Category — 2008 Beijing Olympics

Japan’s Kosuke Kitajima who won the Gold medal in the men’s 100m breaststroke last week, credits the Wii as his training aid.

He mentioned that he used the game to prepare his mind. “See, Mario does the breaststroke,” he recently told Yomiuri Sports. “and thus, it’s perfect mental training for envisioning the actual Olympic hall.”

I think he’s having us on, or he’s sponsored by Nintendo.

Via Joystiq.com

Technorati Tags: Beijing, breast stroke, gold medalist, Kosuke Kitajima, Nintendo Wii, Olympics, swimming

With less than a week until the Olympics are over, there are still are few more Olympic related posts to come!

The Big Picture again compiles a series of excellent photos, this time of the women’s fencing rounds. The photos show some pretty dramatic and emotional scenes of passionate competitors inside a large, darkened stadium.

See all Women’s Beijing Olympics Fencing photos

Technorati Tags: Beijing, fencing, Olympics, Olympics coverage

Lenovo have created Olympic-themed flash drives. As noted by Core77, these information storage devices are ironically endorsed by a Communist regime that likes to censor information.

Via Core77

Technorati Tags: 2008 Beijing Oympics, Flash drives, gadgets, Lenovo

Swiss watch manufacturer Ernst Benz have created high end 2008 Beijing Olympics merchandise with their Beijing 2008 Limited Edition ChronoScope.

The dials feature a traditional Chinese pattern for fire as well as incorporating traditional Chinese characters for the numerals; with the 8th hour marker done in a contrasting color.

The 47mm watch is being offered in two shades - Noir and Vermilion. Exclusively handcrafted, 88 of each of these stainless steel watches will be out for $5,800. (Not $8,88?)

The watch maker also has exclusive special limited editions where only eight pieces per dial will be available in Black PVD (Physical Vapor Deposition) coated brushed steel for  $6,800.

Boasting of a Chinese-themed packaging, you can opt for a black with red stitching or vice versa combination in the hand-stitched alligator straps.

Via BornRich

Technorati Tags: 2008 Beijing Oympics, design, Ernst Benz, gadgets, ChronoScope, watches

The Chinese are copying themselves this time with these retail editions of The Birds Nest and Water Cube designs!

A bit bizarre to say the least, but we shouldn’t be surprised at any attempt to cash in on the Olympics. I just wish they would sell real Birds Nest dishes and sports editions of bottled water.

Via Core77

Technorati Tags: Beijing, Beijing National Stadium, Birds Nest, China, retail design, Water Cube

These farmers from Hangzhou (located in the southeast of China) built their own miniature bamboo version of The Beijing National Stadium, nicknamed “The Bird’s Nest“.

Being too far away from the real stadium in Beijing doesn’t seem to detract from their own design, which I think is pretty impressively close looking.

It took ten bamboo sculptors roughly two weeks to put together the Bird’s Nest (at a 1:20 scale of the Beijing original) out of 800 pieces of bamboo.

Via Gizmodo

Technorati Tags: 2008 Beijing Oympics, bamboo structure, Beijing, Beijing National Stadium, crafts, Hangzhou, The Birds Nest

Coke merchandise for the Beijing Olympics includes twelve trading pins designed by two Chinese artists - Tim Tsui and Alice Chan.

They’ll be available at the Olympic Village but I’m not sure about anywhere else.

Via VinylPulse

Technorati Tags: 2008 Beijing Oympics, Alice Chan, badges, Coca-Cola, designer toy scene, Tim Tsui, trading pins

This is the closest I will probably ever get to an olympic medal. The Official website of the Beijing Olympic Games displays the designs for their medals.

The medal for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games is designed with inspiration coming from “bi“, China’s ancient jade piece inscribed with a dragon pattern. The medals, made of gold and jade, symbolise nobility and virtue and are the embodiment of traditional Chinese values of ethics and honor, sending forth a strong Chinese flavor.

The medals are 70mm in diameter and 6mm in thickness. On the front side, the medal adopts standard design prescribed by the International Olympic Committee. While on the back, the medal is inlaid with jade with the Beijing Games emblem engraved in the metal centerpiece. The design inspiration of the medal hook derives from jade “huang“, a ceremonial jade piece with decoration ofb and “Pu“, the reed mat pattern.

Noble and elegant, the Beijing Olympic Games medal is a blending of traditional Chinese culture and the Olympism. It gives the winners of the Games great honor and acclamation as recognition of their achievement.

From the Official website of the Beijing Olympic Games

Via Surfstation

Technorati Tags: 2008 Beijing Oympics, China, design, Olympic medals