Anti-aircraft missiles are in place around the "Bird's Nest" stadium, the centerpiece of the Olympics. And Beijing's airport was scheduled to shut down during the Aug. 8 opening ceremonies in the stadium. "Safety is our top concern here," Vice-President Xi Jinping said while touring Olympic venues on July 21.

* * *

So, what’s my take on the games? There is money and the chance of making money in the games. Surely, gold medalists will be in for something more aside from the honor or accolades – the chance to endorse products and earn dollars, millions of it – and that’s where the real fun will be.

On the money spent to stage the party, I won’t say that it could have been better spent somewhere like helping the poor or helping the environment or promoting peace. I don’t think it can help. Evita (or, the composer) was right, or at least being realistic with this line from the musicale: “(the problem) from war to pollution, no hope of a solution, even if I lived for one hundred years.”

On the other hand, the green-eyed monster in me (read: drooling with envy) can only look at the stars and hope for the day when the country of Juan De La Cruz could do the same thing that the Chinese did last week. In the meantime, while we can’t do what the Chinese (or any Olympic city for that matter) did, let’s look for Gold, or well, I guess, Bronze will do (hey! It’s the Olympics!).

And yes, world leaders flew to Beijing to party, err, wish their athletes well, I’ll have my take on that next issue.

* * *

Congratulations and Best Wishes to Councilor Monmon Uy and Angie Llever. They got married last Saturday. Fr. Bloi Guiuan presided over the Nuptial Mass which was held at the Sts. Peter and Paul Cathedral. The groom walked down the aisle with his mother and Congressman Reynaldo Uy. The principal sponsors included Mayor Mel Sarmiento, Vice Governor Jesus Redaja, BM Pamela Fortaleza, among others. Reception was held at the TTMIST Socio-Cultural Center.

* * *

Let me leave you something to ponder about this week. I got this via email (and yup, it reminded of one of the issues in the U.S. elections. This poem was nominated as the best poem of 2006, Written by an African Kid:

When I born, I black
When I grow up, I black
When I go in Sun, I black
When I scared, I black
When I sick, I black
And when I die, I still black

And you white fellow
When you born, you pink
When you grow up, you white
When you go in sun, you red
When you cold, you blue
When you scared, you yellow
When you sick, you green
And when you die, you gray
And you calling me colored??

* * *

This is it for now. Have a nice week everyone! Ciao!