Beijing Olympics

The 2008 Olympics will be held in Beijing. The Beijing Olympics will be held from August 8 to August 24 2008 and the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics will take place at the Beijing National Stadium.

Some Beijing Olympics events will be held outside of Beijing. These are mainly football, equestrian and sailing events.

Beijing was selected to host the Olympics 2008 back in 2001. Beijing saw off competition from Osaka, Toronto, Moscow, Paris and Istanbul.

Preparing for the Beijing Olympics

There will be 31 Beijing Olympics venues in and around Beijing and construction of them all is well under way. The Chinese government is also investing further in the Beijing Olympics by building six Olympic venues outside Beijing as well as 59 training centres.

The main buildings which will host the Beijing Olympics events are:

• The Beijing National Stadium
• The Beijing National Indoor Stadium
• The Beijing National Aquatics Centre
• The Olympic Green Convention Centre
• The Beijing Wukesong Culture & Sports Center

The Beijing subway system is also undergoing major renovation and expansion in anticipation of the influx of people that the Beijing Olympics will bring. The system currently has 4 lines and 64 stations. By the time the Beijing Olympics opens it’s hoped there will be 7 extra lines and over 80 more stations.

Tickets for the Beijing Olympics

The organising committee for the Beijing Olympics previously stated that it hoped to sell over 7 million tickets for the events. The committee also said it hoped that many Chinese people would be able to get tickets for the Beijing Olympic games and because of this prices for tickets were set relatively low.

Tickets for the Beijing Olympics went on sale in mid April 2007 and quickly a third of all the tickets had sold.

Sports at the Beijing Olympics

There will be 302 events at the Beijing Olympics and 28 sports. The Beijing Olympics will see 165 men’s events, 127 women’s events and 10 mixed events.

Nine new events will be held at the Beijing Olympics, including BMX racing, women’s 3,000 metre steeplechase and team table tennis.

Marketing the Beijing Olympics

The emblem of the Beijing Olympics is an image titled Dancing Beijing, and it combines symbols of Chinese culture with sporting symbols.

Some mascots have also been unveiled for the Beijing Olympics. They are called ‘fuwa’ which means good luck dolls. There are five mascots for the Beijing Olympics.  They relate to the five elements of Chinese philosophy: water, metal, fire, wood and earth. Each one also corresponds to one of the colours of the Olympic rings.

Each Olympic games has had a slogan and the slogan for the Beijing Olympics will be ‘one world, one dream’. It was chosen from 210,000 suggestions submitted from around the world.

Controversy and the Beijing Olympics

Some controversy has surrounded the Beijing Olympics. Some major people, such as Steven Spielberg, have pulled out of the Beijing Olympics already. It is feared that more major figures and countries may boycott the Beijing Olympics.

The protests against the Beijing Olympics are about alleged human rights violations in China, particularly in Tibet.