2008 Summer Olympics

The **2008 Summer Olympics**, officially known as the **Games of the XXIX Olympiad**, were celebrated in Beijing, People's Republic of China from August 8 to August 24. The opening ceremony began at 08:08:08 pm CST (12:08:08 UTC) at the Beijing National Stadium in Beijing, People's Republic of China. During the games, 10,500 athletes competed in 302 events in 28 sports.

The Olympic games were awarded to Beijing after a vote of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on July 13 2001. The official logo of the games, titled "Dancing Beijing," features a stylised calligraphic character _jīng_ (京, meaning _capital_), meaning the host city. The mascots of Beijing 2008 are the five Fuwa, each representing both a colour of the Olympic rings and a symbol of Chinese culture. The Olympic slogan, _One World, One Dream_, calls upon the world to unite in the Olympic spirit. Several new NOCs were also recognised by the IOC.

The Chinese government used the games to promote China as an important and powerful country, and spent a lot of money on building new facilities and transportation systems for the games. The events were held in 37 venues, including 12 newly built buildings. In 2007, former IOC president Juan Antonio Samaranch said that he thinks that the Beijing games will be "the best in Olympic history". Although there was some controversy about having the games in China, the IOC's former president Jacques Rogge said that the IOC has "absolutely no regrets" in choosing Beijing to host the 2008 games.

## Medal table

At the end of the Olympics, China won the total gold medal count, while the United States led the grand total medal count.

Here is the top of the medal table at the end of the games.

Medal numbers shown in **bold** are the highest in their section. China, the host nation is highlighted in <span style="background:#ccf;">lavender</span>.

|style="width:60px; font-weight:bold;"|Rank|Nation||||
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|style="background:gold; width:60px; font-weight:bold;"|Gold|style="background:silver; width:60px; font-weight:bold;"|Silver|style="background:#c96; width:60px; font-weight:bold;"|Bronze|
|1|China <small>(CHN)</small>|**51**|21|28|100|
|2|United States <small>(USA)</small>|36|**38**|**36**|**110**|
|3|Russia <small>(RUS)</small>|23|21|28|72|
|4|Great Britain <small>(GBR)</small>|19|13|15|47|
|5|Germany <small>(GER)</small>|16|10|15|41|
|6|Australia <small>(AUS)</small>|14|15|17|46|
|7|South Korea <small>(KOR)</small>|13|10|8|31|
|8|Japan <small>(JPN)</small>|9|6|10|25|
|9|Italy <small>(ITA)</small>|8|10|10|28|
|10|France <small>(FRA)</small>|7|16|17|40|

## Infobox (olympic games)

- 2008
- Summer
- Olympics
- **host city**: Beijing, China
- **motto**: _One World, One Dream_
()
- **nations**: 204
- **athletes**: 10,942 (4,637 women & 6,305 men)
- **events**: 302 in 28 Olympic sports, sports (41 disciplines)
- **opening**: 8 August
- **closing**: 24 August
- **opened by**: President of the People's Republic of China, President Hu Jintao
- **cauldron**: Li Ning
- **stadium**: Beijing National Stadium
- **summer prev**: 2004 Summer Olympics, Athens 2004
- **summer next**: 2012 Summer Olympics, London 2012
- **winter prev**: 2006 Winter Olympics, Turin 2006
- **winter next**: 2010 Winter Olympics, Vancouver 2010