The Olympic Village in Beijing is now open, well ahead of the upcoming Summer Games. Anyone who has visited say it is a delight and environmentally friendly design although, sadly, the loos are Asian rather than Western style. Apart from that the technology could be a model for future residential developments across China.

These apartments in the 2008 Olympic Village will be home to the athletes competing in Games during their stay in Beijing.

Liu Rong from the construction firm, Guoao Investment and Development, says the Olympic Village is unique because of its environmentally friendly design, He said, ‘The harmony between culture, architecture and the environment has been achieved through the green residential area — the village with its world leading technology, as a showcase to the world, the distinguishing characteristic of the high level Olympic Games.’

Solar power will be used to generate at least some of the lighting and hot water production in the Olympic Village. It also says there will be a system for collecting and reusing rain water. And all toilets will be equipped with water-saving technology as soon as they have been changed to European style.

Parts of the Olympic Village are still being built. Officials promise large green spaces in the residential area, and they are counting on the design to spur similar construction projects across China.

Jeff Ruffolo, who is a senior official with the Beijing Olympic Organizing Committee, said, ‘People will be looking at the Olympic Village and the Olympics throughout this country as the blueprint and the model to continue on throughout the nation.’
Souce: VOA News

The world record holder, Haile Gebrselassie of Ethiopia, said he still intended to participate in the 10,000 meters but could not run in the 26-mile, 385-yard (42.2km) marathon.

Gebrselassie, 34, who holds the world marathon record and two Olympic titles for the 10,000 meters, suffers from asthma.

He said, ‘The pollution in China is a threat to my health and it would be difficult for me to run 42km. But I am not pulling out of the Olympic event in Beijing altogether. I plan to participate in the 10,000-metre event.’

China has spent more than $16 billion on measures to improve air quality in Beijing with, so far, little tangible success. Factories have been closed or moved and millions of cars have been taken off the city’s notoriously congested roads in the past 12 months.

A report by the United Nations in October revealed that there still might not be enough time to clear pollutants for the Games, which begin in August.

Many athletes who suffer from asthma have won Olympic medals. The condition is no bar to sporting success.
The British marathon runner Paula Radcliffe was diagnosed with asthma at 14 and keeps the condition under control with medication. Paul Scholes, the England footballer, found out he had asthma at the age of 21. But gulping in large volumes of polluted air in Beijing will challenge even the healthiest lungs.

The International Olympic Committee is concerned at the rise in athletes claiming to be asthmatic — from 9% in the 1980s to 21% at the 2000 Olympics. It will insist the correct tests are carried out and the proper forms filled in before granting permission for athletes to use asthma drugs.
Source: Belfast Telegraph

There is such a sport as hop, step and jump although it is now called the triple jump. It may sound something you did at kindie but it is a real sport with real rules and has been in the Olympics since the modern revival.

The Chinese record still stands at 17.34m. But that was set back in the World Cup in Rome in 1981 by Zou Zhenxian. It won a silver medal. Zou Zhenxian is a little worried that a 53-year-old man still holds the Chinese record when the current world record stands at nearly a meter longer, 18.29m, set by Briton Jonathan Edwards in 1995.

Since 1997, Zou Zhenxian has organized eight tournaments to give athletes in China a chance to surpass his mark but it has not happened.

Zou Zhenxian said, ‘Now I am not feeling comfortable with my record,” Zou said. “I can’t wait to see someone beat the record this time in Guizhou and leave me with a beautiful memory.’

After several years of sub-par performances, which saw few jumpers even surpass the 17m mark, last year’s tournament in Shandong saw the closest competition yet, as 20-year-old local Zhong Weimin jumped 17.27m to win.

Unfortunately, Zhong’s form has dropped dramatically since the end of last year and he now even struggles to reach 16m.

China is allowed to send three athletes to the event as long as all of them jump more than 17.10m within two years of the Games.

So far Gu, who jumped 17.11m in 2006, and Zhong have qualified, leaving everyone else to compete for the final spot.

The picture shows China’s Huang Qiuyan sailing into the finals of the women’s triple jump in the world championships in Helsinki
Source: China Daily

A dozen multinationals such as Coca-Cola, Lenovo, McDonald’s, and Samsung have laid out as much as $100 million each to be global sponsors of the Beijing Olympics this summer. An additional 11 — including Volkswagen, Adidas, and Air China — have paid as much as $50 million each for the right to link ads within China to the Games.

Dozens of other companies have less extensive tie-ups, ranging from the ‘official wine supplier’ (Great Wall) to Guangzhou Liby Enterprise Group, which is an official provider of detergent for sheets, shorts, and other laundry.

The problem for sponsors is that plenty of other companies think the Olympics are just as attractive — and are finding unofficial ways to link their brands to the Games.

Nike has endorsement deals with Athens gold medal hurdler Liu Xiang and other Chinese athletes. Part of its campaign is in our illustration.
Sneaker-maker Li Ning (named after its founder, an Olympic gold medalist in gymnastics) runs TV spots featuring gymnasts and basketball players and is sponsoring the U.S. Olympic Ping-Pong team.
PepsiCo got 160 million online votes from mainlanders in a contest ranking mug shots sent in by fans; the winning entries will be printed on cans cheering on Team China. And Pepsi has replaced its traditional blue cans in the mainland with red ones ‘to show our respect to the year of China,’ says Harry Hui, Pepsi’s marketing chief in China.

It works.

Qantas did it to Ansett Airlines in the 2000 Olympics. Ansett died, Qantas went from strength to strength.

Most ambush marketers do what Qantas did and simply deploy images of athletes. Thousands of Chinese polled by research firm Ipsos say they believe Pepsi, Nokia, and Li Ning are linked to the games, though they aren’t. That’s important because roughly three-quarters of Chinese consumers say they would give preference to products they associate with the Olympics, Beijing consultancy R3 reports.

It doesn’t help that the Beijing organizing committee offers five levels of sponsorship, and a total of 49 companies have signed up.
Source: BusinessWeek

Baseball will be at the Olympics. It will be its swan song. There are now two exhibition games in Beijing between the San Diego Padres and Los Angeles Dodgers, the first MLB games in China. It’s the first test of the Olympic baseball venue and an attempt to attract Chinese fans, most of whom follow only basketball or soccer and know little of the game of ‘bangqiu.’

Baseball was played in China in 1863 when an American named Henry William Boone formed the Shanghai Baseball Club. Babe Ruth and Casey Stengel have played in China. Like other Western influences, it disappeared during the Cultural Revolution of 1966-76.

Dodgers manager Joe Torre said, ‘It may be a slow process, but once it starts blossoming I think you are going to see a number of players from China making an impact. We all have to put in the time right now and be patient.’

The chances of baseball making it in China are about the same as cricket making it in the United States.

Some obstacles:

Although the game will be seen on TV in the U.S., there’s no coverage in China.
Baseball is expensive in China, and equipment is nearly impossible to find.
Ticket prices for the two exhibition games this weekend range between RMB50 and 1,280, or $7 for the cheap seats and $180 for boxes. Both games are expected to be sold out, but many fans will be foreigners living in China.

Zhang Yufeng, the captain of China’s national team, said baseball equipment in China was too expensive for most Chinese. A ball can cost $14 and a real wood bat about $140.

Zhang said, ‘Baseball is an elite sport. It requires special equipment and fields. You pay that much for a bat and you can break it so easy. And clothes and gloves are also expensive. So it’s difficult to get a team together.

‘China’s national sport is ping-pong, no doubt. All you need is a ball and a paddle.’

Now it has been dropped from the Olympics in 2012, baseball and is hoping to get back in. It could return in 2016, but only if the Europe-dominated IOC votes it back. Cricket has more chance and it has none.

Sandy Alderson of the Padres said, ‘It would be unfortunate if these facilities were not to remain because they are ideal for the further development of the game. Losing baseball in the Olympics and the funding was a real blow to baseball. Getting it going in China would help.’
Don’t hold your breath.
Source: AP