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China Daily releases Olympic photo album in Beijing
(chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2008-12-01 20:43

A photo album named 2008 Olympic Focus was released at the China Daily office building in Beijing yesterday.

The photographs are a record of the joint participation of millions of athletes, coaches and volunteers when the 2008 Olympic and Paralympic Games were held in Beijing.

Zhu Ling (L), editor-in-chief of China Daily, speaks during the launching ceremony of the 2008 Olympic Focus photo album in Beijing November 30, 2008. [China Daily]

More than 103 news photographers have contributed over 200 photographs to the book, which was complied by China Daily and sponsored by Beijing City Bus Tour Services. Art Circles Publishing Corporation has published the book.

"This book has reflected the Olympic Games from multiple perspectives as it shows the Chinese host's kindness, the athletes' persistence, and volunteers' passion," said Zhu Ling, editor-in-chief of China Daily.

Representatives from more than 40 foreign embassies and international organizations in Beijing attended the event.

David Morris, legal counsel of Canadian International School of Beijing, said it is a vivid book as it conveys different emotions from the Olympics.

"The book has drawn a picture of whole participation as we can see smiles, cries, worries from different groups of people such as athletes, coaches and fans," Morris said.

For Tamba Boakai, a Liberian student of Peking University's Guanghua School of Management, the book has interpreted the spirit of Olympic Games in a broader way.

"Photographers have not only caught the winning moment of the game, they have also caught the moment as the athlete loses, and that is part of the games as Olympic is not all about winning," Boakai said.

Chen Jieyu, deputy head of library of Tsinghua University, said he was touched by one of the pictures that shows 30, 000 people were queuing for Olympic opening ceremony tickets overnight.

"I never expect that there would be 30,000 Chinese taking their pillows to wait to buy the tickets and this book has made me know better how Chinese love Olympics," Chen said.