How much does an Olympic medal cost?

If you've watched the Olympics you've probably heard the big noise Britain has been making regarding their medals: at Atlanta in 1996 they managed to win only 1 medal, fast forward 12 years and they've won 47 medals, landing the top 4th country in terms of overall medal standing compared to SA's 71th place on the medals list.

But these medals came at a price ...

Yahoo Finance published an interesting article on What a gold medal is really worth:

• More than £190 million was allocated to the UK's Olympic team and with 19 Golds and 47 medals in total it works out to almost £10 million per Gold and just under £4 million per medal
• The most expensive medal is in Athletics at £20 million per Gold
• The cheapest was in Cycling costing just over £2 million per Gold
• Six sports come in at less than £5m per medal

It makes you wonder how much Team SA was allocated ...

click image to enlarge

Gearing up for the Paralympic Games

The Paralympic Games in Beijing starts on the 6th of September and promises to be just as exciting as the Olympic Games that just ended.

Teams will be competing in 20 sports including judo, swimming, wheelchair basketball, volleyball sitting, cycling, athletics and archery.

With less than two weeks to go we wish our athletes all the best!

Finally the wait is over!

Well, the wait is finally over! The Beijing 2008 Olympic has started - and it's going to be a great event.

Here is a selection of places you can use to keep up to date with the latest events, results and happenings in Beijing:

The official Olympic Website - read the latests Olympic news, see the fixtures, view results, meet the athletes and teams, view interviews of Olympic greats (past and perhaps even the present), read the newsletter, download Olympic wall papers and screensavers and even play online games.

Olympics on television - SuperSport is devoting 3 channels to the Olympics: SuperSport Xtra 1 and 2 and Olympic HD (only available with the DStv HD PVR decoder) If you've missed the action you can see the results on their SuperSport Olympics page as well.

News on the web - News24 has an Olympic channel, as does CNN.

New look for the Olympics

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) unveiled a dramatically improved web site, with new interactive games, Flash animation, videos of highlights and other features that make it a one-stop source for information on the Olympic Games on Monday.

The enhanced web site, http://www.olympic.org/, is a vital resource for anyone with an interest in the Olympic Games, and an invaluable guide to the upcoming Beijing Games. The site will provide continually updated results from China, as well a behind-the-scenes look at activities in Beijing. Another feature, the “Olympic Express” e-journal, provides information tailored to the pre-teen audience. The Games will run from 8-24 August. For the events calendar, click here.

Site users can activate Flash animations explaining Olympic sports, and compete online against contestants from around the world. They can also find training tips and other advice from renowned Olympic athletes.

“Olympic.org is the ultimate resource on the Olympic Games and the Olympic Movement,” IOC President Jacques Rogge said. “The web site is an important part of our effort to keep the Olympic spirit alive for future generations. The Olympic values do not change, but we are always looking for new ways to share them, especially with young people.”

The site offers users a chance to play, learn and explore while experiencing the drama and excitement of the Olympic Games.

Spotlight on Business and China

With the 2008 Olympics looming, the global eye has turned on China economically, sociologically and politically. Wiley-Blackwell would like to present a selection of key articles (please remember to check on the A-Z list if we have the journal the article was published in) from their premier list of Business and Management journals, with a spotlight on China and Chinese Authors.

Here are a few:

• Collective Consultation and Industrial Relations in China Simon Clarke, Chang-Hee Lee, Qi Li(British Journal of Industrial Relations, Volume 42, Issue 2)
• Acquisitions of Chinese State-Owned Enterprises by Multinational Corporations: Driving Forces, Barriers and Implications for HRM Fang Lee Cooke(British Journal of Management, Volume 17, Supplement 1)
• Corporate Governance in China?Is Economic Growth Potential Hindered by Guanxi? Udo C. Braendle, Tanja Gasser, Juergen Noll (Business and Society Review, Volume 110, Issue 4)
• Going Public with Good Governance: evidence from China Larry Li, Tony Naughton(Corporate Governance, Volume 15, Issue 6)
• Managing Risk in a Transitional Environment: An Exploratory Study of Control and Incentive Mechanisms of Venture Capital Firms in China Justin Tan, Wei Zhang, Jun Xia(Journal of Small Business Management, Volume 46, Issue 2)

Information on the Beijing 2008 Olympics

If your students are looking for information on the Beijing 2008 Olympics (or background information on the Olympics) refer them to the InfoPlease Olympics 2008 pages.

Included are such topics as:

History of the Olympic Torch, Flame, and Relay From symbolism of fire to criticisms and protests
Beijing Controversies Tibet, Darfur, pollution, and the general destruction of Beijing
Summer Games: Gold Medals A round-up of the major competitions
Olympics Highlights Day-to-day news from Athens
Olympics Timeline From ancient Greece to the present day
Modern Olympic Symbols Flames, doves, oaths, and more
Ancient Olympic Traditions The Olympics draws on traditions of war, religion, economy
Olympic Fun Facts Poland's "Stella the Fella" and other amazing trivia
Paralympics-Spirit in motion
U.S. Olympic Training Facilities-Where Olympians live and train
Olympic Athletes-The sponsorship behind the athletes
The Olympics and Greece
The First Modern Olympics: Athens, 1896
Fourteen nations participated in the first modern Olympics
The Olympics of Ancient Greece
The first ancient games are believed to have begun in 776 B.C.

The official Beijing 2008 site is also extremely useful.