Basketball player Yao Ming has become an icon in China and a sign of its rise to sporting greatness.

This bust of Yao was put on display at the Beijing Olympic Games arts exhibition and people are queuing up to be photographed next to their hero. It's the next best thing to the real thing (above).

You have to hand it to her

Jin Yu (below) plans to give the 3.7m x 3.1m creation to the Beijing Games organizers, according to Xinhuanet.com.

It has the Beijing Olympic logo in the center, the five Fuwa mascots on the left and five famous athletes on the right.

Kiss and make up

There are all kinds of kisses and this Olympic Games has seen them all.

First, there was the supportive kiss of Katrina Emmons when her husband Matthew Emmons failed to win a gold medal with his final shot in the men's 50m rifle.

Among the more memorable was Chinese fencer Zhong Man kiss his French coach, according to the Changjiang Times.

Then there was a brotherly kiss from Chinese weightlifter Zhang Xiangxiang, who hugged the barbell and kissed it after he won.

On way with cart

A farmer from Yimeng Mountain in Shandong province has arrived in Beijing after driving his horse and carriage since Aug 2.

Li Manfei said he wanted to show the world that he was proud to be Chinese and made the journey to wish the Games well, reported the Beijing Evening News.

In 2001 he drove his cart 12,000km in 104 days to Beijing in order to support the city's Olympic bid.

Afghan's new house

The winner of Afghanistan's first Olympic medal is to be given a house as a reward on the orders of President Hamid Karzai, a palace official said yesterday. Rohullah Nikpai thrilled Afghans with his bronze medal in the men's 58kg taekwondo.

"It's a time of big celebrations for all of us," said shopkeeper Khair Mohammad. "I'm so happy that despite the war, lack of sports facilities and training Nikpai managed to secure a medal," Reuters reported.

Many Afghans were unable to watch Wednesday's bout live because power is intermittent and only some households have access to cable television. Karzai called Nikpai to congratulate him on winning the medal, the palace official said.

Writing's on the wall

A 72-year-old calligrapher has been so touched by the sportsmanship of the country's basketball team that he has been entertaining passers-by with his skills outside Wukesong Indoor Stadium.

Kong Qingtang has a one-meter-long brush and draws characters like "Cheer up, China!" "Cheer up, Yao Ming!" on the street with water.

A magical Water Cube

Spain's broadcasting station ABC is saying that the reason so many world records have been broken at the Water Cube is because it is magical, Xinhua has reported.

In addition to Michael Phelps' eight gold medals there were 25 world records in the pool. In comparison, 15 swimming records were broken at the Sydney Olympics and just seven in Athens.