Category: Olympics

Now Hiroshima, Nagasaki have Olympic ambitions

Posted by: Ian Rowley on October 12

Less than two weeks after Tokyo lost out to Rio for the 2016 Summer Olympics, Japanese politicians are keener than ever to host the games. According to a Kyodo Newswire…

Sydney Olympics Faked Entire Symphony Performance

Posted by: Frederik Balfour on August 28

Thanks to an alert reader of my Lip-Synching blog, it comes to my attention that the faking of Lin Miaoke’s performance at the opening ceremonies of the Beijing Olympics has…

Olympic Games close with Jimmy Page, David Beckham and Boris Johnson

Posted by: Frederik Balfour on August 25

I can’t remember 18 days going by so quickly, yet on Sunday, the Beijing Games finally wrapped up with yet another impressive fireworks display—this time without any computer-generated enhancements. And…

Nike tweaks Olympic ad with Liu Xiang

Posted by: Frederik Balfour on August 20

You have to hand it to Nike for being quick on its feet. Within 24 hours of the heartbreaking departure of Chinese superstar hurdler Liu Xiang on Monday, Nike’s ad…

Chinese Condom Maker Scores Ambush Marketing Olympic Gold

Posted by: Frederik Balfour on August 15

Following on our ongoing discussion of ambush marketing at the Olympic Games prompted by Li Ning’s air walk, here’s another cheeky attempt to free-ride on the Games. According to the…

Chinese prefer Real Thing to Olympic Lip-Syncher

Posted by: Frederik Balfour on August 15

Here’s an update on the lip-synching controversy surrounding the Olympic opening ceremony, suggesting that it’s not just we foreign media who are stirring things up. Here’s some interesting evidence that…

Lip-Synching Ghost of Milli Vanilli haunts Olympic Ceremony

Posted by: Frederik Balfour on August 12

We were all awed by the tremendous artistry of the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics, especially the pyrotechnic display. But then organizers admitted that artistic director Zhang Yimou included…

Li Ning pulls off Olympic-sized Marketing Ambush

Posted by: Frederik Balfour on August 10

Of the four billion or so people watching the spectacular Olympics opening ceremony, its hard to imagine anyone being more nonplussed than Adidas chairman and CEO Herbert Hainer. Poor guy,…

August 8: Olympics Day - and Father’s Day, Too

Posted by: Bruce Einhorn on August 08

Here we are, the eighth day of the eighth month, the start of the Beijing Olympics. But long before 8/8 made it on everyone’s calendar as Opening Day for the…

U.S. Olympic Athletes and Those Face Masks

Posted by: Bruce Einhorn on August 06

Not exactly the nicest way to show thanks to your hosts: According to this story from Reuters, six members of the U.S. Olympic cycling team arrived at the Beijing airport…

Does China Want Foreign Tourists at the Games?

Posted by: Bruce Einhorn on August 01

Given how hard the Chinese government is making it for people to get visas, maybe the answer is no, Beijing isn’t all that concerned about attracting lots of foreign visitors….

Everyone’s a Winner at the Physics Olympics

Posted by: Bruce Einhorn on July 31

Sure, everyone else is focused on Beijing, where there’s some sort of athletic competition about to start. But as fans of Eye on Asia can tell you, our obsession here…

China’s Emergency Plan for Olympics Pollution

Posted by: Bruce Einhorn on July 28

The clock is ticking, the athletes are arriving, and Beijing’s air isn’t getting any better. For years, Chinese officials have known that the greatest threat to a successful Olympics might…

Chinese Confidence Soars as Olympics Approach

Posted by: Dexter Roberts on July 23

Chinese confidence is soaring in the run-up to the Olympics, shows an interesting poll released yesterday. According to the Pew Research Center, 82% of Chinese believe the economic situation in…

Jackie Chan, Olympics Fashion Victim

Posted by: Bruce Einhorn on July 22

Sure, the whole world is focusing on Beijing as opening day of the games approaches. But officials in Hong Kong want us to remember that the city is an…

Beijing bans Andy Warhol’s works during Olympics

Posted by: Frederik Balfour on July 21

First it was dog meat. Now Andy Warhol’s works have been banned from Beijing during the Olympics. Apparently the Ministry of Culture has deemed Warhol’s portraits inappropriate art work to…

Chinese prefer to watch olympics on foreign-branded TVS

Posted by: Frederik Balfour on June 28

Nationalistic pride may be reaching unprecedented levels in China as the Beijing Olympic games approach, but their patriotic fervor doesn’t seem to extend as far as the television showroom. According…