Olympic Games

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'Lost Boy' Lomong to Carry US Flag at Olympics

'Most exciting day of my life,' says former Sudanese refugee

(Newser) - Former Darfur "Lost Boy" refugee Lopez Lomong, who became a US citizen one year ago, has been chosen to carry the Stars & Stripes at tomorrow's opening ceremony of the Olympics. "This is the most exciting day of my life," Lomong, 23, told the Boston Globe....

Chess Too Wimpy for Olympics?
 Chess Too Wimpy for Olympics? 
Aug 6, 2008 6:25 PM CDT

Chess Too Wimpy for Olympics?

IOC says the game, along with bridge, isn't physical enough

(Newser) - Chess players and bridge players will be spectators when the Olympics begin this week, but both are making a strong push to be official sports at the 2012 Games, Time reports. First, they'll have to convince a skeptical International Olympic Committee that they belong, despite their decided lack of physical...

IOC Strips Gold From 2000 US Relay Team

Move follows athlete's admission of doping

(Newser) - The International Olympic Committee today stripped gold medals from the US men's 1,600-meter relay team that competed at the 2000 Olympics, in the aftermath of Antonio Pettigrew's admission that he was doping at the time. The IOC executive board disqualified the entire team, the fourth gold and sixth overall...

Heavy Smog Greets Olympians
 Heavy Smog Greets Olympians
Jul 27, 2008 5:55 PM CDT

Heavy Smog Greets Olympians

Despite traffic restrictions, skies hazy as always

(Newser) - Beijing has just 12 days left to clear its skies before the start of the Summer Olympics and things are still looking mighty smoggy, reports the AP. Visibility was a mere half-mile in some parts of the city and the Athletes’ Village was invisible from the nearby Olympic Green, despite...

Critics Make Sport of Olympic Mascots

'Fuwa' are in the firing line ahead of Beijing Games

(Newser) - The troubled run-up to the Beijing Games hasn't spared the cartoon mascots, the Wall Street Journal reports. China's critics have already created mock characters for the five—like "GenGen Genocide"—and superstitious Chinese fear a link between the "witch dolls" and the disasters the country has suffered...

Beijing Faces Glut of Hotel Rooms
Beijing Faces Glut of Hotel Rooms
Jul 18, 2008 12:55 PM CDT

Beijing Faces Glut of Hotel Rooms

Building frenzy before Olympics may have overestimated demand

(Newser) - Beijing’s newest construction binge may lead to a glut of rooms as hoteliers race to finish new properties before the Olympic Games begin in August, the Wall Street Journal reports. When the Games open, Beijing will have 50 five-star hotels, more than double the total of five years ago....

The Best Athlete on the Planet

WSJ panel picks Czech decathlete Sebrle to represent Earth at Intergalactic Games

(Newser) - If Earth could only send one guy to a galactic Olympics, who would it be? The Wall Street Journal had a panel of sports experts hash it out, and its top 10 might surprise:
  1. Roman Sebrle: Czech decathlon champion wins on versatility.
  2. LeBron James: What can’t the NBA star
...

Jim McKay Dead at 86
 Jim
 McKay
 Dead at 86 
Obituary
Jun 7, 2008 12:34 PM CDT

Jim McKay Dead at 86

ABC sportscaster was first to win Emmy

(Newser) - Veteran sportscaster and TV journalist Jim McKay has died at age 86 of natural causes, ESPN reports. McKay is most famous for hosting ABC’s Wide World of Sports, and for covering the tragic 1972 Olympics in Munich, which were marred by the Black September attack on Israeli athletes. McKay...

Ballroom Dancing Seeks to Step Into Olympics

TV success leads to push for IOC bosses to take on the tango

(Newser) - An explosion in the popularity of ballroom dancing has got fans hoping it can quickstep its way past golf, bridge and bowling to the top of the waiting list for new Olympic sports, the Wall Street Journal reports. Olympic honchos place a lot of importance on big audiences, and the...

NBC's Olympic Ad Sales Lag
 NBC's Olympic Ad Sales Lag   
Jun 4, 2008 2:19 PM CDT

NBC's Olympic Ad Sales Lag

Network up to $300M behind targets as protest fears, economy slow demand

(Newser) - With the Beijing Games just more than two months away, NBC is still well short of Olympics advertising sales goals, the New York Post reports. Though the network says sales are strong, sources say it's between $150 million and $300 million off, with pro-Tibet protests and the slow economy keeping...

Harding Skates Back Into Spotlight
Harding
Skates Back
Into Spotlight
May 23, 2008 5:20 PM CDT

Harding Skates Back Into Spotlight

Disgraced Olympian not party to Kerrigan mess, says tell-all book

(Newser) - What read like a closed book in 1994 is falling open in a Tonya Harding tell-all, reports Newsweek in an interview with the fallen figure skater. The Tonya Tapes argues that Harding wasn't just uninvolved in Nancy Kerrigan's knee-whacking—she planned to rat out her ex-husband to the FBI until...

Torch Changes Keep Protesters Off Balance

San Francisco's bait-and-switch approach keeps Olympic flame's tour mainly peaceful

(Newser) - Throngs of pro- and anti-China demonstrators in San Francisco forced drastic changes in the Olympic torch's tour of the city, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. Officials bused the flame and relay runners from the bayside opening ceremony miles across town; after heading west toward the Golden Gate Bridge, the convoy...

China Blasts Dalai Lama 'Suicide Plots'

Monks amassing arms, planning to disrupt Olympics, Chinese charge

(Newser) - Chinese authorities are accusing the Dalai Lama of organizing suicide attacks, building an arsenal of weapons and explosives in Tibetan monasteries, and plotting to disrupt the Beijing Olympics. The fresh allegations come in the wake of last month's raging protests in the Tibetan capital of Lhasa and China's violent response.

Olympic Flame Lit Amid Brief Protest

Torch lit in grand style at Olympia

(Newser) - The Olympic flame was lit this morning in Greece, in a ceremony briefly interrupted by human rights protesters. As the Chinese Communist Party secretary—also the head of the Beijing Olympics—spoke, three demonstrators evaded massive security to run onto the field at the stadium in Ancient Olympia. One managed...

Marion Jones Reports to Jail
Marion Jones Reports to Jail
Mar 8, 2008 6:09 AM CST

Marion Jones Reports to Jail

Former Olympic medalist starts 6-month sentence

(Newser) - Marion Jones has entered a federal prison in Texas, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports. The disgraced former sprinter is beginning a 6-month sentence for lying to investigators about her use of performance-enhancing drugs and about her role in a check-fraud scam. She has already returned her Olympic gold medals and...

Indian Athletes Aim for Gold on Billionaire's Buck

Trust seeks to boost Indian medal count

(Newser) - Young Indians are training for this summer’s Olympics with the backing of a London-based billionaire steel magnate, the Wall Street Journal reports. Lakshmi Mittal was dismayed by India’s poor showing at Athens in 2004—where the burgeoning superpower earned only a single silver, while archrival China won 32...

Brit Olympians Hit With Gag Order on China

Can't go unless they sign contract to keep mum on issues

(Newser) - British athletes headed to the Beijing Olympics are being required to sign a controversial document barring them from criticizing the Chinese government, reports Britain's Daily Mail. They must promise "not to comment on any politically sensitive issues," said a spokesman for the British Olympic Association, which wrote the...

Freeze of Century Grips China
Freeze of Century Grips China
Feb 4, 2008 4:56 AM CST

Freeze of Century Grips China

Millions still still stranded in winter chaos

(Newser) - First it was the snow, now it's the cold wreaking continued havoc in China, leaving millions stranded and millions more without power in the coldest winter in a century. President Hu Jintao chaired an emergency meeting yesterday to discuss rescue efforts in the nation where scores have died, as desperate...

China Shines Image for Olympics
China Shines Image for Olympics
Jan 30, 2008 2:29 PM CST

China Shines Image for Olympics

Bureaucracy in full spin mode with Games less than 200 days away

(Newser) - With less than 200 days to go before the Summer Olympics, Der Spiegel takes an in-depth look at China’s feverish preparations and finds a sprawling bureaucracy working overtime to project the perfect image to the world. But while Beijing might clean the smog, and even prevent rain, making communist...

Judge Sends Jones to Slammer
Judge Sends Jones to Slammer
Jan 11, 2008 12:25 PM CST

Judge Sends Jones to Slammer

Disgraced runner draws maximum sentence recommended in plea deal

(Newser) - A federal judge threw the book at Marion Jones today, sentencing the disgraced Olympian to 6 months in prison for lying about steroid use and participating in a check-fraud scam. Jones begged the judge not to separate her from her family, and prosecutors said they were okay with a zero-month...

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