GOLD is Spelled ..P-R-O-J-E-C-T 1-1-9

Ok, I admit it I'm an Olympics junkie. Whew, there I said it, feels good to get that out in the open. Something about the multiple sports and multiple countries competing against each other on the world stage is entertaining to me.

However, the real behind the scenes story of this Olympics is China's Project 119

What's Project 119 you ask?

Well wikipedia has a page for it but it's a simple redirect to China at the 2008 Olympic Games

We will get back to that page in a minute, but first some Chinese Olympic history.

Historically China has always done well in the mainstream events of diving and gymnastics as well as less published events such as shooting and badminton. Yes, there really is badminton at the Olympic Games. *sigh*

However, during the Olympics in Sydney, the Chinese team won only one gold in the following events:

Track and field, Swimming and other water events such as canoe and sailboat.
Guess how many gold medals were awarded in those events? Yup - 119

119 gold medals awarded in very publicized and televised events.

In 2001 China won the right to host the 2008 Summer Olympics and at the same time the Chinese State General Sports Bureau put forward “Project 119” with the aim of coming to the top in those events.

After winning the right to host this summer's Olympics, China was ecstatic. Officials promised the greatest Games ever held.

The following are excerpts from this article from BBC News.

There seems little doubt that China expected a glorious Olympic Games.
Speaking after being awarded the event in 2001, Liu Jingmin, vice-mayor of Beijing, looked forward with great hope.

"We have seven years to ensure that our country and our city are ready to host the best Olympic Games in the history of the world," he told state media.

China seemed eager to show the rest of the world how it had changed from a poor, isolated country into one with growing strength and prosperity.

"Hosting the Olympics would both mark China's triumphant arrival as a fully respectable country on the world scene and demonstrate exactly that to the population at home," said Andrew Nathan, a professor of political science at New York's Columbia University.

Hosting the Games has been a long-time dream of the Chinese authorities

At a rare briefing for foreign journalists last week, Chinese President Hu Jintao said that as far back as 1908 some of his countrymen had wanted to host the Olympics.

That thought is perfectly expressed in a slogan that has appeared in parts of Beijing. "Seize the opportunity of a century to realise the dream of a century," it says.

In the 2004 Athens Olympics, the Chinese team won four gold medals in those events, including Liu Xiang in the track and field men’s 100-meter hurdles; Xing Huina in the women’s10,000-meter race in track and field; Luo Xuejuan in the women’s 100-meter breast stroke; and Meng Guanliang and Yang Wenjun in the men’s C-2 500-meter canoe.

In the 2008 Games the home team could win more than a dozen medals in the Project 119 events—potentially enough to make a difference in a tight battle with the U.S. for the No. 1 spot. Given their traditional strength in table tennis, diving, badminton and gymnastics; their domination of shooting; their depth in women's sports such as weighlifting; and the usual surge in victories by the host country, the Chinese should easily top their 2004 totals of 63 medals.

FINAL RESULTS

	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
Flag of United States	36	38	36	110
Flag of China	51	21	28	100
Flag of Russia	23	21	28	72
Flag of Britain	19	13	15	47
Flag of Australia	14	15	17	46

Remember that link early in the post. China at the 2008 Olympic Games Now would be a good time to visit it and check out the latest medal count.

Clearly this strategy is working but it's not without controversy.

BEIJING - Just nine months before the Beijing Olympics, the Chinese government’s news agency, Xinhua, reported that gymnast He Kexin was 13, which would have made her ineligible to be on the team that won a gold medal this week.

Is China Cheating and Covering it Up?

Either way, I'm sure the US isn't infallible in their gold medal chase either.

Just look how quickly America forgave and forgot about Michael Phelps' DUI in 2004?
A bit different than outright cheating but everyone makes mistakes. Maybe the Chinese government just lost her birth certificate?

CREDITS

http://vault.sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1142310/index.htm
http://www.blog.newsweek.com/blogs/beijing/archive/2008/01/09/gold-rush-china-s-olympic-strategy-and-project-119.aspx
http://www.thefirstpost.co.uk/45023,features,chinas-119-olympic-dreams
http://opensourcemd.wordpress.com/2008/08/09/chinas-gold-medals-project-119/
http://lasvegasrater.com/news/is-china-cheating-in-the-olympics/