SLR Cameras Banned at Beijing Olympics

According to this blog, it seems that non-accredited Olympics spectators will not be allowed to use SLR cameras in the stands. This is extremely disappointing because we were planning to shoot the Olympics with our Canon Rebel XTi. The does seem to be a bit of disagreement from other discussion boards on what the official policy is, for instance this post claims that SLR cameras with up to 300mm telephoto lenses will be allowed. That would be great news for us since we were planning to use a Canon 55-250mm f/4.0-5.6 IS, but I guess we will just have to see for ourselves to know for sure. If anyone has a first-hand account of the situation after the start of the Games, please leave a comment here!

Reuters Beijing Smog Watch

Reuters has a "smog watch" video illustrating the most recent air quality in Beijing. Check it out here.

Rain Prevention

China plans to use weather modification technology to try to ensure that it doesn't rain during the opening ceremonies. First off, this is incredible - people, they're changing the weather. I wonder what the details of the technology are and what exactly it's capable of. Wikipedia has an article here. This is definitely going to make me complain more about the weather... Bad skiing season? There shouldn't be such a thing anymore. You guys say you're making snow? You better make it start coming from the sky now that this technology is available!

US Lightweight 8 Takes Gold at Worlds

In Olympic years, the top competition for non-Olympic rowing events is the World Championships. The US Lightweight eight took gold at this year's worlds, beating out Germany (silver) and last year's champion, the Netherlands (bronze). This is a fantastic result for Team USA, and is especially exciting for me because the rowers of the USA Olympic four will come from this boat.

The Olympic lightweight rowing scene is interesting in that there are only three lightweight rowing events, the women's double and the men's double and four with coxswain. So with spots for only six lightweight rowers (and one cox), the competition for these positions is fierce, to say the least. Team USA might be taking a risk by recycling athletes from the worlds crew, but we will hope that it is worth it given these rowers' talent. Plus, fours racing is a totally different animal as it is substantially slower than eights. In short, nothing can be taken for granted, so we are looking forward to the rowing finals with much anticipation!

Online Retailers Selling Bogus Olympics Tickets

Ooops, I wrote this a few days ago and forgot to post this. Well, better late than never!

The NY Times had an article about two web sites selling bogus Olympic tickets. Apparently the retailers would charge the customers' credit cards but never ship any tickets. There seems to be a lot of sketchy black market activity related to the Olympics going on. Buyers beware!

Phase IV Ticket Sale Crowds

Well, folks, looks like we were a bit naive when we started thinking about trying to get tickets at the Phase IV sale. It looks like crowds of several tens of thousands have collected to have a chance to buy the tickets, so even we were able to force one of our friends or relatives to wait in line, we would feel slightly bad :).

We have tickets to the women's volleyball finals!

Courtesy of eBay, we were able to get our hands on those women's volleyball finals tickets that I've been coveting. So pumped! I'm crossing my fingers and hoping they're legit...but we've already facebook-stalked the seller, so I think we're good. Ahhhh internet, I could hug you right now.

BBC Sport Olympic Venue Map

Let's be honest, the official Olympic venue map is not too helpful. BBC has come up with a better one that uses Google maps. But still, some things are unclear, like how is each venue accessible? My biggest concern is the Shunyi rowing venue, which seems to be around halfway between Beijing Capital airport and San Francisco. Okay, so I tend to exaggerate, and there is a new train going from Beijing city center to the airport. But seriously, if anybody knows the best way of getting to Shunyi, please post it here!

What's Wrong With This Picture?

We have previously mentioned that occupancy rates at international hotels in Beijing have been much lower than expected. Well, in case you don't always believe what you read in the papers, here is some first-hand evidence of that. This is a partial seating map for our flight to Beijing. Anything look bizarre for a direct flight right around the start of the Games? You got it -- a lot of empty seats!

On the other hand, maybe I shouldn't be complaining. This way we can expect to arrive in Beijing, take a lovely stroll down Wangfujing, take a deep breath of clean air, and take a lovely uncrowded train to the Olympic stadium. Sounds like a dream... one dream, that is!

NY Times Article - Chinese Rowing Team

This article came out at the beginning of the summer. It highlights the rigorous training schedule the elite Chinese rowers have been enduring recently. Can China be a dominant Olympic rowing force this summer? We shall see...

Free wireless! (hopefully)

My dad told me the other day that there would be free wireless internet service in Beijing in time for the Olympics. CECT-Chinacomm Communications is implementing the buildout, with the first phase to cover an area of 100 sq. kilometers already completed. I'm not sure what 100 sq. km covers, but my dad says there should be coverage up until about the 3rd ring. This is good news for us since our apartment is between the 2nd and 3rd Ring. For those of you unfamiliar with the rings, let me direct you to a city map:

As you can see, Beijing is centered around the Imperial Palace, located directly across from Tiananmen Square. The Second Ring Road, Third Ring Road, and Fourth Ring Road form concentric circles around the city center. Our apartment is near Yuyuantan Park, west of city center. The location is actually not ideal for the Olympics since most venues are located north/northeast of city center. The other day, we realized we would have to take 5 subway lines (yes, that's right, 5!) to get to the Olympic Stadium. But that's cool, we'll just get really adept at navigating the public transportation system. Or take a lot of cabs.

Beijing Olympic Architecture

The New York Times had a nice article the other day about the new buildings and facilities that are going up around Beijing in preparation for the Olympics. Check it out, and make sure you click on the interactive features.

Most anticipated events

I've been waiting for these Games ever since 2001, when Beijing won the bid. I was actually in China when it happened, and I remember the excitement. The sport I most want to see is Volleyball since I used to play on my high school team and continued to play on an intramural team in college. We have 2 Indoor Volleyball events lined up --too bad they're both Men's. I find it hard to identify with Men's volleyball --the rallies last forever and the kills are so spectacularly powerful, it seems like there's no point even trying to dig it. Women's volleyball, on the other hand, involves a bit more finesse, strategy, and teamwork. Also, China won the Gold in Women's volleyball in Athens, so I'm sure they'll be a strong contender this year as well. I've been scouring eBay and StubHub for Women's Indoor volleyball Finals tix to no avail. So if you know someone, who works with someone, who went to school with someone, who has a pair of tickets, LET ME KNOW!

OW's sport is Rowing. He used to row in college and then sculled post-college. He was pretty good too! We were very easily able to secure tickets to the Rowing finals on 8/16 and 8/17 though these tickets are now quite hard to find. Unfortunately, none of his old rowing buddies made it to the team, but we are meeting up with one of his teammates from college who will also be on the Olympic scene.

Phase IV Tickets Made Available

It was just announced that there will be another round of ticket sales in which 800,000 tickets will be distributed at locations in Olympic cities. This is very exciting, but we're not getting there until the start of the Olympics. Is there anybody "on the ground" in Beijing that wants to do us a big favor :)?

Beijing hotel rates down 30%

I read an article on CNN today about how many 2-4 star hotels in Beijing are cutting their rates by as much as 30% due to unexpectedly low tourist demand. Apparently, the scarcity of event tickets, high cost of airfare, and visa restrictions are deterring many would-be visitors. Luckily, we already have plans to stay with my family in Beijing though we also ran into difficulty securing visas for the trip.

First Post!

22 days until our first Olympic event. We're pretty excited! In the meantime we're reading up on the NYTimes Olympic coverage and practicing our Chinese :)

Let's Get this Blog Started

Not much to write yet, but here's the plan. We will be at the Beijing Olympics and plan to post our impressions and pictures here. Some events we will see are:

Rowing
Indoor and Beach Volleyball
Football
Diving
Athletics
Handball
Boxing
Weightlifting
Archery
Softball
Baseball

We're not going to catch the opening or closing ceremonies. Too hectic! We'll watch them on TV.

Stay tuned!