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Summer Olympics: Chinese smoke and mirrors
By Amy Wood
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
The stories keep surfacing of Olympic magic tricks on the part of the Chinese. Things are apparently not always what they seem.
Last night I sent out a twitter message from Steven Pitts with a link to a story exposing how the footprints during the opening ceremony were digital.
Tech Radar reports the Chinese were worried that they wouldn’t be photographed properly live so they superimposed it, with digital effects.
Then today, reports surface that the young girl who sang at the Opening Ceremonies (pictured on the right) wasn’t actually the girl singing. The girl on the left, wasn’t deemed pretty enough, so they brought in the other girl and had her lip synch.
There is controversy about the age of some of the Chinese gymasts as well. Whether they are truly 16 years old, as is required under Olympic rules.
So what do you think about the smoke and mirrors? Share your thoughts here and join us for CW LIVE CHAT over on the CW News at Ten.
COMMENTS
Shame on the little singer’s parents! How terrible the little girl must have felt to be told she was not pretty enough to be seen, but could be heard! What parent would expose their child to that?
China is showing some colors they need to let fade during these Olympics. The fireworks aren’t even real!$^? Is anything real over there?
There would not be enough money in the world to allow someone to tell my daughter she wasn’t pretty enough and replace her with another child to use her talent!!! What kind of parents would allow this?????
That is a shame! How could a parent do their child like that. I actually think the little girl with the pretty voice is prettier than the replacement.
No matter how outraged we are parents would be if this happened in America, we still have to remember that this is China and they live by a different set of rules. I am so thankful that I live in America and something like this would never have happened!
I am betting parents had NO choice in this.
I’m not surprised this happened, every country that host the olympics wants to put up a front,
wether the U.S. gathering up bums off the street in the L.A. games or this situation, its all about image.
I think it’s profoundly sad for both children because a talented child is being torn down over not fitting a particular image and a child who doesn’t have the “goods” is being taught that she’ll be able to rely on being cute. She won’t be 9 forever, and now she’s permanently labeled as untalented. The younger girl will always have talent, and little girls with chubby faces tend to grow into beautiful women.