When I got two tickets for the athletics competition to be staged on Sunday night in the Bird's Nest, I was more worried than excited.
The Bird's Nest is packed with crowds cheering for Russia's Gulnara Galkina-Samitova as she clears a barrier to win the women's 3000m steeplechase final on August 17, 2008. [Agencies] |
The pretty, coveted tickets meant only two of our three-member family could go see the Games. I wondered if couples were allowed to bring young children along without a ticket, so we as a family could witness the event that Beijingers say is taking place "on our doorstep".
The taxi driver suggested I call the Olympic ticket hotline (12580) for some tips when I found no answer on the back of the ticket. To my chagrin, only children below the age of 2 could be brought along for free. The driver wished me good luck after I told him mine had finished kindergarten.
The National Stadium, or Bird's Nest, is only 10 minutes drive from where I live. For months, my son has been bombarding me with questions like: "How big is it?" and "Are there really eggs in the Nest?" To the last query, I assured him: "There are surely eggs for people to harvest — athletes will snatch their medals day and night there."
The Bird's Nest shone radiantly red in all its splendor as we drove towards the entrance around 6:30 pm. After a grudgingly long queue wait, it was time for us to pass the security check. I had planned to leave after seeing my son and his mother in. But, as I stood there, in the middle of it all, I became reluctant to miss out on the "once-in-a-lifetime" opportunity. I desperately pulled out the child card.
"Could you let us three in, for we could just manage to get two tickets, and my son is desperate to feel the experience of the Olympics for himself," I heard myself pleading with the guards.
The three of us laughed our way to the M zone of the stadium after a lovely, young ticket checker cleared us by kindly cautioning: "You've got to share the seats."
My son was quick to spot the huge "M" sign, which he compared to the iconic M in McDonald's golden arches.
"This M is in red, not in bright yellow," he bragged of his observation and newly acquired knowledge about the Games. "But McDonald's is a partner of the Beijing Olympics."
Once we passed through, we found ourselves inside a huge arena packed with crowds cheering, applauding and sweating for a bonanza of track and field events unfolding before us. Like thousands of other Chinese spectators, never before had we sat and watched top international sportsmen sprinting, jumping and throwing for gold and glory.
Though sandwiched between us, my son was a cheerleader around us. He clapped his hands vehemently when Zhou Chunxiu picked up her bronze medal on the podium. Zhou won China's first marathon medal on Sunday, and it turned out to be the only medal awarded to a Chinese on Sunday night in the Nest.
My son reacted to all the happenings on the field. He was completely shocked when a hammer-thrower miscalculated his last throw and it crashed into the net. I heard him yelp in astonishment as a steeple chaser hit a real snag — falling to the ground after failing to cross a hurdle in the women's 3,000m steeplechase.
But the thing my son enjoyed most was joining in on the Mexican waves. Spectators stood up row upon row, applauding or yelling with their hands up, when Russia's Gulnara Samitova-Galkina broke the world record, earning her country a gold in the women's 3,000m steeplechase. Slovenia's Primoz Kozmus, winner of the men's hammer throw, followed with a lap of honor, circling the stadium carrying his national flag.