The Beijing Olympics opened last week in an awesome display of history, pageantry and fireworks, and as you flip through this issue, tales of epic glory are somersaulting throughout the Games’ venues. But in all of China’s intricate Olympic precaution and preparation – which the media’s dressed appropriately in wartime discourse - I wonder whether they’re steamrolling over the fact that for many the glory and heroics come with simply participating. This sentiment is especially forgettable in our hyper-rational modern world where everything’s evaluated by cold figures, and we must take these couple weeks in August to recall the myth, wonderment, and recognition of human limitation of the Olympics, where it is equally as important to take part as it is to win. Will the crowds in China appreciate the likes of the UK ski jumper Eddie ‘The Eagle’ Edwards and his Equatorial Guinean swimmer counterpart Eric ‘The Eel’ Moussambani? Well, regardless of whether most spectators even recognize these names, I hope that Beijing’s audience won’t fall through with the promise of ‘One world, one dream’ by refusing to share the Olympic platform with the unknown underdogs who enter the Games with no higher ambition than to join in solidarity with international athletes and perhaps to indulge in a few moments of personal glory.

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