The Power of the Olympic Games: Sport for Peace

The United Nations assembly several years back re-adopted a Peace truce for before, during, and after the Olympic games. For safe travel, a break in violence, and to appreciate our common-ness instead of our differences. A time to embrace hope and respect for our fellow human beings, no matter where we come from, or what our beliefs.

In fact it was an Olympian, Philip Noel-Baker, who created the League of Nations. For his efforts toward peace, he was awarded the nobel peace prize For "lifelong ardent work for international peace and co-operation" in 1959.

So, every two (or four) years, as we catch our breath, and take some time to celebrate with our National teams' Spirit, let's get into the culture evolving around the Beijing Olympics: uniquely it's own and full of fun, colorful festivities, and a deeper meaning: to build closer relationships between nations.

Each mascot has his own "home". Wenlock is the official Olympic Mascot, while Mandeville is the mascot for the Paralympics.

The avatars/mascots are customizeable. The idea being they are each made of London steel, and are shined to the point that they are the perfect reflection of whomever they are looking at.

Their website has a section which even allows the user to create their own versions of the two mascots. The site also features their own series, "Adventures on a Rainbow".

Each of the 5 mascots carry a blessing to children of all nations:

Beibei - the Fish / Sea: Blessing of Prosperity (Blue)

Jingjing - the Panda / Forest: Blessing of Happiness (Black & White)

Huanhuan - The Olympic Flame/ Fire: Blessing of Passion (Red)

Yingying - Tibetan Antelope / Earth: Blessing of Health (Yellow)

Nini - the Swallow/ Sky: Good Luck (Green)

Together we spell "Welcome to Beijing"

Read more on the Fuwa Here

An amazingly creative campaign put together by CocaCola, The WE8 Artist and Cultural exchange is a combination of musicians from all over the world who each took a piece of the Olympic theme and created their own song. The video above is from Serge Devant - Peace On Earth. If any corporation can effectively bring out the spirit of peace, Coca Cola can!