TODAY IN Beijing when the stadium lights are dimmed, the Olympic flag is raised and the iconic flame is lit, the Chinese government and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) will heave a sigh of relief that at last sport can take centre stage at the most controversial Olympics of recent times.
After a seven-year build-up dominated by politics and non-sporting issues, the athletes have their chance to reclaim the world's greatest sporting event. Protests over Tibet, doubts over improvements in Chinese human rights, anger over the forced movement of millions of Beijing citizens and suspicions that the games budget has reached a staggering €100 billion can be put aside, if only temporarily, as the spotlight switches to the participants and events that drive the Olympic concept.
Over the next 16 days, billions of viewers across the world will be captivated as the best sportsmen and women from a record 204 countries compete in a spectacle that will deliver everything from the bizarre to the breathtaking.
The Olympic Games may have grown too fat, too commercial and too chauvinistic but they still provide a celebration worth cherishing as athletes perform before the biggest audience of their lives. Years of tough training, relentless dedication and Spartan lifestyles will be condensed into hours, minutes and even seconds for a shot at sporting immortality.
In 99 per cent of cases, this effort will end in failure if the sole criterion is winning medals. However, the Olympics has always fostered the concept of participation rather than winning. For all its flaws, the IOC has remained steadfast in encouraging this ideal. And preserving it will ultimately determine the survival of the modern Olympic movement. The games will always have to deal with political issues, drug scandals and accusations of being a propagandist tool and more a festival of commerce than sport. But it is doubtful whether they could endure if they lost the unique appeal that comes with being an Olympian.
In that context, the Irish participation should be judged by how many of the 50-strong team achieve personal best performances. With over €100 million invested in them over the last four years, it is the least the public should expect, notwithstanding the difficult climatic conditions they will encounter in China.
In due course, too, there will be a more fundamental reckoning - whether the decision to give the games to China has encouraged the growth of more independent thought there by requiring its government to confront human rights issues more openly. Governments the world over compete for the games to enhance their domestic prestige and international standing. China is no different. But it would be wrong to underestimate the immense feeling of national pride involved for ordinary Chinese citizens who see the games as a symbol of their country's recent extraordinary achievements.
That is the basis on which constructive criticism should be made of how China has handled the Olympics. But it is for another day. For now, let the show begin.