This Olympics left many of us wondering where the integrity and morals that the games are supposed to represent have gone. From the first song, lip synched by the "cute" one, sung by another, to the obvious cheating by the Chinese women's gymnastic's team. There is NO way those girls are 16, and passports can be altered... Computer enhanced fireworks. The bad press of tourists being treated badly...Not a good place to hold the Olympics. China needs to work on several issues before they bid again.

China put on a good $40B show. Gracious, they did.

They also showed how corrupt their morals are with the little girls on the gymnastics, the lip sync of the opening, and the manipulation of the scene sent overseas of the fireworks.

China spent a lot of our money and made a big show. 5 years from now someone will write, "It didn't make a difference. They are still shooting political dissidents."

The Games were a huge success as far as the Olympics themselves are concerned. China has been given an incredible opportunity to continue to open itself to the world as a power that can set aside its differences and be a positive influence on the world stage. For two whole weeks, the peace, the friendliness, the cooperation, the sense of a world family was all but perfect.

Nevertheless, I am deeply impressed that despite the abounding good will, China still will not be dictated to as to their internal policies concerning those who disagree with them. One of the main things that the Games accomplished is that they gave China some real pluses that a world bent on compromise will be able to overlook some of the negatives in order to justify in their own minds "business as usual."

China will continue to be China despite the show that it has put on for the world over the past couple of weeks. The comaraderie was wonderful while it lasted but I believe that the majority of it will end as the Games fade into a memory.

From the first two comments I am disappointed. Here we sit high and mighty in our Capitalism state where Milli-Vanilli fooled us for years, yet we are up in arms over a cuter little girl lip sinking syncing to better singing girl. We cry over "Fake Fireworks" of the opening ceremonies for "Effects" yet we fill theaters every week for action packed "Special Effects" which are more fake and impossible to take place than a $3.00 bill, yet marvel at how "Cool" it is without doubting for a second in our small prideful minds. As far as the gymnastics girls? Innocent until PROVEN guilty, how judgmental we Americans are before ALL THE EVIDENCE has been weighed and determined.

Here we stand as Americans and Utahan's after hosting a Games not so long ago wracked early with scandal. Millions in the whole and Mitt Romney saves the games for us. Where do we get off? The Chinese did a wonderful job, and they didn't have a drafty old "Rice Eccles" they had a 90,000+ Birds Nest! This will be one of the best respected and most remembered and dearest games ever I think. It was a wonderful games!

Re: cougar, the Olympics stand for honesty and integrity. It was on several news channels last week that a hacker had found the documents that proved the girls were younger than 16.
Yes, we go to movie houses, for ENTERTAINMENT which we know is going to be faked. And yes, Mitt Romney came in and saved our butts on the financial end. But, the Games themselves were honest and aboveboard. No cheating, no lying, no forgery, etc. How the heck do you think that little girl who sang her heart out feels??? Being told that she is good enough to sing, but not "cute enough" to be front and center??? These are the issues that bother me, as they do others I have talked to.

I agree with you a 100%. China may not be a perfect nation, but who is? For the past two weeks China displayed a marvelous show better than any other I've seen. In my opinion this olympic will never be matched. Lets give China credit. As for the political side of it, China I believe will change. In order to be a great nation small steps are necessary, China has proven itself in a big way...Go world!

If the worst to come of it was the dreaded lip synch and CGI fireworks, then these games have exceeded most of the recent ones. Who in blazes seriously expected the olympics were supposed to change the political climate in China? The chinese have let a huge cat out of the bag opening their economy. In one generation they are trying to build a middle class larger than the US population. I think this will ultimately render communism to the scrap heap, but not today, and not tomorrow. Give it time. The other takeaway for a lot of people should be that there's a new big kid on the block. One to whom we owe a lot of money. We should probably not be engaging in unnecessarily antagonising him, it will not serve us well.

CougarKeith,

You had me until your obviously biased and unfounded comment about "drafty old Rice-Eccles," which was rebuilt from the ground up for the olympics.

In looking back on the Beijing games, we need to separate the actions of the government from the people. Obviously, the government was up to many of the old cold war habits & tricks used by the former Soviet bloc. On the other hand, the Chinese people were great! They cheered many of the US athletes as if they were their own. The people were wonderful and friendly hosts. After more than a century after the revival of the games, it was also the turn of 1/5 of the world's population to act as host. Good for them.

I, for one, was absolutely gobsmacked by the Opening and Closing Ceremonies. They were both masterpieces, in my opinion. Yes, there are problems in China, but I believe the Games will have a positive impact on the people and gov't of China. The Chinese people are just as human as we are and they are very proud of their country, just as we are of ours.

Let's applaud them for their brilliant Games and hope that something good will come of them for all of us, especially the people of China.

The changes are not going to happen overnight. The thing that will change the government will be the people. As more are exposed to democratic ideals they will push for greater freedom. They need international exposure for that to happen. Historically, the U.S. has had strong ties to China. Through WWII China was one of our greatest allies. We loved China. After Mao took over things changed a bit, but we need to continue our close ties to China with pressure as needed.
I loved the Olympics. I have to agree with CougarKeith. The performances were spectacular. Gold medal gymnasts at 10 or 12 or 16, they were still great. We can all have our suspicions, but until you have proof that they were too young to compete, you can't say they were cheating.

All these Olympics did was reinforce the fact that China is run by evil men. And I'm sick of all the news media trying to tell us how wonderful China was about hosting the Olympics. That country mistreated tourists, cheated, and lied. That's what most people will remember these Olympics for. Oh, and they'll also remember it for Michael Phelps.

Tina,

Are you implying that the opening ceremonies were intended for any other purpose than entertainment?

As for "are they or aren't they 16"...meh, regardless of their age they did fantastic. All cheating isn't created equal. I would suspect that particular rule is similar to setting how many pitches little league players are allowed to save their bodies. We are already aware that the Chinese government would rather sacrifice the well being of a bunch of people to put on a show. No news there.

Bouncing a 10 year old- girl because she isn't skinny or pretty enough? Trying to pass off girls who haven't lost their baby teeth as 16-year-olds? A gold medal count twice as high as their silver medal count (can you say bribery or intimidation of refs). But hey, it was fun to watch right.

I fear for the families of the chubby girl, and the 14-year old gymnasts, and the coaches whose athletes only took silver once the media is gone. This is a corrupt, communist regime.

Bury your head in the sand if you want, but you are only enabling oppression when you do.

Sure China put on a great show, but in my mind it didn’t overshadow the moral deficiencies of its extremist political system. One story related by NBC’s synchronized swimming commentators absolutely stunned me, and I think summed up China’s policy that their competitors’ successes are more about opportunities to spread propaganda than celebrating the beauty of athletic achievement. According to NBC, China’s swimmers are plucked out of nursery schools because they show promise and then shipped to an advanced training center. On one occasion the girls on the sync. swimming team asked their coach if they could have a weekend off. The coach was taken aback by this “Outlandish” request and asked why in the world the team thought they deserved a weekend off. The girls responded by saying they wanted to visit their families because it had been 12 years since they had seen them. This isn’t what sports should be! This is child sweat-shop, slave labor! Actually, it’s worse because its victims are also being used by the Chinese government to show the world its legitimacy as a member of the international community. Far from it!

I recently lived in China from February until June and I saw firsthand the pride and patriotism the Chinese people had for their country and for these olympics. I remember going and seeing the torch coming through the city that I lived in and the streets were packed with people waving flags, wearing "I love China" t-shirts and just being so happy that they could welcome the world to their country. While no country is perfect (we for one have no right to talk smack on another government and country when we too are full of faults) the Chinese did a great job welcoming the world and put on an impressive show. I think these games were a huge step forward for China and they will continue to take steps over the next few years to becoming a more open, honest country. These games will go down in history as being one of the best and I am excited to see what happens with China in the future!

Neither was Salt Lake all that cool all the time. Something’s they had control over some not. I have an issue with being to young and people wanting your medal pulled. I understand what the IOC guy said but I still have and issue with it.

Switching the Girls was a foul, but consider the culture.

What is wrong with Electronic Fire Works? They invented Fire Works and have much to do with Electronics. The Government spent 40 Billion Dollars and changed many lives for the better. I do not like them much better but for the most part they looked good. They do not have the Moral Police or the Social Filters we do so don't be judgmental. I have more concern about the Freedom of the women from Bahrain who Ran the women’s 100 fully clothed wrapped head to toe so her country men would not kill her when she returned home. If I was her I would not go home, life in China would be better. (I did not just say that).

The London Bus in the Closing was just fantastic. Did you know that Double Decker Buses in Dublin Ireland are Blue.

With typical, arogant Utahns who think that they are better than everyone, standing on their soap boxes, preaching about how righteous and honest and wonderful they are, all while dusting their dirty little secrets under the rug so they can shine their cold plastic smiles to all that gaze upon thier "fake" happiness. I am really beginning to think that I do not belong here.

China is a country in transition. Just as the U.S. did not change overnight, neither will China. When you consider how short a time it has been since the "cultural revolution" which literally murdered millions for the kinds of activity we saw for the past couple of weeks, how short a time it has been since then, it is remarkable how much change HAS happened. History shows that the tactic of constant condemnation and bullying of a country because it does not have laws and priorities to match your own, does not work. When my son was six, he told me "my friend said he did not believe in God, so I beat him up". A short talk solved that problem for good. But it illustrates how childish and useless it is to use pressure, force, pushing and shoving to try to bring about tolerance, kindness and mildness in ANY situation. If the U.S. was in reality nearly as peaceful, honest and "righteous" as we all think our country is, we would not have to do anything to others to get them to listen to us. They would listen because they'd WANT to. Our actions presently don't measure up.

To "Here we go again....": I was "born and raised" in Utah. I've since lived in several other places. I know what you mean, in a way, but also, I've rarely seen as much contrast between the "good" and the "bad" as exists in Utah. There is a lot of negative here, but no more, in quantity, than anywhere else; probably less. But the solution is not for us to leave because some here displease us. The solution is to be someone else, who does something other than the extreme negatives which you bring up. Life, and people, are complex. You will never find any people, anywhere, so simple that there won't be a number of contrasting groups which antagonize each other. After all, aren't you portraying the same attitude in your words here, as you are criticizing in others? Condemnation of others and setting yourself as "better than" is an action which doesn't work in religion, politics, relationships, and so on.... if one side does it to a point, it is "prejudice"; if both sides do it to the extreme, it is war. I wish I knew what to say to make this clear to all....

Wow, every country has problems, why pick on China? Maybe because it is funding and directing the genocide in Darfur? Maybe because it invaded and crushed Tibet? Maybe because it has forced abortions on millions, and even kills infants to enforce its one child policy? Maybe because it persecutes religions, executes protesters, and on and on? Maybe because to put on the show you were so impressed by, it forced hundreds of thousands from their homes and locked up the complainers? Maybe because the Chinese said themselves at the end of the spectacle that what the Olympics means is that the world has shown it trusts China, and that is the worst possible thing to do and message to send? Maybe because it would be absolutely disastrous to have the biggest superpower on earth also be the most evil nation on earth, and the West should have demanded civilization rather than spectacle before giving China its stamp of approval? Do you even know what "reminds me of 1936" means?

"History shows that the tactic of constant condemnation and bullying of a country because it does not have laws and priorities to match your own, does not work."

It worked pretty good in World War II when the Allies freed the world from tyranny (while certain kinds of folks at home no doubt lit candles and sang songs and hugged each other in the hope that kindness alone would work).

You are very right Larry... Thank you for pointing out my error in words. I understand that no matter where you go, there will always be those certain individuals that act as I state above in "here we go again" I for one was born here and still live here. There are many wonderful things I love about this state, and it is why, after 21 years here, I am still here, because I love it. Sometimes I just get so frustrated with the "holier than tho" mindset so many seem to have here! Really it's not my problem with Utahn's just most of them! LOL :)

Yikes the Americans with their drugs, pornography, pollution, gun deaths, crime rates, secret jails with no trials, CIA, vanities, self help groups, what about me attitude talking about freedom??? Give me a break!!!

I realize the under 16 chinese kids broke a rule but what a stupid rule. If the 12 year old is the best - what is the problem?

Tina, you were taling about "integrity and morals" on your first message, and then "a hacker had found the documents". If you believe in a "hacker", what kind of "integrity and moral" value you have?

Why does the Chinese people has to be like Americans? Things Americans want doesn't mean what other people want.

Majorty of Chinese like the way the country is developing, why should Americans have anything to do with it?

I guess some people just enjoying the games too much that they forgot where the Pride of American, Marion Jones, watched the game. Tina, you cannot be "integrity and morals" selectively.

The minimum age requirement has something to do with letting their young joints & bones develop more fully before being put through such strenuous routines.

I read Animal Farm for the first time right before the games. It definitely put a whole different spin on things for me, ad each questionable action arose. Interestingly enough, the author was a very strong believer in socialism, but was not so blind that he couldn't see the sand underneath the vegetables (it's kinda' like a stuffed bra; read the book).

I am surprised that anyone would use the words integrity and morals to in conjunction with the Olympic games. Historically, the few offenses claimed or real of underage athletes and a few protesters locked up in these games are minimal compared to past Olympics. Remember the bribes paid to get the Olympics to Utah. Remember Hitler's refusal to shake Jesse Owens hand. Remember Arab terrorists killing Israeli athletes when Mark Spitz set the records broken by Michael Phelps. And remember our own Jimmy Carter dashing the hopes of a generation of athletes by using his presidential power to block our participation completely. Many of the world class athletes have great integrity and morals, but the Olympics by and large are run by political entities that far to often lack integrity and morals.