The 2008 Beijing Olympics was the 22nd time the Olympics were held in a nation and the 3rd time they were held in Asia. China invested heavily in facilities and transportation for the Games. Michael Phelps won 8 gold medals in swimming and broke the single Olympics gold medal record. A variety of sports were featured including archery, fencing, shooting, weightlifting, wrestling and swimming. Over 100 men and women participated in fencing while shooting can be traced back to contests that improved hunting skills.

1. China 2008 Beijing Olympics

2. 2008 Beijing Olympics China was the 22 nd nation to hold the Olympics. The International Olympic Committee first told China they would be hosting the 2008 Olympics on July 13, 2001. It was the 3 rd time the Olympics had been held in Asia since the first time in 1988. Chinese government invested heavily in new facilities and transportation systems. 43 new world records were set and 132 Olympic records were set.

3. Olympic sports Archery Fencing Shooting Weightlifting Wrestling Swimming

4. Swimming Swimming is a very popular sport in the Olympics American swimmer Michael Phelps brought home 8 gold medals in the 2008 Beijing Olympics He also broke the record for having the most gold medals.

5. Archery Archery first appeared in the Olympics in 1900. There are ten scoring zones on a target the points you can earn on a target is ten in the center of the bulls eye. The targets are 70 meters away. Archers shoot 12 “ends” (rounds) of 6 arrows each.

6. Fencing 102 men and 102 women participated in the sport in the 2008 Beijing Olympics. The participants where protective clothing. Fencing has electric scoring. Two rivals stand opposite each other and fence until one gets enough hits. There are signs of fencing from 1200 B.C in Egypt.

7. Shooting Shooting traces back to when men had contests that involved throwing projectiles to improve their hunting skills. The international shooting sport federation (ISSF) governs shooting competitions world wide. Today the (ISSF) has a total of 156 member federations. Shooting featured at the first modern Olympic games in Athens. Both men and women compete in this competition.

8. Weight lifting In 1905 The International weightlifting federation was founded. There are many types of people who participate in this sport. For example: Junior world championships for men. Woman’s world championships. Junior woman’s world championships.

9. Wrestling Olympic wrestling has two different types of wrestling. Freestyle-which doesn’t involve many rules. Greco-allows wrestlers to only use upper body. Both of these types are different than traditional high school wrestling (folk style).

10. 2008 Beijing Olympics In conclusion I enjoyed studying the Olympics and the culture of China.