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    Back to To the Point

    To the Point

    The Beijing Olympics: Promises and Realities

    "Beijing Welcomes the World" is the slogan everywhere in China's capital with the Summer Olympic s scheduled to start just over a month from today. In order to get the Games, China promised it would be clean, green and accessible, but not all its commitments are being kept.

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    By Warren Olney • May 12, 2014 • 1 min read

    "Beijing Welcomes the World" is the slogan everywhere in China's capital with the Summer Olympics scheduled to start just over a month from today. In order to get the Games, China promised it would be clean, green and accessible, but not all its commitments are being kept. Some $40 billion in US dollars have been spent on space-age venues and infrastructure, including the world's largest airport. But competitors are worried about air pollution; tight new visa requirements are keeping travelers away and media coverage may be severely restricted. We hear about those issues and ask which athletes are the ones to watch. How's the US expected to do? Are the Olympics always as much about politics as athletics?

    The full episode

    2 of 3
    The Beijing Olympics: Promises and Realities
    1. 1:40Tour Extension for Troops in Afghanistan
    2. 7:47The Beijing Olympics: Promises and RealitiesYou’re reading this
    3. 44:33Patriotism and the Presidential Campaign
    • https://images.ctfassets.net/2658fe8gbo8o/AvYox6VuEgcxpd20Xo9d3/769bca4fbf97bf022190f4813812c1e2/new-default.jpg?h=250

      Warren Olney

      former KCRW broadcaster

    • KCRW placeholder

      Katie Cooper

      Producer, 'One year Later'

    • KCRW placeholder

      Karen Radziner

      Managing Producer, To the Point & Which Way LA?

    • KCRW placeholder

      David Wallechinsky

      International Society of Olympics Historians

    • KCRW placeholder

      John Hoberman

      University of Texas at Austin

    • KCRW placeholder

      Rebecca Blumenstein

      Wall Street Journal

      NewsNationalPolitics

    The full episode

    2 of 3
    The Beijing Olympics: Promises and Realities
    1. 1:40Tour Extension for Troops in Afghanistan
    2. 7:47The Beijing Olympics: Promises and RealitiesYou’re reading this
    3. 44:33Patriotism and the Presidential Campaign
    Back to To the Point