Reference

The 2008 Summer Olympic Games

See also:

 

New Zealand will send 182 athletes to the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. The total surpasses the 150 team members sent to the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

The Beijing Olympic Games 2008 began on August 8 and will end on August 24. According to the official website, more than 10,700 athletes from around the world will compete in 28 events for 302 gold medals.

70,000 volunteers, 5,600 written press and photographers and 16000 broadcast media will help bring the event to the rest of the world. In New Zealand TVNZ have hosting rights, and will be broadcasting the Games free to air.

There are 37 Olympic venues, 31 in Beijing and 6 outside of Beijing.

The official web site has sections for Olympic education, Olympic culture and Olympic spirit.

Learn more about controversies at the Beijing Olympics.

Paralympics

Beijing is also the venue for the 2008 Paralympics. The opening ceremony is on September 6, (Saturday) with the Closing Ceremony September 17 (Wednesday). 4,000 athletes will compete in 20 sports and 21 disciplines at 18 venues, with the assistance of 30,000 volunteers.

TVNZ Coverage

TVNZ will be airing Olympic coverage and has a dedicated Olympics section of its website with news of individual athletes and sports, with video, as well as a history of New Zealand’s Olympic teams.

Medals and emblems

Seventy millimetres wide and 6mm thick, the 2008 Olympic medals are made of gold, silver and bronze, and jade. Read the official description to view the medals.

100 years of New Zealand involvement

2008 marks 100 years of New Zealand participation in the Olympic Games. In 1908 (London) and 1912 (Stockholm) New Zealand teams competed with Australian teams under an Australasian banner. In 1912 Malcolm Champion became New Zealand's first gold medallist as part of the Australasian swimming team which set a world record in the 4 x 200-metre freestyle relay. Christchurch's Anthony Wilding won a bronze medal at the 1912 Olympics in Stockholm.
See our page about other Canterbury Olympians.

Websites

Search the catalogue

Beijing 2008
Games of the XXIX Olympiad - with online schedule
The New Zealand Olympics Team
The official New Zealand Olympic guide from the New Zealand Olympic Committee
The Olympics
Internet gateway pages for more Olympics sites
China
Websites from our Internet Gateway

Organisations

Beijing Olympics News

History

The Ancient Olympic Games
By the Perseus Project at Tufts University
Ancient Olympics: The Real Story
Online exhibit from the University of Pennsylvania's Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology
The Olympic Museum
Online gallery
Olympics at Infoplease
Olympics through Time
From the organisation The Foundation of the Hellenic World