Olympics Opening Ceremony in Pictures

Source: BBC
The Queen declared the London Olympics officially open, before seven young athletes were given the honour of lighting the ceremonial flame. That's right, seven young athletes lit the cauldron, a secret that was kept right up to the moment.

The spectacular ceremony featured British celebrities and sports people, including David Beckham and Bradley Wiggins, and screen characters Mr Bean and James Bond. More..

If you have missed the Opening Ceremony of the London Olympics, no worries as there are lots of pictures online.

BBC is a great source for the Opening Ceremony pictures.

More on the BBC website..

And from Time magazine..

More from Time magazine..

Google doodle of London Olympics Opening Ceremony

Without fail, Google keeps track of major milestones of people and events, and this time, it's the 2012 London Olympics that Google is commemorating. Featured above is the Google doodle dedicated to London 2012 Opening Ceremony.

If you go to the Google search page, below the doodle, you will also see a link to Google's very own page dedicated to the Summer Games in London whose Opening Ceremony is scheduled to begin in 8 hours time- 9pm UK time, 3am Malaysia time.

Live-streaming - London Olympics Opening Ceremony

Indeed! Today is the day! The day sports fans around the world have been looking forward to - the 2012 Summer Olympics or commonly known as London 2012.

The most happening place in the world right now in the context of sports has got to be London, the venue of the 2012 Summer Olympics.

While a girlfriend is smack in the middle of all that London Olympics action, (she lives there and even has tickets to some of the games!), some of us (meaning me) are happy enough just getting news from afar.

BBC is doing a great job (as always) of keeping the world updated on the activities leading up to the actual Summer Games.

After seven years of preparation, the Opening Ceremony of the London Olympics is due to take place later at 4pm London time which is roughly about 10pm Malaysia time.

The three-hour spectacle in the Olympic Stadium is expected to be viewed by a global TV audience of a billion people.

The image below shows the Olympic flame heading along the Thames on the Queen's rowbarge Gloriana on the final day of the torch relay.

The torch relay is on the last leg of its 70-day journey - BBC

The final torchbearer of the 70-day relay will be 22-year-old basketball player Amber Charles, who played a key role in London's winning bid and who will carry the flame in front of City Hall and Tower Bridge.

The relay ends late in the evening with the lighting of the cauldron during the opening ceremony but the identity of the person who will take on the honour remains a mystery. Will it be David Beckham doing the honours?

You can get more news of the London Olympics at the BBC website.

I'm sure you'd want to join the billion who will be witnessing the Opening of the London Olympics. The Opening Ceremony will be at 9pm, i.e., approximately 3am Malaysian time. You can watch the live coverage of the Opening Ceremony on the following channels:


Official Olympic Channel by the IOC

NBC channel - only available in the United States and U.S. Territories

In Malaysia, Astro ESPN Channel 812 will be screening it live.

Enjoy!

Medals of Olympic Games & London, host of the next Olympics

Well, like they say, time flies when you are having a good time. We are now at the tail-end of this world event. At 8pm tonight, most of us would be glued to the tv set witnessing the closing ceremony of this exciting, entertaining, memorable, record-breaking once-in-four-years sporting event. One thing for sure, man is getting faster and stronger, as evidenced by the many world records broken in this XXIX Olympiad.

What do the athletes have to show for it, or at least the three winners? The medals, of course, so thought a post on the Beijing Olympic Medals would sort of round up the series of the Beijing Olympics post. I am taking the easy way out by reproducing below the article from the English version of the Beijing2008 site.

These are the Beijing Olympic Medals, the reverse and the obverse sides. Besides metal, jade is also used. It is inlaid into the medal on the reverse side.

Reverse side of the Medals and Ribbons

Read the details here
(BEIJING, March 27) -- On the occasion of the 500-day countdown to the opening of the Beijing Olympic Games, the Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad (BOCOG) unveiled the Games' medals.

BOCOG Executive Vice-President and chairman of the evaluation panel Jiang Xiaoyu attended the unveiling ceremony and delivered a speech at the Capital Museum on Tuesday.

The medals are designed with inspiration from "bi", China's ancient jade piece inscribed with dragon pattern. The medals, made of gold and jade, symbolize nobility and virtue and are embodiment of traditional Chinese values of ethics and honor.

The medals are 70mm in diameter and 6mm in thickness. On their obverse side, the medals adopt the standard design prescribed by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) -- a drawing that represents the winged goddess of victory Nike and Panathinaikos Arena, while on their reverse side, the medals are inlaid with jade with the Beijing Games emblem engraved in the metal centerpiece.

Noble and elegant, the medals are a blending of traditional Chinese culture and the Olympism. It gives the winners of the Games great honor and acclamation as recognition of their achievement.

The IOC has strict stipulation on the Olympic medals' material, identification, weight, size and drawing. The medals for the champion and the runner-up are made of pure silver, and the champion's medal must be plated with gold weighing not less than six grams each. For the first time jade is used for the Olympic medals. The design not only meets the IOC requirements, but also expresses praise and honor that the Chinese people cherish for the Olympic Spirit and the Olympic athletes.

In his speech, Jiang Xiaoyu said the Beijing 2008 Games medals will be a major part of the Olympic legacy for China. The design of the medals is a result of hard work and enthusiasm of many people. The medals, he said, embody strong Chinese style and elegant art, and are a harmonious combination of the Chinese culture with the Olympism, making them a vehicle to spread the Olympic Spirit and the concepts of the Beijing Games, as well as to showcase Chinese culture and arts, and the high levels of design and technology.

We might as well learn something about the History of the Summer Olympic Medals. Click on image to enlarge it.



While we are at it, take a look at these pretty babies, the recent Summer Olympic Medals



And these are the recent Winter Olympic Medals



To view the entire range of Olympic Medals, visit: Beijing2008.cn

Let's enjoy the Closing Ceremony tonight, 8pm. Watch David Beckham kicking footballs from the top of a double-decker bus into the Beijing crowd as London celebrates the handing over of the Olympic Games.

** Why David Beckham(?) you might ask. The former England captain, played a key role in London's winning bid in Singapore three years ago.

And London will be full of festivities, being the host of the next Olympics. You can get an idea of what's happening where in the map below.



The British Red Arrows will do a flyby in celebration

Singer Leona Lewis is set to perform with


Led Zeppelin legend, Jimmy Page

performing a new version of Led Zeppelin’s Whole Lotta Love

Enjoy the Closing and see you in London in 2012!


Picture source of the bottom four pictures: dailymail.co.uk

Michael Phelps - the 8-gold medallist

No talk about the Beijing Olympics is complete without a mention of Michael Phelps. This American swimmer and 14-time Olympic gold medalist (the most by any Olympian), currently holds seven world records in swimming.

He holds the record for the most gold medals won at a single Olympics; a total of eight, surpassing Mark Spitz at the Munich Olympics in 1972. Overall, Phelps has won 16 Olympic medals: six gold and two bronze at Athens in 2004, and eight gold at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. That is how amazing he is.

At age 15, Phelps competed at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, becoming the youngest American male swimmer at an Olympic Games in 68 years. While he did not win a medal, he did make the finals and was fifth in the 200 m Butterfly. Five months after the Sydney Olympics, Phelps broke the world record in the 200 m butterfly to become, at 15 years and 9 months, the youngest man ever to set a swimming world record.


Why do you think Michael Phelps swims so well? Wikipedia notes that he has five physical attributes particularly suit Phelps to swimming:

- his long, thin torso (low drag in the water),
- arms which span 6 feet 7 inches (201 cm) (long,
- powerful, propulsive "paddles") disproportionate to his height of 6 feet 4 inches (193 cm),
- relatively short legs (lower drag, and perhaps the speed enhancement of a hydrofoil),
- coupled to size 14 feet (providing the effect of flippers) by hypermobile ankles he can extend beyond the pointe of a ballet dancer, enabling him to whip his feet (as if they were fins, for maximum thrust through [if not over] the water).

Have you ever wondered about the amount of food he eats to see him through his rigorous regimen? Phelps eats around 12,000 calories each day, or about five times more than the average adult male.

Phelps earns $5 million annually in endorsements from his sponsors, Speedo, Visa, Omega and PowerBar. For winning eight gold medals at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, he receives a $1 million bonus from swimsuit maker, Speedo.

P.S. His coach, Bob Bowman, said this of him, besides other good comments. "He's unbelievably kind-hearted", recounting Phelps' interaction with young children after practices.

For more information on Michael Phelps head on over to Wikipedia.

Beijing Olympics Opening Ceremony

I know, I am behind on this post. Bear with me while I document this historical event, the Opening Ceremony of the Summer Beijing Olympics.

Last Friday, 8 August 2008, (080808) almost everyone in my office left early to catch the 8:00pm Opening Ceremony of the XXIX Olympiad held in Beijing, China.

Once in a while we get to witness something spectacular and this Opening Ceremony must have topped the rest so far. It was an awesome show of tradition and technology combined.

Every bit of the Opening Ceremony was mesmerising, from the fireworks to the human great wall to the dancers to the drummers and their luminous drumsticks, Li Ning running to light the torch, the whole enchilada! Did anyone hear it being mentioned that the aerial shots of the footsteps and fireworks leading to the stadium were computer generated? Well, they were, but who cares! They add to the spectacular experience, didn't they?

The Games will be from August 8 to 24.

Most if not all of you would have watched the show so I won't bore you with my account but instead point you to a more interesting article from NBC.


Posted Friday, August 8, 2008 9:38 AM ET
BEIJING - On the eighth day of the eighth month of the eighth year of the millennium, China welcomed the world to the 29th Olympiad with a blockbuster opening ceremony that launched arguably the most anticipated and assuredly the most controversial Games in modern Olympic history.

Amid the roar of fireworks and elaborate tributes to China's 5,000-year-old civilization, athletes from 204 nations - of 205 - marched into Olympic Stadium, the steel-girded Birds' Nest, before dignitaries that included President Bush, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Hu Jintao. Only Brunei proved a no-show, failing Friday to register even one athlete.

Continue reading Games open on a Beijing high

Since I am documenting this sports milestone, I will have to include some memorable pictures. These photographs are from the NBC gallery of the Opening Ceremony of the Beijing Olympics.

The Olympic rings

Drummers

Another view of the drummers and the luminous drumsticks.

Fireworks over the National Stadium, also known as the Bird's Nest

View of the fireworks from inside the National Stadium

Dancers

The Chinese flag is paraded into the National Stadium, carried by children in traditional costumes of the tribes in China.

Fireworks light up the sky over the National Aquatics Center (L) - nicknamed the Cube, and the National Stadium - Bird's Nest

A welcome message display on the stadium roof while the drummers were performing

The torch is lit during the end of the Opening Ceremony

A family watches the fireworks in Tiananmen Square

People watch the broadcast of the Opening Ceremony

Source: NBC