The 2008 Summer Olympics (2008年夏季奥运会), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad (第二十九届夏季奥林匹克运动会) and officially branded as Beijing 2008 (北京2008), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 National Olympic Committees (NOCs) competed in 28 sports and 302 events, one event more than those scheduled for the 2004 Summer Olympics. This was the first time China had hosted the Olympic Games, and the third time the Summer Olympic Games had been held in East Asia, following the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo, Japan, and the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, South Korea. These were also the second Summer Olympic Games to be held in a communist state, the first being the 1980 Summer Olympics in the Soviet Union.
Zhang Ning is a former Chinese badminton player. She won the Olympic gold medal twice for women's singles in both 2004 and 2008. She has played badminton on the world scene since the mid-1990s and has been particularly successful since 2002 while in her late twenties and early thirties, relatively late for singles at the highest level, and especially for top players in the Chinese system who are developed very early. She is known for her consistency of shot, deception and constant pressure, dictating the pace of rallies and working her opponents in all four corners of the court. She is the only female player to win consecutive Olympic singles gold medals. She also became World champion in 2003 and has a total of five medals of all colours in the competition.
Badminton had its debut as an official medal sport at the 1992 Summer Olympics. It was held from 28 July to 4 August 1992. Four events were held in the first competition of the sport: men's singles, women's singles, men's doubles, and women's doubles. Badminton was contested in the Pavelló de la Mar Bella. 36 nations entered competitors, with a total of 177 entrants. Asian nations won fifteen of the sixteen medals, with their dominance being broken only by Denmark's bronze medal in the men's singles.
At the 2008 Summer Olympics, the Archery competitions were held between 9 August and 15 August, at the Olympic Green Archery Field, a temporary venue on the Olympic Green, Beijing's Olympic Park.
Athletics at the 2008 Summer Olympics were held during the last ten days of the games, from August 15 to August 24, 2008, at the Beijing National Stadium. The Olympic sport of athletics is split into four distinct sets of events: track and field events, road running events, and racewalking events.
The swimming competitions at the 2008 Summer Olympics took place from 9 to 17 August 2008 at the Beijing National Aquatics Centre. The newly introduced open water marathon events (10 km) were held on 20 and 21 August 2008 at Shunyi Olympic Rowing-Canoeing Park.
Baseball at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing was held from August 13 to August 23. All games were played at Wukesong Baseball Field, a temporary venue constructed at the Beijing Wukesong Culture & Sports Center. For the third time in Olympic competition, professional baseball players were eligible to participate, though no active players from Major League Baseball were available.
Diving competitions at the Beijing 2008 Summer Olympics were held from August 10 to August 23, at the Beijing National Aquatics Centre.
China's participation in the Olympic games is relatively recent. The People's Republic of China sent its first full athletic delegation to the Summer Olympic Games in the 1984 Summer Olympics which was held in Los Angeles, United States.
Yu Yang is a retired Chinese badminton player specializing in doubles. She is an Olympic Games gold medalist, three time World Champion and four time Asian Champion. Yu was part of the China winning team in four Sudirman Cup, three Uber Cup, two Asian Games, and in a Asia Team Championships.
The Indonesia National Badminton Team represents Indonesia in international badminton team competitions and is controlled by the Badminton Association of Indonesia, the governing body for badminton in Indonesia. Indonesia is one of the only two countries beside China who has won all badminton discipline in the Olympic Games.
The 2014 Summer Youth Olympics, officially known as the II Summer Youth Olympic Games Chinese: 第二届夏季青年奧林匹克运动会; pinyin: Dì'èrjiè Xiàjì Qīngnián Àolínpǐkè Yùndònghuì, and commonly known as Nanjing 2014, were the second Summer Youth Olympic Games, an international sports, education and cultural festival for teenagers, held from 16 to 28 August 2014 in Nanjing, China. These were the first Youth Olympic Games held in China, making it the first country to host both regular and Youth Olympics following the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.
The women's beach volleyball tournament at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing was held from August 9 to August 21, at the Beach Volleyball Ground at Chaoyang Park.
The men's Olympic beach volleyball tournament at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing took place at the Beach Volleyball Ground at Chaoyang Park from August 9 to August 22.
The cycling competitions at the 2012 Olympic Games in London took place at five venues between 28 July and 12 August. The venues were the London Velopark for track cycling and BMX, and Hadleigh Farm, in Essex, for mountain biking. The road races took place over a course starting and ending in The Mall in central London and heading out into Surrey, while the time trials started and finished at Hampton Court Palace in Richmond upon Thames. Eighteen events were contested and around 500 athletes participated.
The National Stadium (国家体育场), a.k.a. the Bird's Nest (鸟巢), is a stadium at Olympic Green in Chaoyang, Beijing, China. The National Stadium, covering an area of 204,000 square meters with 91,000 capacity, broke ground in December 2003, officially started construction in March 2004, and was completed in June 2008.
The badminton tournaments at the 2012 Olympic Games in London took place between 28 July and 5 August at Wembley Arena.
Chloe Noelle Magee is an Irish professional badminton player. She represented her country at the Olympic Games for three consecutive times in 2008 Beijing, 2012 London, and 2016 Rio de Janeiro. At the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, she became the first Irish woman to win a badminton match at the Olympics. She has been described as "the poster girl for Irish badminton". Together with her brother Sam Magee, she clinched a bronze medal at the 2017 European Championships, became Ireland's first medal at the European Badminton Championship. The duo also captured the bronze medals at the 2015 and 2019 European Games.
The badminton tournaments at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo took place between 24 July and 2 August 2021. A total of 172 athletes competed in five events: men's singles, men's doubles, women's singles, women's doubles, and mixed doubles.
The curling competitions of the 2022 Winter Olympics were held at the Beijing National Aquatics Centre, one of the Olympic Green venues. Curling competitions were scheduled for every day of the games, from February 2 to February 20. This was the eighth time that curling was part of the Olympic program.
