As of today, Phelps won 3 a total of golds at these Beijing Games:

2 more golds for the 23 years old Michael Phelps would allow him to be claimed the greatest Olympian. Spitz’s other record of 7 golds in a single Games would also be within reach.

The United States and China are fighting an epic battle for the medals total with China having 20 medals (13 gold) and the USA having 22 (7 gold).

The Chinese teams won 2 new gold medals at the Women’s Synchronised 10m Platform (WANG Xin, CHEN Ruolin) and Men’s Team Gymnastics Artistic (CHEN Yibing, HUANG Xu, LI Xiaopeng, XIAO Qin, YANG Wei, ZOU Kai).

Beijing Day 3 video

China is leading the gold medal race with 9 golds (2 in diving and 4 in weightlifting) and a total of 14 medals. The USA have 3 golds and a total of 12 medals.

This Monday, August 11, the Water Cube was the center of the action with 4 new gold medals and 5 new world records.

Jason Lezak was the master swimmer of the day overtook french Alain Bernard in the last meter by a split of a second allowing teammates Michael Phelps, Cullen Jones and Garrett Weber-Gale to grab the gold and set a stunning new world record.

Another swimming world record was broken by Australia’s Eamon Sullivan in the Men’s 100m with an amazing 47.24”.

Rebecca Adlington became the 1st British woman in 48 years to win an Olympic Swimming competition when she overtook Katie Hoff of the USA in the last meter to win gold.

Japan’s Kitajima Kosuke defended his 2004 Olympic title and reset his own World Record in the Men’s 100m Breaststroke final, with 58.91”.

Italy’s Federica Pellegrini set a new WR of 1:55.4 in the Women’s 200m Freestyle slicing 0.07” off the Laure Manaudou of France previous record.

How Jason Lizak beat Alain bernard video

On sunday, China is leading in the Olympic race to sports supremacy with 4 new gold medals (6 gold and 2 silver total).

The remaining gold medals were shared among South Korea, the United States, Italy, Japan, Australia, the Netherlands, Great Britain and Thailand.

China Olympic Gold Medal Winners of the day

• Michael Phelps of the United States set a new Olympic Record at the Men’s 400m individual Medley with 4.03.84 seconds.
• Women’s Synchronised 3m Springboard Diving (GUO Jingjing, WU Minxia, China)
• Weightlifting: Qingquan Long (-56 kg) and Xiexia Chen (-48 kg) (China)
• Women judo -52 kg (XIAN Dongmei, China)
• Women’s 10m Air Pistol Shooting (GUO Wenjun, China)
• Men’s -56kg Weightlifting (LONG Qingquan, China)
• Women’s Team Archery (PARK Sung-Hyun, YUN Ok-Hee, JOO Hyun-Jung, South Korea)
• Men’s 400m Freestyle Swimming (PARK Taehwan, South Korea)
• Women’s Road Race Cycling - Road (COOKE Nicole, UK)
• Men’s Individual Epee Fencing (TAGLIARIOL Matteo, Italy)

Diving Video - China Gold

Archery Video - China vs Korea

On Saturday, China is leading in the Olympic race to sports supremacy with 2 of the first 7 gold medals.

The 5 remaining gold medals were shared among the USA, South Korea, the Czech Republic, Spain and Romania.

China Olympic Gold Medal Winners

• Men’s 10m Pistol Shooting (Wei Pang, China)
• Women’s 48kg Weightlifting (Xiexia Chen, China, 2 New Olympic Records)
• Women’s fencing sabre (Mariel Zagunis, United States)
• Men’s -60kg judo (Choi Min-Ho, South Korea)
• Women’s 10m air rifle title (Katerina Emmons, Czech Republic, New Olympic Record)
• Women’s -60Kg judo (Alina Alexandra Dumitru, Roumania)
• Men Cycling - Individual Road Race (Samuel Sánchez, Spain, Time: 6.23.49)

Michael Phelps of the United States set a new Olympic Recard at the Men’s 400m individual medley with 4.07.82 seconds.

Judo Videos

More video on the NBC Olympics site.

Countdown

Part 2

Flame lighting

Opening Ceremony

One World One Dream

Highlights

Rehearsal video:

Beijing Olympics introduction

The 2008 Olympic Games is set to be held on the month of August 2008. It will be held in various gymnasiums and stadiums around Beijing.

The opening ceremony

The opening ceremony will take place at the superb Beijing National Stadium and begin exactly at 8:08:08pm August 8th, 2008

Although the 2008 Olympics will officially start on the 8th of August, which is when the opening ceremony will be held, football matches will actually be held on August 6 and 7.

Olympic Venues

The major Olympic venues for the 2008 Beijing Games are the:

• Beijing National Stadium (nicknamed the bird nest due to it’s architectural structure)
• Beijing National Aquatics Centre
• Beijing National Indoor Stadium
• Olympic Green and the Olympic Green Convention Centre
• Beijing Wukesong Culture & Sports Center

The following sports will be contested at these Beijing Games. The order is from the sport having the most event to the lowest.

• Athletics (47 events)
• Swimming (34 events)
• Cycling (18 events)
• Gymnastics (18 events)
• Wrestling (18 events)
• Canoeing (16 events)
• Weightlifting (15 events)
• Shooting (15 events)
• Rowing (14 events)
• Judo (14 events)
• Boxing (11 events)
• Sailing (11 events)
• Fencing (10 events)
• Taekwondo (8 events)
• Diving (8 events)

Other sports are:

• Synchronized swimming
• Water polo
• Archery
• Badminton
• Baseball
• Basketball
• Equestrian
• Field hockey
• Football/soccer
• Handball
• Modern pentathlon
• Softball
• Table tennis
• Tennis
• Triathlon
• Volleyball

The Paralympic Games will be held a month after the Olympic games, from September 6th to September 17th.

The list of Paralympic sports include:

• Powerlifting
• Volleyball sitting
• Wheelchair rugby
• Wheelchair basketball
• Wheelchair fencing
• Shooting
• Rowing (first appearance)
• Archery
• Athletics
• Cycling
• Boccia
• Equestrian
• Football sitting
• Goalball
• Sailing
• Judo
• Swimming
• Wheelchair Tennis
• Table tennis

Olympic rings

The Olympic rings symbolize the union between men. It is composed of five rings - colored blue, yellow, black, green, and red – to represent the colors of the different flags of the countries participating in the games. Unlike the other Olympic symbols the Olympic ring remains the same.

Emblem

The Beijing 2008 Olympics emblem is the “Dancing Beijing” Chinese seal. It signifies the entire country’s commitment to the Olympic movement, enthusiasm in inviting visitors to come and celebrate the Olympics with them, and their hopes for a “New Beijing.”

Medals

The medals are inscribed with dragon patterns.

Mascots

The 2008 Beijing Olympic mascots are made up of the four of the most popular animals of China including a fish, panda, Tibetan antelope, and a swallow. Aside from the animals a cartoon Olympic torch is also one of the mascots.

Olympic torch

The Beijing Olympic torch is a beautiful unique piece that was made not only with aesthetics in mind but with emphasis on the concept of the Olympics being green, high-tech, and for the people. Much work has gone into the design phase so much so that it took 2 years from conceptualization before the torch was approved. The work has paid off because the end result is a torch that is undeniably artistic, environmental friendly, and technologically advanced.

The slogan

The 2008 Olympic slogan is “One World, One Dream” which calls the world to unite in the Olympic spirit and build a better future for minkind.