Aug 21 2008
Adding Gas
The Australian basketball team is beating Russia by 20 points at the start of the 4th quarter. In the upper reaches of the stands, the crowd is unified in the Chinese chant: “Eluosi, jiayou!” (Literally, “Russia, add gas!”) The call to “add gas” is the most standard of cheers here. The cheering Chinese are lead by a diminutive man who is turning red in the face as he madly waves his Russian flag. The pockets of Russians in the stands have their own cheer (chanting the Russian word for the motherland: “Ro-see-ya! Ro-see-ya!”), but evidently the Chinese cheerleaders feel the Russian fans need a helping hand. Jiayou, Russia, add gas!
American fans with Chinese backup at the US-Japan women's soccer game.
In keeping with the Olympic spirit, Chinese organizers are guaranteeing that every venue is electric and every team has fans. You can be guaranteed that when a Chinese team or athlete is involved, the stands are alive with red flags, stickers, face paint and noisemakers. The presence of a Chinese star, like diver Guo Jingjing or gymnast Yang Wei, makes domestic fans positively apoplectic with joy. But even at China’s weaker events, such as water polo, spectators show up in throngs and if they cannot cheer for their own team, they are more than happy to cheer for someone else’s.