Yelena Isinbayeva made sure the Olympic athletics program ended a lot better than it started Monday at the Bird’s Nest.
The Russian pole vaulter broke her own world record in winning a second consecutive Olympic gold medal. Already assured of victory over rival Jenn Stuczynski of the United States, Isinbayeva set a mark of 5.05 metres on her third and final attempt at that height.
After eclipsing her old world record by one centimetre, Isinbayeva did a somersault on the mat before jogging around the stadium with a Russian flag as the crowd wildly applauded.
It was anything but a celebration about 10 hours earlier when defending 110-metre hurdles champion Liu Xiang, one of the most recognizable faces in China and even more popular than basketball player Yao Ming, walked away from the blocks after pulling up during a false start in qualifying, his Olympics over.
“We worked hard every day, but the result was as you see and it’s really hard to take,” said Liu’s coach, Sun Haiping.
While Liu clutched his right leg in pain, an elderly woman in the stands wiped tears from her eyes, providing the most poignant example of what the 25-year-old hurdler, who had been affected by the injury for several months, means to many in his home country as it hosts the games for the first time.
Usain Bolt, the 100-metre gold winner and world record-holder, easily qualified for the 200 semifinals. Bolt never pushed himself to win his quarter-final heat ahead of Olympic gold medallist Shawn Crawford, with the Jamaican mock-wiping sweat off his brow after the race.
The semifinals are set for Tuesday, with Crawford among the few believed to have a chance at stopping Bolt’s quest for a 100-200 double, a feat last achieved by Carl Lewis at the 1988 Seoul Games.
The United States leads all countries through Monday with 72 medals, with China second at 67 and Russia thrid at 36. China has the most gold medals with 39, followed by the U.S. at 22 and Great Britain at 12.
Canada has nine medals, including two gold.
Angelo Taylor won the men’s 400 hurdles, finishing in 47.25 seconds to lead a U.S. sweep in the event. Kerron Clement finished second and Bershawn Jackson finished third, the first sweep since the United States did it in 1960.
Taylor, the 2000 Olympic champion, won his second gold by running a personal-best time of 47.25 seconds. He won the U.S. team’s second gold medal of the meet, joining Stephanie Brown Trafton, who won the discus throw in an upset earlier Monday.
Pamela Jelimo led world champion Janeth Jepkosgei in a Kenyan 1-2 finish in the women’s 800 metres.
The 18-year-old Jelimo, a heavy favourite despite only switching to the 800 in April, won in 1:54.87.
Three-time world champion and Sydney 2000 Olympic gold medallist Maria Mutola finished fifth in 1:57.68 in her fourth and last Olympics.
Irving Saladino won the men’s long jump, giving Panama its first Olympic gold medal. The 2007 world champion won with a best jump of 8.34 metres. Brimin Kipruto of Kenya won the gold medal in the men’s 3,000-metre steeplechase.
Emma Snowsill, a three-time world champion from Australia, took the triathlon gold in the 1.5-kilometre swim, 40-kilometre bicycle ride and 10-kilometre run in 1:58:27. Vanessa Fernandes of Portugal was second, a minute behind, and another Australian, Emma Moffatt, took the bronze.
“Coming down on the last lap I had to throw whatever I had left,” Snowsill said. “There’s nothing like running scared.”
Chen Yibing extended China’s unbeaten run of gold – five in five events – in men’s gymnastics by winning the rings. The two-time world champion was perfectly still on nearly every move in registering 16.600 points that blew away the field of eight.
He Kexin of China won a tiebreaker over all-around champion Nastia Liukin of the United States for the uneven bars gold medal.
Britain won the men’s team pursuit at the Laoshan velodrome, knocking nearly two seconds off the world record it set a day earlier. The team of Ed Clancy, Paul Manning, Geraint Thomas and individual pursuit gold medallist Bradley Wiggins finished the 4,000 metres in 3:53.314, almost overtaking the silver medal-winning Denmark in the final.
World champion Marianne Vos of the Netherlands won the women’s points race.
Andrei Aramnau of Belarus broke three heavyweight world records to win his country’s first Olympic gold in weightlifting. Aramnau lifted a total of 436 kilograms in the 105-kg category and also set world marks in the snatch and clean and jerk.
“I came here to win and break records,” Aramnau said. “It’s not just empty talk. I did it.”
He Wenna of China won gold in women’s trampolining, over Canada’s Karen Cockburn, China took the men’s team title in table tennis and the United States won the team show jumping event in equestrian in a jumpoff over Canada.
The United States beat Germany 106-57 in men’s basketball, advancing to the medal round against Australia. Dwight Howard scored 22 points and LeBron James had 18, 16 in the first half, as the United States completed an undefeated 5-0 march through pool play.

Organizers say events are sold out despite appearances. One possible explanation is that Chinese bought cheap tickets but aren’t using them.

Tickets were in such short supply for Friday night’s field hockey match between Australia and Pakistan that some relatives of players couldn’t get any, and those who did had to fork over as much as $130 apiece. At the box office, clerks told disappointed ticket seekers that the game was “sold out.”
But inside the 17,000-seat Olympic Green Hockey Stadium, the stands were a sea of blue — the color of the rows and rows of empty plastic seats. When the game began, only a quarter of the seats were filled, leaving an incredulous Donna Dancer, wife of Australian hockey coach Barry Dancer, to ask, “Where have all the tickets gone?”

It’s one of the great mysteries of the Beijing Olympics: In what is reportedly the first sold-out Games in Olympic history, many venues are far from full, with the expanses of empty seats giving events a somewhat forlorn appearance.

“Everyone I know wanted tickets; we Chinese love to see sports,” said Mike Ma, 34, a Beijing office worker who scored a field hockey ticket through a German friend because he was unable to buy one in China. “It’s a pity there are so many empty seats. We would like to know who is responsible.”
And how it happened.

Demand for the 6.8 million tickets has been crushing. When tickets first went on sale, online ticketing sites around the world crashed because so many people were trying to buy. When the final batch of tickets was offered in July, Chinese fans waited in 90-degree heat for as long as two days to buy them, with near riots breaking out at many locations.

“This is our fourth Olympics, but getting tickets to this one really has been a nightmare,” said Stacey Watson, a 44-year-old Australian, as she watched her country beat Pakistan, 3-1. “Then you get inside and you wonder who got all the tickets, because there is nobody there.”

Dancer, wife of the Australian coach, knows how tough it was to scrape together tickets for the players’ families. She and others spent long nights trying to get through to jammed Internet sites. They called dodgy ticket agencies, scalpers and people they barely knew begging for tickets. About 300 of them finally got tickets, scattered around the stadium.

Not every venue is empty. There have been full houses for swimming and gymnastics finals. The 91,000-seat National Stadium, known as the Bird’s Nest, was packed Saturday for track and field. But at most other events, even table tennis and archery in which the Chinese are strong, the lack of fans is glaringly obvious, especially on TV.

Beijing Olympic organizers initially explained away the empty seats by citing the humid and rainy weather on the first days of the Games. But with the skies clearing, they have begun complaining about tickets that have been purchased but gone unused.

“All the tickets have been sold out; we will be encouraging all the ticket holders to watch the matches themselves,” Wang Wei, executive vice president of the organizing committee, said Friday at a news conference. “If they don’t want to go, they should give the tickets to those who do,”

Empty seats are a chronic problem at the Olympics, where large blocks of the best seats are set aside for sponsors, VIPs and media members who may not use them. The 2004 Athens Games were marked by vast swaths of empty seats.

But Athens was not sold out, and people could buy tickets at the on-site box office. Not so in Beijing. With no same-day tickets available, hundreds of people mill about outside the wire fences that separate the Olympic Green from the street, looking for tickets. Scalpers slink through the crowd, muttering their prices and avoiding police.

On Saturday morning, the cheapest price to see U.S. swimmer Michael Phelps in the 100-meter butterfly race was $570, for tickets with a face value of $21.

One reason for the shortage is that organizers wanted to make the Games accessible to China’s 1.3 billion people, so they sold more tickets domestically and at lower prices than usual, some for as little as $4. The low prices encouraged people to snap up whatever they could.

But it turns out there weren’t that many people truly prepared to spend their Monday morning watching Mali play New Zealand in women’s basketball.

Also, the custom in Communist China is to attend sporting or cultural events as part of official work outings. Large blocks of empty seats in the cheaper nosebleed sections of the stadiums may have been allocated to state companies that ended up not using them.

From the looks of the stands, the empty seats do not appear to be tickets that were sold in the United States, Australia or Europe, said Mark Lewis, president of Jet Set Sports, the affiliate of CoSport, which was the official sales agent. In the cases where foreigners decided not to go to China, their tickets were returned and resold.

“I know where our seats are. . . . The people who bought our tickets are attending,” Lewis said.

So many foreigners have complained that the Chinese have been busing in rent-a-crowds to lend the stands a festive atmosphere.

“It’s better. Nobody likes an empty stadium,” said Dave Andrews, 27, of Perth, Australia. “But you can tell they’ve just been brought in here to fill the seats. They know nothing about hockey. They cheer at all the wrong times.”

from: latimes.com

He’s the hero of the Beijing Olympics — but Michael Phelps has become the bane of bookmakers.
Gamblers have joined Phelps’s winning streak with online betting sites reporting a spike in money riding on the U.S. swimmer and higher interest overall from gamblers in the Games.
Phelps has been the favourite in all of his races in the Aug. 8-24 Games on various online betting sites, with odds for his victories down to about 5/2 on — paying out about $40 on a $100 bet.
“Although he has been at short odds to win he has being doing the right thing by the punters who are getting back more than they get on bank interest,” said Phil Hannah, general manager at Australia-based online betting site SportsBet.
“He really has become a thorn in the bookmakers’ side.”
Most gamblers are betting Phelps will beat compatriot Mark Spitz’s record of winning seven gold medals at one Olympics, with the 23-year-old already snapping up five golds from Beijing, making him the most decorated Olympian of all time with 11 golds.
He is due to swim the 200 metre individual medley on Friday, the 100 metre butterfly on Saturday and the 4×100 metre medley relay on Sunday.
Online site Sky Bet is also paying 5/2 on for Phelps to beat Spitz’s record.
The Olympics is not traditionally a major sports event for gamblers but Hannah said the interest had picked up for the 2008 Games particularly in Asia as the events were televised during the day.
Swimming is the sport attracting the most bets but weightlifting, table tennis, judo and soccer are also getting some interest.
U.S-based Betsonline.com has also experienced an increase in Olympic wagers although spokesman Tommy Allen said the Olympics still lagged far behind sports such as basketball and baseball.
U.S. television network NBC, which paid almost $900 million for the exclusive broadcasting rights to the Olympics, has been delaying showing the Games to hit prime-time viewers in the United States which could impact gambling interest.
“But Phelps is such a phenomenon we have seen interest in him,” said Allen.
He said the odds for Phelps winning the 100 metre butterfly on Saturday were set at minus 255 which means a win would pay out $39 on a $100 bet.
“He’s the clear favourite of the Games,” said Allen.
Horse racing reappeared in mainland China in the early 1990s as jockey clubs were set up but gambling remains illegal, except for state lotteries.

from: guardian.co.uk

British scalpers are doing a roaring trade in black-market tickets at the Beijing Olympics despite efforts by the Chinese authorities to crackdown on their illegal activities.

The touts, who have travelled to Beijing from London, Manchester and Liverpool are being blamed for the rows of empty seats which have plagued the early rounds of Olympic competition.

All 6.8m Olympic tickets were sold before the Games opened, but the majority went at low prices to ordinary Chinese people who have been passing them to the touts who sell them on again to foreign visitors at vastly inflated prices.

Yesterday the traders were working more or less openly outside the entrances to the Olympic Park despite assurances from the Beijing Olympics security chief, Liu Shaowu, that action was being taken to curb the trade.

“All countries that have hosted the Olympic Games have had problems with scalping. We have noted that there are some people who have engaged in this sort of criminal activity and we are taking action against them,” he said.

However even as Mr Liu made his promise, ‘Danny’ from London was camped outside the entrance to Olympic Park buying and selling his tickets just a few hundred metres from where Mr Liu was sitting.

“You buying or selling?” he said, ordering his Chinese side-kick to hand me his business card, “I’ll take basketball if you’ve got them, pairs are best, and athletics, I need them if you’ve got em. What are you after? Diving? Basketball?” The most sought-after tickets, such as swimming and the 100m final on Saturday were changing hands for up to ten times their face value, with one tout asking 4,000 yuan (£280) for a swimming finals ticket with a face value of 400 yuan (£28)

A Chinese tout in out-sized Aviator sunglasses calling himself ‘Harry’ wanted 4.000 yuan (£280) for a pair of tickets to the 100m final on Saturday, and wouldn’t go lower than 3,500 (£245) despite a prolonged haggle.

He was one of more than 20 touts from a variety of nationalities, including Africans, Australian and French encountered by The Telegraph as we walked around Olympic park checking on the re-sale value of Olympic tickets.

Most kept a wary eye out for police who were patrolling the pavements at regular intervals, moving on to a new perch when necessary but still operating largely unhindered.

“They’re nicking [arresting] down here a bit, but we’re not getting too much trouble off them,” said one Liverpudlian tout, “they got to get you twice before you get planed [deported], that’s what I’m hearing.”

Other touts, like ‘George’ from London, took advice from their local partners, tapping into the vein of corruption which runs through Beijing’s police to keep business ticking over without too much interference.

“The cops aren’t a problem, we just bung ‘em,” he said, “You know, drop a few notes on the floor and walk off and let them pick them up. Keeps everyone sweet, doesn’t it? They’re not a problem her cops, good as gold in fact.”

Selling tickets for profit is a crime in China punishable by up to two years rigorous imprisonment, not that that stopped George selling the Telegraph two tickets to watch England play Netherlands in the hockey for 1,100 yuan (£77), or ten times their face value.

Asked if he knew his actions were illegal, he said: “It’s not illegal, I don’t think it is. You’re happy, aren’t you? You’ve got your tickets for the game tonight and I’m happy, so what’s the problem? It’s not illegal to me.”

from: telegraph.co.uk

The Sydney Olympics ran out. Athens doubled the number. So organizers of the Beijing Games are hoping 100,000 condoms will satisfy the needs of Olympic athletes.

While sex is not an Olympic sport it is expected to be an activity in the Beijing village housing 10,500 athletes, all of whom are in great shape and with plenty of free time on their hands once knocked out of the Games.

Athletes have received free condoms at every Olympics since Barcelona in 1992 to help raise awareness of AIDS, and Beijing is no exception.

“There are many young, strong, single people in the athletes’ village and, like everywhere, some will fall in love or other things so we need to make condoms available,” Ole Hansen, spokesman for UNAIDS China, told Reuters.

“A lot of these young people are not married or in relationships so we want to make sure they have the information and tools to protect themselves if they have sexual encounters.”

The UNAIDS, the Beijing organising committee BOCOG and International Olympics Committee are providing 100,000 condoms as part of a campaign on HIV prevention and anti-discrimination.

At the Sydney Games in 2000 athletes quickly exhausted a supply of 70,000 and another 20,000 had to be brought in.

The Foundation for AIDS Research, amfAR, said 100,000 were distributed at the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics in 2002 after a plan to distribute 250,000 condoms met protests by religious groups and was scaled back.

At Athens in 2004 about 130,000 condoms were distributed.

Hansen said the number available at Beijing was based on previous Games’ experience and in keeping with previous Olympics would be available at medical centres at athletes’ centres in Beijing, Qingdao and Hong Kong rather than put in rooms.

“We have people here from all religions and cultural backgrounds, some of whom may feel uncomfortable or offended with condoms in their room,” he said.

To be discreet, two condoms are tucked inside every a brochure about HIV that are available at medical centres.

“No one can see that you are carrying condoms to save any embarrassment,” said Hansen.

“People are encouraged to take the leaflets and to take as many as they like. They can use them or take them home for friends and spread the knowledge and awareness.”

Chinese condom makers have jumped on the Olympics bandwagon.

One manufacturer, Elasun, has come up with a set of cheeky advertisements featuring a stickman swimming over a rippled condom that looks like a wave, riding two condom rings like a bicycle, and using a condom as a basketball hoop.

Condoms depicting the five Olympics mascots are also for sale on various online sites although nowhere to be seen in official merchandise stories.

from: in.reuters.com

Yao Ming was strong enough to carry his nation’s flag into the emotional cauldron of the Bird’s Nest stadium for the ceremonial opening of the Beijing Olympics.

But the Houston Rockets star was unable to single-handedly fulfil China’s hopes of upsetting the United States Dream Team in their opening game of the basketball tournament.

The mighty efforts of the tallest man in the competition proved insufficient against the combined power of Kobe Bryant, Lebron James, Jason Kidd and co, who prevailed 101-70 in an impressive show of strength that ruthlessly ended the unrealistic pre-game expectations of the hosts.

With the 2008 Dream Team striving to regain the Olympic title which the United States lost in Athens four years ago, the match did not turn into the superpower confrontation which had been frenziedly built up beforehand, as the Americans maintained their record of never having lost to China in five contests at the Games.

It did not start quite that way, with the visitors clearly unnerved by what was certainly a superpower occasion at the Wukesong Indoor Arena. It was Yao who fittingly opened the scoring with a three-pointer after 24 seconds which was rapturously received by the home crowd.

The Americans could only shake their heads as the man who is renowned for his height has only previously managed one successful three-point shot in 404 matches in the NBA, and that was almost five and half years ago. They are more used to his blocking and rebounding skills, which he proceeded to show to good effect.

But gradually the tricky and guile of the United States superstars, allied with increasingly assured teamwork, found a way round the giant’s defence and it began to seem as if the stress fracture of his foot, that had kept Yao off the court for five months this year, was still a problem for him.

A deficit of 16-20 after the first quarter turned into a decisive difference at the interval of 37-49 as the Americans inexorably pulled clear towards the end of the first half. By the finish, it was only prevented from being a record win for the United States as the Dreamers eased up at this early stage of the competition.

The American goal is simple: reach the top of the podium or their visit to Beijing will be a failure. For China, the first priority now will be to get through the group stages. Then they can think about surpassing their previous Olympic best of eighth place in 1996 and again in 2004.

But this might just have been the most difficult opponent they will ever face.

source: telegraph.co.uk

Former Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai was famously asked if he considered the French Revolution to have been a success: he paused briefly before venturing the opinion that it was really much too early to judge.

Old China used to take its time and preferred to think in terms of centuries rather than decades when confronting big issues.

That has all changed in the new modern China, where everything seemingly happens at 1,000mph, from the 48-storey tower block growing before your eyes to the elegant translators at the Olympic press conference who conduct their work with breathtaking speed and efficiency, making dreary officials sound razor-sharp and interesting.

There is a plan for everything and everything has a plan. That now includes sport and, in particular, Olympic sport. You will not therefore be surprised to learn that China’s rise to prominence as an economic superpower is mirrored almost exactly by its rise to prominence as a sporting superpower.

Although China made an impressive Olympic debut in 1984, the Los Angeles Games were boycotted by the Soviet bloc and China’s medal tally therefore was inflated accordingly. The first “global” Olympics featuring China was in Seoul in 1988 when they finished in 11th place with five gold, 11 silver and 12 bronze medals.

That same year China was ranked 10th in the world in terms of gross domestic product. Yet in Athens four years ago China had climbed to second in the medals table with a staggering 32 golds – not to mention 17 silvers and 14 bronzes – to finish runners-up to the United States.

Meanwhile, the economic miracle that is modern-day China has resulted – no matter what criteria economists employ – in the People’s Republic climbing to second place in that table as well. They are chasing the United States hard on both fronts now.

It might not be a message entirely at one with their Communist ideals but clearly increased wealth and purchasing power can be used, in part, to buy international sporting success. Having 1.3 billion citizens to select from also helps.

Regardless of your politics and views on the regime presiding in Beijing and the way they execute their grandiose plans, China is a considerable sporting success story. And they have achieved that from a culture barely acquainted with many of the world’s great mass participation sports.

They have targeted their sports carefully and ruthlessly. In fact, the entire operation is called Project 119 because the Chinese think tank believe there are 119 gold medals that, given time, money and the correct coach, they should at least be able to compete for. That may be blue sky thinking in the land of ‘permasmog’ and haze but by aiming for the stars it is possible to still be successful despite falling short of expectations. The Chinese are naturally talented at table tennis and badminton and they have thrown their resources at diving, weightlifting, gymnastics, shooting and judo – sports which are rich in medals.

China has won 16 of the 20 gold medals awarded by table tennis since it became an Olympic event in 1988 and eight gold medals – and 22 medals in all – in badminton since it was introduced four years later.

Chinese divers have won 20 gold medals in the last six Games and China has also garnered 14 golds in shooting. Weightlifting has brought in 16 golds – five in Athens – and the Chinese have traditionally excelled at gymnastics (10 golds so far and 16 other medals) though there was consternation that they managed only one gold in Athens. The backlash has seen them dominate recent World Championships and they are expected to figure prominently again on home territory.

China’s medal haul

It is these core sports they will again rely on, but elsewhere progress has been made on the athletics track. Liu Xiang’s gold medal in the 110 metres hurdles in Athens and at the 2007 World Championships were a major breakthrough and his Olympic campaign will be a centrepoint of these Games. Their swimming is also improving and, rather against the odds, they are beginning to build a basketball team based around 7ft 6in Yao Ming to compete against the very best. They start with a bang on Sunday with an eagerly awaited match against America’s ‘Dream Team’.

Athletes like Liu want for nothing. He allegedly has a team of 30 specialist coaches, nutritionists, physiologists, physiotherapists and gurus in the background though even they could not prevent him picking up a hamstring strain last month.

Since Athens, China has employed more than 50 foreign coaches across the full spectrum of sports ranging from American Michael Bastian in softball, Japan’s synchronised swimming guru Masayo Imura to Poland’s canoeing coach Marek Ploch. Watersports such as canoeing, sailing and synchronised swimming are the latest targeted sports with the maximum medal potential.

“The luck of participating in an Olympics held in our motherland is a once-in-a-century opportunity and a dream that our predecessors have fought to fulfil for 100 years,” sports minister

Liu Peng told a team rally recently. “This is a historical chance for us … we are burdened with a glorious mission.”

With the start of the Games now on us and Beijing awash with politicians and VIPs, the Chinese appear to be back-tracking a little and, at least in public, denying there is a dog-eat-dog fight with the Americans to top the medal table. But once the first starting gun fires and the first misty-eyed Chinese gold medallist stands on the podium, patriotic fervour will take over. Where will it all end?

Mr Zhou Enlai is long gone, but I would suggest it is much too early to venture an opinion.

Three other Chinese hopefuls (By Tom Knight )

Cheng Fei
(Gymnastics)
Born: May 29, 1988
Competing in the vault, floor and team events, she was a triple gold medallist at the 2006 World Championships and has had a vault routine named after her, ranking her alongside such iconic figures as Nadia Comaneci. ‘The Cheng’ is a round-off, half-turn with a 540 degree twist. Don’t try it at home.

Guo Jingjing
(Diving)
Born: Oct 15, 1981
Competing in the 3 metre springboard synchronised and individual events, the double Olympic champion from Athens is tipped to do it again in Beijing. This is the sport where China can expect a major input of gold medals and Guo is one of their superstars with an unpredictable temperament to match.

Zhou Chunxiu
(Athletics)
Born: Nov 15, 1978
British fans will remember Zhou from her London Marathon triumph in 2007, when her time put her among the world elite. She, above all the runners and most notably Britain’s Paula Radcliffe, will be more at home in the choking atmosphere expected during the Olympic marathon here in Beijing.

source: telegraph.co.uk

Wade leads U.S. past Australia

The U.S. men’s basketball team wrapped up its exhibition schedule with its toughest test, pulling away and beating Australia 87-76 Tuesday night in Shanghai, China, in its final game before heading to Beijing.

The United States led by only four points nearly halfway through the third quarter and was up by seven midway through the fourth against an Australian team that was resting its best player, Milwaukee Bucks center Andrew Bogut.

Dwyane Wade scored 22 points and LeBron James had 16 for the Americans, who finished three of 18 from behind the arc and 20 of 33 (61 percent) at the foul line.

Kobe Bryant scored 13 points, and Carmelo Anthony had 12 points and 10 rebounds for the United States, which faces host China on Sunday in its Olympic opener.

Bogut, the No. 1 pick in the 2005 NBA draft, wanted more time to rest a sore right ankle that has been bothering him, but said he expects to be ready by the opener against Croatia on Sunday.

U.S. women win tournament

Lisa Leslie scored 14 points, and the United States held off Australia 71-67 in the FIBA Diamond Ball tournament title game at Haining, China.

This was the first meeting between these two rivals with both teams at full strength since the 2004 Olympics gold-medal game, won by the Americans 74-63.

Penny Taylor led Australia with 19 points. Lauren Jackson added 16 and was chosen the tournament’s MVP.

Candace Parker had 12 points, and Sue Bird added 11 for the United States.

Medical chief suspects doping

The leader of the International Olympic Committee’s medical commission said seven Russian female track and field athletes, accused of tampering with their urine samples, appeared to be involved in a case of “systematic doping.”

Seven Russian women were provisionally suspended last week by the International Association of Athletics Federations in the doping scandal. They included Yelena Soboleva, a world record holder and world champion middle-distance runner who was favored to win the 800 and 1,500 meters at the Beijing Olympics.

“I think it is just frustrating to find that such type of cheating — planned cheating — is still going on,” said Arne Ljungqvist, the chairman of the International Olympic Committee’s medical commission.

Country will pay medal winners

The Dominican Republic says it will pay its athletes who win gold, silver or bronze medals.

Sports Minister Felipe Payano said the awards will range from nearly $90,000 to $200,000. Winners could also get a car. It is the first time the Dominican government has made such an offer.

The Caribbean country has won only two medals in Olympic history.

Torch arrives in Beijing

Torch bearers carried the Olympic flame on the final relay of its long and sometimes contentious global tour today, greeted by rapturous crowds in Beijing two days before it officially launches the Summer Games.

The arrival of the torch in the capital marks one of the concluding steps in China’s seven years of preparations for the games that have cost billions of dollars, and one which Beijing hopes will serve as the country’s symbolic debut as a modern world power.

Apology for beating of journalists

The beating of two Japanese journalists by police in western China drew an official apology Tuesday, but Beijing also set new obstacles for news outlets wanting to report from Tiananmen Square in the latest sign of trouble for reporters covering the Olympics.

The IOC, which last week only partially succeeded in getting China to unblock some Internet sites after journalists raised a furor, said it would look into the new rules that require reporters to make appointments to do reports at Tiananmen.

The Japanese government and the Foreign Correspondents Club of China condemned the roughing up of the Japanese newsmen who were covering an attack by alleged Muslim separatists on police in Xinjiang province.

Indian weightlifter banned

India’s only weightlifting entry for the Games, Monica Devi, was stopped from boarding a flight to Beijing to compete in the Olympics after testing positive for a banned substance.

The Press Trust of India reported that Devi tested positive for an anabolic salt in a test conducted on June 29. It quoted unidentified officials as saying the report showing the positive result came just hours before Devi was to leave the Indian capital for Beijing. It said she has now been withdrawn from the games.

Devi’s failed doping test is the fourth by an Indian weightlifter since May.

source: kansascity.com

Beijing Olympics 2008

Olympic-themed condom adverts have been released in China to coincide with the start of the 2008 Beijing Games.

The cheeky adverts, which depict stick-man athletes using condoms as apparatus in Olympic events, have become a viral sensation in China.

The contraceptives prove themselves remarkably versatile, standing in as bicycle wheels, basketball nets, archery targets and gymnastic rings.

A ribbed condom is also used to illustrate choppy water in the swimming version of the campaign.

The adverts were made for Chinese condom-maker Elasun, with the broken English slogan “Sports make you health”.

The firm is by no means first to make the connection between the Games and sex, with Olympic villages reputed to be hotbeds of after-hours indulgence.

Earlier this week it emerged that the 16,000 competitors staying in the Beijing village will be able to purchase a wide variety of soft pornography, including erotic books featuring provocative pictures of naked women with titles such as “Drawing book for the Nude”.

At the 2004 Athens Olympics 130,000 free condoms were made available to athletes and officials.

In the Sydney 2000 Games, each competing athlete was given 51 condoms on arrival at the Olympic Village, but another 20,000 had to be shipped in when supplies began to run low.

Some of the biggest and richest names in world sport will be at the Beijing Olympics, with the superstar mega-list headed by Roger Federer, Maria Sharapova, Lionel Messi, Yao Ming, LeBron James, and Michael Phelps.
Some will be mucking in with their teammates at the Olympic Village although others are expected to stay in hotel suites more becoming of their status and financial clout.
While the Olympics will attract more than 10,000 athletes, only a handful can claim to be truely global household names, and even fewer can boost of multi-million dollar bank accounts to boot.
Perhaps the most recognisable face is Federer, the Swiss tennis machine who has dominated the sport for five years, although in China, home to 1.3 billion people, Houston Rockets centre Yao Ming and 110m hurdler Liu Xiang are bigger.
When it comes to money, the American basketball team carries perhaps the most clout.
Players like James, Kobe Bryant, Carmelo Anthony, and Dwyane Wade are heavyweights of the game who have multi-million dollar salaries and all will be in Beijing.
James, or ‘King James’ as he is known, is one of the richest sportsman on the planet, and, if you believe the reports, is well on his way to becoming the first billionaire athlete.
Once the Cleveland Cavaliers star made it in the NBA, he reportedly bought all of his high school basketball team a new car. And his house just outside Cleveland includes a bowling alley, a barbershop, and casino.
Bryant and his teammates are equally flush, but it will be about face in Beijing after the Americans suffered the most humbling moment in their basketball history when they lost in the semi-finals in Athens.
It ended their three-Olympics reign as champions and they are desperate to reclaim the mantle.
“We will be Olympic champions this year,” James said.
“We have guys who don’t want to lose – Kobe (Bryant), Carmelo (Anthony), Dwyane (Wade) — and the guys off the bench are very good. We’ve got so many great players.”
Federer has reigned as the number one tennis player since 2004 – although his position is now under threat from Rafael Nadal – which makes him not only seriously rich, but a top draw in August.
But he has indicated he will be one of those forgoing the Olympic village.
While the overall experience, including bonding with teammates from more traditional Olympic sports, is part of the attraction of the Games, being a celebrity means autograph hunters badgering you even among fellow athletes.
Federer doesn’t want distractions in his quest for a first-ever Olympic gold.
“It was quite difficult in Athens,” he said. “Taking the bus and not being in control of my own schedule, and many people recognising me in the village.
“Every time I go to eat everyone taps on your shoulder.”
Maria Sharapova will also be in town, and is certain to be one of the most photographed competitors.
“One of the things I’m really looking forward to is the opening ceremony and walking with athletes from my country in front of thousands of people,” said the Russian, adding that she would love to watch some gymnastics.
“When I was younger I wanted to be a rhythmic gymnast,” she said.
Barcelona’s star striker Lionel Messi, considered by many to be the best young player in the world, hopes to be in Beijing, although his club Barcelona are dead set against it.
Many clubs have barred players competing, but Barcelona have little choice. Messi is 21 and clubs are obliged to release players under 23 years of age.
Yao, another from the mega-rich basketball fraternity, is huge in China and is sure to be a major focus of attention.
China’s richest celebrity earned some 55 million dollars from basketball and sponsorship activities last year alone and is perhaps the most recognisable Chinese face in the world, alongside President Hu Jintao.
Phelps isn’t on the same pay scale although he will reportedly receive one million dollars from Speedo if he matches Mark Spitz’ record of seven swimming golds this summer.
Regardless of his earnings power, Phelps could become the star of the show, with few other athletes in a position to win so many medals.
Another major attraction will be Athens gold medallist Liu Xiang, whose rock-star following in China and sponsorships by Nike, Coca-Cola, Visa and a host of Chinese brands have made him not only rich but very popular.
The world’s fastest sprinters, Usain Bolt, Asafa Powell and Tyson Gay, will also be top draws, with their 100m showdown set to be one of the great moments of the Games.

from: afp.google.com

Italian National Olympic Committee (CONI) determined the final squad for Beijing Olympics during its July 23 meeting in Rome.

Three-hundred and forty-seven athletes are on the list — 20 less than the number for Athens Olympics. There are 215 male athletes and 132 female ones, the latter comprising 39% of the total — a larger percentage than 2004. Italy will be sending relatively more athletes to participate in individual events than for team sports. Teams will not be sent to compete in basketball, baseball or softball.

According to the Italian National Olympic Committee website, Italian athletes will participate in events including, track-and-field, swimming, water polo, volleyball, shooting, fencing and football. Forty-nine athletes will be competing in track-and-field, 34 in swimming, 26 in water polo and 24 in volleyball competition. Only one athlete has qualified for the badminton event – the country’s smallest number of competitors for any one event.

CONI President, Giovanni Petrucci, and CONI Secretary-General and head of the Italian delegation to the Beijing Olympics, Raffaele Pagnozzi, told press Wednesday that without teams in basketball, baseball and softball, it would a challenge for the country to attain the same level of achievement as seen at the Athens Games where the country placed second in men’s basketball. In 2004, Italy took home a total of 32 medals – 10 gold, 11 silver and 11 bronze.

The Italian swim team left for Beijing on the evening of July 23 to begin adaptive training and participate in warm-up matches. The remainder of the Italian Olympic team will arrive in stages over the course of the coming week.

from: beijing2008.cn

During the last several years, Abby Wambach had become the go-to spokeswoman for her U.S. soccer team. Which makes sense, as she also evolved into the go-to scorer.
“I live for this game,” Wambach said earlier this year as she looked forward to the Beijing Olympics. “When we take breaks, I oftentimes wish I was back in camp practicing with my teammates.”
Now, though, Wambach will have to take a break at the worst possible time. She suffered a broken tibia and fibula in her left leg during a match against Brazil on Wednesday in San Diego.
With that, the Americans lost their best scorer (99 career goals) and one of the strongest emotional forces on the team. At the Athens Olympics final against Brazil four years ago, Wambach scored the winning goal on a header in overtime, sending retiring U.S. women’s soccer legends such as Mia Hamm, Julie Foudy and Joy Fawcett out with one more gold medal.
There was a definite sense going into these Olympics that it really was time for the newer generation of women’s soccer players to step forward. But that’s even more the case now that Wambach will not be able to compete in the Summer Games. Lauren Cheney, a 20-year-old who will be a junior at UCLA this fall, is the alternate who will replace Wambach on the U.S. team.
Cheney is one of three collegiate players on the team, along with North Carolina’s Tobin Heath and Southern Cal’s Amy Rodriguez.
However, the soccer team isn’t the only U.S. women’s squad that goes into these Olympics with something to prove. The women’s basketball team lost in its last major international event, the 2006 World Championships. Australia won the gold there.
And the softball squad feels the difficult-to-remedy burden of trying to show its sport deserves reinstatement to the Olympics after this tournament. In a 2005 vote — for which it is difficult not to discern some anti-Americanism — softball and baseball were removed from the future schedule by the International Olympic Committee.
Therefore, the U.S. softball team — which has won all three previous Olympic tournaments — plays with somewhat of a sense of desperation about what happens after Beijing.
Of course, it’s important to put these three U.S. programs in some historical perspective. Because they converged a dozen years ago in a watershed time for women’s athletics.
The U.S. women’s basketball, soccer and softball teams played in front of capacity crowds at the Atlanta Games in 1996. All won their respective golds and made significant steps forward for women athletes.
In the years since, those three sports started pro leagues in the United States to greater and lesser degrees of success. The only one with staying power has been the WNBA, the hoops league that will suspend its 12th season for a month during the Beijing Games and then pick it up again Aug. 28.

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From sweatbands to secret hand signals and even peeling oranges — human rights and other activists are seeking novel ways to circumvent tight security at the Beijing Olympics and pressure China.

Faced with a barrage of campaigns on issues such as Tibet, press freedom and Darfur, China’s communist rulers are mounting a massive security clampdown ahead of next month’s Games, saying they will tolerate no dissent of any kind.

Organisers have invoked the Olympic Charter, the rulebook drawn up by the International Olympic Committee, for overseeing the Games, which forbids any form of “demonstration or political, religious or racial propaganda”.

However groups are coming up with an array of ways to get around the rules in the hope of creating a moment similar to when black American sprinters Tommie Smith and John Carlos famously raised their black glove covered fists at the 1968 Mexico Games.

Pro-Tibetan activists are urging athletes at the Olympics to make a simple T hand signal to indicate support for the Tibetan cause.

European activists are planning to wear orange as a human rights protest while other groups say they will sport wristbands or find different ways to express their political positions at the Games.

The T sign, similar to the coach’s time-out signal in a basketball game, is an easy-to-perform gesture that could become an effective symbol of protest at the Games, according to the London-based Free Tibet Campaign.

“Now all we need are some brave athletes who are willing to show they care about human rights by making the T sign in Beijing,” said Anne Holmes, acting director of the group, on the campaign’s website.

The Free Tibet Campaign launched the T for Tibet drive this week.

from: mg.co.za

Sporting skimpy outfits and glistening smiles, the women dancing in a Beijing gym could be cheerleaders for any US sports team. Only the colorful fans and nunchaku gave them away.
One month before the Beijing Olympics, hundreds of Chinese women are flocking to a gym in the suburbs of the capital to learn how to jump, flip and cheer for the tens of thousands of spectators who will attend this summer’s Games.
Cheerleading is a quintessentially American tradition but has become more and more popular in China, thanks in large part to the phenomenal success of US basketball among China’s youth, who are not shocked by scantily clad dancers.
Olympic organizers have embraced the dance teams as a colorful way to keep spectators happy during breaks in play in basketball, beach volleyball and some of the other sports.
Some of the women are professional dancers, others come from dance schools around the country.
Training sessions will run until July 27, but last week, the women working out in Jingdong, an hour’s drive from Beijing, learned from some of the best – the cheerleaders for the Super Bowl runners-up, the New England Patriots.
“They’re a lot like Americans – they use pompoms, they do flips,” 20-year-old Patriot dancer Corie Mae Callaluca said.
She is every bit the stereotypical cheerleader with long blonde hair and blue eyes.
When the Patriot squad launched into one high-energy routine after another during a demonstration, their Chinese students watched with wide-eyed admiration and envy.
For 22-year-old university graduate Pei Qiyu, working out with Callaluca and her teammates was a great pre-Olympic confidence builder.
“We’re learning this new skill. Our sessions with foreign cheerleaders have really been a great way to learn. We like their style, and what we’re learning from them,” Pei said.
Organizers are hoping the lala dui, as they are known in Chinese, will enchant spectators with their signature style, mixing elements from traditional Peking opera with typical US hip-hop routines.
“We use a lot of moves and props from Chinese folk dances, like fans,” Pei, who will entertain the crowd at the Olympic basketball venue, said.
Pei says she hopes the Olympic cheers will help spectators learn more about Chinese dance.

from: chinadaily.com.cn

As Beijing on Tuesday marks the one-month countdown to the start of the Olympics, here are 30 reasons which make the Games special:

1. Volunteers
The 100,000-strong army of Beijing Olympic volunteers is the largest in Olympic history.
Each of the 70,000 Olympic and 30,000 Paralympic volunteers has undergone months of training.
The good Samaritans from Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan, Europe, the US and Australia will join 400,000 city volunteers who will help visitors on Beijing’s streets.
Volunteers were honored with the song, I Am a Star.

2. Double the responsibility
2008 is the first time one organizing team will oversee both the Olympics and Paralympics.
The Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad (BOCOG) is the first organization to shoulder such a formidable responsibility and BOCOG has promised the two events will be of equal splendor.

3. First digital broadcast
High-definition technology will be used for all TV broadcast operations, with all events and ceremonies enjoying 5.1 surround sound, a first for the Olympics.
Clearer screen pictures and scenery will be a feature of the Beijing Games.

4. Biggest TV audience ever
A record 4 billion people are set to watch the Beijing Games.
Beijing Olympic Broadcasting (BOB), the official broadcaster of the Games, will produce about 5,400 hours of programs during the 17-day gala, 2,000 more than in Athens four years ago.

5. Multimedia for the first time
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has, for the first time, separately sold broadcasting rights for television and new media such as Internet and mobile networks.
CCTV acquired the TV rights for the Beijing Games, while CCTV.com was awarded the domestic Internet and mobile platform license. CCTV.com recently signed an agreement with Sohu.com, the Games’ Internet content services sponsor, to share content.

6. Biggest media contingent ever
About 40,000 journalists will cover the Games, including 21,600 accredited media workers in press, broadcasting and television.
The Beijing International Media Center will also provide some 10,000 non-accredited journalists work areas and accommodation, among other services.

7. Largest number of host cities
To help host a successful Games, six cities in China have joined Beijing as co-hosts. Tianjin, Shanghai, Qinhuangdao in Hebei province and Shenyang in Liaoning province will stage some Olympic soccer matches.
The coastal city of Qingdao in Shandong province will host the sailing regatta, while Hong Kong, a city with a long history of horse racing and matching first-class facilities, will play host to equestrian events.

8. New sports
To modernize the Games, the IOC will introduce two new sports to the Beijing Games: Bicycle motocross (BMX) and the 10km marathon swim.
BMX will offer two gold medals in individual men and women’s competitions.
Marathon swimming will be held in Shunyi Water Park and offer two gold medals in individual men and women’s competitions.
Owing to limited participation worldwide, softball and baseball are expected to make their final Olympic appearance in Beijing after being axed from the London program.

9. Cheerleaders
Some 600 cheerleaders from all over the country will go all out to entertain spectators with Chinese folk dancing, acrobatics, drum shows, lion dancing and martial arts during time-outs. Cheerleaders were selected from national Olympic cheerleading competitions and local clubs.

10. The Beijing Green
The Olympic Forest Park, 680 hectares of plantation and lakes, has given the city a new green lung.
Beijing also built a number of new water purification plants for daily water recycling, replaced dated equipment at its power plants and retrofitted gas stations citywide.
The inclusion of solar power, rain-recycling and energy-saving facilities during venue construction are all helping the Games live up to its “Green Olympics” billing.
Beijing has also planted millions of trees to minimize sandstorms. It is also working with neighboring provinces to cut emissions.

11. Torch relay the longest, highest
The Beijing 2008 Olympic Torch Relay was scheduled to travel the longest distance and include the largest number of people over 130 days.
It reached the highest peak of Mount Qomolangma on May 8. Following the Sichuan earthquake, the torch relay route was curtailed in each city and special mourning sessions were added.
The leg in earthquake-hit Sichuan province has been rescheduled to August, just before the Games begins.

12. English, English
A 170-page Chinese Menu in English Version is seen as exemplary of one success of the English-speaking campaign throughout the city.
Pop stars teaching audiences correct English pronunciation and cab drivers toting language books all are part of Beijing’s multilingual pre-Olympic effort.
“It’s not just about the language, it’s about how open and confident we are,” said Li Yang, founder of Crazy English.

13. Babies named after Olympics
A total of 4,104 Chinese have been named Aoyun (Chinese for “the Olympics”) in homage to the Beijing Olympic Games, according to the figures released by the National Citizen Identity Information Center under the Ministry of Public Security in June.
Nearly 700 of the names were registered in 1992, when Beijing first applied to host the Games and another 553 were registered in 2001, when the city officially won the bid.
About 92 percent of those named Aoyun are male.

14. Weddings during the year and on opening day
Aug 8, 2008, or 08-08-08, is more than just a date: it marks both the opening of the Beijing Olympic Games and is considered a lucky day for marriage with so many eights. It is estimated that 15,000 couples will marry in Beijing on the day and 130,000-140,000 this year.

15. Highest number of cultural festivals
Games organizers have held an annual Olympic cultural festival since 2003, with the sixth beginning two weeks ago and running for the next three months.
China’s ancient culture and civilization are now being showcased to promote the Olympic spirit and publicize a green, hi-tech and people’s Olympics.

16. Massive Olympic education campaign
Educating young people through sports is one of the primary goals of the Olympic Movement.
About 400 million young people in more than 500,000 schools across the country have received Olympic lessons ahead of the Beijing Games. More than 500 model schools have been named and a series of Olympic readers compiled and presented to students.

17. Highest number of doping tests
The anti-doping effort at the Beijing Games will be more extensive than ever, with as many as 4,500 doping tests, 25 percent more than in Athens four years ago and 90 percent more than in Sydney in 2000.
Tests will be carried out from July 27 at 41 test stations at the Olympic Village and all Olympic match venues.

18. Highest spending
The cost of the Beijing Games will dwarf the previous Olympics in Greece with total investment likely to reach $43 billion.
Venues, estimated to have cost about $1.8 billion to build, will be utilized as public sport and entertainment complexes afterwards.
Beijing also spent $16 billion in the past decade reducing smog, while additional infrastructure, such as the world’s largest airport terminal, T3, an advanced railway station and new subway systems required vast expenditure.

19. Largest transport expansion
Beijing’s first subway linking Fuxingmen and Beijing Railway Station was initially built for military use, but today, 1.5 million passengers ride the 2-yuan subway each day.
The existing subway network spans 155 km and has 93 stations. Three new lines will open shortly before the Games, to transport visitors to and from the new airport terminal and between the Bird’s Nest and downtown, and construction of more lines will continue following them.
At least six others are already under construction, with an aim to stretch the network to more than 561 km and 420 stations.

20. Highest number of mascots – five
Multiple Olympic mascots are not uncommon, but for the first time more than three figures will share Summer Olympic mascot duty when the five Fuwa take center stage.
Featuring four of China’s most popular animals – the fish, the panda, the Tibetan antelope and the swallow – and the Olympic flame, the mascots’ names are “Beibei,” “Jingjing,” “Huanhuan,” “Yingying” and “Nini,” which together reads in Chinese as “Beijing welcomes you”.

21. Venues on fengshui
Beijing wished for its Olympic venues to be an expansion of its history and culture, both of which are firmly set on the spine of the city, a 7.7 km axis line running right through the emperor’s seat at the Forbidden City, the middle of Tian’anmen Square, the Drum and Bell towers and Yongdingmen.
The north-south axis was believed to bring eternal stability, prompting designers of the Bird’s Nest and the Water Cube to position them on either side of it.
In doing so, they have integrated modern ideas with the deep-rooted spirit of the Middle Kingdom.

22. Record number of sponsors, revenue
Since launching the Beijing 2008 Olympic Marketing Plan in September 2003, a total of 63 enterprises have become sponsors of the Beijing Games, including 12 worldwide Olympic partners.
BOCOG’s deal with sports equipment supplier adidas covers 18 sports, and more than 6,000 officially licensed Olympic products have hit the market.

23. Largest ever team from China
China will field its largest Olympic team to date when about 570 athletes contest 28 sports in Beijing.
But Chinese sports officials are trying to downplay predictions that the nation will scoop the most gold medals, affirming US and Russia as sporting powerhouses.
At the 2004 Athens Games, 407 Chinese athletes participated in 26 sports and finished second on the medal tally after the US.

24. Lowest ticket prices
Taking into account China’s average purchasing power, BOCOG ensured a low-price policy for Beijing Olympic and Paralympic tickets.
Opening ceremony prices were capped at 5,000 yuan ($641) per head, while the lowest price to a sports competition was 30 yuan ($4).
Closing ceremony tickets ranged from 150-3,000 yuan ($19-385), preliminary competition tickets from 30-300 yuan ($4-39) and tickets to the finals cost between 60 and 1,000 yuan ($8-128).
BOCOG also reserved about 14 percent of all domestically sold tickets for students at the handsome price of 5 yuan ($0.6) and 10 yuan ($1.2) for preliminaries and finals respectively.

25. Highest number of foreign coaches
In striving for excellence, various Chinese national teams have invited foreign coaches to guide them.
More than 30 foreign coaches are currently working with the Chinese Olympic team.
Many among them, such as men’s basketball coach Jonas Kazlauskas (right) from Lithuania and synchronized swimming head coach Masayo Imura from Japan, are expected to lead the home outfits to their peak performances.

26. Number of China-born athletes representing other federations
A group of Chinese-born athletes representing other countries or regions will be an important force in Beijing.
Led by former badminton national team member Zhou Mi and Wang Chen, who represent Hong Kong, and table tennis player Li Jiawei of Singapore, they will pose formidable challenges to their Chinese rivals.

27. Number of Chinese coaches in other countries and regions
A number of Chinese coaches will lead foreign teams on home soil, such as women’s volleyball legend Lang Ping (right), who will lead the US women’s team.
Meanwhile, former coach of the Chinese badminton team Li Mao will lead the South Korean team.

28. Medals of jade
Olympic medals are for the first time made of metal and jade. The medals were inlaid with Kunlun jade from China’s Qinghai province in a symbol of “respect” and “virtue” in the Chinese tradition.
China’s rich culture and history is clearly embodied in the winning designs, which reflect the values of ethics and honor, combined the with Olympic and Paralympic spirit.

29. Wushu
People who love Chinese martial arts must not miss the Beijing 2008 Wushu Tournament to be held on the sidelines of the Beijing Olympic Games from Aug 21 to 24 at the Olympic Sports Center Gymnasium.
About 128 athletes from 43 countries and regions will contest. Approved by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the Chinese martial arts competition will feature 15 events, including 10 in Taolu (the routines) and five for Sanshou (fights).
Although not a medal sport, the tournament will be an important showcase and springboard for wushu’s wish to join the Olympic family.

30. Significance of 08-08-08
It is no coincidence that the Beijing Games begins at 8 pm on the 8th day of the 8th month of ’08.
The number 8 has special significance to the Chinese, because 8 in Chinese is pronounced “ba”, which sounds a lot like “fa”, which means prosperity or wealth, as in “”, which means to become rich.
In Chinese culture, 8 also denotes the number of immortals and structure of trigrams, both of which are linked to auspicious ideas.
Also, when two digits of the number 8 are placed together – “88″ – they resemble the stylized form of two Chinese “”characters, hence representing double happiness, a popular motif and design usually pasted upon the doors of newly married Chinese couples.
The number 8 is highly favored among the Chinese for its connotations of good luck, fortune and longevity.

from: chinadaily.com.cn

New Zealand tennis number one Marina Erakovic played her way into the Olympic team for Beijing, the New Zealand Olympic Committee announced on Monday.
New Zealand will send its youngest-ever Top 100 tennis player to Beijing 2008 after Olympic selectors named her to the Olympic team on Monday.
Erakovic, 20, is a rising star on the international tennis circuit and has moved from a world ranking of 160 to 64 in just months.
New Zealand top 16 selection criteria is tough and while Erakovic has not yet met this standard, Olympic selectors believedher rapid improvements will continue and a favorable draw at Beijing could see her finish within the top 16.
As Erakovic has rocketed up the rankings, she’s recorded some significant wins, including beating world number 13, Vera Zvonareva, in January 2008. With Wimbledon this week, her place inthe ranking could rise.
The selectors made a recommendation to the New Zealand Olympic Committee board that the selection be considered favorably. The board decision to select Erakovic was unanimous.
Only four other tennis players have competed for New Zealand at Olympic level, including Anthony Wilding who won bronze at Stockholm in 1912.
Final selections to the New Zealand Olympic Team will be made in the next three weeks with nominations expected for rowing, cycling, shooting and equestrian.
Beach Volleyball continue to seek IF qualification and Men’s basketball will have their final qualification event on July 20. Squads for Men’s and Women’s Hockey, Football and Women’s Basketball will be named by June 30.

from: xinhuanet.com

Belarus and Latvia joined Spain and the Czech Republic in the Beijing Olympics after their quarter-final victories in the women’s Olympic qualifying tournament here on Friday.
Belarus stunned Brazil 86-79 as Natallia Marchanka and Anastasiya Verameyenka scored 21 and 19 points respectively, winning in overtime against the 2004 Olympics’ fourth-placed finishers.
Belarus levelled at 72-72, and ran away 14-7 in the extra period to reach the Olympics for the first time.
Brazil lost captain Iziane Castro Marques who refused to enter the second half after an argument with coach Paulo Bassul at the interval.
“As a leader I have to make difficult decisions. She didn’t just say no to me, but to the group and the country. I don’t know about the future,” Bassul told reporters.
Latvia crushed Angola 84-26 to make the Olympics for the first time, after going on a 17-point scoring run in the second quarter.
However, experienced forward Ieva Tare dislocated her elbow early in the second half.
Earlier, the Czech Republic and Spain booked their places with straight-forward wins.
The Czechs, who beat Spain in the fifth-place play-off game in Athens in 2004, overturned a 10-point deficit before overcoming Japan 76-64.
Forward Eva Viteckova and shooting guard Hana Machova led the way notching 26 and 19 points respectively.
Spain, the European championship silver medallists, scored an 82-68 victory over Cuba.
Elisa Aguilar, the veteran point guard, sank a game-high 28 points, with 17 coming in the second quarter, and was supported by Amaya Valdemoro with 18.
Four quarter-final winners qualify directly, while the four losers play off in semi-finals on Saturday when Cuba will play Japan, and Angola will take on Brazil.
The winners will meet in the final on Sunday to play-off for the fifth and final qualification slot.
Qualifiers join hosts China, world champions Australia, gold medal holders US, Mali, South Korea, Russia, and New Zealand for the Olympics in August.

from: xinhuanet.com

May 29 marks the 100-day countdown to the 2008 Paralympic Games. It is an important milestone for Beijing as it continues to steadily progress toward fulfilling its promise of delivering Paralympic Games equally as important and splendid as the Olympic Games.
As Deng Pufang, Executive Vice-President of BOCOG and President of the China Disabled Persons’ Federation, has said, “These Beijing Games have special significance,” as it is first time in history that one organizing committee will hold both the Paralympics and Olympics.”

Many “firsts”

Scheduled for September 6-17, the Beijing Paralympics will see 20 sports contested — more than any Games in Paralympic history. An estimated 4,000 athletes, 2,500 coaches and officials and 4,000 journalists from over 150 countries will attend the Beijing Paralympics — more participants than in any past Paralympic Games.
According to BOCOG, all Paralympic competitions will be held at Olympic venues, which are all equipped with barrier-free facilities. In addition, over 10 tourist attractions in Beijing will be equipped with barrier-free facilities before the Beijing Paralympics.
The Official Website of the Beijing Paralympic Games (paralympic.beijing2008.cn) will include special browsing tools to help people with a visual impairment. Some competition venues will be equipped with wireless hearing aids, and some visual and audio media will offer sign language translation software.
In terms of preparations, BOCOG has held 26 training sessions covering 18 topics for 1,702 technical officials, 637 of whom will be working for the Beijing Paralympics. The competition schedules have been finalized by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC), and regulations on application eligibility for athletes have been formulated. Since last September, a series of Good Luck Beijing sport events, including goalball and wheelchair basketball tournaments, have been held as rehearsals for the upcoming Beijing Paralympics.

Fair competition

To ensure fair competition, BOCOG will classify Paralympic athletes into different categories according to type and extent of physical disability.

Well-prepared volunteers

Volunteers serving the Paralympic Games must be fully prepared in terms of principles and skills. BOCOG has completed recruitment of all 30,000 volunteers required for the Beijing Paralympic Games. The volunteers will receive training materials, and BOCOG has also set up 32 training bases to enhance the volunteers’ service skills and awareness.

Successful marketing

Marketing and ticketing efforts for the Beijing Paralympics have been well received around the world. There are 14 partners, ten sponsors, three exclusive suppliers and two suppliers of the Beijing Paralympic Games. More than 100 officially licensed Paralympic products have been placed on the market, including clothes, pins, toys and stationery. BOCOG has defined relevant rules and regulations for the usage of the emblem, mascot and logo of the Beijing Paralympics. Tickets for the opening and closing ceremonies have been available since December 2007, and tickets for competitions will also be available soon.

Paralympic Education

The Paralympic Games will leave China with the precious legacy of education. By now, China has set up and named 556 Olympic Education Model Schools, all of which have rolled out Paralympic education curricula. BOCOG has also developed the “Heart-to-Heart” program, linking 162 middle schools and primary schools with Paralympic committees in 159 countries and regions.

Opening ceremony of Paralympic Games will give a surprise to the world

The opening and closing ceremonies of the Beijing Paralympic Games will attract attention both from home and abroad.

According to Zhang Jigang, deputy director of the Olympic opening and closing ceremonies and chief director of the Paralympic opening and closing ceremonies, rehearsals are in full swing. Six thousand artists with a disability will take part in the opening ceremony. The program of opening ceremony has been approved by both BOCOG and the International Paralympic Committee (IPC). Zhang said the opening ceremony would highlight the theme of life through creative interpretations of life, human nature and humanitarianism.

The closing ceremony of the Paralympic Games will emphasize the “interaction” between life and nature.

IPC President Sir Philip Craven has expressed belief that the 2008 Beijing Paralympic Games would be the most outstanding Paralympic Games in history. The Beijing Paralympic Games will link human civilization to the spirit of the Paralympic Games, humanistic ideas and high ideals, he said.

from: paralympic.beijing2008.cn