Talk:2008 Summer Olympics

Calendar

There used to be a very helpful calendar here, similar to the one in the 2010 olympics. Where'd it go? Host of the first ever Webkinz Suvivor! The UberNerd! (talk) 12:11, 21 June 2008 (UTC)

Yeah, I want to know the same thing. I was the one who made it, and then someone must have taken it down. Granted, it was big and bulky, but someone should put a calendar section back in, at least describing the calendar of events and linking to the actual calendar. Jared (t)  00:46, 27 June 2008 (UTC)

The calendar was removed in this edit, presumably because the editor didn't like it being transcluded from another live page. I've been bold and restored the calendar, this time with a proper merge. Bluap (talk) 23:30, 4 July 2008 (UTC)

Why is the calendar table in a collapsed box? I think it's important enough info to be always visible, no matter how bulky it is (it's not transcluded from another page, so it can't be a matter of decreasing article weight). Parutakupiu (talk) 19:52, 6 July 2008 (UTC)

Fixed the unhide collapse field. The List of NOC was also unhide. Anyone know if the "List of NOC" is supposed to be 100% the same as the "Nations at the 2008 Summer Olympics" template at the bottom? If so, why do we have two of the same tables?? Benjwong (talk) 20:05, 6 July 2008 (UTC)

Point well taken. Although it has always been a custom of WP:OLY to display all the nations participating in the text of the article. I'm not sure how to resolve this, though, because what you say makes sense. Jared (t)  20:39, 6 July 2008 (UTC)

I've taken the calendar table out of the main table in which it was nested, since there's no reason for the latter to exist anymore. Parutakupiu (talk) 23:06, 6 July 2008 (UTC)

I originally put both the calendar and the list of IOCs in collapsible boxes since they take up a fair amount of real estate. They might be OK with the article as it is currently, but they article is going to expand considerably once the Olympics actually start, at which point having these tables pre-collapsed might be better Bluap (talk) 02:43, 7 July 2008 (UTC)

Yay! It's back! Thanks to whoever put it back, it's much better now. spider1224 14:38, 26 July 2008 (UTC)

Based on past calendars, I've started to "bullet-out" events in each row. See User:Jared/sandbox1 for the version that I am talking about. I think it's a great way to link to each event that is to be contested. In theory, 302 bullets should be in the chart, but that is nearly impossible to do with cells like Athletics where 7 finals are contested in one day. Does anyone have a fix to this, so that bullets can exist there? Maybe a 3-2-3 pattern, or something. Also, I have yet to finish the table, so if anyone wants to find the other dates, please be my guest! Thanks! Jared (t)  14:14, 7 July 2008 (UTC)

Nice idea. Perhaps the solution to the problem would be to place a single bullet in each box (not only finals = yellow), linking to a page with information about the events per sport per day. 62.90.151.249 (talk) 15:51, 18 July 2008 (UTC)

I see you've put your calender. It looks a bit bulky, if you ask me.. please consider my suggestion. 62.90.151.249 (talk) 10:21, 29 July 2008 (UTC)

Your suggestion is probably more aesthetically pleasing, because 6 bullets per cell might be a little overkill, but maintaining pages per sport per day is something WP:OLY has never done, and something that would take a lot of work. I do believe it makes more sense to have 302 bullets in the table, so that at any one time during the Olympics, anyone can see and get more information on all of the event finals being contested that day. Certainly if there is consensus to return the table to just numbers I won't put up a fight, but I really do think this is best. Jared (t)  14:59, 29 July 2008 (UTC)

I don't think it would be too much work. We already have the tables made (in the "Competition Schedule" section of the " *** at the 2008 Summer Olympics" articles) - it's just a matter of creating some 300 articles... Like you said, this option is more aesthetically pleasing, and it also would allow one to follow preliminary competitions as well as finals. We'd also have to link the different events in the table to the appropriate event page. Alternatively, we could create pages only per day ("#th of august at the beijing...").62.90.151.249 (talk) 07:52, 30 July 2008 (UTC)

I think that is best - having one page per competition day, and keeping the bullets the way they are. I began making the links from the "Competition Schedule" tables to the event pages. I've also created a "The 6th of August at the 2008 Summer Olympics" sample article (I could use some help with that, thanks..) Almyajid (talk) 10:29, 31 July 2008 (UTC)

No demonstration sports?

Won't there be any demonstration sports, as with Basque pelota in 1992? Badagnani (talk) 22:19, 11 July 2008 (UTC)

Oh, it appears that a wushu competition will take place. It isn't mentioned in the article yet. Badagnani (talk) 22:21, 11 July 2008 (UTC)

Demonstration sports were abolished after 1992. One of the rules of hosting the Olympics is that no other major sports event takes place in the city around the time of the Games. The IOC agreed to waive the rule for the Wushu tournament but it hasn't any official link to the Olympics. Topcardi (talk) 22:35, 11 July 2008 (UTC)

A couple of paralympic races are usually included in the main athletics programme, but they aren't counted as demonstration events either... Bluap (talk) 22:52, 11 July 2008 (UTC)

Someone recently added a note that chess will be a demonstration sport - no references are provided, and no mention has been made elsewhere. Is this accurate or just some schlub putting up bad facts? Chazerizer (talk) 14:29, 24 July 2008 (UTC)

Pictogram images

The 2008 pictogram images (such as Image:Athletics 2008.png) are copyright by BOCOG and therefore can only be used according to the restrictive WP:Non-free content criteria. This means that they should only be used on single pages, such as Athletics at the 2008 Summer Olympics (only) for the forementioned image, and so on for the other 34 pictograms. I've updated the image description pages to show a more accurate fair use rationale. I've also removed the 17 pixel versions from the "Sports" section of this article and the 30 pixel versions from many of the articles in Category:Nations at the 2008 Summer Olympics as those usage instances are contrary to items #3a and #8 of the NFCC policy. — Andrwsc (talk · contribs) 22:39, 16 July 2008 (UTC)

List of Broadcasters....

Can we just say the NBC Universal Family of networks, next to United States in order to shorten the list? 74.243.115.149 (talk) 01:20, 17 July 2008 (UTC)

Controversies

Benjwong, would appreciate if you could please explain why my edits to 'controversies' regarding media access were reverted. These were cited to today's NY Times, so obviously it is an ongoing concern despite BOCOG's announcements, and as evidenced by the IOC member's quote, this is not a minor controversy.Spinner145 (talk) 05:50, 21 July 2008 (UTC)

Hei guys I was reading about the controversies. Yeah there were demonstrations about human rights but don't forget that torch relay also initiated some Chinese to fight aganist certain western medias such as cnn, (e.g anti-cnn.com) and the French president. My point is that, there are two sides to this thing. One is those demonstrators of human rights, and the other side is those who are aganist those demonstrators. This article needs to be more balanced by including those who are aganist those demonstrators. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.26.161.119 (talk) 09:17, 28 July 2008 (UTC)

I'm not sure what you're proposing here. On the portion about the torch relay I think it might be a good idea from an NPOV perspective to mention the large numbers of overseas Chinese who demonstrated in support of the '08 Olympics along the relay route. On the other hand, Chinese protests of Western media coverage seems a bit too tangential. I think the best we can do for the 'controversies section is to set out what the controversies are in the most NPOV way possible, but given length limitations we won't be able to fully explain all points of view. Let me know your thoughts--happy to hear any suggestions you can offer to improve NPOV on this section.Spinner145 (talk) 02:38, 30 July 2008 (UTC)

Participating NOCs

On participating NOCs, I noticed that Chinese Taipei was placed straight after China. This is actually an error. Even though Chinese Taipei does come straight after China alphabetically, it was decided in 1984 that Chinese Taipei would enter into the Olympic arena in the IOC directory order. Chinese Taipei is represented as TPE, with the first leter starting with T rather than C. This was done to avoid confusion. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 220.130.149.154 (talk) 08:27, 21 July 2008 (UTC)

Not precisely true. Teams enter the stadium during the Opening Ceremonies in the alphabetical order in the language of the host nation. It differs for each Games (Korean in 1988 and Greek in 2004 had some interesting ordering for people expecting English), and it has nothing to do with the country code. — Andrwsc (talk · contribs) 17:58, 21 July 2008 (UTC)

In the news on the Main Page

A proposal to add a link from Template:In the news to an Olympics highlights page for the course of the games is currently up at Template talk:In the news. The highlights page will presumably be 2008 Summer Olympics highlights, which follows the format of similar pages from previous Olympics. Comments, and editors interested in maintaining such a page, are welcome. - BanyanTree 09:42, 23 July 2008 (UTC)

Chess?

Chess is one of the event?where to you get the news?--58.177.113.40 (talk) 16:35, 24 July 2008 (UTC)

That's an example of vandalism. If you see shiat like that, just remove it. It's obviously false and can easily be verified on official olympic websites. Nice try, though,... very sneaky. Dr. Cash (talk) 16:39, 24 July 2008 (UTC)

Iraq re-admitted

Please, someone who is a native speaker of English, please modify the article, list of participating countries and following paragraph, since Iraqi athletes will be able to participate in the Olympic Games (see web page of the IOC, news 29 July 2008) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 77.209.101.176 (talk) 20:41, 29 July 2008 (UTC)

Torch Relay - Taiwan

The wording for the section on the torch being diverted away from Taiwan should remain as is. While China's point of view is that it is a province, this view is not shared by all peoples, or even countries for that matter. Stating that it is, definitively, a province is bias, just as if I wrote "the independent country of Taiwan". So, leave it as is. Kerui 18:09, 27 July 2008

The 2008 Beijing Olympics will also mark the third time that Olympic events will have been held in the territories of two different National Olympic Committees

I don't think that this statement is correct. In 1956, the equestrian events were held in Stockholm rather than in Melbourne, but I can't think of any other occasion when this occured. Would anyone care to provide us with details when this happened on another occasion? Moldovanmickey (talk) 23:23, 29 July 2008 (UTC)MoldovanMickey

At the 1920 Antwerp Games, one of the sailing events had entries only from two Dutch boats, so after the first race in Belgium, they finished the best-of-three in the Netherlands. (See IOC website; "only event in Olympic history to be held in two countries") This is an entirely different situation from two organizing committees splitting the Games (Melbourne/Stockholm), or from one organizing committee having events in the territory of another NOC (BOCOG running equestrian events in Hong Kong), so grouping all three of these situations together with cumbersome text seems odd to me. — Andrwsc (talk · contribs) 23:42, 29 July 2008 (UTC)

Doesn't it have a home page?

There is no 'external links' section. --fs 13:22, 30 July 2008 (UTC)

About Chinese Taiwan and Tibet issues

I understand what you meant by the simply saying of Taiwan and Tibet. I understand that you know exactly Chinese territory includes Taiwan province and Tibet Autonomous Region, which are recoganized by UN and all countries' governments. However, it is confusing when you just simply say it especially to people who don't have any background knowledge about Chinese internal issues. So please use the correct official names, which is under the recoganition of UN, i.e. Chinese Taiwan province and Chinese Tibet Autonomous Region.

I will appreciate your kind adjustment.

Thanks and regards,

AlexBlues —Preceding unsigned comment added by AlexBlues (talk • contribs) 15:57, 30 July 2008 (UTC)

With regards to Taiwan issues it is not appropriate to refer to Taiwanese authorities "Chinese Taipei" or "Chinese Taiwan". Chinese Taipei is the name of the Olympic team from Taiwan, but these are not the name of the government of Taiwan. References to Taiwanese governing authorities should be to "the Republic of China (Taiwan)", while it is correct if referring to Taiwan in a geographical sense to call it simply "Taiwan". See Wikipedia:Naming conventions (Chinese). Also, you have tried several times to inject into the article the unsubstantiated claim that Tibetan independence groups are supported by the CIA. This is an inflammatory accusation for which you have not provided any support. If you have some documentation of this, bring it here for discussion. If not, you should stop making these edits.Spinner145 (talk) 02:32, 31 July 2008 (UTC)

A Chinese View: The government of the Republic of China was the central government of Whole China. However after the civil war, ROC government was defeated and retreated to Taiwan province. Current situation is the legacy of the civil war. However, ROC is not recoganized by UN, and there is no ROC (Taiwan), only Taiwan province. Both sides now are working on the reunification. Therefore, using Tanwan authorities is more accurate to describe Tanwan's current situation.

It's the public secret that CIA controls the Tibetan movement by providing the fund and the military instruction. Some staff even published the books to release the detailed information. Political powers behind the movement made things worse. Dala Lama should have won the heart of the nation. However he lost it. This is absolutely a Chinese internal issue. Without All Chinese cooperation, he can do nothing. Nobody trust him in China. And We don't care any more what he is going to do, doesn't matter whether it is so called peaceful movement or violence.AlexBlues (talk) 14:38, 31 July 2008 (UTC)

Internet censorship for journalists about-face

Is this about-face on censorship of the Internet for journalists in Beijing mentioned anywhere at Wikipedia? I can't even find a mention of the Internet in this article. Badagnani (talk) 17:06, 30 July 2008 (UTC)

About Hymalaya

Hi, I don't know how to reply you to make the explaination. So I give you my answer in discussion board and hope you can see this.

Hymalaya is the true Tibetan name for the Mountain. Everest is the name from a British people. I think it's weird to use a British name here for a Tibetan Mt.. Since so many people concern the human rights here about the Tibetan people, why shouldn't we use the original Tibetan name here in stead of the British name to show the rights of Tibetans? —Preceding unsigned comment added by AlexBlues (talk • contribs) 14:12, 31 July 2008 (UTC)