As I stand on top of the Great Wall of China in the Mutianyu section on a misty Friday and contemplate the 4,000 miles it is said to have once covered, it gets me to thinking about numbers at the Olympic Games.

Like 100, the number of interpreters employed at the press center. They are called on to deal with 11 languages for all major press conferences.

Or 2,440, the NCAA-record number of strikeouts by Monica Abbott during her softball career at Tennessee. The U.S. team on which Abbott pitches now begins play Tuesday with a game against Venezuela.

Or five, the number of new venues being built in London for the 2012 Olympics including a main stadium that will hold 80,000.

Or 22, the age of Lady Vol Christine Magnuson, who won the 100 butterfly at the U.S. Olympic Trials and will begin qualifying today.

Or 137,000, the number of kilometers the Olympic torch was carried for 130 days through 130 cities.

Or 274-9, the number of feet and inches former Vol Leigh Smith threw the javelin in May at the Georgia Invitational – the longest throw by an American this year. Smith starts competition Aug. 21.

Or 8, the eighth day, of the eighth month of 2008 at 8 p.m. when the Olympics official began as NBC has likely told you 800 times by now.

Or 3, the number of Lady Vols on the women’s basketball team. Tamika Catchings, Candace Parker and Kara Lawson will begin play tonight against the Czech Republic.

Or 30, the percentage of emission reduction in Beijing since July 1 according to the Beijing Olympics Games Organizing Committee.

Or 4, the number of times former UT standout Tom Pappas was national champion in the decathlon. Pappas will hit the track on Aug. 21.

Or 1 billion, the number of people expected to watch opening ceremonies. It would be the first televised broadcast in history to be viewed by a least 1 billion.

Or 8:25.16, the time former UT runner Anthony Famiglietti ran in the steeplechase at the Olympic trials to blow away the field. He runs the first round Aug. 16.

Or 596, the number of athletes on the U.S. team.

© 2008, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.