2008
22
Aug
Gordon Brown, Britain’s Prime Minister, finally made it to Beijing to watch the tail end of the games and to attend the closing ceremony.Needless to say, given Brown’s penchant for attracting bad luck, some wags have pointed out that his arrival will h…
2008
21
Aug
Jacques Rogge, the president of the International Olympic Committee, has criticised the double gold medallist Usain Bolt for unsporting behaviour following his victories in the 100m and 200m.In the final part of the 100m race Bolt slowed down and turne…
2008
19
Aug
All good things come to an end, so it is with the Olympics as thoughts now turn to the closing ceremony in Beijing on 24th August.Spanish tenor Placido Domingo will perform with Chinese soprano star Song Zuying on the last day. Following on from the fu…
2008
18
Aug
Before the Olympics began, Beijing Olympic organisers claimed that that all the 6.8 million tickets to Olympic events had been sold.However, it seems that there are empty seats in the Bird’s Nest and other venues.Organisers are trying to “save face” by…
2008
16
Aug
The hypocrisy of some parts of the western media appears to know no bounds when it comes to having a go at China.On Friday, reports emerged that the children who carried the Chinese flag in a show of national unity at the Beijing opening ceremonies wer…
2008
15
Aug
Contrary to the expectations of some people before the games, the air quality in Beijing has actually been reasonably good thanks to the anti pollution measures taken by the authorities and a heavy storm that blew it away.The skies above Beijing are cu…
2008
14
Aug
Wei Wang, the secretary general of the Beijing organising committee, expressed his displeasure about the behaviour of some members of the international media for coming to China “to peek, to be critical, to dig into the small details and find fault” in…
2008
12
Aug
Having basked in the glow of excellent viewing figures, NBC and the Beijing Olympic Committee are now having to face accusations from some quarters over fakery wrt their broadcast of the Beijing Olympics opening ceremony.The organisers have been accuse…
2008
11
Aug
The opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics pulled in a record number of TV viewers around the world.NBC in the USA, despite not showing the event live and delaying it to primetime, managed to score its highest ever rating (over 34 million viewers) fo…
2008
9
Aug
Mindful of criticism over the lack of free speech during the Beijing Olympics, China has authorised the right of protest in specially designated “protest zones” dotted around Beijing.They are hidden away in hard-to reach suburbs, seven miles from the m…