Cold weather, snow and wind did not deter Chinese companies from coming into Turin and making remarkable investments in marketing promotions and sponsorships.

At the opening ceremony, a crowd of some 35,000 filled the Olympic Stadium. More than 4,700 performers, including fast-moving skaters with fiery rocket packs, dancers and even dancing cows opened the festivities.

Some 2,600 athletes from the more than 80 countries and regions marched into the stadium accompanied by American pop music from the 1970s and 1980s.

Amid the teams and names coming into the stadiums, New Yalu group from Jiangsu Province was the only Chinese company and also the first one to provide a foreign delegation - Democratic People's Republic of Korea- with sportswear.

Apart from sportswear companies, computer giant Lenovo and beer company Tsingtao also took advantage of the golden chance to expand their global market.

After being selected as the official domestic beer sponsors of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, Tsingtao Beer has stepped up its efforts worldwide, including a successful bid for official domestic beer sponsor for the Winter Olympics' Chinese Delegation.

Led by vice-president of Tsingtao Beer, Zhang Xueju, a group of staff came to Turin and launched a series of promotional activities including exchanging ideas with dealers, consumers and reporters.

Zhang said they were gaining experience for the 2008 Beijing Olympics marketing programme.

For Lenovo, with its name splashed on walls, all of its 34 work stations have athletes and trainers from Australia to Sweden typing out e-mails to friends and family.

Lenovo Group Ltd acquired IBM's personal computer business. A household name in China, it is banking on expensive Olympic sponsorship to help it become a worldwide brand. "We're using the Torino Games to establish ourselves as a global player," said Deepak Advani, Lenovo's chief marketing officer.

As a top level sponsor, Lenovo offers 5,000 computers, over 600 notebook PCs, 400 servers and 1600 printers for the Turin Games.

Sohu and Sina, China's top two websites, are also determined to use the Games to increase influence home and abroad.

As an official Internet Content Service (ICS) partner for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, the first such in Olympic history, Sohu sees the Winter Olympics as a chance and also a challenge to test its ability to meet internet users' demands for different news.

(China Daily February 22, 2006)