ELKHART — The 2008 Summer Olympics begin Friday evening. Even though they're happening more than 6,000 miles away in Beijing, a big piece of Michiana is there.

An Elkhart company is sending its best, brightest, and loudest to amp up the Olympics.

Crown International has been making high-tech sound equipment in Elkhart for a long time. They sell their products all over the world.

This year they struck gold in China — Olympic gold — with 600 sound amplifiers that the Chinese will use at 33 different venues in Beijing.

“About nine months ago, it was being talked about, figuring out the specs and requirements that would be needed for the Olympics and how many amps for the different venues for sound reinforcement,” said Larry Coburn from Crown International.

For the company, this was a special order.

“We had to one, make sure we tested them extra, and also ship them over in overseas containers to make sure they're protected all the way to China," Coburn said.

All of the employees say they take a big sense of pride in knowing what they've made will end up on the international stage.

“We take a lot of pride in what we do here at Crown,” said employee Tyson Thompson. “It speaks volumes about the company itself, to know that we build a product that's being used in such a large event as the Olympics."

"Obviously any time you can have your products affiliated with something on a truly global scale, it’s a big deal and it’s something we're very proud of," said employee Brian Divine.

And another big deal for the company is a contract to provide all the amps for the Colts new Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis and one for the new New York Mets Stadium.