The Summer Olympic Games of 2008, or more commonly referred to as the XXIX Olympiad, took place in Beijing from August 8th to August 24th.

But Beijing should be recognized for achieving this great and honorable opportunity of becoming one of the hosting cities that will now go down in history forever as the host of these 2008 games.

Admittedly, Beijing did win the opportunity of hosting city throughout a long awaited and very exhaustive ballot, set up by the International Olympic Committee, or IOC.

It had been decided since July of 2001 that Beijing had won the honor of being host.

Summer Olympic Games of 2008 in Beijing:

However, there was more to this year’s Olympiad than just a ballot. The government of China invested a vast amount of money just in this game alone, even by constructing entirely new facilities as well as new transportation systems. In 2004, the construction of the Beijing National Stadium began, in order to be finished by the year 2008.

While this is the third time for an Olympic game to be hosted on an Asian continent, as well as the fifth time outside of Europe and North America, is can be debatably the most entertaining, and best thought out hosting city in Asia to date. Their mascots alone were obviously severely thought out.

2008 Beijing Olympics is believed to be one of the best editions the game has ever had. The world saw a different standard of the game because of the Chinese government’s excellent management and determination for success.

They made the whole world see that they organized the whole event in an excellent and very prestigious manner. With such a major and well-known event, such as the over enthusiastic 2008 Summer Olympics arrival, there is bound to be something that will go wrong.

Because nothing ever runs smoothly, one could only assume that there would be several “bumps” in the “road.” With the 2008 Olympics, there were, with anything, several of these “bumps” present.

The problems of Olympics:

Though the whole world has seen that the 2008 Olympics were organized in an excellent manner, the government had to face problems too. There were loads of obstacles that came in the governments’ way, however, the National Olympic Committee held strong and dealt with every such problem in an excellent manner.

There were various organizations that were against the 2008 Olympics because of the Chinese governments take on Tibet and that was one of the reasons there were many simultaneous protests going on all over against the Olympic competition.

As the world says good bye to the Bird’s Nest and the Water Cube, we also say good bye to Fuwa, the official Mascots of the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympic Games.

Beibei, the Fish, Jingjing, the Panda, Huanhuan, the Olympic Flame, Yingying, the Antelope and Nini, the Swallow.

The first syllable of each name, Bei Jing Huan Ying Ni, offers the official greeting of Fuwa: Welcome to Beijing.  With the departure of the Games and the Fuwa, we look back at the previous Summer Olympic Mascots.

Here is the review of the previous Summer Olympic Mascots:

The first Summer Olympic Mascot made its appearance at the 1972 Munich Olympics Game.  Waldi, the pastel colored dachshund exemplified the attributes of the athletes: resistance, tenacity and agility.

Despite the terrorist actions that left eleven people dead, the spirit of the Olympic Games was not squelched, and Waldi witnessed the phenomenal seven gold medal performances by Mark Spitz before handing the torch to Amik.

Amik, which translates Beaver in the Algonquin American Indian language, took the honour as the Olympic Mascot of the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal.  Amik witnessed the stunning performance of the five US gold medal boxers, and the first perfect 10 score in Olympic history by the Romanian, Nadia Comaneci before he handed the torch to Misha.

In the much hyped Olympics there are many mascots, stamps, posters and coins that make up a great number of exciting collectibles for any individual.

The International Olympic Committee [IOC] that takes care of the different planning and organizing of the greatest sporting event in the world formed an official collecting association.

Objective of the official collecting association:

The main objective of the official collecting association was to help in the collection of the different Olympic memorabilias that are released at each of the Olympics.

Furthermore the money raised from Olympic memorabilias can help to fund the money spent on achieving the Olympic events and covers costs. The IOC came up with several organizations to help them in collecting Olympic memorabilia.

The first ever official collecting association that was established by IOC for the collection of special Olympic memorabilia was the International Federal of Olympic Philately, better known as FIPO in the year of 1982.

After its establishment, there became two more collecting associations that were created respectively and named the International Federation of Olympic Numismatics, better known as FINO and the International Olympic Memorabilia Federation, which was known as FIMO.

For anyone who loves collectibles of major events in the world of sports, Olympic collectibles are always priced for them. Before you think of investing on the Olympic collectibles, such as medals or badges, you must be aware of its price.

There are Olympic collectibles that are available with autographs on it as well. Because of this, if you are looking to collect a sports card of the 2008 Olympic having an autograph of the great swimmer Michael Phelps then you might have to spend quite a big sum for it.

Olympic collectibles accompanied with autographs written on it are really a priced, and prized, possession, as you have a collectible with a sportsman’s autograph who might have created a world record; but, as with anything else, there will be always be the chance that the autograph may be a fake one.

Yes, there are loads of such Olympic collectibles that have fake signatures but they are highly priced, as the original ones would be like. Even when you buy Olympic collectibles from the internet, in which you cannot meet a person to judge them face to face, or even see the valuables in person, you may not know it at the time, but you might be buying the fake autographs.

The Olympics is the oldest and biggest sporting event in the history of mankind. Olympics were started during the peak of the Roman Empire and are still held today. The Olympics host various sporting events, which are followed with great interest.

Many new records are set every year and they are worth commemorating. There is a lot of memorabilia, which can be collected from the Olympics every year. The memorabilia includes various objects like stamps and coins that gain a lot of worth over the passing years.

The history of collecting Olympic items:

The history of collecting Olympic items will date way back to when “the Olympic Games were started once again in Athens in 1896 after the Roman era”.

At that time, there were no objects that were worth collecting, however, now there are a lot more of valuable items and memorabilia, which are worth collecting from the Olympic Games.

Sporting cards and autographs of your favorite Olympian athletes, or even Olympic Torch replicas, are worth more today than most collector’s items for other events.

After every Olympic game, there are a ton of items that are released to commemorate the famous sporting event. There are stamps and coins along with various collectors’ Olympic items like clothing and footwear, baseball caps, and otherwise.

The Olympics is undoubtedly the greatest sporting event in the world and this event has tremendous fan following. It is a sporting event with non stop action throughout the tournament.

Unlike other sports Olympics does not award the successful sportsmen with cash money. The prize is in the form of a medal and the medal will, in turn, become a collector’s item. Collectible Olympic medals can be kept as show pieces and also as gift items.

What are collectible medals?

Collectible Olympic medals are items to commemorate the various achievements of a particular Olympic event. Olympic Games first started during the Roman Empire and during that time, there were also prizes that were given; these prizes were given out in the form of leather seals commemorating the achievement of a particular sportsman.

Forms of collectible Olympic medals:

Collectible Olympic medals come in all forms including gold, silver, bronze and platinum. The collectible medals are most commonly, generally shaped and designed in the form of original Olympic medals, to show significance and replication, although there are of course some differences made.

Many sports men achieve spectacular goals in the Olympic Games, which will leave us all completely mesmerized by the amazing capacity of these athletes.

After every Olympiad we see a new bred of “super humans” as they have been called who run miles and do complete spectacular standards.

It is a simply a result of their tremendous dedication and long rigorous hours of hard work. Such athletes become international heroes and are loved and respected by all, as well as looked up to by children who will in turn accomplish their own sets of amazing goals.

While we may strive to merely see them in person, or get a chance to speak with them, it will not be bad if we can at least have our important memorabilia signed by the athletes themselves.

What is an autograph memorabilia?

Autograph memorabilia is a very precious collector’s item for all of us because we see the names of our favorite stars inscribed on them, along with their memories and remarkable feats. Autograph memorabilias are of tremendous value to the sports lovers around the world.

The Olympic torch for the 2008 Beijing Olympiad has certainly seen its fair share of land. The 2008 Olympic torch relay carries the torch all around the entire world, through out continents, such as North America and South Africa, Europe and Australia.

What does the Olympic torch signify?

It is very important that every country knows that they have become a part of the newest years games. Training all year around, and breaking any of the athlete’s strongest barriers, the Olympic torch symbolizes all of this hard work and honors it as so.

From the time of 766 BC it has been a long upheld and ongoing tradition that the Olympic torch be lit starting in the ancient town of Olympia, Greece and so forth carried on to the newest hosting city, such as this years Beijing, China.

2008 Olympic torch relay route:

For four long months, beginning on March 24th, the 2008 Olympic torch is being transferred until the beginning of August where it will rightfully rest in the appropriate city, Beijing of China.

Across Greece, to Beijing, all the way around the world surviving oceans and cities, as well as Mount Everest, the world’s highest of mountains; 2008 Olympic torch relay will pass the Olympic spirit along with it, as well as friendship, and global peace.

Beijing Olympic torch, engineered to be structurally sound, and also representative of the Chinese arts and culture. The Beijing Olympic Torch was technically designed to be beautiful as well as efficient.

Beijing Olympic torch is created to encompass all of the concepts that were to be associated with the modern Olympics; the Beijing Olympic torch was the embodiment of a Green Olympics, a High-tech Olympics, and the People’s Olympics as well.

The Beijing Olympic torch:

The Beijing Olympic torch is formed from recyclable aluminum for its light-weight and easy-to-manipulate characteristics. Beijing Olympic Torch had been created to not only stay aflame for a long period of time, but also to withstand the winds created by natural environment and those created by the torch-runner’s speed.

With the concept of a green Olympics in mind, the Chinese technical designers in charge of the 2008 Beijing Olympic torch made sure that each element that went into the production of the Torch was the most efficient and environmentally sound way to produce the icon.

The assignments given to the design companies were based in the key element of preserving environmental well being. Eliminating any risk of pollution, carbon dioxide and water are the only materials that would remain after the burning of the Beijing Olympic torch.