Olympics Times – Sports Daily

As athletes stroke the sporting gold at the Beijing Olympic Games, those big-name sporting brands hope that the effort or cash spent in preparation for the Games would also be proved lucrative. However, sometimes, things are unpredictable, just like “anything is possible”.

Being one of the of ficial sponsors, Adidas, involved with the Games since 1928, determined to secure a bigger slice of the Chinese market, where it is in strong competition with Nike.

“The Beijing 2008 Olympic Games will serve as a platform for the brand to become the leading sports brand in China,” said Erica Kerner, director of Adidas’s Beijing 2008 Olympic program me. Through a combination of TV, pr int , outdoor, public relations, digital, point-of-sale and roadshows across the country, the”Im possible is Nothing” Olympic marketing campaign aims to bring sport engagement with Chinese consumers to a new level”.

Especial ly on July 5, Adidas opened its largest Brand Center worldwide, with a size of 3,170m² occupying four floors, inside the new Sanlitun Village Shopping Center in Beijing, featuring a range of unique interact ive elements that will provide consumers with a truly special retail experience.

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Beijing has started selling souvenir sets of left-over grass and steel from its famed Bird’s Nest Olympic stadium for 2,900 yuan (420 dollars) each, Chinese media reported Thursday.

The packs include grass cut on the night of the Games’ closing ceremony, preserved in a clear box, and model Olympic torches made of steel that was not used for construction of the National Stadium, the Beijing News said.

There are 10,000 souvenir sets available for sale inside the Bird’s Nest, as well as various department stores around Beijing and online, the report said.

The Bird’s Nest, which seats 91,000 people, became the symbol of the Games held in August in China’s capital, attracting worldwide attention for its striking design of interlocking steel girders.

It hosted the Olympics opening and closing ceremonies, as well as athletics competition and football final.

It has since proved a hit with tourists, attracting 60,000 visitors on its October 1 opening day, and thousands of people every day since.

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Chinese Olympians auctioned off everything from swimsuits to ping-pong paddles in Beijing last night in a benefit for Sichuan province, amid calls to turn the nation’s attention back to the quake-stricken region after the distraction of the Games.

Auction proceeds from the memorabilia offered by 23 Chinese athletes raised about four million yuan, or roughly $600,000, while the fundraising event raised 19 million yuan overall, according to the Chinese Athletes Fund, one of the organizers of the auction. About 80% of the money will be used to build youth sports facilities and infrastructure in Sichuan, the fund said, while the rest will be used provide training courses for retired athletes and coaches in fields including language skills, sports management and entrepreneurship education.

Guo Jingjing and her blue swimsuit

Female table tennis champion Zhang Yining’s ping pong paddle fetched 400,000 yuan, the highest price for an individual item. One sought-after item was the blue swimsuit worn by gold medal diver Guo Jingjing, which was sold for 300,000 yuan.

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Talent and hard work may have no substitute in the making of an Olympics champion, but nor are they enough on their own to ensure a gold medal at the Games. Money is an increasingly vital part of any analysis of the final medals tally and this year’s Beijing Olympics were no exception.

China made a sweep of the gold medal tally with 51 medals, but the cost of each of these has been revealed to be at least around 15.7 million yuan ($2.3 million) a year. This back-of-the-envelope calculation was arrived at by Sports Minister Liu Peng on the basis of the fact that the government invests some 800 million yuan ($117 million) annually on Olympics sports. It must be kept in mind, however, that this amount is then supplemented by a roughly equal figure raised through government-run sports lotteries.

China’s gold medallists would also receive a hefty tax-free bonus of 3,50,000 yuan ($51,000) this year, almost double of what gold winners were awarded after the 2004 Athens Games. Champion athletes were paid a mere 6,000 yuan after the 1984 Los Angeles Games, in which China participated after a decades-long gap, but nonetheless won 15 gold medals. Experts say the return on investment is particularly high at the initial stages of developing a nation’s sporting system and tends to taper off once a country’s sport is sufficiently well developed.

India’s total allocated sports budget for 2008-09 stands at Rs. 1,111.81 crore ($280 million).

from: hindu.com

China’s greatest symbol of sporting success – the hurdler Liu Xiang – limped abjectly out of the Olympic stadium yesterday, forcing a stunned, disappointed and angry host nation to come to terms with the loss of its most coveted medal.

Injured and weighed down by the expectations of 1.3 billion people, the defending 110 metres hurdles champion barely made it out of the starting blocks in his first-round qualifying heat before tearing off his competitor number and hobbling off the track.

The stadium crowd of almost 90,000 people, who had been roaring their support for the home-grown hero only seconds earlier, were reduced to a disbelieving silence. Newspapers later showed people crying and television viewers – many of whom had stopped work to watch – staring at their screens in dismay.

Chinese journalists were in tears at the press conference as Liu’s coach explained that his protege of 12 years had succumbed to a chronic inflammation in his right achilles tendon and a bone spur. “We have done everything possible. We did our best,” said Sun Haiping between sobs. “This is a very hard moment for all of us.”

It was the end of a dream for China and the start of a furious bout of soul-searching as many turned against their former hero or blamed his failure on media hype, commercial pressure and state propaganda. Online comment – the freest and wildest guide to public opinion – was unforgiving. Tens of thousands logged on to express their views and, according to the two main portals, Sohu and Sina, the overwhelming majority were critical.

“We have been expecting you to perform in 2008, but now we just watch you quit. If you really want to dedicate yourself to the country, you would crawl to the finish line. But you always meant to lose,” said a commentator in the Baidu chatroom. Another accused Liu of playing with the country’s emotions.

Many were furious at the secrecy surrounding the injury, which only came to light over the weekend, although his coach said the runner has been suffering from the problem for many years.

Liu was lambasted as “fake”, “embarrassing”, “deceiving people by telling everyone he was in good shape” and spending so much time doing commercials that he had become a better actor than a runner.

Cooler heads called for calm, saying China was still on course to top the gold medal table. The hosts have 39 golds so far, largely in weightlifting, shooting, judo and diving, but none were as sought-after as a second victory for Liu.

Liu was the face of the Olympics as well as a source of national pride. His victory in Athens in 2004 announced China’s arrival as a sporting superpower when he achieved what no Asian man had previously managed – a gold on the track, matching Colin Jackson’s 11-year-old world record as he did so.

His boy-next-door grin now beams down from billboards across the country as he endorses Nike, Visa, Coca-Cola, Cadillac and, most controversially, cigarettes. The value of a gold medal in Beijing for Liu was calculated at 1bn yuan (£78m).

His withdrawal will also take much of the buzz out of the games. “I sympathise with him enormously,” said Wang Xiaoshan, a writer with Sports Illustrated. “This is such a pity. My guess is that it is the pressure from 1.3 billion people which hurt him. I don’t think it has much to do with the injury, for even if he was injured he would have had time to recover. I think he might have psychological difficulties.”

Liu’s former coach, Gu Baogang, blamed an over-intense training regime and pressure from political leaders on athletes to succeed.

Although he is Olympic and world champion, Liu has struggled with injury all year and lost his world record in June to Dayron Robles of Cuba. Their expected encounter in the final on August 21 was billed as one of the great showdowns of the games.

Fans who paid up to 7,000 yuan ($1,000) to be present are distraught. “I have eight tickets. They are now nothing,” said Qiu Jiafeng, a 25-year-old accountant. “This is a pity for everyone in China. We all expected him to win.”

Outside a sports shop, where the main display featured a gold figurine of Liu, customers were more forgiving.

“I had an image of him as a powerful, handsome man. That hasn’t changed,” said Wang Yinan, a student. “I can understand why some people are angry but I don’t agree with them. I think Chinese people put too much pressure on Liu. This has changed the way I think about athletes and the Olympics.”

from: guardian.co.uk

The ongoing Beijing Olympics have brought excitement and success to many, but for landlords in the Chinese capital who had hoped to reap a small fortune from the tourists, the Games have turned out to be a big disappointment.

Real estate agencies said the actual deal prices for short-term renting is generally lower than what the owners had expected, who raised their rental 4.6 times over the normal rate.

According to real estate agency Golden Key (Zhongda Hengji), more than 20,000 apartments had been advertised for short-term renting, but barely 8,000 of them – about 40 per cent – were leased out.

Contracts were signed largely for high-end apartments with monthly rental of 5,000 yuan ($727) or above, which more than tripled the average rent rate in the city.

Though deals are limited, the urge to make money during the Games pushed real estate prices even in the long-term renting market.

The first half of 2008 has seen the fastest growth of average monthly rental rate in the city, from 1,350 to 1,560 yuan, up 15.6 per cent, according to surveys quoted by China Business Times.

Though the short-term rental prices will drop after the Olympic Games, the long-term rental may rise higher, as the owners of the short-term renting apartments would seek to make up for their losses in the long-term renting market, analysts said.

from: indiatimes.com

Hotel occupancy in the Olympic host city Beijing was up slightly since the Game’s Aug. 8 opening, the Beijing Times reported on Friday.

Beijing Statistics Bureau (BSB) figures revealed the city’s star-rated hotels received about 78,000 guests on Aug. 12, half from the Chinese mainland and the rest from overseas.

The figures were about 5 percent higher, or 4,000 guests, more than Aug. 8.

Occupancy for the capital’s five-star hotels on Aug. 12 was about 80.3 percent on average, 0.3 percent higher than Aug. 8.

The rate for three-star hotels and lower on Aug. 12 ranged between 30 and 40 percent, 2 to 4 percent higher than on Aug. 8, the BSB figures showed.

Prices for three-star hotels and higher were down slightly on Aug. 12 in comparison with Aug. 8. Prices for below three star went up slightly on Aug. 12.

The occupancy on Aug. 12 for about 120 hotels that had signed contracts with the Beijing Olympics Organizing Committee (BOCOG) stood at 78.5 percent on average, up 0.7 percent from the Aug. 8 figure. Prices at these hotels averaged at 2,691 yuan (about 392 U.S. dollars) per room on Aug. 12, down 8.6 percent from Aug. 8.

The BSB also said Beijing’s scenic sites attracted a total of 358,000 domestic and overseas tourists on Aug. 12, about 16,000 more than on Aug. 8.

The total volume on Aug. 12 included 27,000 overseas tourists, about 6,000 more than on Aug. 8.

Among the scenic spots, the Forbidden City, the Summer Palace and the Temple of Heaven were among the most favored places.

from: xinhuanet.com

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

With 10 days to go until the Beijing Olympics opens, the smog simply refuses to lift and the Games organisers are preparing emergency measures to clear the air ahead of the big day.

The traffic on the streets of Beijing is noticeably lighter, and many of the big steelworks and coal-fired power stations have been silenced. But the capital was still enveloped yesterday in a haze that restricted visibility to a couple of hundred yards.

For years the authorities have been trying to clear the yellow-tinged smog masking the city, including a recent batch of measures as a quick-fix solution. “We will implement an emergency plan 48 hours in advance if the air quality deteriorates,” Li Xin, a senior engineer with the environmental bureau, told the China Daily newspaper.

It is only a week since the government introduced an odd-even number plate system which bars more than one million of Beijing’s 1.3 million passenger cars from the streets. Now the government is considering banning 90 per cent of private cars and closing more factories as a last-ditch attempt clear the skies before the games start on 8 August. Beijing has already spent 120bn yuan (£8.9bn) on tackling the pollution, to no avail.

The authorities say the haze was normal for Beijing for a balmy late July and had nothing to do with pollution. “The air quality in Beijing during the Olympic Games will not affect the health of athletes,” said Du Shaozhong, deputy director of Beijing’s Municipal Environmental Protection Bureau, the man charged with soothing fears that the Games may be a smoggy event. Athletes planning to bring respirators were only adding unnecessarily to their baggage weight, said Mr Du, who emphasised that the figures showed the air quality was improving: “A blue sky doesn’t mean the air quality is good. If you take a shower, you can’t see clearly because of the steam, but it doesn’t mean it’s pollution.”

“We can guarantee a good environment for athletes. The International Olympic Committee and its medical commission have concluded that good air quality is fully guaranteed,” Mr Du added.

However, with some athletes already training in Beijing and elsewhere in China, and others due to arrive in the coming days, the government’s assurances are unlikely to assuage fears that China’s promise of a “Green Games” is dead in the water.

The Olympic gold-medallist and world record holder Haile Gebrselassie of Ethiopia has pulled out of the Beijing marathon because he suffers from asthma and believes that the pollution threatens his health.

The environmentalist group Greenpeace released a report saying that Beijing’s air quality was still well short of international guidelines and that levels of particulates in the air were twice as high as recommended by the World Health Organisation.

It is still not clear exactly how bad the air has to be for an event to be cancelled, and it is forbidden to bring in measuring equipment for any independent measurement of air quality.

Jacques Rogge, the head of the International Olympic Committee, has warned that poor air quality during the Games could result in the suspension of endurance races such as long-distance cycling and the marathon.

from: independent.co.uk

People who provide police with evidence of a “major security threat” to the Beijing Olympics could receive a reward of up to 500,000 yuan ($73,000), Beijing media reported on Friday.

The tip-off must include accurate and detailed information about a planned terrorist attack, possible sabotage by an illegal organization, such as the Falun Gong, murder of Olympic-related personnel or foreigners, or some other major crimes, a notice jointly issued by the city’s police bureau and public security comprehensive management committee said.
The notice said the rewards would range upwards from 10,000 yuan and be determined by the value of the tip-off. The offer will be in place from July 10 to Oct 31.

The rewards are designed to “mobilize the masses to maintain public security, as well as to eliminate hidden dangers to the Games“, the notice said.

The payout scheme is the city’s latest move to ensure a safe Games. In Beijing, police rewards for major tip-offs are usually below 10,000 yuan, with a maximum of 100,000 yuan for information regarding serious crimes.

The Ministry of Public Security and Interpol have both warned of the “real threat” of terrorism during the Olympics.

On Wednesday, police in Urumqi, capital of the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, said they cracked five terrorism groups in the first half of this year, and had detained 82 suspected terrorists who had allegedly been plotting to sabotage the Beijing Games.

In April, the public security ministry also reported several failed terrorist plots to disrupt the Games, including poison gas and bomb attacks on hotels and government offices in Beijing and other cities, and kidnapping foreign athletes and spectators.

Sources also said they had received public reports on suspicious explosives and guns in apartments near the Olympic Village, but would not elaborate.

To prevent possible attacks, authorities in the capital have instituted a raft of security measures.

A strong anti-terrorism force is in place, surface-to-air missiles have been deployed around key venues and security checks are being conducted in subways.

Starting next week, security staff will also be deployed at hundreds of checkpoints on roads into the city. All passengers and vehicles with licenses registered outside Beijing will be subject to security checks.

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

The People’s Bank of China (PBOC), the country’s central bank, is to issue a commemorative bank note with a face value of 10 yuan ($1.46) from Tuesday to mark the Beijing Olympic Games, the bank said in a statement on Sunday.
The PBOC said it would issue a total of 6 million such notes, which would be circulated in the currency market with the same denomination as the ordinary 10-yuan notes.
The new note, in cyan, is 148.5 millimeters long and 72 millimeters wide, according to the central bank. While the ordinary 10-yuan notes are in cobalt black, 140 millimeters long and 70 millimeters wide.

On one side is a picture of the National Stadium, or the Bird’s Nest, the main venue for the Games in August. Above the picture is the emblem of the Beijing Games, “Chinese Seal, Dancing Beijing”. The picture of national stadium and the emblem are both set against the backdrop of the Temple of Heaven, one of the country’s best-known landmarks.
This takes the place of the portrait of the late Chinese leader Mao Zedong and China’s national emblem on the ordinary 10-yuan notes.
The other side features the famous ancient Greek marble statue of a discus-thrower, Discobolus, portraits of athletes and the Arabic numeral “2008″.
These replace the drawing of the scenic Three Gorges, but the name of the PBOC in Chinese pinyin, Mongolian, Tibetan, Ugyur and Zhuang, remains in the top right corner.
The central bank also said it incorporated watermarks and other technologies to prevent counterfeiting of the notes.
A clear watermark appears on the picture of the National Stadium in the shape of the Arabic numeral “10″ and the Games of XXIX Olympiad in the Chinese characters, said the bank.

from: xinhuanet.com

The Tibet Autonomous Regional Government was confident to have a safe and successful Olympic torch relay on Saturday, said Palma Trily, executive vice chairman of Tibet, here on Friday.
He made the remarks while meeting a 50-strong delegation of journalists, including staff from 29 overseas news organizations.

“We believe activities against the people’s will and against the historical trend doom to fail,” said the official when he was asked whether the Dalai Lama clique would sabotage the torch relay.

He said police have been deployed to ensure security during the relay, but there was none from the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), as “the duty of the PLA is to guard the frontier and protect the territory.”

He said sabotage activities would exist as long as the clique existed, even after the torch relay concluded in Tibet.

Five organization including “Tibetan Youth Congress (TYC)”, “Tibetan Women’s Association (TWA)” had threatened to sabotage the torch relay.

Also at the press conference, Dekyi Drolkar, director of Tibet’s sports bureau, said the Olympic torch relay in Tibet would have 156 torch bearers including 75 Tibetans. The Lhasa leg would start from Norbu Lingka Square and end in Potala Palace, covering 9.3 kilometers.

The Beijing Organizing Committee of the Games of the 29th Olympiad (BOCOG) announced the torch relay schedule in Tibet was cut to one day on June 21 from the original three days of June 19 to 21.

In the one-day Lhasa leg, the flame kindled on the top of Mount Qomolangma on May 8 will join the main torch, which would be the first time in the history of Olympic Games.

Tibet has released 1,157 people involved in the March Lhasa riot, who were charged with minor offences, said Palma Trily. Police detained and arrested 953 people after the riot, while 362 others surrendered to police, he said.

The Tibet courts handed down punishments to 12 people on Thursday and Friday and 30 on April 29, convicting them of arson, robbery, the crime of gathering to assault state organs, and other crimes. Another 116 in custody were awaiting trial.

The punishments for 29 of the convicts have gone effective.

Defendants from minority ethnic groups were provided with interpreters at court sessions, which ensured their rights, Palma Trily said.

He said judicial authorities followed the policy of combining punishment with leniency in handling the cases, which means leniency for those with minor offences.

The riot, which was believed to have been organized, premeditated and masterminded by the backers of the Dalai Lama, erupted in downtown Lhasa on March 14, leaving seven schools, five hospitals and 120 homes torched and 908 shops looted. Total damage was more than 244 million yuan.

The riot also left 18 innocent civilians and one police officer dead, and 382 civilians and 241 policemen were injured.

A new forecasting system is now able to tell the air quality at each Olympic venue 72 hours in advance, Beijing’s environmental authority and developers of the system said.
“In our forecast, we divide the city into one-square-kilometer grids which include Olympic venues,” said Wang Zifa, a research fellow at the institute of atmospheric physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, developer of the system.
The now operational computer system can assess how after being emitted from a source, pollutants flow in the air, undergo what kind of physical change and chemical reaction, generate what kind of secondary pollutant and its density, according to Wang.
“Our multiple technological means can monitor Beijing’s neighbors such as Hebei and Tianjin, and analyze the forming of pollutants in the areas so as to make the forecast more precise.”
Wang said the development of the comprehensive forecasting system originated in the United States and the European Union.
The forecasts will enable environmental protection authorities to have enough time to take emergency measures in case of extreme weather conditions, such as continuous days of little wind that are unfavorable for the dispersing of pollutants.
Beijing has spent more than 120 billion yuan (17.3 billion U.S. dollars) to contain air pollution since 1998. The city has expanded public transport, tested a temporary traffic ban that is to be adopted during the Games and relocated polluting factories.
The surrounding areas — Tianjin, Hebei, Shanxi and Shandong and Inner Mongolia — are lending a hand to the capital to help achieve anti-pollution goals. They have taken such measures as the closure of major polluters, removal of outmoded taxi cabs and treatment of gas stations to let them capture emitted harmful chemicals.

from: xinhuanet.com

Beijing is using the carrot of huge rewards to enlist citizens to report Olympic logo infringement cases in the run-up to the Games.

A person who steps forward with information will be rewarded with five percent of what lawbreakers are fined, according to a regulation jointly issued by the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Industry and Commerce and the Legal Affairs Department of the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games.

The largest rewards will be 100,000 yuan (US$14,286), the regulation said.

The drive was launched to step up crackdown on infringement upon the copyrights of Olympic logos, such as manufacturing and using — without authorization — the official Mascots of the Beijing Games, the “Fuwas”, and the emblems for the Beijing Olympics and Paralympics Games, Beijing’s Olympic slogan and the symbol of the Olympic torch relay.

Last year, the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Industry and Commerce dealth with 95 such infringement cases and imposed 1.03 million yuan (US$147,143) in fines.

The trademark logos are owned by the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games, and only authorized companies are allowed to manufacture products bearing the logos.

from: chinadaily.com.cn

Six-year-old Lin Zhonghua, a quintuplet, expects to derive a lot of fun from the Beijing Olympic Games.
“It is not only a game for uncles and aunties (men and women), but also for us children,” she said.
The time for her and her four siblings to lap it all up arrives on Saturday, when the Olympic torch is relayed through the coastal special economic zone of Guangdong province.
Lin and her sister and three brothers will play Fuwa – the five mascots of the Games -during the opening ceremony of the Shantou leg.
They will share the stage with the first torchbearer Cai Yanshu – a world champion weightlifter who starts the 40-km, 11-hour relay.
“I am also part of the Games,” Lin said.
And the quintuplets could wait no longer for their limelight to come. “Every time they return home (from kindergarten), they talk about the rehearsals. They see themselves as real Fuwa,” said mother Lin Shaohua, referring to the cartoon figures who embody the characteristics of four of China’s most popular animals – the fish, the panda, the Tibetan antelope, the swallow – and the Olympic flame.
Born into a rural family from the village of Sangtian in Chaoyang district, Shantou, the quintuplets attend a bilingual kindergarten now teaching extra classes on Olympic basics.
“Special meals are served and they are asked to take more physical exercise,” said Li Shugai, head of the kindergarten, without elaborating.
“All these efforts are meant to ensure a successful performance. It is very lucky for the city to have the quintuplets to play Fuwa,” Li said.
The link between the quintuplets and the five Olympic rings goes far beyond the number five, she said.
“They are growing under the care and support from of a generous society, which reflects the Olympic spirit of friendship and harmony,” Li said.
The children each weighed little more than 1 kg at birth, and faced a battle just to survive.
“It was hard for a rural family to pay for the medical bills, but the hospital treated them for free,” Li said.
The Lin family received more than 100,000 yuan (14,280 U.S. dollars) in donations after the babies were released from hospital.
Two years later, they were accepted by Li’s kindergarten and not expected to pay school fees.
“When they first came here, they were much thinner than their peers. But now look at them,” Li said.
No doubt they will bring the cartoon figures to life.

from: xinhuanet.com

The greatest wish of many Chinese sports lovers is to get a ticket for the men’s 110 m hurdles final at the Beijing Olympic Games. The reason is simple: Liu Xiang is expected to defend his Olympic gold.
However, a ticket can be costly. Within an hour of the third round of domestic tickets going on sale on Monday, all tickets to the men’s 110 m hurdles event were sold out.
For the unlucky ones, a slim hope still exists online where some people want to sell their tickets for other events, but at a price.
A woman named Wang Xiao said online she wants to sell several tickets for the semifinals of the hurdles event. But wants 4,900 yuan ($700) for each ticket, more than six times the original price of 800 yuan.
Buyers will also be provided a limo pickup service from their door to the sports venue.
The woman said she has friends who are reselling their tickets at a huge profit.
“My tickets are selling very well. I have sold more than 100 tickets for different events of the Games,” she was quoted as saying by the Beijing Morning Post.
Advertisements for the sale of Olympic tickets can be easily found online. The price of tickets for some popular events such as the opening and closing ceremonies have soared to 100,000 yuan each.
Many Beijing residents said they were disappointed with the speculative reselling of tickets. It was unfair to genuine sports fans. In response, organizers of the Beijing Games said speculative reselling was a breach of the law.
According to a regulation of the Ministry of Public Security in 2006, speculation in tickets sales and other valuable coupons can lead to 10 to 15 days in detention and a fine of less than 1,000 yuan.
The tickets can be sold only once with the price no higher than the original one, officials said.
Tickets for the opening and closing ceremonies were sold to buyers with their ID number recorded, therefore it would be difficult to resell them. Those who managed to buy them would be taking a risk.
Some people who have no tickets are also advertising online to cheat buyers.
A total of 1.38 million tickets were put on sale in the third round for 16 events.
Each applicant is allowed to submit only one order for a maximum of two competitions with a limit of three tickets for each event.
“This gives everyone a fair chance,” Zhu Yan, the director of the Olympic ticketing center, said.
All tickets for events in Beijing and Hong Kong were sold out on Tuesday. Only a few tickets were available yesterday for some events in other cities such as Shanghai, Qingdao, Shenyang and Tianjin.

from: chinadaily.com.cn

The third-generation (3G) mobile phone service is ready for use in the upcoming Beijing Olympics as the high-speed wireless connection service and related products were formally delivered on Monday.
China Mobile, China’s top wireless operator, and South Korean cell phone producer Samsung presented 15,000 3G handsets, plus data cards and nearly 3 million yuan (about US$428,600 ) of calling fees, to the Beijing Organizing Committee for the 29th Olympic Games here on Monday.
With the offer, work staff and volunteers of the Games can enjoy high-speed data transmissions, which allow them to watch televised games, play videos, and surf the Internet on cell phones.
The service is based on the Chinese 3G standard, known as TD-SCDMA (Time Division Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access).
China Mobile has basically finished construction of the TD-SCDMA network in eight cities, five of which are to host events for the Beijing Olympics in August, including Beijing, Shanghai and Tianjin, said the company.
China has promised to provide 3G service for the Games. China Mobile is the sole cooperative partner for the Beijing Olympics in mobile communications services while Samsung is the only one in mobile terminal supply.
China Mobile started the commercial trials of 3G services in the country in April.
The International Telecommunication Union recognized TD-SCDMA as one of the world’s three official 3G standards in 2000. The other two are Europe’s WCDMA and North America’s CDMA 2000.

from: chinadaily.com.cn