Tie Goes to Chinese Gymnast in Uneven Bars; Liukin Gets Silver

Nastia Liukin's bid for a second gold medal fell short by an inconceivably narrow margin Monday, as the recently crowned Olympic all-around champion received the exact same score as China's He Kexin for her uneven-bar routine.

Both gymnasts finished with 16.725 points in the apparatus final, held at National Indoor Stadium. And the panel of judges arrived at the final score in the same way: Awarding both Liukin and Kexin a "start" value of 7.7 and an execution score of 9.025. Added together, that makes 16.725.

But the gold went to He, and the silver to Liukin under an obscure tie-break provision that left U.S. officials scrambling for an explanation even as the three medal winners marched onto the floor for the medal ceremony.

He's teammate Yang Yilin took bronze (16.65).

He is among the three Chinese gymnasts who age ahs been a source of controversy in recent weeks. Listed as 16, reports have stated her age as young as 14.
Monday was the second of three nights of finals in specific events at National Indoor Stadium, with gold medals at stake on the uneven bars and men's still rings and vault.

Only the eight athletes with the highest scores in the Aug. 9-10 qualifying sessions were eligible to compete. No country was allowed to field more than two athletes on a given apparatus.

Earlier, Chinese gymnasts won gold and silver on the rings. Reigning world champion Chen Yibing scored 16.600 points to claim the gold, with countryman Yang Wei, the 2008 Olympic all-around champion, taking silver (16.425). Oleksandr Vorobiov of the Ukraine took bronze (16.325).

United States Holds Edge in Medal Count, China Continues to Dominate Gold

The United States still holds a slight edge in the overall medal count at the 2008 Beijing Olympics but China continues to dominate in the gold medal haul, increasing their lead with each day that passes.

After Sunday’s competitions the United States had collected 65 medals while the Chinese sat just four back with 61 but more than half of those were gold medal efforts, 35, compared to the U.S.’s 19 golds.

China has been nearly unstoppable in several events with eight gold medals in weightlifting, five gold medals in diving, five in shooting, five in gymnastics, three in badminton, three in judo and individual gold medals in archery, fencing, rowing, table tennis and wrestling.

As for the Americans, eight of their 19 gold medals can be attributed to the efforts of Michael Phelps and 12 overall gold medals have come in the pool. The U.S. has also nabbed a pair of gold medals in shooting while collecting individual gold medals in gymnastics, fencing, road cycling, rowing, and tennis.

Bindra wins Men's 10m Air Rifle gold

Indian Abhinav Bindra scored 700.5 points to win the Men's 10m Air Rifle at the Olympic Games on Monday.

China's Zhu Qinan took the silver with 699.7 points and Finland's Henri Hakkinen got the bronze with 699.4.

Sandra Izbasa is the spearhead of the Romanian Women's Gymnastics team

Romania continues to be a gymnastics powerhouse, with a third place at the 2007 World Championships. Its two leading gymnasts will be Sandra Izbasa and Steliana Nistor. Izbasa won a gold medal in the Floor Exercise at the 2006 European Championships in Volas, Greece. Nistor is the most experienced gymnast on Romania's team and will be a medal threat in the All-Around and Balance Beam.

Russia will be nervous of missing out on its first team medal since 1952 after it performed poorly at the 2007 World Championships. The key to its Olympic campaign will be 21-year-old Anna Pavlova, who has been touted as the heir apparent to the retired Svetlana Khorkina, a seven-time Olympic medalist. Pavlova was very close to winning an All-Around medal at Athens, finishing fourth. Her best event is vault. Ksenia Semenova is Russia's strongest individual medal hope – she won the gold in Uneven Bars at the 2007 World Championship, beating Nastia Liukin.

Italy and Great Britain could muscle in and have a chance to win a team medal on the back of some outstanding individual talent. Italy's Vanessa Ferrari won an All-Around gold medal at the 2006 World Championships and earned a total of three gold medals at the 2006 and 2007 World Championships. Aside from giving Italy a chance to snare a Team medal, she will be looking to win individual medals in the All-Around and Floor Exercise events.

Artistic Gymnastics Day 2 - United States and China the favorites

A total of 98 women will be competing in the Women's Artistic Gymnastics at Beijing 2008. Seventy-two gymnasts will be participating in the team and individual competitions, while the other 26 will compete only in the individual competitions. A total of six gold medals will be awarded in the women's competition, including Team, Vault, Balance Beam, Uneven Bars, Floor Exercise and All-Around.

The top 12 teams from the 2007 World Championships in Stuttgart, Germany qualified for Beijing 2008. The top three qualifiers were the United States, China and Romania. The top eight teams from the qualification round of the Olympic competition will advance to the final round of the Team competition, which will be held on August 13.

Romania won the Team gold at Athens 2004, with the United States taking the silver and Russia taking the bronze. After a disappointing performance at Athens 2004, China will be looking to win a Team medal at home and its strong performance in Stuttgart is a sign that it is on track. China will be the first team to perform in the qualification round this Sunday.

US performs well in first stage of Men's Gymnastics

The Artistic Gymnastics competition of Beijing 2008 opened today at the National Indoor Stadium with the holding of the men's qualification phase. The qualification phase is made up of three subdivisions, with the first one concluding at 2:10 p.m. local time (UTC/GMT +8).

The first subdivision featured Italy, Spain, the United States, Mixed Group 2, Mixed Group 6 and Mixed Group 3.

In the Team competition, Athens 2004 silver medalist the United States performed the best with a team total of 365.200 points. It was followed by Spain in second place (357.925 points), and Italy in third place (355.500 points).

Jonathan Horton from the United States led the field in the Men's Individual All-Around with a score of 91.650, Spain's Rafael Martinez was a close second with 90.800 points, and the United States' Alexander Artemev, who was a late replacement for the injured Morgan Hamm, grabbed third place with a score of 89.725.

Davenport, Karlovic and Ljubicic withdraw from Tennis Singles

The following changes have been made to the Men's and Women's Singles draws at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games Tennis tournament.

No. 14 seed Ivo Karlovic of Croatia has withdrawn from Men's Singles due to injury and is replaced by China's Yu Xinyuan. Tomas Berdych of Czech Republic, originally drawn to play Karlovic, becomes No. 17 seed and faces Yu in the first round.

Ivan Ljubicic, also of Croatia, has also withdrawn from Men's Singles due to injury and is replaced by Devon Mullings of the Bahamas. Mullings will now take on Argentina's Agustin Calleri in the first round.

In Women's Singles, Atlanta 1996 champion Lindsay Davenport of the United States has withdrawn due to injury and is replaced by Spain's Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez. The Spanish player will now play Australian Alicia Molik in the first round.

The first round of the Men's and Women's Singles Tennis event will take place on Sunday, August 10 at the Olympic Green Tennis Center in Beijing, and will run until August 17.

China's Pang Wei wins gold in the Men's 10m Air Pistol

Young Chinese shooter Pang Wei stormed home to win the gold medal in the Men's 10m Air Pistol in Beijing on August 9. Pang shot a final score of 688.2.

Pang, who is only 22 years old, was unthreatened in the final round and ended up winning by the wide margin of 3.7 points. The Republic of Korea's Jin Jong-oh won the silver medal with a final score of 684.5.

The battle for the bronze medal was a tightly contested affair between Kim Jong-su of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and the United States' Jason Turner. Kim nailed the bronze medal with a strong finish, shooting 10.3 and 10.0 for his last two shots, which gave him a final score of 683.0.

Turner's last two shots were poor and he finished in equal fourth place with his compatriot Brian Beaman at the end of the final round. Both men shot a final score of 682.0. Turner was officially awarded fourth place after wining a shoot-off between the two Americans, shooting 10.5 to Beaman's 10.3.

Pang shot a score of 586 in the qualification round, which was two points higher than the next best score, shot by both Jin and Kim.

Pang's coach Wang Yifu, was the gold medalist in the event at Athens 2004.

One of the favorites for the event, France's Franck Dumoulin failed to qualify for the final round. Dumoulin won the gold medal for the event at Sydney 2000.

2008 Olympics open in Beijing

The 2008 Olympic Games got underway on schedule at 8 p.m. local Beijing time, capping years of preparation and months of protests.

World leaders including China's President Hu Jintao, U.S. President George W. Bush and French President Nicolas Sarkozy are attending the four-hour ceremony at Beijing's emblematic Bird's Nest Stadium, along with about 90,000 other spectators. Security is tight throughout Beijing, with personal and baggage scans at nearly all subway stations. Beijing's Capital International Airport closed to air traffic at 7:59 p.m.
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China Mobile's wireless LAN service is being turned off at the Bird's Nest during the opening ceremony, but will be available at other Olympic venues and at centers being used by the international media. "WLAN service will not be provided during the opening and closing ceremony of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games. Thus Internet will not be accessible during the aforementioned ceremonies," China Mobile's service guide explained.

A representative from China Mobile's Olympic helpdesk, who declined to give her name, said it was for capacity reasons, not security. Reporters and Olympic officials will have access to wireline broadband connections provided by China Netcom, also an Olympic partner for the Beijing games.

Football (soccer) competitions for men and women actually began on Aug. 6, with many sports getting their start on Saturday, Aug. 9.

An hour before the opening ceremony began, Reporters Sans Frontieres (Reporters Without Borders, RSF) staged an online protest alongside demonstrations in European and American cities, decrying the incarceration of bloggers, cyber-dissidents and journalists along with what it perceives as a lack of press freedom at the games.

By 7:15 p.m. Beijing time, RSF indicated that over 7,800 people were participating in the online demonstration. Waving in front of the virtual representation of the Bird's Nest were placards reading "Yes to sport, no to repression" and "No Olympic Games without freedom."

Time table and Events for the Beijing Olympic Games

Here you will be able to find an up to date Time table of Events for the Beijing Olympic Games that will take place in August 2008

Olympics August 2008 - Competition Timetable
Sport	Dates
Opening Ceremony	8th
Closing Ceremony	24th
Athletics	15th-24th
Rowing	9th-17th
Badminton	9th-17th
Baseball	13th-23rd
Basketball	9th-24th
Boxing	9th-20th, 22nd-24th
Canoe/Kayak - Flatwater	18th-23rd
Canoe/Kayak - Slalom	11th-14th
Cycling - Track	15th-19th
Cycling - Road	9th-10th, 13th
Cycling - Mountain Bike	22nd-23rd
Cycling - BMX	20th-21st
Equestrian - Jumping	15th, 17th-19th, 21st-24th
Equestrian - Dressage	13th-16th, 19th-20th
Equestrian - Eventing	9th-12th
Fencing	9th-17th
Football	6th-7th, 9th-10th, 12th-13th, 15th-16th, 18th-19th, 21st-23rd
Artistic Gymnastics	9th-10th, 12th-15th, 17th, 20th
Artistic Gymnastics	9th-10th, 12th-15th, 17th, 20th
Gymnastics - Trampoline	16th, 18th-19th
Ryhthmic Gymnastics	21st-24th
Weightlifting	9th-13th, 15th-19th
Handball	9th-24rd
Hockey	10th-23rd
Judo	9th-15th
Wrestling - Greco-Roman	12-14th
Wresting - Freestyle	16th-17th, 19th-21st
Aquatics - Swimming	9th-17th, 20th-21st
Aquatics - Syn. Swimming	18th-20th, 22nd-23rd
Aquatics - Diving	10th-13th, 15th-23rd
Aquatics - Water-polo	10th-22nd, 24th

Histories of the Olympic

According to legend, the ancient Olympic Games were founded by Heracles (the Roman Hercules), a son of Zeus. Yet the first Olympic Games for which we still have written records were held in 776 BCE (though it is generally believed that the Games had been going on for many years already). At this Olympic Games, a naked runner, Coroebus (a cook from Elis), won the sole event at the Olympics, the stade - a run of approximately 192 meters (210 yards). This made Coroebus the very first Olympic champion in history.

The ancient Olympic Games grew and continued to be played every four years for nearly 1200 years. In 393 CE, the Roman emperor Theodosius I, a Christian, abolished the Games because of their pagan influences.

Year	Countries		Year	Countries
1896	Athens		1948	London
1900	Paris		1952	Helsinki
1904	St. Louis		1956	Melbourne
1906	Athens ("Unoffficial")		1960	Rome
1908	London		1964	Tokyo
1912	Stockholm		1968	Mexico City
1916	World War I( not held)		1972	Munich
1920	Antwerp		1976	Montreal
1924	Paris		1980	Moscow
1928	Amsterdam		1984	Los Angeles
1932	Los Angeles		1988	Seoul
1936	Berlin		1992	Barcelona
1940	World War II(not held)		1996	Atlanta
1944	World War II(not held)		2000	Sydney

Participants from the Countries of Olympic 2008

Approximately 10,500 competitors will take part in the twenty-ninth Olympic Games , in the year 2008.

The countries which are expected to participate in the Games are Afghanistan, Albania, Andorra, Antigua and Barbuda , Angola, Algeria, Argentina, Armenia, Aruba, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bahamas, Bangladesh, Barbados, Burundi, Belgium, Belize, Benin, Bermuda, Bhutan, Bolivia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bahrain , Botswana, Belarus, Brazil, British Virgin Islands, Brunei Darussalam , Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Cambodia, Canada, Cayman Islands, Central Africa, Chad, Chile, China Republic, Chinese Taipei, Colombia, Comoros, Cape Verde, Congo, Cook Islands, Costa Rica, Cote-d´lvoire, Croatia, Cuba, Cyprus, Czech Republic , Denmark, Djibouti, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Arab Rep. of Egypt, El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Estonia, Ethiopia, Fiji, Finland, France, Gabon, The Gambia, Germany, Ghana, Great Britain, Guinea-Bissau, Georgia , Greece, Grenada, Guam, Guatemala, Guinea, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Ireland, Italy, Israel, Ivory Coast, Jamaica, Japan, Jordon, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Kenya, Korea people Republic, Korea Democratic People Republic, Kuwait, Laos, Latvia, Saint Lucia , Lebanon, Lesotho, Libya, Lichtenstein, Luxembourg, Rep. of Macedonia , Madagascar, Malawi, Malaysia, Rep. of Moldova, Marshall Islands, Maldives, Malta, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mexico, Micronesia, Monaco, Mongolia, Morocco, Mozambique, Myanmar, Namibia, Nauru, Nepal, Netherlands, Netherlands Antilles, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Niger, Nigeria, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Palau, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Palestine, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Qatar, Rhodesia, Romania, Rwanda, Saint Lucia , St. Vincent & Gr., Saint Kitts and Nevis , American Samoa, Western Samoa, San Marino, Sao Tome and Principe , Saudi Arabia, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Senegal, Slovenia, Solomon Islands, South Africa , Sri Lanka, Slovakia , Swaziland, Serbia and Montenegro , Singapore, Spain, Sudan, Surinam, Syria, Sweden, Switzerland, Tanzania, Tonga, Thailand, Togo, Trinidad & Tobago, Tajikistan, Timor-Leste , Turkmenistan , Tunisia, Turkey, Tuvalu, Uganda, Ukraine , Unified Team, United Arab Emirates, U.S.S.R., U.S.A., US Virgin Islands, Uruguay, Uzbekistan, Vanuatu, Venezuela, Vietnam, Yemen, Yugoslavia, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Opening Ceremony

On Friday, the 08th day of August 2008 at 8:00 p.m. local time, the Asian giant - China, will declare the 17-day 2008 Beijing Olympic Games open in a glittering ceremony in Beijing. Summer Olympic Games not only provides a platform for athletes from all across the globe to perform at their best, but also spread the message of peace, prosperity and universal brotherhood.

Hosting such a mammoth and magnificent sporting extravaganza that comes once in four years is an honor for any country and pride for its citizens. That's the reason why there are always stiff competitions between Countries that contest the bid to win the right to host the Olympic Games. And China was bestowed with this honor of hosting the 2008 Summer Games after it beat the other candidate cities--Istanbul(Turkey), Osaka(Japan), Paris(France), and Toronto(Canada) at the 112th session of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) held in Moscow on 13 July 2001 in the second round of voting.

According to the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad (BOCOG), the hosting of the Games will cost them approximately US$ 2 billion and they are expected to make a profit of $20-$30 million. There will be 28 sports with 302 events in which approximately 10,500 athletes from two hundred five nations will be participating.

The glittering opening and closing ceremony of any Olympic Games is one of its major highlights that the whole world watches. 2008 Beijing Olympics opening ceremony will take place on 8 August at the majestic National Stadium.


The 2008 Summer Games opening ceremony will be of three hours. The Olympic Games opening ceremony will consist of flag-raising; march past by athletes, followed by speeches by China's NOC and IOC presidents, declaration by Chinese premier that theOlympic Games is open, pledges by athletes and officials and finally the main Olympic Games torch will be lit.

This program will be followed by the colorful cultural programmes presented by thousands of artists.

The whole opening and closing ceremonies of both the Beijing Olympic Games and Beijing Paralympics Games will be overlooked by Zhang Yimou--the chief director for the opening and closing ceremonies. Zhang and his team of 300 professionals are working round the clock to make the ceremonies a memorable event.

Beijing Olympics 2008 to begin today

The Chinese are all set for the Olympics and the big stars, the big events and the big venues are all geared up for what promises to be a memorable Olympics.

The biggest sporting event in the world deserves a spectacular opening ceremony. And that's what you will get in Beijing August 8 at 8:00 pm, 8 minutes and 8 seconds.

Jeff Ruffulo, Spokesperson, BOCOG said, "And I can tell you, the only thing I didn't like about the stadium - there were no seat belts because at the opening you literally are blown back in your seat. And if you are watching this at home on television, you are going to get pushed into your garage. You better move the car out because "BANG" here it comes! The opening is the most dramatic thing I have ever seen. It is thunderous, it is emotional and it is dramatic."

Close to 10,500 athletes from 205 countries will come together in Beijing.

Some obviously more famous then the others but all bound by that special feeling for the Olympics.

Roger Federer, World number 1 in Tennis said, "For me Olympics are very special because this is where I met my girlfriend 8 years ago."

Jamaican sprinter, Usain Bolt said, "The Olympic gold lasts longer than the world record because a person has to wait four more years really to be an Olympic gold medalist again, if I win this year. But a world record can go at any time, any place. The Olympic gold is more close to my heart than anything."

And even though the recent weightlifting doping scandal has given the Indian campaign a rather rough start, the squad is definitely India's best in a long while.

China has been gearing up for the day for close to a decade and while humans rights protestors have created obstacles in the path of this Olympic torch, its now on its final leg and hours away from its final destination - the Beijing's birds nest stadium.

Beijing Olympic 2008

The 2008 Summer Olympic Games, officially known as the Games of the XXIX Olympiad, is a major international multi-sport event which is being celebrated in Beijing, People's Republic of China from August 8 to August 24, 2008 and followed by the 2008 Summer Paralympics from September 6 to September 17. Ten thousand, five hundred athletes are expected to compete in 302 events in 28 sports, just one event more than was on the schedule of the 2004 games.[2] The 2008 Beijing Olympics will also mark the third time that Olympic events will have been held in the territories of two different National Olympic Committees (NOC): at the 2008 Olympics, equestrian events will be held in Hong Kong, which competes separately from mainland China.