UNHIDDEN FACTs - BEIJING CEREMONIES

1.The 2008 Summer Olympics opening ceremony was held at the Beijing National Stadium, also known as the Bird’s Nest. It began at 8:08 pm China Standard Time (UTC+ 8) on 8 August 2008 because in Chinese culture, 8 is considered to be a lucky number.

2.The OPENING ceremony was co-directed by Chinese filmmaker Zhang Yimou along with Chinese choreographers Zhang Jigang and Shen Wei.

3.It was noted for its focus on ancient Chinese culture, and for its creativity, as well as being the first to use weather modification technology to prevent rainfall.

4.Featuring more than 15,000 performers, the ceremony lasted over four hours and was reported to have cost over US$100 million to produce.The opening ceremony was lauded by spectators and various international presses as spectacular and spellbinding.

5.More than 100 heads of state, heads of government and sovereigns attended the opening ceremony.The number of heads of state who attended the opening ceremony was by far the largest in Olympic history

6.The final ascent to the torch featured Olympic gymnast Li Ning, who appeared to run through air around the top ring of the stadium.

7.Featuring more than 15,000 performers, the ceremony lasted over four hours and was reported to have cost over US$100 million to produce.

8.The Chinese singer Liu Huan and British singer Sarah Brightman, standing on the central platform, sang the 2008 Olympic theme song: You and Me.

9.As Chinese is written in characters and not letters, the order of the teams’ entry was determined by the number of strokes in the first character of their respective countries’ Simplified Chinese names.

10.Guinea was the second country to enter following Greece as it only takes two strokes to write the first character in the country’s name . Australia marched 202nd, just ahead of Zambia ,which was the last country to march before China.

11.The Chinese contingent, which was last, was led by Yao Ming and Lin Hao, the 9-year-old primary school student who had rescued two schoolmates during the 2008 Sichuan Earthquake.

12. Four Great Inventions of ancient China
* The Compass
* Gunpowder
* Paper
* Printing

13.The Olympic flag was carried in by eight former athletes from China. They were:

* Zhang Xielin (table-tennis)
* Pan Duo (Everest mountaineer)
* Zheng Fengrong (athletics)
* Yang Yang (A) (short track speed skating)
* Yang Ling (shooting)
* Mu Xiangxiong (swimming)
* Xiong Ni (diving)
* Li Lingwei (badminton)

14.At the End of the ceremony Jackie Chan, Karen Mok, Han Hong, and Sun Nan sang the first song, “Stand Up”; while Andy Lau, Nicolas Tse, Joey Yung, Wakin Chau, Wang Feng, and Sun Yue sang the second song, “Cheering for Life”. Since the ceremony was already overtime by then, this portion was not televised.

15.In 2006 the Beijing Organizing Committee (BOCOG) initially chose American film maker Steven Spielberg, Yves Pepin, head of the French entertainment group ECA2, and Sydney Games opening ceremony director Ric Birch as special consultants.

16.The South Korean Seoul Broadcasting System (SBS) leaked parts of a rehearsal of the opening ceremony through secret shooting before the actual ceremony, disregarding the prohibition of the Organizing Committee.

17.The song “Ode to the Motherland” appeared to be sung by Lin Miaoke at the ceremony, but it emerged she had mimed her performance to a recording by another girl, Yang Peiyi.

18.Most of the television coverage of the fireworks show that displayed the 29 fireworks “footprints” outside the stadium was simulated by computer animation by using CGI of 28 of the footprints for television broadcasts, and only the last one was filmed live.

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CLOSING CEREMONY

1.The 2008 Summer Olympics closing ceremony was held at the Beijing National Stadium, also known as the Bird’s Nest.

2.It was directed by Chinese filmmaker Zhang Yimou and began at 8:00 pm China Standard Time (UTC+ 8) on August 24, 2008 (the post-introductory main ceremony began at 8:08 pm). The number 8 is associated with prosperity and confidence in Chinese culture.

3.British singer Leona Lewis and Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page (with association football player David Beckham making an appearance).

4.The Ceremony also included the handover of the games from Beijing to London. Guo Jinlong, the Mayor of Beijing handed over the Olympic flag to the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson.

5.The total cost for the eight-minute segments during the Handover Ceremonies at the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Beijing was £2.5m

Beijing olympics-fact sheet

1.The 2008 Summer Olympic Games, officially known as the Games of the XXIX Olympiad will be celebrated in Beijing, People’s Republic of China from August 8 to August 24, 2008.

2.Ten thousand, five hundred athletes are expected to compete in 302 events in 28 sports.

3.The Olympic games were awarded to Beijing after an exhaustive ballot of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on July 13, 2001.

4.The official logo of the games, titled “Dancing Beijing,” features a stylised calligraphic character jīng (京, meaning capital), referencing the host city.

5.The mascots of Beijing 2008 are the five Fuwa, each representing both a colour of the Olympic rings and a symbol of Chinese culture.The five Fuwa are named Beibei, Jingjing, Huanhuan, Yingying, and Nini.

6.The Olympic slogan,

One World, One Dream

, calls upon the world to unite in the Olympic spirit.It was chosen from over 210,000 entries submitted from around the world.

7.A total of 37 venues will be used to host the events including 12 newly constructed venues.

8.Its largest architectural pieces will be the Beijing National Stadium, Beijing National Indoor Stadium, Beijing National Aquatics Centre, Olympic Green Convention Centre, Olympic Green, and Beijing Wukesong Culture & Sports Center.

9.The centrepiece of the 2008 Summer Olympics will be the Beijing National Stadium, nicknamed the “Bird nest” because of its nest-like skeletal structure.

10.During the games, 2,500 large-size buses and 4,500 minibuses will be operated by a total of 8,000 drivers to transport people across various venues.

11.The design of the Olympic Torch is based on traditional scrolls and uses a traditional Chinese design known as the “Propitious Clouds” (祥云). The torch is designed to remain lit in 65 kilometer per hour winds, and in rain of up to 50 millimeters per hour.

12.The relay, with the theme Journey of Harmony, is expected to last 130 days and carry the torch 137,000 km (85,000 mi)—the longest distance of any Olympic torch relay since the tradition began at the 1936 Berlin Games.

13.A total of 21,880 torchbearers have been selected from around the world by various organizations and entities.

14.The flame was carried to the top of Mount Everest on a 108 km (67 mi) long “highway” scaling the Tibetan side of the mountain especially built for the relay.

15.The opening ceremony of the Olympics in Beijing will be held in the Beijing National Stadium, and begin at 8:08pm CST (12:08 UTC) on 8 August 2008.

16.United States will bring about 600 competitors to the games, their largest Olympic team thus far. On the Other hand Afghanistan will be represented by just four competitors.

17.South African swimmer Natalie du Toit, five time gold medalist at the Athens Paralympics in 2004, has qualified to compete at the Beijing Olympics,thus making history by becoming the first amputee to qualify for the Olympic Games since Olivér Halassy in 1936. Natalia Partyka (who was born without a right forearm) will compete in Table Tennis for Poland.

18.The 2008 Olympics will see the return of 28 sports, and will hold 302 events (165 men’s events, 127 women’s events, and 10 mixed events), one event more in total than in Athens.

19.The Olympic motto “Citius, Altius, Fortius” is Latin for “Faster, Higher, Braver,” but is universally accepted to mean “Swifter, Higher, Stronger.”

Athens vs Beijing

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Beijing National Stadium -Technical View

20.Participating countries in Beijing Olympics with no. of participants
• Afghanistan (4)
• Albania (11)
• Algeria (
• American Samoa (4)
• Andorra (5)
• Angola (26)
• Antigua and Barbuda
• Argentina (13
• Armenia (25)
• Aruba (2)
• Australia (433)
• Austria (72)
• Azerbaijan (39)
• Bahamas (19)
• Bahrain (11)
• Bangladesh (5)
• Barbados (
• Belarus (20
• Belgium (94)
• Belize (3)
• Benin (3)
• Bermuda (6)
• Bhutan (2)
• Bolivia (6)
• Bosnia and Herzegovina (5)
• Botswana (2)
• Brazil (277)
• British Virgin Islands (2)
• Brunei (2)
• Bulgaria (72)
• Burkina Faso (4)
• Burundi (3)
• Cambodia (6)
• Cameroon (3)
• Canada (331)
• Cape Verde (3)
• Cayman Islands (3)
• Central African Republic (3)
• Chad (2)
• Chile (27)
• China (639)
• Chinese Taipei (80)
• Colombia (64)
• Comoros (3)
• DR Congo (2)
• Congo (3)
• Cook Islands (4)
• Costa Rica (6)
• Côte d’Ivoire
• Croatia (106)
• Cuba (149)
• Cyprus (17)
• Czech Republic (130)
• Denmark (83)
• Djibouti (4)
• Dominica
• Dominican Republic (23)
• Ecuador (25)
• Egypt (103)
• El Salvador (11)
• Equatorial Guinea (3)
• Eritrea (11)
• Estonia (47)
• Ethiopia (36)
• Fiji (6)
• Finland (55)
• France (323)
• FS Micronesia
• FYR Macedonia (7)
• Gabon (4)
• Gambia (3)
• Georgia (35)
• Germany (439)
• Ghana (9)
• Great Britain (313)
• Greece (159)
• Grenada (1)
• Guam (5)
• Guatemala (12)
• Guinea (1)
• Guinea-Bissau (3)
• Guyana (4)
• Haiti (1)
• Honduras (25)
• Hong Kong, China (34)
• Hungary (171)
• Iceland (26)
• India (57)
• Indonesia (24)
• Iran (55)
• Iraq (2)
• Ireland (54)
• Israel (43)
• Italy (344)
• Jamaica (56)
• Japan (351)
• Jordan (7)
• Kazakhstan (132)
• Kenya (56)
• Kiribati (3)
• South Korea (267)
• North Korea (63)
• Kuwait (6)
• Kyrgyzstan (21)
• Laos (4)
• Latvia (49)
• Lebanon (5)
• Lesotho (4)
• Liberia (3)
• Libya (7)
• Liechtenstein (2)
• Lithuania (69)
• Luxembourg (12)
• Madagascar (4)
• Malawi (4)
• Malaysia (27)
• Maldives (4)
• Mali (12)
• Malta (6)
• Marshall Islands (5)
• Mauritania (2)
• Mauritius (3)
• Mexico (85)
• Moldova (31)
• Monaco (2)
• Mongolia (29)
• Montenegro (17)
• Morocco (49)
• Mozambique (6)
• Myanmar (6)
• Namibia (9)
• Nauru (1)
• Nepal (7)
• Netherlands (245)
• Netherlands Antilles (3)
• New Zealand (182)
• Nicaragua (6)
• Niger
• Nigeria (33)
• Norway (85)
• Oman (4)
• Pakistan (21)
• Palau (4)
• Palestine (4)
• Panama (3)
• Papua New Guinea (7)
• Paraguay (5)
• Peru (12)
• Philippines (15)
• Poland (26
• Portugal (7
• Puerto Rico (22)
• Qatar (22)
• Romania (102)
• Russia (467)
• Rwanda (4)
• Saint Kitts and Nevis
• Saint Lucia
• Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
• São Tomé and Príncipe (3)
• Samoa (6)
• San Marino (4)
• Saudi Arabia (16)
• Senegal (
• Serbia (92)
• Seychelles (
• Sierra Leone (2)
• Singapore (25)
• Slovakia (57)
• Slovenia (62)
• Solomon Islands (3)
• Somalia (2)
• South Africa (136)
• Spain (287)
• Sri Lanka (
• Sudan (9)
• Suriname (4)
• Swaziland (4)
• Sweden (97)
• Switzerland (84)
• Syria (7)
• Tajikistan (13)
• Tanzania
• Thailand (25)
• Timor-Leste (2)
• Togo (1)
• Tonga (3)
• Trinidad and Tobago (2
• Tunisia (32)
• Turkey (6
• Turkmenistan (10)
• Tuvalu (3)
• Uganda (11)
• Ukraine (54)
• United Arab Emirates (5)
• United States (596)
• Uruguay (12)
• Uzbekistan (5
• Vanuatu (3)
• Venezuela (109)
• Vietnam (21)
• Virgin Islands (5)
• Yemen (5)
• Zambia (7)
• Zimbabwe (13)

Beijing Vs Athens - See The Difference

1.Beijing: The 2008 Summer Olympic Games, officially known as the Games of the XXIX Olympiad, will be celebrated in Beijing, People’s Republic of China from August 8 to August 24, 2008

Athens: The 2004 Summer Olympic Games, officially known as the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event which was celebrated in Athens, Greece, from August 13 to August 29, 2004.

2.Beijing: Ten thousand, five hundred athletes are expected to compete in 302 events in 28 sports, just one event more than was on the schedule of the 2004 games.

Athens: 10,625 athletes competed in 301 events for 28 sports,some 600 more than expected, accompanied by 5,501 team officials from 201 countries.

3.Beijing: The 2008 Beijing Olympics will also mark the third time that Olympic events will have been held in the territories of two different National Olympic Committees (NOC): at the 2008 Olympics, equestrian events will be held in Hong Kong, which competes separately from mainland China.

Athens: Athens 2004 marked the first time since the 1896 Summer Olympics that all countries with a National Olympic Committee were in attendance.

4.Beijing: The Olympic games were awarded to Beijing after an exhaustive ballot of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on July 13, 2001.

Athens: Athens was chosen as the host city during the 106th IOC Session held in Lausanne on September 5, 1997

5.Beijing: The official logo of the games, titled “Dancing Beijing,” features a stylised calligraphic character jīng (京, meaning capital), referencing the host city.

Athens: Ancient victors were crowned with olive wreaths (Greek: kotinos) — a tradition echoed
with this Games’ medalists. The colours of the logo come from the flag of Greece.

6.Beijing: The mascots of Beijing 2008 are the five Fuwa, each representing both a colour of the Olympic rings and a symbol of Chinese culture.

Athens: Mascots have been a tradition at the Olympic Games since the 1968 Winter Olympics in Grenoble, France. The Athens games had two official mascots: Athiná and Phévos (pronounced in Greek, Athina and Fivos).

7.Beijing: These games will be the first to be produced and broadcast entirely in high definition television, and will likely garner upwards of 4 billion viewers.

Athens: For the first time, major broadcasters were allowed to serve video coverage of the Olympics over the Internet, provided that they restricted this service geographically, to protect broadcasting contracts in other areas. For instance, the BBC made their complete live coverage available to UK high-speed Internet customers for free; customers in the U.S. were only able to receive delayed excerpts

8.Beijing: The opening ceremony of the Olympics in Beijing will be held in the Beijing National Stadium, and begin at 8:00pm CST (12:00 UTC) on 8 August 2008.The choice of date (8/8/0 8) and time reflect the fact that the number 8 is considered lucky in China.
It has been announced that Canada’s Celine Dion, Taiwan’s Jay Chou, Britain’s Sarah Brightman and China’s Liu Huan would perform during the opening ceremony.

Athens: The widely praised Opening Ceremony by avant garde choreographer Dimitris Papaioannou held on August 13, 2004 began with a twenty eight (the number of the Olympiads up to then) second countdown paced by the sounds of an amplified heartbeat. As the countdown was completed, fireworks rumbled and illuminated the skies overhead.the Parade of Nations, during which the Dutch DJ Tiësto provided the music, the Icelandic singer Björk performed the song Oceania, written specially for the event by her and the poet Sjón.

More to come…