From Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The
2008
Summer Olympics
, officially known as the
Games of the XXIX Olympiad
, were celebrated in
Beijing
,
People's Republic of China
from August 8 to August 24. The opening ceremony began at 08:08:08 pm
CST
(12:08:08
UTC
) at the Beijing National Stadium in
Beijing
,
People's Republic of China
. During the games, 10,500 athletes competed in 302
events
in 28
sports
.
The
Olympic games
were awarded to Beijing after a
vote
of the
International Olympic Committee
(IOC) on July 13 2001. The official logo of the games, titled "
Dancing Beijing
," features a stylised calligraphic character
j?ng
(京, meaning
capital
), meaning the host city. 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 Olympic slogan,
One World, One Dream
, calls upon the world to unite in the Olympic spirit. Several new
NOCs
were also recognised by the IOC.
The Chinese government used the games to promote China as an important and powerful country, and spent a lot of money on building new
facilities
and
transportation
systems for the games.
[2]
[3]
The events were held in 37 venues, including 12 newly built buildings. In 2007, former IOC president
Juan Antonio Samaranch
said that he thinks that the Beijing games will be "the best in Olympic history".
[4]
Although there was some
controversy
about having the games in China, the IOC's former president
Jacques Rogge
said that the IOC has "absolutely no regrets" in choosing Beijing to host the 2008 games.
[5]
At the end of the Olympics,
China
won the total gold medal count, while the
United States
led the grand total medal count.
[6]
Here is the top of the medal table at the end of the games.
[6]
Medal numbers shown in
bold
are the highest in their section. China, the host nation is highlighted in
lavender
.