Olympics – News Stories About Olympics - Page 24

Communist Party Basks in Olympic Afterglow

Aug 25, 2008 9:23 AM CDT

Communist Party Basks in Olympic Afterglow

Olympics strengthen ruling party after decade of planning

(Newser) - For nearly a decade, the Chinese Communist Party has made the Olympics the nation's first political priority, writes Jim Yardley in the New York Times. Hopes that the international spotlight would lead to democratization and human-rights reforms in China didn't materialize, as the triumph of the Games instead underscored the...

How the Decathlon
Got Stuck in the Mud

OPINION

Aug 21, 2008 8:25 PM CDT

How the Decathlon Got Stuck in the Mud

Drugs, fan demand for broken records to blame of 10-discipline event

(Newser) - Once upon a time, the decathlon was it: The king of Sweden called 1912 Olympic champ Jim Thorpe “the world’s greatest athlete, and gold medalists such as Bruce Jenner became superstars. So what happened? Drugs, Robert Weintraub writes in Slate: Track events occupy the same space as the...

Bronze Medalists Happier Than Silver Winners

Aug 18, 2008 4:46 AM CDT

Bronze Medalists Happier Than Silver Winners

2nd place a letdown, 3rd is a thrill

(Newser) - Newly minted gold medalists are ecstatic, second-place finishers slightly less so, and bronze winners the least happy—or so conventional wisdom would have it. But psychologists find that bronze medalists are usually happier than those who finish with silver, the Washington Post reports. Why does this Olympic paradox play out...

Defining Olympic Moment?
Phelps By a Hair

opinion

Aug 16, 2008 12:30 PM CDT

Defining Olympic Moment? Phelps By a Hair

(Newser) - Sure, if Michael Phelps wins his eighth Olympic gold, as he’s expected to do in the men’s relay, all eyes will be on him. And we’ll wonder (even more) if he’s all human or part-fish. But the Olympics' "defining fabulous moment" has already passed, writes...

Beijing Struggles
to Fill Stadiums

OLYMPICS

Aug 13, 2008 11:18 AM CDT

Beijing Struggles to Fill Stadiums

Sold-out games are full of empty seats

(Newser) - Olympic organizers have a problem: No one’s going to their sold-out events. Foot traffic is sparse in Olympic Park, and empty seats have abounded at early events. The panicked Chinese have organized yellow-shirted, state-trained “cheer-squads” to fill the holes, but that hasn’t been enough for the IOC,...

Phelps'
Victory Dance:
It's Evolutionary

OLYMPICS

Aug 12, 2008 10:36 AM CDT

Phelps' Victory Dance: It's Evolutionary

All primates share body language of pride, shame: researchers

(Newser) - The classic chest-out, arms-outstretched victory dance Olympic champ Michael Phelps performed after Sunday's 4-x-100 relay final is older than humanity, the LA Times reports. The same display of pride is instinctive to all primates, researchers say, and the body language of victory and defeat is rooted in the age-old need...

US Volleyball Coach's Family Pulls Together After Stabbing

Aug 11, 2008 2:31 PM CDT

US Volleyball Coach's Family Pulls Together After Stabbing

McCutcheon 'not indulging in anger'

(Newser) - Though his heart is broken, Hugh McCutcheon won’t indulge in anger as he grieves for his father-in-law, Todd Bachman, brutally stabbed to death in Beijing on Saturday. "It hurts. I think it's something no one should have to go through,'' the US Olympic men’s volleyball coach...

The Price of Reaching the Top

Aug 9, 2008 10:27 AM CDT

The Price of Reaching the Top

Chinese weightlifter left her family as child

(Newser) - Nearly all of Chin'a Olympic athletes come out of the country’s sports boarding schools—a system that depends on the dismal prospects of the country's poor. "A rich person would never let his child do this," the father of Athens gold medalist Chen Yanqing tells the Wall ...

Germany Revives Schools
to Turn Out Olympians

Aug 2, 2008 9:10 AM CDT

Germany Revives Schools to Turn Out Olympians

Return to East German model to restore Olympic glory

(Newser) - Concerned over its sixth-place overall finish in the Athens Olympics, Germany is taking steps to centralize its athletic training program in a move reminiscent of the notorious East German training machine, the Wall Street Journal reports. In a country where membership in local sports clubs is the norm for athletes,...

Archery's Terrifying Secret

Aug 1, 2008 7:09 AM CDT

Archery's Terrifying Secret

Experts can't even say the name of biggest fear: target panic

(Newser) - The greatest fear of elite archers is something called "target panic"—an affliction that keeps some from releasing their bow, and causes others to shoot wildly as soon as the bull's-eye comes into sight. Many archers won't even say the words, although the condition has at some time...

Scientist Finds 'Workout in a Pill'

Aug 1, 2008 3:26 AM CDT

Scientist Finds 'Workout in a Pill'

Drug changes muscle to duplcate benefits of exercise

(Newser) - A chemical compound already available through scientific supply stores mimics the metabolic effects of weeks of training and exercise, according to a new study. Olympic authorities are now seeking a test to detect the drug in athletes. Mice given the drug Aicar ran 44% farther than mice who did not...

'68 Olympics Salute
Shouldn't Be
Glorified

OPINION

Jul 29, 2008 11:43 AM CDT

'68 Olympics Salute Shouldn't Be Glorified

(Newser) - Last week ESPN honored athletes Tommie Smith and John Carlos, famous for their ‘black power’ salute at the ’68 Olympic games, with the Arthur Ashe Courage Award at the network’s ESPYs award ceremony. LA Times commentator Jonah Goldberg outlines what he considers the highly dubious implications of...