Olympic Roundup

Liu Xiang's exit from the 110m hurdles due to injury left audiences shocked.

Just a little over half way through the games and China has already surpassed the number of gold medals they won in Athens.

Authorities are stepping up their attempts to prevent any scalping of tickets at Olympic venues and that applies to foreign scalpers too.

Last week as part of a roundup of ways to get your hands on Olympic tickets, we mentioned a Beijing resident calledXiong Wei who was his ten Olympic tickets to anyone who was willing to give up smoking. The People's Daily have details of the people Mr Xiong decided to give his tickets to, the list includes a 14-year-old girl from Hunan.

The Wall Street Journal takes a look at the zeal displayed by Olympic organizers in making sure that non-sponsors are not getting a chance to display their logos at the games. According to the report,

in media centers, dormitories and arena bathrooms, pieces of tape cover logos of fire extinguishers, light switches, thermostats, bedroom night tables, soap dispensers and urinals.

Michael Phelps spotted at Wish! Keep an eye on Beijing Boyce's blog for regular celebrity spotting updates.

Finally, it seems that strict regulations on access to the Olympic Park have been relaxed. Sponsors had been complaining about a lack of visitors to the park where many of them have set up lavish displays and stands. The rules have now been relaxed and organizers hope to attract as many as 200,000 people to the huge forest park daily.

Links and Sources
Sohu: 外国媒体关注刘翔退出比赛 表示“十分遗憾”
Yahoo: Hurdler Liu Xiang done without a run in Olympics