I had that sneaky feeling that journalists who covered the Beijing Olympics were so overwhelmed that they ran short of the necessary vocabulary to describe what the Chinese presented to the world as hosts of the 29th Olympiad. Beautiful,awesome,spectacular and fantastic were the commonest adjectives one could hear on Radio and TV throughout the Games as the Chinese dazzled the world with high tech sports facilities and an amazing opening and closing ceremony akin to the science fiction James Bond movies of old.

I pity my colleagues especially in the print media for the tough assignment they faced in trying to find the appropriate words so that readers could paint a true picture of the Beijing extravaganza. How I envy the TV commentators. They had a field day because the pictures spoke for themselves and all they needed were a few exclamations here and there.

If the opening ceremony was spectacular the closing programme was awesome and really touching. You could see a happy band of the youth anxious to demonstrate that the world could be a happy place to live in if mankind so wishes. This must be a shame to the evil minded suicide bombers who take delight in spilling innocent blood for reasons best known to themselves. The Chinese who constitute almost a quarter of the world population have for the past three weeks really depicted the happy side of life and all potential suicide bombers are put on notice to make the world a happy habitat whether poor or rich.

At this stage I would like to pay my sincerest tribute to former US President Richard Nixon whose monumental “ping- pong diplomacy” succeeded in bringing the then reticent Chinese among the comity of nations. It had been pure injustice that with such a large chunk of the world at their disposal China was not part of the Olympic family. It is to the eternal credit of Richard Nixon that his overtures gradually changed the attitude of China to life and in 1984 they put in a maiden appearance at the Los Angeles Olympics. They were however not all that impressive but they must have learnt a lot from both the organisation and the performance of the host sportsmen and sportswomen.

Any wonder after 28 years in the wilderness China have both excelled in hosting the quadrennial world sports festival and winning the competition to boot. China did not have to shout on roof tops that they were going to host the Games and win but by dint of hard preparations and less talk they are now the talk of the world.

It is hoped that Ghana would take a cue from the Chinese and go back to the basics of catching young talents. The schools sports programmes must be given fresh impetus up to the University level. The present generation must be told that all work and no play make Kwame a dull boy. There appears to be too much emphasis on academic pursuits these days and the youth must be encouraged to accept the fact that one can safely combine books and sports. Ask Presidential hopefuls Nana Akufo-Addo and Prof Atta- Mills. I am told in the colonial days in a certain top secondary school in Accra you could be failed in your exams if you did not take part in any extra curricula activities

This may be to the extreme but it tells you how important sports and games play in our daily lives. The sages say in Latin "mens sana in corpore sano" translated into English means "a sound mind in a sound body".