A CROSS CULTURAL COMPARISON OF ATHENS, GREECE AND BEIJING, CHINA: HOST CITIES FOR 2004 AND 2008 OLYMPIC GAMES
BY KIMBERLY E. TIELL
Beijing
and Athens Olympics: Different but the Same
INTRODUCTION When traveling to a Beijing, China many people expect to see landmarks such as the Great Wall of China or Tiananmen Square. When traveling to Athens, Greece many people search for the Acropolis. Not many individuals expect to see millions of people preparing, competing, and watching the Olympic Games. Athens and Beijing are both cities who have hosted an amazing and historical event, The Olympic Games. HOST CITIES: GEOGRAPHY, POLITICS In 2004, the Olympic Games were held in Athens, Greece. Athens has many beautiful geographic features such as the Acropolis and many mountains. Aigaleo is the mountain to the west, Parnes to the north, Pentelikon to the northeast, and Hymettus to the east. The city of Athens contains isolated limestone hills. The city itself runs along the Ilissus River which is dry for the majority of the year. Athens climate is hot, dry summers and mild winters. Greece government and politics takes place in a large parliamentary representative democratic republic. The Prime Minister is the Head of the Government. The President is elected by the Parliament and is the Head of the State. The President is responsible for some executive and legislative functions and some ceremonial duties. The Prime Minister and the cabinet play a vital role in Grecian politics. Politics has always played important role in the development of Greece. In 2008, Beijing was the host city for the Olympic Games. The geographic features of China include the Great Wall of China, Tiananmen Square. Beijing is one of the most developed and industrial areas of China and it was one of the first post-industrial cities to emerge in China. Beijing is located at the tip of the North China Plain and it is surrounded by mountains to the north, northwest, and west. The climate of Beijing is considered humid with hot, humid summers and very cold, dry winters. The people’s congress system is China’s fundamental political system. The President of the People’s Republic of China is the head of state for China. The people’s congresses have four main functions and powers: legislation, supervision, appointment and removal of officials, and making decisions on major issues. These functions are a major reflection of the way the Chinese people exercise their power as masters of the state through the people’s congress system. When looking at the geography of these two cities, one may notice they each contain one of the Seven Wonders of the World. China and Athens are both cities surrounded by mountains with warm climates. The political systems of these cities are very different. One is democratic and one is communist. It is no doubt that these cities are vastly different. Although different in many ways, both cities have accomplished a great feat. This feat being that they are both beautiful places fit to hold the Olympic Games. HOST CITIES: PEOPLE, CULTURE AND TRADITIONS It is very hard to find an unfriendly person in China or Greece. Almost every person that one might walk up to is able to hold a conversation well despite the language barrier. Though the people in different Greek towns spoke the same language and had similar religious beliefs, they were often at war with each other. The wars in ancient Greece were mainly over religion or politics. The Greek people are recognized for their friendliness and kindness to strangers. Often times the locals of Greece (mainly in Athens) will invite complete strangers for feasts. These locals find it very rude if the stranger tries to pay for the feast. Greek culture has not changed in centuries. The Chinese people find families to be one of the most important factors in life. Another important factor in the Chinese culture is etiquette. For example, greetings are formal and the oldest person is always greeted first; and chopsticks should be returned to the chopstick rest after every few bites and when you drink or stop to speak. Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism are the three major religions in China. Also, a good education has always been highly valued in China, as the people believe that education ensures not only the future and development of the individual but also the family and the country as a whole. OLYMPIC HIGHLIGHTS AND FACTS The 2004 Athens Olympics brought in over four million television viewers. Over five million tickets were sold and 10,500 athletes competed. The Athens games had a balanced budget of 1.962 billion euros. Eighty-eight percent of the Olympic budget comes from broadcast rights, sponsoring, and licensing programming and ticket sales. The other twelve percent comes from the Greek state. The Athens 2004 Olympic Torch Relay has several “firsts” including: the first truly global Olympic Torch Relay, the first time the Olympic flame visited Africa (Cairo, Egypt and Cape Town, South Africa), the first time the Olympic flame visited South America (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), the first time the Olympic flame visited all land masses represented by the Olympic rings (Oceania, Asia, Africa, Americas and Europe), and the first time the Olympic flame visited all former host cities of the Olympic Summer Games. Also in the 2004 Olympics, The United States of America won 35 gold medals, 39 silver medals, and 29 bronze medals. Although the Athens Olympics had some pretty amazing feats, the games in 2008 had some amazing feats of its own. 10,708 athletes competed in the 2008 games. More than 80 heads of state or government attended the opening ceremony, including U.S. President George W. Bush and French President Nicolas Sarkozy. Over seven million tickets were sold for the games. The torch relay was the longest in Olympic history lasting 130 days. This torch was the first ever to reach the peak of Mount Everest. The United States won 36 gold medals, 38 silver medals, and 36 bronze medals in the 2008 games. Both of these games included a pretty impressive amount of viewers as well as an impressive medal count for the USA. Also, both torch relays had many firsts. The 2004 Olympics and the 2008 Olympics are games to never be forgotten in history. OLYMPIC REVENUE, SPONSORSHIPS, AND THE MEDIA The budget for the Olympics in Athens was roughly one billion. The costs; however, exceeded that budget costing around 1.7 billion US dollars. The total revenue that the Athens Olympics brought in was 7 million euros. This number is equivalent to 8.5 million American dollars. A few of the sponsors include Hellenic Telecommunications Organization, Alpha Bank, Coca-Cola, Kodak, and Adidas. In the 2004 games, there were more than 21,500 media representatives present. Over thirty different companies sponsored different parts of the games. The budget for the 2008 summer games in Beijing was 1.609 billion US dollars. The expected revenue was 1.625 billion dollars. The total revenue for the games was 176 million US dollars. This number is a record setting number. The sponsors for these games include Budweiser, Bank of China, Manulife, Panasonic, and China mobile just to name a few. This Olympic Games had over 40 sponsors. The media was heavily represented at the games covering stories in every single sport and Olympic event. The media plays a big role in any event whether it is the Olympics or a High School sporting event. In the case of the Olympics; the more, the merrier. Although sometimes the media can create many outlandish controversies they also help keep the people at home updated in the Olympic world as if they were there watching the games themselves. TECHNOLOGY AND COMMUNICATION Over 3.9 billion people had access to the coverage of the Athens 2004 Olympic Games worldwide. People never think of the Olympics being viewed outside of their country, but the Olympics are popular in every single country. The Athens games were communicated to every country via television, fiber optics, satellite, high-speed data transmission, video text, and video broadcasting. The 2008 games brought on new types of technology to the world. 2008 was a year beginning the big era of smart phones enabled with texting, video streaming, and picture streaming. NBC executives explained they were shocked at how many people have never used their mobile devices to download media or stream video before the 2008 Olympics. Live video streaming was how many people view the 2008 games. New technology is evolving each and every day. These new technologies are key in the Olympics to keep up with the people of today’s world. The 2012 London Olympic Games is estimated to be one of the most viewed in Olympic History. Technology has been greatly evolving since the last Olympic Games occurred in 2008. Almost everyone child to adult has a smart phone in today’s economy. These smart phones are used in place of televisions many times because almost everything one may want can be found online. Online streaming of the Olympic Games in 2012 is anticipated to bring in the most viewers of the Summer Games. DOPING, ETHICS, SCANDALS, AND MORE It’s no joke that almost every Olympic Game has had some sort of scandal involved in its name. Although not every controversy may be well known, some are never forgotten. One of the most well-known scandals happened in 1968 when two black male athletes flashed their black power salute while on the Olympic podium. Both of these athletes were banned from participation in any Olympic for life. The 2004 Olympic Games were no exception to the scandals. There was much news made by the Greeks with a doping scandal. Two Greek sprinters “accidentally” missed a drug test before the start of the games. It was later found out that the athletes faked a motorcycle accident to avoid the drug tests. Although the 2004 Games didn’t have too many scandals, the 2008 games had some major setbacks before, during, and after the games. Gymnastics was home for a few scandals. One great controversy was over the ages of the Chinese participants. Another involved the judges playing favorites. Scandal hit swimmer Michael Phelps when pictures were posted on the internet of him at a party smoking marijuana. Scandal has been a part of the Olympics for years and it’s not going to go anywhere anytime soon. Many news reporters already are digging up scandals for the 2012 games. CONCLUSION Both beautiful and historic cities, Athens and Beijing are both cities who have hosted an amazing and historical event, The Olympic Games. In conclusion, the Olympic Games in 2004 and 2008 brought many great things to the country. Each Olympic individually had many firsts and many world records were broken during the games. Many firsts from both countries came from the torch relays. Both host cities are home to at least one of the Seven Wonders of the World. Athens is home to the Acropolis and Beijing is home to the Great Wall of China. Culture of the host cities played major roles in the organization of the games. The most evident in each host city would be the opening ceremonies for the Beijing games and the marathon race during the Athens games. Although scandals were present and politics played a big role in both Olympics, these Olympic Games are games to never be forgotten in history. |
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