Thousands of Beijing couples go for Olympic gold

BEIJING, Aug 9 (Reuters) More than 3,000 couples tied the knot exactly a year before the 2008 Beijing Olympics, hoping some of the auspicious ''eighth of the eighth'' luck would rub off on them as the city started its Games countdown.

According to city government figures, 3,390 couples registered their marriages with local justices yesterday, which was the start of autumn in the lunar calendar and already considered an ideal date for marriage.

But the day was given extra significance as Beijing began its Olympic countdown with a dazzling song-and-dance extravaganza in front of Tiananmen, or Gate of Heavenly Peace, watched by the iconic giant portrait of Mao Zedong, founder of Communist China.

Olympic chief Jacques Rogge and Chinese political leaders watched a countdown clock run down to 366 days -- 2008 is a leap year.

The Games will start at 8:00 pm on the eighth day of the eighth month, an auspicious date and time.

In Cantonese, ''eight'' (baat) is considered lucky as it sounds like the word for wealth and fortune (faat).

A line 500 metres (yards) long circled a district court at 8 a.m., the Beijing News said. One couple said they had been waiting since 3 p.m. on Tuesday.

''We have already waited a whole night so another hour does not matter so much,'' one man was quoted as saying.

The oldest to tie the knot were both aged 80.

The most intensely scrutinised preparations for any Games in Olympic history has brought forth a barrage of international criticism on issues such as human rights, press freedom, pollution and food safety.

But for many Chinese, the holding of the Olympics is a dream come true.

''Thirty years ago, we would never have thought that we could host such an event,'' said one pensioner, wiping make-up from her face after taking part in a display of traditional folk dancing in a Beijing park.

Reuters DH DB1044