author: Verner Bickley asin: 9889966832 binding: Paperback list price: $25.00 USD amazon price: $25.00 USD

The Summer Olympic Games take place in Beijing from 8-24 August 2008. The Equestrian Events will take place in Hong Kong from 9-24 August 2008. The Paralympics Events will take place in Hong Kong from 9-12 September 2008. These Games will hold the attention of a worldwide audience for the duration of the Games, but also immediately before and after each future Olympic Games, wherever they are held, continuing into the future. Forward to Beijing: A Guide to the Summer Olympics: Explains for each Olympic Sport: the rules; the special terms & vocabulary. Lists: impressive Olympiad achievements of the past. Contains: fascinating insights into the history of the Games. Showcases: the Beijing Olympics and events to take place in Hong Kong during the summer of 2008. Provides: useful phrases, quizzes & conversational openers for residents and visitors. It contains: A Message from Timothy Fok, SBS, GBS, President of the Sports Federation and Olympic Committee of Hong Kong, China; A Preface by The Hon. Dr Arnaldo de Oliveira Sales, GBM, JP, Honorary Life President of the Sports Federation and Olympic Committee of Hong Kong, China; A personal essay, A Big Idea; by Chris Wardlaw, Head Coach, Australian Track and Field Team, 2000 Olympic Games LONG DESCRIPTION OF BOOK In August 2008, the twenty-ninth Summer Olympic Games will be held in Beijing, The People's Republic of China. This will be only the third time ever that this test and celebration of human endeavour has taken place in Asia. In preparation for this exciting event, Forward to Beijing! A Guide to the Summer Olympics gives a brief history of the Games from their ancient origins in Greece to their revival in 1896. It surveys some of the triumphs enjoyed and difficulties encountered by the Olympic Movement over time and gives some of the highlights of Olympiads held from 1896 to 1984, including details of those athletes who won more than one gold medal each in any single one of these early modern Olympiads. The Games first took place in Asia in 1964, in Tokyo, Japan, returning in 1988, twenty-four years later, this time to Seoul, Korea. Taking 1988 as a starting point, therefore, Forward to Beijing! gives a detailed account of several important aspects of the Olympic Games. Each of the twenty-eight Olympic sports from, Aquatics to Wrestling, is described with definitions of some of the special terms used and explanations of the rules that govern these sports, together with their associated disciplines. Here also, for every single Olympic sport, are the names of gold medal winners at these Games, and information about the country they represented. Some Key Words for the discussion of each Olympic Sport are provided. Quizzes serve as a summary of the main points and as conversational openers. Forward to Beijing! records many of the actions that the City of Beijing and the PRC has undertaken to ensure the success of the 2008 Games. Somewhat light-heartedly, but also usefully, it features a number of situational conversations (with vocabulary and phrase book sections), all of which will be helpful for those visitors to the Games who do not know Chinese and who will need to communicate in English during the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. They will also help those Chinese residents who wish to communicate with foreign visitors of whatever nationality in English but who have had little prior experience, to communicate more effectively. This is our contribution to the Speak English Programme, introduced by the PRC to build up a favourable language environment for the forthcoming Games. Shall we see you there?