A few interesting things about the games this year ...
The ceremony was scheduled to begin on 08-08-2008 because the Chinese people consider the number eight to be very lucky.
The air in China is so polluted that the U.S. teams are actually staying in Korea, where the air quality is only a little better.
A total of 205 nations will be represented at the games. The most athletes from any one country will be those from China, who will have 639 individuals competing. Next is the United States with 595 athletes, Russia with 467 athletes, Germany with 439 athletes and Australia with 433 athletes. Many, many nations will be represented by only one or two athletes.
On July 24, 2008, the International Olympic Committee forbade the nation of Iraq to participate in the Olympic games, but reversed its decision five days later.
There will be 165 events for men, 127 for women and 10 mixed, for a total of 302 events in 28 sports.
The events will take place in 37 venues, 12 of which were constructed recently, specifically with the Olympic games in mind.
Runner-ups after Beijing for the opportunity to host the 2008 Summer Olympics were Toronto, Canada; Paris, France; Istanbul, Turkey; and Osaka, Japan, in that order.
The traditional torch relay began on March 24 and ended 130 days and 85,000 miles later. It was the longest torch relay in the history of the Olympic games.
During the relay, the Olympic torch was carried to every continent except for Antarctica. The torch was engineered to remain lit in winds up to 40 miles per hour and rain up to 2 inches per hour.
South African swimmer Natalie du Toit, a five-time gold medalist at the Athens Paralympics in 2004, qualified to compete at the Beijing Olympics, making her the first amputee to qualify for the Olympic Games since Olivér Halassy in 1936.
Natalia Partyka, who was born without a right forearm, will compete in Table Tennis for Poland.
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