Beijing was elected as the host city for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad on 13 July 2001 in Moscow, shaking off competition from Istanbul, Osaka, Paris and Toronto.
It is the first time the Olympic Games will be held in the People's Republic of China and coincides with a period of vast economic growth in Asia. The Opening Ceremony of the Beijing Olympic Games will take place on 8th August 2008.
Sixteen days of intense competition will follow as 10,500 elite athletes from around the world compete for the 302 gold medals on offer across 28 sports. The Closing Ceremony will bring down the curtain on 24th August 2008. Besides Beijing, Qingdao will hold the sailing competition; Hong Kong will be the location for the equestrian events; Tianjin, Shanghai, Shenyang and Qinhuangdao are the co-host cities for the football tournament. The Paralympic Games will take place from 6th-17th September 2008.
The Games slogan of “One World, One Dream” captures China’s aspirations to open their doors to the world through the Olympic Games and leave a lasting legacy for their population of 1.3 billion people, which includes some 56 ethnic groups. The Beijing Organising Committee has labelled the 2008 Games the "Green Olympics, High-tech Olympics and People's Olympics" with a focus on three core issues: Environmental protection; Technological expertise and above all else cultural exchange between people from across the world.
The 2008 Olympic sports programme will observe the inclusion of the BMX discipline for the first time, replacing the men’s 1km and women’s 500m cycling time trials which were removed from the Olympic programme after the Athens 2004 Olympic Games. 2008 also witnesses the addition of several new events including men’s and women’s 10km open water swimming and women’s 3000 metre steeplechase in track and field athletics.
The RS:X windsurfing class replaces the Mistrall and the women’s Laser Radial one person dinghy replaces the Europe single handed dinghy class in sailing. The men’s 10m running target pistol shooting and women’s double trap shotgun events are both no longer included in the programme, while the table tennis doubles competitions have been replaced by a team event for both men and women with each team consisting of three players. Finally, the women’s football, handball and hockey competitions have all increased from ten to twelve nations in order to equal their male counterparts.
Click here for an overview map of all Beijing competition venues
Click here to view the official website of the Beijing Olympics
Click here to view a document giving Team GB stats