100 days and counting until 2008 Games
April 30, 2008
The countdown has now reached 100 days until the open of the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. Read more
Phase Three Of Beijing 2008 Domestic Ticket Sales Announced
April 24, 2008
Beijing has announced the third phase of ticket sales will be from May 5th until June 9th. Again these tickets will only be available to individual buyers. Read more here at GamesBids.com
High speed link between Beijing and Tianjin is on track
April 20, 2008
The new high speed train will be in service in time for the Olympics in August. The train is capable of traveling 350 KPH (217 MPH) and will cut the time it takes to travel today by train nearly in half. This is just one of the first legs that will be opening soon. The entire project will take around 5 years to complete. Planning for the $36 B project started nearly a decade ago and is an overdue and welcome upgrade.
Deena Kastor has Marathon Gold in her sights
April 18, 2008
Deena Kastor of the US seem on here way to Gold in Beijing for the womens Marathon during the 2008 Summer games in August. Read more
Japan’s Reiko Nakamura heads to Beijing
April 18, 2008
Japan’s Reiko Nakamura finishes second but still insures here trip to Beijing for the 2008 Summer games. Reiko Nakamura won Bronze in Athens in 2004 and aims to medal again. Read more here
Beijing’s Olympics hospitality lost in translation
April 16, 2008
China ’s societal self-improvement in preparation for the 2008 Olympics continues. The Beijing Tourism Bureau ordered hotels to re-translate English signs, hoping to avoid such notorious past gaffes as “Racist Park,” which is now “Park of Ethnic Minorities,” and a cafe’s attempt to salute Western visitors with “Welcome, big nose friends.” And the Beijing Olympics Committee has been training hostesses for months to stand in military-like precision, straight enough to hold a sheet of paper between their knees, and to smile continuously, showing “six to eight teeth” (even if placing a chopstick in the mouth sideways is necessary for practice). There are height and weight requirements for the hostesses, and each must have an upper- to lower-body ratio of no more than 11-to-13, to eliminate, according to local newspapers, “big bottoms.” [Daily Telegraph (London), 3-20-08] [Daily Telegraph (London), 1-11-08]
The “Birds Nest” opens
April 16, 2008
The national stadium opened with some of the first shots of the expansive interior. For now there is no big fan fair or over the top opening ceremony. They are hosting a walk-run competition this weekend. The ere is still a large amount of construction going on and will be for several months in advance of the opening ceremonies of the 2008 Beijing summer games.
Does new swimsuit give an unfair advantage?
April 15, 2008
There has been a lot of talk recently about the new Speedo LZR Racer bodysuit that a number of athletes are going to be wearing at the Olympics this year. This new space age suit is claimed to give up to a 2% advantage to the wearer by reducing drag in the water. Since it’s introduction 36 world records have been broken by people wearing it. This has stirred some controversy as to whether it is a rules complaint swimsuit and has posed a dilemma for competitors that may have contracts and agreements to wear suits made by other vendors. They now have to choose between honoring their agreements or attempting to post the best times possible. The suits also have some people saying they don’t believe in the claimed advantages. But 36 new records by people wearing this suit do pose a case for the merits of Speedo’s claims. More Information here:
1906 - Athens, Greece
April 14, 2008
In an attempt to regain enthusiasm for the Olympic Games, the IOC started Games that would be held every four years (between the regular Olympic Games) in Greece. In 1906, the Games were held in Athens. It was in here that the United States first had an official U.S. team plus wore official team uniforms.
The enthusiasm for these Games was great and the Games seemed to regain their popularity. Unfortunately, because of political unrest in Greece around 1910, the Games were canceled for that year and never continued.
Though originally the 1906 Games were officially considered Olympic Games, the IOC now considers them the “Unofficial Olympic Games” and they are not included in Olympic records.
Twenty countries were represented by 887 athletes.
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1904 - St. Louis, United States
April 14, 2008
Unfortunately, St. Louis was hosting the Louisiana Purchase Exhibition (a large fair celebrating the 100th anniversary celebration of the Louisiana Purchase) at the same time as the Games. Again, having a city hosting a large fair plus the Games hurt the Olympic Games.
There was an uproar about the marathon. After Fred Lorz (United States) was seized with cramps during the marathon, he was picked up by a car, which after chugging along for a little while, broke down about five miles from the stadium. Feeling much better, Lorz walked into the stadium and, to his surprise, was hailed as the winner of the marathon. Lorz was almost crowned with the olive wreath before the truth was discovered.
A major problem for the 1904 Olympics was that it was held far from Europe. The fact that European participants would have to make a trans-Atlantic voyage plus a long train ride to Missouri to get there, not to mention that many Europeans envisioned St. Louis as small town on the wilderness frontier, made international participation very weak.
Though twelve countries were represented, only a little over 100 of the 681 athletes participating were from outside of the U.S. and most of those were from Canada. No athletes represented England, France, or Sweden.
During the 1904 Olympics, boxing was added as an Olympic sport.
(Copyright About.Com)