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Weekly Reader News
 Summer Olympic Showdown!
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An estimated 550 U.S. athletes make up Team USA. Swimmer Michael Phelps is certainly one to watch! He won six gold medals and two bronze four years ago in Athens, tying the record for most medals at one Olympics. Will he break the record this year? Natalie Coughlin is another swimmer likely to make a big splash. She will defend her gold medal in the 100-meter backstroke. On the gymnastic floor, Shawn Johnson has high hopes for gold. The 16-year-old is the reigning world champ and finished first at the U.S. Olympic trials.
Beijing Building Boom
The athletes aren’t the only stars in town. China has spent eight years and tens of billions of dollars preparing to host the most expensive Games in Olympic history. The city of Beijing has been transformed. Fancy hotels now rise out of a city that was once drab and dirty. The new athletic venues are eye-popping. Top architects from around the world designed buildings meant to astound and amaze. The massive Beijing National Stadium, home of the Games’ opening and closing ceremonies, has become one of the symbols of the Beijing Olympics. Because of its criss-crossed steel latticework, Beijing residents call it the “Bird’s Nest.” The aquatic center, home to swimming events, is a bubbly, semi-transparent, green and blue “Water Cube.” The city’s new airport terminal, resembling a dragon, has scale-like triangular windows in the ceiling.
“I think the venues show a new openness … among common Chinese people. They also show our amazing achievements,” said Zheng Fang, a Chinese architect who worked on Water Cube.
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Clean(er) Air, Good Dogs
Officials spent more than $15 billion to try to cut down on the city’s heavy air pollution. Factories have been moved out of the city, and car traffic has been limited—at least for the duration of the Games. Some U.S. cyclists arrived wearing masks to combat the dirty air. The city’s 90,000 taxi drivers have taken government-sponsored English language lessons and Beijing residents are being reminded to not spit on the streets and sidewalks—a common habit there. Authorities have spent $57 million to renovate more than 5,000 public restrooms. Even the city’s dogs have been rounded up, vaccinated, registered, and their owners given notice that the canines had better be on their best behavior.
Naturally, the Chinese people are excited by all of these changes. College student Huang Ai’ling said, “Beijing will be a party land and probably the world’s most interesting place ..."
Can’t make it to Beijing? Watch the games on television.
Check out the site of the U.S. Olympic committee at:
http://www.usoc.org
Check out the official site of Beijing’s games
http://en.beijing2008.cn/
If you can find the summer Olympic sports in this wordsearch, give yourself a gold medal. Let the Game Begin!
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