Travellop - Travel Blog

BEIJING, July 30 (Xinhua) — Turkish head of the Olympic delegation Mehmet Atalay said Wednesday when arrived in Beijing that the country’s athletes would try to grab five golds and more than ten medals at the forthcoming Beijing Olympics.

“Beijing Olympic Games is a very important sports event and that’s why we attache so much importance to the Games and send our biggest ever delegation to participate in”, Atalay said in an interview with Xinhua at the airport, expressing his hope that the country could win more medals than it did four years ago in Athens.

Turkish athletes won 10 medals, including four gold, three silver and three bronze medals, in the 2004 Athens Olympic Games.

Atalay, who is also the head of the Youth and Sports Directorate, added that weightlifting and wrestling would be Turkey’s trump cards.
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Tags: Naim Suleymanoglu, Turkey, Turkish athletes

The International Rowing Federation (FISA) has confirmed that two more Iraqi athletes will be allowed to compete in next month’s Beijing Olympics even though the deadline for their entry has passed.

Basil Abdul Mahdi (l) senior adviser to the Iraqi minister of youth and Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh, in Lausanne, Switzerland, 29 Jul 2008

The International Olympic Committee decided to revoke a ban against rowers Haidar Nozad and Hamzah Hussein Jebur in men’s doubles sculls. The IOC made the decision because the two men’s places had not been given to competitors from other countries.

The decision comes one day after the IOC decided to allow two Iraqi track and field athletes to compete in Beijing. The IOC had suspended all Iraqi competitors from the Games because of government interference in the Iraqi national Olympic committee.

However, the IOC reversed its decision Tuesday in Lausanne after an Iraqi government delegation pledged to hold free elections for its national committee. The decision came too late for Iraqi athletes in judo, archery, and weightlifting. The deadline passed for those sports and their places have been filled by other competitors.

VOA Sports

Tags: iraqi athletes

The medical facility at the Olympic Village that offers comprehensive health care primarily for athletes and officials.

Tags: olympic plyclinic, olympic village

The Main Press Center (MPC) for the Beijing Olympics formally opened on Tuesday, July 8 and will follow a 24-hour operation schedule between July 25 and August 27 for media crews from around the world, Director of the MPC and IBC operation team, Sha Wanquan, told reporters Tuesday.

The International Broadcast Center (IBC), nearby the MPC, also began operation Tuesday, stated Director of the BOCOG Median Operations Department, Sun Weijia, who joined Sha at the press conference.
Sun Weide, deputy director of the BOCOG Media and Communications Department chairs the press conference.

The Chinese government, Beijing Municipal Government and BOCOG have attached great importance to media services with courtesy for media members a top consideration, both Sha and Sun stressed. Continue Reading »

Tags: beijing olympics, press center

Handout photo of China’s new 10 yuan note

China’s Central Bank is issuing a special 10 yuan note to commemorate the Beijing Olympics, swapping the image of communist leader Mao Zedong for a picture of the city’s iconic national stadium.

The People’s Bank of China says it plans to issue six million of the notes, worth about $1.45 each, during the games.

Beijing’s Bird’s Nest stadium is an interlocking mesh of steel that looks much like a roost for birds. A picture of the stadium will be on one side of the note, along with the dancing man emblem of the 2008 Olympic Games.

On the other side will be an image of an ancient Greek statue of a discus thrower.

Both sides of the bill will also feature the Temple of Heaven as a backdrop, one of China’s best known landmarks.

Tags: mao zedong

(LANZHOU, June 7) — Zhu Jun, a CCTV host, lit the cauldron at the Waterwheel Exhibition Park at 11: 45 a.m., marking the end to the Lanzhou leg of the Torch Relay and the last stop in Gansu Province.

Tian Yu carried the Olympic flame at 8:15 on Monday from Zhongshan Bridge to kick off the relay.

Tian Yu, who has made great contributions to the Sichuan quake relief work, overcame loss of his home and family members during the May 12 earthquake to lead paramilitary personnel in rescuing eight residents, saving 3,000 tons of grain and more than 2,000 goods from destruction and resettling 1,100 quake victims.

A total of 296 torchbearers participated in the 15.6-km long relay.

Tang Zhongli, a scholar with the Chinese Academy of Engineering; Gao Xionghou, who has done research on oil refinement; Li Yuanzhen, an imam of Hui Ethnic Minority; and Ma Ying, a softball coach, are among the torchbearers.

Tags: gansu, olympic torch

(BEIJING, July 4) — The Italian football team’s coach Pierluigi Casiraghi has chosen his 22-man squad for Beijing 2008. The squad includes Villarreal striker Giuseppe Rossi.

Lazio captain Tommaso Rocchi is the only over-age player in the squad. Rocchi is joined by Fiorentina midfielder Riccardo Montolivo. Both players are returning to national duty after not being chosen for Euro 2008.

Italy’s first challenge will be Honduras on August 10 in Qinhuangdao. The country will also play matches against the Republic of Korea and Cameroon.

Italy’s Olympic squad:

Ignazio Abate (AC Milan), Robert Acquafresca (Cagliari), Salvatore Bocchetti (Genoa), Antonio Cadreva (Udinese), Luca Cigarini (Parma), Andrea Coda (Udinese), Andrea Consigli (Atalanta), Domenico Criscito (Genoa), Paolo De Ceglie (Juventus), Lorenzo De Silvestri (Lazio), Daniele Dessena (Parma), Sebastian Giovinco (Juventus), Claudio Marchisio (Juventus), Riccardo Montolivo (Fiorentina), Marco Motta (Udinese), Antonio Nocerino (Palermo), Andrea Ranocchia (Arezzo), Tommaso Rocchi (Lazio), Giuseppe Rossi (Villarreal), Andrea Russotto (Treviso), Salvatore Sirigiu (Citta di Castello), Emiliano Viviano (Brescia)

Tags: beijing olympics

(BEIJING, July, 5) - World No. 2 Rafael Nadal cruised past Rainer Schuettler of Germany 6-1, 7-6, 6-4 to set up a third successive Wimbledon final against Roger Federer yesterday in the second semifinal on Centre Court at Wimbledon.The first set was a one-sided one in favor of the Spaniard since he broke the German’s opening service game. After breaking the German’s serve twice, the 22-year-old favorite easily took the first set 6-1.

At the start of the second set, Schuettler seemed to show signs of resistance. The two players managed the court well and were tied, before Schuettler gave away the set to the younger player by hitting a shot wide.

Nadal enjoying his victory

In the third set, Nadal brushed aside the German to secure a 6-4 win.
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Tags: rafael nadal, wimbledon

(BEIJING, July 6) — Yet another day of record raiding for swimmers at the US Olympic trials in Omaha, Nebraska. The competition started off with Lara Jackson rewriting the American record in the prelims of the women’s 50m free with a time of 24.50; replacing the former mark (24.53) set last year by nine-time Olympic medalist Dara Torres. Forty-one-year-old Torres was not to be outdone however, rallying in the semifinal round to reclaim the record with a time of 24.38. With the fastest time in the 100m freestyle, Torres has already secured her spot on the 2008 Olympic Team.

Kicking off the evening session with a bang, Margaret Hoelzer broke the world record in the women’s 200m backstroke finals clocking a low 2:06.09. This time was three-hundredths of a second below the previous record set by Zimbabwe’s Kirsty Coventry at this year’s World Championships in Columbia, Missouri. Top seed and Olympic qualifier in the 400m individual medley, Elizabeth Beisel (2:06.92) placed second with Hayley McGregory in third at 2:07.69.
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Tags: Omaha, swimming, US Olympic trials

By Keriann Hopkins and Michael Gryboski
CNSNews.com Correspondents
July 03, 2008

(CNSNews.com) - For Chinese human rights activist Harry Wu, the politics of the Beijing Olympics are a “temporary issue,” and efforts to boycott the Olympics are “in this moment impossible.” But the eyes and ears of the world, Wu said, should still be focused on human rights abuses in Communist China.

Wu told Cybercast News Service that the Bush administration is doing the best that it can to raise the issue of human rights abuses in China, given that former President George H. W. Bush is leading the American contingent to the games.

“They knew China has a problem with human rights, problems with persecuted people,” Wu said. “What else can we do? We’re American; we do our job, that’s it.”

Wu, who spent 19 years being beaten, tortured, and starved in a Chinese prison labor camp for criticizing the Chinese Communist Party, spoke Tuesday on the politics of the upcoming Olympics, at an event hosted by the Center for National Policy, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank.

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Tags: beijing olympics, beijing protests, boycott