Special Report: 2008 Olympic Games

    By Xia Xiaopeng

    BEIJING, Aug. 19 (Xinhuanet) --  Want to know what time the first round of men's and women's tennis airs on TV or via online video? Need to find out Chinese basketball superstar Yao Ming's hometown?

    Want to find out who set the Olympic record for the 100m women's freestyle in the Stockholm 1912 Olympic Games or try to find a place in Beijing that makes good Beijing Duck?

    Xinhuanet has the answers. It is a haven and resource for the Olympics-obsessed as well as the mild-mannered casual viewers around the world.

Photo Gallery>>>

    Looking back to the history, no Olympic Games had witnessed such a deep involvement of the Internet as in the Beijing Olympic Games. The interactivity between the Internet and the Olympics provides an "Internet Olympic feast" for the netizens.

     The International Olympic Committee (IOC) authorized CCTV.com as the only official Internet/mobile broadcaster of the 2008 Summer Olympic Games, which therefore owns exclusive rights to the broadcast of all audio and video content via online and mobile distribution channels across  China's mainland and Macao. The Internet has obtained the same rights as the traditional newspapers and TV.

    According to a latest poll, near 80 percent of the interviewees are likely to choose the new media especially the Internet to get the information of Beijing Olympic Games.

    Most Olympics-related web sites include the latest news, event results, details of each sport's history and rules, athlete biographies, profiles, features, event schedules, TV schedules, online schedules, photographs, video clips and Olympic history.

     "Look at the web site of Xinhua, you see the latest news, you see the gold medals and you see all the excitement of the Olympic games," said Jacques Rogge, the President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) during a recent interview at Xinhuanet.

    It is the first time for an IOC head to praise publicly a web site's coverage of the Olympic Games.

 

Jacques Rogge, president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), visits the office of Xinhua News Agency at the Main Press Center (MPC) in Beijing, China, August 14, 2008. (Xinhuanet Photo) Photo Gallery>>>

    As the online news service of Xinhua News Agency, the host news agency of the 29th Olympic Games, Xinhuanet provides Olympic-related news services around the clock without in six languages -- Chinese, English, Spanish, French, Russian and Arabic -- to netizens in more than 200 countries and regions.

    It has adopted an all-media approach in its release of news, including text, photos, graphics, audio, video, short message, MMS, WAP, electronic magazine and RSS etc.

     The Xinhuanet has created a lot of "firsts" in the field of Chinese Internet in this Olympics coverage: It aerial-filmed the city of Beijing, sending back three-hour video; it had an interactive report with the North Pole, sending the benediction from icebreaker Xuelong, or the Snow Dragon at the first time; it sent out the mobile paper of the opening ceremony without any delay.

     According to the latest statistics, from the beginning of the games, Xinhuanet has sent out 60,000 texts and 70,000 photos. It has the most timely report of every medal. It also comprehensively and vividly reports all the news stories besides the events.

    Up to now, over 300 million people got information of Beijing Olympic Games via Xinhuanet and 2 billion netizens posted their comments in the Xinhua Forum.

    Because of the Internet, every people can participate in the Olympic Games. They can air their comments in the forum, they can write blogs, they can communicate with athletes through online interviews.

    "I have never dreamed of being so close to the Beijing Olympic Games," said a Xinhuanet user. "The Internet makes me enjoy the Olympics."

    There is no sporting event in the world that can rival the Olympics in terms of bringing together people of different backgrounds and transcending their differences in political systems, ideologies, races, complexion and cultures. Athletes coming from around the world compete under the same blue sky, under the Olympic Flag and under the Olympic motto "Citius, Altius, Fortius, or "Faster, Higher, Stronger."

    Indeed the gathering is an arena for athletes to realize their glory and dreams and a festival for all mankind to share friendship and enjoy peace.

    The slogan of the Beijing Olympics "One World, One Dream" symbolizes the Olympic spirit of peace, friendship and progress, reflects the world trend and delivers mankind's perennial expectations: progress and peace, coexistence in harmony and harmonious development.     

    Hosting the Olympics is a century-old aspiration of the Chinese people, and the Internet makes it more beautiful.