I’ve been so engrossed in the Olympics I haven’t posted in my blog since it started! The athletes have been totally awe-inspiring.

Word is Michael Phelps has double jointed ankles and knees (hmmm or hips). Anyway, he sure looks like a fish when he’s swimming!

Watch this video of the amazing Michael Phelps, winner of 8 Olympic Gold Medals.

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Yahoo!: New Shortcuts For Summer Olympics News & Info!

By: Navneet Kaushal
2008-08-07
In the spirit of 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, Yahoo! has announced that, it is in the process of rolling out special shortcuts in Yahoo! Search that would be related specifically to information and news coverage of the 2008 Summer Olympics.

New Shortcuts for Summer Olympics

These shortcuts would be implemented in synchronization with the ‘Torch Lighting’ ceremony on August 8th. According to Yahoo!, “There will be a ton of Olympics-related information out there, such as breaking news, results and medal counts. The shortcut will help you get a real-time snapshot of what’s happening in Beijing each day in one search.”

Here are some sneak previews of the things to come as per Yahoo!:

“If you’re looking for a quick update on medal counts, just search for ‘Olympics medal count’ and you’ll see something like this (once the games actually start)”

If you are looking for the medal count of a specific country, then you can run your search query as “‘Country’ medal count”. According to Yahoo!, “If you’re looking for info on a specific sport, like recent results and a schedule of upcoming events, do a search for ‘diving + Olympics’ and you’ll see a shortcut like this:”

Athletic specific information can also be searched for by adding his or her name to the query.

According to Yahoo!, “With the Olympics shortcut, users can also play the news cast or interview video from Yahoo! Sports without leaving the search results page. And if you want to find out more information on a given topic, we’ll of course include links to the relevant content on Yahoo! Sports as part of the shortcut. Try it with ‘Olympics 2008′ and click on the “Videos” link”

Navneet has wide experience in natural search engine optimization, internet marketing and PPC campaigns. He is a prolific writer and his articles can be found in the “Best Articles” section of many websites and article banks. As a search engine analyst , he has over 9 years of experience and his knowledge is in application here.

View All Articles by Navneet Kaushal

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The opening ceremony in Beijing for the 2008 Olympics will be televised at 8:08 pm no matter what state you live in. There have been a lot of people trying to figure out at what time they will be able to view it locally; apparently the 8/8/08 at 8:08 date and time is important enough to the Chinese that everyone will see it at that local time.

NBC is the United States TV station that will be televising the Olympic games.

NBC’s Beijing coverage, which will use 2,900 on-site workers, will use 106 broadcasters who’ll be formally announced today. They range from famous faces to TV rookies to TV vets expanding their horizons. NBC and its cable TV channels will air about 3,600 total hours, including 2,900 live hours.

You can check their online listings to get the channels and times of events for your location in the United States.

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Dancers dressed in traditional Chinese warrior costumes will feature in the Beijing Games Opening Ceremony / AP

The footage of floating 3D humpback whales, kung fu fighters and trapeze gymnasts gave viewers a tantalising glimpse of what’s to come / AP

Chinese placard bearers rehearsing for the Opening Ceremony wait for their turn to enter the National Stadium / AFP

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The opening ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games promises to be a fabulous show!

Chinese men, wearing suits decorated with lights, wait to take part in the rehearsals of the Olympic Games opening ceremony.
(Ng Han Guan/AP Photo)

Fireworks cascade above the Olympic National Stadium in Beijing, July 16, 2008. The Olympic Stadium is known as the “Bird’s Nest.” Red is a auspicious color in China, associated with protection and prosperity.
(Ng Han Guan/AP Photo)

Chinese performers wait to take part in the secret rehearsals of the Olympic Games opening ceremony. Chinese film director Zhang Yimou has being planning the event for the last three years, along with a team of international artist and event planners.
(Ng Han Guan/AP Photo)

Photos from ABC News

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China’s most famous film director, Zhang Yimou (”Raise the Red Lantern,” “House of Flying Daggers”), spent the last three years designing the spectacle, trying to boil 5,000 years of Chinese history into a 50-minute show.

Undulating white columns apparently simulated a waterfall, and giant blue whales were projected onto the strips of roof bordering the opening of the top of the stadium. The video showed a giant blue-and-green illuminated globe on the floor of the stadium at one point.

The rehearsal included contemporary dancers dressed in black and others twirling ribbons, dozens of drummers, martial arts experts, and several colorfully dressed performers suspended by wires and floating above the audience.

One segment featured a half-dozen actors on a raised platform surrounded by hundreds of other performers, while cymbals clanged noisily in the tradition of Beijing opera.

The most impressive part of the show was a countdown accompanied by drums, the SBS report said. Footage showed rows of hundreds of people, flashing cards to form the number two, then one, while chanting lustily in Chinese. Strobe lights flashed.

An SBS crew filmed the rehearsal without having to sneak in, a network official said. SBS, one of South Korea’s major TV networks, shares Olympic broadcasting rights in Korea with two other networks.

“Nobody stopped us when we entered the main stadium on Monday. Chinese officials let us in after we showed our ID cards and we shot the rehearsal,” the official from SBS told The Associated Press from Beijing by telephone. He asked not to be identified as he was not authorized to speak to media.

SBS spokesman Park Jae-man said it was regrettable if Beijing Olympics organizers felt offended by the broadcast.

“The purpose of the broadcast was aimed at heightening enthusiasm toward the Beijing Olympics by showing South Korean viewers the magnificence of the opening ceremony, there was no other intention,” Park said, adding that his company didn’t secretly tape it.

Unconfirmed media reports have said that anyone who violates the opening ceremony confidentiality agreement was subject to jail time. However, Zhang laughed off questions about such a punishment during a news conference earlier this year, saying “Who is going to deliver such a judgment?”

The video of the rehearsal was circulating on Chinese message boards up until Thursday morning, but no working versions could easily be found in China by early afternoon.

A few details about the ceremony had been trickling out since rehearsals began at the Bird’s Nest earlier this month.

Organizers have not been able to hide the enormous bursts of fireworks exploding around the stadium at night. The show will include dozens of smiley face bursts and is expected to feature fireworks in the shape of a yellow dragon with red peony flowers in the background.

The main artistic director of the fireworks show has said fireworks will be launched from more than 1,800 sites around the city, including major urban areas from Tiananmen Square to the Bird’s Nest stadium.

Like many aspects of the Beijing Games, the opening ceremony has become a political issue. Steven Spielberg sparked controversy in February when he withdrew as an artistic adviser to protest what he saw as China’s refusal to do more to help end the humanitarian crisis in Sudan’s Darfur region.

While President Bush has said he would attend the opening ceremony, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper have said they plan to stay away. French President Nicolas Sarkozy is scheduled to attend, after first threatening to skip it.

One part of the opening ceremony still remains top secret. It is not known how the Olympic cauldron will be lit, and who will be the final torchbearer.

Chinese media reports have speculated that the cauldron will be lit by a fire-breathing dragon or phoenix.

From Fox News

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Fuwa are the Official Mascots of Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.

They draw their colors from the five Olympic Rings and carry a message of friendship, peace and good wishes from China to children the world over.

The 5 elements of nature are symbolized in their origins and their headpieces - the sea, forest, fire, earth and sky.

Fuwa embody 4 of China’s most popular animals, Fish, Panda, Tibetan Antelope, Swallow, and the center Fuwa is the Olympic Flame.

They are designed to express the playfulness of 5 young children, and have rhyming two-syllable names, which is a traditional way the Chinese express affection for children.

• Beibei is the Fish
• Jingjing is the Panda
• Huanhuan is the Olympic Flame
• Yingying is the Tibetan Antelope
• Nini is the Swallow

When you put their names together — Bei Jing Huan Ying Ni — they say "Welcome to Beijing," offering a warm invitation that reflects the mission of Fuwa as young ambassadors for the Olympic Games.

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The official theme song you’ll hear on August 8, 2008, with photos of the remarkable buildings that have been built especially for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.

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Fireworks explode above the Olympic National Stadium, known as Bird’s Nest, during Wednesday’s secret rehearsal for the opening ceremony in August.
(Andy Wong/AP Photo)

The second full dress rehearsal of the Beijing Olympics opening ceremony will be held in the National Stadium on Saturday night, as previously scheduled.

Different from the first rehearsal, ceremony organizers will put in a few shows, starting from 6 p.m., before the opening ceremony performances kick off at 8 p.m., according to the official website of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.

Due to the new arrangement, public areas of the Beijing Olympic Park and the National Stadium, or better known as the Bird’s Nest for its unique structure of interwoven steel beams, will be open at 4 p.m., two hours earlier than during the first rehearsal.

Tonight’s rehearsal will also be featured with fireworks late into the night, which is expected to cheer up the weekend audiences.

Spectators who will be waiting outside the stadium to watch the fireworks are advised to stay further way, for a better view and to ease the traffic burden near the stadium.

The rehearsal audiences are also advised to take buses, including 28 non-stop bus routes bound for the Olympic Park, or subways to watch the show.

All subway lines, except the Airport Line, will operate for some extra time to get audiences home after the rehearsal is over.

Audiences are reminded there are five entrances into the Olympic Park. Organizers said most people had swarmed into the Olympic Park from two entrances during the first rehearsal, causing long queues for security checks.

The opening ceremony directed by famous Chinese film director Zhang Yimou has been kept in top secrecy by its organizers. Tight security was deployed outside the stadium during the first rehearsal that lasted three and half hours.

All the workers on duty had signed agreements with the Beijing Olympic Organizing Committee (BOCOG) to keep what they saw confidential.

But the secrecy was breached after South Korean’s SBS TV station broadcast some footage of the opening ceremony on Wednesday, showing fragments of a video of the rehearsal, including scenes depicting the past and future of Chinese culture.

The first full dress rehearsal was held in secret on July 11. The third and last rehearsal is scheduled for Tuesday.

(Xinhua News Agency August 2,2008)

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This song,  北京欢迎你, was “almost” the official theme song of the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. It’s a very beautiful song!

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