Olympic Beijing 2008

Frodeno wins gold in Men's Triathlon

2008-08-19T13:55:00.004+08:00

Medal Standings

Total

1	CHN	39	14	14	67
2	USA	22	24	26	72
3	GBR	13	7	8	28
4	AUS	11	10	12	33
5	GER	10	7	7	24

(BEIJING, August 19) -- With only 50 meters to go to the finish line, Jan Frodeno of GermanySpain, Athens 2004 silver medallist Bevan Docherty of New Zealand and Sydney 2000 gold medalist Simon Whitfield to claim the gold in the Men's Triathlon on Tuesday. out-sprinted 2008 world champion Javier Francisco Gomez of Gomez sped up 700 meters before the end to finish the race, but failed to break away from the leading group. Whitfield followed suit, but was caught by Frodeno, who kept the lead till the end. He clocked one hour, 48 minutes and 53.28 seconds. The German had no notable achievement in international tournaments on his resume previous to this Olympic win.

Whitfield came in second at one hour, 48 minutes and 58.47 seconds, and the bronze winner was Docherty, who finished in one hour, 49 minutes and 5.59 seconds.

New Zealand's Shane Reed led the men out of the water at 18 minutes and 0.31 seconds. He was followed closely by Igor Sysoev of Russia and Frederic Belaubre of France. Belaubre is a three-time World Cup winner.

The 55 competitors then broke into a leader group of 43 and a chase group of the rest at the start of the first of six laps in the cycling leg. The leader group shape remained unchanged until lap four, when Axel Zeebroek of Belgium, Dirk Bockel of Luxembourg and Serrano Francisco of Mexico took off and built a 44-second lead on the chase group. The leader group was then further reduced to only two members, as Serrano failed to keep up. The lead was increased to 52 seconds when the cycling leg concluded.

Zeebroek and Bockel were soon caught up by the chase group, as the cycling portion cost them so much energy that they could not help but fall back in the run.

A group of five was at the head when the bell was rung to signal the final lap. Frodeno, Whitfield, Docherty, Gomez and Ivan Rana of Spain ran the final straightaway first. Rana did not survive the last sprint for gold and finished fifth, after compatriot Gomez.

Updated: 2008-08-19 13:26:59

Swimming Day 9 Preview: One to go, Phelps!

2008-08-17T10:25:00.001+08:00

Medal Standings

Total

1	CHN	27	13	7	47
2	USA	16	17	22	55
3	GER	9	5	5	19
4	AUS	7	9	11	27
5	KOR	7	9	4	20

Swimming Day 9 Preview: One to go, Phelps!

Updated: 2008-08-16 23:06:33

Phelps equals Spitz's gold medal record, despite scare

(BEIJING, August 16) -- One more gold, and Michael Phelps won't have to share the "Athlete with most gold medals in a single Olympics" title with compatriot Mark Spitz, who did this 36 years ago in the Munich Games.

But this time, Phelps's own efforts will not be enough to achieve this Olympic immortality. He will have to rely on his relay teammates. As the defending Olympic champions, world record holders and fastest final qualifiers, they will not let him down.

Standing in their way are the teams from Australia and Japan, who qualified second and third fastest, only 0.01 and 0.06 seconds behind them.

In the Women's 4 x 100m Medley Relay, however, defending champions Australia may see less competition, qualifying over a second faster than Great Britain and the United States, who came in second and third.

In the Women's 50m Freestyle final, 41-year-old Dara Torres from the United States will be under the spotlight. She had showed her competitors that her age is no issue in the pool by clocking the fastest time into the final. However, she is sure to meet the close competition from world record holder Lisbeth Trickett of Australia and Friday's 100m Freestyle gold medalist Britta Steffen of Germany.

The Men's 1500m Freestyle will be the last chance for Grant Hackett of Australia to bring something home from Beijing. And if he wins gold, it will be a history-making third straight 1500m title.

Day 9 Preview: Phelps goes for record gold

Updated: 2008-08-17 05:41:52

Michael Phelps (Photo credit: Getty)

Photo Gallery>>

(BEIJING, August 17) -- Day nine is the busiest day of the Beijing Olympic Games schedule, with no less than 39 medals at stake, involving some of the biggest names in sports. It also promises to be a fairly emotional day as the Olympic Movement says goodbye to some its valued friends.

First up, and we make no apology for leading with him this time, we start with someone who is definitely at the top his game -- swimmer Michael Phelps.

The final day of Swimming sees the usual daily round of four finals, when all eyes will be on the Men's 4 x 100m Medley Relay final, starting at local time 10:58 a.m. (UCT/GMT + 8). Phelps, in case you really are the only person left on the planet who doesn't know, needs just one more gold medal to add to his Beijing tally of seven so-far to surpass Mark Spitz's seven medals from Munich 1972 to, therefore, become the record Olympian of all time.

The bad news is, Phelps can't do it on his own -- he will have to rely on his relay teammates to help him achieve Olympic immortality... and this event is one of the two gold medals he missed out on in Athens four years ago. The good news is they are the defending Olympic champions, world record holders and were fastest to qualify for the final.

So who could stop him? Seemingly no one, or at least no team, though Australia and Japan, who qualified second and third fastest, could cause an upset.

Quite simply, Olympic history could be made tomorrow…no pressure, then Michael.

Elsewhere on the final day of Swimming, the Women's 4 x 100m Medley Relay will see defending champions Australia battle it out with Great Britain and the United States, who came in second and third in qualifying.

Another heart-rending event will be 41-year-old Dara Torres racing in the Women's 50m Freestyle final. The United States recorded the fastest time in qualifying and has not so much matched the clock as turned back the clock, showing that despite the talk of swimming being an increasingly younger competitors sport, you're never too old.

Dara Torres (Photo credit: Getty)

However, world record holder Lisbeth Trickett of Australia and Friday's 100m Freestyle gold medalist Britta Steffen of Germany will also be highly fancied

The Men's 1500m Freestyle might also be the last chance for 28-year-old Grant Hackett of Australia to win a history-making third consecutive title.

Okay we've started with some big names -- let's keep the theme rolling.

Before we leave the pool, a quick mention for China's very own "diving diva" Guo Jingijng, who had pledged to retire after Beijing 2008 at the ripe old age of 26. Guo will defend her Women's 3m Springboard title in the final and finished first in the preliminaries holding, off second-placed finisher Julia Pakhalina of Russia and Blythe Hartley of Canada. Guo's gold-winning Synchronized Springboard partner, Wu Minxia, could also pose a threat to Guo going out on a high.

Guo Jingjing (Photo credit: Getty)

There are plenty of big names appearing on the final day of the Tennis. Sisters Serena and Venus Williams of the United States will go against Anabel Medina Garrigues and Virginia Ruano Pascual of Spain in Women's Doubles, while soon-to-be-crowned-Men's-World-Number-One Rafael Nadal will play defending champion Fernando Gonzalez of Chile in the Men's Singles final.

In Athletics, world record holder Paula Radcliffe of Great Britain heads the list of names challenging in the Women's Marathon, which starts at 7:30 a.m. local time (UCT/GMT + 8)

Venus Williams (right) and Serena Williams (Photo credit: Getty)

Krisztian Pars of Hungary qualified first in the Men's Hammer Throw final. Other finals include the Women's 3000m Steeplechase, and the Women's 100m semifinals and final will be contested.

The day's action at the Bird's Nest will be the emotional battle in the Men's 10000 meters between defending champion Kenenisa Bekele, and the legendary 35-year-old Haile Gebrselassie, both of Ethiopia, who returns to the track having stepped up to the Marathon in recent years

Kenenisa Bekele (Photo credit: Getty)

It is also the final day of Rowing with medals in seven finals at stake, and in Fencing, in which the Men's Team Sabre gold medal match is likely to feature defending champions France.

Badminton also bows out with Mixed Doubles and Men's Single's finals, with the latter featuring popular Chinese World No. 1 Lin Dan and Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia.

The Shooting competition of Beijing 2008 also ends tomorrow with the Men's 50m Rifle Three Positions final, in which, four years ago, US shooter Matthew Emmons inexplicably aimed his final shot at the wrong target on the brink of victory, which let China's Jia Zhanbo in for gold. The two go against each other again on August 17.

In Track Cycling, fresh from their success yesterday, Great Britain's riders will be hunting more medals, with Rebecca Romero and teammate Wendy Houvenaghel racing in the Women's 3000m Individual Pursuit final

It is a busy day in Artistic Gymnastics, too, with finals in the Men's and Women's Floor Exercise, Men's Pommel Horse and Women's Vault.

Brazil's Diego Hypolito and China's Zou Kai will compete for the Men's Floor event, while China's Xiao Qin will be a hard man to beat in the Men's Pommel Horse.

The United States's Alicia Sacramone famously made some mistakes during her Balance Beam and Floor Exercise routines in the Women's Team event earlier in the week, but if the 20-year-old can recover from her disappointment, then she has a strong chance of winning a gold medal in the Women's Vault, although the hot favorite is China's Cheng Fei, a three-time world champion.

There are two more Sailing finals held over from wind-less August 16 -- Ben Ainslie of Great Britain is going for his third gold medal in the Yngling class.

There are also finals in Women's Team Table Tennis, Weightlifting and two more Freestyle Wrestling medals at stake

It is also quarterfinals day in both Boxing and Water Polo

It promises to be a busy, busy day -- for record breakers and heart breakers alike.

Wei Yili and Zhang Yawen, etc.

2008-08-15T21:03:00.004+08:00

Badminton bronze for Wei Yili and Zhang Yawen

Medal Standings

Total

1	CHN	25	9	6	40
2	USA	14	12	18	44
3	GER	8	2	4	14
4	KOR	6	8	3	17
5	ITA	6	4	4	14

Updated: 2008-08-15 20:39:24

(BEIJING, August 15) -- Third-seeded Wei Yili and Zhang Yawen of China beat Japanese duo Maeda Miyuki and Suetsuna Satoko 21-17, 21-10 in the bronze medal match of the Badminton Women's Doubles competition on Friday, August 15.

Maeda and Suetsuna were able to catch up to every Chinese scoring lead in the first game, eventually taking control 17-14, but at that point Wei and Zhang came back with seven unanswered points to take the win. The Chinese duo opened the second game with another 7-0 run, and led throughout until the 21-10 victory clinched their bronze status.

The Chinese side disposed of their opponents in 25 minutes then 20 minutes, with the longest rally between them in the first game going to 63 strokes.

Flash: Lu comes from behind to win gold

Updated: 2008-08-15 20:49:28

(BEIJING, August 15) -- China's Lu Yong won the Men's 85 kilogram Weightlifting category final by lifting 394kg on Friday, August 15.

Defending champion Andrei Rybakou set the new Olympic record by lifting 185kg in the Snatch. China's Lu Yong and Kazakhstan's Vladimir Sedov both lifted 180kg.

In the Clean and Jerk, Rybakou lifted 209kg to set a new world record, but it was soon broken by Lu's 214kg. Rybakou ranked second by lifting the same total weight of 394kg as Lu, but earned the silver because of his heavier body weight. Armenia's Tigran Varban Martirosyan lifted the same 380kg as Sedov, but won the bronze by the same advantage.

rticle Last Updated: 08/15/2008 07:01:41 AM MDT

Click photo to enlarge

USA's William Priddy spikes the ball through Krasimir Gaydarski... (Andy Wong/The Associated Press)

Men's volleyball
Ex-Cougs help USA past Bulgaria
The coach still isn't back, and may not return, but the bereaved Americans are pressing on quite well without him in the men's volleyball tournament at the Beijing Olympics.
Former Brigham Young stars Ryan Millar and Rich Lambourne helped the U.S. come back to beat Bulgaria 27-29, 25-21, 25-14 and 26-24 in preliminary round play at Capital Gymnasium on Thursday, keeping the Americans unbeaten in their group and all but assuring they will reach the quarterfinals - despite continuing to play without coach Hugh McCutcheon.
The former Cougar player and coach has remained with his family after the stabbing

Photo Gallery

Olympics: Swimming

attack on his wife's parents that killed his father-in-law last weekend. It's not known whether he will return to the team.
Clayton Stanley scored 21 points to lead the Americans, who are 3-0 in group play with matches remaining against China and Japan, while Millar contributed 17 points and Lambourne starred as libero.

Pakistan came back

2008-08-14T17:12:00.007+08:00

Medal Standings

Total

1	CHN	20	7	5	32
2	USA	10	9	13	32
3	KOR	6	6	1	13
4	GER	6	1	3	10
5	AUS	5	4	7	16
INA --------------0-----0--- 2 ....=02

BEIJING: Pakistan came back from a goal down to beat Canada 3-1 in the Beijing Olympics field hockey match on Wednesday. It was Pakistan’s first win in the competition after going down 4-2 to Britain on Monday. Stunned by Bindi Kuller’s opener at the stroke of half-time, Pakistan fought back in the second session through goals by Muhammad Imran, Shafqat Rasool and Muhammad Waqas. “The win will help our confidence in the tougher games to follow,” said Pakistani coach Naveed Alam.

In the other matches of the day, World Cup holders Germany hobbled to a 1-1 draw against nemesis Belgium and defending champions Australia pulverised South Africa 10-0. The Germans, whose loss to Belgium in the European championships last year forced them to play the Olympic qualifiers, were once again caught napping as Cedric Charlier equalised Matthias Witthaus’s opener. The draw left Germany with four points from two matches in pool A, while Belgium gained their first point after losing their opening match against Spain. With Spain, South Korea and New Zealand breathing down their necks, Germany can ill-afford another draw in their bid to take one of the two semi-final spots from the pool. There were no such worries for Australia, whose thrashing of South Africa equalled their previous best victory margin against Mexico in the 1972 Munich Olympics.

Eli Matheson slammed a hat-trick and Jamie Dwyer and David Guest scored two goals each as the Kookaburras, who routed Canada 6-1 in their first match, recorded their second successive win in Pool B. Meanwhile, Asian Games champions South Korea were given a scare by Games debutants China before romping to a 5-2 win in Pool A with Jang Jong-Hyun scoring three penalty corner goals. China snatched a 2-0 lead by the eighth minute before the Koreans hit back to follow up their 3-1 win over the same rivals in the Asian Games final in Qatar two years ago. Australia displayed their awesome strike power with five goals in each half as the 13th-ranked South Africans wilted under the onslaught. Dwyer opened the floodgates with a second-minute goal. Grant Schubert, Fergus Kavanagh and Des Abbott were the other scorers for Australia, who clash with Pakistan in their next game on Friday. afp

Wang Shipeng takes on Carlos Morais and Armando Costa
of Angola. (Photo credit: Jeff Gross/Getty Images)

China makes history by winning its first Team gold in Women's Gymnastics

2008-08-13T15:37:00.000+08:00

Medal Standings

Total

1	CHN	16	3	5	24
2	USA	10	8	9	27
3	KOR	5	6	1	12
4	ITA	4	4	2	10
5	AUS	4	2	6	12

Updated: 2008-08-13 12:53:33

China team gains the highest place on the podium. (Photo credit: Xinhua)

Photo Gallery>>

(BEIJING, August 13) -- China made history today by winning its first Olympic gold medal in the Team event of Women's Gymnastics. China won the gold medal with a total of 188.900 points.

The United States won the silver medal with a total of 186.525 points and Romania won the bronze with a total of 181.525 points.

China entered the Team final as favorites, but it was pushed all the way by a determined United States. The two sides' first rotation was the Vault, with the United States taking a slender lead.

The second rotation for China and the United States was the Uneven Bars, which is regarded as China's specialty. China did not disappoint, gaining the lead with a dominant display on the apparatus.

He Kexin and Yang Yilin were outstanding in the Uneven Bars, scoring 16.850 and 16.800 respectively. Despite the best efforts of the United States' Nastia Liukin, who scored 16.900, the United States could not overcome China's dominance of the apparatus.

The United States gained slightly more points than China in the Balance Beam, a rotation that was marked by the mistakes of the United States' Alicia Sacramone and China's Cheng Fei. Sacramone was clearly affected by her mistake and also performed poorly in the next rotation, the Floor Exercise.

US team on the podium. (Photo credit: Xinhua)

Photo Gallery>>

The United States could not afford to make any mistakes against a disciplined Chinese side. China's Li Shanshan improved her country's chances of winning the gold medal by scoring 16.050 in the Balance Beam. This was an individual score that even the elegant Liukin could not match.

China's most experienced campaigner Cheng Fei sealed the victory with a solid performance in the Floor exercise.

Romania surprised Russia by winning the bronze medal. Romania performed well in the Floor Exercise, with only China receiving a higher score. Russia scored poorly in the Balance Beam and finished with a total score of 180.625.

The fifth to eighth places in the Team final were taken by Japan, Australia, France and Brazil.

China's Tan Zongliang

2008-08-12T14:43:00.004+08:00

(BEIJING, August 12) -- China's Tan Zongliang will regret his first and last shot in the final of the Men's 50m Pistol for a long time.

Medal Standings

Total

1	CHN	10	3	3	16
2	USA	6	6	8	20
3	KOR	5	5		10
4	ITA	3	3	2	8
5	AUS	3		4	7

The 7.9 points from his first shot, the worst among all his shots in the final, wrote off the two-point lead that he gained in the qualification round. In the qualification round, Tan shot a total of 565, while the other five shooters were tied on 563.

Tan's mistake gave Jin Jong-oh of the Republic of Korea the opportunity to win the gold medal with a final score of 660.4. The silver medal was won by Kim Jong-su of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, who shot a final score of 660.2, while Tan won a consolation bronze with a final score of 659.5.

Jin still gave Tan a chance to win the gold medal though. Kim only scored 8.2 on his last shot, which meant second-placed Tan could still win gold if he scored more than 10.1 on his last shot. Tan, however, could only shoot 9.2 and instead of winning gold, Tan bid farewell to silver as well because Kim overtook Tan with an outstanding 10.5 on his last shot.

The bronze medal is 37-year-old Tan's first medal from four Olympics.

In Beijing, The Olympic Museum is everywhere!

Updated: 2008-08-12 06:11:27

No fewer than seven operations in Beijing and an eighth in Hong Kong where the equestrian events are being held. The Olympic Museum is everywhere in the Chinese capital!

Olympex

At the Beijing Exhibition Centre, it is present at Olympex - The Olympic Expo Beijing 2008 on the theme Olympic Art & Symbols. Some 3,000m2 of medals, torches, and delegation and ceremony outfits, not forgetting the winning works of the 2008 IOC Art & Sport Contest.

Olympic treasures

Part of the IOC Olympic Treasure Exhibition, after a year spent travelling through the big cities of the country, is back in Beijing until 30 October at the China Millennium Monument in the large One World, One Dream exhibition (nearly 8,000m2) organised by BOCOG.

Collecting stories

Operations are also taking place at the IOC Corner in the Olympic Village on one 300m2 stand, perfectly located in front of the main restaurant and which the Museum has decorated. The Museum is there to collect stories from the Games As at each edition of the Games, the Museum has also decorated the Olympic Club, where Marketing receives its sponsors.

Lausanne, Olympic Capital

During August, it is also present in spaces in the Swissôtel in Beijing with the operation Lausanne, the Olympic Capital and Lake Geneva Region greet Beijing 2008.

Hong Kong Jockey Club

Finally, 2,000km south, in Hong Kong, where the equestrian events are being staged, The Olympic Museum and the Hong Kong Jockey Club have set up the 2008 Olympic Equestrian Exhibition, a retrospective on the theme of equestrian sports, on show until the end of September.

Over 2,000 items

Estimate of the number of items from the collections sent to China: over 2,000!

Artistic Gymnastics Day 2 Review: China brilliant in Women's Qualification

2008-08-11T14:12:00.005+08:00

Medal Standings

Total

1	CHN	8	3		11
2	USA	3	4	5	12
3	KOR	3	2		5
4	AUS	2		3	5
5	JPN	2		2	4

(BEIJING, August 10) – The Artistic Gymnastics competition continued on day 2 with the Women's Qualifiers.

In Day 2's competition, like their male counterparts, China's women's team dominated the gymnastic stage, topping five of six events:

In Women's Team, China took first place with 248.275 points, followed by the U.S women (246.800). Russia came in third with 244.400.

Cheng Fei of China finished first in both Vault and Floor Exercise, with 16.150 and 15.750 points respectively.

Yang Yilin stood out in the Uneven Bars with 16.650. She was followed by Ksenia Semenova (16.475) of Russia and Anastasiia Koval (16.325) of Ukraine

In the All Around, the only event that is not topped by a Chinese gymnast, Shawn Johnson of U.S led the way with 62.725 points, followed by her teammate Nastia Liukin (62.375). Yang Yilin finished third with 62.350.

Third IOC & BOCOG press conference

Updated：2008-08-11 10:12:10

Medal Standings

2008-08-10T17:12:00.008+08:00

(BEIJING, August 10) -- China's "Golden Pair" Guo Jingjing and Wu Minxia claimed their second consecutive Olympic gold in Synchronized Women's 3m Springboard with a score of 343.50 on Sunday, August 10, at National Aquatics Center. Russians Julia Pakhalina and Anastasia Pozdnyakova finished second, while Ditte Kotzian and Heike Fischer of Germany finished third.

China was tied for first with Russia and the United States after the first dive, with a score of 52.80, then pulled ahead with three 10s on their second dive and never looked back. Their lead over Russia after an 81.90-point fourth dive was 17.37, making gold all but certain, and a score of 75.60 on the final dive sealed the deal.

Guo Jingjing (above) and Wu Minxia of China dive. (Photo credit: Liu Yu/ Xinhua)

(L-R) Julia Pakhalina and Anastasia Pozdnyakova, Guo Jingjing and
Wu Minxia and Ditte Kotzian and Heike Fischer
(Photo credit: Al Bello/Getty Images)

Medal Standings

Total

1	CHN	4	1		5
2	USA	2	2	4	8
3	KOR	2	2		4
4	CZE	2			2
5	AUS	1		1	2

Guo Wenjun of China competes. (Photo credit: Clive Brunskill/Getty Images)

(BEIJING, August 10) -- Some of the biggest names in world sports are in action as 14 gold medals are at stake in seven sports and an additional 14 sports are contested on day two of Beijing 2008.

Four of the day's finals are in Swimming: the Men's 400m Individual Medley, Men's 400m Freestyle, Women's 400m Individual Medley and Women's 4 x 100m Freestyle Relay, which will be contested on Sunday morning, local time.

Undoubtedly, the biggest star at the Water Cube will be Michael Phelps -- the 'Baltimore Bullet' will start his quest to break Michael Spitz's Olympic record of seven gold medals at a single Olympic Games, beginning with the 400m Individual Medley. Phelps rewrote his own Olympic record with a time of 4:07.82 in the preliminary round, and will also feature in the Men's 200m Freestyle preliminaries later in the evening, one of six qualifying heats, in addition to semifinals in the Women's 100m Butterfly and Men's 100m Breaststroke.

The Men's 400m Freestyle final will center on the 2004 silver medalist Grant Hackett of Australia and Park Tae-hwan of the Republic of Korea (ROK).

Nineteen-year-old Katie Hoff (USA) will be the highlight of the Women's 400m Individual Medley on Sunday. Her biggest challenges could come from her fifteen-year-old teammate, top qualifier of today's prelim Elizabeth Beisel, and ex-world-record holder Stephanie Rice from Australia.

Olympic medal count

2008-08-10T01:15:00.004+08:00

BEIJING
MUMBAI/BANGALORE: The Olympic torch might well burn bright on Friday but the response to the Games has been quite cold from the cricket-crazy nation, say most tour operators that haven't designed any special packages for the Beijing Olympics.

"Had it been a cricket game held in any part of the world, the interest and excitement from Indians would have been fabulous but the scene with Olympics is exactly opposite," said Karan Anand, head-business development, Cox & Kings (India).

Since there are no takers for this particular sporting event, the travel firm has not launched any promotional scheme either. Its regular package for a six-day-five-night trip to Shanghai and Beijing is priced at a little over Rs 51,000 (excluding airfares).
(http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Olympics_fail_to_excite_Indian_tourists/articleshow/3343788.cms)

		Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1.	China	2	0	0	2
2.	United States	1	1	1	3
3.	South Korea	1	1	0	2

Beijing National Stadium

2008-08-08T21:25:00.003+08:00

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search

Tenants
Beijing National Stadium Bird's Nest

Location	Beijing, China
Broke ground	December 2003
Owner	Government of the People's Republic of China
Operator	PRC
Surface	Grass
Construction cost	4 billion yuan (~USD $500 million)
Architect	Herzog & de Meuron ArupSport Ai Weiwei CAG
Capacity	Olympic Capacity: 91,000 Post Olympic Capacity: 80,000
Chinese Olympic Committee 2008 Summer Olympics

The Beijing National Stadium (traditional Chinese: 北京國家體育場; simplified Chinese: 北京国家体育场; Hanyu Pinyin: Běijīng Guójiā Tǐyùchǎng; Tongyong Pinyin: Běijīng Guójiā Tǐyùchǎng), also known as the National Stadium,^[1] or the "Bird's Nest" (鸟巢) for its architecture is a stadium finished for the Olympic Green in Beijing, China that was completed in March 2008.^[2] The stadium will host the main track and field competitions for the 2008 Summer Olympics, as well as the opening and closing ceremonies. It is located east of the Beijing National Aquatics Centre.

Design

Model of the Bird's Nest

In 2002, Government officials engaged architects worldwide in a design competition. Pritzker Prize-winning architects Herzog & de Meuron collaborated with ArupSport and China Architecture Design & Research Group to win the competition. Contemporary Chinese artist, Ai Weiwei, is the Artistic Consultant for design.The ground was broken on Christmas Eve December 2003, and construction started in March 2004. Construction was halted following the collapse of Terminal 2E at Paris Charles de Gaulle International Airport, which had a similar design to the National Stadium. After modifications to the design, construction recommenced. In January 2008, concerns about construction working conditions arose when it was claimed there were at least 10 deaths during construction. Beijing officials have stated there were just 2 deaths, with 1 serious injury and 3 light injuries.

Capacity

The stadium can seat as many as 91,000 spectators during the Olympics. The capacity will then be reduced to 80,000 after the Games. It has replaced the original intended venue of the Guangdong Olympic Stadium. The stadium is 330 metres (1,082 ft) long by 220 metres (721 ft) wide, and is 69.2 metres (227 ft) tall. The stadium uses 258,000 square metres (2,777,112 square feet) of space and has a usable area of 204,000 square metres (2,195,856 square feet). It was built with 36 km of unwrapped steel, with a combined weight of 45,000 tonnes. The stadium will cost up to 3.5 billion yuan (423 million USD)

The 1928 Olympic Stadium in Amsterdam, designed by Jan Wils, won the gold medal in architecture at the 1928 Olympics.

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beijing_National_Stadium)

Modern Olympics - 2

2008-08-08T19:05:00.003+08:00

Despite the Olympics usually being associated with one host city, most of the Olympics have had events held in other cities, especially the football and sailing events. There were two Olympics where some events were held in a different country: during the 1920 Antwerp Olympics two sailing races were held in the Netherlands; and during the 1956 Melbourne Olympics equestrian events were held in Sweden. The 2008 Beijing Olympics will mark the third time that Olympic events will have been held in the territories of two different NOC's: at the 2008 Olympics, equestrian events will be held in Hong Kong (which competes separately from mainland China.)

The United States Olympic Committee's training facilities at their headquarters in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

203 countries currently participate in the Olympics. This is a noticeably higher number than the number of countries belonging to the United Nations, which is only 193. The International Olympic Committee allows nations to compete which do not meet the strict requirements for political sovereignty that many other international organizations demand. As a result, many colonies and dependencies are permitted to host their own Olympic teams and athletes even if such competitors hold the same citizenship as another member nation. Examples of this include territories such as Puerto Rico, Bermuda, and Hong Kong, all of which compete as separate nations despite being legally a part of another country. Also, since 1980, Taiwan has competed under the name "Chinese Taipei", and under a flag specially prepared by the IOC. Prior to that year the People's Republic of China refused to participate in the Games because Taiwan had been competing under the name "Republic of China". The Republic of the Marshall Islands was recognised as a nation by the IOC on February 9, 2006, and may compete in the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing (http://en.wikipedia.org/wik)

Athens Olympic Stadium

Modern Olympics - 1

2008-08-08T19:02:00.002+08:00

The United States Olympic Committee's training facilities at their headquarters in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

After the initial success, the Olympics struggled. The celebrations in Paris (1900) and St. Louis (1904) were overshadowed by the World's Fair exhibitions in which they were included. The 1906 Intercalated Games (so-called because they were the second games held within the IIIrd Olympiad) were held in Athens, as the first of an alternating series of Athens-held Olympics. Although originally the IOC recognised and supported these games, they are currently not recognised by the IOC as Olympic Games, which has given rise to the explanation that they were intended to mark the 10th anniversary of the modern Olympics. The 1906 Games again attracted a broad international field of participants—in 1904, 80% had been American—and great public interest, thereby marking the beginning of a rise in popularity and size of the Games.

From the 241 participants from 14 nations in 1896, the Games grew to nearly 11,100 competitors from 202 countries at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. The number of competitors at the Winter Olympics is much smaller than at the Summer Games; at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin Italy, 2,633 athletes from 80 countries competed in 84 events.

The Olympic Games are one of the world's largest media events. In Sydney in 2000, there were over 16,000 broadcasters and journalists, and an estimated 3.8 billion viewers watched the games television. The growth of the Olympics is one of the largest problems the Olympics face today. Although allowing professional athletes and attracting sponsorships from major international companies solved financial problems in the 1980s, the large number of athletes, media and spectators makes it difficult and expensive for host cities to organize the Olympics. For example, the 2012 Olympics (which will be held in London), is based on an updated budget of over £9bn—one of the biggest budgets for an Olympics to date. Even if sponsorships do lighten the load in terms of the debt that these countries take on, one of the biggest problems faced is how their economies will cope with the extra financial burdens put on them. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olimpic_games)

Ancient Olympics

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Athletes trained in this Olympia facility in ancient times.

Main article: Ancient Olympic Games

There are many myths surrounding the origin of the ancient Olympic Games, the most popular of which identifies Heracles as the creator of the Olympic Games. According to the legend, Heracles built the Olympic stadium and surrounding buildings as an honor to his father Zeus, after completing his 12 labors. After he built the stadium he walked in a straight line for 400 strides and called this distance a "stadion" (Greek: στάδιον, Latin: stadium, "stage") that later also became a unit of distance. This is also why a modern stadium track is 400 meters in circumference — the distance a runner travels in one lap (1 stadium = 400 m). Another myth associates the first Games with the ancient Greek concept of ἐκεχειρία (ekecheiria), Olympic truce. The date of the Games' creation was based on a four year cycle. The most widely held estimate for the inception of the Ancient Olympics is 776 BC, although scholars' opinions diverge between dates as early as 884 BC and as late as 704 BC.

From then on, the Olympic Games quickly became much more important throughout ancient Greece, reaching their zenith in the 6th and 5th centuries BC. The Olympics were of fundamental religious importance, contests alternating with sacrifices and ceremonies honouring both Zeus (whose colossal statue stood at Olympia), and Pelops, divine hero and mythical king of Olympia, who was famous for his legendary chariot races with King Oenomaus of Pisatis, and in whose honour the games were held. The number of events increased to twenty, and the celebration was spread over several days. Winners of the events were greatly admired and were immortalised in poems and statues.^[9] The Games were held every four years, and the period between two celebrations became known as an Olympiad. The Greeks used Olympiads as one of their units of time measurement. The most famous Ancient Olympic athlete lived during the sixth century BC: the wrestler Milo of Croton is the only athlete in history to win a victory in six Olympics. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olimpic_games)

Olympic Games

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The five Olympic rings were designed in 1913, adopted in 1914 and debuted at the Games

The Olympic Games are an international multi-sport event. The Modern Olympic Games were inaugurated in Athens in 1896, and are held at the beginning of every Olympiad. The Games were organized as a summer sports event through 1920. In 1924 the winter games began in Chamonix, France. Until 1992, they were both held in the same year. Since then, the summer games are held during the first year of an Olympiad, the winter games during the third year.

The original Olympic Games (Greek: Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες; [Olympiakoi Agones] (help·info)) were first recorded in 776 BC in Olympia, Greece, and were celebrated until AD 393. Interest in reviving the Olympic Games proper was first shown by the Greek poet and newspaper editor Panagiotis Soutsos in his poem "Dialogue of the Dead" in 1833. Evangelos Zappas sponsored the first modern international Olympic festival in 1859. He paid for the refurbishment of the Panathinaiko Stadium for Games held there in 1870 and 1875.This was noted in newspapers and publications around the world including the London Review, which stated that "the Olympian Games, discontinued for centuries, have recently been revived! Here is strange news indeed ... the classical games of antiquity were revived near Athens"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olimpic_games

Olympic Beijing 2008

Frodeno wins gold in Men's Triathlon

Swimming Day 9 Preview: One to go, Phelps!

Swimming Day 9 Preview: One to go, Phelps!

Day 9 Preview: Phelps goes for record gold

Wei Yili and Zhang Yawen, etc.

Badminton bronze for Wei Yili and Zhang Yawen

Flash: Lu comes from behind to win gold

Pakistan came back

China makes history by winning its first Team gold in Women's Gymnastics

China's Tan Zongliang

In Beijing, The Olympic Museum is everywhere!

Artistic Gymnastics Day 2 Review: China brilliant in Women's Qualification

Third IOC & BOCOG press conference

Medal Standings

Olympic medal count

Beijing National Stadium

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Contents

Design

Modern Olympics - 2

Modern Olympics - 1

Ancient Olympics

Olympic Games