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Poll: Should Chris Hoy and Bradley Wiggins be knighted?

September 30th, 2008

Bradley Wiggins, the double gold medal winner in Beijing, has suggested his team-mate, Chris Hoy, who won three golds, should be knighted in the next honours list. Do they both deserve the accolade?

Just 200 turn out for Paralympians

September 30th, 2008

NEW South Wales Premier Nathan Rees says Australia's Paralympians deserved a bigger crowd than the 200 people who turned up for today's welcome home ceremony in Sydney.

Just 200 turn out for Paralympians’ parade

September 30th, 2008

200 people at Paralympians welcome home ceremony Athletes won 48 of nation's 79 medals at Beijing Rees says he should have "pumped it up more"

Just 200 turn out for Paralympians

September 30th, 2008

NEW South Wales Premier Nathan Rees says Australia's Paralympians deserved a bigger crowd than the 200 people who turned up for today's welcome home ceremony in Sydney.

Advertising and sport don’t always go together

September 27th, 2008

Advertising and sport don't always go together

Chinese dissident tipped to win Nobel peace prize

September 24th, 2008

Hu Jia could be awarded the Nobel peace prize to continue human rights pressure on China after the Beijing Olympics

IOC Disciplinary Commission meets on three doping cases

September 21st, 2008

The IOC Disciplinary Commission, composed of Thomas Bach (Chairman), Denis Oswald and Gerhard Heiberg, met today in Lausanne (Switzerland) on three pending doping cases from the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.
 
The meeting was convened to deal with adverse analytical findings for Vadim DEVIATOVSKIY, Belarus, silver medallist in the men’s hammer throw competition; Ivan TSIKHAN, Belarus, bronze medallist in the men’s hammer throw competition; and Adam SEROCZYNSKI, Poland, who placed fourth in the men’s kayak double (K2) 1000m event.
 
The IOC Disciplinary Commission gave the two Belarusian hammer throwers the opportunity to provide further information until 17 October 2008. The decision by the IOC Disciplinary Commission will be taken once this information has been analysed.
 
The decision concerning the Polish canoeist will be issued by the IOC Disciplinary Commission on 8 October 2008.  
   
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For further information, please contact the IOC Communications Department on +41 21 621 60 00 or e-mail: pressoffice@olympic.org.

Beijing Paralympic Games: a number of records

September 19th, 2008

After 12 days of competition, the Closing Ceremony of the Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games on 17 September 2008 officially ended a period of record-breaking competition and events.
 
279 world records  
Almost 4,000 athletes from a total of 147 different countries around the world came to Beijing to compete in their respective sports. Some athletes competed in more than one event, but they all participated at an elite level. Of these 147 countries, five competed in the Paralympic Games for the first time, including Burundi, Gabon, Georgia, Haiti and Montenegro. The Games saw a total of 279 new world records set and a total of 339 new Paralympic records broken.
 
1.9 million tickets sold  
A record number of 1.9 million tickets were sold, with an additional 600,000 tickets provided to children, educational institutes and community groups. The Opening and Closing Ceremonies were sold out, as were all the swimming events and most of the athletics events.
 
One thousand doping tests conducted
Out of more than 1,000 doping tests conducted, there were three anti-doping rule violations. The doping tests performed included urine (Erythropoietin, EPO) and blood tests (Human Growth Hormone (hGH), synthetic haemoglobin (HBOC), blood transfusions (BT) and other substances.
 

Olympic Inspiration for Federer

September 19th, 2008

For the man who won 13 Grand Slam singles titles, Roger Federer, winning an Olympic gold medal in Beijing helped him to forget a difficult first part of the year. On 16 August 2008, the Swiss tennis player added an Olympic gold medal to his collection by winning the men's doubles with Stanislas Wawrinka. “It's a magical moment. Something incredible in my career," said Federer. “It has definitively inspired me. It helped me to stay positive and be motivated for the US Open and not maybe be too disappointed.” Which turned out to be exactly right as, a few weeks later, Federer won his fifth consecutive US Open title.
 
A dream-come-true-moment
In 1992, at the age of 11, Federer watched Marc Rosset win a tennis gold medal at the Barcelona Games. This victory perhaps brought out this desire to take part in the Olympic tournament, which brought together the best players of the time. At his first Games, in Sydney in 2000, he missed the Olympic podium by one step, but met his girlfriend of eight years. Four years later, in Athens, he was the flag-bearer of the Swiss delegation, but exited the tournament prematurely. In 2008 in Beijing, he carried the Swiss flag for the second time while celebrating his 27th birthday. “To carry the flag is one of the achievements you only dream about. It was one of the great moments in my career,” said the man considered as the greatest player of all time, before adding, “The Olympic Games is like Wimbledon to me. It’s really a dream come true to be part of it, walking into the stadium at the Opening Ceremony”.
 
 
One of the “Heroes” campaign
Roger Federer is among the stars of the IOC campaign entitled “Heroes”, along with other legendary Olympic athletes including Yao Ming, Laure Manaudou, Liu Xiang, Yelena Isinbayeva, Kenenisa Bekele, Vanessa Ferrari and Carolina Kluft. All these athletes are superheroes seeking to achieve the seemingly impossible. “Heroes” leverages the determination and performance of Olympic athletes to communicate the key Olympic values. “Heroes” forms part of the IOC’s promotional campaign entitled “The Best of Us” - a simple, powerful idea that transcends cultures and borders, motivating young people around the world to participate in sport by proving that sport can bring out the best in them. The campaign was launched in 2007 and continues to run after the Beijing Games.
 
All of the elements of the campaign are now available to view at: http://www.olympic.org/uk/bestofus/index_uk.asp
 

The “Olympic Express” experience

September 18th, 2008

Thousands of readers followed the Beijing Olympic Games with the “Olympic Express” e-journal on www.olympic.org. Feedback from young people, parents and teachers has been overwhelming. The project proved to be adequate for these target groups. The platform of the Olympic Games allowed us to reach out to people often difficult to attain. Another educational project, the so-called “A quote a day” interviews with IOC President Rogge, was followed on www.olympic.org and on TV as part of the daily 30-minute highlights issued by the Beijing Olympic Broadcasting unit. President Rogge explained in each one of the modules the meaning of Olympic symbols, the importance of the different players in the Olympic Movement and his own role and responsibilities.
 
Review the Olympic Express
Olympic Express will be an integral part of www.olympic.org until the end of September. The content of the 49 different editions – each with eight pages of interactive content- allows readers to get acquainted with all Olympic summer sports and to relive the Beijing Games in a very special way. Adapted to 8 to 12 year-olds, Olympic Express also enables them to get acquainted with Chinese culture and to discover how the Chinese experienced the Games. 
 
 
A quote a day as part of the educational section
A quote a day will be integrated in the educational section of www.olympic.org. The President’s explanations are an attractive pedagogical means to get young people in schools acquainted with Olympism. Olympic Express and the “Quote a day” project are part of an overall effort by the IOC to reach out to young people with well-adapted means and tools. The web site remains an excellent platform for this.