At the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. Team GB won 47 medals including 19 gold, 13 silver and 15 bronze to finish fourth in the medal table.
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 was the first time the Olympic Games were held in the People's Republic of China and the fifth occasion on which they were awarded to Asia.
The Games began with the amazing Opening Ceremony in the symbolic National Stadium at 8.08pm on 8th August 2008, nicknamed the “Bird’s Nest”, which delighted almost 90,000 spectators, as well as several hundreds of millions of people worldwide watching on TV.
Sixteen days of intense competition followed as 10,500 elite athletes from around the world compete for the 302 gold medals on offer across 28 sports. More than 40 world records and over 130 Olympic records were broken, illustrated in particular by the phenomenal US swimmer, Michael Phelps, and the incredible Jamaican sprinter, Usain Bolt; but also the astounding South African, Natalie du Toit, a leg amputee, who competed in the 10km swimming marathon.
A total of 204 National Olympic Committees took part, i.e. three more than at the previous Games in 2004 in Athens. The Games slogan of “One World, One Dream” captured 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 labelled the 2008 games the "Green Olympics, High-tech Olympics and People's Olympics" and focused on three core issues for the 2008 Games: Environmental protection; Technological expertise and above all else cultural exchange between people from across the world.
There were more and stricter anti-doping tests than ever before: nearly 5,000, of which 30 per cent were unannounced. The Chinese people’s incredible passion for the Olympics was demonstrated through the deployment of nearly half-a-million volunteers, who offered their assistance to the athletes and spectators.
The 2008 Olympic sports programme observed the inclusion of the BMX cycling discipline for the first time, replacing the men’s 1km and women’s 500m time trials which were removed from the Olympic programme after the Athens 2004 Olympic Games. 2008 also witnessed 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 replaced the Mistrall and the women’s Laser Radial one person dinghy replaced the Europe single handed dinghy class in sailing. The men’s 10m running target pistol shooting and women’s double trap shotgun events were both no longer included in the programme, while the table tennis doubles competitions were 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 were all increased from ten to twelve nations in order to equal their male counterparts.
Besides Beijing, Qingdao held the sailing competition; Hong Kong was the location for the equestrian events; Tianjin, Shanghai, Shenyang and Qinhuangdao were co-host cities for the football tournament.
The Closing Ceremony brought down the curtain with a bang on 24th August 2008 as London Mayor Boris Johnson accepted the Olympic Flag from International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge to officially begin the London Olympiad.
British legends from the world of sport and entertainment led the handover celebrations from an iconic red double decker bus. Leona Lewis and Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page combined to provide a musical backdrop for ex-England football captain David Beckham to appear on the upper deck of the bus much to the delight of the crowd.
Team GB will be looking to build upon their outstanding success in Beijing where they finished fourth in the medal table with 19 gold, 13 silver and 15 bronze medals, giving a total of 47 medals and representing Great Britain's best Olympic performance for 100 years.
The Paralympic Games took place from 6th-17th September 2008.
Official Beijing 2008 website: Click here for the official website of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.