Moses Serugo
17 August 2008
opinion
Kampala — We were duped. Parts of last Friday's Beijing Olympics opening ceremony that aired on DStv's array of Supersport channels were faked. Apparently organisers feared it would be difficult to capture each fireworks footprint live so they inserted computer graphics for viewers at home - according to web reports.
You have to hand it to the Chinese for meticulously creating the graphics over a period of months and inserting them into the coverage electronically at exactly the right moment. Organisers decided in advance that it would be impossible to capture all 29 footprints from the air. It took almost a year to create the 55-second sequence and meticulous efforts were made to ensure the sequence was as unnoticeable as possible.
Advice was sought from the Beijing meteorological office as to how to recreate the hazy effects of Beijing's smog at night, and insert a slight camera shake effect to simulate the idea that the fireworks were filmed from a helicopter.
The explanation was that the fake fireworks were all in the interest of safety. Trying to shoot the real thing aerially would have created the difficulty of placing the television helicopter at the right angle to see all 28 footsteps in a row. And it was also not worth putting the helicopter pilot at risk so he could follow the firework route.
But one cannot take away the spectacular display of Chinese heritage that includes the invention of paper, kites, and the controversial fireworks at the Bird's Nest Stadium last Friday.
Incidentally, we should not rush to credit the cute, pig-tailed [Lin Miaoke] girl for the vocal prowess on the song Hymn to the Motherland. She was lip-syncing what a seven-year-old girl, whose only flaw was possession of buckteeth, had sung. Miaoke was chosen because she was prettier and had a perfect set of teeth. That is far worse than a doping athlete cheating others of gold.
That may explain why I am not celebrating US swimmer Michael Phelps's winning streak. It is all starting to play out like Marion Jones' medal haul at the 2000 Sidney Games, which ended in her anti-climatic fall from grace.
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