2008 Beijing Olympics

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Bush Readies Salvo on China's Rights Record

President's speech tomorrow will express 'deep concern,' US' 'firm opposition'

(Newser) - President Bush will urge the Chinese government toward greater openness and civil freedom, according to excerpts from a speech he’s scheduled give tomorrow in Thailand, the New York Times reports. Bush will keep his criticism mild, not wishing to use his visit to the Olympics to blast Beijing on...

Swimmer Takes Fur Protest to Beijing

American is first athlete to protest at Games, but display is low-key

(Newser) - Amanda Beard became the first athlete to protest at the Olympic Games today, revealing a huge nude photo of herself outside the athlete’s village in Beijing. Eschewing Darfur or Tibet, the US swimmer blasted fur clothing in the ad for PETA. “The Olympics are a great forum for...

Musharraf Will, Won't, Will Attend Olympic Kick-Off

He flip-flops on trip amid impeachment talk

(Newser) - Pervez Musharraf will be in Beijing tomorrow for the Olympics' opening ceremony, the foreign ministry said today, reversing an earlier announcement that he had canceled the trip. The president is battling possible impeachment at home, the BBC reports, and opposition leaders met yesterday, reportedly to discuss an ouster. The cancellation...

Norway Rolls Over US, 2-0
 Norway Rolls Over US, 2-0
Olympics
Aug 6, 2008 12:14 PM CDT

Norway Rolls Over US, 2-0

Scores 2 goals in first 4 minutes, hangs on to win

(Newser) - Norway jumped on the United States from the opening whistle, getting two goals in the first four minutes today to beat the US women's soccer team, 2-0, at the Beijing Olympics. The US occassionally looked dangerous, but seemed to miss injured leading scorer Abby Wambach. It was America's first loss...

China's Authoritarian Gold Rush Misses Joy of Sports

Beijing may well pass US atop medals table, but citizens' share will be minimal

(Newser) - Beijing’s plan to win the most golds at the Olympics seems likely to pay off in a battle pitting “Chinese authoritarianism versus American liberty,” Matthew Forney writes in the New York Times. Unlike the US, though, China’s citizenry gets little chance to play organized sports, with...

China Revokes Visa of Olympian Darfur Activist

Speedskater Joey Cheek leads team for peace in Sudan

(Newser) - Hours before he was due to leave for Beijing today, US gold-medalist and Darfur activist Joey Cheek got a call from Chinese authorities revoking his visa, the Boston Globe reports. A retired speedskater, Cheek is the founder of Team Darfur, a global group of athletes devoted to bringing peace to...

A 10 Won't Win Gym Gold in Beijing

New system eliminates 'perfect score' ceiling in gymnastics

(Newser) - When gymnasts take to the vault and the uneven bars at this summer's Olympics, viewers will notice a major change to the scoring: the perfect 10 has been eliminated. For the first time at the Games, gymnastics will be assessed on a scale with no ceiling, with gold medalists expected...

Faster, Stronger ... and More Polite?

US athletes hit 'manners training' to avoid Bode fiascos

(Newser) - US Olympians are getting a new type of training: lessons in how to behave in Beijing, reports the Wall Street Journal. In a required course the USOC calls the "ambassador program," US athletes are receiving instruction on topics ranging from appropriate chopstick use to the correct way to...

Delirious Throngs Greet Torch in Beijing

But Yank, Brit protesters busted for 'Free Tibet' banner

(Newser) - After a beleaguered relay dogged by Tibet protesters in many of its legs around the world, the Olympic flame finally reached Beijing today. Ecstatic crowds under smog-choked skies shouted "Go Olympics, go Beijing" to greet torchbearers in Tiananmen Square, with Chinese basketball sensation Yao Ming holding the torch above...

Media at Full Boil Over China Restrictions
Media at Full Boil Over China Restrictions
OPINION
Aug 5, 2008 4:40 PM CDT

Media at Full Boil Over China Restrictions

Awarding Olympics to 'dictatorial regime' was 'drastic mistake'

(Newser) - As the Beijing Games draw near, journalists are worrying about the Chinese government's handling of a swarm of international reporters in an otherwise heavily censored society. Der Spiegel compiles commentaries from varying German sources, all of which agree that the decision to award China the 2008 Olympics was misguided at...

McCain Hopes $6M Olympic Ad Buy a Winner

Last-minute grab, rare in national reach, tops Dem's $5M outlay

(Newser) - Athletes won’t be the only competitors when the Beijing Olympics open Friday, Advertising Age reports: John McCain’s campaign made a last-minute, $6 million ad buy with NBC, topping the whopping $5 million Democratic opponent Barack Obama is spending. The large national scope of the advertising blitz is a...

Bejing's Clean-Air Blitz Falls Short
 Bejing's Clean-Air Blitz
 Falls Short 
ANALYSIS
Aug 5, 2008 1:49 PM CDT

Bejing's Clean-Air Blitz Falls Short

Independent readings, photos show smog persists despite pre-Olympic crackdown

(Newser) - The Chinese government’s goal of dispersing the thick smog around Beijing is not working, Wired reports after analyzing independent data. Efforts including factory shutdowns, car bans, and cloud seeding have not improved air quality, with pollution levels still far above the World Health Organization’s standards on most days....

6.0 Quake Shakes China's Sichuan

Olympic torch had just completed tour of temblor-ravaged area

(Newser) - A 6.0 earthquake today rattled China's Sichuan province, which was devastated by a more powerful quake in May, the US Geological Survey said. One person was killed, reports CNN, and five seriously injured. The tremblor is the latest of numerous aftershocks from the 7.9 quake that struck Sichuan...

Why the Chinese Need Olympic Glory

(Newser) - Those shocked by China’s bristly response to Olympic protests and criticisms would do well to remember some history, Orville Schell writes for the New York Review of Books. After what the Chinese call a "century of humiliation" at the hands of the West and Japan, the nation has...

16 Killed in China Border Attack
 16 Killed in China Border Attack
Aug 4, 2008 3:18 AM CDT

16 Killed in China Border Attack

East Turkistan Islamic Movement suspected

(Newser) - A pair of supected Islamic terrorists attacked a border post in western China and killed 16 paramilitary police officers, hacking some of them with knives, reports CNN, quoting the Xinhua news agency. The two crashed a truck into a group of officers jogging near the station and then lobbed two...

Phelps: Growing Into All Those Golds

(Newser) - At 23, Michael Phelps is poised to win the most gold medals ever by an individual at the Beijing Games, and earn some $5 million in endorsement deals for companies such as Visa and Speedo. Yet Phelps’ journey—from an 8-year-old throwing a temper tantrum after his first swimming loss...

Let Athletes Use Genetic Doping
Let Athletes Use Genetic Doping
OPINION
Aug 2, 2008 2:48 PM CDT

Let Athletes Use Genetic Doping

The only question should be one of safety, not fairness

(Newser) - Genetic therapy's potential to boost athletic performance has sports bodies worried, but fairness should not be an issue, the Economist opines. The luck of the genetic draw already gives some athletes an edge over their competitors, and the only question should be whether gene treatment is safe for the athletes....

Forget Olympics: Gladiators Takes Gold for Fun
Forget Olympics: Gladiators Takes Gold for Fun
OPINION
Aug 2, 2008 7:58 AM CDT

Forget Olympics: Gladiators Takes Gold for Fun

Rocketball and Gauntlet make better TV than all that running and swimming

(Newser) - American Gladiators wraps up just before the Olympics, and the Games will seem mighty dull by comparison, Ben Mathis-Lilley writes in the Washington Post.  Rooting for the team is what makes watching sports fun, he writes, and it's much easier to root for an ordinary joe playing Rocketball than...

China Lowers Internet Firewall
 China Lowers Internet Firewall
Aug 1, 2008 8:22 PM CDT

China Lowers Internet Firewall

Beijing allows access to certain sites to appease Olympics

(Newser) - Facing pressure from the Olympics, Beijing lowered its so-called Great Firewall today to allow access to some news and human rights websites, Time reports. But other sites—like those supporting Tibetan independence or the outlawed spiritual group Falun Gong—remain off-limits in China. And "everyone knows that the minute...

Sharapova Pulls Out of Beijing
 Sharapova Pulls Out of Beijing 
Aug 1, 2008 1:48 PM CDT

Sharapova Pulls Out of Beijing

Shoulder injury dashes Russian's Olympic ambitions

(Newser) - The Olympics lost a bit of its star power today when Maria Sharapova announced that she won't be able to compete because of a shoulder injury, AFP reports. The 21-year-old Russian, ranked third in the world, also will miss the US Open in late August, the AP reports. “The...

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