Chasing the flame

Soon after arriving in Beijing, American Gregory Groggel donned a false beard and mustache for his film debut, cast as the young Jesuit missionary, Matteo Ricci, who arrived in China in 1583 and later became the first Westerner granted access to the Forbidden City. Once shooting wrapped up, director Zhang Li told his young star the documentary was created for the Olympics, to promote China's history to a worldwide audience ahead of next year's Games.

"Just another instance that makes me wonder whether I am chasing the flame, or the flame is chasing me," 23-year-old Groggel later mused.

The Chinese capital is the last stop on Groggel's yearlong Olympic odyssey. Researching his independent project, Chasing the Flame, he has spent two months in each of six host cities - Mexico City, Munich, Sarajevo, Seoul, Sydney and now Beijing - exploring the social impact and lasting legacy of hosting the Games.

Groggel says 2008 is a platform for world appreciation of the Middle Kingdom's rich culture and history, beyond being lauded as an economic miracle. China's innovative venue designs bode well for its post-Games future, and, with proper planning by authorities, citizens could experience lasting benefit.

But Groggel also warns of a potential drastic "post-Olympic depression" and says how Beijing's Olympics are eventually remembered depends, to a large extent, on "luck".

"It's hard to tell what will be important from China's Olympic legacy 20 years down the road, and that's exciting," he told China Daily.

Groggel graduated from the University of Paget Sound in Washington last year, then set off for Mexico City in July 2006, having won a prestigious Thomas J Watson Fellowship of $25,000.

"Are the fundamental principles of the Olympic Charter achieved when a country plays host to the world? Is the host city forever enlightened, awash in its newly found peace and prosperity, or is it left shell-shocked, wading through debt and cultural exploitation?"

In pursuit of answers, Groggel has kayaked Sydney's artificial whitewater course, bribed guards for access to Mexico City's stadium, traversed landmines on Sarajevo's former bobsled track and visited a former concentration camp outside Munich.

Groggel's fascination with the concept of "Olympianism" grew after he worked at the Athens Summer Games in 2004, as a production assistant with the sports broadcaster, ESPN.

The Omaha, Nebraska, resident recalls driving from the Olympic Athlete Village, accompanied by a "young, beautiful athlete".

"My mind was absorbed in an entirely other matter. I remember thinking that this costly Olympic Village was so utterly doomed for desertion, so completely isolated, that the looming inevitability of ghost town decay was stunning," Groggel said.

"As I continued driving, barely listening to my Olympic guest, I wondered who had lived at the site prior to the village's development and if these people would return after the conclusion of the Olympics.

"I wanted to piece together their stories," he said.

Groggel selected each city with reference to a "watershed moment" - the event or theme for which those Games will always be known. In Mexico City, he explored scars from Tlatelolco, when police and army opened fire on student protestors, just 10 days before the 1968 Olympics.

Groggel then went to Munich, Germany, to study the 1972 Games, which although marked by the Palestinian terror attack on the Olympic Village, had delivered lasting benefits, he found. In Sarajevo, Groggel says, hosting the 1984 Winter Games had taken on greater meaning as a joyous time when citizens bathed in the world's attention before war broke out 10 years later.

Next was Sydney, Australia, the 2000 host of the "greatest Games ever", as departing IOC head Juan Antonio Samaranch declared. Groggel says Sydney was the best example of an "evolving legacy", and noted positive developments such as the Sydney-Beijing Olympic Secretariat, formed in 2002, which saw Australian firms win about half of design and construction contracts for 2008 Games venues. This cooperation delivered Australian business an entry to the world's emerging economic superpower, Groggel says.

In March, he went to Seoul, South Korea, which hosted the 1988 Games marred by sprinter Ben Johnson's drug scandal. Groggel said the Olympics effectively brought about democratic reform, as South Korea was selected as host while under an authoritarian regime but held elections one year before the Olympics, satisfying international scrutiny.

Finally, in Beijing, Groggel was overwhelmed by "the current Olympic euphoria (that) encapsulates all aspects of life".

"What my timing has afforded is the opportunity to witness the final throes of a host city's preparations," he says.

He is impressed by the design of China's venues and says Munich demonstrated the post-Games benefit that flowed from "iconic, well-executed architecture".

Groggel examined Beijing's transformation, with a view to the specific political and social implications of hosting the world event. Of particular significance was the correlation between the three Asian Summer Games hosts - Tokyo (1960), Seoul and now Beijing. Each had emerged from a tumultuous history with a roaring economy that commanded global attention. The Games provided a stage to show the world a different side, while also contributing to the development of a cohesive national identity, he says.

"What [the three Asian cities] lacked was a certain recognition by the rest of the world. Recognition of their arts, culture and history - that can't be easily bought by a booming economy," Groggel says.

"Thus, they're using the Games to demonstrate the qualities of their society. I found this to a great extent in Seoul. The people I interviewed talked about the impact the Games had on internationalizing the country. They felt like after the Games, they belonged. And this is something I can see happening in Beijing."

Looking to Beijing's future, Groggel says host cities motivated by a desire to "occupy the world's spotlight", rather than "merely for profit or short-term spectacle", were more successful.

On the other hand, he found China was, "linguistically behind and ill-prepared for the international visitors".

And, like Sydney before it, Beijing's current jubilation and frenzied preparation increased its risk of succumbing to "post-Olympics depression".

"You have years and years of building up to this event and then all of a sudden, it's over. Cities and their residents have felt the drop-off. And with the febrile levels of planning here, I think this might be more profound than ever," he says.

In the end, the legacy for each host city would continue to evolve, and the "meaning of the Games for the city changes over time".

(China Daily 07/25/2007 page20)