2008 Summer Paralympics

Venues

Main article: 2008 Summer Olympics venues, Olympic Green

Nineteen competition venues were selected—seventeen in Beijing, one in Hong Kong, and one in Qingdao.

1. Beijing National Stadium (Bird Nest) - Athletics, Opening and closing ceremonies
2. Beijing National Aquatics Center (Water Cube) - Swimming
3. Beijing National Indoor Stadium (Fan) - Wheelchair basketball
4. Fencing Gymnasium of Olympic Green Convention Centre - Boccia, Wheelchair fencing
5. Olympic Green Archery Field - Archery
6. Olympic Green Hockey Field - Football 5-a-side, Football 7-a-side
7. Olympic Green Tennis Centre (Flowers) - Wheelchair tennis
8. Peking University Gymnasium - Table tennis
9. Beihang University Gymnasium - Powerlifting
10. China Agricultural University Gymnasium - Sitting volleyball
11. Beijing Science and Technology University Gymnasium - Wheelchair rugby
12. Beijing Institute of Technology Gymnasium - Goalball
13. Beijing Shooting Range Hall - Shooting
14. Laoshan Velodrome - Cycling (track)
15. Workers Gymnasium - Judo
16. Shunyi Olympic Rowing-Canoeing Park - Rowing
17. Triathlon Venue - Cycling (road)
18. Hong Kong Equestrian Venues - Equestrian
19. Qingdao International Sailing Centre - Sailing

Symbols

Emblem

The Games's emblem, "Sky, Earth, and Human Beings" (), was unveiled in July 2004, a multicolored Chinese character "之" () stylized as an athletic figure in motion. Its red, blue and green colors represent sun, sky and earth.

Slogan

The slogan was the same as the 2008 Summer Olympics, "One World, One Dream".

Mascots

The mascot was a cartoon cow named Fu Niu Lele (), roughly meaning "Lucky Ox 'Happy'".

Theme song

The theme song was "Flying with the Dream" . It was performed by Chinese-Tibetan singer Han Hong and Hong Kong singer and actor Andy Lau.

Torch relay

Main article: 2008 Summer Paralympics torch relay

The torch relay of the 2008 Summer Paralympics started from Tian Tan (Temple of Heaven) on August 28. The flame then gathered before The Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests (祈年殿) and followed two routes (the "Route of Ancient China" and the "Route of Modern China"). Both routes returned to Beijing on September 5, and the torch was flamed at the National Stadium during the Opening Ceremony on September 6.

The Games

Opening ceremony

Main article: 2008 Summer Paralympics opening ceremony, 2008 Summer Paralympics national flag bearers

The opening ceremony took place on September 6, 2008. The pre-ceremony performance was a succession of various musical performances, ranging from military music to folk music and a performance of Ode to Joy. Following a countdown, a fireworks display signalled the beginning of the ceremony proper. The national flag of China was then raised, in accordance with usual protocol, and the national anthem of China performed. Performers wearing suits in bright colours paraded round the stadium, as a welcoming ceremony preceding the athletes' entry. As with the 2008 Summer Olympics, the ceremony included a parade of nations, with a flag bearer for each national team. Contrary to Olympic tradition, the national team of Greece did not enter first, as the Paralympic Games traces its roots to Stoke Mandeville rather than Olympia; the host country, as is customary in both Olympic and Paralympic Games, came last. As Chinese is written in characters and not letters, the order of the teams' entry was determined by the number of strokes in the first character of their respective countries' Simplified Chinese names. Countries with the same number of strokes in the first character are sorted by those of the next character. This made Guinea (几内亚) the first country to enter as it takes two strokes to write the first character in the country's name (几). Following the athletes' parade, a performance took place, divided into chapters and sub-chapters entitled the "Journey of Space" and "Journey of Life". The sunbird performance entailed Yang Haitao (杨海涛), a singer with a visual impairment, singing about dreams while an acrobat in sunbird costume descended in simulated flight from the air and "awakened the blind singer from his sleep". The ceremony concludes with Hou Bin, the first Chinese paralympian to be three-time champion consecutively in the same event, lifted himself and his wheelchair up on a rope by strength of arms to the top of Beijing National Stadium, where he lit the cauldron to mark the beginning of the Games.

Closing ceremony

Main article: 2008 Summer Paralympics closing ceremony

The 2008 Summer Paralympics closing ceremony was held at the Beijing National Stadium. It began at 8:00 pm China Standard Time (UTC+8) on September 17, 2008.

Sports

The programme of the 2008 Summer Paralympics featured events in 20 sports. The number of events in each sport is noted in parentheses.

• [[File:Archery pictogram (Paralympics).svg|17px|class=skin-invert]] Archery (9) ()
• [[File:Athletics pictogram (Paralympics).svg|17px|class=skin-invert]] Athletics (160) ()
• [[File:Boccia pictogram (Paralympics).svg|17px|class=skin-invert]] Boccia (7) ()
• [[File:Cycling (road) pictogram (Paralympics).svg|17px|class=skin-invert]] Paralympic cycling ()
  • [[File:Cycling (road) pictogram (Paralympics).svg|20px|class=skin-invert]] Road (30)
  • [[File:Cycling (track) pictogram (Paralympics).svg|20px|class=skin-invert]] Track (13)
• [[File:Equestrian pictogram.svg|17px|class=skin-invert]] Equestrian (11) ()
• [[File:Football 5-a-side pictogram (Paralympics).svg|17px|class=skin-invert]] Football 5-a-side (1) ()
• [[File:Football 7-a-side pictogram (Paralympics).svg|17px|class=skin-invert]] Football 7-a-side (1) ()
• [[File:Goalball pictogram (Paralympics).svg|17px|class=skin-invert]] Goalball (2) ()
• [[File:Judo pictogram.svg|17px|class=skin-invert]] Judo (13) ()
• [[File:Powerlifting pictogram (Paralympics).svg|17px|class=skin-invert]] Powerlifting (20) ()
• [[File:Rowing pictogram.svg|17px|class=skin-invert]] Rowing (4) ()
• [[File:Sailing pictogram.svg|17px|class=skin-invert]] Sailing (3) ()
• [[File:Shooting pictogram (Paralympics).svg|17px|class=skin-invert]] Shooting (12) ()
• [[File:Swimming pictogram (Paralympics).svg|17px|class=skin-invert]] Swimming (140) ()
• [[File:Table tennis pictogram.svg|17px|class=skin-invert]] Table tennis (24) ()
• [[File:Sitting volleyball pictogram (Paralympics).svg|17px|class=skin-invert]] Volleyball (2) ()
• [[File:Wheelchair basketball pictogram (Paralympics).svg|17px|class=skin-invert]] Wheelchair basketball (2) ()
• [[File:Wheelchair fencing pictogram (Paralympics).svg|17px|class=skin-invert]] Wheelchair fencing (10) ()
• [[File:Wheelchair rugby pictogram (Paralympics).svg|17px|class=skin-invert]] Wheelchair rugby (1) ()
• [[File:Wheelchair tennis pictogram (Paralympics).svg|17px|class=skin-invert]] Wheelchair tennis (6) ()

Rowing made its first appearance in the Paralympics at these games.

Calendar

Participating NPCs

The following National Paralympic Committees sent delegations to compete. Macau and the Faroe Islands are members of the International Paralympic Committee, but not of the International Olympic Committee; hence they participate in the Paralympic Games but not in the Olympics.

Burundi, Gabon, Georgia, Haiti, Montenegro and Serbia participated in the Paralympics for the first time.

Botswana was due to take part, but its single athlete, defending Paralympic champion sprinter Tshotlego Morama, withdrew prior to the Games due to injury. The country's last-minute attempt to field other athletes in her place was rejected, as they did not meet the requirement of having participated in international events.

Medal count

Main article: 2008 Summer Paralympics medal table

This table is based on the medal count of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC).

The ranking is sorted primarily by the number of gold medals earned by a National Paralympic Committee. The number of silver medals is taken into consideration next and then the number of bronze medals. If countries are still tied, equal ranking is given and they are listed alphabetically by IPC Country Code.

Events highlights

Main article: 2008 Summer Paralympics highlights

International [[television]]

• Australia – ABC1 and ABC2.
• Brazil – SporTV2 and Terra Networks.
• Canada – Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) in English and Société Radio Canada (SRC) in French.
• People's Republic of China – Chinese Central Television (CCTV) provided coverage on CCTV-1 (opening and closing ceremony), CCTV-5 and CCTV-7 as all direct live telecast transmission.
• France – Eurosport
• Japan – NHK's NHK General TV provided coverage on JOAK-1
• Azerbaijan – AZTV
• Norway – NRK
• Sweden – Sveriges Television
• Turkey – TRT
• United States of America – Universal Sports
• United Kingdom – BBC provided coverage on BBC Television's BBC One.

In France, following the Games, Philippe Juvin, national secretary of the governing Union for a Popular Movement, accused national public television network France Télévisions of having practiced "segregation" by providing live coverage of the Beijing Olympics but only ten-minute daily summaries of events, outside prime time, for the Beijing Paralympics. France Télévisions replied that it would take Juvin to court for slander.

References

References

1. [http://www.paralympic.org/paralympic-games/beijing-2008 "Beijing 2008"], [[International Paralympic Committee]]
2. link. (September 14, 2008 , Canadian Paralympic Committee, July 8, 2008.)
3. (September 17, 2008). "IPC chief: "These are greatest Paralympic Games ever" _English_Xinhua". News.xinhuanet.com.
4. "Competition Venues – The Official Website of the Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games". The Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad.
5. "Beijing Paralympics Emblem – The Official Website of the Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games".
6. "Introduction to the Design of Fu Niu Lele – The Official Website of the Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games".
7. (September 6, 2008). "Beijing Paralympic theme song shows love for life". Xinhua.
8. [http://en.paralympic.beijing2008.cn/ceremonies/headlines/n214589186.shtml "Full Coverage: The Opening Ceremony of the Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games"] {{webarchive. link. (September 6, 2008 , Xinhua, September 6, 2008.)
9. "Opening Ceremony plan released – The Official Website of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games".
10. Peopledaily. "[http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90001/90776/90883/6494720.html Peopledaily.com]." ''China opens Beijing Paralympic Games in celebration of life and humanity.'' Retrieved on September 14, 2008.
11. English People's Daily. "[http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90001/90779/90867/6501442.html People's daily]." ''2008 Olympics Closing Ceremony – Beijing.'' Retrieved on September 28, 2008.
12. Gibson, Owen. (25 August 2012). "Paralympics organisers feel London is launchpad for mass-market Games". [[The Guardian]].
13. [http://www.paralympic.org/release/Main_Sections_Menu/News/Press_Releases/Flagbearers_List_Opening_Ceremony_Final_5_Sept1.pdf Official list] {{webarchive. link. (September 9, 2008 , International Paralympic Committee.)
14. [https://archive.today/20121130125415/http://72.167.255.126/index.php?sid=8&aid=33&dir=2008/September/Friday5 "Botswna locked out of Paralympics"], ''Mmegi'', September 5, 2008
15. [http://www.lejdd.fr/cmc/media/200838/paralympiques-l-ump-accuse_150237.html "Paralympiques: L'UMP accuse"] {{Webarchive. link. (September 21, 2008 , ''Journal du dimanche'', September 19, 2008.)
16. [http://www.lemonde.fr/web/depeches/0,14-0,39-37006835@7-58,0.html "Jeux paralympiques: France TV va attaquer Juvin (UMP) pour diffamation"] {{Webarchive. link. (September 22, 2008 , Agence France-Presse, September 18, 2008.)