The opening is done. Now the leadership in Beijing only wants one thing: that the games run smoothly. How the power apparatus ensures that the hermetically sealed Olympic bubble doesn’t get the slightest leak.
from
Christoph Giesen and Barbara Klimke
Ninety minutes have passed when the cheering swells once more. The Chinese flag, red and large, appears at the end of the ramp, carried by a speed skater, Gao Tingyu, and a skeleton rider, Zhao Dan. Then Team China walks into the arena in long red coats, 173 athletes, 164 supervisors; the hosts are traditionally the last nation. Only once does the applause break out longer and stronger that evening. That’s right at the beginning, when “His Excellency” is announced: Xi Jinping, the head of state and party. For minutes, the people in the stands clap while their lord and master waves graciously. The fact that people are sitting there at all, albeit at a distance, with Corona distance, is one of the most amazing circumstances of the ceremony, given how these games are organized.