It's not up for debate: The greatest Olympic accomplishments in the history of the United States were all about the political climate in which they took place. Eight Gold medals in one games is amazing Mr. Phelps. America loves you for it (and your epic flexing sessions). We always will. But Jesse Owens won four gold medals, romping around in Hitler's backyard, shredding the propaganda that aimed to dehumanize him. Americans (Are either of those girls 14? The one in the middle has the same body type as my 8 year old cousin. Nastia wants to punch her in the face and take her medal.) love a good upset, but The Miracle on Ice would've been one in a long line, but its not because it wasn't about winning a hockey game. It was about a bunch of U.S. amateurs beating the powerful Soviets at their game. It was a symbol of Americans' fighting spirit, and it told us that we were never going to let the Soviets and Communism win, no matter how daunting they seem.
But these days, ignorance as pervasive as Hitler's has lost it's international stage, and peace has long since disqualified the US and Russia from the international Arms Race. So where does that leave us? Michael Phelps and his posse of Lezak, Weber-Gale and Jones gave us as thrilling an Olympic moment as possible that didn't have political overtones (though France is about as hated a democracy as you can find these days in the U.S., and the pre-race shit talking/underdog combo did not hurt). That race was incredible on its own, and even greater because of it's implications for Phelps' quest for an Olympic record 8 Gold Medals.
But even while tracking Phelps' epic journey through 17 total races, I couldn't help thinking, "We're in China. What about all the prep-work we did before the games about Beijing's air quality and China's human rights violations? We don't like them. Let's start acting like it"
And now we have. It began with the ice beam American gymnast Nastia Liukin (ironically, of Russian blood) shot to her two Chinese opponents following her second place finish in the Uneven Bars. Liukin and gold medalist Kexin He finished the event with the same exact scores after doing routines with the same exact difficulty level, but He was awarded the gold because of completely arbitrary tie-breaker.
Apparently the U.S.'s baseball team is as deep in love with Nastia as I am. Shortly after Liukin's disappointing silver, the U.S. and Chinese baseball teams waged war on one another. Chinese pitchers hit 5 American batters, including a brutal head shot to top prospect Matt LaPorta (LaPorta was a big piece in the trade that sent CC Sabathia from the Indians to the Brewers a few weeks ago). The Chinese manager, Jim Lefebvre claimed that the LaPorta plunking was an honest mistake. But in the 5th inning, LaPorta collided with Chinese catcher Wang Wei in a play at the plate, knocking him out of the game. One inning later, Nate Schierholtz collided with back up catcher Yang Yang in another play at home plate. Both the Laporta and Schierholtz collisions were legal but definitely avoidable. The ball had not yet reached the catcher in either incident. These were kind of plays that doesn't happen unless the runner has a blatant disregard for both his and the catcher's health. Check out Nate Schierholtz stare down of Yang Yang after the collision.
The Chinese baseball team isn't good enough for the U.S. win to carry the weight of International conflict. But both that game and the late stages of the gymnastic competition had the energy and tension that remind us that these Olympics games are as much about United States vs. China, in China's house, world power vs. world power, as anything else. I can't wait to see the next time that the U.S. and China butt heads.
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