Beijing Olympics 2008 Mascots

The Mascots And Events of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games

Every Olympic city brings its own mix of culture and style to the Olympic Games, and Beijing is no exception. From the ideogram-modified-for-athleticism used as the overall games logo, the Dancing Beijing, with arms spread wide to embrace the world and showcasing Chinese culture to the rather chibi-esque "fuwa" characters used as mascots, China brings a different view to the Olympics than America or Europe did with Turin or Salt Lake City.

The fuwa dolls are anthropormorphized animals, in much the same style as the Hello Kitty phenomenon from Japan, embodying a fish, fire, a mountain antelope, giant panda and swallow; this corresponds to the traditional five elements of Chinese herbalism, metal, water, air, earth and fire. A number of other aspects tied to the fuwa are present, including a clever play on words – stating the first syllables of each of their names also comes out as Beijing Welcomes You.

China is the manufacturing axis of the world, and merchandising of the Olympics has been extant since the close of the Turin games in 2006, and possibly earlier. There are countless items of memorabilia to commemorate the games if you're visiting China, or just want to support them in general.

The merchandising and clever marketing aside, the real reason to have the Olympics is the slate of sports. The summer games have more events than the winter ones do, and more of those events are "media friendly". There are over three hundred events total, spread over six cities in China (the bulk are in Beijing). Sadly, the network coverage for a number of those events is going to be slim to none on the major media networks, but it's a fairly safe bet that if you're an aficionado of some of the more obscure sports (such as fencing, or water polo), you'll be able to find some coverage, including recaps, online.

The Olympic games will run from August 8th, with the opening ceremonies to August 24th when they end. More than ten thousand athletes will be participating. The start times for specific events may help you in finding the events you want to know more about; they can be found online, but in general:

For example, the cycling events are running from the 9th through the 24th, while fencing runs from the 9th only through the 17th. Other martial arts events, such as Judo, Wrestling and Karate have staggered events throughout the entire Olympic games, and some events build up large numbers of qualifying rounds to reach their finals, like baseball and basketball.

New events at this year's Olympic games include sailing events and a broader field of equestrian events. Tae Kwon Do has now become an official Olympic sport, as has table tennis. There are still the old stand byes of gymnastics and synchronized swimming, and the more traditional sports of swimming, diving, the decathlon and modern pentathlon.

Whatever sport you're interested in, the best of the best are competing in it in China for the 2008 Summer Olympics. Be sure to set your DVR (or video search on the internet) to watch them. They're competing for the pride of competition and for the pride of their nation, and they deserve your support.

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