"What Ifs" of Beijing Olympics

1. What if air pollution in Beijing is not getting better? It has been known that every year, some professional athletes going to the Hong Kong Standard Chartered Bank Marathon end up with some health problems, ranging from fainting to heart attacks. Will international athletes die at the Beijing Olympics or at least have their performance negatively affected due to severe air pollution?

2. What if tap water gets polluted? It is known that China under the so-called "communist regime" does not have any good public health care system. Where would international athletes receive medical treatment and at what costs?

3. What if the victims of forced eviction in the name of Olympics protest on the street blocking Marathon runners from finishing their race?

4. What if Taiwan declares itself an independent state permanently departing from Mainland China? Will Beijing Olympics turn out to be the first War Olympics or Invasion Olympics in human history?

5. What if North Korea and Iran announce that they will speed up their nuclear weapon development programs and the U.S. would like China to vote at the UN Security Council for immediate sanction against these countries? Will the U.S. boycott Beijing Olympics at the middle of the game when China declines the sanction proposal?

6. What if reporters from all over the world who go to China insist in reporting news related to Tibet, East Turkistan, and other even more sensitive issues? Will reporters boycott all forms of coverage of Beijing Olympics when some of them are arrested reporting the sensitive issues?

7. What if Olympics catering carelessly feeds international athletes with poisonous food which leads to the death of some of them?

8. What if some of the Olympics constructions collapse due the use of fake or substandard construction materials?

9. What if human right groups march to the street in Beijing protesting against the human right violation by the Chinese Communist Party in China? What if the majority of Chinese demand immediate political reform towards democracy at the middle of the Olympics?

10. What if severe sandstorm continue non-stop for a week?

11. What if college students in Beijing repeat what happened on June 4, 1989?

12. What if the People's Liberation Army officials press a wrong button and launch a missile carrying a nuclear warhead that eventually hits Japan?

13. What if the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Church accuses the Pope of provoking Chinese Catholics to revolt against the Chinese Communist Party? Will the Pope announce a world-wide boycott of the Olympics by all Catholics right at the middle of the Olympics?

14. Will the numerous riots and protests in China get even bigger and more frequent during the Olympic Games? Will the Chinese Communist Party declare Martial Law and impose curfew on all people, including international athletes, in Beijing?

Well, the possibilities seem endless! Perhaps, any imaginative being will be able to create another list that is much longer and much more likely to happen than mine!