China's authoritarian Government fears glitches from local fans attending unfamiliar sports like baseball, sailing or field hockey.
Cheering at the wrong moment, taking photos when they're prohibited or cellphones going off as swimmers teeter on the starting blocks are potential snags that could draw negative coverage.
At a
field hockey test this summer between Argentina and Australia, hundreds of middle-age women were bussed in to add atmosphere - the kind of instant numbers only China can muster.
The women tried to imitate cheers in Spanish, but got it wrong.
"Ba mao si fen han de di le," they chanted, which in Chinese could roughly mean: "Eighty-four cents, you've offered a price too low." Nobody could figure out what this had to do with field hockey.
Golf isn't an Olympic event, but players often complain that Chinese fans breach the game's etiquette.
"The good thing is we do have a lot of fans following us," Chinese veteran golfer Zhang Lianwei said at a recent tournament. "The bad thing is they are so excited and yell at all times."
Chen Xiaohai, a 25-year-old accountant, acknowledged she wasn't familiar with all Olympic sports. She thought snooker was in the Olympics and confessed to being stumped about the equestrian events.
If there's trouble, it could come in soccer - or any team event in which Japan participates. Scuffles with police and general chaos erupted in Beijing in 2004 after Japan defeated China to win Asia's soccer title. Japan was peppered with insults three months ago at the women's world cup in China, and fans jeered Japan's anthem.
Shouting obscenities at opposing players is common in Chinese soccer. Beijing's top club team, Guo'an, plays at the Feng Tai stadium, which is draped with huge signs urging good behaviour and has dozens of security cameras. "Be civilised when you watch the match. Don't get angry about the results," one banner reads. Another banner in Chinese was recently removed. It read: "Welcome to Hell."
