Michael Phelps and American Face

Two Chinese girls inspect an Omega ad featuring American Olympian, Michael Phelps. For the past four years I've been hearing rumors that China would defeat the USA in the Olympics. Last week those boasts became a reality. The final medal count saw China lead the world in Gold medals with 51, to the USA's 36. Some web pages like Chris Chase's "The Real Medal Count" are indignant that China disproportionately won in judged events. However the fact remains that 2008 is the first time in 16 years that Team USA has not led the Olympics in Gold Medals, and represents China's best Olympic performance to date. The overall medal count saw American men and women's teams carry equal weight with 53 medals each and one Mixed event to bring the total US medal count to 110, against China's total medal count of 100.

The me generation continues. Weren't we all taught in Business 101 about Hoftstede's Five Cultural Dimensions that states that Asian Societies are Collectivist or more integrated into strong cohesive groups. How come China's athletes performed gloriously in individual competitions and fared dismally in most of the team based sports? For example, China's first gold medal went to a petite, 106 pound, female weightlifter named Chen XieXia who hoisted an amazing 258 pounds! How about those other collectivistic sport records for China? The Chinese athletes took home Gold in more individual than team sports including men's 56, 62, 69kg Weightlifting, Lightfly Boxing, Canoe, Horizontal Bar Gymnastics, Fencing, and the women's Taekwondo, Judo, 50M Pistol, 10M Rifle Shooting, and Archery et al. Table Tennis, Badminton and Gymnastics were the main team sports for Team China. As a contrast, the 'individualistic' USA performed extremely well in team-based sports such as, Water Polo, Volleyball, Softball, Team Fencing, Eight person Rowing, Basketball and Relay Swimming! Of course that last sport SWIMMING, redeemed Team USA for our unique brand of American individualism. Yes, Michael Phelps, keeping true to his word, won eight Gold medals.

Those familiar with Chinese culture know that the word eight in Chinese is the character 八 pronounced 'bā' which phonetically sounds similar to the first syllable in 发财 'fă cái ', which means rich or fortune. Eight is so revered that license plates with the number eight have been auctioned for small fortunes. When I arrived in China in 2005 I went to a shop to buy a SIM card with an associated phone number. I asked the sales clerk why some of the SIM cards were much cheaper than others. He replied that phone numbers were unlucky if they had a four within the number because the Chinese word for four is 四 'sì', which phonetically sounds similar to 死 'sĭ ' meaning death. I was told people would be disinclined to call me if I had a number of unlucky fours. Consequently phone numbers with fours were highly discounted. I ended up paying a premium for a more expensive phone number with three eights in it because I was told people, particularly ladies, would be more keen to call me!

Some people are calling Phelps '八th' Olympic Gold win, one of the greatest moments in sports. During this 200八 Olympics, Phelps achievement may be the strongest case for the continuation of what many people see as an epic American ideology, that the individual through their own means can stand up work hard, work hard, work hard and obtain their rightful American Dream. But we need to look carefully at the changes on the horizon. The architects of China's breathtaking Olympic venues are the same masterminds responsible for China's rising economic power and increasingly materialistic society. The me generation of China doesn't seem bent on political reform, but is passionate about rising to the top. The Olympic athletes are the tip of the iceberg, and despite Phelps saving USA 'face' at the Beijing Olympics, the state of the art sports venues, the fireworks, the red flag waving masses, are confirming that with each appreciation of the PRC currency - the Renminbi, with each manned space flight, the Chinese people are creating their own unique brand of China Dream.

Are the little girls admiring Michael Phelps' photo, or thinking what glory awaits their future?