Beijing Games
Summer Olympics 2008
Summer Olympics 2008
In the Summer Olympics of 2008, there were a total of 10,942 athletes from 204 NOCs (National Olympic Committees) that competed in 28 sports and 302 events. The Olympics started August 8 and ended August 24.
Olympic Controversies
Leading up to the Olympics there were concerns about human rights in China, so much that politicians and celebrities wanted to boycott the games. The gymnastics events also caused a major worldwide controversy when some Chinese gymnasts were accused of being under the minimum age limit.
At one of the ceremonies, the song Ode to Motherland was lip synced by Lin Miaoke who used a recording of another singer, Yang Peiyi. The director of the ceremony claimed this was arranged because he thought that the girl who lip synced the song was prettier than Yang Peiyi. In anther ceremony, at one part of the fireworks show, a helicopter was flying above the fog and projecting the fireworks instead of having real fireworks.