SPORTS
March 7, 2022
THE ASIAN REPORTER n Page 13
Supporting
Oregonians
COPING WITH PROBLEM GAMBLING
HISTORIC SITE. The Juyongguan section of the Great Wall is seen on a trip for journalists covering the
2022 Winter Olympics last month on the outskirts of Beijing. A group of 60 athletes and journalists were given an
opportunity to visit a section of the wall, making them among the few Olympic visitors able to experience the real
thing. (AP Photo/Chisato Tanaka)
Coping
Beijing snapshot: Great Wall,
a symbol of China’s strength
By Ragan Clark
The Associated Press
J
UYONGGUAN, China — Beijing’s
famous landmarks were, for the
most part, outside the Olympic
bubble, including the Great Wall, the
ultimate symbol of Chinese history and
strength.
A group of 60 athletes and journalists
were given an opportunity to visit a section
of the wall, making them among the few
Olympic visitors able to bypass the virtual
tours and cardboard cutouts of the wall in
the Olympics media center and experience
the real thing.
The group climbed the ancient steps of
the Juyong Pass, just outside Beijing, a
small taste of China outside the bubble
that was made possible by closing off a
portion during their visit, in keeping with
the strict COVID-19 protocols imposed by
the government.
Stretching thousands of miles along the
crests of ridgelines and mountaintops, the
wall has stood as a barrier protecting the
Chinese capital for more than 2,000 years.
It stood through dynasties and discoveries.
And now, it has seen two Olympics.
For those lucky enough to get on the bus
for the tour, the rough-hewn stone and
dramatic vistas offered a stark contrast to
the sterilized, modernized version of
China that was on display inside the
Olympic loop, where robots did everything
from dunking fries in oil to scuttling
around, collecting trash.
The country is expert in powerful
gestures, whether through dazzling
displays of light and fireworks during the
opening ceremony, or a wall constructed
over centuries through the labors of
millions. And while cooking robots may be
flashy, nothing compares to the grandeur
of the Great Wall.
Ragan Clark is a New-York based AP journalist on
assignment in Beijing for the Winter Olympics.
“Close door” — so much more than a button
By Howie Rumberg
Activities that help us cope
with the things we can’t
control are generally posi-
tive choices. Sometimes,
however, those activities
themselves become
difficult to control.
For some, gambling can
turn from a fun distraction
into something that feels
increasingly out of control.
The Associated Press
EIJING — It’s only
a button.
Or is it?
You’re fenced off from
the people and places that
make Beijing, well, Beijing.
You’re cut off from much of
the world by the Great
Firewall. You’re swabbed
and sterilized daily as part
of a “zero COVID” policy.
Or you’re the recipient of a
too-enthusiastic pat-down
each morning and a cheery,
computer-generated thank
you every time a scanner
records your movements
from room to room.
In a world like this, the
slightest bit of agency
matters.
At an Olympics in a pan-
demic run by an authori-
tarian state in a fashion
only this authoritarian
state could pull off, some
stuck in the “closed loop”
found it in the elevator.
The “close door” button.
That button in so many
elevators around the world
that is more source of frus-
tration than hurry-up tool
works perfectly here and in
many places across Asia.
B
Help is Available
CLOSE DOOR. A poster of Bing Dwen Dwen, the Beijing Winter
Olympics mascot, is seen last month inside an elevator. At an Olympics
in a pandemic run by an authoritarian state in a fashion only this authori-
tarian state could pull off, some stuck in the “closed loop” found a short
escape in the elevator. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
Americans: Think of all from your hotel that you
the times you press, press, can’t walk to because of the
press that button hoping to inflexibility of the Olympic
shave a few seconds off an “bubble?” The button.
The persistent robot
already dicey arrival time
at work, and you end up roaming the hotel and
cursing
an
inanimate spraying a mist — rumored
to be some COVID-
object.
preventing concoction —
Not in Beijing.
Late for dinner in the coming for the elevator?
restaurant with the plexi- Press it.
In an everyday world
glass dividers as thick as
hockey boards separating where so much is available
you from your dining at a tap of a button, you
companions? A press of the forget how satisfying the
button at least gives that immediacy of acquiring
illusion you’re doing every- things is — until that
ability is taken from you.
thing you can to make it.
The “close door” button
Feeling rushed to make
the bus that will take you to restores that faith, if only
the building about 250 feet for a moment.
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Here in Oregon, help is
available. Through the Oregon
Problem Gambling Resource
(OPGR), gamblers and those
who love them can get support
from trained addiction counselors,
often right from home. Treatment
is effective. People are ready and
waiting to provide better mechanisms
to cope and to heal. And, best
of all, it’s free.
All it takes is a phone call,
a text, or an online chat
to get started. Reach out.
You’re not alone.
For more information, visit