2008 Summer Olympics

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Official Sites and Media Resources

Beijing Olympics: Official Site
Includes language translation, history, media operations, torch relay, etc.

U.S. Olympic Committee
Official site of the U.S. team. Details on each sport, bios, Summer Games page, etc.

International Olympic Committee
Athlete bios, multimedia gallery, links to future games sites and Olympic Museum and education pages.

Chinese Olympic Committee
Official site offers records, site information, athlete information, news headlines, etc.

China.org: Summer Olympics Site
News, events, FAQ, weather, pictures, venue graphics and events surrounding the Games.

TeamUSA.org
Athlete features, video archive, Olympic community pages.

RoadtoBeijing.org
Official website of the USOC Road to Beijing campaign. It's a fund-raising site but it has athlete bios and a newsletter.

Beijing 2008 Venue Maps
From the London 2012 Games site.

Google Maps: Torch Relay
Track where the torch is headed.

Official Olympic Torch Relay Site
Basic background on media headquarters, contact information.

Beijing Olympic Media Page

USOC Press Box
Press resources and links from the U.S. Olympic Committee.

U.S. State Department: Olympic Travel Facts
Information page addresses threat levels, legal aspects and other issues of traveling in China.

Media Coverage and Blogs

For more Olympics coverage, use the tools on the Toolbox's International News Sites section.

NBCOlympics.com
Comprehensive, around-the-clock coverage of the games from the official network. The site has live video streaming of all the sports, real-time results, etc.

MSNBC Coverage
Breaking news, TV schedule, medal count, other results.

MSNBC World Blog
Includes a "Blogging from Beijing" section.

ESPN: Olympic Sports Index

USA Today Summer Olympics Coverage

Yahoo! Sports Olympics Page

Sports Illustrated: Beijing Olympics Coverage
Updated news, site reports and blogs by SI writers. Also includes photo galleries and analysis of the TV coverage.

FoxSports: 2008 Summer Olympics

NY Times 2008 Summer Olympics Coverage

NY Times Rings: 2008 Summer Olympics Blog

Chicago Tribune: Globetrotting Blog
Phil Hersh's international sports blog.

LA Times: Ticket to Beijing
An Olympics blog by LA Times and other Tribune company writers.

SportsFanLive
A mixture of news and social networking for sports fans. They are live blogging around-the-clock during the Olympics. You can tailor the page to feed specific stories, comments, a fan-finder using Google Earth and an Olympic "blogathon."

Time.com Summer Olympics Coverage

YouTube Summer Games
Site features news, recaps, features, profiles and video on the culture of Beijing through many of its partners, including The Associated Press, New York Times, Getty Images, Reuters and Travel Channel.

Google Olympics Tools
Check event schedules, track the medal count, and get up-to-the-minute news - right on your Google homepage. You also can get text updates via Google Mobile.

International Herald Tribune Olympics Coverage

CNN 2008 Olympics Coverage

CNN.com: Summer Olympics Video
Tour of the media center and other behind-the-scenes video.

CNN iReport: Beijing Olympics
CNN's community journalism page invites people to submit photos and video from Beijing. Remember to double-check the authenticity of the photo/video.

The Beijing News

Peoples Daily Online: Beijing Olympics
English version of Chinese publication. Monitors news and preparation for the event.

AroundtheRings.com
Covers the business of the Olympics. Includes, archives, newsletter and useful links section.

GamesBids.com
Site covers cities' bids for upcoming Summer and Winter Olympics.

Summer Olympics News
A blog with updated news links and video from the Olympics. Some of the video is shot from handheld cameras around Beijing.

Issues and Politics

OlympicWatch.org
This human rights activist group monitors the situation in the People's Republic of China in the run-up to the 2008 Olympic Games and to campaign to achieve positive change in the lives of the people of China.

HumanRightsWatch.org: 2008 Olympic Games Basics
Includes a helpful news archive, timeline, discussion board and media center resources about China's human rights issues.

Political and Economic Introduction to China
A 2006 research paper from the British House of Commons. Some good basic background and some Olympic-specific information.

EPA: Clean Air and Energy Projects in China
Could be helpful if backgrounding stories on pollution and athlete health/safety issues during the Games.

World Health Organization
Has information on air quality in Beijing.

Beijing Municipal Environmental Protection Bureau
Directly affiliated to the Municipal Government, is in charge of the environmental protection work of the city. It's in Chinese so you'll need to put the URL into a translation tool to read it.

Editor & Publisher: Cutbacks in Olympic Coverage

Stanford University Human Performance Laboratory
Focuses on athletics and human performance.

Women's Sports: Game Face Online
Documents the societal impact women's sports has had. Includes a section on women in the sports media.

Blood Doping

U.S. Anti-Doping Agency
Policies, codes, fact sheets, links, control officers, etc.

World Anti-Doping Agency
Links, publications, studies, etc.

AMA: Blood Doping Study (.PDF)

Nature: The Science of Doping
Article on blood doping and athletics, by Donald A. Berry at the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center at the University of Texas in Houston.

Findlaw.com: Blood Doping Links
A great collection of fact sheets and legal resources on the blood-doping controversy.

Findlaw.com: Why Blood Doping is Done

BBC: Banned Substances List
Story and list on what athletes cannot take.

BBC: Sports Doping Breakthrough

Bloodline
Site has a section on blood doping detection.

Steroids and Performance-Enhancing Drugs

PubMed: Steroids
Go to this page and do a search for athletes steroids side effects. This search returns 183 articles published in medical journals on the side effects of steroid use in athletes.

SteroidLaw.com
Background on how the laws work, etc.

MedStudents.com: Background on Steroids
A good quick-reference page.

Findlaw.com: Steroids and Performance-Enhancers

Findlaw.com: Other Drugs Abused by Athletes

Findlaw: History of Drug Use in Sports

Use the Toolbox's Sports Medicine section for more background on steroids and blood doping.

Olympic History

Tufts University: Olympics History
An in-depth historical site built by the Tufts University Library.

InfoPlease.com: Olympics Through the Years
Easy-to-use quick reference to past Games.

NationMaster.com: Olympics History Encyclopedia
Look up Games history by year.

Olympic Photo Guide: 1896-Present
Look up Games photos by year.

Wikipedia: 2004 Olympics Encyclopedia

About.com: 1980 Olympics History
Background on the U.S. Boycott of the Moscow Games.

Who, What, When Database
Great for quick fact-checking. A database of "key people and events from 1000 A.D. to the present." Create graphic timelines of periods in history and of the lives of individuals.

Miscellaneous

RAND Study: 2012 Olympics (London)
A 77-page .PDF-format report highlighting policy areas (transport and infrastructure, and security) in which specific research tools can be used to facilitate evidence-based policy making.

Institute for Public Policy Research: Paying for 2012 Olympics
This free report explores how London is funding the 2012 Games.

Teacher Planet: Summer Olympic Resources
Worksheets, exercises and history lessons with Olympic themes. Targeted for younger students but has some value to everyone.

WorldClock Time Zones
Track your time zone from any other city/zone in the world.

Olympic Archives

2006 WINTER OLYMPICS
The Journalist's Toolbox site provides links to history, records, events, background on host city, Olympic organizations, news, coverage. Site is now archived.

2004 SUMMER OLYMPICS
The Journalist's Toolbox site provides links to history, records, events, background on host city, Olympic organizations, news, coverage. Site is now archived.

2002 WINTER OLYMPICS
The Journalist's Toolbox site provides links to history, records, events, background on host city, Olympic organizations, news, coverage. Site is now archived.