The
2008 Summer Olympics, officially known as the
Games of the XXIX Olympiad, were awarded to Beijing, China
after an exhaustive ballot of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on July 13, 2001. The games will be celebrated from August 8, 2008 to August 24, 2008, with the opening ceremony commencing at 08:08pm and 08 seconds at the Beijing
national Stadium. Some events, including football (soccer), sailing, and new 10 km swimming marathon events will be held in other cities of China. With the equestrian events being held in Hong Kong, this marks the second time the same edition of the Olympic Games has been hosted by two National Olympic Committees (NOCs).
The official logo of the games, titled "Dancing Beijing," features a stylized calligraphic character
jīng (京, meaning
capital), referencing the host city. The mascots of
Beijing 2008 are the five Fuwa (formerly known as the "friendlies"), each representing one color of the Olympic rings. The motto of the Games is
One World, One Dream. The games will consist of 302 events in 28 sports, just one event more than the Athens games of 2004. In addition to new events, several new NOCs that may compete at the games have been recognized by the IOC. Former IOC president Juan Antonio Samaranch has asserted his opinion that 2008 Olympics in Beijing will go down as "the best in Olympic history
Beijing was elected host city on July 13, 2001, during the 112th IOC Session in Moscow, beating Toronto, Paris, Istanbul, and Osaka. Prior to the session, five other cities—Bangkok, Cairo, Havana, Kuala Lumpur, and Seville—submitted bids to the IOC but failed to make the shortlist in 2000. The voting distributions were as follows.
The centerpiece of the 2008 Summer Olympics will be the Beijing National Stadium, nicknamed the "Bird Nest" because of its nest-like skeletal structure.<6> Construction of the venue began on December 24, 2003. The Guangdong Olympic Stadium was originally planned, constructed, and completed in 2001 for the Games, but a decision was made to construct the new Beijing stadium. Government officials engaged architects worldwide in a design competition. A Swiss firm, Herzog & de Meuron Architekten AG, collaborated with China Architecture Design & Research Group to win the competition. The National Stadium will feature a lattice-like concrete skeleton forming the stadium bowl and will seat 80,000 people. Architects originally described the overall design as resembling a bird''s nest with an immense ocular—an opening with a retractable roof over the stadium. However, in 2004 the roof part of the design was abandoned for cost and safety reasons. The Beijing National Stadium will be the site of the opening and closing ceremonies as well as the athletics events and soccer finals.
The events programme for the Beijing 2008 Games is quite similar to that of the Athens Games held in 2004. 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 more event in total than in Athens.
Nine new events will be held overall, including two from the new cycling discipline of BMX. Women will compete in the 3000m steeplechase for the first time. In addition, marathon swimming events for men and women, over the distance of 10 kilometers, will be added to the swimming discipline. Team events (men and wen) in table tennis will replace the doubles events. In fencing, women''s team foil and women''s team sabre will replace men''s team foil and women''s team epee.