Olympialaiset 2008

Meni huomaamatta ohi tuo päivämäärä: 8.8.2008 klo 8 illalla alkavat olympialaiset kisat Pekingissä (numero 8 äännetään ikään kuin sana "rikastua" kiinaksi)

Olympialaisiin liittyvät myös Digitaaliset olympialaiset eli kokoelma ICT-sektorin hankkeita. Eurooppalais-kiinalainen partnerointitilaisuus järjestetään 26.10.2006 Pekingissä. Logiikka on käsittääkseni se, että järjestäjät haluavat kisoihin parasta ja viimeisintä uutta teknologiaa. Sen takia digitaalisten olympialaisten verkottumistapahtumien sarja jatkuu yhä vaikka kisat ovat kohta ovella. Tästä löytyy lista josta voi katsoa millaisia hankkeita tähän mennessä on koottu.

Los Angeles Times kirjoittaa 9.8.2006:

• Organizers... were confident the city would meet an ambitious goal of having acceptable air quality for 65% of the year, meaning measurements would reach an international standard of "moderate" or better.

• Beijing has more than 9,000 construction sites, including 12 competition venues, four subway lines and a new airport — not to mention hotels and other real estate developments.

• Coal remains China's main source of energy, and the chief contributor to the 25 million tons of sulfur dioxide China emitted in 2005 — a 27% jump from 2000, according to government figures. The toxic gas, a major cause of breathing problems and acid rain, cost the country $60 billion in damage to buildings, crops, vegetation and human health, according to Chinese environmental officials, who announced the figures last week.

• Another contributor to Beijing's notoriously hazy skies is rising car ownership... Authorities have pledged to phase out 28,000 outdated cars and buses from Beijing's roadways. But an estimated 2.5 million cars roam the Chinese capital's regularly congested streets, and that number is believed to be shooting up by about 10% a year. The problem is so acute that there is discussion of banning private vehicular traffic during the Games, and giving the entire city of 15 million a holiday.

• In the meantime, organizers are confident that rain won't spoil the opening ceremonies. "We have studied the historic data of weather conditions on Aug. 8 in the past 50, 30 and 10 years," said Wang Wei, the executive vice president of the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games. "On most of those dates there was no rainfall".

Bloomberg kirjoittaa 11.8.2006:

• Komatsu Ltd. ("the second-biggest maker of earthmoving equipment") arvioi että Kiinassa on 10% sen rakennuskonemarkkinoista 2010 mennessä, 2008 olympiakisojen valmistelujen vauhdittamana.

• Pekingin teiden, siltojen ja kisapaikkojen rakentamiseen laitetaan 160 miljardia dollaria.