Morning:
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Until now we've all been reporting that the Chinese are thrilled at their Olympics. From the snapshot conversations I've had with ordinary people, that's certainly been my view. But now, as better evidence starts to arrive, the doubts are creeping in. Where are all the spectators?
We were told by the Games organisers that apart from a few football matches outside Beijing, every one of the 6.8 million Olympic seats was sold, and had been for weeks. We saw pictures of people fighting for tickets. This would not, it seemed, be the normal Olympic story where the early rounds and the more obscure sports struggle to attract interest.
But this week, even in sports with a serious chance of glory for the nation, there have been hundreds, even thousands, of empty seats.
At the women's archery, China won silver - but the stands at the Olympic Green Archery Field were only just over half full.
Admitting today that he was "concerned about not filling the seats," Wang Wei, executive vice-president of the Beijing Games organising committee, confessed that Olympic volunteers had been pressed into service to fill up the empty spaces and "encourage atmosphere".
And he offered what you might call the British Rail excuse. "I think it is due to a number of factors, [such as] the weather conditions - hot, humid and then rain," said Mr Wang. "
The seats are sold out. Some people have tickets for the whole day but only attend the morning, afternoon or evening session." Sponsors and athletes' families, too, are blamed for not using their allocations.
Over the weekend the rain was indeed heavy but Beijingers must be acclimatised to heat and humidity. And as for the sponsors - mostly Western corporations - there cannot be that many sponsors' guests in a country so far away from where the main corporate headquarters are.
Mr Wang did not mention this, but it seems likely that the heavy hand of choreography and security that's settled on Beijing has done far more to put off would-be spectators than any thunderstorm.
And there's one other explanation that went unmentioned: that in Beijing, the age-old Olympic discipline of spin is alive and kicking.
It emerged yesterday that part of Friday's opening ceremony, the bit where 29 giant "footprints of fire" advanced towards the Bird's Nest, was faked. For that section of the programme, TV viewers, and those of us watching on big screens inside the stadium, saw pre-recorded, digitally created fireworks, not real ones.
That worldwide TV audience was said, on the night, to have numbered four billion. This actually turns out to have been the total possible reach of all the stations carrying the broadcast. The actual audience was a rather lower one billion, five million of whom were in Britain.
In a Games where, as we've been reporting, the entire host city has been turned into a kind of Potemkin Olympic village for the duration, with significant parts of its real personality suppressed, such untruths may not be surprising.
But the sad thing is that the real bits of the ceremony were great: one billion TV viewers is still an incredibly impressive number and few, if any, previous Olympics have been total sell-outs.
In its desperation to be seen as the most perfect Games in human history, Beijing 2008 may have held itself to a standard that it cannot truthfully fulfil and created conditions which work against a totally successful event. There really is such a thing as trying too hard.
Reader views (15)
It is time to stop this now obscenely expensive jamboree with its potential for political capital and spin to be made by any host nation. Each Olympic country should put a fixed sum "into the pot" for good and all, and a purpose built facility covering all existing events, plus accommodation, press facilities and everything else should be created in Athens, the cradle of the Olympic movement, and held there every four years.
- Wendy Shell, London, UK, 13/08/2008 13:34
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This situation is especially frustrating for those of us in Beijing who are having a hard time finding tickets to any event. I would bet that there are far too many tickets reserved for big sponsors and athletes. I have been trying to find tickets to some events all week, but can only find overpriced scalpers online.
- Sean, Beijing, 13/08/2008 10:46
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Maybe no ones going because the Olympics are lame.
- Robert, Chicago, USA, 12/08/2008 22:09
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Should we have expected anything less from the Chinese governments coming out party? The world see's what China wants the world to see. The real question is how did China ever get the nomination to host the Olympics in the first place? Could it have been political? Hmmmmm
- Keithman, Lake Forest. USA, 12/08/2008 22:02
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I heard commentators say London will have a tough time following Beijing's act. I heartily disagree. You Brits know how to put on a show, too. And now that China has broken the ice with fake fireworks, lip-synced anthems and underage gymnasts, the sky's the limit!
- Bob, Houston, Texas USA, 12/08/2008 22:00
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Smoke (literally) and mirrors - that's what the Chinese have staged. It's shameful that Olympic athletes are the pawns of governments. It's 1936 all over again.
- Ramón, San Francisco, USA, 12/08/2008 21:48
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What does it matter? China is a Communist country, so even empty seats belonged to the people! And, on behalf of the people, the dictators in Beijing will lie, cajole, steal, and deceive to do whatever they have to do to perpetuate their lie.
- Dave, Frisco, TX USA, 12/08/2008 21:45
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I wondered if I was the only one who noticed how empty all of the stadiums have been so I was glad to see your report about it. Women's Gymnastics has always been an extremely popular sport and I was quite surprised by how empty the stands were Monday. I don't believe any of the excuses that are being fabricated about it either. I'm sorry, but this is the Olympics...and the Olympics isn't an ordinary sporting event where a little heat and rain would keep people away. People stand outside in sub-zero weather in a blizzard to watch totally obscure events during the Olympics, so I don't think a little heat or rain would prevent that from happening in China as well, despite what we are being told. Quite frankly, I don't believe any reports that come out of China about anything because I think 99 percent of them are fabricated. The truth is the truth, regardless of what is being reported and in this case, all you have to do is look at all of those empty seats to see for yourself what the truth is.
- Michele, Detroit, MI USA, 12/08/2008 21:18
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My business is public relations - I deal with perception every day, and know the larger truth that "perception is reality" - in this case, perhaps the only reality.
China made a predictably bad decision - one that is common where a few un-elected leaders hold absolute power - to try to control perception, and therefore "create the reality" that they want the world to have.
However, their reach exceeded their grasp - they claimed to be able to control the weather and the air quality, they set out to create a "faux" fireworks display that all in Beijing would know was false ... and the biggest mistake, they didn't make it clear to those who knew the truth to put a lid on it.
So all of their attempts to create a positive reality have the potential of blowing up in their faces ... and this has happened with empty seats (a problem that should have easily been handled), a lip-syncher (shades of Milli-Vanilli), rain and pollution, etc.
People who answer to no-one have no good sense of how their heavy-handed attempts to control reality are perceived in the rest of the world.
Oops.
- Ned Barnett, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA, 12/08/2008 21:14
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As in nearly every event where there will be heavy TV coverage, sponsors and corporations buy or are granted huge blocks of seats, most of which are given away as tokens of appreciation to people associated with those groups. These people may be flattered to get the tickets, but have no intention of attending the events. There should be some system for redistributing these seats after the event begins.
- Ed, Oklahoma City, 12/08/2008 21:13
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Well I think for one thing, most of the sports that are played people get bored watching just one event so they shuffle around to other sports. If you watch an event where there are two heavy hitters the stands will be filled, but if it's between two countries that nobody really "cares" who wins or looses then the stands won't be filled. Some sports like sailing and windsurfing are done where it's difficult to watch from the shore. Other sports like archery are not really sports that fans can get into. It's like golf, you have to be quiet in the stands until after the archer shoots. Most people today are into sports where they can stand and make noise through the entire event. The big events are always going to be gymnastics, soccer (or football), swimming (only when there is going to be an upset or something like that), and maybe the track and field events. More to the point who cares how many seats are actually filled. Most out of country guests are probably doing tourist things anyway. Good excuse to go to another country...site see and catch the Olympics at the same time.
- Orion, Phoenix, AZ United States, 12/08/2008 16:12
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I can't wait until the Olympics comes back to a real country, like England. Sort of an honorary state of the U.S. like Canada.
- Racefanaz, USA, 12/08/2008 16:07
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China is a façade, a lie, covering up the horrors. They are the wolf and the Olympics is their Goldilocks.
- Lwayne, USA, 12/08/2008 15:50
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Maybe it's because the Olympics are a boring waste of time and money -- and the empty seats are just a reflection of reality. They've become more trouble than they are worth.
- Josh, London, 12/08/2008 15:49
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The term Minority Sports contains a hidden message: i.e. that most people don't give a toss about them. This is no criticism of those who do, and just quietly get on with organising their own enjoyment, asking no favours or subsidy of anyone else. The whole Olympic concept of competing nations, as opposed to individuals (with our own government now, heaven help us, setting medal 'targets' like some demented Five Year Plan), seems increasingly a relic of a past age. What attracts governments to the Olympic concept is the opportunity to intervene in people's private pleasures, i.e. control.
Given that this Olympics has cost £20 billion with Chinese wage rates, what is the likely figure for 2012?
The whole debate about the lack of mandate for diverting massive public funds into minority pursuits has been surprisingly, and perhaps deliberately, subdued. Here in east London it's only Councillors and officeholders who show enthusiasm about the whole jamboree, while actively destroying (for lack of money, of course) every real cultural institution we have.
- Mdj, Leyton, London, 12/08/2008 13:09
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