KEY POINTS:
China stayed at home and conquered the Olympics - but while the rest of the world came, it didn't get to see.
The host nation scooped 51 gold medals at the Olympics which was no surprise. China knows how to get things done because it acts in a
ruthless unison.
What lives beyond this cliche though? Because my impression is that the Chinese athletes were seen by the west as automatons, that their achievements were predetermined by the state and that human endeavour had little to do with it.
Jacques Rogge, the once promising but now embarrassing head of the IOC, can yell all he likes about sport's ability to break down barriers. "Sport unites by overriding national, political, religious and language barriers," he claimed, and not without some justification. But the Olympics barely scratched a few itches on the surface when it came to our view of the hosts.
The most cohesive forces in the world, surely, are insight, understanding and tolerance.
When people are fearful of each other and hide behind typecasts, any problems get worse. And the Chinese have remained typecast throughout this festival.
Barriers need to be broken. That is why many people are hoping that Barack Obama wins the United States presidency.
He is, unfortunately, appearing more as a consummate politician rather than a visionary healer. But at least Obama represents a chance to break down barriers between races and religions.
The strange and disappointing hangover from these Olympics is that most of us, maybe all of us, are no closer to understanding daily life in China and what makes the Chinese citizens tick than we were before the Games. What are the impressions that we have been left with?
That their Government is madly and at times brutally oppressive, that they will use young children - in this case gymnasts - to cheat the system, that life there is one of robotic drudgery, that the Chinese people are willing, blinkered participants in this totalitarian state. A stereotype, in the same way that every Arab you've ever seen in an American movie is a sleazy bad guy.
In other words, the bright and breezy Olympic front was a grand Potemkin project that didn't work. The Chinese ended up shitting in their own Birds Nest. And no one found anything that lies in between.
Out of the myriad of medals won by the Chinese, how many led to stories that helped us understand the lives that are led by the athletes, let alone the people?
The world would know more about Usain Bolt than the entire Chinese team.
The only television coverage I could find outside of the arenas showed Chinese people who had been done down by the authorities. It was a badge of honour probably for the media to beat censorship rules and bring the "real" China into our living rooms.
But the impression I am left with is that the western media has gone out of its way to demonise China, that anything positive about the country was either deleted or else treated with suspicion or derision.
If coverage of the 2012 Olympics in London matches that from Beijing, all of England will be portrayed as fish-and-chip munching malcontents who only get their energy levels up when its time to have a pint down the pub before racing home to watch Coro Street. Their athletes will all be men and women who have risen above humorous slobbery. Yeah, right.
China is actually run by a terrible, secretive and controlling regime, and has only itself to blame for creating an image that its people are worker ants with personalities to match. So this is not to defend the Chinese Government nor blame our media for failing to penetrate that.
It's just that the Olympic movement's claims of anything significant to the contrary are nonsense.
Many westerners see China as a scary monster. Until we see the Chinese as individuals, as fellow human beings, then not much progress is going to be made. And I don't think any progress was made on that score during the past few weeks. There was a lack of humanity associated with China's athletes.
The positive aspect about the Olympics is that despite all the fractures, the planet can still get together for a sporting ceremony, even if it is run by a grandiose IOC intent on building increasingly flashier monuments in their name.
A repeatedly heartwarming sight was the respect shown between the athletes - a handshake here, a hug there. And this respect between nations is not to be sneezed at, although the athletes undoubtedly treat these things on individual terms.
The world needs as many opportunities as possible to unite.
But as the great unifying force the IOC president Rogge claims it to be, the Olympics are vastly over rated. My impression is that the West and China remain poles apart when it comes to us seeing the Chinese as real people. As for how they view us and their own lives, I'm still not too sure. Which is at the heart of the matter.
* On the same theme ...
"You have showed us the unifying power of sport,' screamed the IOC's Rogge at the Olympic closing.
If the Olympics have such power in their grasp, how come they couldn't get Led Zeppelin back together again. Jimmy Page playing half a song doesn't cut it pal. What next? One of the Everly Brothers for London.
* A verdict on the sport - mainly terrific. It was an entertaining couple of weeks for this non-compulsive Olympic watcher. The whole drama is worth the wait, from the the best of the sport to the worst of it and all the sideshows in between.
The highlight was the rowing gold medal won by Georgina and Caroline Evers-Swindell for the simple reason that it was sport at its finest, a contest in which you have a heavy investment, a comeback story, a thrilling finish, and a memory to last a lifetime. Peter Montgomery's mis-call on the final tense moments was a disaster, and yet it is already part of the legend. Montgomery can look back on many fine yachting calls to balance the ledger. But it was Germany first, Britain second, New Zealand third and the art of commentary a distant last unfortunately.
It's the whole package that makes the Olympics so fascinating. From Mahe Drysdale's illness to the rise and rise of Hayden Roulston. There was volleyball (not the sandy stuff) and table tennis that had me enthralled, and in Usain Bolt a sprinter who no one will forget. Michael Phelps was also unforgettable but all that swimming, with its endless divisions, left me a bit cold.
If they divvie up the track sprints into 50, 100, 125, 175, 200 metres and running sideways, frontwards, backwards and so on, Bolt would be drowning in gold. Come to think of it, he should have got an extra gong considering he turned the end of the 100m into a sort of breaststroke.
* Other memories: A headline screamed that Bolt trained on grass. This could have a few meanings for a Jamaican. Scandal averted though - it turns out Bolt trains on a grass track.
* More memories: A taekwondo bout involving a New Zealand woman ranks as THE most bizarre primetime sport in history. It involved a lot of screeching and a referee pleading for the combatants to fight. After three rounds it was nil-all, at which point a commentator revealed that it was back to zero for extra time. Mate, it was already zero.
* As for the TVNZ coverage: They got a few things wrong but Peter Williams was a marvellous frontman and Anthony Mosse again excelled at the swimming. The star was Mark Watson, who did a fantastic, detailed job at the cycling and triathlons. What this guy doesn't know about a wheel isn't worth knowing.
And best of all, the Olympics are about the right length unlike a few world championships, with cricket the major offender in the over-tossed department.
* Sports to throw out: Rhythmic gymnastics - if they want rope chuckers then get rodeo in there because it's way more exciting. Boxing - too dodgy. Football - we've got a high profile World Cup already. Tennis - meaningless. Beach volleyball - the ancient Greeks had it right. Badminton - shouldn't be allowed out of church halls. Mountain biking - the world can't afford to waste police marker tape like that. BMX - skateboarding is better unless you are bowled over by it in the street. (Stop Press: A bloke has just walked by claiming that rhythmic gymnastics was one of the stars of the game. It takes all sorts).
* And finally: what is all this fuss about a silly photo taken by our swimmers during post-Olympic revelry. Who cares? Get a life.
