It's almost time again for everyone's favorite WTF Olympic Sport -- Modern Pentathlon. But as the Games approach, the sport is rocked by scandals -- faked scores, questionable competitions, international disputes. Meanwhile, the French MP team, not content to merely swimshootfenceriderun, add singing to their skill set with this catchy tune "T'as les jambes et t'as la tête".
posted on Jul 23, 2008 - View this thread

What's the second most popular sport in the world after soccer? Badminton. (According to some sources - volleyball and cricket are also contenders.) When played competitively, badminton looks more like this and less like this. The Chinese are poised to win Gold in Beijing, while the American team, featuring star player Howard Bach gets no love.
posted on Jul 22, 2008 - View this thread

Should Oscar Pistorius be allowed to run with prosthetic blades in the Olympics for South Africa? Current money says maybe.
posted on Jul 16, 2008 - View this thread

Is Xinjiang Province The Islamic Jihad Battlefront in China? China detains 82 'terrorists' targeting Olympics and police have shot Uighurs dead. Meanwhile people from the Uighur minority call on the international community to boycott the Beijing Olympic games. What side of the Jihad is China on? Previously there was The Al Qaeda - China Tie. The oil and petrochemical sector account for 60% of Xinjiang's local economy.
posted on Jul 16, 2008 - View this thread

China's secret plot to tame Tibet. "Internal Communist party documents have revealed that China is planning a programme of harsh political repression in Tibet despite a public show of moderation to win over world opinion before the Olympic Games next month." Meanwhile, the military has sealed off several monasteries in Lhasa, keeping over 1,000 monks locked up. Another 1,000 monks have mysteriously disappeared, and may have been sent to prisons in a neighbouring province to keep them silent through the Olympics.
posted on Jul 13, 2008 - View this thread

Beijing 2008: China's Olympian Human Rights Challenges. This website was set up by Human Rights Watch to monitor human rights issues in China during the run-up to the Olympics. "This is a historic opportunity for China to show it has the confidence to make tangible and sustainable progress in ensuring basic human rights for its 1.3 billion citizens."
posted on Jun 11, 2008 - View this thread

Veteran sportscaster Jim McKay dies. The host of ABC's Wide World of Sports for forty years, Jim also called the 1980 Miracle on Ice. However, he will probably be best remembered for being thrust into the role of news journalist during the 1972 Munich Games.
posted on Jun 7, 2008 - View this thread

Superstitious bloggers explain the recent earthquake in China by suggesting that the official Olympic Mascots of the Beijing Olympics foretold of disaster.
posted on May 19, 2008 - View this thread

A Lone Tibetan Voice, Intent on Speaking Out. Woeser (previously mentioned here) is a Tibetan writer and poet living under house arrest in Beijing, from where she blogs about the recent unrest in Tibet (there are English translations of her posts at China Digital Times). Last year she was awarded the Norwegian Authors Union Freedom of Expression Prize, but she was not allowed to travel to Oslo to collect the prize.
posted on May 6, 2008 - View this thread

The Olympic Boom is shaping a new Beijing. These fancy new venues and skyscrapers are being built largely by migrant workers facing a harsh reality. The non-stop construction has also threatened to make these "green games" brown. The city may be smoggy and mistreated migrant workery now, but don't you worry, a series of measures will be taken to curb the pollution for the events.
posted on Apr 23, 2008 - View this thread

The "sacred flame" winds its way towards Beijing, creating new flashpoints like a car bumper scraping sparks from the pavement.

The chinese public's anger at CNN now has a wildly popular theme song. "You can't turn lies into the truth by repeating them a thousand times"

Chinese nationalism and an American backlash are both growing. Where is all this leading to? And even if we can't understand how China sees Tibet, or know whether the Shanghai Princesses will really give up their Chanel, can we at least assure the Chinese that we don't like Jack Cafferty either?
posted on Apr 19, 2008 - View this thread

Greening the Ghetto. A TED talk (also on YouTube) on environmental justice and urban renewal by Majora Carter, the founder of Sustainable South Bronx organization. She spoke recently at the Aspen Environment Forum.
posted on Apr 9, 2008 - View this thread

Sneaky subterfuge! At the "last minute," the torch is re-routed miles away from the tens of thousands of people waiting to see it. Mayor comes 'under fire" for lying to the people.
posted on Apr 9, 2008 - View this thread

Protestor grabs the Olympic torch in London. (SLYTP)
posted on Apr 7, 2008 - View this thread

The Olympic torch is being welcomed this weekend in the UK as a symbol of the sporting spirit, uniting people around the world in peaceful competition. But the idea of lighting the torch at the ancient Olympian site in Greece and then running it through different countries has much darker origins.
posted on Apr 5, 2008 - View this thread

The Genocide Olympics. The human rights group Dream for Darfur is trying to use the Olympics to pressure China to change its policies on Sudan and the genocide in Darfur.
posted on Mar 30, 2008 - View this thread

70 year old Pak Doo-Ik will lead North Korea's prestigious Olympic torch bearers to Beijing this summer. In the 1966 World Cup at Middlesborough, Pak scored the goal that lead his team to a stunning 1-0 upset win over Italy (video). Pak Doo-Ik and the team returned home as heroes, but ultimately fell under the suspicion of North Korean leadership. The team underwent "mental re-education" and were exiled, Pak Doo-Ik spending ten years as a forest laborer. Dear Leader Kim Jong-il later allowed Pak to coach North Korea's national soccer team, and a fascinating 2002 BBC documentary brought Pak Doo Ik back to the international stage.
posted on Mar 27, 2008 - View this thread

China ready to hold talks with the Dalai Lama. With nearly 1,000 jailed in Lhasa, the Dalai Lama has offered to resign. China has blocked the media, and reporters have been taken in for questioning. China is opposed to the US speaker's Dharamsala visit. Meanwhile France raises the idea of boycotting the Olympics opening ceremony. Existing thread arising from Björk's protest.
posted on Mar 19, 2008 - View this thread

Björk, in Shanghai, on Tibet: Declare Independence! [YouTube]
posted on Mar 6, 2008 - View this thread

Vancouver group asks UN (rather than local government) to help homeless Canadians The Carnegie Community Action Project (CCAP) met with United Nations representative Miloon Kothari this week and appealed to the UN to intervene on behalf of homeless people in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside. via
posted on Oct 18, 2007 - View this thread

As Beijing prepares for the Olympics next year it is trying to clean up some of the shadier sides of the city. Apparently, one way of doing this is going to the popular bar street, Sanlitun, and arresting and beating all the men who appear to be of African decent, even if one happens to be the son of a diplomat.
posted on Oct 4, 2007 - View this thread

The wonderful, horrible films of Leni Riefenstahl
posted on Aug 27, 2007 - View this thread

China Praises Its Progress Toward Olympics. With one year to go before the 2008 Olympics, China still has many challenges ahead, like dealing with Beijing's terrible air pollution. There is still much criticism over China's record on human rights and freedom of the press, and some protests. But perhaps the most embarrassing public relations setback is that one of the official mascots, Yingsel (aka Yingying) the Tibetan Antelope, has defected from China's Olympic team and gone underground to campaign for a free Tibet. [Some links via BB and MoFi.]
posted on Aug 9, 2007 - View this thread

The 1904 Olympics were held in St. Louis, Missouri and were an utter disaster, but it was "great fun for savages."
posted on Jul 5, 2007 - View this thread

SimCity 2008, Scenario: Beijing. Prepare your city for the 2008 Olympics. Raze slums, build luxury hotels, and stadiums. Make the nation, and the world, proud!
posted on Jun 11, 2007 - View this thread

The British Olympic Committee unveiled the logo and branding for London 2012 today, at a cost of £400,000 (USD796,000). Reaction has been swift - a petition to change the logo or go back to the old one has already reached 10,000 signatures.
posted on Jun 4, 2007 - View this thread

Vancouver police posed as journalists to lure out and arrest the activist who threatened to bring protest of the 2010 Vancouver Olympics to the doorsteps of Olympic officials - and it isn't the first time police in BC have impersonated the media to make an arrest. The Canadian Association of Journalists is not amused, but a constable speaking for the VPD "doubts the outrage from the person on the street over the issue would be the same as it has been from the journalistic community". (Previously)
posted on May 22, 2007 - View this thread

Protesters threaten to target homes of Olympic officials Anti-poverty protesters in B.C. are threatening to take their protest against the 2010 Olympics to the homes of Vancouver Olympic officials. Protest organizer David Cunningham says members of the Anti-Poverty Committee know where officials from the Vancouver Organizing Committee live and work and protesters will take their demonstration directly to them. The Anti-Poverty Committee has a controversial presence in Vancouver currently. Among other things, they throw urine at people they don't like. Anti-Poverty Committee spokesman David Cunningham said these tactics (well, maybe not the urine) are the only way to get the attention of politicians.
posted on May 17, 2007 - View this thread

With the help of Ossur's prosthetic feet, Oscar Pistorius is differently abled. Video. Walk Tall should be the next LiveStrong. (via)
posted on Mar 4, 2007 - View this thread

I have a plan that will save USA Basketball.
"these are the very kids who could save American basketball. ...Now, am I 100 percent sure this is feasible (or even legal)? No. But do you have a better idea? Because what we're doing now certainly isn't the answer."
posted on Sep 11, 2006 - View this thread

Between 1912 and 1948, one could win an Olympic medal by excelling in creativity rather than athletics. Works contending in this "Pentathlon of the Muses" had to be sport-related, though: see for example this gold-winning drawing by Jean Jacoby. Perhaps the most famous Olympic artist is Oliver St. John Gogarty (Google cache), after whom Joyce's character of Buck Milligan was modelled. In later years, the tradition was incorporated into the concept of a Cultural Olympiad held alongside the main event.
posted on Aug 1, 2006 - View this thread

Extra! Tabloid photographs from the Los Angeles Herald Express (1936-1961), showing celebrities, fashion, tragedy, (early) CHiPs, and babes with guns. Via the Virtual Gallery at the LA Public Library, which has many other fine exhibits, such as California in the 20s, the 1932 Olympics, celebrity golf, and a wonderful collection from the golden age of travel posters.
posted on Jul 28, 2006 - View this thread

"There is a bomb in Centennial Park. You have 30 minutes." Today marks the 10th anniversary of the Centennial Olympic Park bombing in Atlanta. Initial (and unwarranted) suspicions notwithstanding, the July 27th bombing would prove to be just the first of four such acts of domestic terrorism committed by 5-year fugitive Eric Robert Rudolph.
posted on Jul 27, 2006 - View this thread

The Da Vinci Cup Think of it as a gathering of tribes... There's a lot of ritual involved. It's probably the biggest single unifying event that our species can muster. Forget the Olympics. Not even close. Poor poor China. Keeping the romans entertained since BC.
posted on Jun 25, 2006 - View this thread

Government error in contemporary British history is the stuff of legend and when it comes to the 2012 Olympics can I be on my own in forecasting financial disaster? This morning's announcement that "little can be built until the site's 50 electric pylons are removed" in 2008 comes hot on the heels of an understated Olympics budget which, four days ago, is revealed to be 'short by £2bn.' I am v.fortunate to live in the UK and there is no doubt this government is v.good at bookkeeping; but grandstanding a world event? Not a chance. Discussed in these parts last year, Britain is not good at world class marketing or brand .. management; Britain is not good at capital projects, and Politicians, bureaucrats ... milking the Olympic Games, says London's mayor. I understand but two Olypics have seen modest profit and Britain badly needs Hollywood or Coca-Cola^® to make a success of this.
posted on Apr 6, 2006 - View this thread

Hoth is making a bid to host the 2014 Winter Olympics. Featuring sports like the two-man snowspeeder race, the creator of the effort claims to be protesting the lack of American interest in the Winter Games. Need more Star Wars meets sports info? (And yes, you do.) Howabout a quiz on the sports of Star Wars, or various Star Wars characters hosting SportsCenter. [Note that the main link sometimes loads slowly. Some sites feature the Star Wars theme.]
posted on Mar 9, 2006 - View this thread

Really, the Olympics still mean something. No they don't: "They are a random collection of winter activities, most of which have their own world championships anyway, which should suffice." Not even a Lindsay Lohan hookup story could save these games.
posted on Feb 27, 2006 - View this thread

Olympicsfilter: American skier biffs hard. How about the rest of the team? Kwan. Miller. Johnny Weir. But props to Shani Davis, the first African American to win an individual gold, and of course, plucky Norway, currently the medal leader. Among other losers: NBC.
posted on Feb 18, 2006 - View this thread

HotOlympians.com has been shut down by the U.S. Olympic Committee.

The domain name hotolympians.com is infringing on federal trademarks. When I registered the domain name, I did some research on olympic trademarks and came to understand... that "olympic" was trademarked and "olympians" was not. I was wrong. And thus we will continue publishing under a new domain name which will be up shortly...

When asked why a local newspaper could publish a feature of an athlete right next to an advertisement, I was told that we weren't a news operation. I was told that hotolympians.com jeapordized American athlete's right to participate in the games.
posted on Feb 17, 2006 - View this thread

Biathlon! Biathletes! History! Primitive style? Proudly an Olympic sport since 1960.
posted on Feb 11, 2006 - View this thread

Ski Jumping - the only Olympic discipline to ban women. [thanks occhiblu]
posted on Feb 11, 2006 - View this thread

The Israeli Response to the 1972 Munich Olympic Massacre and the Development of Independent Covert Action Teams is a very interesting 1995 military paper for background and analysis of the Israeli response to the slaughter of Jewish Olympians in 1972. This hot topic is at issue in Spielberg's controversial new film Munich. The film is based on a book by journalist George Jonas and a self-proclaimed Mossad agent, Yuval Aviv. The book also served as the basis for the 1986 movie Sword of Gideon.
posted on Dec 27, 2005 - View this thread

A statue of Tommie Smith and John Carlos was recently unveiled at San Jose State University. Smith and Carlos were (in)famous for their raised fist protest on the medal podium at the 1968 Olympics, for which they paid a heavy price.
posted on Oct 26, 2005 - View this thread

Not letting people take in the wrong soft drink. Making a band change its name. 'The new bill will make it illegal to combine words like "games", "medals", "gold", "2012", "sponsor" or "summer" in any form of advertising.' I'm kind of starting to hate the olympics.
posted on Aug 16, 2005 - View this thread

London beats Paris, New York, Madrid, Moscow to host 2012 Olympics
posted on Jul 6, 2005 - View this thread

Team Discovery has announced its roster for the 2005 Tour de France. Sadly, team member, Russian Cyclist of the Century, Olympic Gold and Silver Medalist and “ageless wonder” Viatcheslav Ekimov (b. 1966) was injured recently while training with Lance in Texas (free reg. req.) and will not compete in his 15^th Tour this July. Eki, age 39, domestique to both LeMond and Armstrong, and a three-time stage winner at the Tour, is just two Tour-finishes shy of the record: 16.
posted on Jun 23, 2005 - View this thread

Athens chief fumes at US lewdness claims because, out of 3.9 billion people (and about 56 million of them in the United States alone), 9 people in the United States complained of nudity in the opening ceremonies. It's one thing to have our very moral, rather infintesimal minority running what we all see, but what happens when that morality clashes cross-country? (The complaints are old news; the Grecian response is not.)
posted on Jan 19, 2005 - View this thread

Australian Snapshots is one of those "give lots of people disposable cameras to take photos of their lives during a particular time" photo collections. In this case, the pictures were taken by Australians in regional areas during the 2004 Olympics. I know there are lots of these projects around, but they can often turn the ordinary into interesting or capture those things iconic to that community.
posted on Dec 10, 2004 - View this thread

Thomas Shine, a former Yale student, is suing David Childs for copyright infringement Mr. Childs of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill for copyright infringement over the design of the Freedom Tower located at Ground Zero. Shine alleges in his lawsuit that the proposed Freedom Tower was "strikingly similar" to his "Olympic Tower" design for the proposed 2012 Olympic Games in New York.
posted on Nov 10, 2004 - View this thread

A century's worth of Olympics posters Awesome Flash-based site with over 1800 posters, official and not, from every Olympic Games, 1896-present (and even one for 2006). The retro-licious posters from the 1980 Summer Games in Moscow are particularly nice and definitely worth checking out. Also neat: posters from Games that never happened due to WWII. Great resource for looking at poster design through the years.
posted on Sep 3, 2004 - View this thread