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A year ago today – 8 August 2008 – the Beijing Games got underway. As IOC President Jacques Rogge described them 16 days later, they were truly exceptional. A record 204 National Olympic Committees (NOC) participated. Athletes from 87 NOCs won medals – the most ever. Some 61,700 hours of Beijing 2008 dedicated coverage was aired globally The Beijing 2008 web site received 105.7 million unique visitors in August 2008 alone. And the general operations of the Games were among the best in recent Games history, giving athletes and spectators the experience of a lifetime. The Games left more than just memories of 16 days of competition. They left a legacy that will last for many years to come. 
 
400 Million Children
The social legacy of the Games can be seen in a number of areas. Over 400 million children in 400,000 Chinese schools learnt about Olympic values as part of an Olympic education campaign before the Games. Thanks to the Games, Beijing has a new disease prevention and control system and a new awareness of the need for accessible building construction.  Following up on the excellent work of Games volunteers, Beijing is looking to achieve a 20% public participation rate in volunteering within three to five years.
 
Urban & Environmental Legacy
Using the Games as a catalyst, Beijing greatly improved its public transport infrastructure and increased capacity for transit riders by 4.5 million people; these improvements have seen a general increase in the use of public transport. Six hundred million yuan was invested to repair cultural sites and relics before the Games, while 140 billion yuan was invested in improving air quality — the results are still being felt today. Many of the Beijing competition venues and other Games facilities will remain in use for years.  Six venues were located on university campuses for use by students after the Games. Beijing’s two iconic venues – the Bird’s Nest and the Water Cube – have hosted a number of events since the Games, with more in the pipeline, such as the Italian Super Cup and the Chinese National Swimming Championships.
 
Fitness for All
8 August is now Fitness for All Day across China, and 716 schools have opened up their sports facilities to the public since the Games, with more being encouraged to do so to increase athletic activity. A number of former staff of the Beijing 2008 Organising Committee have been recruited to work on the 2010 Asian Games, and many Games experienced workforce members are now employed by the State Sport General Administration, giving China the benefit of a highly experienced sports workforce.
 
Tourist Destination
As well as serving the Games, the infrastructure improvements in Beijing have made the city more attractive for business and tourism. Domestic tourism is up significantly since Games time, with the Olympic Green becoming a new tourist destination, as millions of people have visited it since the Games concluded.
 
Beijing 2008
The Games of the XXIX Olympiad – Beijing 2008 took place from 8 to 24 August 2008. Approximately 10,500 athletes competed in 28 summer sports. Some 28,000 media relayed the story of the Games to their home audiences around the world.
Relive the Beijing Games here.

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Almost one year after the event, medals are still being awarded for the Beijing Games. Three of its state-of-the-art venues have been awarded two gold medals and a bronze medal, respectively, at the 2009 IOC/IAKS Awards (IAKS: International Association for Sport and Leisure Facilities), as well as two International Paralympic Committee (IPC)/IAKS Distinctions. And the big winner is the Olympic stadium in Beijing, better known worldwide as the “Bird’s Nest”, which took the  gold medal in the “Stadia” category and the IPC/IAKS Distinction for Accessibility for its outstanding facilities for athletes and spectators with a disability. The National Aquatics Centre, also known as the Water Cube, took the other gold, while the Beijing Olympic Green Tennis Centre was given bronze.
 
Creating a lasting environmental legacy
Architecture contributes to the success of the Olympic Games and, by extension, to the creation of a sustainable sporting, city and cultural legacy which benefits the community, region, host country and city, and, ideally, other countries. A report by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) entitled “Beijing 2008 Olympic Games – Final Environmental Assessment” concludes that the Beijing Games marked a step forward in terms of eco-friendly mass-spectator sporting events. The Beijing Games significantly raised the bar of incorporating sustainability in planning, design and construction principles for Olympic venues.  In close partnership with UNEP, Beijing’s Green Olympics Commitment was achieved through its action for environmental technologies, policies, ozone layer protection, and the promotion of environmental education and awareness, among others. The UNEP report also said the Olympic Games accelerated the introduction of energy-efficient infrastructure in Beijing, and the Games’ showcasing of best practices in clean energy and energy efficiency “provided a basis for the organisers of other mass events to learn from”.
 
Sport, a source of inspiration for architecture
Beside the competition itself and the achievements of the athletes, sport can also be home to human ingenuity and creativity. There are great examples of Olympic venues that demonstrate how sport can inspire architects to create fascinating constructions, where technical innovation meets creative imagination. Indeed, sports facilities are no longer just landmarks in a city but have also become historic places, real works of art, that one can visit and whose names resonate worldwide thanks to the genius of the architect and engineers behind them. In Beijing, a conscious choice was made to choose spectacular designs that would undoubtedly become international architecture icons, such as the Bird’s Nest and the National Aquatics Centre.
 
Record number of entries
The IOC/IAKS Award is the only international architecture competition for sports and leisure activities. After 20 years of existence, in 2009 this competition set a new participation record, with 117 teams of operators and designers from 26 countries. This reflects the increasing awareness of how quality sports facilities can be constructed and served as the best catalyst to regenerate and develop sport and sports-related leisure activities in the world. It also highlights the importance of sports and leisure facilities for human enjoyment, health and education, and reiterates that the best sports facilities should be made available in the sports world. For the IPC/IAKS Distinction, 54 entries were received - also a new all-time high. The international jury included, beside IAKS representatives, architects, engineers, landscape designers and sports scientists, including IOC member Ching-Kuo Wu, an architect by training.
 
Related stories
IOC/IAKS Award and IPC/IAKS Distinction 2009
IPC, IAKS and IOC Award Prizes for Sports Facilities (only in English)
 Learn more about the promotion of sustainable development

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During its final meeting of 2008, the IOC Executive Board (EB) heard updates on the progress of the Games projects from the CEOs of the Organising Committees (OCOGs) of Vancouver 2010 and Sochi 2014. These reports supplemented the briefings given to the EB by the Coordination Commission Chairmen of the Beijing, Vancouver, London and Sochi Games.
 
Approval
The OCOG reports covered a wide range of topics related to the Games, including venue construction and project management updates. The Vancouver report, made by John Furlong, also saw VANOC ask and receive approval for, among other items, its Cultural Olympiad programme in 2010. Sochi CEO Dmitry Chernychenko was joined by Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Kozak as they underlined the development of the Sochi Games over the past few months and the strong support that the Games have within Russia.
 
Good progress across the board
The reports from the Coordination Commission Chairmen also pointed out the good progress that is being made across the board in all of the different Games projects. Beijing 2008 Coordination Commission Chairman Hein Verbruggen reported back to the EB on the success of the Beijing Games, as well as the successful IOC Official Debriefing of the Beijing 2008 Games, which was held in London two weeks ago.
 
Organising Committee
The organisation of the Olympic Games is entrusted by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to the National Olympic Committee (NOC) of the country of the host city as well as to the host city itself. The NOC forms, for that purpose, an Organising Committee for the Olympic Games (OCOG) The OCOG must comply with the Olympic Charter, the contract entered into between the IOC, the National Olympic Committee and the host city (Host City Contract) and the instructions of the IOC Executive Board. Nowadays, the Organising Committees have turned into enormous administrative entities employing hundreds of people. The Organising Committee starts its work with a period of planning, followed by a period of organisation which culminates in the staging of the Games.

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IOC President Jacques Rogge has spoken in London on the role of the Olympic Movement in getting young people to lead physically active, healthy lifestyles, and the impact of the global credit crunch on the Olympic Games.

Giving the second annual de Coubertin Lecture to an audience of leading figures from the worlds of sport, arts and culture, the President said that it was “vital” that the Olympic Movement focuses on getting young people around the world into sport: “I believe that catching the sports bug simply helps you cope with life better. It encourages you to value yourself, and your body. It equips you for learning, and improves your ability to think and create.”

Hooking young people on sport
Presented by London 2012 in conjunction with the Royal Society of Arts and the British Olympic Foundation, the de Coubertin lecture is a landmark opportunity to promote the role of Olympism in society. The President used the event, on the eve of the Beijing Debrief, to link the UK’s proud Olympic history with the chance the 2012 Games provides to address inequalities in society.

Increased physical activity was vital if younger generations were to avoid the health consequences of a “sitting down” lifestyle said the President. “British children spend 5 hours and 20 minutes a day glued to a screen. Young people are playing sport less, they are spending more time in cars, and the consequence is more obesity and greater problems.”

Technology’s challenge and opportunity
It was vital to use the digital revolution to inspire more young people to take up sport and become active. “New technologies present a challenge, but they also give us new opportunities to engage and interact. On the internet today, people don’t simply sit passively watching content – they create it and share it.”

London’s imaginative logo and adventurous cultural and sporting initiatives showed that they understood this, said the President. “London’s vision places sport and athletes at the heart of the Games,” said the President, but puts a strong focus on “engaging young people, culture and education.”

Credit crunch
The President added that the world was going through “difficult times” economically, but that the Olympic Games “had survived difficult times before. They have survived and thrived because of what they mean to people all over the world.” The success of Beijing put the Olympic Movement on a sound footing to deal with the challenges of the coming years, and future organisers were well prepared, he added.

 Discover President Rogge’s speech (PDF)

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The IOC completed yesterday its week-long review of the Beijing 2008 Games to ensure that London and other Games Organising Committees benefit from the lessons learned in Beijing. The IOC Official Debriefing of the Beijing 2008 Games examined all planning and operational aspects of the Beijing Games to highlight best practices, as well as the challenges that were encountered.
 
Distinct Personality
“We’re delighted that the Olympic Games are returning to Great Britain, the birthplace of modern sport,” IOC President Jacques Rogge said. “Every Olympic Games has a distinct personality. The successful Games in Beijing were unique in many ways. London has its own unique assets that will ensure the success of the 2012 Games as well.” Rogge has made knowledge transfer a top priority during his tenure as IOC President. “The 2008 Games set new standards for organisation, venues and athletic performances, but we can always improve,” Olympic Games Executive Director Gilbert Felli said. “I’m confident that the London organisers will host a first-class event with a uniquely British atmosphere.”
 
Beijing Debriefing
Bringing together around 900 participants, the IOC Official Debriefing of the Beijing 2008 Games took place from 24 to 27 November 2008 in London. This event, which was attended by members of the Beijing 2008, Vancouver 2010, London 2012 and Sochi 2014 Organising Committees (OCOGs), as well as representatives of the 2016 Candidate Cities and other Games stakeholders, gave these future Games organisers the chance to learn from the experience and knowledge gained by their Beijing counterparts during their seven years of preparation. Comprising two plenary sessions, eight stakeholder sessions and 18 functional area workshops, the event looked at the planning, operational and technical elements of organising an Olympic Games, such as sport, accommodation, transport, culture, education and logistics. The debriefing also addressed the various stakeholders’ experience of groups at the Games like athletes, spectators, workforce and the media. A full technology debrief of the Games was also held in London from 20 to 22 November 2008.
 
The OGKM Programme
The Beijing Debriefing is a key component of the IOC’s Olympic Games Knowledge Management (OGKM) programme, which consists of three main sources: services, personal experience and information. The services include workshops, seminars and a network of experts with Games experience on a range of Olympic topics that the OCOGs are able to call upon throughout their lifecycle. The OCOGs are also able to gain personal experience on Games preparations and operations through the Games-time observers’ programme, the official Games Debriefing and a secondment programme, which allows staff members from future OCOGs to work on the current edition of the Olympic Games. The final element of OGKM is information, which includes elements like the Official Games Report, technical manuals, knowledge reports, a range of useful documents and publications and the IOC’s visual transfer of knowledge of photos and films. All this information is available to the OCOGs through an extranet that is managed by the IOC.

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As a key part of the IOC’s transfer of knowledge programme, the IOC Official Debrief of the Beijing 2008 Games will take place from 24 to 27 November 2008 in London. This event, which will be attended by members of the Beijing 2008, Vancouver 2010, London 2012 and Sochi 2014 Organising Committees (OCOGs), as well as representatives of the 2016 Candidate Cities and other Games stakeholders, will give these future Games organisers the chance to learn from the experience and knowledge gained by their Beijing counterparts during their seven years of preparation.
 
Experience
The event will consist of a combination of plenary discussions and side meetings, which will look at the planning, operational and technical elements of organising an Olympic Games, such as sport, accommodation, transport, culture, education and logistics. There will also be elements of the debrief addressing the various stakeholders’ experience, for participants at the Games such as athletes, spectators, workforce and the media. A full technology debrief will also be held in London the week before. A highlight of the week will be IOC President Jacques Rogge giving the 2008 Pierre de Coubertin Lecture on 24 November. Presented by London 2012 in conjunction with the Royal Society of Arts and the British Olympic Foundation, the President will deliver a speech entitled “Advancing the Games: the IOC, London 2012 and the future of de Coubertin’s Olympic Movement”.
 
The OGKM Programme
The Beijing Debrief is a key component of the IOC’s Olympic Games Knowledge Management (OGKM) programme, which consists of three main elements: services, personal experience and information. The services include workshops, seminars and a network of experts with Games experience on a range of Olympic topics that the OCOGs are able to call upon throughout their lifecycle. The OCOGs are also able to gain personal experience on Games preparations and operations through the Games-time observers’ programme, the official Games Debriefing and a secondment programme, which allows staff members from future OCOGs to work on the current edition of the Olympic Games. The final element of OGKM is information, which includes the Official Games Report, technical manuals, knowledge reports, a range of useful documents and publications and the IOC’s visual transfer of knowledge of photos and films. All this information is available to the OCOGs through an extranet that is managed by the IOC.
 
The History of OGKM
IOC President Jacques Rogge initiated the Olympic Games transfer of knowledge process in 1998 with the assistance of the IOC administration. This project was to become part of a vision that the President would drive forward following his election in 2001 to streamline the Olympic Games and to ensure that future Games organisers can apply successful practices to their own projects. The initial project led to the creation of a company called Olympic Games Knowledge Services (OGKS), whose services were subsequently regrouped under the responsibility of the IOC’s Olympic Games Department in mid-2005 under the name of OGKM.

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Sergey Bubka, IOC Member and Olympian, made sure an official Beijing 2008 Olympic torch found a new home today amid the extensive Olympic memorabilia on display at the World of  Coca-Cola in Atlanta, USA.

The Beijing Olympic torch joins a collection of Olympic memorabilia that includes seven other Olympic torches, thousands of Olympic-themed pins and artefacts dating as far back as the 1928 Olympic Games, all commemorating the 80-year partnership between Worldwide TOP Partner Coca-Cola and the Olympic Games.

Sergey Bubka, President of the National Olympic Committee of Ukraine, also holds the world record (6.15 metres) in pole vaulting and is a six-time World Champion and Olympic gold medal winner in the event. He attended the ceremony which was directed by Philip Mooney, Director of Heritage Communications, The Coca-Cola Company, who serves as the official archivist of the company.

“Coca-Cola has always embodied the shared optimism and inspiration that is so central to the Olympic Movement,” said Bubka.  “Thank you to Coca-Cola for playing such a critical role as a sponsor and representing the spirit of the Games and its enduring traditions so well for the past 80 years.”

The Coca-Cola Company has been involved in eight Olympic Torch Relays over the years”, said Mooney. “These Torch Relays bring the excitement of the Olympic Games to people directly, and we continue to share that spirit today by giving visitors to the World of Coca-Cola an opportunity to see a real Olympic torch up close. This is also part of our vision of continually refreshing the attraction so that our guests have a unique experience every time they visit.”

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The IOC intends to further analyse the samples collected this summer during the Olympic Games in Beijing. Substances that will be analysed across all sports include EPO CERA.
All samples are currently being repatriated to the WADA-accredited laboratory in Lausanne where Olympic samples are usually stored after the Games. The details of the procedure, such as the number of samples to be further analysed and the timeline, are currently being discussed with WADA.
 
As part of its zero-tolerance policy against doping, the IOC is storing samples collected during the Olympic Games for eight years. This allows the IOC to analyse samples retroactively should fully validated tests to detect new substances/methods become available.
 
"Our message is very clear. The IOC will not miss any opportunity to further analyse samples retroactively. We hope that this will work as a strong deterrent and make athletes think twice before cheating," said IOC President Jacques Rogge.
 
Some 4,770 doping tests were carried out in Beijing in the framework of the largest ever testing programme for an Olympic Games. The tests included 3,801 urine and 969 blood tests. Urine tests included 817 EPO tests, and blood tests covered 471 human Growth Hormone (hGH) tests. All the tests covered the 29-day period from 27 July until 24 August 2008. Athletes qualified for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games were tested by the World Anti-Doping Agency and BOCOG under the authority of the IOC. As a general rule, all top five finishers, plus a further two, were tested.

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The IOC Disciplinary Commission, composed of Thomas Bach (Chairman), Denis Oswald and Gerhard Heiberg, met today in Lausanne (Switzerland) on three pending doping cases from the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.
 
The meeting was convened to deal with adverse analytical findings for Vadim DEVIATOVSKIY, Belarus, silver medallist in the men’s hammer throw competition; Ivan TSIKHAN, Belarus, bronze medallist in the men’s hammer throw competition; and Adam SEROCZYNSKI, Poland, who placed fourth in the men’s kayak double (K2) 1000m event.
 
The IOC Disciplinary Commission gave the two Belarusian hammer throwers the opportunity to provide further information until 17 October 2008. The decision by the IOC Disciplinary Commission will be taken once this information has been analysed.
 
The decision concerning the Polish canoeist will be issued by the IOC Disciplinary Commission on 8 October 2008.  
   
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For further information, please contact the IOC Communications Department on +41 21 621 60 00 or e-mail: pressoffice@olympic.org.

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After 12 days of competition, the Closing Ceremony of the Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games on 17 September 2008 officially ended a period of record-breaking competition and events.
 
279 world records  
Almost 4,000 athletes from a total of 147 different countries around the world came to Beijing to compete in their respective sports. Some athletes competed in more than one event, but they all participated at an elite level. Of these 147 countries, five competed in the Paralympic Games for the first time, including Burundi, Gabon, Georgia, Haiti and Montenegro. The Games saw a total of 279 new world records set and a total of 339 new Paralympic records broken.
 
1.9 million tickets sold  
A record number of 1.9 million tickets were sold, with an additional 600,000 tickets provided to children, educational institutes and community groups. The Opening and Closing Ceremonies were sold out, as were all the swimming events and most of the athletics events.
 
One thousand doping tests conducted
Out of more than 1,000 doping tests conducted, there were three anti-doping rule violations. The doping tests performed included urine (Erythropoietin, EPO) and blood tests (Human Growth Hormone (hGH), synthetic haemoglobin (HBOC), blood transfusions (BT) and other substances.
 

 The Beijing Paralympic Games (official website) 
 Learn more about the Paralympic Games


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