ARE THESE OLYMPICS OVER YET? THEY'RE NOT PERMANENT, ARE THEY?

When will the huge ad campaign for the "New" China end? They're also called the Summer Olympics in Beijing, sort of a subtext in the mammoth "Hurray For China" promotion. Okay, some kid won a bunch of gold medals swimming, Chinese acrobats got their usual acclaim, gigantic American basketball stars are playing the part of the Harlem Globetrotters and making the rest of the world look like the Washington Generals and some steroid-crazed sprinters are outpacing thoroughbred race horses. Whoopee. Happens every four years. The only difference is that when it happens somewhere other than China the athletes are the big story, the city they happen to be in a curious sidebar to the games themselves.

For some reason, the Summer Olympics goes to major cities, and the cities sort of take it in stride. It's an honor, of course, they try to present themselves in the best light, but the Olympics doesn't make or break the general impressions, good or bad, of Athens, Los Angeles, Sydney, Rome or Montreal. They are what they are and need no reinvention, in their own or anyone else's minds. It's the Winter Olympics that go to cities with something to prove, places that are desperate to show the world that they matter. And for a couple of weeks, they do. Then they don't anymore.

Has Nagano been dominating any headlines lately? Lillehammer? Albertville? Squaw Valley? How about Cortina d'Ampezzo in Italy? Is that town siphoning off the lion's share of tourists from Rome and Florence? Lake Placid reverted to living up to its name immediately after they snuffed the Olympic torch. Twice. How about Sarajevo? They had to resort to genocide to garner world attention. Then there's a couple of cities in Canada, Calgary and Vancouver, that immediately resumed their former anonymity after the Winter Olympics, just the way Canadians prefer it. And if you're not an avid skier, there's no reason to visit Innsbruk, Camonix, Sapporo or Grenoble or Salt Lake City, to say nothing, or at least as little as possible, about Garmisch Partenkirchen, Germany.

That's why New York City doesn't host these things, Summer or Winter Games. Don't need 'em. We've already got our identity and besides, they'd only get in the way. You'd think Beijing would fall into that category too, what with it's 12 million inhabitants and being the capital of nation of 1.3 billion people and the home of the Forbidden City and having lots of other things going for it. But it wasn't Beijing who clamored for the games and the new stadiums and the archery ranges and swimming pools and running tracks, it was the government of China seeking a shortcut to world respect. Not content with having become a financial powerhouse, they want the world to like them too.

The only problem is, the world already liked Chinese people just fine, it's their government nobody can stand, and with a long list of good reasons. All the fireworks displays and modern stadiums in the world can't wash the stench off the Chinese tyrants. Not the current business-suited smiley faces or the past Mao-suited frowny face types. Killing millions and millions of your own countrymen sort of tarnishes your reputation, as does imprisoning anybody who expresses an opinion contrary to their own. Child labor doesn't exactly endear a nation to civilized society. Having 40% of the world's poorest people within your borders doesn't exactly jibe with the image being fabricated for the New China. Sounds like a lot of the same old, same old, with fireworks and medal ceremonies.

So congratulations athletes, winners and also-rans, for a job well done. It isn't easy walking slow in the toxic, chunky-style air of Beijing, never mind all that running and jumping around. You represented your nations on the world stage superbly and for that you should be proud. As for the host? When (and if, it seems) these games end, well, what are we to think of China? Pretty much what we thought before, that there's a nation full of bright, curious, talented and friendly people saddled with a government that would just as soon poison them as look at them, lock any of them up for pointing out the obvious and not caring a damn which of them lives or dies. Screw the Chinese government, and Let the Games End. Who's kidding who?