Ten cities submitted bids to host the 2008 Summer Olympics and Paralympics that were recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), five of which made the IOC Executive Committee's shortlist. The games were awarded to Beijing, China on July 13, 2001. The other shortlisted cities were Toronto, Paris, Istanbul and Osaka. Beijing won an absolute majority of votes after two rounds of voting, eliminating the need for subsequent rounds of voting. IOC delegates and the media identified a number of factors in its favor, including the size of the country, improvements in Chinese anti-doping enforcement, and its close loss to Sydney, Australia eight years earlier. In that bidding process, which chose the host city for the 2000 Summer Olympics, Beijing led every round of voting but lost in the final round to Sydney by two votes.
For the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, a total of thirty-seven venues were used. Events took place at eleven pre-existing venues, twelve new venues constructed for the Olympics, and eight temporary venues that were removed following the games. In addition, six venues outside Beijing hosted events, two of which were newly built for the Olympics.
Sailing/Yachting is an Olympic sport starting from the Games of the 1st Olympiad. With the exception of 1904 and possibly the cancelled 1916 Summer Olympics, sailing has always been included on the Olympic schedule. The Sailing program of 2008 consisted of a total of nine sailing classes. Eleven races are scheduled for each event except for the 49er class, for which 16 races are scheduled from 9 August 2008 to 21 August 2008 of the coast of the Qingdao International Sailing Centre facing the Yellow Sea. Of the 11 (16) races, 10 (15) are scheduled as opening races and one as a medal race. The sailing was done on four different types of courses.
Annemieke Marileen Bes is a sailor from the Netherlands, who represented her country for the first time at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. The Dutch Yngling helmed by Annelies Thies and crewed by Bes and Petronella de Jong took the 4th place. Bes returned to the Olympics, again in the Dutch Yngling, during the 2008 Olympics this time with fellow crewmember Merel Witteveen and helmsman Mandy Mulder. The Dutch Yngling team took the Silver Medal in Qingdao. Bes than switched to the Elliott 6m Match racing. During the 2012 Olympics the team with helmsman Renee Groeneveld and crewmembers Bes and Marcelien Bos-de Koning took 8th place in Weymouth.
Mandy Mulder is a sailor from the Netherlands. Mulder represented her country at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Qingdao. With fellow crew members Annemieke Bes and Merel Witteveen, Mulder as helmsman took Silver medal in the Yngling.
Merel Witteveen is a sailor from the Netherlands. Witteveen represented her country at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Qingdao. With fellow crew member Annemieke Bes and Mandy Mulder as helmsman, Witteveen took Silver medal in the Yngling.
Rutger van Schaardenburg is a sailor from the Netherlands, who represented his country for the first time at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Qingdao. There he took the 34th place in the Laser class. Van Schaardenburg's second Olympic appearance was during the 2012 Olympics in Weymouth. In this competition Van Schaardenburg took 14th place. He competed again in the laser class at the 2016 Olympics, finishing in 9th place.
Kalle Kristian Coster is a sailor from the Netherlands. Coster represented his country for the first time at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. With his brother Sven Coster as helmsman, Coster took 6th place as crew in the Dutch Men's 470. Coster's second Olympic appearance was during the 2008 Olympics in Qingdao again as crew in the Men's 470 with his brother as helmsman. Coster took the 4th place. Again with Sven as helmsman in the Men's 470 Coster crewed the Dutch 470 at the 2012 Olympics in Weymouth. The brothers finished in 12th place.
Sven Erik Coster is a sailor from the Netherlands. Coster represented his country for the first time at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. With his brother Kalle Coster as crew Coster took 6th place as helmsman in the Dutch Men's 470. Coster's second Olympic appearance was during the 2008 Olympics in Qingdao again as helmsman in the 470 and his brother as crew, Coster took the 4th place. Also with Kalle as crew in the 470 Coster helmed the Dutch 470 at the 2012 Olympics in Weymouth. The brothers finished on the 12th place.
Pim Nieuwenhuis is a sailor from the Netherlands. Nieuwenhuis as crew on the Dutch Tornado with Mitch Booth as helmsman took 5th place in the Tornado during the 2008 Olympics, in Qingdao.
Mark Jacobus Louis Neeleman is a sailor from the Netherlands. Since the Netherlands did boycott the Moscow Olympic Games Neeleman represented his National Olympic Committee at the 1980 Summer Olympics in Tallinn, USSR under the Dutch NOC flag. Neeleman took 8th place in the 1980 Summer Olympics, which was boycotted by several countries. In 1984 Summer Olympics, Los Angeles Neeleman did a second attempt in the Finn and finished on the 9th place. Neeleman missed the selection for the 1988 Olympics, Pusan.
Roy Heiner is a sailor from the Netherlands, who represented his country at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Pusan. Heiner took 7th place in the Finn. In 1992 Summer Olympics, Barcelona Heiner helmed the Dutch Soling. With crew members Peter Burggraaff and Han Bergsma Heiner took 18th place. Heiner switched back to the Finn for the 1996 Summer Olympics, Savannah and took the bronze medal. His last Olympic appearance was in the 2000 Sydney Olympics. With crew members Peter van Niekerk and Dirk de Ridder Heiner took 4th place in the Soling.
Willem Paul "Wim" van Duyl was a sailor from the Netherlands. He competed in the Dragon class at the 1948, 1952, 1960 and 1964 Olympics and finished in 8th, 6th, 13th and 13th place, respectively. He missed the 1956 Games due to their boycott by the Netherlands.
Jacob Dirk "Jaap" Zielhuis is a sailor from the Netherlands. Zielhuis represented his country at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. Zielhuis took 19th place in the Finn. During the Sydney Olympics 2000 Zielhuis was coach of the Dutch Olympic Sailing Team.
Toronto 2008 was one of the five short-listed bids for the 2008 Games, presented by the city of Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Paris 2008 was an unsuccessful bid for the 2008 Summer Olympics by the city of Paris and the French Olympic Committee. Paris previously hosted the 1900 Summer Olympics and the 1924 Summer Olympics. The bid made it to the final IOC vote, with Osaka being eliminated in the first round, but gained only 18 votes to Istanbul's 9, Toronto's 22 and Beijing's 56.
