2008 Beijing Olympics

The 2008 Beijing Olympic Games (officially called the Games of the XXIX Olympiad) were held in Beijing, the capital of the People's Republic of China, from 8 to August 24, 2008. However, the soccer tournament started two days earlier, on August 6. After its conclusion, the XIII Paralympic Games were held, which began on September 6, being held in the same city, and ending on the 17th of the same month.

The sporting event featured 302 events in 28 sports involving some 10,942 athletes from 204 National Olympic Committees. In addition to Beijing, some other cities in China held sporting events. The soccer tournament was held in the cities of Qinhuangdao, Tianjin, Shenyang and Shanghai, while the sailing regattas and horse riding events were held in the port of Qingdao and Hong Kong, respectively.

The 2008 Beijing Olympics became the most expensive event in Olympic history, reaching a cost that would have exceeded $44 billion, nearly tripling the final budget of its predecessor, the 2004 Athens Olympics.

As happened in previous events, the organization of this event faced problems of a political and ideological nature since its election on July 13, 2001. Along with criticism regarding the problems of air pollution in the host city, the accusations of human rights violations that the Chinese regime has received from an important part of the international community led to various demonstrations, which even affected the route of the Olympic torch. On the other hand, another important part of the international community called for not mix political problems with sports. The Chinese government, for its part, denounced the political-ideological intentionality of some Western countries and organizations when dealing with the issue of human rights, arguing that they actually seek to attack the communist system by which the People's Republic of China is guided. Finally, and despite the fact that some officials had announced a possible boycott, this was not carried out, even attending the delegation of Chinese Taipei, representative of the Republic of China, an entity not recognized by the People's Republic of China.

Beijing's candidacy was intensely promoted by Juan Antonio Samaranch, during his last years in office as president of the International Olympic Committee, in order to "reward the People's Republic of China for everything it had done for the sport". The Chinese government promoted the games with the aim of highlighting the importance and influence of Chinese culture for world civilization.

Choice

View of the Forbidden City, one of the main architectural and cultural landmarks of Beijing.

The accelerated economic development of the People ' s Republic of China since the end of the centuryXX. was one of the main factors that encouraged the election of Beijing as the headquarters of the Olympic Games.

Background

Beijing first bid to host the Olympic Games in 1993 to host the 2000 Olympic Games. The Chinese capital was one of the favorites at that time, fighting closely with Sydney, the Australian representative. Although Beijing led in the first three rounds, the winner was Sydney with 45 votes, two more than her rival. The result was considered highly surprising, especially due to the extensive lobbying carried out by the Chinese authorities on that occasion.

This, however, did not stop China from strongly supporting the holding of the Olympic Games in Sydney when it was in jeopardy, after the BBC uncovered a bribery network in the International Olympic Committee to get votes in favor of Sydney. Salt Lake City for the 2002 Winter Olympics and which would later result in the revelation by The Australian newspaper that members of the Australian Olympic Committee had bribed IOC members to get their vote in favor of Sydney.

The Beijing authorities decided to insist on a new candidacy for the 2008 Olympic Games. Nine other cities also applied for the same purpose: Bangkok, Cairo, Istanbul, Kuala Lumpur, Havana, Osaka, Paris, Seville and Toronto.

In July 2001, The New York Times reported that Beijing was widely favored among IOC members, despite the fact that the European Parliament and some US congressmen had called for the Games not to take place. in China, due to China's record on human rights and pollution problems. Various NGOs questioned Beijing's candidacy, as they had done in 1993 and which were considered as one of the possible reasons for its stunning defeat., in addition to the possible corruption operations carried out by the Australians.

Technical evaluation

For this occasion, the International Olympic Committee had decided to put into practice a new, more transparent election system, in which the "aspiring cities" would be subjected to a technical review by the Candidacy Acceptance Working Group, which It would evaluate and proceed to establish which of them did not meet the minimum requirements, so that the members of the International Olympic Committee could concentrate their choice on the rest.

The Working Group presented the report on August 18, 2000. To carry it out, it examined the candidates in ten areas (government support and public opinion, general infrastructure, sports infrastructure, Olympic village, environmental conditions and impact, accommodation, transport, security, previous experience and finances) and made a table of "general concept" in order to discard those that were not in a position to host the Olympics in 2008. To this end, the Working Group considered that, in a rating of 0 to 10, a city with a rating of less than 6 should not be chosen..

City candidate	Min	Max.
Bangkok(THA)	4	5
Cairo(EGY)	4	5
Istanbul(TUR)	6	7
Havana(CUB)	4	5
Kuala Lumpur(MAS)	3	5
Osaka(JPN)	6	7
Paris(FRA)	8	9
Beijing(CHN)	7	8
Sevilla(ESP)	4	7
Toronto(CAN)	6	8

Based on these data, the Task Force concluded that only four cities were eligible to host the 2008 Olympic Games: Beijing, Osaka, Paris and Toronto. Among the four selected, Paris had the best score (8/9), followed by Beijing (7/8), Toronto (6/8) and Osaka (6/7). The Executive Committee accepted the four cities mentioned, but also included among the shortlisted Istanbul (6/7), which had the same rating as Osaka.

A second evaluation was carried out, this time by IOC members, again examining the five shortlisted cities; this report confirmed the candidacies of Paris, Beijing and Toronto as "excellent", while raising reservations about the feasibility of the proposals presented by Istanbul and Osaka, especially in the financial sphere.

The Beijing candidacy received the following ratings by category, ordered in descending order according to the minimum:

1. Accommodation: 96–100
2. Olympic Villa: 80–90
3. Government and population support: 68–73
4. Security: 65–78
5. Sport infrastructure: 63–79
6. Transport: 63–76
7. Experience: 59–70
8. Environmental conditions: 54–68
9. General infrastructure: 48–54

The financial item was evaluated conceptually, without including a quantitative rating. Beijing obtained a comparative advantage in terms of support from the government and, above all, from the population, which reached 94.6%. In the same category, Paris showed a relatively low support of the population (79%), which indicated a high level of indifference or opposition, while Toronto showed an acceptable level (90%), but lower than that of the city. China. The financial evaluation was also important, while Toronto received criticism for high ticket prices. The weakest aspects of the Beijing bid were the general infrastructure and environmental conditions, for which the city promised to improve the levels of environmental protection, adopting exceptional measures, such as the severe restriction of automobile traffic during the Games.

Voting

112th Session of the International Olympic Committee 13 July 2001, Moscow, Russia
City	Voting
Beijing(CHN)	44	56
Toronto(CAN)	20	22
Paris(FRA)	15	18
Istanbul(TUR)	17	9
Osaka(JPN)	6	-

Beyond the political demonstrations and protests, Beijing was from the beginning the favorite of the IOC members, who wanted to take the event to the most populous country on the planet, some of them expressing the hope that it could encourage the government to improve the human rights situation in China. to improve the human rights situation in the country.

Beijing's candidacy was actively promoted by Juan Antonio Samaranch in recent years as head of the IOC. Samaranch questioned the sectors that were trying to "take advantage of the Games for political purposes" and argued that "many countries that accuse others of not respecting human rights should look at themselves." The Spanish leader highly valued the effort made by China to break the boycott against the United States at the 1984 Los Angeles Games, where the Chinese delegation received one of the biggest ovations in the history of the Olympics. Samaranch also highlighted the importance of the Games being held for the first time in a country that has a quarter of the world's population and that has experienced great economic and sporting development in recent decades.

On July 13, 2001, Beijing was chosen as the venue for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad, during the 112th session of the International Olympic Committee held in the city of Moscow. While in other Olympic venue elections, the winner is chosen in a final round of voting with two candidate cities after eliminating the rest one by one in previous rounds, the Chinese capital was chosen after winning the first two rounds of voting: In the In the first round, Osaka was eliminated as the candidate with the fewest votes, and in the second, Beijing reached a total of 56, more than half of the 105 votes cast in that stage, doubling its closest rival and obtaining more votes than the other applications together.

Symbols

Olympic Torch and Run

The design of the Olympic torch is based on an ancient roll of paper adorned with cloud motifs of Chinese features in red and silvery tones.

Continuing with the Olympic traditions, an Olympic torch was designed for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, which was officially presented on April 26, 2007 in Beijing by the president of the Organizing Committee (BOCOG), Liu Qi, and the President of the International Olympic Committee, Jacques Rogge. The torch has a slightly curved shape, a height of 72 centimeters and a weight of 985 grams and is made of aluminum subjected to etching and anodizing techniques. Its flame, produced by burning propane, can reach between 25 and 30 centimeters in normal conditions, last up to 15 minutes, resist winds of up to 65 km/h and rain of 50 mm per hour.

International Olympic Torch Tour

As in the last two Olympic Games, the Organizing Committee decided to carry out a tour of the torch circumnavigating the planet. BOCOG estimated a journey of 137,000 km in 130 days, using 21,780 carriers as it passed through 136 cities in 23 countries on five continents. The relay journey began as usual with the lighting of the Olympic Flame at the stadium Olympia, on March 25, 2008, to then visit various locations in Greece before arriving in Beijing aboard an Airbus A330. The international stage of the trip began from this city, visiting Almaty, Istanbul and St. Petersburg in its first stage, recalling in a certain way the ancient Silk Road.

Subsequently, the relay trip faced various demonstrations by groups opposed to the Chinese regime, who demanded improvements in the field of democracy and human rights. The passing of the torch in the West coincided with the outbreak of the 2008 rebellion in Tibet, sparking further controversy over Tibet. In Paris and London, several protesters attacked the passage of the torch and even managed to put it out on several occasions, while a giant banner was placed at the Golden Gate exclaiming "Free Tibet". BOCOG modified the routes considerably, especially in San Francisco after the riots in Europe. The demonstrations were later repeated in Buenos Aires, Canberra and Nagano, some of the next stops on the tour.

Protests of sympathizers of the Tibetan cause in Buenos Aires, Argentina, during the passage of the Olympic torch in April 2008.

The tour passed through various cities such as Dar es Salaam, Muscat, Islamabad, New Delhi and Jakarta. An operational complex allowed the ascent of the torch to the summit of Mount Everest. A detention had been planned for Taipei, but the impossibility of reaching an agreement between representatives of the People's Republic of China and the Republic of China due to the dispute over Taiwan prevented the passage of the flame. After the international tour, the flame passed through various Chinese towns, although the passage was suspended a few days after the Sichuan earthquake, which occurred on May 12, 2008. After traveling throughout the world, the torch reached Beijing and was used to light the cauldron at the National Stadium in Beijing during the opening ceremony, on August 8.

This was, broadly speaking, the route:

• GreeceGreece: Olympia, Athens.
• ChinaChina: Beijing
• Kazakhstan Kazakhstan: Almaty
• TurkeyTurkey: Istanbul
• Russia Russia: Saint Petersburg
• United KingdomUnited Kingdom: London
• France: Paris
• United States: San Francisco
• Argentina: Buenos Aires
• TanzaniaTanzania: Dar Es Salaam
• OmanOman: Mascate
• PakistanPakistan: Islamabad
• India: New Delhi
• Thailand: Bangkok
• MalaysiaMalaysia: Kuala Lumpur
• IndonesiaIndonesia: Jakarta
• Australia: Canberra
• JapanJapan: Nagano
• South Korea: Seoul
• North KoreaNorth Korea: Pionyang
• VietnamVietnam: Ho Chi Minh City
• ChinaChina: Hong KongHong Kong, MacaoMacao, Sanya, Guangzhou, Hangzhou, Shanghai, Nanking, Wuhan, Kunming, Chongqing, Lhasa, Golmud, Urumqi, Dunhuang, Lanzhou, Xian, Hohhot, Harbin, Shenyang, Qingdao, Tianjin, Chengdu, Beijing.

At the same time, on May 8, a sister llama climbed to the top of Mount Everest.

Emblem and graphic design

A McDonald's place in Beijing with advertising of the Olympic Games pets, the Fuwa.

The logo for the 2008 Summer Olympics was known as "Dancing Peking". Its presentation took place on August 3, 2003. It is the representation of an athlete or dancer on a red background, designed as a traditional seal of Chinese culture. The character's shape is reminiscent of the Chinese ideogram 京 (jing), whose meaning is "capital", in reference to Beijing, the capital of the People's Republic of China and site of the Olympic Games. 2008. Below the drawing are the words Beijing 2008 and the five Olympic Rings.

The 5 official mascots of the Games are collectively referred to as Fuwa (福娃, literally lucky children). They were presented on November 11, 2005, a thousand days before the opening of the Games. The five mascots are named Beibei, Jingjing, Huanhuan, Yingying, and Nini; each name represents the duplication of one of the syllables of the phrase Běijīng huānyíng nǐ (北京欢迎你), which in Mandarin Chinese means Beijing welcomes you. The choice of the five mascots represents various concepts: on the one hand, each one represents one of the five elements of Taoism (water, wood, fire, earth and metal), the main five sports branches (sports aquatics, wrestling and combat, ball, gymnastics and athletics), and on the other to the five Olympic Rings.

One World, One Dream (Chinese: 同一个世界 同一个梦想, Tóng yíge shìjiè tóng yíge mèngxiǎng) was adopted as the promotional slogan of the event. His announcement took place on June 26, 2005, being presented by the Organizing Committee.

Sports

The 2008 Beijing Olympic Games included 28 sports, the same ones that existed in Athens 2004, with a total of 37 disciplines (after the inclusion of BMX in cycling) and 302 events, one more than in the previous edition. Within the changes, new competitions were added: men's and women's 10 km in swimming, women's and men's BMX, women's 3000 m hurdles in athletics, men's and women's teams in table tennis (replacing the respective doubles competitions) and in fencing, women's team saber and women's team foil. Eight disciplines disappeared: men's 1km time trial and women's 500m time trial in track cycling, men's moving target and women's double trench in Olympic shooting and women's team épée and men's team foil in fencing. These games also represented the last participation of baseball and softball as Olympic sports, when they were removed from the program of the London 2012 Olympic Games.

The following list shows the 28 participating sports during the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, where a total of 302 events were held: 165 men's, 127 women's and 10 mixed (indicated in parentheses):

The Organizing Committee tried to include wushu, a martial art, in the list of Olympic sports, as an official discipline or as an exhibition sport, something that had not been done since the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games. Although the idea was rejected by the International Olympic Committee, this allowed the realization of a parallel wushu exhibition tournament between August 21 and 24 in the Beijing Olympic Center Gymnasium, it was called the Beijing Wushu Tournament. Although it was not official and its Results are not counted within the general medal table, as it is organized by the same Organizing Committee, it maintained the same characteristics as the rest of the official sports, such as the use of medals or the Olympic Village.

Organization

The organization of these Games was in the hands of the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games (known as BOCOG), led by the politician Liu Qi, one of the main figures of the Chinese Communist Party as he was the secretary of the party committee in the capital and mayor of the city between 1999 and 2003. Although officially independent from both the Chinese Olympic Committee and the country's government, they had great influence on the organization, especially the latter regarding the improvement works in infrastructure and security.

Sports venues and facilities

Location map of the Olympic compounds in Beijing

The Chinese government together with the Organizing Committee established a total of 31 venues and sports facilities for the Games in the city of Beijing. Of these, 12 new facilities were completely built, among which the National Stadium and the National Aquatic Center stand out. The National Stadium, also known as the Birds Nest, was designed by the firm by architects Herzog & de Meuron and is one of the largest steel structures on the planet. A total of 11 existing facilities were renovated and conditioned for the Olympic event. Likewise, 9 temporary facilities were built, which at the end of the Games were modified or even withdrawn. These include the urban circuit for the marathon and walking events, and a circuit both in the city and on the outskirts for road cycling competitions.

In the other host cities, 4 stadiums were remodeled for the soccer competitions in Qinhuangdao, Shanghai, Shenyang and Tianjin. In addition, the Hong Kong Equestrian Center was improved and the port of Qingdao was prepared for sailing regattas. The Guangdong Olympic Stadium, in the city of Guangzhou (Canton), was inaugurated in 2001 as part of the Beijing 2008 bid; however, it was eventually scrapped as a venue. The selection of Hong Kong as a venue, due to concerns regarding the existing sanitary measures in mainland China, represents the second time in history that equestrian events have been held on the territory of a different national Olympic committee from the organizer. official: it previously happened during the 1956 Melbourne Olympic Games, in which the equestrian disciplines were held in Stockholm, Sweden. This occurs since, due to the particular powers of Hong Kong as a special administrative region, it is allowed to have its own Olympic committee, despite being part of the People's Republic of China.

The budget for all these projects was originally estimated at about 13 billion yuan (approximately US$1.88 billion), although later studies state that the final cost exceeded 19.5 million yuan. The most important reasons for this was the excess of more than 450 million yuan in the construction of the National Stadium over its original budget of 3.14 billion.

National Stadium, headquarters of the Olympic Games, known as the Bird nest by its particular form.

Peking National Aquatic Center (called Water bucket) was built with an avant-garde architecture.

New construction in Beijing:

• National Stadium – athletics, football and ceremonies.
• National Aquatic Center – swimming, jumping and synchronized swimming.
• Basketball Olympic gym – basketball.
• Beijing Tyre Pavilion – shooting (precision).
• Peking Shooting Field – shooting (plate).
• Estadio Cubierto Nacional – gymnastics (artist and trampoline) and balonmano.
• Laoshan Velodrome – cycling (pist).
• Shunyi Olympic Park – rowing, canoeing and swimming (open water).
• Gymnasium of the University of Agriculture of China – fight.
• Gymnasium of the University of Beijing – table tennis.
• Gymnasium of the University of Science and Technology of Beijing – judo and taekwondo.
• Gymnasium of the Technical University of Beijing – Badminton and gymnastics (rithmic).

Remodeled venues in Beijing:

• Stadium of the Olympic Centre – football and pentathlon (carrera and hípica).
• Gymnasium of the Olympic Centre – Balkan.
• Stadium of Workers – Football.
• Arena de los Trabajadores – boxing.
• Capital Sports Pavilion – volleyball.
• Fengtai Baseball Stadium – Baseball.
• Swimming pool Ying Tung – water polo and pentathlon (swimming).
• Laoshan Mountain Cycling Track – cycling (mountain).
• Gymnasium of the Technological Institute – volleyball.
• Beihang University Gymnasium – halterophilia.

Temporary venues in Beijing:

• Olympic Park Conference Center – Spear and Pentathlon (Scream).
• Olympic Park hockey field – hockey.
• Archery of the Olympic Park – archery.
• Beijing Olympic Tennis Centre – tennis.
• Wukesong Baseball Stadium – baseball.
• Laoshan airfield – cycling (BMX).
• Chaoyang Park beach volleyball field – beach volleyball.
• Installation of triathlon in the Dam of the Ming Dynasty Tombs – triathlon.

Venues outside of Beijing:

• Qingdao: Qingdao International Sailing Center – Sailing.
• Qinhuangdao: Qinhuangdao Olympic Stadium – football.
• Hong Kong: Hong Kong Olympic Equestrian Center – horse riding.
• Shanghai: Shanghai Stadium – Football.
• Shenyang: Shenyang Olympic Stadium – football.
• Tianjin: Tianjin Olympic Stadium – football.

Transportation and the environment

The Beijing metro increased from 53.5 to 198.2 km with a view to hosting the Games, including an express line to the airport (in the picture) and a direct line to the Olympic Park.

One of the main tasks of the Organizing Committee and the local government was the development of the transport infrastructure necessary to support the high flow of passengers that the Games would bring, both from the athletes and officials and from the thousands of tourists and journalists who would come to the city. One of the main tasks in this regard was the complete transformation of the Beijing International Airport, which included the construction of its third terminal by the architect Norman Foster. After its inauguration, on February 29, 2008, it became the largest airport in the world with an area exceeding one million square meters and a capacity of up to 7,000 international passengers per hour, although it would be surpassed in October 2008 by the new Dubai airport.

The Beijing subway also underwent a major transformation. After the Olympic venue was assigned to the city, construction work on new lines quickly began, doubling its capacity by adding six new lines and a total of 82 new stations. Among these reforms, the express line to the international airport plus the first phase of Line 8, which led directly to the Olympic Park, stood out. Three lines (the two mentioned plus Line 10) were inaugurated on July 19, 2008, a couple of weeks before the Games, while another three were gradually inaugurated in 2002, 2003 and 2007. This implied a significant increase in the passenger influx, reaching 4.92 million people on August 22, 2008 and a total of 68 million passengers during the duration of the Olympic Games. more buses and minibuses and of better quality, while a total of 5,000 cars were made by the Chinese subsidiary of Volkswagen for use by the official Olympic delegations.

View of Beijing in 2005 in one day after a rain and another without rain, reflecting the strong air pollution of the city and that must have been combated during the Games.

The increase in public transport services allowed normal development within the city, which was not only impacted by the temporary increase in passengers but also by the strong measures to reduce air pollution, one of the main criticisms to Beijing during his candidacy. According to the World Health Organization, the concentration of particulate matter PM10 (generated mainly by fossil combustion) in Beijing was well above the limit of 50 μg/m³, easily reaching figures above 150 μg/m³. The WHO warned that these conditions could affect the health of people and especially those subjected to sports with high physical demands, such as marathons or cycling, which caused concern in some delegations and athletes.

The Chinese government applied various measures in transportation, reducing the vehicle fleet by eliminating the 200,000 most polluting vehicles, and by imposing a vehicle restriction on 2 million cars every day. To this were added actions on the industry, by carrying out the transfer of hundreds of factories from the Beijing metropolitan area to other sectors during the years prior to the event and when there were a few weeks remaining, several other factories and construction sites were temporarily closed, both Beijing as well as nearby Tianjin and the province of Hebei. All these measures, which had a cost of close to 20.5 billion dollars, would finally take effect during the event, where it was possible to reduce the cost by more than 20%. air pollution index in Beijing and up to 60% nitrogen oxide emissions, although other measurements detected days with emissions that significantly exceeded the limits (even reaching 604 μg/m³ on the third day of the Games).

Security

A member of the Popular Armed Police guards the National Stadium during the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games.

Following the trend of previous Olympic Games, Beijing 2008 significantly increased security standards in the city and, mainly, in the vicinity of the Olympic venues. The security devices were specially trained to be able to face a terrorist threat and anti-aircraft missiles were even installed in the various sports venues. Over one hundred thousand units of the Popular Armed Police would have been assigned to take care of security along with 1,400 000 volunteers, while 300,000 security cameras were installed to support surveillance work. It is estimated that about 3 billion pounds sterling were allocated for the security of Beijing, while in the other cities that hosted Olympic events, 34,000 units of the Armed Police, anti-aircraft missiles, 48 helicopters, 74 military aircraft and 33 ships were allocated. of the Navy.

Various protests were carried out outside China in favour of Tibetan independence, but were banned within it.

Although the restrictive security measures were argued to prevent a terrorist attack such as the 1972 Munich and 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games, some critics claimed that these measures were orchestrated by the Chinese government to repress opposition groups. Within these groups, the Uyghur secessionists of Xinjiang and the Tibetans would stand out, as well as the political detractors of the existing communist system in the country and other organizations such as Falun Gong.

The Chinese government tried to justify its actions by announcing the foiling of a plan by the East Turkestan Islamic Movement (which promotes the establishment of an independent Islamic state in Xinjiang and would maintain ties to al Qaeda) to carry out suicide bombings and kidnappings of foreigners during the Games, in addition to an attack against the Chinese border police in Xinjiang four days before the start of the Games, which left 16 dead. Various human rights organizations denounced, meanwhile, that the Chinese government a systematic series of arrests against various opponents in the vicinity of the Olympic Games (highlighting personalities such as Hu Jia and Yang Chunlin), leading to a 20% increase in arrests on charges of "subversion" between 2006 and 2007 according to Human Rights Watch.

Security measures were also heavily enforced against foreigners who entered China to express criticism of the People's Republic of China or support groups opposed to the People's Republic of China, especially after incidents at the Olympic torch relay. Immigration procedures were exhaustively controlled, even suspending the issuance of executive visas to prevent the entry of activists. However, few demonstrations managed to take place in Chinese territory during the games: a pro-Tibetan group managed to display a canvas outside the Stadium National, while others tried to do something similar a few days later and a spectator managed to pull out the Tibetan flag at an equestrian event. All those responsible for these demonstrations were immediately detained by the police (who reported being beaten during their detention), while the foreigners were deported.

Trying to silence criticism regarding human rights violations and the suppression of freedom of expression, the Chinese government established three areas for demonstrations, with prior authorization. However, of the 77 initial requests, 74 were withdrawn, two suspended and one rejected, and several of those who filed the petitions were arrested, transferred, or disappeared.

Participants

Countries

Countries participating in the Beijing Olympic Games 2008

Athletes belonging to 204 national federations affiliated to the International Olympic Committee registered for the Beijing Olympics. This number represents 3 countries more than in the Athens 2004 Olympic Games, due to the return of Djibouti and the debut of three IOC affiliated countries between the two events: the Marshall Islands, Montenegro and Tuvalu. However, Brunei was excluded at the last moment from the Olympic Games after the respective National Olympic Committee failed to register their athletes with the IOC.

The delegation of the People ' s Republic of China, with 600 athletes, was the largest representation of the 204 participants.

North Korea and South Korea considered marching together under a common flag at the opening and closing ceremonies, just as they had done at the opening ceremony of the 2004 Athens Olympics. There was even thought of presenting a single flag delegation, but the disagreements over which criteria would prevail for the selection of the athletes of each nation and the increase in tension between the two governments, prevented reaching any agreement.

After the declaration of independence of Kosovo, in February 2008, the possibility arose that a delegation from that territory would attend an Olympic event for the first time, considering the existence of a National Olympic Committee since 2003 although not recognized by the IOC. Kosovo's independence has been recognized by only a few countries, so admission into the IOC is unlikely, especially since Kosovo is not a member of the United Nations, an almost fundamental prerequisite (although there are some exceptions). Although An agreement similar to the one that allowed East Timorese athletes to participate in the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games was attempted, but the lack of recognition by enough states and the admission of only 2 national federations to international sports organizations (out of the 5 required) finally prevented your participation in this event.

Due to corruption problems in the Iraqi sports federations and their lack of autonomy from the central government, the IOC prohibited the participation of this country a couple of weeks before the start of the Games, on July 24, 2008. A week later, after efforts by various authorities, the charges were dropped and the Iraqi athletes were given the green light to travel to the Chinese capital.

The Georgian delegation, at the behest of the nation's president Mikheil Saakashvili, threatened on August 9 to abandon its participation in the Games due to the South Ossetian War that broke out on the same day as the opening ceremony of the sporting event. The threat was ultimately not carried out and the government allowed the delegation to continue its participation, thus avoiding the eight-year sanctions that the Georgian Olympic Committee would have faced.

Athletes

Regarding the number of athletes, 11,883 athletes were initially registered (including the two Brunei athletes) but only 10,902 athletes actually participated in the Games, excluding injured and disqualified. Of these, 6,294 were men and 4,608 were women.

The following table shows the countries participating in the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games and the number of athlete representatives (in brackets, the number of men and women):

Development

Opening Ceremony

The opening ceremony began on August 8 at 20:08 local (12:08 UTC), equivalent to 8:08 p.m. m. of August 8, 2008; this succession of the number eight is due in part to the tradition of some oriental countries that consider it a lucky number. Before the start of the ceremony, a 75-minute long event was held in which folk dances were shown and ethnic characteristics of China, carried out by 28 groups.

The ceremony began at the National Stadium in Beijing in front of some 91,000 spectators, where the more than 100 heads of state from different countries who attended stood out. After the countdown performed by 2008 fou percussionists equipped with lighting that gave life to giant numbers, 29 fireworks rose over various parts of the city generating footprint figures representing previous editions of the Olympic Games in the direction of the stadium. After that, a group of children representing the 56 ethnic groups that live together in China accompanied the entry of the national flag while one of them sang Ode to the Motherland. The flag was later hoisted by officers of the People's Liberation Army, while their national anthem was played.

Li Ning rises to light the Olympic Flame in the trunk.

Directed by film director Zhang Yimou, the ceremony continued with a succession of artistic performances commemorating Chinese culture. A giant screen stretched over the Stadium depicting a paper scroll, on which dancers performed sumi-e and images of various Chinese inventions were projected. Allegories to the printing press, the compass, porcelain, the Great Wall, the Silk Road, the Terracotta Warriors, Confucianism, Tai Chi and Chinese opera were performed before the crowd. Representing the advances of the modern era, a giant representation of the planet Earth similar to a traditional Chinese lamp rose above the field, being walked by some fifty acrobats. The artistic event ended with the interpretation of You and me, the official theme of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, by Sarah Brightman and Liu Huan.

The athletes' parade followed, initiated as is tradition by Greece and finished by China, whose delegation was led by Yao Ming. The rest of the nations were ordered alphabetically according to the Chinese writing system, equivalent to the number of strokes that present the simplified characters of the name of each country. After the parade, the Olympic flag was brought in, the anthem of the Olympic Games was sung, and BOCOG and IOC President Liu Qi and Jacques Rogge delivered their speeches, after which the Games were officially declared open by Chinese Premier Hu Jintao. The Olympic torch entered the stadium to be delivered by a series of athletes to gymnast Li Ning, who was raised to the roof of the stadium and began to run as if running on it. As Li advanced, a scroll was projected onto the ceiling that opened showing images of the Olympic torch's journey to the cauldron, to then light the flame in it.

Various figures estimate the number of viewers who watched the ceremony around the world, varying from 1 billion, 2.3 billion, and even up to 4 billion, for which many say it was the most watched event up to that time by humanity.

Critics generally praised the event, calling it one of the most splendidly executed opening ceremonies in Olympic history, though some considered it "cynical" in comparison with the constant criticism that the country receives regarding human rights. Subsequently, a series of reports would come to light questioning some of the presentations of the ceremony, before which the organizing committee recognized the use of images prerecorded in the presentation of the "footprints" fireworks and that the girl who sang Ode to the Motherland was not the one presented during the event.

Calendar

At the Beijing Olympic Games, 302 competitions were held in 28 sports. The following table details the days on which the competitions for each sport were held. The cells in blue correspond to the days on which said discipline was played and the cells in yellow correspond to the dates on which the finals of the respective events for that discipline were played, and the number indicates the number of finals played on that date.

Outstanding athletes

• Usain Bolt (atletism, Jamaica); gold medal and world record in 100 and 200 meters.
• Michael Phelps (birth, United States); 8 gold medals (uppering the Mark Spitz brand).
• Elena Isinbaieva (Athleticism, Russia); gold medal and world record in leap with perch.
• Rohullah Nikpai (taekwondo, Afghanistan); bronze medal (first Olympic medal for Afghanistan).

Closing Ceremony

View of the Beijing National Stadium during the closing ceremony, bringing together all the athletes participating in the Games.

Beijing Park 2008 in Beijing Olympic Park.

The closing ceremony of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games was held at the Beijing National Stadium on August 24, 2008 at 20:00 local time (UTC+8), following the idea used in the opening ceremony regarding the use of the number 8.

The event was directed by Chinese filmmaker Zhang Yimou and featured a series of artistic acts. The ceremony began with a fireworks presentation, followed by the entrance of the Chinese flag and the singing of its anthem. Some choreographic artistic performances were performed in the center of the stadium before giving way to the entry of the 204 delegations and their athletes. In the center, the pavilions of all the delegations were placed and the awards ceremony for the men's marathon, the last competition of the Games, was held between them. The Kenyan Samuel Wanjiru received the gold medal for his performance in said discipline, while his country's anthem was played.

Following the presentation of the Greek flag and its national anthem, BOCOG President Liu Qi gave his closing speech in Mandarin Chinese thanking the audience, followed by International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge. Rogge thanked the organizers, the athletes and the hundreds of thousands of volunteers in his speech in English and French, ending with a few words in Mandarin. The end of the thank you speeches gave way to the ceremony of handing over Olympic duties to the City of London, site of the next Olympic Games in 2012.

The British pavilion entered the stadium as God save the Queen was performed. The Olympic flag was lowered and delivered by Beijing Mayor Guo Jinlong to Jacques Rogge, who immediately handed it over to Boris Johnson, London Mayor. After the handover ceremony, there was a small eight-minute presentation of the new host city. Following an introductory video, a traditional red double-decker bus entered the stadium along with bicycles and passers-by, representing London's urban life. The bus then begins to disassemble showing inside the singer Leona Lewis with Jimmy Page, interpreting the song Whole Lotta Love. Finally, the English soccer player David Beckham came out with the artists and threw a soccer ball to the audience, as a representation of the start of the new Olympic period.

To end the event, a series of images were projected at the event with the most memorable moments of the Games, while an air terminal was represented from where the athletes returned to their respective countries, keeping their memories of Beijing. The Olympic flame, after 16 days of competition, slowly extinguished, giving way to a musical event with various artists such as the Spanish tenor Plácido Domingo, the South Korean Rain and several Chinese singers such as Han Hong, Jackie Chan and Kelly Chen, among others..

International transmission

The 2008 Beijing Olympics became the first Games to be produced and broadcast entirely on high-definition television, being watched by more than 4 billion people, worldwide. In his 2001 bid bid, Beijing confirmed to the Evaluation Committee that "there would be no restrictions on broadcasting and informative reporting of the games" according to The New York Times, "their promises were contradictory for government transportation restrictions, lengthy application processes, and housing concerns."

Medal table

Organizing country (China)

No.	Country				Total
1	China(CHN)	51	21	28	100
2	United States(USA)	36	38	36	110
3	Russia(RUS)	23	21	29	73
4	United Kingdom(GBR)	19	13	15	47
5	Germany(GER)	16	10	15	41
6	Australia(AUS)	14	15	17	46
7	South Korea(KOR)	13	10	8	31
8	Japan(JPN)	9	6	10	25
9	Italy(ITA)	8	9	10	27
10	France(FRA)	7	16	18	41