KEY POINTS:
Ask Paul Lewis, the Herald on Sunday's sports editor who is currently in Beijing, any questions you have on the Olympics and we'll get you the answers.
You might want to know more of what it's like behind the scenes, or some new information on the events, the venues or the athletes.
Email us your questions
***
August 20
Is it fact that our support people have a Maori culture adviser on board?
- Roger Rakich
Yes, that's right. His name is Amster Reedy and he has been to several Olympic and Commonwealth Games with the NZ team.
- Paul
Why does Great Britain compete as a team at the Olympics but not at the Commonwealth Games where the Home Countries compete individually?
- Zane Jackson-Kirk
Hi Zane
It's to increase their chances of success at the Olympics - medals there being much, much harder to win than in the Commonwealth Games. Also, there is probably little point in competing as an entity which would dominate the Commonwealth Games. If you think about it, the old USSR did the same thing at the Olympics (not to mention the US) -- and you may remember the Australian boast at the last two Commonwealth Games that they should perhaps compete as state teams so as not to dominate.
I guess it's also a little like the British Lions rugby team -- once every several years they select the best from all the home countries to tour elsewhere but compete individually in between...
- Paul
Is the 400m race more like the 200m sprint or the 800m endurance race?
- Thanks, Nick
Well, I think these days they are all sprints. In the 'old days', the 800m used to have a tactical pause or two in it - but no more. All three races are essentially a sprint now though, of course, anyone who tried to hold 200m pace through 800m would fall over.
- Regards, Paul
I am 8 and would like to know who cooks all the meals for the NZ teams? Do all the athletes eat together?
- Isabelle
Hi Isabelle, the athletes have a huge dining hall where their meals are cooked for them. They can all eat together if they wish. Some athletes have brought their own food but most eat in the dining hall. There is Asian food, Mediterranean food, international food from many different countries, a salad bar and a McDonalds. To get an idea of how big it is, imagine two rugby fields placed end to end.
- Regards, Paul
How do synchronised swimmers hear the music underwater? Andrew, St Heliers.
According to North Harbour Synchro club secretary Glenda Lill, there's a speaker underneath the water. "You have got to have an underwater speaker. Generally we have to import them." The speakers, apparently, come at some cost.
"I think it's probably got something to do with being waterproof ... Obviously, you wouldn't want to have electricity going out in the water."
Why do women beach volleyball players wear skimpy outfits when men wear vests and long shorts? Andrew, Grey Lynn
Volleyball New Zealand general manager Pam Brodie says the skimpy togs are actually designed by women, and the athletes "more often than not" plump for even smaller outfits than designed. She says she's puzzled at the furore over the size of beach volleyball outfits, when compared with the virtually identical gear worn by female marathon runners.
What is the purpose of the circle in front of the goal in handball? Stuart, Orakei
The 6m perimeter circle is the domain of the defending goalkeeper. No other player may enter the zone, though players may catch and touch the ball in the air within it - as long as the player starts his jump outside the zone and releases the ball before he lands.
If a player contacts the ground inside the goal perimeter he must take the most direct path out of it.
Should a defender contact an attacker in the goal perimeter, his team is penalised with a direct attempt at the goal, with only one attacker on the 7m line and the defending goalkeeper involved.
August 19
Why did they change the artistic gymnastic score from the perfect 10?
The perfect 10 has been replaced by the perfect 17. The new scoring system is designed to reward gymnasts who perform more difficult routines.
There are two judging panels under the new system. One calculates the difficulty score, the other the execution score.
Why do Olympic divers shower immediately after every dive?
Divers shower in between each dive to keep their muscles warm after getting out of the pool. The pool is usually around 27C with the air temperature between 20C and 22C.
What do the five circles represent?
The five interlinking rings stand for passion, faith, victory, work ethic and sportsmanship.
They were designed by the founder of the modern Olympic Games, Baron Pierre de Coubertin, in 1913.
Where is Belarus? - which always seems to be just ahead of us or just behind us in medal contention.
Belarus is surrounded by Russia, Ukraine, Poland, Lithuania and Latvia. Formerly part of the Soviet Union, Belarus declared independence in 1990. At the time of writing Belarus had won two silver and three bronze medals.
What are the small radio-controlled cars at the track and field events used for?
The cars are used as on-field shuttles - returning to the athletes their discus or hammer. They are also, presumably, easier to replace than a human if a thrower gets their aim wrong.
How much gold is there in a gold medal?
The term "gold" refers to colour, not metallic content, as the medals contain fewer than 6g of gold. Minting is the responsibility of the host city.
August 14
Why does one member of a volleyball team play in a different coloured shirt? David, Auckland
That is the libero, a defensive specialist who is restricted to the back row of the court and who is not allowed to serve or to block a ball that is higher than the net. The different coloured shirt is so the umpires can tell them apart from their colleagues. The libero may be freely substituted and does not count in a team's total substitution of six players per set.
August 14 - What are the minimum and maximum ages for the different sports at the Olympics? Stuart, Auckland
There is no maximum age; the oldest known medallist was Oscar Swahn (Sweden), who was nearly 73 when he won a medal in shooting in 1920. As for minimum ages, my understanding is that the age limit differs from sport to sport. Boxing, for example, has a minimum age of 17 but diving - the sport involving 14-year-old Briton Thomas Daley - plainly has a lower minimum, as does gymnastics (16). The youngest known medallist was a gymnast from Greece who was 10 at the time (in the 1896 Olympics). The rules have been redrawn since then.
August 14 - Do the relay swimmers who qualify for the finals, but do not swim in the final relay, also obtain medals if their teams make the podium? Andrew, Auckland
No, all medallists must swim in the final.
August 14 - In the background of the rowing on TV, you can see a gaggle of people on bikes cycling along beside the rowers during the races. But there's been no explanation who they are. Are they fans? Smithy, Mt Eden
Well, they're not fans but coaches and support team members who are both giving support and keeping an eye on how their people are doing. You get a better idea of who's ahead that way than from the angle of the TV cameras.
August 13 - Good to see Mark Todd still at the Olympics after all these years. It got this family wondering which Olympic sport would have the oldest average competitor age? Is it one of the shooting sports or do the horse events take the prize for the oldest entrants? (G. Lazarus, Blockhouse Bay)
We can't answer for the whole of the Olympics but, in the NZ team it's the equestrians - average age 36, compared to the shooters' average age of 33 - although that includes one 19-year-old which dragged the average down somewhat.
August 13 - People keep saying that the Olympic pool in Beijing is fast. But what makes a pool fast? (Swimmer, Waikato)
There are various reasons for the speed of the pool. Mostly there is new technology involving lane ropes, water distribution and wash - and the Chinese seem to have found new and improved ways of dealing with the lot and we think they have made other advances they aren't telling anyone about yet.
The Beijing Water Cube has 10 lanes instead of eight. Waves churned up during the races don't bounce back into the swimming lanes. Waves that read the sides are siphoned off by perforated gutters. The depth and width of the main pool creates an ideal environment for the swimmers, discouraging turbulence and encouraging speed.
The lane ropes that separate swimmers are called wave eaters because they dissipate turbulent water. The goal is to make the water as flat and clear as possible.
The temperature of the pool is kept at 28 degrees Celsius, the ideal temperature for swimmers.
And add in the new Speedo LZR swim suits, which are meant to create 5 percent less drag than previous Speedo suits, and you have a recipe for world records.
For more on the speed of the pool, check out:
Paul Lewis' blog
David Leggat's analysis
August 13 - In the background of the rowing on TV, you can see a gaggle of people on bikes cycling along beside the rowers during the races. But there's been no explanation who they are. Are they fans?
(Smithy, Mt Eden)
Well, they're not fans but coaches and support team members who are both giving support and keeping an eye on how their people are doing. You get a better idea of who's ahead than from the angle of the TV cameras.
August 11 - During events in which competitors are in individual lanes such as swimming, rowing, etc, who and what determines which competitor is in which lane? Are athletes seeded or is it just luck of the draw?
- Dan
Hi Dan,
In swimming it depends on time - if you swim the fastest time, you get the centre lines, 4 and 5, supposedly the most protected from wash off the walls. Conversely, do the slowest times and you end up in the outside lanes (1 & 8) where you are supposedly subject to more wash off the walls of the pool. It's almost the same in rowing. If you win a heat or a semi, you get the middle of the course. The fastest winners get the middle lane while those who came second or third get the outside lanes.
- Regards, Paul
August 8 - The Italian team brings their own foods for their national team, interestingly including NZ beef and lamb. Do we bring our own foods from NZ for our athletes in Beijing? (Tommy)
Hi Tommy,
Not really. Various athletes take their own little supplies of things they don't want to be without or which are part of the training programme but, generally speaking, no. The athletes' village is very good and the Kiwis have been delighted with the standard of the food there.
It's probably better that way. I can remember touring with the All Blacks in Argentina one year and they took a whole pallet of NZ beer - before they arrived in Buenos Aires and discovered the Argentines had excellent beer.
August 7 - How hard is it to get around Beijing at the moment? Is the city packed? (JM)
Hi JM,
Well, with so many cars off the road to help ease the smog, things are far better than they have been when I have been to Beijing on previous visits. But it's still busy. If I had to compare, I'd say it's bit like Auckland during school holidays - still busy but with a lot of the pressure and delays lifted.
August 7 - How do the athletes get to their events? (Cath, Auckland)
Bus - there is a fantastic network of buses at every Olympics and the Chinese are doing this well. The athletes come out of their village and have a large number of buses available to take them to training facilities or venues.
