Well done, and thanks

BEIJING -- Most Americans I’ve spoken to were anxious to get back to their homes and families, but in no way was this a poor reflection of their time in China. Everyone I spoke to went on about how hospitable everyone in China has been. It’s understandable that after a couple of weeks away that feeling of homesickness starts to set in.

It was a concern of mine that the politics and protests leading up to the Games would heighten during the competitions. It didn’t, and I’m glad. My concern was that these issues would distract us from the athletes  who don’t have anything to do with politics, the athletes who have dedicated their lives to this endeavor, the athletes who earned our attention and respect for the days of the Olympic Games.

Job well done to the people of China.

You have the right to be proud. The Chinese people put on an incredible Olympics. It doesn’t need to be mentioned that the Chinese athletes have a right to be proud as well.

China won the medal count. You can tell me that the U.S. team won more medals overall, just not as many gold (cough, cough). But I have both gold and silver medals, and I know the difference in the  reaction the two get in the general public in the U.S. The difference is not even close. But now that China has won the gold medal tally we start to pay attention to those silver and bronze (general public: shrug shoulders, roll eyes) medals?

How did China win? The answer is very simple. Money. China invested in sports programs, coaching, facilities and athletes. The results are astounding. China earned 32 gold medals in 2004 and 51 gold in 2008.

Britain gained a lot of ground too. Since it was announced that the 2012 Games are to be held in London,  revenue has increased and so has their world standing in the medal count, up to 19 gold in 2008 from nine gold in 2004.

If we are to ever regain the title of the most dominant nation in sports, we need to fund our programs and athletes. More money, more medals.

I think I’ve had the worst time of anyone here. That bird flu, strain 53Y something, I got hasn’t gone away. Waking up after three days of unconsciousness to find tsetse flies sucking my lymph nodes couldn’t have helped. Maybe it was just the malaria. I’ve been hallucinating and it’s possible those tsetse flies never existed. But then what can account for all these pox, if they aren’t tsetse fly bites? I don’t know.

What I do know is that I’ve spent more time in my hotel room than I did on my honeymoon, sick and in bed, coughing, wheezing, sweating and hallucinating. The last few days I’ve been completely delirious. I feel sorry for the guy I have to sit next to on my flight home Tuesday.

I had a scheduled meeting with the Chinese Minister of Health and had to cancel because I was so sick. That meeting was a really big deal. There are 40 million Chinese living with diabetes, and there are a lot more who have not been diagnosed.

Thank you to BD who has made my dreams of inspiring people with diabetes a reality. Thank you to Eli Lilly and Co. for sending me to Beijing and allowing me to be part of the Inspired by Diabetes program. If you know someone with diabetes, get involved! Thank you to Speedo for your help setting up the swim clinic for young Chinese swimmers.

Thank you to all of you who have read my blogs and written to the L.A. Times. Thank you to Lisa Dillman for setting up this opportunity for me. Thanks to the patient editors who lend a guiding hand. Thank you to the L.A. Times, the greatest newspaper in the world.

And thank you, China, for hosting an Olympics that I will never forget.

And my shameless plug:

The Gary Hall Jr. Foundation for Diabetes: www.garyhalljrfoundation.org

The Race Club: www.theraceclub.net

-- Gary Hall Jr.

Comments

[tenbamboo]

.....as usual...the LA Times "Olympic Headlines...Games are successful, but images of the computer generated fireworks will not last as long as Phelps, Bolt etc..." is the same old petty and nasty politico rag .....no wonder you're losing readership.

[Brian Chu]

Well done & thanks?!? I came back a week ago from the Games and couldn't wait to get back home. I'm not sure which Olympics this guy went to, but the way the Chinese managed these Olympics makes me embarrassed to be Chinese! Don't get me wrong -- I commend all of the athletes, Chinese, American, or whatever, for their valiant and enviable efforts. Kudos to them on their accomplishments. But these Games were a different experience for athletes and the privileged few compared to the masses and those of us who actually spent good money to be treated shabbily. Food concessions (convenience, quality and quantity) were nothing short of insulting, souvenir concessions at the venues were either non-existent or closed before anyone could buy anything, and the competency of security/X-ray checkers, or what passed for them, was atrocious. And ticketing? Why don't you start reporting on why there were so many empty seats at the venues and why there were so many international visitors who had to make dozens of phone calls to scramble for tickets. And why tickets were being given away to Chinese nationals by the government just so that it appeared the stadiums were filled? Where are those stories? I guess we won't see them in this news service -- just another propaganda machine for the left wing socialists. If people were only offered the honest truth about China, there wouldn't be any talk of recognizing the country as a developed nation.

[sailorsam]

As a visitor to the Beijing Olympics, I agree that they were an enormous accomplishment for all of China. The rain cleared the air. Beijing, with its streets and highways lined with trees and parks, was never more beautiful. Its ancient tourist attractions were brilliantly refurbished and looked like new. The athletic venues were spectacular. The new airport and subway system worked as planned. The people and volunteers were gracious and helpful. The food was the finest you will find anywhere. Taking care of two million visitors and 11,000 athletes is no easy job. It will be difficult for any country to surpass China's achievement.

[sailorsam]

As a visitor to the Beijing Olympics, I agree that they were an enormous accomplishment for all of China. The rain cleared the air. Beijing, with its streets and highways lined with trees and parks, was never more beautiful. Its ancient tourist attractions were brilliantly refurbished and looked like new. The athletic venues were spectacular. The new airport and subway system worked as planned. The people and volunteers were gracious and helpful. The food was the finest you will find anywhere. Taking care of two million visitors and 11,000 athletes is no easy job. It will be difficult for any country to surpass China's achievement.

[Anxious Parent]

Could you please elaborate on your bird flu, strain 53Y something. Are you being faceitious? Were you actually diagnosed by someone? Was anyone else sick?
Thank you for your reporting.

[CR]

Do not travel if you are sick - you put others at risk! It is H5N1, that bird, mammal and people virus, that has not gone away, and, various places are having outbreaks of a virulent form of Hand, Foot, and Mouth disease (EV71).
Why did you travel anyway; we've been a in Pandemic Alert - seen the US pandemicflu.gov site, up since Oct. 2005? Containment of human cluster outbreaks of H5N1 are ongoing in various nations, whether they report them honestly or not - the WHO Phase Alert has degraded to now only mean current "Phase 3 = Now" and "Phase 4 = Pandemic", and, since July, 2006, the "US State Dept H5N1 factsheet" has "warned" travellers that pandemic start anywhere may halt travel everywhere, and that citizens will Not be given food, water, nor medical care at embassies in the event of Pandemic. That 'potemptkin village' the PRC made the Chinese people produce has just wasted time, resources, and attention the world should have been putting into Panflu Year disruption Preparedness. Americans are supposed to be getting ready at home (and were supposed to be told to; after the 2006 state panflu summits with HHS) , to cope without federal, state, mutual nor local aid; see GetPandemicReady.org

[Gary Hall Jr.]

Don't panic. I've reached Seattle and am still alive. The 53Y something strain of bird flu is contracted from watching the Marx Brothers classic "Duck Soup" too many times. I did have a miserable case of Asian flu, sans malaria and dengue. I gently suggest that we live without the fear of pandemics. Fear and anger are the two emotions that suffocate reason (and humor).

Brian, we travel to experience something different, not to hold the experience in comparison to our own way of life. The O Games is a huge undertaking and I have been to six Olympics now and this was run as well, or arguably better, than any other I've seen.

[Gary Hall Jr.]

Brian, we travel to experience something different, not to hold the experience in comparison to our way of life back home. The Olympic Games are a huge undertaking. I have been to six O Games now and this was run as well, arguably better, than any other I've seen.

Xray? There were no security issues that I heard of. Judge by the results.

Empty seats? You can blame the corporate sponsors for that. They are given huge blocks of tickets, what do you care if they use them or pretty often not? I sat in an empty Coca Cola row for swimming after watching a single ticket scalped for 6000 yuan, close to 950 dollars on the way in. How is this the problem of China or the Olympics? Those rascally left wing socialists!