REPORTING FROM ... THE BEIJING AIRPORT

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"I think I'm gonna need my inhaler."

One thing's for sure. The Olympics have put the excitement back into deplaning. And after 13 hours stuffed into an aluminum tube with hundreds of other fliers, a little excitement is welcome.

Customs is easy enough, and the luggage is delayed long enough to tell you China is now a part of the modern world. The Beijing Terminal 3 is lovely, too, all gleaming and high-roofed, with its painted steel trusses and supports echoing the structure of a giant, sunlit bamboo palace.

But the coolest thing about getting here, at least if you have an Olympic credential, is the walk to ground transportation. Dozens if not hundreds of people line the way in the terminal on either side of you, standing behind barriers, taking pictures and waving. There's even an official media area full of video cameras and mikes. It's like a red carpet, without the carpet, but with an airy modernist ceiling.

Once off the plane, we had a shuttle bus to the housing all to ourselves. Except for Li Jia, a very nice volunteer helper and engineering student at the Beijing University of Aerospace and Aeronautics. He said a lot of people today were waiting for the USA basketball team to arrive. Why? Because the Chinese love 'em! Li also informed us that Yao Ming is popular, though not as popular as Jordan, and that hurdler Liu Xiang "has a heavy burden."

And then we read about cyclist Sarah Hammer and her teammates getting in some hot political soup for coming off the plane with a mask—because of, we assume, the pollution—then throwing out the Games first apology. (Wednesday, it really was polluted—like Pittsburgh-in-1920 polluted. It was so bad you could feel the air in your mouth. We've tasted better.)

And then we read about Darfur activist and former Olympian Joey Cheek, who couldn't even get on the plane. The Chinese government denied him a visa, not because of, we assume, the pollution.

Two days til opening ceremonies, and we've already got two bona fide controversies.

Mark it down. Greatest. Games. Evah!

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