Its 8 days until the Beijing Olympics! Are you ready?
The start of the Olympics is just around the corner and the world is holding its breath…or at least I am. There are so many stories that come out of the Olympic games that sometimes it is hard to keep up with them all. I’ll be sending out a couple blogs over the next week in the hopes of getting you prepared (and excited!) for the Beijing Olympics. Prediction markets are a great way to feel involved in the games and I’ve included some relevant markets to get you started.
This Olympics is all about the eights with the Opening Ceremonies at 8pm on 8/8/8, so it seems fitting that my first post be 8 days prior! Here are a couple of the stories I’ll be following this month:
The Medal Tally: The US has won the most gold medals in the past 3 Olympics. They beat China by 4 gold medals in Athens (39 medals overall) but now China is on its home turf. China’s pride is heavily invested in these games and they have been working hard to stack the deck in their favor. Although the US will likely continue to dominate in Athletics and Swimming, China has a good chance to sweep Diving, Table Tennis, Rowing and Sailing. It should be a very close race although Hubdub is currently favoring China nearly 2:1.
Pollution: Since the moment China was announced as the 2008 hosts, there have been concerns about the effect of Beijing’s pollution on the games. Beijing’s’ thick, dense smog does not sit well with thousands of premier athletes attempting amazing feats of strength and skill. Although Beijing has made some major inroads in their pollution by reducing vehicle traffic and shutting down coal plants, the city has been shrouded in gray for the past several days. Officials remain hopeful that shifting winds, further reductions in emissions and new cloud seeding technology will clear the skies for the events, but it remains a major concern. In fact, to lessen their exposure to the noxious air, many athletes are choosing to skip the Opening Ceremonies entirely and remain in nearby Japan and Korea until their events.
Human Rights: These games are China’s entry onto the world stage. More than anything, they want to be seen as civilized, powerful and a legitimate superpower. However, the torch relay was marred this year by continued protests of China’s human right’s violations and another flare up in Tibet caused further bad press just when the Chinese wanted it least. It remains to be seen how prominently boycotts and protests will play in these games.
Next up: Track and Field!
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