Beijing Olympics Betting Odds and Tips

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Summer 2008 – August 8th > August 24th

The Olympics Games is an international multi-sport event which is subdivided into summer and winter events, held every four years. Until 1992, they were held in the same year, but from 1993 onwards they have been separated two years apart.

The Olympics originated in Greece in 776 BC and was competed on an annual basis until 393 AD. In 1833 Greek poets and newspaper editors started showing the first interest in reviving the games, and in 1859 the first modern international games were held, funded by businessman and philanthropist, Evangelos Zappas, who is now considered the founder of the Olympic Games.

The International Olympic Committee was founded in 1894 by a French nobleman, Pierre Fredy, and their first running of the games was the 1896 summer Olympics in Athens.

The Olympic Games were increased over time to include participants from nearly all nations worldwide. Modern day Olympic games are comprised of hundreds of events and thousands of athletes.

This year the games are to be hosted by Beijing, China’s second largest city. Many events, and the opening and closing ceremonies, will be held in the Beijing National Stadium. The construction for this stadium began in 2003 and lasted until late 2007. The 258,000 square meter stadium is complete with a state of the art Solar PV system produced by Suntech Power and is located right next to the Beijing National Aquatics Centre, where the water based event will take place. It is one of 37 different locations that will be used to house events for the Games and has a total capacity of 100,000.

The most recent Olympics were the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens and the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin. This year, the Summer Olympics is set to host 302 events in 28 sports, from athletics and football to handball and water polo. Over 10,000 athletes are set to participate. Only nine sports were on the earliest Olympic schedule (set to be 10, but the rowing was cancelled due to weather conditions) and only hundreds of athletes contested. This year’s Olympics will provide many opportunities for happy punters to bet on so many different sports, athletes and nations.

With the vast number of athletes and potential available the US are likely to always be favourites in the overall standings in the Olympics and in many specific events.

As for predictions for specific events, early favourites are likely to be last year’s winners, or those in the top 3. Results for previous Olympics Games are all available through the official Olympic Games website.

Up to date odds and tips on events and standings for the Beijing Olympics are available on our Odds Comparison page.