What is your view about the Olympics in Beijing?
Personally I will make my own silent protest by not watching a single part of it (especially the opening and closing ceremonies)

Sport should not be used as a platform for protest (by non-sports people) and I will watch as much as I can. The athletes work so hard for their shot at getting gold and they probably only get the one chance.

I abhore human rights abuses, and there are plenty in China,
(Falung Gong, Political prisioners, Laogi (forced prison labour) labour rights abuses, banned religion, banned freedom of speech, Tibet and Mongolian issues)

but it should not be aired at the Olympics. In my opinion, they should never been awarded the games in the first place, not as they did with priviso´s on improving their Human Rights.

And whats more, this makes me laugh, George Bush lecturing on Human Rights...................

Not many presidents or politicians are going to Beijing but Bush and Blair are. A tv commentator said that the issue of human rights comes secondary to US business issues He had a point.

I´m not going to watch the Olympics. Not because I want to show my protest but because I hate sports

I also agree politics and sports should not mix. However, I would be lieing if I said I never bought anything made in China. So does that make me a supporter of human right abuses in China?

sorry to the protestors here,,,i am a chinese..
in my opinion,,OLYMPIC GAMES is only a game for all the sporters,,so we should esteem them ,no matter in which country it will be held..do you think so???
and at the other hand,,you think chinese live a bad life,,while we think your people live a bad life,,maybe our country is not so rich as yours,,but we earn money here and consume here,,,we enjoy our goverment,our life,,we esteem our political leaders,,we can stand in same line in front of difficulties,,so how about the situations in your country????
and undoubtedly,,china is getting richer and richer,,stronger and stronger,,you protestors,,just sit and see!!!

The Olympic committee today (again) found pollution levels in Beijing far higher than the acceptable level for athletes (particularly those in endurance competitions).

What will they do? Ignore the pollution levels and go against their own rules or cancel those affected events.

Somehow I think it will be the former

Well,i think Olympics is a chance for people to get together,to hear each others,to know each others,in spite of all the govenments SUCCESSFUL efforts to make that happen
At the Olympics,it can actually happen.
So i believe you can protest even more by watching it,not the other way arround
Media can be a good element here,you can watch it,and carry signs or things like that protesting against human abuse,or whatever.
So,it will give a massage,´´yes we want to have understanding with you,but at same time,there are things that we dont accept ´´
So actually you can be heard there too.

there is only one china is the world,,its uniform...
no matter how our poor people make money,,important is that we make money by ourselves,,rather than by government pensions...chinese use our own hands to create treasures..i think its much more better than the people who are waitting for government pensions while not working...only working can keep one country rich all the time

I don´t agree with many of the policies of China, however, these athletes have been training for most of their lives to be part of the Olympics. It is just their rotten luck that "their" olympics happened to be in a very controversial country. I feel like the Olympic committe made a bit of a miss-step in choosing China and it is the athletes that are being penalized. I will watch because the Olympics challenges us to put politics to the side and be inspired by the human spirit.

And, paradoxically, letting China host the Olympics has caused more debates about Tibet and human rights. All tv stations around the world play reports about how human rights are violated. So, at the end of the day, perhaps drawing everyone´s eyes to China did more good than not granting them the Games would.

China spent 20 BILLION on the Olympics. 

While the UK Olympics are estimated to cost (the British taxpayer) around 10 billion.

If this REALLY IS just about sport, then when will the Olympic Committee stop this obscene waste of money and take the Olympics to a static site - maybe to it´s original origins in Greece. 

If this REALLY IS just about sport, DONT INVITE POLITICIANS TO THE OPENING CEREMONY.

If this REALLY IS just about sport, don´t kick people out of their houses forceably to build the Olympic Village, with little or no compensation.

 Oh why dont you let people have some fun and enjoy once? Do you think all that billions are wasted? lots of people are earning money in this industry... and whatever it is politicians are the member of their country aswell, so they are there to become closer with their sportsmen or women...

it is something like eurovision... why dont you try to look some positive to that... once?

But..then..

She wont be our Aenigma..will she?

 OMG!  I laughed out loud

 Your "fun" comes at a high price...

 Mine is only being expensive when i get whisky while watching

 You should have looked that in the organisation point its benefits to your econmy... lots of foreigners are coming to you, at least millions of sportsmen and women, so your tourism gets wild and live! your restaurants, textile industry everything...

now you can laugh more

 Perhaps you should check the statistics of previous Olympic hosts before making such statements.

you are right... but that is what it is supposed to be... plus statistics based on what? and which sources? this is also important

till now,,,china time 2008/08/10,  20:00,,,china has won 5 gold medals  and 2 silver medals,,,,,

CHEERSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!

A fantastic post!

Thank you.

Immature political attitude to the sports.

Politics reared its ugly head at the Olympic Games once more on Saturday after an Iranian swimmer refused to compete alongside Israeli Tom Be´eri.

Mohammad Alirezaei was due to race against Be´eri in the fourth heat of the 100 meter breaststroke, but pulled out, apparently under the orders of the chiefs of the Iranian delegation.

"This isn´t the first time this has happened and it doesn´t surprise me anymore," Olympic Committee of Israel General Secretary Efraim Zinger told The Jerusalem Post. "Politics takes precedence over sport with the Iranians and the Olympic spirit is as far from them as east is far from west.

"My heart goes out to the Iranian athletes. In the Athens Olympics one of their sportsmen, who was a gold medal favorite, had to pull out because he was drawn against an Israeli.

"There´s no place for this kind of behavior in the Olympic movement and it´s a shame it continues."

6 gold

2 silver

!!!!!!!!

ohhhhhhhhh  yeahhhhhhhhhhhh!

china has won 8 gold medals and 3 silver medals,,,, time is 2008/08/11..,,17.20 pm,,, aza aza fighting!!!!!!

china is strong,,without doubt

those medals are all Chinese made

I have to comment that I watched the opening ceremony and how impressed I was.  Usually, I get bored watching, but I will say the Chinese did a spectacular job.  Wow...............

China rules!

You are jealous!

Thank you. It was terrific!

.

London has hosted tha games twice, and the marathon distance was set in London so that it stopped right in front of the royal box.

I am impressed with the work that has been done on the Olympics in China, but ...... there is a big but, China must sort out it´s human rights issues.  But whilst the West invest heavily in China then nothing will change.  No one is critising the people who lie there, but it is the government that needs to get change its way.  Chariman Mao died long ago!

13 Golden!!!!!!!

So far Turkey´s only medal is from a female Sibel Ozkan, weightlifting.  You go girl!

I was reading about Phelps today and it was amazing

3 golden with world records wow!!! he must be swimming better than a fish

Awesome!

 I think you are only interested in her being a "girl"

Oooops!  The little girl singing at the opening ceremony was miming (no never!) and the little girl who was actually singing, was sadly, not pretty enough to be on television.  I feel so sorry for her.   But at least she has got some recognition now and the marketing people (or who ever made the decision now have egg on their faces!) and with face being so important in China, I am sure there will one or two sorry faces.

Wow, very sad... what an outright hypocrisy.

Look at this table! Amazing!

USA is the champion! 2404 medals altogether (medals from 2008 are not included).

Fantastic!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All-time_Olympic_Games_medal_count

Phelps goes 8 for 8 with 7 world records!!!!!!!!!!!   

I don´t care where you are from...............this is IMPRESSIVE!!!

http://www.nbcolympics.com/swimming/news/newsid=224695.html#its+fantastic+phelps

WWWWWWWOOOOOOWWWWWWWWW!!!!
China has won  35 gold medals already,,,,coolllllllll

time is 2008/08/17  22:00

Congratulations!!!!!!

I feel proudly for our people....

I don´t understand why the Chinese felt compelled to cheat. 

http://www.promdiliving.com/chinese-cheating-at-the-2008-beijing-olympics/

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2008/jul/30/an-age-of-liars-cheaters-in-china/

Probably because they believe that a huge number of medals will make them a super power The second article you gave link to states it - it was the same with German swimmers - remember those poor girls who were so hormonally packed that they had hair growing on their chest? A few of them had to change sex because of the experiments of the Olympic comiteee of Eastern Germany. Ive also heard that the gymnastics were not the only cheaters in the Games - female weighlifting and swimming medals are quite controversial as well.

The US could have been worse off.  If China had the same attitude to birth registration as people seem to have in Turkey (see another thread), the US could have found themselves being beaten by 16 year olds that look like geriatrics

It will be interesting to see how long the careers of these Chinese gymnasts will last.

I take it the age rule is not uniform because the UK have a 14 year old boy in a diving event.

I´m a little proud of my very tiny country: nr. 10 in the list of medaillists, with 7 golden ones, leaving much bigger countries like France, Canada, New Zealand, Egypt and .... Turkey far behind! 

 And your swimmer who won gold in the 10k had a very touching story.  He was the right person to win on the day, because what a story and what a lesson in life.

Speaking of tiny little countries, then it should be Jamaica who should really be proud of their achievements.

Population 2804332 (World 138th)

Medals: 6G, 3S, 1B

Right after your country at 11th place.

They just lost 1 more gold unluckily today (4x100 women relay).

 Do I sense some (Turkish) jealousy, si++?

I am not but I admire Jamaica for their achievements. They are the star of this Olympics.

Yes, Maarten van der Weijden was great. Hard to believe isn´t it that he suffered from cancer only 7 years ago? I watched the finish and his face, he said he couldn´t believe himself. Did you also see the pure joy on the face of one of friends, Pieter van de Hoogenband? So touching indeed.

 Hi Trudy, I am old enough to remember Fanny Blankers Koen who won 4 golds for Holland in the 1948 olympics as a 30 year old mother of two.

I was impressed by Elvan Abeylegesse who won the silver medal in both the 5K and 10K for Turkey. Mind you, she was born in Ethiopia,came to Turkey ,stayed and became a citizen by marrying a Turk. (she is now divorced,apparently) A good result!

Great story.

http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/beijing/track_field/news?slug=cr-somalirunners082408&prov=yhoo&type=lgns