Oklahoma Olympians set for today's opening

Zhen Zhu has analyzed international economics, examined business statistics, even completed quantitative forecasting.

A longtime economics professor, he's used to looking at issues and seeing the green. What are the costs? What are the benefits?

What is the bottom line?

Ask about the Olympics, though, and Zhu struggles to evaluate them in financial terms. Looking at the multibillion dollar venture that begins tonight in Beijing, he fails to see dollar signs.

"Money may not be the only way to measure success,” he said, sitting in his on-campus office at the University of Central Oklahoma.

Then again, these Olympics are not a business transaction to Zhu.

They are personal.

Even though Zhu moved from China to the United States more than two decades ago, he still takes great pride in his homeland hosting these Olympics. He is excited about the possibilities.

Zhu might be half a world away from the Olympics, but he is still very much a part. Ditto for the other 3.3 million Chinese living in the U.S., including about 7,000 in Oklahoma.

"This is a really great, exciting event ... not just for Chinese people that live in China but for people outside,” he said. "We certainly feel the pride.”

China, after all, has been preparing for these Olympics for more than seven years, but it has been laying the groundwork for decades. Back in 1993, Beijing bid to host the 2000 Olympics, pressing its proposal aggressively in hopes of gaining international respect for a modernized China. It won the first three rounds of voting, but in the fourth and decisive round, Beijing lost out to Sydney.

The deficit — two votes.

China's poor human rights record became a sticking point for too many voters.

When Beijing entered the bidding for the 2008 Olympics, China had only slightly better marks in human rights, but it was enough to land the bid.

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