Medals Unveiled, 500 Days Until Olympics
Monday marked the start of the 500-day countdown until the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. Which means there are 500 days until the Olympic torch is lit. 500 days until all Beijing’s cab drivers speak English. 500 days until all of the city’s undesirables– homeless, migrants, crazies– will magically disappear. 500 days until the city’s nasty air suddenly becomes fresh. 500 days until spitting and line-cutting are things of the past in Beijing. 500 days until the city’s horrendous traffic finally clears. 500 days until the construction of 31, yes 31, new Olympic venues is completed. And 500 days for the city’s 15 million people to brace themselves for what I predict will be the hottest, most hectic, congested and polluted 17 days China’s capital has ever seen. Not that I’m an eternal pessimist. But I’ve been to Beijing, and really, I cannot imagine how it could be any different. That town’s a mess. On the bright side, the Olympic medals look pretty cool. To commemorate 500 days before the 2008 Games, or more precisely, 499 days before the 2008 Games, Tuesday the Organizing Committee unveiled the new Olympic medals. The medals are made of gold and jade which, in China, symbolize nobility and honor. They are 70mm in diameter and 6mm in thickness. Hard. The Beijing medals are the first Olympic medal to have jade in them. For me, Monday’s milestone means I have 500 days in which it is acceptable to wrap myself in “Old Glory” and parade around China chanting “U-S-A, U-S-A,” come on, I can’t hear you, “U-S-A, U-S-A!”
•China Daily: Victory Medals of Beijing Olympic Games Unveiled