I watched the opening, quite impressive!
I'm gonna watch some sports, table tennis for example. Sweden will probably be weaker than ever though, so I don't know how much attention I will pay to it. But, the event is much more interesting than usual! When I was in Beijing earlier this year the locals seemed reallllly hyped up about it. There were advertisements everywhere, and locals I talked to seemed really excited about it. I even met somebody who was supposed to dance at the event, and the big stadium built for this looked really great. Another - quite disturbing - thing to note however, is how the beggars simply "vanished" since the other time I was there.....-_-...
I'm not too sure what to think. Initially I thought it was really wrong to give them Olympics. Fact remains, it's a brutal dictatorship which inevitably will become the ultimate world power, why help them out? When we got to the point where they actually got it, they obviously could've been pressured more about human rights as well. Their pathetic argument that you shouldn't mix together politics and sports almost makes me laugh. How much money isn't involved in this event?
At the same time, it hit me that the whole boycot thing was a bit controversial. I'd like to count how many "Made in China" products the protesters had at home. The rich world is already building up their economy using cheap labour, what's the difference with that and giving them olympics? If we wanna boycot something, shouldn't we go all the way? IOC officials aren't really any more guilty than any other people who choose to run business in China.
I'm also of the opinion that the Chinese politicians honestly care a lot about China's development and future, no matter what kind methods they use. I honestly don't know what to think at this point.
Perhaps I wandered further than you asked for but I'm just thinking loud
