All of the world is rooting for their favorite athletes, at STACK we are rooting
too. Given your blogâ™s ongoing coverage of the Beijing Olympics, we wanted to
share with you videos of US Olympic Athletes, like Reese Hoffa, Hope Solo, Abby
Wambach, and Mark Gangloff. We have even created a YouTube playlist of Team USA
Olympic Athletes . Take a look, share, and enjoy!!!
SILVER - David Florence, Mens Rowing C-1 Slalom (Single Canoe)
SILVER - Alex Partridge, Tom Stallard, Tom Lucy, Richard Eginton, Josh West, Alastair Heathcote, Matt Langridge, Colin Smith, Acer Nethercott Mens Rowing Eight
BRONZE - Anna Bebington, Elise Laverick, Womens Rowing Double Scull
BRONZE - Steven Rowbotham, Matthew Wells, Mens Rowing Double Scull
BRONZE - Bryony Shaw, Womens Sailing RS:X
BRONZE - Tina Cooke, Womens Individual Equestrian Eventing
BRONZE - Tina Cooke, Daisy Dick, William Fox-Pitt, Sharon Hunt, Mary King, Mixed Team Equestrian Eventing
BRONZE - Steven Burke, Mens Track Cycling Individual Pursuit
BRONZE - Chris Newton, Mens Track Cycling Points Race
BRONZE - Louis Smith, Mens Artistic Gymnastics Pommel Horse
We should not underestimate how well Nicole Cooke did. Experienced Tour de France Mens riders couldn't even FINISH the race in the Chinese weather.
YAY for Rebecca Adlington, TWO GOLDS in swimming!!!!
And proof the British still have might in the water, there are 31 Team GB members from rowing and sailing specialties walking around with medals, well done peoples.
Korean peninsula seems to be heating up again after several South Korean workers expelled from the north-south friendly city of Kumgang prompting north and south korean officials refusing to let there teams march together at the 2008 Beijing Games.
It was the straw that broke the camel's back after numerous "accidents" and suspicious murders of South Korean visitors in Kumgang this year.
A bit of background on Korea though. Officially Pyongyang is the capital of Korea however the country divided in 1953 and splitting into two independent states. Seoul is the capital in the south. The cold war between the two states continues even today.
South Korea however continues to aid and help the communist north despite its dummy spits and because of the latest tantrum they cannot seem to agree to walk into the Summer Games together as an attempt to reconcile like we saw in 2004.
However there are over 320 Korean athletes entering the games. The majority from the south.
BBC are running a couple of great articles found here and here
Home town advantage is likely to return high profits for bookies when the games get underway.
In this multi-connected world people are placing bets on outcomes of the Beijing games all across the globe. People are betting on the record amount of medals china is likely to win in addition to other outcomes like Liu Xiang winning the 110 meter hurdles. One prestigious university maths team predicting China to win up to 45 which would be a new record for our hosts.
If we recall back to any of the Olympic games over the last 50 years one will see an outstanding trend particularly in the countries that are hosting. They seem to do very well.
Those crazy guys from the Gorillaz are to produce the music on BBC's Olympics coverage.
Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett are creating the title sequences for the channel's coverage of the Beijing Olympics and hopefully produce an official Team GB theme.
"Monkey and the characters will travel across China to Beijing," Hewlett explained. "While they will use magical powers to fight off various monsters and demons, they'll also use all sorts of Olympic sports as well. So Monkey might use gymnastic powers, Pigsy will be hurdling and Sandy uses tae kwon do."
I think we can agree this will be a light hearted production of which you can find out more here
From the teacher vision website
Celebrate this summer's Olympic Games in Beijing, China, with our resources, activities, and lessons. You'll find resources on China's history and culture, which will help your students better understand the country and its traditions. Discussing the politics of China, and the Olympic Games in general, will also be enlightening: learn why there is controversy surrounding the 2008 Games. Plus, we have resources on the past political issues of the Olympics, information about gold medalists, and lessons incorporating the fun of the Olympic sporting events. Link
From the teachers corner
You will find various Web Sites on the top portion of this page.
Further down, you will find Lesson Plans & Activities.
At the bottom of the page, you will find Books that you can order directly from Amazon.com! Link
From the department of education and training
China in the Year of the Olympics
Lessons and units of work to use in teaching about China and/or the Olympics
Units of work linked to the Beijing Olympics
AFSSSE, the Australian Federation of Societies for Studies of Society and Environment, with assistance from the Australia-China Council, has produced four great units of work linked to the Beijing Olympics.
The resource aims to build a better understanding of China and promote mutual understanding between Australia and China, while at the same time using a current event to engage learners. The resource is suitable for students in Years 9-10.
The four units have an historical and cultural focus; a geographical focus; an environmental focus and an economics focus. The units contain focus questions, strategies and activities, worksheets, key terms and meanings and links to other relevant resources. Probably the Best Link I've found
Ok, so just about everyone on the planet knows how bad the pollution in China is, and the fact that if they cant get the air quality improved in time for the Games more than half the athletes will not compete.
By bloody shutting down all the factories in and around Beijing. Oh and by "around" Beijing, we're talking about all factories covering a landmass of Spain, France and Germany COMBINED!@!!
Oh, and as a side note, cars are only allowed on the road on the dates ending the same day as their licence plates. In theory this will mean there are only half as many cars on the road during the games, pity that will mean that there will still be a good 300% more cars than the environment can handle.
Maxthon International, developers of the Maxthon 2 Internet
browser and the first Chinese company with a worldwide presence, is
providing free help services for visitors to the International Olympics in
Beijing.
More than 300 Maxthon users have signed up to staff Maxthon's Online Volunteer Web site. They are using
PCs and chat software to answer Olympic tourists' questions about Olympic
scheduling and locations, housing, restaurants, entertainment, and shopping.
The volunteers are providing chat services in English, Chinese, Dutch,
French, Russian, and Spanish.
Through Aug 3, the site is open from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m., Beijing time. From
Aug. 4 to Aug 30, the volunteer center provides help from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
every day. The page also has a digital bulletin board where visitors can
leave and read messages. The board is open 24 hours a day.
"We have such a large number of users in all countries, and with the
Olympics being held in the same city where Maxthon is based, it just seemed
right for us to do something to help people from around the world," said
Jeff Chen, CEO of Maxthon.
Maxthon 2.0 is a free Internet browser. It has been downloaded nearly 160
million times just from Maxthon's own site . In China, Maxthon has about 30 percent of the browser market, beaten only by Microsoft Internet Explorer. The company has only recently begun to actively market the browser in the United States.
Havertown rapper Skip-Dawg has just unveiled the official anthem (and music video) for U.S. Olympic Gold Medalist and World Record holder, Brendan Hansen, as excitement builds for the fast approaching 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China.
Skip-Dawg penned We Will Rise as a tribute to his former teammate and longtime friend, Brendan Hansen, and has dedicated the song to Brendan and to all the fans who love, support, and cheer him on in his quest for gold in the 100M Breastroke and 4x100 Medley Relay this August in Beijing.
Most recently, an intense rivalry has ignited between Brendan Hansen and fellow World Record holder Kosuke Kitajima, who hails from Japan. The two will face off in the highly anticipated 100M Breaststroke next month in Beijing.
A Nike sponsored swimmer, Brendan Hansen is the current world record holder in the 100 Meter Breastroke and 4x100 Medley Relay. He captured gold, silver, and bronze medals in the 2004 Athens Olympics.
Lenovo and the IOC have finally released images of what the 2008 Olympic games torch will look like.
Has numerous symbols to show strength, unity, peace and was designed in partnership with Lenovo. Overall it is red and white in colour and i was able to find a small link to the Lenovo designers here
also heres a small clip i found that also goes with the torch:
George Dubya is traveling to the Republic of China to watch the opening ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Games.
He will be joined by Yasao Fukuda and other Japanese cabinet ministers to talk with China regarding human rights (oh the irony) and take in what is sure to be one of the most spectacular Opening ceremonies thus far.
He also brain farted the idea he would like China and India to cut emissions back. Yet if I recall correctly it is still the US is ranked at 10 and china and India are not even in the top 50! More can be read here
