China Beijing
XXIX Summer International Olympic Games

Liu Qi, a member of the CPC Politburo, CPC Beijing Committee Secretary and President of the Beijing Olympic Organizing Committee, directed the ceremony and gave a speech welcoming the athletes.
Athletes from 204 of 205 countries marching at the opening ceremony competed at the Games. On August 8, the IOC disqualified the Brunei delegation having failed to register either of its two athletes. The total number of competing athletes was 11,028. China had the largest team of 639 athletes. Meanwhile the national teams of certain countries consisted of 1 athlete only.
Athletes of the Marshal Islands, Montenegro and Tuvalu made their debut at these Games. The International Olympic Committee officially approved the membership of the Marshal Islands in the IOC in February 2006. On July 6, 2007, the IOC recognized Tuvalu and Montenegro, a new country that became independent of Serbia.
North Korea and South Korea held meetings to discuss the possibility of sending a united team to the Olympics. The proposal failed, because of disagreements about how athletes would be chosen; South Korea was demanding a certain percentage representation for its athletes, while North Korea insisted on equal representation.
On July 24, 2008, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) banned Iraq from competing in the 2008 Olympic Summer Games because of “political interference by the government in sports.” The IOC reversed its decision on July 29 and allowed four athletes of the nation to compete after a pledge by Iraq to ensure “the independence of its national Olympics panel” and institute fair elections of the NOC after the Games.
On August 9, after its meeting with Sandra Roelofs, the wife of Georgian President Saakashvili, the Georgian national team announced that it was considering withdrawing from the Beijing Olympic Games because of the 2008 South Ossetia war. Under the Olympic Charter, the NOC of Georgia could be disqualified for eight years. Nevertheless, the national team went on to compete as requested by Saakashvili. 

WINNER MEDALS
The design of the Beijing Olympic winner medals was modified by a group of Chinese designers. For the first time in the Olympic history, the medal was inlaid with a jade piece (inspiration coming from “bi”, China’s ancient jade piece – a flat jade disc with a circular hole in the center). According to the designer idea, the medal should symbolize elegance, nobility and virtue that are traditional Chinese values of ethics and honor.
OBVERSE: a figure of goddess Nike, a replica of an ancient statute created in 421 B.C. by well-known sculptor Paeonios, as Nike is descending from the gods to the Panathenaic Stadium to sing praises and crown a winner, with the Acropolis in the background. A legend in English around the top rim reads: “XXIX Olympiad Beijing 2008”, the Olympic rings underneath.
REVERSE: an embedded jade disk with the Beijing Olympic official logo (Dancing Beijing pictogram, caption “Beijing 2008” and Olympic rings) engraved in the metal centerpiece. The medal has a metal hook for a ribbon decorated with traditional Chinese ornament. The winner medal jade colors are different – white color in the first prize medal, celadon in the second prize medal, and green color in the third prize medal. 

COMMEMORATIVE MEDAL
BHP Billiton used 6.1 tons of copper to make also 51,000 Olympic commemorative medals besides the winner ones. All medals were minted in China.
OBVERSE: the official Olympic logo (Dancing Beijing pictogram, caption “Beijing 2008” and Olympic rings) over the Bird’s Nest Olympic Stadium with the legend in Chinese and English “Games of the XXIX Olympiad” around the top rim.
REVERSE: the Beijing Olympic mascots, five Fuwa (“good-luck dolls”), over the motto in Chinese and English “One World, One Dream”.