Volume 4: The World of Great Conflict Chapter 0539: The Rise of the Olympics
Sometimes time passes by minute by minute, and sometimes it passes by in just three to five days.
It feels like yesterday was still Monday, but today is already the weekend.
July 29, 5:30 p.m.
The 1984 Olympic Games began. This Olympic Games was of great significance to the entire Chinese nation.
This was the second Olympic Games that China participated in since the liberation. Thirty-two years had passed since the last one. It is no exaggeration to say that it attracted nationwide attention.
When watching movies or TV, it’s best to be alone, with no one chattering around you or spoiling the show for you. It’s just nice to watch it in peace and quiet.
But if you're watching a game, that's not the case. The more people there are, the more lively it is, the better.
In the courtyard of Baihuashen Hutong, there were more than twenty people strolling in the courtyard, some of whom had arrived early and some had just arrived a short while ago.
Two tables were opened and everyone sat together.
On the table were the three traditional Beijing dishes - fried liver, braised pork, and stir-fried tripe, with some peanuts to go.
The drinks are varied, mainly beer, some drink Xiao Er, and some drink Huang.
Nan Yi drinks rice wine. He takes a sip of the wine and then a bite of the braised pork. The taste is simply unbearable.
The opening ceremony had not yet started, and everyone was eating and drinking casually.
"Xiao Jiang, have you been assigned to the Youth Art Theater?" Nan Yi took a sip of wine and casually asked Jiang Wen who was sitting next to him.
Jiang Wen twisted the peanuts in his hand, peeled off the outer skin, and threw them into his mouth at any time, saying with a smile: "Yes, it has been reported."
Zheng Xiaolong, who was sitting on the other side, asked, "What play are you rehearsing now?"
"It's Lao Su's 'Family Affairs'. If you want tickets, just let me know. I can get you a few." Jiang Yan stared at the TV screen and said casually.
"Nan Batian, I heard that you and Yizi had a big fight?" Wang Lu, who was sitting on Nan Yi's right, said as he gulped down a bellyful of beer foam.
"I don't want to talk too much today. I've been talking a lot in the past two days. Let's talk about this in two days." Nan Yi waved his hand and said, "The Olympics are about to start. Let's watch TV first."
As soon as Nan Yi finished speaking, the live broadcast of the Olympics officially began on TV.
After the boring speeches, the Olympics opened. A man in a flight suit slowly flew into the stadium. The group of people in the middle kept changing different words and finally turned into the five Olympic rings.
The program at the opening ceremony was uninteresting, it was all aerobics. Nan Yi's attention was mostly focused on the audience stands that were passing by.
It’s a pity for Nan Yi, as he should have been there to witness Xiong Qi’s rise.
"Which number are we in line to enter?" Wang Lu couldn't help but ask while looking at the TV.
"It's still early. We have to perform. After the performance, the national team will enter the venue." Nan Yi looked at his watch and said, "Wait for an hour or so."
On TV, the ceremony was proceeding in an orderly manner. Suddenly, a white Kirov airship appeared in the sky. It flew past quickly without roaring, dragging a colorful flag.
Nan Yi found it interesting. Just now it was the flying soldier, and now it’s Kirov. Will Tanya appear later?
It's true. While waiting for the high school band to enter the stage to perform, Nan Yi vaguely saw a woman who looked a bit like Tanya.
Of course, this is just an illusion. With the clarity of this TV, how can you see people's faces clearly?
The performance continued, with a black female singer singing the first song of the opening ceremony, followed by the theme song of this Olympics, "Reach Out".
"You know what, the Americans put on a pretty grand ceremony." Ge Liuyi opened a bottle of beer and drank one third of it.
"Yuko, it's normal. The Americans are counting on the Olympics to make money, and in fact, they do make money."
"Make money? You can make money from the Olympics?"
Wang Lu looked at Nan Yi's face with some surprise.
"There are exceptions to everything. Previous governments have lost money and even dragged down the national finances. But this time, the Americans are making money." Nan Yi explained casually.
Before the Los Angeles Olympics, all previous Olympic Games lost money. For example, in 1972, Munich spent 1 billion US dollars; in 1976, Montreal spent more than 2 billion US dollars; in 1980, Moscow spent more than 9 billion US dollars and hosted a terrible Olympic Games.
Lost money at every session, so no city was willing to bid for the right to host the Games. In 1978, when applying to host the 23rd Olympic Games, Los Angeles was the only city in the world that was sucked up. Without a doubt, the right to host the Games fell into Los Angeles' hands.
The Americans are more pragmatic. As soon as Los Angeles got the right to host the event, it went directly to Wall Street to invite a financial expert, Peter Ueberroth, to be the chairman of the organizing committee.
One day, Euberos was called to the White House, and President Carter patted him on the shoulder and said, "Damn it, my time is almost up. It's not clear whether we, the Donkey Party, will be in office next time. I won't give you a penny. You have to figure it out on your own. I allow you to ask the Elephant Party for money."
So, when Euberos became chairman, he faced his first problem - the source of funding.
Eublos really wants to turn the table over. You said that other countries pay for the Olympics, but why is it that when it comes to his own country, he has to find the money?
It sounds good to say that it will not increase the burden on taxpayers, but damn it, they don’t even give me the right to issue lottery tickets, and they still do other things.
Even though Eublos complained, he still had to do his work and do it well.
Eubolus had a very clever brain. After staying at home for 49 days, he finally came up with an idea.
First, they went to sign funding agreements with companies, then sold television broadcasting rights and game tickets, and then cut various expenses, made full use of existing facilities, and tried not to build sports stadiums.
He had no plans to build any Olympic Village. He simply rented dormitories from two universities for the athletes to live in. Even the staff were all recruited volunteers. Not to mention their salaries, even water and hamburgers had to be paid for by the volunteers themselves.
By doing this kind of thing, he actually managed to host the Olympic Games.
At this time, Michael Jackson, still with dark skin, appeared in the stadium on the TV screen and sang "Billie Jean".
This was also the first time that 99.999% of Chinese people knew that there was a black boy in the world who could sing well. Hey, he was black with white in his voice, but no one knew his name.
It can only be said that it was so-so. At that time, Chinese people did not like Jackson's musical style at all.
Moreover, for many people, the only English song they have ever heard is "Straw Hat Song", and they only like English songs of this style. Even those who don't know whether "Yes" means "yes" or "No" means "no" can sing "Straw Hat Song" very fluently, and some can even sing it with a black accent.
After riding for more than ten minutes, I finally waited for the show to end.
The handover ceremony of the Olympic flag began. Those escorting the flag were famous athletes from the United States, and the flag bearer was Prince Melody, a member of the Belgian International Olympic Committee.
After the flag-raising ceremony, the Los Angeles Wind Band began to perform. After they left, the national delegation finally entered the venue.
Needless to say, Greece ranks first, because it is the birthplace of culture.
"What's the order for admission? Why is Greece the first one?" Ge Liuyi asked curiously.
"You're a foreigner, right? The birthplace of the Olympic Games is Greece. Who else could it be if not Greece first? Starting from the second one, it should be arranged in alphabetical order." Wang Li said ostentatiously.
"Then our country starts with the letter C, so it should appear soon." Ge Liuyi continued to ask.
"Um!"
This "hmm" was uttered by Nan Yi.
As countries such as Canada, Cayman, Zadeh, Chile and others entered the venue, Nan Yi stood up from the stool, wiped the grease from the corners of his mouth, and tidied his appearance.
Just as Nan Yi had packed up, the melody of "Three Major Disciplines and Eight Points for Attention" sounded on TV. The venue began to boil. Everyone in the courtyard was inexplicably excited. They followed suit and stood up one by one. Every Chinese knew that it was their country's delegation that was about to enter!!!
This Olympic Games has an extremely special significance for China. Chinese people began to open their eyes to the world, and foreigners also began to truly understand the new China.
There was deafening applause in the venue, especially in the stands closest to the entrance to the delegation passage, where most of the seats were occupied by yellow-skinned spectators waving red national flags in their hands.
When the commentator on the scene said: "The Chinese delegation, the giant dragon from the East, has arrived..."
In the seats closest to the runway, a group of spectators stood up and quickly spread out pieces of red cloth. Four people got together to form a big word.
There are four words in total, which together mean: "China rises!"
In order to make these four words appear and to ensure that the camera could stay on them for a while, Wenchangwei paid a considerable price.
" Long live China!"
There was a uniform shout in the courtyard!
"Long live China!"
The entire capital city shouted in unison!
"Long live China!"
The whole of China shouted in unison!
The shouts merged together and went straight to the southern border, and above the two mountains they broke into new shouts - kill, kill, kill!
…
The camera zoomed in, looking past the two short girls in white suits, and saw a tall and handsome man holding a red flag and leading the way. He is currently the top center in Asia - Wang Libin.
Then the entire national delegation members walked out of the entrance one after another. The men wore uniform blue suits and white trousers, and the women wore blue suits and white skirts. Through the unclear TV, Nan Yi could "clearly" see the excited expressions on the athletes' faces.
The Chinese delegation has a total of 353 members, including 225 athletes. It is a large number, and they are slowly walking into the hearts of every Chinese.
First the women, then the men. At the head of the team is the women's volleyball team led by Iron Hammer, the strongest team in history. Their appearance means that the gold medal is already in hand.
Next, Nan Yi saw Lao Xu, who would win the first gold medal. His performance had always been good, and people all over the country knew that he would most likely win the gold medal. There was also Xiao Li, who was more successful as a businessman than an athlete, and the Chinese people were also full of confidence in him.
When people on the streets were discussing how many gold medals our country could win, these two people were classified as those who could win gold medals.
"Do you think the women's volleyball team can win the championship this time?" Xiao Jiang next to Nan Yi asked excitedly.
When it comes to the lineup of athletes, of course the women's volleyball team has the biggest presence. They are the top stars of the national team this time.
There is also a popular saying: "Stand still like the iron hammer, and sit still like Zhang Haidi, who never gives up!"
Everyone is waiting for the women's volleyball team to win the Olympic championship, winning the third championship after the 1981 World Cup championship and the 1982 championship championship, and achieving the great feat of three consecutive championships!
The athletes were nervous. Except for the four leading sports officials, everyone in both the female and male athlete groups were waving their hands back and forth, following the most formal athlete entry steps. No one waved to the audience.
When the camera shifted from the athletes and swept across the four large characters "China Rise Up" in the audience seats, it indicated that China's entry was over and another country became the focus.
"Is that the end?" Ge Liuyi said with a lingering look .
Wang Jue said, "Don't worry, the competition will officially start tomorrow. I told that guy to go to the street corner and buy some shredded potatoes."
"Bozi, let's go to another restaurant, the one at the corner of the street. The potato shreds are thinner than fingers, and the waitress in the restaurant can't cook at all. Do you know what her original job was?" said Ye Qi, who hadn't said anything the whole night.
"What's your business?"
"Before liberation, there was a prostitute number one in the Eight Great Hutongs. Her name was Xing'er or Xin'er. During the period of public-private partnership, she was still doing business with her door half-closed. Later, I heard that she was recruited into the 'Duyichu'. She didn't learn any skills, but she still dared to open the door and run a restaurant?" Ye said sourly.
"Come on, I'm talking about the weights, man, if you want a machine, I'll do it first and continue watching the game tomorrow."
Nan Yi said this and left the courtyard.
"Okay, Master Nan, please slow down and be careful with the stink bugs on the ground. Don't let them fall."
"Shut up! They all migrated from the south, and they didn't grow up in Beijing. Why are you pretending to be a Beijing native? You, as a Beijing native, teach them a lesson."
"Naughty, I am not born and raised in the Ge family."
…
"Long live the Chinese women's volleyball team!"
"The Chinese women's volleyball team is rising!"
After the women's volleyball team defeated the Chinese team 3-0 in the finals, the whole of China was immediately immersed in a sea of cheers for victory. The women's volleyball team became the Steel Roses and the most dazzling heroes of this era.
There are many sports heroes, but there is only one drink that is the most prestigious, and that is "Xiongqi".
