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Countdown to the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games

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Mongolia I could hug you! If Ulan Bator jumped up and down yesterday at a silver medal in the Women’s 25m Pistol, they must have generated a 3.0 magnitude quake when Mongolia won a gold in the Men’s up to 100kg Judo group today. It’s just a shame that I have no knowledge of Mongol otherwise I would congratulate the nation in their own language. And it doesn’t stop there, due to the cancellation of today’s events in the sailing and rowing several small nations are still in the hunt for medals (so expect my small nation medal table to have a few new names on it).

But on the subject of small nations, tomorrow is a very special day for one of them. August 15th is the national day of Liechtenstein which is one of the smallest nations in Europe with a population of just over 35,000. The Liechtenstein dynasty, from which the principality takes its name, comes from Castle Liechtenstein in faraway Lower Austria, which the family possessed from at least 1140 to the thirteenth century, and from 1807 onward. Through the centuries, the dynasty acquired vast swaths of land, predominantly in Moravia, Lower Austria, Silesia, and Styria, though in all cases, these territories were held in fief under other more senior feudal lords, particularly under various lines of the Habsburg family, to whom several Liechtenstein princes served as close advisers. Thus, and without any territory held directly under the Imperial throne, the Liechtenstein dynasty was unable to meet a primary requirement to qualify for a seat in the Imperial diet, the Reichstag.

The family yearned for the added power a seat in the Imperial government would bring, and therefore sought to acquire lands that would be unmittelbar, or held without any feudal personage other than the Holy Roman Emperor himself having rights on the land. After some time, the family was able to arrange the purchase of the minuscule Herrschaft (”Lordship”) of Schellenberg and countship of Vaduz (in 1699 and 1712 respectively) from the Hohenems. Tiny Schellenberg and Vaduz possessed exactly the political status required; no feudal lord other than their comital sovereign and the suzerain Emperor.

Thereby, on January 23, 1719, after purchase had been duly made, Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor, decreed Vaduz and Schellenberg were united, and raised to the dignity of Fürstentum (principality) with the name “Liechtenstein” in honour of “[his] true servant, Anton Florian of Liechtenstein”. It is on this date that Liechtenstein became a sovereign member state of the Holy Roman Empire. As a testament to the pure political expediency of the purchases, the Princes of Liechtenstein did not set foot in their new principality for over 120 years. As the national language is German, I would like to take this chance to wish Liechtenstein “ein sehr glücklicher Nationaltag”

Germany has won the gold medal in the dressage team event with a score of 72.916.

Silver went to Netherlands with a score of 71.750 and bronze to Denmark with a score of 68.875.

Reuters has a fantastic story on Im Dong-hyun who is a world champion archer from South Korea who is legally blind.

“He can see at 20 feet what a person with perfect vision can see at 200 feet. That makes Im legally blind.”

“I’ve practiced using glasses before but actually it makes me feel less comfortable when I shoot,” he said.

“For me, seeing the target and not seeing the target doesn’t make any difference.”

Im has already won a gold medal in the team competition and is favorite going into the men’s individual.

Everyone it seems, is impressed with the new Chinese stadiums, many saying the “best ever”. The underwater shots from the Water Cube looking up to the sky are incredible. One complaint though that most people have though is the limited food options at the venues.

I noticed it when I started going to some of test events last year. The first time I went, I took fruit, bread and drinks. but gradually they became more stricter, until I couldn’t take anything in. Which I understood from a security perspective, but the fact that I couldn’t even take a Subway sandwich in, really irked me.

My lunch would consist of a packet of chips and a Coke - not to healthy or filling. I thought at the time they would do something by the time the Olympics came around - apparently not. One thing though, they have kept prices cheap and you can even buy beers for 5RMB (less than a dollar).

In Australia and I am sure in other western countries, a huge percentage of the venue’s revenue comes from food and drink sales. Prices are expensive, but at least they have a range of snack foods.

Roger Federer is out of the Beijing Olympics after losing to James Blake from the United States.

He lost in the quarter finals this evening (Thursday). Everyone was expecting a Sunday final with Nadal and Federer.

I only heard about this after reading transcripts of the press conference with BOCOG officials.

Liu Yan a classical dancer was seriously injured and might be paralyzed after leaping to a platform that “malfunctioned” during a rehearsal for the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics.

Zhag Yimou, director of the opening ceremony had this to say:

“I feel sorry for Liu Yan, my heart is full of regrets,” he said in an interview. “I’m deeply sorry. Liu Yan is a heroine. She sacrificed a lot for the Olympics, for me, for the opening ceremony.”

You can read the article from the New York Times here: Behind the Opening Ceremony, a Paralyzing Fall

Yang Xiuli of China has won the gold medal in judo women’s -78kg class by beating Cuba’s Yalennis Castillo.

An emotional Stephanie Possamai from France won the bronze medal together with Gyeongmi Jeong from South Korea.

Tuvshinbayar Naidan from Mongolia has won the men’s 100kg judo gold medal at the Beijing Olympics, beating Askhat Zhitkeyev from Kazakhstan.

This is Mongolia’s first ever gold medal at an Olympic games.

Bronze medals went to Movlud Miraliyev from Azerbaijan and Henk Grol from the Netherlands.

Ukraine won the gold medal in the women’s team sabre at the Beijing Olympics, defeating China in a close match 45-44.

The United States won the bronze.

Mijain Lopez from Cuba has won the gold medal in the 120kg men’s greco-roman wrestling.

Khasan Baroev from Russia won the silver medal. Mindaugas Mizgaitis from Lithuania and Yuri Patrikeev from Armenia won the bronze medal.

“Cestitam , Slovenija” which if (like me) Slovene is not your native language I hope translates as “Congratulations, Slovenia!” and reason for this attempt at Slovene? Slovenia won a silver medal in the Women’s 200m Freestyle and as a result became the first small nation I am following to medal at Beijing. So once again “”Cestitam , Slovenija” but they were not the only ones today because about two hours later, Mongolia joined them. That’s right, after the upset of yesterday, Mongolia won an Olympic silver medal in the Women’s 25m Pistol. So how knows what tomorrow may bring?

In this article you can see all the correct answers to the 20 questions in our big Olympic Games Quiz, as soon as the various events are settled. You can also see which are the most popular answers. In total 278 people mailed in their answers, and itll all be settled August 24th.
Read article - [Read more]

Germany’s Britta Heidemann won the Olympic gold medal in the women’s individual epee event at the Beijing Olympics.

Heidemann defeated Ana Maria Branza of Romania. Ana Maria Branza won the silver medal.

Hungarian Ildiko Dr Mincza-Nebald beat China’s Li Na 15-11 to win the bronze medal.

To coincide with the Olympics FHM have a feature on the ten hottest women in sport, some of them are even in the Beijing Olympics. Who would you add to the list? 10. Amanda Beard Amanda Beard drew more attention at the Beijing Olympics for appearing nude in a PETA campaign . She unfortunately failed to make it [...] - [Read more]

Benjamin Philip Kleibrink from Germany has won the gold medal in the men’s individual foil.

Japan’s Yuki Ota won the silver medal and Salvatore Sanzo from Italy won the bronze.

Sa Jaehyouk from South Korea has won the gold medal in the men’s 77kg weightlifting. Li Hongli from China won the silver medal for China.

Gevorg Davtyan of Armenia took the bronze.

Ueno Masae from Japan beat Cuban Anaysi Hernandez by ippon to take the women’s 70kg judo gold medal at the Beijing Olympic Game Olympics

The bronze medal was shared by Ronda Rousey of the United States and Edith Bosch of the Netherlands.

Irakli Tsirekidze won Georgia’e second gold medal by beating Amar Benikhlef of Algeria with a shido. Amar Benikhlef wins the silver medal.

Hesham Mesbah of Egypt and Sergei Aschwanden of Switzerland both won bronze medals.

Manuchar Kvirkvelia from Georgia won the men’s greco-roman 74 kilogram wrestling by defeating Chang Yongxiang from China.

It was China’s first Olympic medal ever in the wrestling.

Christophe Guenot from France and Yavor Yanakiev from Bulgaria won bronze medals.

Steeve Guénot from France won the gold medal in the men’s greco-roman 66kg wrestling after beating Kanatbek Begaliev of Kyrgyzstan, who wins the silver medal.

Bronze medals went to Mikhail Siamionau from Belarus and Armen Vardanyan from Ukraine.