2008 Summer Olympics facts for kids

The 2008 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXIX Olympiad, were celebrated in Beijing, People's Republic of China from August 8 to August 24. The opening ceremony began at 08:08:08 pm CST (12:08:08 UTC) at the Beijing National Stadium in Beijing, People's Republic of China. During the games, 10,500 athletes competed in 302 events in 28 sports. This is one event more than what was on the schedule of the 2004 games.

The Olympic games were awarded to Beijing after a vote of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on July 13 2001. The official logo of the games, titled "Dancing Beijing," features a stylised calligraphic character jīng (京, meaning capital), meaning the host city. The mascots of Beijing 2008 are the five Fuwa, each representing both a colour of the Olympic rings and a symbol of Chinese culture. The Olympic slogan, One World, One Dream, calls upon the world to unite in the Olympic spirit. Several new NOCs have also been recognised by the IOC.

The Chinese government used the games to promote China as an important and powerful country, and spent a lot of money on building new facilities and transportation systems for the games. The events were held in 37 places, including 12 newly-built buildings. In 2007, former IOC president Juan Antonio Samaranch said that he thinks that the Beijing games will be "the best in Olympic history". Although there was been some controversy about having the games in China, the IOC's former president Jacques Rogge said that the IOC has "absolutely no regrets" in choosing Beijing to host the 2008 games.

Medal table

At the end of the Olympics, China won the total gold medal count, while the United States led the grand total medal count.

Here is the top of the medal table at the end of the games.

Medal numbers shown in bold are the highest in their section. China, the host nation is highlighted in lavender.

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	China (CHN)	51	21	28	100
2	United States (USA)	36	38	36	110
3	Russia (RUS)	23	21	28	72
4	Great Britain (GBR)	19	13	15	47
5	Germany (GER)	16	10	15	41
6	Australia (AUS)	14	15	17	46
7	South Korea (KOR)	13	10	8	31
8	Japan (JPN)	9	6	10	25
9	Italy (ITA)	8	10	10	28
10	France (FRA)	7	16	17	40

Olympic Games
Summer Games: 1896, 1900, 1904, 1906, 1908, 1912, (1916), 1920, 1924, 1928, 1932, 1936, (1940), (1944), 1948, 1952, 1956, 1960, 1964, 1968, 1972, 1976, 1980, 1984, 1988, 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012, 2016, 2020, 2024, 2028
Winter Games: 1924, 1928, 1932, 1936, (1940), (1944), 1948, 1952, 1956, 1960, 1964, 1968, 1972, 1976, 1980, 1984, 1988, 1992, 1994, 1998, 2002, 2006, 2010, 2014, 2018, 2022
Athens 2004 — Turin 2006 — Beijing 2008 — Vancouver 2010 — London 2012 — Sochi 2014 — Rio 2016 — Pyeongchang 2018 — Tokyo 2020 Games in italics will be held in the future, and those in (brackets) were cancelled because of war. See also: Ancient Olympic Games

Youth Olympic Games
Summer Games: 2010, 2014, 2018
Winter Games: 2012, 2016, 2020
Singapore 2010 — Innsbruck 2012 — Nanjing 2014

Images for kids

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  Olympic Green, from above

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  Beijing National Stadium, or "Bird's Nest"

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  National Aquatics Center or "Water Cuber"

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  National Indoor Stadium

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  Wukesong Indoor Stadium

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  Inside Beijing National Stadium during the Games. Olympic cauldron in background.

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  2008 Olympic Torch in Vilnius, Lithuania

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  Route of the 2008 Olympic Torch Relay

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  Opening Ceremony.

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  Ilias Iliadis led the Greek team into the Bird's Nest as the traditional first contingent.

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  Yao Ming and Lin Hao led the host country.

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  The lighting of the Olympic Cauldron.

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  Chinese gymnast Li Ning after igniting the cauldron.

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  The reverse side of the medals of the 2008 Summer Olympics: silver (left), gold (center), bronze (right). Each medal has a ring of jade.

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  Team sizes

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  Beijing 2008 cauldron in 2013

See also

In Spanish: Juegos Olímpicos de Pekín 2008 para niños