- The organizers forgot to thank the American manufacturers Wal-Mart, Mattel and Nike for making the games possible.
- The dancers around the field started out energetic but were doing the ‘Vietnamese hoe shuffle’ by the end of the parade of nations.
- The footprint fireworks looked fake, the cute manga-looking girl lip-synced and most Chinese made light fixtures actually worked.
- The theme of the opening ceremonies covered China’s five great inventions — paper, printing, the compass, gunpowder and slave labour.
- The athlete Zhang Yining didn’t cross his fingers while taking the Olympic oath. He also forgot to give the TV audience a surreptitious wink.
