When the international Olympic Games begin, everyone has an opinion on who will win, who should have won, and anything and everything Olympic. As the Olympic Games get closer, I thought I’d research some information to help you blog about the upcoming games in China.
There are a lot of stories and angles to be found on the Olympic Games, from historical perspectives and comparisons to personal interest stories such as the impact of the games on the communities in which they are held, and how the infrastructure and changes brought about by the games help or hinder the community years later. If you are looking for Olympic material for your blog, think about local human interest stories such as a community member who was in the Olympics or traveled to see the Olympics and get their inside story. The Olympics impacts everyone everywhere, so there is an Olympic story around every corner.
The official sites for the upcoming Olympic Games include:
- Official Site of the 2008 Summer Olympic Games (Chinese)
- Official Site of the 2008 Summer Olympic Games (English)
- The official ticketing website of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games in China
- Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics (Canada)
- Official Site of the 2012 Summer Olympic Games
Olympic.org is the official website of “The Olympic Movement”, for the modern Olympic Games and International Olympics Committee (IOC). This is where you will find the latest news, official press releases, and information on the upcoming games.
The site is a bit over-designed and awkward to navigate, so important links are:
- The Olympic Museum in Lausanne
- All The Games Since 1896 (history)
- Paralympic Games
- Athletes Advanced Search Page
- Olympic Medal Winners Database
- Olympic News
- Media Centre
- Olympics Historical Archives
- Olympics Library
- Olympics Educational Activities
Wikipedia has some of the most extensive information and resources on modern and ancient Olympic Games, including links to scandals, athletes, medal counts, and coverage of specific Olympic events. The main Olympic Games page is a good starting point, with history branching out from the Ancient Olympic Games page.
Other Olympic Games references and resources on Wikipedia includes:
- Summer Olympic Games
- Winter Olympic Games
- Olympic Games scandals
- All-time Olympic Games medal count
- List of participating nations at the Summer Olympic Games
- Olympic stadium
- List of Olympic sports
- List of modern Summer Olympic Games
- Olympic Flag History and Symbolism
- Olympic Flame History and Symbolism
Olympics News Coverage
While every news agency and media outlet in the world will be covering the Olympic Games in Beijing, the key news outlets covering it right now online include:
- NBC (USA)
- CBC (Canada)
- TSN.ca (Canada)
- Washington Post (USA)
- ESPN (USA-International)
- Sports Illustrated Olympics Coverage (Wire News)
About.com and Clipart.com offers graphic images of Olympic Game clip art.
The Modern Olympic Games
The first “modern” Olympic Games were held in 1896 in Athens, Greece, and the Olympic events held ever since are referred to as the Modern Olympic Games compared to the Ancient Games.
Poynter’s Olympics History is a journalist’s resource report on the past Olympics with plenty of modern historical references to add to your blog posts on the games.
About.com has a section devoted to the Olympic Games which includes A History of the Olympics and Interesting Olympic Facts, among many other articles and commentary on the events associated with the Olympics.
US Field Hockey: Symbols of the Olympic Games gives an overview of the symbols, creeds, and more of the Olympic historical traditions.
Photoshot features six rare photographs from the Athens 1896 Olympic Games giving you a visual glimpse into the actual event. BBC News offers images from the first modern Olympic Games including pictures of the founder, posters, and the area as it looks today.
Modern Olympic Games Timeline from Zappas.org covers events, scandals, and game information across a timeline.
The EnchantedLearning site offers a simple summary that explains the Olympics to children with graphic pictures of the flag and symbols, dates, quizzes, and storybooks about the games.
The Ancient History of the Olympics
The Ancient Olympic Games started in Greece and hold a fascination for historians, anthropologists, and archaeologists. The Olympic Games are covered in the Britannica Online Encyclopedia and in Encyclopedia.com as well as other online encyclopedias.
There are a variety of online museums and exhibitions of the Ancient Olympics including:
- The Perseus Digital Library Project at Tufts University – The Ancient Olympics
- Pennsylvania University’s Penn Museum’s online exhibition of The Real Story of the Ancient Olympic Games
- The Olympic Games in the Ancient Hellenic World: A Virtual Museum
- The Olympic Games of Ancient Greece
The Librarians’ Internet Index also offers extensive information on modern and ancient Olympic Games to assist with your research.
Tracking Olympic Games News and Blogs
To keep up with news about the Olympics, it can be challenging as they are referred to as the Olympics, Olympic, Olympic Games, and occasionally as the “Games” with a capital G. Online news alerts and social networking sites are going to play a huge role in reporting and coverage of this year’s Olympics, so I’ve included news, web, and blog tracking links for the “Olympics” and “Olympic Games” except where a specific tag is available to help you keep track of the Olympics on many different sites:
- Google News Search: Olympics
- Google News Search: Olympic Games
- Add News Alerts by Email for “Olympic”
- Add News Alerts by Email for “Olympic Games”
- Technorati Weblog Search: “Olympics”
- Technorati Weblog Search: “Olympic Games”
- Digg – Olympics
- Digg – Olympic Games
- TailRank – posts on Olympics
- TailRank – posts on Olympic Games
- Blinklist – Olympics
- Blinklist – Olympic Games
- Netvouz – Olympic
- Netvouz – Olympic Games
- StumbleUpon – Olympics
- StumbleUpon – Olympic Games
- Squidoo – Olympics
- Squidoo – Olympic Games
- BlinkBits – Olympics
- BlinkBits – Olympic Games
- Reddit – Olympics
- Reddit – Olympic Games
- Yahoo My Web – Olympics
- Yahoo My Web – Olympic Games
