2008 Olympics in China

One of the highest honors that any city in the world can receive is to be selected as the host city for an upcoming Olympics. There are years of planning, promotion, campaigning that must be endured before the final announcement of the winning city. Most cities will be disappointed and will start the process all over again so they can be in the running for a subsequent Olympics.

Beijing... tried and succeeded in receiving the honor to host the 2008 Summer Olympics. Winning that honor, however, was only the beginning. Much hard work went into receiving the nod from the International Olympic Committee but that was nothing compared to the effort that would be needed in order to prepare that city for everything that came with the honor.

It took years for the designers, city planners, the Olympic organizers, construction crews, and all of the support personnel to ready this ancient City for its incredible thrust into the 21st century. To get it ready not only for the tourists that the Olympics would attract, but also for the construction of the various venues such as Beijing's National Stadium, The National Aquatics Center, National Indoor Stadium and all of the other structures needed to pull-off this colossal event.

Of course, the expenditure of resources and funds was monumental, but the expected profits from the games was deemed worth it. It has been reported the the last Olympics, in 2004 at Athens, Greece, realized a profit of more than $150,000,000. This large sum does not even include the financial benefit to the city business men who run the restaurants, hotels, shops, transportation systems, etc.

You can be sure that China will come through with the ultimate in experiences for every Olympian and fan visiting the city... as well as the rest of the country. These hard-working people have accomplished an amazing feat and should rightly reap the rewards for their work.

It truly will be an amazing event and I invite anyone who experiences it to comment here and share their story with us.