Beijing Olympics 2008 Thread!

GothicGothicness said:
hmm, I could think of better things to use $400 millions for.
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$400 million was just the tech budget. The total cost is much much more. I thought that figure was a bit low. The final operating budget is $2 billion. $400 million to a government is like loose change in our couch for us normal people :)

http://www.cio-asia.com/ShowPage.aspx?pagetype=2&articleid=8676&pubid=5&issueid=140

While searching on the internet for how much this cost China I came across these little gems. If anyone really thinks that China wants to change at all just read these articles, one is about how the olympics is being used as a huge intelligence gathering operation. If you're planning on attending don't leave anything lying around your hotel room chances are it will be gone by the time you get back. Like the top aid to Gordon Brown was caught in a "honeytrap" and his Blackberry vanished from his hotel room. The US has issued a warning to anyone going there to leave any sensitive material at home and assume you are always being watched because you probably are. Paranoid people should avoid China at all costs ;) I was wondering why China was trying so hard to look good for the world and now I understand it a bit better. China doesn't do these kind of things out of good will, there is always another motive.

The other "little gem" I came across is the Chinese government is banning all religious symbols including bibles. Now, I'm not christian but I would assume a lot of these athletes are. They are providing "religious services" to athletes, coaches and tourists. However, banning any religious symbol is just silly and imo a stupid move on their part (among many). My picture of Quan Yin and prayer I keep in my wallet must be a HUGE security risk to the Chinese government.

Spygames:
http://beijingolympic2008.wordpress.com/2008/08/03/beijing-olympics-the-spying-games/

Banning Religion:
http://www.cbn.com/CBNnews/264115.aspx

Edit: sorry it's not $2 billion, it's $22 billion total cost.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/olympics/article4449148.ece
 
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Please ignore this post!
 
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Arhu said:
To see other disciplines that are maybe not broadcasted in your country, you could try CCTV5 (Chinese Central Television), available as a live stream via TVU Networks (google for "TVU player" or something).
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I found CCTV 6, 8 and 10 but not 5 in the list.
 
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Romania won gold today :biggrin::)! The first medal! It was at feminine judo!
 
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After so many years of crazy economy expansion, apparently the Chinese government has lot money (despite the income gap between poor vs rich or city folks vs countryside population).

Some of the Olympics extravagant:
.....NEW AIRPORT TERMINAL: Beijing's brand new airport terminal(T3) is 790 meters wide, three kilometers long and has a floor area of a million square meters, equivalent to 140 soccer fields. It took 25 billion yuan (3.7 billion U.S. dollars), 1.8 million cubic meters of concrete, 50,000 workers and four years to build. It will be used by 60 million passengers a year, almost equivalent to the entire population of France.

..."OLYMOPIC GREEN": All the main Olympic venues are housed in the Olympic Green, a 760-hectare park containing 500,000 trees. It is more than two times the size of New York's Central Park, which covers 340 hectares.
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Back to the today's event: Basketball - Men: USA vs China - this will be interesting fight!
 
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Not only was part of the Fireworks at the Opening Ceremony digitally pre-made and later fed into the transmission, but also the young chinese singer (child) there was considered too ugly looking and therefore was replaced by a better looking child which was supposed to move her lips, meanwhile the singing child remained behind the stage.

The officials even admitted both.

I read it in the press news today.
 
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Alrik Fassbauer said:
Not only was part of the Fireworks at the Opening Ceremony digitally pre-made and later fed into the transmission, but also the young chinese singer (child) there was considered too ugly looking and therefore was replaced by a better looking child which was supposed to move her lips, meanwhile the singing child remained behind the stage.

The officials even admitted both.

I read it in the press news today.
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At least they admit it. There are rumors Celine Dion does the same.
 
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Yes, but then it's at least the same person... Also I didn't think the footprints looked THAT spectacular, was it really worth it rendering them digitally for the negative publicity they get for it now?
 
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What a scandal, swedish wrestler Ara was disqualified because the referee didn't like him!
 
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Who's the greatest Olympian of all time?

...Are Phelps’s accomplishments in the pool more impressive than the nine gold medals won by Carl Lewis and Paavo Nurmi in track and field? Or greater than Eric Heiden’s five victories, from 500 meters to 1,500 meters, in speedskating at the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, N.Y.?...

...Phil Hersh of The Chicago Tribune, who has covered 14 Olympics, rates Phelps sixth on the list of greatest Olympians. His top five are Lewis; Nurmi; the gymnast Larysa Latynina, who won 18 Olympic medals, nine gold, for the former Soviet Union in the 1950s and 60s; the canoeist Birgit Fischer-Schmidt, who won 12 Olympic medals, eight gold, for the former East Germany and unified Germany from 1980-2004; and the rower Steve Redgrave, who won a gold medal in five consecutive Olympics for Britain from 1984-2000...
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The debate raging on!
 
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What's the best fruit? Apples, oranges, or pears!! You can't compare different athletes from different disciplines and different eras.
 
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Korea is 4th! Doing well! w00t! Australia is 6th. Not too bad :D I'm happy.
 
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