One question hung over 2008 Games: Would they change China?

LBJ's Sheena Greitens told the Associated Press that the world financial crisis that followed the 2008 Olympics by a month, and the rise of General Secretary Xi Jinping, changed China far more than Olympic spectacle. "The Beijing Olympics get the attention of viewers who don’t necessarily pay lots of attention to global politics and foreign policy otherwise, and that heightens the impact of hosting the Olympics on overall public attention to China," she wrote in an email.