Eight could be Michael Phelps’s lucky number if he can trump Mark Spitz’s Olympic haul of of seven golds at the 100m medley relay in Beijing on Sunday.

If so, he would have something in common with many host team athletes, who are big on the number 8 because in Chinese it sounds like a word for prosperity (fa). That’s why the Olympic Games opened on the 8th day of the 8th month at 8pm.

However, British marathoner Paula Radcliffe is counting on number 17 to banish memories  of her disastrous run in Athens and claim her first Olympic medal.  She was born on the 17th of the month, as was her grandmother and her daughter. According to a report in Britain’s Sunday Telegraph, the coincidence goes even further: her grandmother got engaged on a 17th and was married on a 17th too. 

Specially designed running shoes that Radcliffe will be wearing in the race on Sunday have 17 17 17 written vertically at the back.

And guess what the date will be? August 17.

PHOTO: British long distance runner Paula Radcliffe is interviewed in Beijing August 15, 2008. REUTERS/Gil Cohen Magen

Auspicious, fortunate, lucky - the 08/08/08 date is supposed by Chinese to bring blessings.

In a gesture of ambitious synchronicity the Opening Ceremony was to have kicked off on that date at 8 minutes past 8pm.

But that proved a digit too far and the jollities are now to start on the hour, launching a 3-1/2 hour extravaganza of music, dance, acrobatics, flag-waving and pomp.

There are other numbers to tell the story of the ceremony, which have been proudly handed out in advance by the organisers. They capture the ambitious grandeur of China’s Olympic adventure, a no-expense-spared, attention-grabbing combination of self-confidence and ingratiation.

Since we are in the stats-rich environment of a sports event (yes the Olympics are also about sport!), here are my top 10 Opening Ceremony numbers.

1. 179,400 bottled drinks expected to be sold in the stadium. The media get their bottled water for free.
2. 15,153 different types of costume. That’s a big wardrobe.
3. 9,000 People’s Liberation Army performers on the stadium floor. China, the world’s most populous nation, has no problem marshalling manpower for big events.
4. 3,000 Scholar disciples of Confucius are to appear. That’s what the programme says. I don’t know yet what it means.
5. 800 kilogrammes weight of a paper scroll on the stadium floor. The Chinese traditions of calligraphy and scroll painting figure heavily in the ceremony.
6. 100 girls playing the pipa, a pear-shaped Chinese instrument.
7. 58 actors dancing on a model of the world.
8. 48 hours. The longest continuous practice session for performers. Surely not? That’s an ultra-marathon, not a rehearsal.
9. 4 inventions that China contributed to civilisation — the compass, gunpowder, paper and moveable type.
10. 1.7 metres, the required height for the evening’s martial arts performers.

And one statistic that was unlucky — the 16 performers who were injured while rehearsing a particularly complex part of the performance.

PHOTO: A man, with the logo of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games on his face, is seen near the National Stadium, also known as the Bird’s Nest, August 8, 2008. REUTERS/Ceerwan Aziz