Olympic Games In Beijing Research Articles

Artistic gymnastics as a semiotic construct: the case of the Chinese national team at the Olympic Games / La gimnasia artística como constructo semiótico: el equipo nacional chino en los Juegos Olímpicos

China is one of the most dynamically developing countries that experienced rapid and tumultuous modernization in the second half of the twentieth century. This modernization consisted of the sports organization improvement and appropriate target-setting in Olympic sports. Sport is the most important sphere of international communication, and gymnastics pertains to the expression of semiotic units by the movement itself. The purpose of this research is to study a semiotic construct embracing the victories, behaviour patterns and organization of the Chinese gymnastics team at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, where China demonstrated its highest achievements in gymnastics. Another reason for selecting these Olympic Games is that semiotically significant elements of the athletes’ behaviour differ from other contexts and Olympics. Consequently, the latter feature facilitates the segregation of these elements through phenomenological research.

REVIEW OF COUNTER-TERRORISM SYSTEMS DURING SUMMER OLYMPIC GAMES IN THE 21ST CENTURY

The research results presented in the article pertain to the organization of security systems by the host countries during the Summer Olympic Games in Athens (2004), Beijing (2008), London (2012), and Rio de Janeiro (2016). The central part of the considerations focuses on the complex issue of searching for methods and tools to effectively protect participants of such large mass sports events, not only against terrorists. Taking into account the identified problem situation, it was agreed that the aim of the article will be to characterize the security methods and tools employed by the organizers of the Summer Olympic Games. The research was conducted with the use of selected theoretical scientific methods, including analysis, synthesis, comparison, analogy, generalization, and inference. These methods were applied in a structured way to a research process that focused on case studies of selected Summer Olympic Games that were considered representative samples. The results of the carried out research clearly indicate a high complexity of the security systems created for the needs of the Olympic Games. In every analyzed case, the need occurred to integrate state institutions and international organizations, including various agencies dealing with security issues, including terrorism. Additionally, based on the obtained results, it was also determined that properly forecasting threats is crucial in ensuring the safety of participants in the Olympic Games. It should be further emphasized that in each analyzed case study, the organizers of these large sports events fulfilled their role as hosts very well. They should, therefore, be recognized as a good example for other countries that will apply for organizing this type of mass sports events in the future. They must also be aware that each sporting event of this type requires a significant organizational and financial effort and that the threats are not limited to terrorism but can be posed by various external and internal factors. This article is one of the first attempts to assess the justification of implementing various methods and tools to the security systems of mass international sporting events through the prism of their effectiveness. In addition, the proposed solutions, including the threat forecasting methodology, may be useful to both practitioners and theoreticians in creating more effective solutions in the field of national and international security.

Hegemonic Gaze: Tyranny, Media Chauvinism and the Image of Women - Based on Chinese Mainstream Media’s News Coverage of Ailing Gu's Winter Olympics Victory

During the 2022 Winter Olympic Games in Beijing, Chinese freeskier Ailing Gu received much media attention. Past literature and journalistic practice on the media and sport suggest that sport has been an area of absolute male hegemony since ancient times and that the media is constructed around hegemonic male values that help to reinforce ‘historical gender norms. This paper examines the construction of Ailing Gu’s image of the ‘other’ in the media frameworks and discourses based on news stories about her in the official and commercial media. The study finds that the deconstruction of Ailing Gu’s image as an athlete in the news coverage, which appears to reinforce the discourse of female athletes, still serves the ultimate goal of male domination and remains, in essence, a chauvinistic and hegemonic gaze.

WADA’s Concept of the ’Protected Person’ – and Why it is No Protection for Minors

ABSTRACT The recent alleged doping case of the figure skater Kamila Valieva at the Winter Olympic Games in Beijing 2022 dramatically raised the issue of the protection of minors in anti-doping policy. We firstly present the literature on doping in relation to minors. Secondly, we present WADA’s Protected Person (PP) concept and its implications. Thirdly, we analyse the WADA Code’s purpose and the vulnerability of minors under the Code, and fourthly, we identify the real threats from which minors should be protected by analysing the ineffective PP concept, and showing how it cannot be a real protection. We explain how preventing one threat can generate another, thus converting minor athletes from victims into suspects. We conclude by stressing the necessity for further research, and we indicate our future research direction, towards the development of a much wider concept of protection, and its application into sporting contexts.

Traffic restrictions during the 2008 Olympic Games reduced urban heat intensity and extent in Beijing

Satellite thermal remote sensing has been utilized to examine the urban heat dynamics in relation to the urban traffic restriction policy. During the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, the traffic volume was approximately cut off by half through the road space rationing. Based on daily MODIS satellite thermal observations on the surface temperature, statistical models were developed to analyze the contribution of traffic volume reduction to the urban heat intensity and spatial extent. Our analyses show that cutting off half of the traffic volume has led to a marked decrease in the mean surface temperature by 1.5–2.4 °C and shrinkage of the heat extent by 820 km2 in Beijing. This research suggests that the impact of urban traffic on heat intensity is considerably larger than previously thought, and the management of urban traffic and vehicle fossil fuel use should be included in the future urban heat mitigation plan.

The Impact of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games on China and the Olympic Movement: The Legacy

This paper aims to explore the impact of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games on Chinese sport and Chinese society as well as the international Olympic Movement and Games. It asks three questions: What have been the purported impacts of the Beijing Games on China’s sport culture and practice? Did the 2008 Beijing Games contribute to the development of the Olympic movement? What, if any, social progress has been achieved through the Beijing Games? In answer to the first question, the paper explores how the Games sought to bring Olympic ideals and spirit to China and the Chinese sports authority used the Games to popularize Olympic ideals within the country. Olympic education programmes played an important role in spreading and popularizing Olympic knowledge and culture during the Beijing Games as well as during the post-Beijing Olympics era. The Games also provided a platform for the development of a volunteer programme which gave direct support to the hosting of the Beijing Games, but also developed a voluntary workforce which has continued to serve China’s social and cultural development. In answer to the second question, China used the opportunity to help the world to understand China, its history, its people, its cultures, and its ambition, and future direction. China’s promotion of an Olympic slogan and the three themes: One World and One Dream, the Green Olympics, and the Technological Olympics and Humanistic Olympics took the Olympic Movement and the Games to foster an intercultural Olympism, of ‘One World’ a twenty-first century phenomenon. Thirdly, the Games reflected economic and cultural changes since the 1980s when China opened its door to the outside world. However, the Games did not bring changes to the political system or to social structures in Chinese society. Nevertheless, it did give China the confidence to join the international sports community and gain rich experience to host the 2022 Winter Olympic Games in Beijing. Beijing, therefore, will become the first city to have hosted Summer and Winter Games in Olympic history, but the hosting of the 2022 Games will take place with China having grown in confidence and strength since the 2008 Games. The country is sufficiently confident to stage a successful Games despite the context of dealing with the Covid pandemic, the diplomatic boycott instigated by the USA, the objections of the sporting world to the treatment of the Chinese tennis star, Peng Shuai, and the environmental problems resulting from having to manufacture artificial snow.

Advances in anti‐doping effort occur amid greater representation for athletes

Anti‐doping leaders are reporting that new technologies and a restored level of testing in the face of pandemic‐related challenges should help to ensure a level playing field at next month's Winter Olympic Games in Beijing.

Nurturing nature in a mega-city: a decadal assessment of the Beijing Olympic Forest Park

In this article, we showcase the Beijing Olympic Forest Park (BOFP), a large-scale urban park developed as part of the green infrastructure to support the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China. The BOFP represents an example of using strategically-placed and well-designed public open spaces to relieve stresses from high-density living in compact urban areas. Drawing from first-hand information from leading planners and designers, we present the ideas rooted in Chinese culture and environmental aesthetics that have inspired the overall layout of the park. Anchoring itself at the northern end of the city’s central axis, BOFP takes on the Chinese Shan-Shui Landscape layout and integrates into its design many elements of cultural significance. We then explain the park’s design elements inspired by Frederick Law Olmsted and his sons and modern construction technologies informed by ecological science. Through an extensive review of empirical studies, we evaluate the park’s performance in social and environmental aspects and identify areas in need of improvements. We suggest that the BOFP manifests a successful fusion of quintessence from both the western and eastern landscape fields. It illustrates an application of a culturally informed ecological approach to park siting, planning, and design, which has supported the park’s meaningful integration into its urban context and amplified its contributions to the city. Evidence cumulated through decadal evaluations of the park’s performance has revealed the accomplishments of this transformative place-making approach for both nature and people.

Automated high-throughput analysis of tramadol and O-desmethyltramadol in dried blood spots.

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the International Testing Agency (ITA) recently announced the development and implementation of dried blood spot (DBS) testing for routine analysis in time for the 2022 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games in Beijing. Following the introduction of a ban on the use of tramadol in competition in March 2019, the Union Cycliste International (UCI) started a pilot study for the manual analysis of tramadol in DBS for antidoping purposes. In this context, we present a fully automated LC-MS/MS-based method with automated sample preparation using a CAMAG DBS-MS 500 for the analysis of tramadol and its metabolite O-desmethyltramadol in DBS. The presented approach reduces manual handling in the laboratory to an absolute minimum, only requiring the preparation of calibration and quality control DBS cards. The method was developed, optimized, and validated before performing cross-validation with a liquid blood-based analysis method using authentic samples from forensic cases. During the validation process, the method showed an extraction efficiency of 62%, linearity r2 > 0.99, accuracy and precision (within ± 15% and ± 20% at the LLOQ) for the determination of tramadol and O-desmethyltramadol. Method comparison in liquid blood with 26 samples showed good agreement (90 ± 19% for tramadol and 94 ± 14% for O-desmethyltramadol). In conclusion, automated analysis of tramadol and O-desmethyltramadol in DBS provides a fast and accurate solution for antidoping screening. It is suited for high-throughput analysis, having a run time of about 4 min per sample. Furthermore, with the automated approach, manual sample extraction becomes obsolete.

Winter Olympics 2022 in Beijing: A Must-be Success Story

In 2022, Beijing will host the Winter Olympic Games. For the first time, a city has been selected by the Olympic Committee to host summer as well as the Winter Olympics. While people in more and more countries around the world are voting against the candidature for the Olympic Games, the aim of the Chinese Government is to demonstrate to the world and to its people that the capital city has the capacity to host and benefit from a global event. Using the example of the Winter Olympic Games in Beijing, this paper aims to show how the Olympic Games have evolved from a peace project in 1896 to a media-dominated commercial venue in the 21st century. The paper will show how a country that has no winter sports tradition is using the event to promote winter sports industries and demonstrate how a city with no local winter sports facilities is preparing for such an event, and how it is using the event to demonstrate national pride, and as a catalyst for urban regeneration and regionalisation.

The influence of leadership behaviors on employee performance in Beijing, China hotel industry

China has successfully held the 29th Olympic Games in Beijing. China’s hotel industry also got really booming in 2008. Variety of foreign hotel brands came into the China’s market. Developing of hotel industry need deluge of labors to support. However, many hotels have low service quality of employees, even there was occurring in high proportion of turnover. Result in one of the main reasons of poor employees’ performance is leadership behaviors; the way of leadership behaviors may directly influence employees’ performance. This study researched employees ‘performance in five stars hotels in Beijing, China, through the way of collect questionnaires to obtain original data. Collecting data adapt to questionnaire method the unit of analysis by SPSS system. This research finds that between employees’ performance, and leadership behaviors have significant relationship, because the positive of leadership behaviors are able to employees feels happy and satisfaction. Active leadership behaviors can help employees to enhance productivity, service quality, and even creation. In this research underlined affect the most reason of employee’s performance.

Performance structure analysis of the men’s and women’s badminton doubles matches in the Olympic Games from 2008 to 2016 during playoffs stage

ABSTRACTThe purpose was to compare the timing factors of top world-level badminton in men’s and women’s doubles matches in the Olympic Games in Beijing, London and Rio to observe the evolution of this sport between 2008 and 2016. All the matches from the quarterfinals to the final of the men’s and women’s doubles events from the 2008, 2012 and 2016 Olympic Games were analysed (48 matches). The matches were retrieved from the Olympic Multimedia Library. Higher values in match duration, real time played, total points played, shots per match and rest time between points were found in Rio than Beijing and London (P < 0.05). The real time played, percentage of time played, shots per rally, rally time and work density were higher and shot frequency was lower in the women’s doubles event than the men’s doubles event (P < 0.05) in all the Olympics analysed. In conclusion, Badminton in the men’s and women’s doubles events evolved from 2008 to 2016 towards longer matches with greater rest intervals. The evolution has been similar in the men’s and women’s doubles; the women’s doubles showed longer points with greater real time in the matches, while the men’s doubles showed greater intensity.Abbreviations: CI: confidence interval, ES: effect size, diff: difference

O programa bolsa atleta no contexto esportivo nacional

Este estudo objetiva analisar o Programa Bolsa Atleta, a partir de sua abrangência, assim como a configuração de seu financiamento e gasto, cotejando tais dados com os principais resultados alcançados nos Jogos Olímpicos de Pequim 2008, Londres 2012 e Rio de Janeiro 2016. A investigação é caracterizada como quantitativo-qualitativa e de cunho documental. Os dados foram coletados nas seguintes fontes: a) Portal da Transparência do Governo Federal; b) relação dos atletas beneficiados no Diário Oficial da União; c) dados de relatórios de gestão do Ministério do Esporte e do Comitê Olímpico do Brasil; d) site dos Jogos Olímpicos de Pequim, Londres e Rio de Janeiro. Como resultado, percebeu-se que o investimento do Programa é realizado em atletas já prontos, e mesmo assim tal situação tem gerado resultados tímidos na evolução histórica da delegação brasileira nos últimos três Jogos Olímpicos.

The Venue Risk Decision-Making Analysis of Large Scale Activities Hosting in Colleges and Universities

After successfully biding to host the 2022 Winter Olympic Games in Beijing, Chinese sports development opened a new chapter and the mission of universities host sporting events and the activities is becoming more difficult. Large-scale activities hosted in universities have features including a wide-ranging, complex factor, multi-stage, and so on. Risk is everywhere. Based on the crisis spread theory made by Steven Fink, the paper divides the risk decision-making system into four phases and makes the risk assessment decision using a comprehensive method of decision tree analysis and Monte Carlo simulation. Finally, the paper makes a risk decision-making empirical analysis of Beijing University of Technology hosted large-scale activities of C in the venue.

Association of air pollution sources and aldehydes with biomarkers of blood coagulation, pulmonary inflammation, and systemic oxidative stress.

Using data collected before, during, and after the 2008 Summer Olympic Games in Beijing, this study examines associations between biomarkers of blood coagulation (vWF, sCD62P and sCD40L), pulmonary inflammation (EBC pH, EBC nitrite, and eNO), and systemic oxidative stress (urinary 8-OHdG) with sources of air pollution identified utilizing principal component analysis and with concentrations of three aldehydes of health concern. Associations between the biomarkers and the air pollution source types and aldehydes were examined using a linear mixed effects model, regressing through seven lag days and controlling for ambient temperature, relative humidity, gender, and day of week for the biomarker measurements. The biomarkers for pulmonary inflammation, particularly EBC pH and eNO, were most consistently associated with vehicle and industrial combustion, oil combustion, and vegetative burning. The biomarkers for blood coagulation, particularly vWF and sCD62p, were most consistently associated with oil combustion. Systemic oxidative stress biomarker (8-OHdG) was most consistently associated with vehicle and industrial combustion. The associations of the biomarkers were generally not significant or consistent with secondary formation of pollutants and with the aldehydes. The findings support policies to control anthropogenic pollution sources rather than natural soil or road dust from a cardio-respiratory health standpoint.

Changes in Air Quality Due to Hosting the Olympic Games in Beijing, China

Changes in Air Quality Due to Hosting the Olympic Games in Beijing, China

Activation of AMPK and its Impact on Exercise Capacity.

Activation of the adenosine monophosphate (AMP)-activated kinase (AMPK) contributes to beneficial effects such as improvement of the hyperglycemic state in diabetes as well as reduction of obesity and inflammatory processes. Furthermore, stimulation of AMPK activity has been associated with increased exercise capacity. A study published in 2008, directly before the Olympic Games in Beijing, showed that the AMPK activator AICAR (5-amino-1-β-D-ribofuranosyl-imidazole-4-carboxamide) increased the running capacity of mice without any training and thus, prompted the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) to include certain AMPK activators in the list of forbidden drugs. This raises the question as to whether all AMPK activators should be considered for registration or whether the increase in exercise performance is only associated with specific AMPK-activating substances. In this review, we intend to shed light on currently published AMPK-activating drugs, their working mechanisms, and their impact on body fitness.

Circus maximus: the economic gamble behind hosting the Olympics and the World Cup

The numbers are staggering: China spent $40 billion to host the 2008 Summer Olympic Games in Beijing and Russia spent $50 billion for the 2014 Sochi Winter Games. Brazil's total expenditures are thought to have been as much as $20 billion for the World Cup this summer and Qatar, which will be the site of the 2022 World Cup, is estimating that it will spend $200 billion. How did we get here? And is it worth it? Those are among the questions noted sports economist Andrew Zimbalist answers in Circus Maximus: The Economic Gamble Behind Hosting the Olympics and the World Cup . Both the Olympics and the World Cup are touted as major economic boons for the countries that host them, and the competition is fierce to win hosting rights. Developing countries especially see the events as a chance to stand in the world's spotlight. Circus Maximus traces the path of the Olympic Games and the World Cup from noble sporting events to exhibits of excess. It exposes the hollowness of the claims made by their private industry boosters and government supporters, all illustrated through a series of case studies ripping open the experiences of Barcelona, Sochi, Rio, and London. Zimbalist finds no net economic gains for the countries that have played host to the Olympics or the World Cup. While the wealthy may profit, those in the middle and lower income brackets do not, and Zimbalist predicts more outbursts of political anger like that seen in Brazil surrounding the 2014 World Cup.

Association between changes in exposure to air pollution and biomarkers of oxidative stress in children before and during the Beijing Olympics.

It is not known whether exposure to air pollutants causes systemic oxidative stress in children. We investigated the association between exposure to air pollution and biomarkers of oxidative stress in relation to a governmental air quality intervention implemented during the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. We studied 36 schoolchildren during 5 time periods before and during the Olympic Games in Beijing (June 2007-September 2008). The oxidative stress biomarkers 8-oxo-7,8-dihydro-2'-deoxyguanosine (8-oxodG) and malondialdehyde were measured in urine samples collected daily during each period. Generalized estimating equations were used to examine the relationship between repeated biomarker measurements and ambient air pollutant levels. During the Olympic intervention period, substantial reductions in air pollution (-19% to -72%), urinary 8-oxodG concentrations (-37.4%; 95% confidence interval: -53.5, -15.7), and urinary malondialdehyde concentrations (-25.3%; 95% confidence interval: -34.3, -15.1) were found. Malondialdehyde and 8-oxodG were significantly associated with concentrations of black carbon, fine particulate matter with an aerodynamic with diameter less than 2.5 μm, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, and carbon monoxide. Biomarker changes per each interquartile-range increase in pollutants were largest at lag 0 or lag 1. In a 2-pollutant model, the most robust associations were for black carbon. These findings suggest that exposure to black carbon leads to systemic oxidative stress in children.

Unlocking advertising, activation and sponsorship in an emerging market

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to describe and explain the advertising behavior seen as an activation strategy performed by Olympic sponsors in an emerging market context. It provides insights into the strategic goals related to sponsorship. Design/methodology/approach – The longitudinal approach taken opens the possibility to explore the dynamics of the strategies of Chinese as well as foreign firms in China. Theories on how sponsorship works cannot assist in explaining outcomes of sponsor-linked marketing, and since the actors involved rarely divulge their genuine intentions or their reciprocal contractual arrangements with the sponsored property, a new methodology has to be developed. A means-objective framework of sponsoring consists of six factors, which were applied to analyze 739 advertisements, articles and press releases collected from Chinese newspapers and Chinese official web pages covering a period of eight years (2001-2008) prior to the Olympic Games in Beijing. Based on a qualitative content analysis and nine means-objectives combinations in sponsorship patterns the authors discovered four dominant advertising strategies. Findings – Lead-time is a key concept when analyzing sponsor advertising strategies. The authors conclude from the longitudinal data that the time gap between signing the contract and the dates of the event influences the strategy of the sponsoring corporations. The authors also observe that the advertising content changes over time and the sponsors craft different “advertising strategies” in different periods. Within this context the authors categorized two different advertising strategies. The sponsors are assumed to conduct a “Short Advertising Strategy” different from the “Long Advertising Strategy.” Both are examples of activation strategies. Originality/value – Advertising strategies and activation seems to be dependent on the lead-time to the Olympic Games and the level of internationalization of the sponsoring firm.