By Danny Vincent
Korea Times Correspondent
BEIJING ― An Olympic Games has the ability to change many things at once. It seems that the 29th has been a long time coming. Each day that passes in Beijing something noticeable is different.
The anticipation that the Games bring to China is matched only by the rest of the world's.
It's the talking point of the whole globe and is now less than a month away. And today Beijing is a city under construction; the 21st century city in waiting.
Two decades ago it was Seoul. It was the South Korean capital's chance to showcase the achievements of economic progress, and play host to the world. Some similarities can be drawn.
The 1988 Olympics was exciting and competitive and spelt the end of the amateur nature of the Games. The sentiment in Beijing, from athletes locked into the last stretch of intense training to residents with tickets to entrepreneurs who have built their businesses around the Games is that it gives the nation one chance and two and a half weeks to show the world they have arrived.
It will bring tourists, businessmen, journalists and a comparatively small number of highly tuned athletes to a single city to thrash it out.
It will take President Lee Myung-bak to the opening ceremony on August 8 and it may even indirectly bring George W Bush to South Korea as part of his Olympic schedule, the White House recently announced.
Living in Beijing before the Games is like living inside a secret, which is about to get found out. China has worked endlessly for what is being described as its most international event in its history.
It is a chance for the nation to create some new perceptions of the country and take its place amongst the most powerful nations on earth. It is also a chance to fight back against criticism from the west.
Preparations are nearing an end. The government is extremely confident that things are on track. The city has built subway lines, developed roads and opened a new airport terminal to improve Beijing's transport system for tourists. 'The Birds Nest' stadium is complete and has already hosted events this year.
Thousands of police and military will be on the streets of Beijing providing security for the Olympic and Paralympics. It seems that almost every company in built up areas of the city is somehow a sponsor of the Games, despite the fact that besides Los Angeles, no other Olympic city has ever made a profit out of hosting the competition, and that was because it developed the facilities that it already had rather than building stadiums from scratch.
On the ground level there is also confidence in Beijing. "The Olympics will show the world China's achievements," says a young student who will be volunteering for the Games in the city.
In shopping districts in central Beijing, people are out in force despite the constant construction work. Official Olympic Games stores are packed with locals buying merchandise that was designed for tourists. Bars have been built in loss making areas in the hope that they will become popular watering holes during the Games.
Students wait outside western fast food outlets at the off chance that a foreigner may speak to them, so they can practice their English. Posters of China's athletes are plastered across walls in subway stations, which themselves have been built for the competition. New subway lines pop up, and maps disappear frequently from walls at stations as they are updated.
But it takes a trained eye to see that Beijing is preparing for something much more than the Olympic Games. Much of the construction in the city has little to do with it. There has now been a three-month ban on construction in Beijing to let the dust settle, so to speak.
The Beijing Olympics is the first of its kind. It is the first Games hosted by a developing nation. In the last 30 years China has made unprecedented progress. But it is the next three decades that may be even more crucial. The Beijing Olympics punctuates the aspirations of a nation.
For South Korea it offers the chance to reach the elusive 10 gold medals mark. At the 2004 Olympics in Athens, South Korea won 30 medals (9 gold, 12 silver and 9 bronze). table tennis, judo, wrestling all offer strong prospects.
South Korean swimmers will also be in Beijing with force.
Swimmer Park Tae-hwan will have a chance to help the country raise its medal tally as will table tennis player Lee Hye-jin, and Lee Won-hee and Hwang Hee-tae from the judo team are also looking to take home a medal a piece. Football also offers hope. South Korea's squad is expecting to get some strong results.
National pride is a hard thing to put into context but the games provides a convenient way to measure this.
China hopes to come top of the table ranking, beating the U.S. In 2004 the U..S topped the bill with a total of 103 medals (35 gold, 39 silver and 29 bronze) while China came second with 63 medals (32 gold, 17 silver and 14 bronze).
In less than a month the world will see what a nation has and will have the potential to become. Many questions will be asked and answered over that time. But one thing is for sure, and that is that the Games will be remembered and will be a turning point of some sort for China and the rest of the world.