Languages in the Olympic Games

French and English are the official languages of the Olympic movement.
However the official web is available in 5 languages:
Chinese, English, French, Spanish and Arabic.
http://www.beijing2008.cn/

Does that mean anything? What do you think?

I'm disappointed not to see Russian considering Russia is always near the top of the medal table.

I agree with you. Russian should be there as well.

Well, French and English are the official languages of the International Olympic Committee. At the same time, Spanish, German, Russian and Arabic are working languages, but not Chinese.

Russian and Arabic are used only during the annual Session.

It seems that in Beijing08, Chinese, English, French, Spanish and Arabic are working languages. The different status between official and working language is sometimes difficult to see.

The US, Germany, and Russia have performed consistently well in the Summer Olympics, so I'd say those countries' respective languages.

As far as the Winter Olympics, the above languages and Norwegian :-)

I personally think there should be Russian and German websites as well.

You should know my country South Korea was in top 10 both 2004 summer olympics and 2006 winter olympics.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Summer_Olympics#Medal_count
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2006_Winter_Olympic#Medal_table

S.Korea has been the best performing Asian country in the winter olympic games for many times.

<Well, French and English are the official languages of the International Olympic Committee. At the same time, Spanish, German, Russian and Arabic are working languages, but not Chinese.>

I think that, German and Russian should be added into the language option. Arabic has been already in the option, and Chinese is a must to be an homepage language, because Olympic game will take place in CHINA.

I agree that Russian should be there. Russian athletes has been taking home lots of gold, silver, and bronze medals and so Russia's achievement cannot just be ignored plus lots of athletes came from Russian speaking countries. So it's not included.

I think they shouldn't add any, in fact they should remove some. English is enough for everything.

English is not understood by everyone. English speaking world is not the center of civilization.

I've never heard of a world famous athlete who didn't know English...

It is a joke that French is an official language of the Olimpic Games. There are not important French sportists.

Morticia, it isn't a joke.

Corrected: It is a joke that French is an official language of the Olympic Games. There are no important French athletes.

<<It is a joke that French is an official language of the Olimpic Games.>>

Haha, you wish. You're just upset that the Olympic Committee and much of the world recognizes that French was and still is a diplomatic language. Get over it.

Caspian, Morticia is the feminine side of Spanish Spammer.