2008 Olympics Closing Ceremony Pictures !!!

2008 Olympics Closing Ceremony Pictures : Liu Qi, President of BOCOG talks as Jacques Rogge, President of the International Olympic Committee looks on while the olympic flame burns in the cauldron above the stadium during the Closing Ceremony for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games at the National Stadium on August 24, 2008 in Beijing, China.

2008 Olympics Closing Ceremony Pictures : A dancer performs during the Closing Ceremony for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games on August 24, 2008 in Beijing, China.

2008 Olympics Closing Ceremony Pictures : A general view of the festivities during the Closing Ceremony for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games on August 24, 2008 in Beijing, China.

2008 Olympics Closing Ceremony Pictures : Performers are pictured during the Closing Ceremony for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games on August 24, 2008 in Beijing, China.

2008 Olympics Closing Ceremony Pictures : Drummers performs during the Closing Ceremony for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games on August 24, 2008 in Beijing, China.

2008 Olympics Closing Ceremony Pictures : Fireworks light up the sky above the National Stadium as the countdown ends and the Closing Ceremony of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games starts, in the National Stadium, Beijing, China, 24 August 2008.

2008 Olympics Closing Ceremony Pictures : London Mayor Boris Johnson waves the Olympic flag during the Closing Ceremony for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games at the National Stadium on August 24, 2008 in Beijing, China.

2008 Olympics Closing Ceremony Pictures : Georgina and Caroline Evers-Swindell of New Zealand carry their countrys flag into the National Stadium during the Closing Ceremony for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games on August 24, 2008 in Beijing, China.

2008 Olympics Closing Ceremony Pictures : Jacques Rogge, President of the International Olympic Committee waves the Olympic flag watched by London Mayor Boris Johnson during the Closing Ceremony for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games at the National Stadium on August 24, 2008 in Beijing, China.


2008 Olympics Closing Ceremony Pictures : Basketball player Lauren Jackson of Australia is pictured during the Closing Ceremony for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games at the National Stadium on August 24, 2008 in Beijing, China.

2008 Olympics Beijing - Beijing enhanced Olympics show with faked 'fireworks'

Beijing Olympic organizers say their opening-ceremony fireworks
were enhanced by prerecorded footage.

Not all was what it seemed during the spectacular opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics.

Beijing organizers confirmed Tuesday that some of the fireworks display featured prerecorded footage.

Fireworks that burst into the shape of 29 gigantic footprints were shown trudging above the Beijing skyline to the National Stadium near the start of the ceremony.

Though the footprint-shaped fireworks were real, some of the footage shown to television viewers around the world and on giant screens inside the "Bird's Nest" stadium featured a computer-generated three-dimensional image.

"It was confirmed that previously recorded footage was provided to the broadcasters for convenience and theatrical effects -- as in many other big events," Beijing organizing committee spokesman Wang Wei said. "On the day of the ceremony there were actual footprints of fireworks from the south to the north of the city.

"However, because of the poor visibility of the night, some previously recorded footage may have been used."

The computerized images were produced by Crystal Digital Technology Co. of Beijing.

"We did our best to create a rendering that would look like the shot was taken live," company spokesman Lei Ming told the Beijing Times. "Most people could not tell the difference."

NBC said broadcasters Bob Costas and Matt Lauer told viewers the display was cinematic.

"This is actually almost animation," Lauer said on the air.

The ceremony won rave reviews around the world and was watched by more than 1 billion people.

In the United States on NBC, the ceremony averaged 34.2 million U.S. viewers, making it the biggest American television event since the Super Bowl.

Olympic Results

Olympic Results Tracking by iDashboard

if you haven’t heard of iDashboard, you’ve probably seen their dashboards at many other applications.

I discussed the importance of reporting and live data analysis for Call Centers and Service Desks.

Now iDashboard has another Olympic gift for you:

Beijing Olympic Real Time Updates



iDashboards is a leader and innovator in the field of enterprise dashboard software as well as one of the fastest growing companies in business intelligence. In addition, iDashboards has been awarded several patents in the space of data visualization for dashboards.

Why I like iDashboard:

1) Flash based (not Microsoft Silverlight) and browser independent (i.e. Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari, etc.)
2) Platform independence (i.e. Windows or Linux servers)
3) Data retrieval from multiple databases - which is important since it’s pulling data from several venues
4) Seamless reporting features with Microsoft Excel. After all, the decision maker CFO signs the check, right?

With the results aggregated and displayed in dashboards each day, you can track their favorite athletes, countries and events.

The dashboard’s unique hover-and-click capabilities enable fans to select each country’s individual results by sporting event and individual athlete performance.

Additionally, Olympic sports icons direct users to the official Beijing Games Website providing live updates on the respective events.

To get a sample of what if feels like, you can capture and analyze the 2004 Olympics in Athens.

Olympic Results

The summer olympic games are here!

From it’s origins with the Greeks, The Olympics have evolved into a unifying global collaboration. It is such a great time to learn about other countries, watch hardened athletes give it their all and have a sense of national pride.

You can bookmark this page to keep updated on the results as they are reported by NBC…

Here is the current medal count. It is interesting that so many athletes compete, knowing that most will not place. Typically, the home country has an advantage, we will see how China fares.

Here are some additional results and medals count pages:

2008 Olympic Competition Schedule
Olympic Medal Count