Apparently even the Olympics are into gratuitous shots of women dancing around in bikinis. Not that we’re complaining…
Check out this recent video of cheerleaders entertaining beach volleyball fans in Beijing.
Category: The Olympics (Page 21 of 26)
It’s obvious to everyone that China broke the rules with gymnasts who were clearly under the minimum age of sixteen. Mitch Albom has a little fun with the story.
What did you expect? Any country that would lip-sync out a 7-year-old singer because she wasn’t cute enough for the opening ceremony wouldn’t hesitate to use underage children to capture gold medals. That’s a no-brainer. There is what you see and there is what really goes on in China, and what you see at these Games, the image they project, is as precious as oxygen to the New Emperor of the Planet. Who cares if a gymnast is so young she is, as one critic charged, “missing a tooth”?
In trying so hard to win, the Chinese are oblivious to the fact that they look ridiculous to the rest of the world. The Chinese team was impressive as hell in wiining the team gold medal, but China has paid a price with their credibility, not that they care much. At least guys like Albom can have some fun with it.
You must turn 16 in the Olympic year to compete in this sport. But honestly. This one girl? Deng Linlin? She’s 16 the way I’m 16. All the girls are tiny: She looks up to them. Previous registrations for events suggest several Chinese gymnasts may barely be 14 (even that is hard to believe), but all you need for the Games is a valid passport, and, surprise, the team has those. Who are you going to interrogate? The Chinese president?
Fortunately for the American team, Nastia Liuken and Shawn Johnson were able to finish first and second in the all-around competition. By taking the gold and silver medals, they were able to quell the controversy a little.
Michael Phelps’ final stroke got his hands on the wall one-hundredth of a second ahead of Serbian Milorad Cavic to secure his seventh gold medal in the 100-meter butterfly. He swam into history by matching Mark Spitz’s record of winning seven gold medals in the 1972 Munich Games.
But it did not come without some controversy, as the Serbians filed a protest following the outcome of the race. After careful review of the race tape provided by FINA (swimming’s governing body), the Serbian delegation conceded victory to Phelps. The tape was slowed to one frame for every 10-thousandth of a second to show the American actually touching the wall first at the end of the race.
He was sluggish at the start, as Phelps was seventh (out of eight) at the turn. Then he put it into high gear, as his long arms began windmilling through the water. Phelps was able to close the gap on Cavic in no time.
Tomorrow evening, Phelps will return to swim his final event of the games, as he takes the butterfly leg of the U.S. medley relay team. The Americans are favored, so Phelps should win his record-breaking eighth gold medal. Australia has a great relay team, so it should be quite a race.
– I do not know if you heard but Brett Favre has un-retired. And he will be playing this season in New York for the Jets. Sorry ESPN, his first game back will be on the NFL Network on Saturday at 8 p.m. EST. Maybe Rachel Nichols can give updates from the sidelines on Favre’s progress in grasping the Jets offense for ESPN News.
– The men’s 100-meter finals in track & field take place on Saturday evening. It could be the most competitive event at the Olympics, as all of the contenders have beaten one another in the past. Asafa Powell of Jamaica was defeated by USA’s Tyson Gay at the World Championships so badly that he disappeared from the scene. His countryman, Usain Bolt, returned the favor by beating Gay this past May. All three will run in Beijing, and it might just be the best 10 seconds of the Olympiad.
– Michael Phelps is on target to break Mark Spitz’s record of seven gold medals at one Olympic competition. The 100-meter butterfly is this evening, with the 4 x 100 medley relay wrapping up the swimming competition (and Phelps’ quest) on Saturday night.
– The top matchup in baseball this weekend could be a possible playoff preview between the Milwaukee Brewers and Los Angeles Dodgers at Chavez Ravine. Both teams made significant additions to improve their chances of playing into October, so this should be a good series.
Michael Phelps goes for seven gold medals tonight when he swims the 100-meter butterfly, the only event in which he doesn’t hold the world record. The race is a short one, so any mistake could cost him the win. Throw in the fact that American Ian Crocker is a serious threat and you have the makings for a very interesting race.
But the story doesn’t stop there.
Crocker has held the record since July 26, 2003, when he broke it at the World Championships, and has since lowered the mark twice. Before Crocker, Phelps held the record for one day — his reign lasting from semifinals until finals the next night, when Crocker took the record, and the world title.
Phelps got revenge in Athens, beating Crocker by .04 of a second for his fifth gold medal. That left Crocker with silver to add to his bronze, which he earned earlier in the week when a poor swim on the 4x100m freestyle relay left the favored U.S. team in a disappointing third.
The next day Phelps, having earned a spot on the 4x100m medley relay by winning the 100m fly, announced he would cede his spot to Crocker. Phelps would earn a medal anyway for his butterfly swim in the preliminaries, and gave Crocker, who was the world-record holder and more experienced relay swimmer, the chance to earn gold.
“He was the fastest 100m butterflyer, and I wanted to give him the opportunity to get up and get his gold medal,” Phelps said.
Crocker and his teammates won and, with Phelps shouting from the stands, shattered the world record. After the medal ceremony, in a moment that didn’t go unnoticed, Crocker and Phelps shared a hug as the team walked by.
“It was an opportunity that it’s hard to say thank you for,” Crocker said after the race. “And I just wanted to do it justice by going out and giving it my best shot.”
So, theoretically, if Crocker were to deny Phelps his seventh gold medal by winning the 100-meter butterfly, he could offer up his spot in the 4x100m medley relay and allow Phelps to have a chance to tie Mark Spitz’s record of seven gold medals in one Olympiad.
It would be only fair after what Phelps did for Crocker back in 2004, right? If Crocker wins the butterfly, he’s under no obligation to give up his spot in the relay, but my guess is that he’d be under tremendous pressure to do so.
It has been a storybook Olympics for Phelps, but tonight’s race could be the toughest test he’s faced so far. If Crocker wins, he’ll have his own test to face, a moral one.
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