Summer Olympics News

It’s still a long way off, but the USA Gymnastics Committee has set the date and the city for the Olympic trials for the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics. The event will be held in Philadelphia in June of 2008.

It’s always amazing to me that teams are chosen so close to the event. When I was younger, I thought Olympic teams were chosen years before the Olympics, not weeks. But, of course, this year’s champion may be next year’s broken down ex-athlete. Choosing so close to the Olympics is the best opportunity to get athletes at their peak.

Beijing citizens are learning to say, “cheese” as part of their preparations for the 2006 Summer Olympics. Culturally, smiling at strangers is not something the Chinese are accustomed to, but they want to appear hospitable to Westerners, so volunteers are attending “smile” classes.

There will be no third Olympics for Ian Thorpe, as the two-time 24 year old Olympian officially announced his retirement from competitive swimming. Well, there’s always the possibility of a comeback for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, I suppose, but Thorpe says that’s unlikely, and people close to him seem to agree that a comeback is not really in keeping with his personality. There has been speculation for some time about whether the “Thorpedo” as he is known would compete in the Beijing Olympics.

Sports Illustrated ran a recent story about a test run for clearing Beijing traffic for the 2008 Summer Olympics. I don’t think that most of us truly appreciate the traffic problem in Beijing. It’s not simply a matter of too many drivers on the road (think New York City). It’s also the lack of adherence to basic road rules. Overall, visitors to the Beijing Summer Olympics should probably plan to use public transportation.

I’m from Texas, so the Winter Olympics are pretty scanty on competitors from my home state (although we do turn out some pretty decent skaters— figure and speed— from time to time), but we’re much more likely to see competitors from our home state in the summer Olympics. Notably, I read this article about the Texas Trio, three swimmers from Texas expected to contend for medals in Beijing in 2008. The three swimmers (Aaron Peirsol, Brendan Hansen, and Ian Crocker) all train at the Longhorn Acquatic Center under University of Texas coach Eddie Reese, who will also coach the swimmers at the the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

China used to have a two-price-system, one set of prices for Chinese and one set of prices for foreigners. While that was abolished a while ago, it still sticks in the heads of some people. Vendors think that all foreigners have an incredible amount of money to spend and will often charge you three times the price they would ask from a Chinese person – or more. While you will have to resign yourself to the fate that you will always be charged more than the Chinese, you can try to keep the price difference at a minimum.

I’ve seen foreigners adopt a variety of strategies in order to avoid being ripped off. Some tourists just walk away when the first price they are told is not the one they are willing to pay. This might actually be very effective in the long run if more people started doing the same thing, but for now, you are more likely to leave empty-handed and disappointed.

Especially at places like the Silk Market, Hongqiao Pearl Market or Xidan – basically any place where there are lots of Western tourists – bargaining can be tough. There are a few markets in Beijing were vendors will start out at a price that is very close to what they are willing to sell for. You will eventually get some idea of how much money things are worth. The more you bargain, the better you will get at it.

Since I have found no satisfactory guide to bargaining in China in any of the travel guides I have consulted, I’ve put together a little “tutorial” myself. I have found this strategy to be very effective, although a little time consuming at times. There’s absolutely no need to feel bad. No vendor will sell to you if he doesn’t think he’s getting a fair price. Just be polite. Having a Chinese friend with you will save you a lot of time and money. But beware of having your tourist guide do the bargaining for you.

Step 1: Ask for the price.

Step 2: Tell the vendor it’s too much. If you have no idea of what you want to buy is worth, divide the price you were told by five(or so) in your head, and you will probably have a fairly realistic estimation of what it is worth.

Step 3: You will be asked how much you are willing to pay. Ignore that question (very important!) and ask the vendor to go down with the price some more.

Step 4: Walk away when the “negotiations” begin to stagnate. This will bring you much closer to the actual price.

Step 5: Once the price sounds fairly reasonable, you can tell the vendor what you are willing to pay. Always start out a bit lower than what you‘re planning to spend.

Step 7: If necessary, walk away again. If nobody shouts after you to come back, you know that your price was too low, and you will have to start over again at the next booth.

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Step X: Once you got what you wanted, feel smug and, most importantly, never ever ask a Chinese how much the stuff you just bought is really worth.