The Beijing government has came up with a bicycle rental program to encourage citizens to take up a bike and ride the Bejing streets, Beijing Workers Stadium and Forbidden City. Bikes are going for 20 yuan per day or 100 yuan for one year, 400 yuan is required as deposit. Beijing Bicycle Rental Services, the company behind this rental scheme, hopes to push 50 000 bicycles for rent during the Beijing Summer Games.

By the start of the games in August 2008 there should be some 50,000 bikes available to Beijing residents, and visitors to the Olympics. People can dial a hotline to rent a bike and if they get a puncture, can exchange it at any rental station.

Obviously an effort to reduce the air pollution problem.

Via BikeRadar.com

A program called the “Champion Kids” was launched to get all the children around the world to be involved in next year Beijing Olympic Games. 300 kids from different countries will be selected to have a Beijing Games experience next August.

IOC President Jacques Rogge highlighted the educational function of the Olympic Movement, especially for young people as he kicked off the “Champion Kids” program.

This program sounds good to me, I wish I’m a kid now.

Via CCTV

In the 1 year countdown to Beijing Olympics celebration, Hong Kong singer and celebrity, Andy Lau (鍒樺痉鍗�), sung his number - Everyone is No. 1. The first video is the live version and the second is his 9-minute MTV version. The meaning behind the song? Everyone can do what they want to achieve and the greatest obstacle is actually…yourself.

A “Beijing 2008 Rental Guide” (2008 鍖椾含绉熸埧鎵嬪唽) by a Chinese property agency, has surfaced and is given free to the public in Beijing. This booklet aims to educate those who are interested in renting their homes or properties in the Olympic period. The guide has also been translated to English, Japanese and Korean. With a 40000 strong foreign media force covering the Olympics in Beijing next year, the rental market will be very lucrative.

Via 鍚堣偉鎴夸骇

German athletes may have to sign a contract to pledge they are free of drugs if they are participating in next year Beijing Olympics. If a sportsman is found of drug usage, he will be expelled from the country’s Olympic team.

“We are suggesting striking an agreement with all of the participants in the Olympics which, in the event of a doping offence, would lead to tough punishments, exclusion from the team and also having to pay back the costs of sending them to the Games,” Michael Vesper, the general secretary of the German Olympic committee (DOSB).

I do respect German professional road bicycle racer, Erik Zabel, for his doping confession.

Via The Hindu

On 8th August 2007, 10 000 people from around the world gathered at Tiananmen Square, Beijing, China, to celebrate the one-year countdown to the Beijing Summer Olympics 2008. Gala show, fireworks and excitement mark the 365-day Olympic countdown on Wednesday. 100 singers from China, Hong Kong and Taiwan lend their voices to the Olympic song - We Are Ready (video below).

“Beijing and China will not only host a successful Games for the world’s premier athletes, but will also provide an excellent opportunity to discover China, its history, its culture, and its people, with China opening itself to the world in new ways,” said Jacques Rogge, International Olympic Committee (IOC) president.

I’m sure all Chinese are ready.

Via Xinhua

2008 Beijing Summer Olympics on 8th August 2008 will be the greatest olympics in the history. The mega sports event trenscends the meaning of sports and is even viewed as a “crisis” to the Chinese government. But one thing is certain, China will go all out for to make Beijing 2008 a success.

“This is not a simple sports event at all,” said Tu Mingde, a vice president of the Chinese Olympic Committee and a key member of the winning bid committee. “Its meaning surpasses the importance of sports itself.”

Everyone will go Beijing-crazy in 2008.

Via USA Today

China local and foreign international brands are using the Beijing Olympics to increase profiles and getting their every sponsorship dollar worth. Only a handful of athletes are earning top dollars from endorsements and sponsorships. They are Yao Ming and Yi Jianlian (basketball), Guo Jingjing (diving), Liu Xiang (Track & Field, Athletics) and Wang Nan (Table Tennis), just to name a few.

The emergence of top athletes as spokespeople is happening as domestic brands are developing national or even global profiles and international brands are looking for ways to relate to Chinese customers.

So do they get unlimited supply of Coke?

Via BusinessWeek

Stewie Griffin, the baby in the American cult cartoon, Family Guy, is all set to represent US for Beijing Summer Olympics next year. Sort of.

Via Stewie’s Playground

The demand for crude oil next year will increase partly due to next year Beijing 2008 Olympics. Increase in demand for oil will jack up the prices as simple economics law of demand and supply kicks into action.

Demand could increase by as much as 5.6 percent next year, according to some analysts, partly on extra use connected to the Beijing Summer Olympics, while more immediately Tokyo Electric Power (TYO: 9501) announced that it will double its oil purchases to around 180,000 barrels per day in order to compensate for lost power generation from its earthquake-damaged nuclear plant.

Consumers have to burn a bigger hole in their pockets.

Via Oil Marketer