Leebron invited to Beijing, sees Phelps win first gold

By Natalie Clericuzio     8/21/08 7:00pm

On Aug. 10, Michael Phelps began his quest to winning his record eight Olympic gold medals at one Olympiad. President David Leebron saw it happen in person."Overall, the atmosphere generally at the Olympics was kind of a very enthusiastic, positive atmosphere," Leebron said. "The significantly Chinese audiences were appreciative of strong performances regardless of the nationality of the participant. They were very supportive of Michael Phelps."

Eleven university presidents from across the world were officially invited to the opening ceremonies of the Beijing Olympics on Aug. 8. Leebron was among that elite group, which included the presidents of three U.S. universities: Rice, Yale and Johns Hopkins Universities.

In addition to witnessing the start of Phelps's historic quest, Leebron attended a women's basketball game and the opening ceremony, as well as various events with officials from the Chinese Ministry of Education. At the opening ceremony, Leebron found the balance between technology and human performance created a memorable overall impression.

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"To me it was a beautiful ceremony," Leebron said. "It wasn't so dominated by the technology that it was just a tech show. The technology was used in some ways to enhance the performance."

The most impressive segment of the ceremony for Leebron was the beginning, when exactly 2,008 drummers played on drums that lit up when struck, creating the sensation that made the music an audiovisual experience.

"Using the light to enhance the performance of the drummer so it was still kind of dominated by the fact that you have 2,008 humans performing in a synchronized way was a very force-ful and moving," Leebron said. "The drama of that was added to that by the lighting."

Besides an opportunity for him and wife Y. Ping Sun to enjoy the festivities, Leebron more importantly viewed the invitation of Rice to attend as both a recognition of Rice's positive relationship with Chinese institutes of higher learning as well as a representation of China's view of Rice. Leebron's three-day trip to Beijing for the Olympics was his and his wife's second trip to China this summer, the first being a three-week tour of Chinese institutes of higher learning. This trip complements Rice's initiative to form connections with Chinese universities.

Leebron's Chinese travels follow up on Rice's hosting the China-Rice Advanced Leadership Forum a year and a half ago. In 2007, over 20 presidents and chairmen and other high officials from China's top universities and four officials from the Chinese Ministry of Education came to Rice's campus for two weeks. Leebron said that forum was a major reason he was invited to the Games.

"It was quite clear that the invitation was issued in appreciation and recognition for the fact that we had put such strong efforts in engaging with the institutes of higher educa-tion in China," Leebron said.

Finally, Leebron's invitation demonstrated how Rice is viewed in China.

"The significance is that Rice is really recognized in China as one of the top universities in the United States," Leebron said. "The Chinese understand what our great strengths are and are very interested in building relationships with us.

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