Beijing 2008 Summer Olympics Opening Ceremony

begins tomorrow at 8.08pm (Beijing time GMT +8),

8th of August (8th month) 2008.

- Beijing Games of the XXIX Olympiad - [Image: Wikipedia]

This blog courtesy of my co-authored blog, Malaysia City (http://www.malaysiacity.wordpress.com/).

In association with BeijingUpdates.com (http://www.beijingupdates.com/).

Special thanks to SSC World & China Forums and forumers ; China Daily Online Public Gallery ; SportsPhoto China ; Soho.cn ; The Beijing Organizing Committee official website ; Olympic Committee of China website ; Xinhua Online (Xinhuanet) ; South China Morning Post ; others.

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- Welcome to Beijing Theme Song for the 2008 Olympics -

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...Fun Stuffs...

- Games card -

- Clothes rack at Olympic Village -

- Mischievous mascots -

- Olympic poster and money -

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...Girls cheerleading...

- Caught at training -

- More than 200 teams of cheerleading -

- Chinese cheerleaders for beach volleyball -

- Chinese cheerleaders for basketball -

- Beijing cheerleaders -

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...Beijing in Pictures...

- Beijing International Terminal III, the world's largest and larger than London's Heathrow Airport five terminals combined -

- Tian'anmen Square -

- Guards -

- Old charm -

- Olympic venues -

- Side view of International Broadcast Center, Beijing -

- Green Olympic Village -

- Beijing Green Olympic Park -

- Rehearsal -

- Fireworks rehearsal -

- Beijing CBD and CCTV Tower -

- Beijing National Grand Theatre -

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...Some Olympic Venues...

Beijing National Stadium "The Bird's Nest" - athletics, soccer

Capacity : 91,000

Beijing National Aquatics Center "The Water Cube" - swimming, diving, synchronized swimming

Capacity : 17,000

Beijing National Indoor Stadium - artistic gymnastics, trampoline, handball

Capacity : 19,000

Beijing University of Technology Gymnasium - badminton, rhythmic gymnastics

Capacity: 7,500

Beijing Laoshan Velodrome - cycling

Capacity : 6,000

Beijing Wukeseong Olympic Gymnasium - basketball

Capacity : 18,000

China Agricultural University Gymnasium - wrestling

Capacity : 8,200

Beijing Olympic Green Tennis Court - tennis

Total capacity : 17,400

Olympic Sports Center Stadium and Yingdong Natatorium - modern pentathlon, water polo

Olympic Sports Center Stadium - modern pentathlon

Capacity : 40,000

Beijing Greens Shooting Range - shooting

Beijing Chaoyang Workers' Stadium - soccer (one of the 3 venues in Beijing, besides other cities)

Capacity : 70,200

Peking University Gymnasium - table tennis

Capacity : 8,000

Capital Indoor Stadium - volleyball

Capacity : 18,000

Beijing Institute of Technology Gymnasium - volleyball

Capacity : 5,000

Beijing University of Aeronautics & Astronautics Gymnasium - weightlifting

Capacity : 6,000

Beijing Science and Technology University Gymnasium - judo, taekwondo

Capacity : 8,000

Beijing Shunyi Olympic Rowing-Canoeing Park - rowing, canoe/kayak/slalom, aquatic marathon

Beijing Chaoyang Park - beach volleyball

Tianjin Olympic Stadium - soccer

Capacity : 60,000

Shenyang Olympic Stadium - soccer

Capacity : 60,000

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Co-host Cities : (soccer) - Tianjin ; Shenyang ; Shanghai ; Qinhuangdao ; (sailing) - Qingdao ; (equestrian) - Hong Kong

Total Estimated Costs for the Games = US$40+ billion

Sources say the opening ceremony tomorrow will be the most spectacular ever seen in the history of the Olympics.

Things to anticipate [keywords]: light, fire, flying, floating, whale, globe, medieval, thousands of performers etc

About 80 state leaders and royalties are expected to attend the ceremony including US President, French President, Japan's Prime Minister, Russian Prime Minister, Australia's Prime Minister and Malaysia's King and Queen. British Prime Minister will attend the closing ceremony. 202 teams will be participating in this Olympics.

For more Olympic photos, visit: http://malaysiacity.wordpress.com/tag/beijing/.

THE END