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Only six months has passed since the Beijing Olympics and the Birds Nest stadium which hosted the spectacular opening and closing ceremonies is already beginning to lose its shine. The paint is peeling and stains have appeared on its famous lattice design. Accelerating the deterioration of the iconic National Stadium is the absence of a permanent tenant. [...]
Posted on 11 February 2009 | 12:06 am
The Olympics are now over, but my adventures continue. You can continue following my travels in Asia here.
Posted on 17 October 2008 | 1:17 am
The opening ceremony for the Paralympics was held last night in Beijing. The ceremony was spectacular but perhaps not on the scale of the ceremony for the Beijing Olympics. Most of the show was performed by people with disabilities, including Li Yue, who lost her left leg in the Sichuan earthquake and performed [...]
Posted on 6 September 2008 | 7:44 pm
The Beijing Paralympics are just a day away from starting. Here are some pictures from Tiananmen Square which has some pretty impressive floral displays on show now.
Posted on 4 September 2008 | 8:59 pm
Posted on 4 September 2008 | 7:47 pm
The ticket scammers who defrauded people by selling non-existent tickets through the internet are getting ready for the Vancouver and London Olympics. “I was shocked by the brilliance and hard work of the thieves fleecing the Olympic family — and they are setting up to do the same thing in Vancouver in 2010 and London in [...]
Posted on 2 September 2008 | 8:23 pm
Beijing did a lot to improve the air quality leading up to the Beijing Olympics, with mixed results. The days before the opening ceremony were pretty bad, but a burst of rain cleared the air and pollution became less of a talking point. Almost straight after the closing ceremony the hazy skies returned. A [...]
Posted on 1 September 2008 | 3:56 am
Beijing recorded 6.52 million visitors for the 2008 Olympics, with 382,000 of those coming from overseas. Authorities long estimated that 500,000 foreigners would visit the city, but tougher visa controls reduced that number. The Xinhua news agency reported that tourist spots in the city reported total revenues of 162 million yuan (US$23 million), according to [...]
Posted on 31 August 2008 | 8:34 pm
To the athletes tonight: You were true role models. You have shown us the unifying power of sport. The Olympic spirit lives in the warm embrace of competitive rivals from nations in conflict. Keep that spirit alive when you return home. These were truly exceptional Games! (Source: Dr Jacques Rogge, Chairman of the International Olympic [...]
Posted on 24 August 2008 | 4:39 pm
The fireworks are still going on over Beijing tonight as the Olympics comes to a close. The closing ceremony wasn’t as long as the first one and not as spectacular, but still very well done. We had a short section to mark the handover of the Olympics from Beijing to London. London’s mayor [...]
Posted on 24 August 2008 | 7:16 am
The Olympic's may offiicaly open on friday night, but the sport get's started Wednesday night with the first fixtures in the Men's and Women's Football/Soccer competition, now i dont actually no alot about the Womens game so will be focusing on the Mens game primaraly. The main point i should make is that the Olympic Football Tournament is an under 23 years old tournament with the ability to choose 3 over age players.
In the following preview we look at these matches in group A, as Euro 2004 winners and Olympic host's Greece take on the last world cup over acheivers and host's South Korea and Mali ranked 46 in the world take on Mexico rated a suprise 8th.
Then in Group C the Argentinians with world famous players take on Serbia & Montenegro a team 40 places behind them in the ranking's the final game on Wednesday night see's African nations cup winners Tunisia take on Australia in an event that Australia might actually not win a medal in.
Continue for full preview.
Group A
Greece Vs South Korea
South Korea may be hoping that the Greek football team drop the olympic torch on the way to the opening ceremony in the hope that there luck has finally run out. Greece have just come back from Portugal where they pulled of the sporting shock of the year by winning the european championships and defeating Portugal twice and France on the way. Greece have never got past the first round of this tournament though to be fair they have only entered twice the last time being in 1952. Greece have the player of Euro 2004 missing in Theodoros Zagorakis but do have the home support which often does well and did South Korea enough favours to get them to the World Cup 2002 semi finals unfotunately since the departure of Guus Hiddink they have not really performed to there potential again but with Real Sociedad's Lee Chun-soo up front they should be able to score a few goals this tournament.
Prediction
Greece 2 - 1 South Korea
Key Man
Amanatidis - Greece
Mali Vs Mexico
This is Mali's first ever Olympic games and after the senior side got to the Semi finals of the African cup of Nation's the younger team are hoping to go one better and get a medal at this event, they have a top defence and Mad Diallo, Janvier Abouta and Dramane Traoré scored 10 goals between them in qualifying. Mexico on the other hand are flying high, ranked 8th in the world after getting knocked out of the last world cup by the USA they got the revenge on the way to the olympics knocking them out along the way when Rafael Marquez Lugo and Co knocked four goals past them.
Prediction
Mali 0 - 3 Mexico
Key Man
Rafael Marquez Lugo - Mexico
Argentina Vs Serbia & Montenegro
Argentina have already upset Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson before the games begin by calling up there new signing Gabriel Heinze, whether or not he show's is potential is yet to be seen. With players from Barcelona,Valencia and both Milan clubs they are strong contenders to go further than there previous best silver medal. Serbia and Montenegro have done pretty well previously as part of Yugoslavia, they appeared in the Games 10 times, finishing runners-up on three occasions (1948, 1952 and 1956) collecting a bronze medal in 1984 and a cherished Gold in 1960. As Serbia and Montengro they have not qualified for a games since soeul in 1988 they will definitley get a few goals and probably let a few more in.
Prediction
Argentina 4 - 2 Serbia & Montenegro
Key Man
Gabriel Heinze - Argentina
Tunisia Vs Australia
Tunisia conceded just 2 goals in 6 qualifying games making them one of the in form teams on the way into this tournament Up front the striking duo of Ali Zitouni and Saber Trabelsi both playing there club football in Tunisia provide the goals this is there fourth time at the Olympics and they will no doubt be hoping to break there duck of never winning a game. There record reads played 9, drew 3, lost 6. Australia have most of there major names missing from the competition partly due to age and partly due to not being allowed to go by there clubs one important person could be Craig Moore he goes into the Olympics having apparently sacrificed his career at Scottish club Rangers for the chance to represent Australia.The 28-year-old was transfer-listed and stripped of the Rangers captaincy after telling boss Alex McLeish that he was determined to represent his country at the Olympics.
Prediction
Tunisia 1 - 1 Australia
Key Man
Craig Moore - Australia
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