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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 closing ceremony has gotten under away. The introduction was interesting, perhaps people will say it is a little “North Korean’esque”. The athletes are entering the stadium and I can only imagine the thrill it must be to be able to walk into the stadium at the end of the games. [...]
Posted on 24 August 2008 | 5:32 am
Britain's Bradley Wiggins won his third cycling medal in Athens as he and Rob Hayles claimed a superb bronze medal in an eventful madison race.
Wiggins, who won the individual pursuit and took silver in the team pursuit, became the first Briton since 1964 to win three medals at one Games.
Hayles, who survived a crash with 90 laps to go, made up for missing a medal in a last-lap crash in Sydney in 2000.
Australia's Stuart O'Grady and Graeme Brown took gold and Switzerland silver.
Mary Rand was the last Briton to win three medals - in the long jump, the 4x100m relay and the pentathlon - at the 1964 Olympics in Toyko.
"It is still a bit unbelievable," Wiggins said. "I would have settled for just the first one.
The British public must think I'm an absolute idiot
Rob Hayles
"But I decided to go for three and I wouldn't have done that if I didn't think I had a chance of a medal."
"Perhaps after 10 pints tonight it might start to sink in a bit!"
Wiggins and Hayles, who also won a silver in the team pursuit, made a superb start to the 200-lap race, winning the opening sprint to pick up five points.
But Australia and Germany broke away early on to move a lap ahead of the field.
Wiggins picked up two points in the third sprint and another three on the fifth to leave the British pair in fourth place.
I thought, "Not again!"
Rob Hayles
But they courted disaster when Hayles collided with Dutch rider Robert Slippens with barely half the race gone and crashed to the track.
"The British public must think I'm an absolute idiot," Hayles said.
"But I knew as soon as I went down I was OK and it was just a question of getting my composure back and getting back on the bike."
Hayles bravely did just that but the Ukraine, Spain, New Zealand and Swiss teams all pulled a lap back to leave Britain in seventh place with 30 laps to go.
A lung-bursting charge from Wiggins saw the pair leap into second place as he caught the back of the field on a breakaway to regain the lost lap.
"When we hit them, we hit them hard," Hayles recalled.
The Swiss duo of Franco Marvulli and Bruno Risi won the ninth and penultimate sprint with 20 laps to go to join them in second place.
Britain's medal hopes appeared in jeapordy as O'Grady - with Australia already having secured the gold - appeared to block Hayles and Switzerland hit the front in the final sprint.
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But the 31-year-old - in bronze medal position four years ago before a crash heading into the final lap - kept his nerve to come home third and clinch a medal.
Australia finished with 22 points, with Switzerland scoring 15 and Britain 12.
O'Grady, 31, won his first gold medal in his fourth Olympics, to go with a silver in the team pursuit in 1992 and bronzes in the points race and team pursuit in Atlanta 1996.
It was Brown's second gold medal in Athens after helping Australia to victory in the team pursuit.
Australia also won the first-ever Olympic madison in Sydney, when Brett Aitken and Scott McGrory triumphed
