Bo Knows Olympic Construction
If you ask a Chinese government official how the preparation for the 2008 Beijing Olympics is going, and I've asked many, you will hear that everything is as smooth as a Chinese girl's bottom.  The stadiums that need to be built in the next two years, the subway lines, the removal of all the undesirables from the Beijing streets-- all of that will be done by the time the torch is lit.  But based on the news stories coming out of Beijing of late, it doesn't sound like everything's as cool as a Chinese house with no central heating.  Thursday, Beijing installed a new Olympic construction supervisor, Xu Bo, following the June firing of a vice mayor in charge of building projects (such as the new state of art aquatics center better known as "The Water Cube" pictured above).  The removal of Liu Zhihua was part of Chinese President Hu Jintao's mass cleansing of corrupt government officials.  Rumor has it, a substantial amount of Olympic funds went missing during Liu's reign as head of construction.  No official word has been given as to the amount or use of the "misappropriated funds."  Why it took 6 months to replace Liu?  The answer to this is very simple-- it's China.  While the weeding out of China's corrupt officials seems like a noble effort, many believe Hu's war against corruption over the last year is really aimed at eliminating his rivals within the government, those loyal to Hu's predecessor Jiang Zemin.  While China, by no means, has taken the planning for the Beijing games lightly, corruption is as much a part of Chinese government as, say, speaking Mandarin.  Sadly, this is how business is done here.  A Chinese friend of mine told me yesterday how happy she was to have finally passed her road test.  About 2 minutes later, she told me she had bribed the tester so that he would pass her on the parallel parking portion of the test.  This is the norm.  Hopefully, Xu Bo, with about 600 days until the games begin, will do things a bit differently.

•CBS Sportsline: China Installs New Olympic Supervisor

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