THE controversial attacks on the Olympic torch relay as it travelled through London, Paris and America and the Beijing fog have done their best to conspire against a glorious Olympic event this year.

But the show must go on, and the XXIX Olympic Games kick off in Beijing today with a spectacular opening ceremony heralding in over three weeks of sports events from athletics to wrestling.

Closer to home, Manchester Museum is using the opportunity to highlight the history of international competitive sport, pulling together artefacts from the Olympic, Commonwealth and Empire Games.

The museum has also brought a number of Chinese items out of storage for a special exhibition representing Chinese artwork, culture and history.

"We have so many items in our collection linked with China," says Anna Bunney, curator of public programmes. "And we're tying in with a couple of other initiatives this year that are part of the Cultural Olympiad.

Opportunity

"We've lots of Greek items in the show, too, and it's an object-handling session so we give people the opportunity to touch these historic items.

"We have medals from the Commonwealth and some sporting items: archery equipment, and a bike from a Manchester cyclist that competed in the Empire Games in the 1930s."

The museum has also teamed up with the Confucius Institute at Manchester University to run family craft activities throughout the five day exhibition, including designing mascots and pictograms to represent the various Olympic sports and Chinese calligraphy sessions.

Manchester Museum , from Monday to August 15, drop-in sessions from 1pm-3pm, free.