The 2008 Summer Olympics - or the Games of the XXIX Olympiad, as it's officially known - kick off tomorrow in Beijing.

It's likely to be the most-watched Olympics ever - or, at least, the Olympics that will allow the most opportunity to be watched, based on the hours of coverage NBC is dedicating to the Games on all of its networks: NBC, USA Network, CNBC, MSNBC, Oxygen, Telemundo and Universal HD. (The Tribune's TV critic, Vince Horiuchi, writes about the TV effort and has compiled a handy viewing guide.)

Online, The Salt Lake Tribune has a web page dedicated to covering the games - including the 19 Olympians with Utah connections. These athletes range from cyclists Dave Zabriskie and Levi Leipheimer to volleyball star Logan Tom. Two Salt Lake Bees players are on the U.S. baseball team, and three Utah Jazz stars are also representing their nations: Carlos Boozer and Deron Williams for USA, and Andrei Kirilenko playing for Russia.

Two members of the Tribune's sports staff - columnist Kurt Kragthorpe and reporter Michael C. Lewis - are in Beijing, are writing both for print and in a blog. Tribune photographer Chris Detrick is also there, shooting and blogging.

And at least two of the Utah-linked Olympians are blogging from Beijing, too: Slovakian marathoner Zuzana Tomas (near right), a University of Utah student, has already reported on the toilet facilities in the Olympic Village and running into Yao Ming; while Jake Gibb (far right), a Bountiful native competing in beach volleyball, is getting energized seeing his fellow Olympians.

(Photo at top: A soldier stands outside the Main Press Center at the Beijing 2008 Olympics in Beijing on Tuesday. Photo by Luca Bruno/Associated Press.)