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2008 Summer Olympics

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The 2008 Summer Olympic Games, officially known as the Games of the XXIX Olympiad is a Summer Olympics event, that will be held in Beijing, People's Republic of China from August 8 to August 24, 2008 and followed by the 2008 Summer Paralympics from September 6 to September 17. 10,500 athletes are expected to compete in 302 events in 28 sports, just one event more than was on the schedule of the 2004 games. The 2008 Beijing Olympics will also mark the third time that Olympic events will have been held in the territories of two different National Olympic Committees: at the 2008 Olympics, equestrian events will be held in Hong Kong, which competes separately from mainland China.

The Olympic games were awarded to Beijing after an exhaustive ballot of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on July 13, 2001. The official logo of the games, titled "Dancing Beijing," features a stylized calligraphic character jīng (京, meaning capital), referencing the host city. The mascots of Beijing 2008 are the five Fuwa, each representing both a color of the Olympic rings and a symbol of Chinese culture. The Olympic slogan, One World, One Dream, calls upon the world to unite in the Olympic spirit. Several new NOCs have also been recognized by the IOC.

The Chinese government has promoted the games to highlight China's emergence on the world stage and has invested heavily in new facilities and transportation systems. A total of 37 venues will be used to host the events including 12 newly constructed venues. Earlier in 2007, former IOC president Juan Antonio Samaranch had said that he believes that the Beijing games will be "the best in Olympic history."

Bid

2008 Summer Olympics bidding results
City NOC Round 1 Round 2
Beijing China China 44 56
Toronto Canada Canada 20 22
Paris France France 15 18
Istanbul Turkey Turkey 17 9
Osaka Japan Japan 6 —
Main article: 2008 Summer Olympics bids

Beijing was elected the host city on July 13, 2001, during the 112th IOC Session in Moscow, beating Toronto, Paris, Istanbul, and Osaka. Prior to the session, five other cities (Bangkok, Cairo, Havana, Kuala Lumpur, and Seville) submitted bids to the IOC but failed to make the shortlist in 2000. After the first round of voting, Beijing held a significant lead over the other four candidates. Osaka received only six votes and was eliminated. In the second round, Beijing was supported by an absolute majority of voters, eliminating the need for subsequent rounds.

After winning the bid, Li Lanqing, the vice premier of China, declared "The winning of the 2008 Olympic bid is an example of the international recognition of China's social stability, economic progress and the healthy life of the Chinese people." Previously, Beijing had bid to host the 2000 Summer Olympics. It led the voting over the first three rounds, but ultimately lost to Sydney in the final round in 1993.

Preparations

Venues

Olympic rings
Part of a series on
2008 Summer Olympics
Main articles: 2008 Summer Olympics venues and Olympic Green

By May 2007, construction of all 31 Beijing-based Olympic Games venues had begun. The Chinese government is also investing in the renovation and construction of six venues outside Beijing as well as 59 training centers. Its largest architectural pieces will be the Beijing National Stadium, Beijing National Indoor Stadium, Beijing National Aquatics Centre, Olympic Green Convention Centre, Olympic Green, and Beijing Wukesong Culture & Sports Center. Almost 85 percent of the construction budget for the six main venues is being funded by US$2.1 billion (RMB¥17.4 billion) in corporate bids and tenders. Investments are expected from corporations seeking ownership rights after the 2008 Summer Olympics. Some venues will be owned and governed by the State General Administration of Sports, which will use them after the Olympics as facilities for all future national sports teams and events.

Some events will be held outside Beijing, namely football (in Qinhuangdao, Shanghai, Shenyang, and Tianjin), sailing (in Qingdao), and equestrian (in Hong Kong, because of "uncertainties of equine diseases and major difficulties in establishing a disease-free zone").

Beijing National Stadium

Main article: Beijing National Stadium
The Beijing National Stadium.

The centerpiece of the 2008 Summer Olympics will be the Beijing National Stadium, nicknamed the "Bird nest" because of its nest-like skeletal structure. Construction of the venue began on December 24, 2003. The Guangdong Olympic Stadium was originally planned, constructed, and completed in 2001 for the Games, but a decision was made to construct a new stadium in Beijing. Government officials engaged architects worldwide in a design competition. A Swiss firm, Herzog & de Meuron Architekten AG, collaborated with China Architecture Design & Research Group to win the competition. The stadium features a lattice-like concrete skeleton forming the stadium bowl and will have a seating capacity of 80,000 people. Architects originally described the overall design as resembling a bird nest with an immense ocular—an opening with a retractable roof over the stadium. However, in 2004, the idea of retractable roof was abandoned for economic and safety reasons. The Beijing National Stadium will be the site of the opening and closing ceremonies, as well as the athletics events and soccer finals. The stadium's designer Ai Weiwei has since withdrawn his support for China's Olympic games, saying "he wants nothing to do with them anymore".

Most recently, the Beijing Olympic Village opened on July 16, 2008 and to the public on July 26, 2008.

Transport

A map of the Olympic venues in Beijing. Several expressways encircle the center of the city, providing for quick transportation around the city and between venues.

In preparation for the huge rush during the games, Beijing's subway system underwent a major expansion which increased its capacity to more than twice its previous size. The previous system was composed of four lines and 64 stations. An additional seven lines and more than 80 new stations were constructed, including a direct link to Beijing Capital International Airport. In the airport itself, 11 unmanned trains, each transporting a maximum of 83 passengers, will expedite the movement of people throughout the new terminal building. Most of them are scheduled to operate from June 30, 2008, one month before the beginning of the games. In January 2007, the BOCOG announced that the Metro cars will be fitted with video screens showing the latest news and events during the games. Additionally, cellphone signals would be made available, so that people can use their communication devices in the metro stations or underground.

According to the General Administration of Civil Aviation of China, a new five-level emergency alert system for extreme weather and security threats will be implemented in the airport. This system is designed to ensure smooth and safe transportation for the estimated three million domestic and overseas visitors who will flock to Beijing for the games in August 2008.

On the ground, Beijing is set to designate 38 official public transit routes that will link the Olympic venues. During the games, 2,500 large-size buses and 4,500 minibuses will be operated by a total of 8,000 drivers to transport people across various venues. Prior to the games, public transport will be optimized in order to reduce the existing 110 overlapping routes.

Beijing will be implementing a temporary road space rationing based on plate numbers during the Games in order to significantly improve air quality in the city. Under the traffic plan made public on June 20, 2008, the rationing will be enforced for two months, between July 20 to September 20, as the Olympics will begin on August 8, and then will be followed by the 2008 Paralympics, from September 6 until 17. The restrictions will be in placed on alternate days depending on the plates ending in odd or even numbers. This measure is expected to take 45% of the 3.3 million car fleet off the streets. In addition, 300,000 heavy polluting vehicles will be banned from July 1, and the plan also prohibits access to most vehicles coming from outside Beijing. The boosted public transport network is expected to absorb this additional demand, estimated in more than 4 million extra passengers per day.

Marketing

File:Friendlies All.jpg
Main article: 2008 Summer Olympics marketing

The 2008 Summer Olympics emblem is known as Dancing Beijing (Chinese: 舞动的北京). The emblem combines a traditional Chinese red seal and a representation of the calligraphic character jīng (京, "national capital", also the second character of Beijing's Chinese name) with athletic features. The open arms of the calligraphic word symbolizes the invitation of China to the world to share in its culture. IOC president Jacques Rogge was very happy with the emblem, saying, "Your new emblem immediately conveys the awesome beauty and power of China which are embodied in your heritage and your people."

The slogan for the 2008 Olympics is "One World, One Dream" (simplified Chinese: 同一个世界 同一个梦想; traditional Chinese: 同一個世界 同一個夢想; pinyin: Tóng Yíge Shìjiè Tóng Yíge Mèngxiǎng.) The slogan calls upon the whole world to join in the Olympic spirit and build a better future for humanity. It was chosen from over 210,000 entries submitted from around the world.

The 2008 Olympic Mascots are the five Fuwa (Chinese: 福娃, literally "good luck dolls"). The Fuwa consist of five members that incorporate fish, giant panda, fire, Tibetan antelope, and swallow designs. The Fuwa each have as their primary color one of the colors of the five Olympic Rings that stand for the five continents. The five Fuwa are named Beibei, Jingjing, Huanhuan, Yingying, and Nini. When the first syllable of each of the five names are said together, the result is the phrase 北京欢迎你 (Běijīng huānyíng nĭ) which means "Beijing welcomes you".

Opening ceremony

Main article: 2008 Summer Olympics Opening Ceremony

The opening ceremony of the Olympics in Beijing will be held in the Beijing National Stadium, and begin at 8:08:08pm CST (12:08:08 UTC) on 8 August 2008. It has been announced that Canada's Celine Dion and Taiwan's Jay Chou would perform during the opening ceremony.

On July 21, NBC announced the Opening Ceremony would include performances by a cast of 15,000 and declared it would be the most spectacular Olympics Opening Ceremony ever produced.

Sports

This pictogram depicts Athletics.
Medals of the 2008 Summer Olympics: silver (left), gold (center), bronze (right)

The program for the Beijing 2008 Games is quite similar to that of the Athens Games held in 2004. The 2008 Olympics will see the return of 28 sports, and will hold 302 events (165 men’s events, 127 women’s events, and 10 mixed events), one event more in total than in Athens.

Overall nine new events will be held, which include two from the new cycling discipline of BMX. Women will compete in the 3000 m steeplechase for the first time. In addition, marathon swimming events for men and women, over the distance of 10 kilometers, will be added to the swimming discipline. Team events (men and women) in table tennis will replace the doubles events. In fencing, women's team foil and women's team sabre will replace men's team foil and women's team epee.

The Beijing Organizing Committee have released pictograms of the 35 Olympic disciplines. This set of sport icons is named the beauty of seal characters, due to each pictogram's likeness to Chinese seal script.

The following are the sports to be contested at these Games. The number of events to be contested in each sport is indicated in parentheses.

Calendar

In the following calendar for the 2008 Olympic Games, each blue box represents an event competition, such as a qualification round, on that day. The yellow boxes represent days during which medal-awarding finals for a sport are held. Each bullet in these boxes is an event final, the number of bullets per box representing the number of finals that will be contested on that day.

 ●  Opening ceremony     Event competitions  ●  Event finals     Exhibition gala  ●  Closing ceremony
August 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th 11th 12th 13th 14th 15th 16th 17th 18th 19th 20th 21st 22nd 23rd 24th T
Ceremonies ● ●
Archery ● ● ● ● 4
Athletics ● ● ● ●
● ● 		●●●
●●● 		●●●
●●● 		●●●
● ● 		●●● ●●●
●●● 		7 7 ● 47
Badminton ● ● ● ● ● 5
Baseball ● 1
Basketball ● ● 2
Boxing ●●●
● ● 		●●●
●●● 		11
Canoeing ● ● ● ● ●●●
●●● 		●●●
●●● 		16
Cycling ● ● ● ● ● ●●● ● ● ● ●●● ● ● ● ● 18
Diving ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● 8
Equestrian ● ● ● ● ● ● 6
Fencing ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● 10
Field hockey ● ● 2
Football (soccer) ● ● 2
Gymnastics ● ● ● ● ● ●
● ● 		● ●
● ● 		● ●
● ● 		● ● 18
Handball ● ● 2
Judo 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 14
Modern pentathlon 1 1 2
Rowing 7 7 14
Sailing 2 1 2 2 2 2 11
Shooting 2 2 2 2 1 2 1 2 1 15
Softball ● 1
Swimming 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 ● ● 34
Synchronized swimming ● ● 2
Table tennis ● ● ● ● 4
Taekwondo 2 2 2 2 8
Tennis ● ● ● ● 4
Triathlon ● ● 2
Volleyball ● ● ● ● 4
Water polo ● ● 2
Weightlifting ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● 15
Wrestling ● ● ● ● ●●● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●●● 18
August 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th 11th 12th 13th 14th 15th 16th 17th 18th 19th 20th 21st 22nd 23rd 24th 302

Torch relay

2008 Olympic Torch
Main articles: 2008 Summer Olympics torch relay and 2008 Summer Olympics torch relay route

The design of the Olympic Torch is based on traditional scrolls and uses a traditional Chinese design known as the "Propitious Clouds" (祥云). The torch is designed to remain lit in 65 kilometer per hour winds, and in rain of up to 50 millimeters per hour.

The relay, with the theme Journey of Harmony, is expected to last 130 days and carry the torch 137,000 km (85,000 mi)—the longest distance of any Olympic torch relay since the tradition began at the 1936 Berlin Games. So far, the torch relay has been called a "public relations disaster" by The Times for China, with protests of China's human rights record, particularly in Tibet.

Route of the 2008 Olympic Torch Relay

The relay began March 24, 2008, in Olympia, Greece. From there, it traveled across Greece to Panathinaiko Stadium in Athens, and then to Beijing, arriving on March 31. From Beijing, the torch followed a route passing through every continent except Antarctica. The torch visited cities on the Silk Road, symbolizing ancient links between China and the rest of the world. A total of 21,880 torchbearers have been selected from around the world by various organizations and entities.

The international portion of the relay has been a problematic, month-long world tour that has seen wide-scale protests to China's human rights abuses and recent crackdown in Tibet, which was rumored by CIA controlled puppet organizations, while there were also tremendous supports from oversea Chinese. After trouble in London saw several attempts to put out the flame, the following day, the flame was extinguished in Paris . The American leg in San Francisco on 9 April was altered without prior warning to avoid such scenes, although there were still demonstrations along the original route, but the remaining legs have not been as disastrous. The relay was further delayed and simplified after the devastating 2008 Sichuan earthquake affecting western China.

Protesters for and against the Tibetan Independence Movement, as well as the Games during the Olympic torch relay in San Francisco.

The flame was carried to the top of Mount Everest on a 108 km (67 mi) long "highway" scaling the Tibetan side of the mountain especially built for the relay. The $19.7 million blacktop project spanned from Tingri County of Xigazê Prefecture to the Everest Base Camp. In March 2008, China banned mountaineers from climbing its side of Mount Everest and later persuaded the Nepalese government to close their side as well, officially citing environmental concerns. It also reflected concerns by the communist government that Tibet activists may try to disrupt its plans to carry the Olympic torch up the world's tallest peak.

The original route included a stop in Taipei before heading for Hong Kong. Taiwan's local government, however, later rejected this proposal, claiming that such an arrangement would make the Taiwan relay be seen as part of China's domestic route, rather than the international route. The IOC eliminated Taipei from the relay; both mainland China and Taiwan have blamed each other for injecting politics into the event.

Participating NOCs

Though the qualifying competitions for various sports are well underway, it cannot be certain which of the current 205 National Olympic Committees (NOCs) will participate in 2008. Most NOCs participate regularly, although various circumstances could cause a nation to be absent from the games, as was the case for six NOCs at the 2006 Winter Olympics. Nevertheless, placements in various qualifying events can help predict which nations and how many athletes will be at the games. Steven Roush, chief of sport performance for the United States Olympic Committee, expects that the United States will bring about 600 competitors to the games, their largest Olympic team thus far. Other delegations will be much smaller; Afghanistan, for example, will be represented by just four competitors.

South African swimmer Natalie du Toit, five time gold medalist at the Athens Paralympics in 2004, has qualified to compete at the Beijing Olympics, thus making history by becoming the first amputee to qualify for the Olympic Games since Olivér Halassy in 1936. Natalia Partyka (who was born without a right forearm) will compete in Table Tennis for Poland.

Below is a list of the all the participating NOCs (where available, the number of competitors per delegation is indicated in parentheses):

Participation changes

The Marshall Islands and Tuvalu gained National Olympic Committee status in 2006 and 2007 respectively, and are expected to participate in the Games.

The states of Serbia and Montenegro, which participated at the 2004 Games jointly as Serbia and Montenegro, will now compete separately. The Montenegrin Olympic Committee was accepted as a new National Olympic Committee in 2007. IOC has promised to recognize the newly independent Republic of Kosovo, but probably not in time for the nation to compete in the Olympics.

North Korea and South Korea held meetings to discuss the possibility of sending a united team to the 2008 Olympics, but the proposal failed, due to disagreements between the two NOCs on the proportion of athletes from the two countries within the team.

On July 24, 2008, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) banned Iraq from competing in the 2008 Olympic Summer Games due to "political interference by the government in sports." On July 29, 2008 the International Olympic Committee reversed its decision after a pledge by Iraq to "ensure the independence of its national Olympics panel" by instituting "fair elections before the end of November." Until then, "Iraq's Olympic Organization will be run by an interim committee proposed by its national sports federations and approved by the IOC."

Broadcasting

List of international broadcasters
Nation Broadcaster Cite HD
 Austria ORF ORF 1 HD
 Australia Seven Network, SBS Seven HD
 Belgium VRT
 Brazil Globo, Rede Bandeirantes, Sportv,
ESPN Brasil and BandSports
 Bulgaria BNT
 Bosnia and Herzegovina BHRT
 Canada CBC, Radio-Canada, bold, TSN, RDS
 Chile TVN, Canal 13
 Czech Republic ČT1
 China CCTV; webcast on Sohu.com Olympics HD Channel
 Colombia Señal Colombia, Caracol, RCN
 Croatia HRT
 Denmark DR, TV 2
 Eritrea Eri-TV
 Estonia ETV, ETV2
 European Union Eurosport Eurosport HD
 Finland YLE
 France France 2
 Germany ARD, ZDF Anixe HD
 Greece ERT
 Hong Kong ATV, TVB TVB HD
ATV HD
 Hungary Magyar Televízió
 India Doordarshan
 Indonesia TVRI
 Iran IRIB Channel 3
 Ireland RTÉ
 Israel Channel 1
Sport 5
 Italy RAI (Rai Due)
 Japan NHK
 Latvia LTV7
 Lithuania LTV
 Macedonia MKTV
 Moldova TRM
 Montenegro RTCG
 Mexico Televisa
TV Azteca
 Malaysia Astro, RTM
 Netherlands NPO/NOS
 New Zealand TV ONE TV ONE
 Peru ATV
 Philippines Solar Sports, C/S, ETC, Jack TV, 2nd Avenue, Basketball TV
 Poland TVP1, TVP2, TVP Sport TVP HD
 Portugal RTP
 Romania TVR TVR HD
 Russia VGTRK, Channel One
 Serbia RTS 1, [[RTS 2
 Singapore StarHub CableTV, MediaCorp TV MediaCorp TV HD5
 Slovakia STV
 Slovenia RTV Slovenija
 South Africa SABC
 South Korea KBS,MBC,SBS(the Korean Pool, 2002~2008)
 Sri Lanka Rupavahini
 Spain TVE
 Thailand TVPOOL and NBT
 Turkey TRT
 Ukraine First National
 UAE Dubai Sports Channel
 United Kingdom BBC BBC HD
 United States NBC, CNBC, MSNBC, Oxygen,
USA Network, Telemundo, NBC Soccer Channel, NBC Basketball Channel		 Universal HD
 Venezuela Venevision, Meridiano TV, TVES
 Vietnam VTV

These games will be the first to be produced and broadcast entirely in high definition television, and will likely garner upwards of four billion viewers. In their bid for the Olympic games in 2001, Beijing confirmed to the Olympic Evaluation Commission "that there will be no restrictions on media reporting and movement of journalists up to and including the Olympic Games," but according to a report in the New York Times, "these promises have been contradicted by strict visa rules, lengthy application processes and worries about censorship."

Concerns and controversies

The banner reads: "Human Rights Abuse Cannot Co-exist with Beijing Olympics", picture taken during the opening of the HRTR event
Main article: Concerns over the 2008 Summer Olympics

Concerns over the games include the potential for boycotts from pro-Tibetan organizations such as Students for a Free Tibet as well as from organizations such as Amnesty International upset with China's involvement in the crisis in Darfur. Additionally, China had pledged that it would allow open media access during the games, but Human Rights Watch alleges that it has failed to do so, and one IOC committee member commented anonymously that "Had the I.O.C....known seven years ago that there would be severe restrictions...then I seriously doubt whether Beijing would have been awarded the Olympics". China has also been battling problems with air pollution both in the city of Beijing and in neighboring areas, which the Beijing Organizing Committee (BOCOG) says it hopes to remedy before the games. The head of Interpol warned China on April 25, 2008 that there is a "real possibility" that the Beijing Olympics will be targeted by terrorist groups, as well as potentially violent disruption from pro-Tibet protestors.

See also

Notes

  1. The number 8 is associated with prosperity and confidence in Chinese culture.
  2. The fencing programme will again include all six individual events and four team events, though the team events will be a different set than were held in 2004. The International Fencing Federation's rules call for events not held in the previous Games to receive automatic selection and for at least one team event in each weapon to be held. Voting is conducted to determine the fourth event. In 2004, the three men's team events and the women's épée were held. Thus, in 2008, the women's foil and sabre events and men's épée were automatically selected. Men's sabre was chosen over foil by a 45–20 vote.

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