October 23, 2008 UNC Global News

Anyone who watched the Opening Ceremonies of the 2008 Summer Olympics could not help but feel that they had witnessed an unbelievable moment in history.

Audiences were dazzled as they watched China’s vibrant history and heritage literally come alive in front of their eyes, with thousands of performers, colorful costumes and celebratory music. This extraordinary show of artistic craftsmanship captured the Olympic spirit at its finest, and only seemed to grow and thrive throughout the extraordinary Games in Beijing.

Now imagine having the opportunity to take part in this blockbuster event while still an undergraduate in college.

Such was the case for senior Jesse Gey and sophomore Katelyn Falgowski of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, who played for the U.S women’s field hockey team in the 2008 Summer Games.

"It got really quiet and we all started the U.S.A chant. That was so awesome," said Gey recalling her entrance into the Bird’s Nest at the Opening Ceremonies. "That was one of my favorite parts, right before we walked out, all 500 of us chanting U.S.A. And the rest of it, I don’t really event remember it…it’s hard to put into words."

Gey and Falgowski were among the 20 athletes from UNC who played in the 2008 Olympics, a group which included three undergraduate students and 17 alumni. This extensive Tar Heel presence earned Carolina a top ranking among of colleges with the most athletes in Beijing, a list which included a number of other reputable institutions such as Stanford, University of Southern California and the University of Texas.

However, not all universities can say that they have a gold-medal winning athlete among their current undergraduates. Twenty–year-old Tobin Heath, a junior, was the youngest member of the U.S women’s soccer team to win the gold medal in double overtime against rival Brazil.

And unlike most athletes who spent their full two weeks in Beijing, Heath had the unique opportunity to play matches in cities all over China, allowing her to gain a much broader perspective of the country and culture as a whole. Furthermore, the women’s soccer team was one of the first to arrive in Beijing, and so she was able to catch a glimpse of the city before it was completely buffed and polished in all its Olympic glory.

"When we first got there, the Village wasn’t set up yet, so we got to see Beijing right before the Olympics," said Heath. "Everything was very different when we came back for the semis and finals…It was incredible to see that change."

The biggest transformation Heath noticed was in the amount of pollution, which was a concern for athletes across all disciplines and gained incredible media attention here in the United States. Heath recalled having difficulty making it through the first few practices when she and her team first arrived in Beijing.

However, despite skepticism from the global community, the Chinese managed to control the smog levels in Beijing to the point that athletes, including Gey and Falgowski, who had been forewarned by their coaches that they might have to wear a special mask while they competed, had minimal problems with pollution during the Olympics.

The pollution levels were one of many issues that contributed to this media frenzy surrounding China in the months leading up to the Games. As a result, both athletes admitted that it was difficult to remain open-minded about this country they knew so little about.

"I feel bad because I definitely had the stereotypical opinion of this crazy communist country," said Gey about her initial impressions of China. "But I don’t think my perceptions were very strong going in, so they weren’t very hard to change."

For Heath, who had been to China a few months prior for a tournament, participating in the Olympics gave her a chance to reevaluate her impressions of Beijing and recognize the often narrow-minded lens through which many Americans view the world.

"This experience allowed me to understand and feel compassion for this country that was so different to me than my own," said Heath. "And by talking and becoming close to some of the people of China, it became clear to me that I was unable to really see the beauty of the country because I was arrogant in my own beliefs just because I was from America."

All three athletes left the Olympic Games with a positive impression of China and a fondness for the Chinese people, whom they described as incredibly accommodating, and very eager to show off the many accomplishments of their country. And while Gey, Falgowski and Heath hope to compete in another Olympics in their burgeoning athletic careers, the Summer Games in Beijing allowed them to experience their first taste of the Olympic spirit that they will never forget.

"I think people [athletes] really wanted to make the experience not just about themselves or their sport or winning, but wanted to take in what the whole Olympics is about, which is bringing countries together peacefully and being able to share something so remarkable together…It’s much more than just a gold medal I left with in the end," said Heath.

Perspectives from the Sidelines: Covering the Olympic Games as a Student Journalist

In addition to the Tar Heel presence on the Olympic Green, UNC also managed to make its voice heard in the international media environment as one of a few select universities chosen to send student volunteers to help cover the Summer Games. Led by Professor Charles Tuggle from the School of Journalism and Mass Communication, 30 UNC undergraduate and graduate student reporters joined peers from universities across the U.S, the U.K and Australia, working as flash quote reporters at basketball, baseball and shooting events.

A number of students were also assigned to work in the International Broadcast Center (IBC), the immense media headquarters that housed television and radio journalists from around the world.

"It was also such a cool opportunity as a journalism student to be in that environment, surrounded by journalists and get to soak up what goes into doing what they do at such a high level" said Sarah Scott, a senior public relations major who worked at the IBC this summer.

The student journalists arrived in Beijing in early July, and spent a total of two months immersing themselves in the sights and sounds of China, while preparing for their work at the Summer Games. This extended time in the country allowed the students to gain a deeper understanding of the unique culture, attitudes and mentality of the Chinese people.

Rebecca White, a senior public relations major who split her time between covering basketball and working in the IBC, was struck by how different the mindset of the Chinese people was, particularly in their distinct lack of the American dream mentality that drives so many young students like herself.

"The concept of taking the initiative and of becoming something better than what you are now just does not even exist," said White. "The things that are absolutely at the core of the American dream and the American ideology, how we operate in terms of jobs and the workplace, it doesn’t even exist in China…And so dealing with that was probably the biggest culture shock for me."

The differences in the Chinese mentality and their strict adherence to a system of hierarchy of command in the workplace was also a new and sometimes frustrating reality that many student journalists were faced with, particularly those who worked in the IBC. Scott, who helped man the main help desk, recalled the chains of command she was often forced to go through to find the answer to a simple question or instructions for a particular activity.

"You ask somebody a question and they would go ask their boss and then it would go up like five different levels before you got the answer back. You really couldn’t do anything autonomously because you always had to go through somebody," said Scott. "I got in trouble a couple of times because I would just kind of do something, or say something off the cuff and they would be like no, no, no, you must ask. I would think, you know, it’s not a big deal…at first, it was a little bit hard to take."

Similarly, working closely with a number of Chinese volunteers, the student journalists were able to experience firsthand the nature of the Chinese media environment, which, after a number of years of training for careers in the American media, seemed starkly foreign. White was surprised by the amount of regulation and control that the Chinese government exerts over the media as compared to the U.S. In one particular instance, she recalls being quite taken aback by the reaction of a number of student volunteers to a story on CNN.com about two Chinese women being arrested for protesting.

"They said CNN tells lies about our country and so I don’t think this story is true," said White. "And then they said, you know what, even if this story is true, we don’t like to hear stories like this in China because we believe in the reunification of our country and…we just believe that our government will tell us what we need to know. If our government doesn’t want us to know this story then we don’t want to know it either."

Beyond this relatively strong trust in the government, the student journalists were also surprised and impressed by the immense sense of pride and nationalism that the Chinese population exhibited throughout the games. All three girls remarked on the caliber of the Chinese volunteers, many of them from the top universities in China, and the sheer number who mobilized to aid their country in pulling off this momentous event.

Courtney Woo, a second-year journalism Master’s student, was studying abroad in Beijing when they first received the Olympic bid in 2001 and was excited to return to experience the result of seven years in the making. Furthermore, having worked in China for four years after graduating from Bowdoin College in Maine, Woo provided a unique perspective on Beijing and the immense changes the city has experienced in preparation for the Olympics.

"Parts of it were unrecognizable," said Woo. "Then again, the growth of new, cutting-edge architecture was breathtaking too. With constructions like the Bird’s Nest National Stadium, the National Aquatics Center and the new CCTV Tower, Beijing truly boasts some of the world’s most innovative architectural sites. That being said, the contrast between old Beijing and new Beijing was in some places sharply apparent."

Many of the student reporters, who were visiting China for the first time and lacked Woo’s perspective on Beijing, expressed a desire to return to the city in the future to experience it devoid of the Olympic aura. From the moment that Scott arrived in Beijing, she recognized that she was not seeing the everyday China, but rather an image of the country that the Chinese government wanted the world to see.

"The first weekend we arrived, they took on this three day tour. A lot of it was propaganda, which was really shocking," said Scott. "They were just so ready and wanting to show us Americans what great things they were doing and all their culture…It was like they all knew this was their chance and they were not going to mess it up for anything."

Despite witnessing a slightly unrealistic version of China, Scott acknowledged that she would not have traded her experience for anything and expressed a sense of gratitude for attending a university like UNC that offers unique opportunities for its students to learn and experience other cultures.

"I think having more culturally savvy and knowledgeable students is such an asset to the university and to our country as a whole," said Scott. "I think that the more students who go over there and learn about the culture, the more knowledge we’re going to have back here that we can share with those who don’t go."

Perspectives on the Future: Growing UNC’s Global Reputation in China

For a number of UNC administrators, it was not all fun and games in Beijing. Rather, they used their time to meet with a variety of high-ranking university officials, companies and non-profit organizations in hopes of helping to grow the UNC brand in China.

"We realize that China is going to be a forceful player in the next century," said Peter Coclanis, Associate Provost for International Affairs, and one of the administrators in Beijing this summer. "We have the chance to form a strong relationship with China’s two best schools and a number of very impressive health affairs units in Beijing as well, so we decided to go for it."

Dr. William Roper, Dean of the UNC Medical School and CEO of UNC Healthcare, accompanied Coclanis to Beijing along with Tom Martineau, Carolina’s China Projects Manager. While experiencing the Olympic Games was an added benefit, Dean Roper’s primary reason for going to Beijing was to enhance his understanding of UNC’s global health initiatives in China. Having not visited the country in more than 15 years, he was amazed to the see the transformation of Beijing, likening the change to a small town like Carrboro, N.C. becoming New York City in little over a decade. Even Coclanis, who visits China approximately every year for business, remarked at the rapidity of change in China’s infrastructure that seemed especially apparent on this particular trip.

"Beijing is really a city that in 20 years has been transformed from this drab, non-descript large dull city to one of the most thriving and architecturally distinctive cities in the world. The infrastructure in China, both the roads and the airport terminals, make America seem a little bit behind the times, like we’re the third world place," said Coclanis.

Dean Roper, Martineau and Coclanis made the most of their two weeks in Beijing, meeting first with administrators from China’s top universities, including Peking University, Tsinghua University and Peking Union Medical College, to discuss the potential for a future partnership between UNC and these world-renowned institutions.

"These partnerships will enhance the possibility of our faculty doing research in China with faculty at these institutions. It will enhance the possibility of faculty exchanges…and it will most immediately raise the possibility of student exchanges," said Dean Roper.

"I think it’s largely the company you keep that helps you to raise your profile, "Coclanis added. "I think by partnering with these really top quality schools, we get access to not only the intellectual firepower, but the political and social connections that they have as well."

In addition to academic institutions, Dean Roper met with a number of international companies, including Lenovo who has strong ties to UNC through the Carolina Computing Initiative. He also met with non-profit organizations, Project Hope and Family Health International, both of which have connections to North Carolina and whose goals are very much in tune with UNC’s interest in global health initiatives.

"What we were trying to do is meet with people who have connections here at UNC who are also doing work in China, so that we can further this notion of partnerships for us in China," said Dean Roper. "The university has a commitment to globalization…and so we want to do as many things as possible to make the university a global institution."

Despite a full schedule, Dean Roper and Coclanis were able to take in some of the Olympic action and experience a number of the sights that Beijing has to offer. Though Coclanis has spent considerable time in the country, he was surprised at how much the Olympic spirit had inundated every aspect of life, particularly in the attitudes and actions of the Chinese people.

"They were incredibly concerned that you had a good impression of China and that you were impressed by the efforts and results of their 40 billion dollar campaign for the Olympics," said Coclanis. "And at the athletic events themselves, there was this almost scary amount of Chinese nationalism in the audiences. There was this visceral coming of age of this super power, and you really saw it. That’s what they intended to do and they did a good job."

All three administrators left with a positive impression of China and perhaps more importantly, high hopes for the future of a stronger relationship between UNC and this rising world power. With its impressive academics and healthy economic environment, exploring partnerships in China will be beneficial to the university as a whole, especially as UNC continues to establish and grow its reputation as a global institution.

"It was an incredible time to be in China, because one could see both the present condition and the future potential of China at large in the face of Beijing in such a short period of time," said Coclanis. "It’s definitely one of the real places where the narrative of the 21st century is being written and it’s important for us, if we want to be a major university, to have a significant position there."

- Story by Robyn Mitchell '09