Just one more year until the Summer Olympics in Beijing. I can hardly wait. The olympics are the awesomest sports competition ever. It doesn't seem like it's been that long since the Athens games. CAN'T WAIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I agree Ausmusfan, can’t wait!! Yesterday, over my lunch hour, I went to Daley Plaza in Chicago for a very unique event. Chicago was the only U.S. city to do this – a one year countdown celebration for Beijing 2008.

Chicago Celebrates Countdown to 2008 Beijing Olympics

Olympic Spirit to be Celebrated in Chicago on August 7 with Beijing Olympic Countdown

Beijing and Chicago will come together in the spirit of community, culture, international brotherhood and Olympics in an exciting celebration to be held on August 7th, 2007 in the heart of downtown Chicago at Daley Plaza.
Beijing and Chicago will come together in the spirit of community, culture, international brotherhood and Olympics in an exciting celebration to be held on August 7th, 2007 in the heart of downtown Chicago at Daley Plaza. The Consulate General of the People’s Republic of China in Chicago, in cooperation with the City of Chicago, will host a spectacular event, "Chicago Celebrates Countdown to 2008 Beijing Olympics," in commemoration of the 1 year countdown to the international event.
A traditional Chinese dragon and lion dance will kick off the celebration, followed by presentations from Chinese Consulate officials and City of Chicago representatives. The ceremony will also feature the awe-inspiring acrobatics of the internationally renowned Cirque Shanghai, as well as folkloric dance performances from Yellow River Performing Arts Center, an established local Chinese arts organization. In addition, a photographic exhibit documenting Beijing’s progress as they prepare for the Olympics will be showcased inside the Daley Center from August 6 to August 16.
"The 2008 Beijing Olympics is a very exciting occasion for China, for the Chinese community here in Chicago, and for the world," commented Ping Huang, Consul General of the People’s Republic of China in Chicago. "By hosting this event, we hope to provide a window into the Chines."
The Olympic spirit will shine through the day’s events, as the highly regarded Olympic sport and popular Chinese national sport of table tennis will be featured, courtesy of event sponsor Killerspin and their partner the Ping Pong Federation (a newly formed organization created in 2007 to launch Ping Pong as the next great recreational sport in America). A number of tables will be showcased on the Plaza, where Killerspin professional table tennis players will perform exhibition matches. Members of the public will have the opportunity to play against Killerspin players and invited sports celebritiese culture and invite Chicago to share our enthusiasm for this momentous countdown celebration.
Furthermore, Killerspin will donate 10 table tennis tables to designated schools within the Chicago Public School System that offer Mandarin language programs. "We have a long relationship with both the Consulate and the City of Chicago, and are happy that we can support both organizations in the name of table tennis and international camaraderie," remarked Robert Blackwell, Jr., President of Killerspin.
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Chicago Celebrates Countdown to 2008 Beijing Olympics
"Chicago Celebrates Countdown to 2008 Beijing Olympics" will take place on Tuesday, August 7, 2007 at Daley Plaza. Table tennis play will begin at 11:00 am, prior to the around 1-hour ceremony commencing at 12:00 pm, and table tennis play will start again right after the ceremony.
Additional event sponsors include the Chinese American Association of Greater Chicago, and the Mid-American Recreation, Sports, Culture and Amusement Association.

Maybe they should call it 'Countdown to the Smog Olympics'. There have been a few stories in the media over the last few days complaining of the pollution in Beijing. A number of Canadian women's team soccer players who trained over in China in April and May reported breathing difficulties with pollution levels as high as 210. Anything over 50 on that scale is considered high enough to cause a pollution alert here in Toronto and I don't recall measurements even ever reaching 70 here - even on those reallly bad muggy summer days when the skyline disappears in a brown haze. 210 would be ridiculous! In fact some players reported a recurrence of asthma sdymptoms requiring use of inhalers that they had not had to use in years! Everybody reported throat problems.

Apparently Jacques Rogge has indicated certain events may be postponed if pollution levels are too high for aerobic endurance events like the marathon, triathalon etc. Here is just one of many stories that have appeared in Canadian media in the last few weeks about this topic.
http://www.thestar.com/article/243148

According to the media, the opening ceremonies are to start at 8:00, 8/8/08. Eight being a lucky number in asian cultures.

While I certainly enjoy some of the events, I'm not a diehard fan of the Olympics, but I am even less enthusiastic about the 2008 Games in Beijing. The pollution problem is bad enough, as mentioned above by Travelpat, but to me China's appalling human rights record is the bigger issue. A part of me really wants to see these Games boycotted, although I admit that probably won't accomplish much, and I suppose it would be somewhat hypocritical for some countries to do so. IMO, the IOC should never have awarded the Olympics to China in the first place, but as athlete Mark Tewksbury correctly stated, the outcome had been pre-determined by Olympic dictator Juan A. Samaranch. There were vague assurances at the time that China would work to improve its human rights record, but of course nothing has changed, if anything the situation has worsened over the last six years. And the IOC has turned a blind eye to all of this.

A few comments to explain my feelings on this subject:
(1) I applaud American athlete Joey Cheek for his efforts (even if they haven't been very successful) at pressuring the Chinese government over its refusal to support a UN military presence in Darfur. Thanks largely to China's close ties to Sudan's genocidal regime, the suffering goes on and on with no end in sight.
(2) Kudos also to the Canadians who recently succeeded in hoisting a banner on the Great Wall which used China's Olympic motto "One World, One Dream" but also added in large letters "Free Tibet". The Canadians, of course, were immediately expelled but not before embarrassing the Chinese government. You can be sure if any Chinese citizen tried that, they would be locked up or executed.
(3) Large numbers of Beijing residents (estimates run as high as 1.5 million) have been forced from their homes to make way for Olympics-related construction with inadequate compensation.
(4) The relentless persecution of Falun Gong members, already well-documented, continues unabated.
(5) And the latest: China cracks down on AIDS activists.
http://archives.seattletimes.nwsource.com/...ry=aids+beijing

Sorry to dampen enthusiasm for the Olympics fans here, but I find precious little to "celebrate". Countries hosting the Olympics ought to be held to a high standard of decency and integrity, as per Olympic values. In this regard, China fails miserably, in spite of all the "feel-good Olympic spirit" and the country's emergence as a major economic power (although the recent scandals over Chinese-made toys and other products is already starting to tarnish that image). I can only hope that more groups, including Olympic athletes, will continue to speak out and expose China's dark side before and DURING the Games. Anything causing embarrassment to this regime will be worth the effort.

Hey Marc:
Maybe having the world's eyes on them because of the Olympics will move them towards improving at least a little bit - on some of their rather poor rights record. Similarly now that there is a clear focus both internationally and domestically on the bad pollution there - perhaps some of the steps they take to improve air quality for the 2 weeks of the Olympics will be continued on a permanent basis - which would be a very good thing in the world's battle with global warming. Or am I just being to optimistic thinking that may happen.

And here is one story that makes it sound like the control freak attitiude that dominates the behaviour of Chinese Authorities - is now going to try to be applied in an effort to control the weather during the Olympics. This from the Toronto Star.
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CHINA SHOOTING FOR SUNSHINE

BEIJING-China won't even let weather patterns affect the Summer Games.
To ensure sunshine during the Olympics, China's Meteorological Administration will fire rockets and cannons into the sky to scatter potential rain clouds. Teams of "weather modificators" ran through drills last month hoping to perfect the practice of cloud dispersal.
Chinese officials say historical records show there's a 50 per cent chance of rain for the opening ceremony - and the same probability of rain during the closing ceremony. A top-ranking weather official acknowledges that seeding clouds to produce rain - and dispersing rainmaking clouds - was immature technology.
"Dispersal is more difficult than rainfall enhancement," said Wang Yubin, assistant chief engineer with the Beijing Meteorological Bureau. "In rainfall dispersal, we are still in the experimental stage but we are continuing our efforts."
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I wonder - if they have some success maybe they can get really creative and order up some rain overnight to help clean up some of the particles in the air overnight and then disperse the clouds during the day for sunshine during the events?

It is all rather scary to think of what impact messing too much with Mother Nature may have though.

Hi Pat,
I share your hope that growing international scrutiny will pressure China to improve its human rights record, but I'm not holding my breath, since so little has changed since Beijing was awarded the Games six years ago. No doubt the authorities will do everything in their power to portray China as a civilized, tolerant country full of happy people...a white-wash, in other words, for the benefit of all the international guests and media. The Nazis did much the same thing when Berlin hosted the Olympics in 1936. For those two weeks, the virulent anti-Semitism was toned down and a couple of 'token' Jewish athletes were even allowed to participate on Germany's national team. Of course, after the Games, the persecution resumed in full force.

As for using rockets and cannons to disperse rain-clouds (or smog) instead of protesters, I guess that's a sign of progress.

http://news.amnesty.org/index/ENGASA170372007