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

Read More Wikipedia
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)

TEAM INDIA - Olympics 2008

ndia will compete at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, People’s Republic of China. A contingent of 56 athletes will represent India, and are supported by a support-staff of 42 officials. The athletic contingent is the largest, with 16 athletes.

For the first time since 1928, the Indian Men’s Hockey Team will not be taking part in the Summer Olympics due to its failure to qualify. A two-year ban imposed by the International Weightlifting Federation after the 2006 Commonwealth Games doping scandal orginally resulted in only one Olympic weightlifter from India being scheduled to compete, but she too failed a drug test, and has also withdrawn.

Indian squad will appear at the 56th position during Olympic opening Ceremoney.
Indai squad will be led by Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore.

For the first time India is sending a team of swimmers to the Beijing Games. So below is the list of members from India at the Beijing Olympics.


Archery: Dola Banerjee, Pranitha Vardhineni, L Bombayala Devi, Mangal Singh Champia.

Athletics: Anju Bobby George (Long Jump), Krishna Poonia (Discus), Harwant Kaur (Discus), Preeja Sreedharan (10,000m), Manjit Kaur (400m), Chitra Soman (4×400m relay), Sini Jose (4×400m relay),MR Poovamma (4×400m relay), Mandeep Kaur (4×400m relay), S Geeta (4×400m relay), K Mridula (4×400m relay), J J Shobha (Heptathlon), Sushmita Singh Roy (Heptathlon), G G Pramila (Heptathlon),Vikas Gowda (Discus), Renjith Maheswary (Triple Jump), Surender Singh (10000m).

Badminton: Anup Sridhar, Saina Nehwal

Boxing: Jitender (51kg), Akhil Kumar (54kg), A L Lakhra (57kg), Vijender(75kg) and Dinesh Kumar (81kg)

Judo: Khumujam Tombi Devi, Divya. Rowing: Bajrang Lal Takhar (Single M1X), Devnder Khandwal and Manjeet Singh (Light Weight Double Scull).

Shooting: Manavjit Singh Sandhu (Clay Pigeon Trap), Mansher Singh (Clay Pigeon Trap), Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore (Clay Pigeon Double Trap), Gagan Narang (10m Air Rifle), Abhinav Bindra (10m AirRifle), Samresh Jung (10m Air Pistol), Sanjeev Rajput (50m Rifle 3 Position), Anjali Bhagwat (50m Rifle 3 Position), Avneet Kaur Sidhu (10m Air Rifle).

Swimming: Virdawal Khade (50m, 100m, 200m Freestyle), Ankur Poseria (100m Butterfly), Sandeep Sejwal (100m, 200m Breaststrokes), Rehan Poncha (200m butterfly).

Table Tennis: Achanta Sharath Kamal, Neha Aggarwal.

Tennis: Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi (doubles), Sania Mirza (singles and doubles), Sunitha Rao (doubles). Weightlifting: L Monika Devi (69kg)


Wrestling: Sushil Kumar (66 kg Freestyle), Yogeshwar Dutt (60 kg Freestyle), Rajiv Tomar (120 kg Freestyle).

These are the Indians to watch out for in the 2008 Beijing Olympics:

Manavjit Singh - Shooting (Trap Men)
Rajyavardhan Rathore - Shooting(Double Trap Men)
Anju Bobby George - Athletics (Long Jump)
Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupati - Tennis (Mens Doubles)
Dinesh Kumar - Boxing (-81 kg category)
Sania Mirza - Tennis (Womens Singles)
The Indian Squad for Beijing Olympics 2008: