The Summer Olympics 2008 began grandly with an impressive opening ceremony choreographed by Zhang Yimou, a movie director. The ceremony was topped off by Yao Ming carrying the Chinese flag along with a small survivor of the devastating earthquake that rocked the country a few weeks prior.
The lighting of the Olympic torch was a signal to the world to cease violence for just this moment. What should have been a celebration of competition and sportsmanship turned ugly in what seemed like 24 hours.
Over the weekend, an American Todd Bachman was fatally stabbed by a Chinese man. His wife, Barbara Bachman, was seriously wounded as well. The couple were the parent-in-laws of the US Men's Volleyball coach, Hugh McCutcheon.
Also, in a larger scale of violence, Russia invaded Georgia to stamp out the call for independence of an ethnic group raising concerns of war from the major countries.
And in a classless move, the Spain's Men's Basketball team released a team photo in a national newspaper mimicking the slant-eyed feature of asians.
The timing of the photo is certainly in poor taste being that it happened during the Olympics with reference to the host nation. The fact that the photo was taken in China just added insult to injury.
A few current and former NBA players on the Spanish team has certainly lost a number of fans with their participation--Pau Gasol, Jose Calderon, Rudy Fernandez, Marc Gasol, Jorge Garbajosa and Juan Navarro.
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