2008 Summer Olympic Games , officially known as the Games of the XXIX Olympiad ( ) and commonly known as Beijing 2008 , was an international multi-sport event that was held from 8-24 August 2008 in Beijing , China . A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 National Olympic Committees ( NOCs ) competed in 28 sports and 302 events ( one event more than those scheduled for the 2004 Games ) . This was the first time that China had hosted the Summer Olympics , but the third time that the Games had been held in East Asia , following the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo , Japan , and the 1988 Olympics in Seoul , South Korea . These were the second summer Olympic Games staged in a Communist country , after the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow and the third in a developing country after the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico and the 1980 Summer Olympics in the Soviet Union . Beijing was awarded the 2008 Games over four competitors on 13 July 2001 , having won a majority of votes from members of the International Olympic Committee ( IOC ) after two rounds of voting . The Government of the People 's Republic of China promoted the Games and invested heavily in new facilities and transport systems . A total of 37 venues were used to host the events , including twelve constructed specifically for the 2008 Olympics . The equestrian events were held in Hong Kong , making this the third Olympics for which the events were held under the jurisdiction of two different NOCs . The sailing events were contested in Qingdao , while the football events took place across several different cities . The official logo for the 2008 Games , titled " Dancing Beijing " , featured a stylised calligraphic character '' jīng '' ( , means '' capital '' ) in reference to the host city . The Beijing Olympics was watched by 3,500,000,000 people worldwide and featured the longest distance for an Olympic Torch relay . The event sets numerous world and Olympics records in the history of Sports , and is also the most expensive Summer Olympics of all time and second-most expensive overall , after the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi . The opening ceremony was lauded by spectators and numerous international presses as spectacular and spellbinding , and by many accounts " the greatest ever in the history of Olympics " . An unprecedented 87 countries won at least one medal during the Games . China won the most gold medals , with 48 , and became only the seventh different team to top an overall Olympic medal tally , winning a total of 100 medals overall . The United States placed second in the gold medal tally but won the highest number of medals overall , with a total of 112 . The third place in the gold medal tally was achieved by Russia . Beijing has been selected to host the 2022 Winter Olympics ; it will become the first city to ever host both a Summer and Winter Games following it
opening ceremony
2008 Summer Olympics opening ceremony
2008 Summer Olympics