225 MORE DAYS !!!!

[size=3][color=#993399]222 MORE DAYS!!![size=3]

I would like to predict that I think this year is going to be especially tough on the U.S. athletes, especially track and field. My prediction is that for the first time in a long time, neither Russia or the U.S. will be on top of the medals standings- I think China is going to really press for that top position being at home.

That's what i am afraid of.

I think Track will definitely be hurting, but the US medal count still comes largely from swimming. The Chinese swimmers do have a history of coming out of the woodworks with unheard of swimmers during Olympic years, that always have doping stories linked to them subsequently. But the US team should still be able to dominate the medal stand and put up a pretty good number for the whole countries count. So not to worry too much...as long as the US male sprinters can get it together.

I think the Chinese are going to step it up in swimming and even add to their dominance in the racket sports. I think other events they could step up in some of the team sports, definitely using the crowds....

Interesting that chonathon should mention past doping scandals involving the Chinese swimmers. I think that the more likely advantage will come from the fact that Chinese athletes have trained all their lives in the polluted air of Beijing or other major towns in China whereas US athletes would avoid such sites for training, with good reason. Long-term effects are quite real and significant. However it is difficult to know whether such stress training will be an advantage or disadvantage for Chinese athletes.

It is also notable that Chinese pharmaceutical finished products and pharmaceutical ingredients - both legal and illegal - have found their way into world markets including the US, and have been responsible for great harm in recent years as is evident from even a cursory search of the internet.

Still there is considerable drugs knowledge in the poorly regulated Chinese pharmaceutical industry, so enforcement of strict Olympic drug regulations will depend upon the ethical behavior of the Chinese Olympic authorities. When so much prestige and "face" is riding on a single event, I would be suspicious of the capacity of any country to thoroughly monitor the behavior of its private sector. I am very concerned about China's or the US FDA's ability to do so after reading a specific story about contaminated heparin showing up in US pharmaceutical products.The fact that both the US FDA and Chinese regulators dropped the ball on this one does not bode well for even the Olympic committee to keep careful track of such an industry. This is very concerning. A controversy could reflect badly on China, the IOC and athletes.

The 08 olympics will be the year of the underdog because of the distractions that will be surrounding Beijing and its stance of global issues and treatment of its own people. This will Mark a stance in the olympics where smaller countires will make a a mark of the global radar in events like that are little know to most but still count on the podium. I do have to complaint and thats the IOC stance of sports that give out to many medals. The IOC issued statments to FILA telling them that there are are far too many sports waisting olympic medal counts and that its in the intrest to remove classes where to many people can win a gold medal. also in wrestling there will be 2 bronze medal winners in this years games how messed up is that!

You might be right about small countries making their mark this year Greco, but I think it will not only be the distractions but that small countries are catching up in terms of general nutrition and training for athletes. Also the greater diversity of medal-qualifying events makes it easier for a small country to dump a lot of money in to training for an obscure event that even larger nations may not have bothered emphasizing.

If the drug testing indeed does maintain a level playing field, the natural talent around the world will show itself to be more evenly distributed IMO.

I think the striking new athletic and cultural facilities built for the Olympics will be a highlight. The Chinese have used an array of top international architects to creating stunning modernist architectural statements.

The "Bird's Nest" stadium, seating 91,000, designed by Swiss architects Herzog & de Meuron, working with Arup and the China Architectural Design and Research Group.


The "Water Cube" aquatics centre, with 17,000 seats, by Australian architects PTW with Arup, the Shenzen Design Institute and the China State Construction and Engineering Corporation.


The controversial Grand National Theatre of China, by French architect Paul Andreu ("the Egg").

============

They've just opened a $3.8 billion Norman Foster-designed terminal at Beijing International Airport.

Like many others, I look forward to the Olympic Games this summer in particular watching the swimming and diving events. I'll be interested, too, in how events that occurred in Beijing nearly twenty years ago will be remembered by the promoters of the Olympics outside China, namely the US network carrier (NBC?). Wlii they play lip service only to what happened at Tiananmen Square? Will they allow themselves to collude with the Chinese authorities in muffling free speech, as major Search Engines do? I hope not. China is a very different country now, but the government still has a horrendous human rights record.

Ah, I don't mean to cast a pall on this thread. I love the Olympics. And the US will do well in swimming! Perhaps my response belongs elsewhere. But I'm still haunted by the images of that lone Chinese student standing in the path of that tank. I admire Olympic athletes and their struggles, but that student is my hero.

I agree with you Marc...

And it's only going to get worse as the protests become more intense the nearer we get to the Games. What a mess.

And the IOC deserves some of the blame for this...China should never have been awarded the Games in the first place. I was angry about it then, and I'm still angry. Back in 2001, the IOC said they would be 'monitoring' the human rights situation and there were vague promises from the Chinese that they would clean up their act, but it's obvious nothing has changed. And the IOC just washes its hands of any responsibility, with the tiresome 'sports and politics don't mix' slogan. At the very least, the IOC should disallow the Olympic torch to be carried through Tibet. But they shamelessly turn a blind eye to all the atrocities, and it's simply 'business as usual' as far as the IOC is concerned.

The oppression of Tibetans is bad enough, but there are plenty of other reasons I see why China is probably the most undeserving Olympic host since the 1936 Games in Nazi Germany. It must not be forgotten that China is a key supporter of the genocidal regime in Sudan, which is causing immense suffering in Darfur. The eviction of thousands of people to make way for their precious glittering Olympic showcase venues, its persecution of Falun Gong members, its horrible inhumane treatment of animals, its muzzling of free speech and pathetic demonization of the Dalai Lama, the pollution...the list goes on and on, and yet I doubt if there will be a boycott of these Games. At the very least, I hope there are (peaceful) ways to bring shame and embarrassment to the Chinese dictatorship and to the IOC...athletes speaking out publicly, international spectators holding up placards, international heads of state refusing to attend, opting out of the opening ceremonies to name a few...

China may ban live Olympic broadcasts from Tiananmen Square. Gee, there's a shock.



The recent MLB exhibition games were a farce as well...from the same article:



Also during the Dodges-Padres trip to Beijing:

I had no idea that MLB was playing some exhibition games in China this year. But with baseball already popular in Japan, South Korea and Taiwan, I suppose it's natural for them to want to test the market there as well. I just hope MLB has more conscience than the IOC, and won't play any more games there until China cleans up its dismal record on human rights. As for the Boy Scouts, the paranoid Chinese officials probably thought the kids were Tibetan monks in disguise, agents for the Dalai Lama, who of course they are continuing to blame for the recent unrest.

Kudos to France and Belgium who suggested last week they might boycott the opening ceremonies in Beijing. Rather ironic too...IOC prez Jacques Rogge is from Belgium, and he said he is engaged in something he calls 'silent diplomacy' (read: 'doing nothing').

Here's a link to a petition that I would encourage everyone to sign:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/tibet_end_the_viol...hp/?cl=67094265

The IOC is the world wide leader in MOB activity and its getting wores every Olympics that is held. Money makes the events and the IOC cuts events every time they get a chance or someone pays off an official in the committees. All of the International Bodies have fallen to corrupt leaders at some point Look at FIFA every time someone is chosen for the world Cup money has exchanged hands and everyone is looking for a hand out. Baseball is playing into the market where they can make the most money and need something to help distract from 20 years of HGH. I think 2016 we will see another American city buy the games through big money corporations.

First of all, I will acknowledge that giving the games to China was a mistake. The regime is undeserving, the City: too polluted and let's face it, China has many pressing concerns where that money could be better spent. I, for one, do not believe that giving the games to China will do anything substantial to encourage them to fix their problems in the long term and I think it's pretty clear this is a case of rewarding bad behavior.

That said, I am entirely against any boycott or any form of protest that impedes the operation of the Olympics. It's funny. This past weekend I was traveling back to campus with the crew happend to read an op-ed piece in one of the newspapers which I found lying around. The article stated that Athletes, if properly educated regarding China's human rights record, would be happy to forgo competition because they wouldn't want to be rewarded with a medal if that medal was tainted with the blood of the oppressed. Personally knowing no fewer than three athletes heading to these Olympic games and still entertaining the idea of making a push toward trying out for London myself, I think I can safely say that this is not the case. It's not that athletes support the Chinese aggression against Tibet, or their support of Sudan. It's simply a matter of losing the chance to compete. Ask any athlete in 1980 about how they felt being sidelined due to political reasons. I bet you I can guess their answer.

Although it is arguable that the games are and always have been essentially political, I would say that the athletes, by and large, are not. It is, rather, the public, motivated by patriotism and whatever else, who have collectively decided that they only want to pay attention to sport once every four years and in a nicely packaged event that makes it easy for them to feign interest in events which they have not followed or watched prior thereto. But the public, as they say, votes with their dollar, and because athletes need the publics' attention and money the Olympics becomes the pinnacle of most sports. The chance to compete under that sort of public scrutiny is truly a once in a life time for many athletes. For the select few contending for medals the result of the Olympics will effect their entire future, but either way the experience is life changing. Asking athletes to give all this up for political considerations which beyond their control is no small matter. We are not dancing monkeys, there to perform draped in our countries' flags once every four years. We are not extensions of our nations' political agendas. It is the public that have given the Olympic and IOC it's inflated mandate, and it is the public who have made Olympic competition a necessity for it's elite athletes. In light of this I would say that as a public, you should vote with your dollars once again and instead of punishing the athletes, just don't watch. I for one am going to cheer on my friends in the Rowing and I am going to follow the results of Swimming and Track and field online, but beyond that I plan on staying away. If enough people do this, general revenue for the Broadcasters who bid to get the Olympics will fall and when it all comes down to it, the Olympics is about money...

After losing the rights to produce the official Olympic wear for Canada (to HBC), Roots has now lost the contract for team USA. Polo Ralph Lauren will now be supplying American athletes and fans.

Dan85 is very right when he says that a boycott would punish the athletes, not the Chinese government. He is also very right when he says it’s all about the money.

I’ve coached at three Olympics, and have friends who have been part of an Olympic bid. Both these things have been deeply disillusioning.

But if there is a boycott, it is not only the Olympic athletes who suffer and essentially loose all those years of training – it is all the other athletes who have trained and tried, and the coaches, parents, supporters… For all their sake, and for the sake of the ideal of the Olympics, a boycott would be a disaster, and it would do no good at all, with regard to the real culprit: the IOC, who should never have chosen China in the first place.

Read Inside Out: Straight Talk from a Gay Jock by Mark Tewksbury for an inside glimpse of how these citied get picked. A friend who was on such a committee resigned in disgust – it all came down to who gave the most lavish parties and handed out the most freebies. Anybody but an idiot would have seen that China was a bad place to have the Olympics, from every point of view.

Is there a solution? Probably not, but for the sake of discussion:

Reform the IOC. How? No idea.
Boycott television coverage. Unrealistic and impossible – but it would go for the heart of the matter.

And while we’re at it – lifetime bans for drugging athletes AND their coaches. (At my last Olympics an athlete who was convicted of drugging several days later was taking his drug test when the test was stopped by a high-up official because "there was no time". The docotrs were sure he was drugging - as proved true shortly after. But why the stop? Just one indication of the corruption and the power of money.)

Nat

I think we basically agree on most things.

As for the boycott of television coverage, I don't think that it will happen. The public likes their Olympics. They like feeling patriotic and internationally important. Telling the viewing public that they are the problem is not going to win them over, so you are right, a boycott won't happen in any significant form. Realistically, although it "would go to the heart of the matter", it won't happen. I am even willing to place money on the fact that there will be those among the tibet protesters who end up watching. Ultimately, though, these protesters don't matter either. They are a vocal minority and their impact if they don't watch is slim.

I think where we depart is on the subject of the "ideal of the Olympics" -- an ideal so important that I must spell 'Olympic' beginning with a capital letter according to the automatic spell check. In all seriousness, though, for me the Olympics is a necessary evil in that it's the only way that elite sport can exist in it's present form.

But what is the ideal of the Olympics? Well, it was an elitist boys club for most of it's existence. Barring professional athletes confined competition to the rich who could afford to be perpetual amateurs.

So what is it now then? An international stage upon which differences are put aside and a world of nations comes together for 2 weeks to be as one in some grand test of individual abilities and athletic prowess? Give me a break. From first hand experience, I know how it feels to represent something. The day I got my varsity jacket, the day I first wore my provincial kit the day you qualify to go to national championships...they're tremendous feelings. In the end, though, it's not why athletes compete. We compete to win and for the joy of competition. A nation's quadrennial scrutiny of it's athletes is a poor motivation for them to perform. The public didn't care in the interim and their attention at the Olympics is often more distracting than encouraging. Athletes don't win medals for their countries. They win them for themselves and the team mates standing around them. The public, then, has the poor taste to claim that both the medal and athlete are a piece of national property. It's all a load of crap. Anyone who makes it to the Olympics does so deeply personal reasons, not some patriotic bullshit.

I would say that the Olympics, by and large, taint sports. It politicizes it. Instead of being judged on their own merits, athletes are judged on the merits of their nation. Rather than being able to compete purely, they must perform in carefully orchestrated circus, which, at it's heart, is a massive visa commercial and a carefully marketed product for public consumption. What war has the "Olympic Ideal" stopped? On the other hand how many wars have spilled over into the Olympics? Assassinations, two boycotted games, and the 1956 'Blood in the Water' water polo match come immediately to mind, but there are probably other instances as well.

And despite all this I still support the Olympics in principle. Quite frankly the publics concern over the county's medal count at the Olympics is the only way that my sport would get anywhere near the funding that it does. This funding doesn't only effect the national team, it trickles down through the grassroots too. I would say that this is the main positive legacy of the Olympics; the indirect promotion of sport at lower levels and by extension, the promotion of healthy lifestyles and fair competition to youth.

From today's Guardian:

"Much nonsense is uttered about the Olympics not being political. Anything rooted in blatant nationalism is political. Anything so expensive as to impose a multibillion-pound opportunity cost on the host nation is political. Anything "awarded" as a prize to authoritarian states like the Soviet Union or China is political. The Olympics were political to the Greeks, and included diplomatic parleys among the poetry competitions and beauty parades. Nor were the actual games gentlemanly and decorous. Robin Lane Fox, in The Classical World, describes "smashed teeth, limbs, ears and bones, occasionally to the point of death".

"The revival of the games by Pierre de Coubertin in the 19th century was also political, albeit the facile politics of world peace and platitudes about the global fraternity of youth. There is no fraternity in international sport, which as Coubertin recognised is war by other means. Sportsmen are trained to beat hell out of each other to the greater glory of their country. All else is naivety.

"To those who might find a political Olympiad distasteful, there is a clear and simple alternative. They can treat the Olympics as only about sport, and not about world harmony and the enrichment of the construction industry. Athletes can attend the games as individuals. The tarnished Olympic image can be cleansed by suppressing national anthems, flags and all visits and speeches by politicians. The games would become solely about running, throwing, jumping, swimming, riding - active verbs, not abstract nouns.

"If that happened there would be no need of idle threats against China. There need be none of the political clutter that Rogge and others have brought to the Olympics, any more than there has been at this month's world cycling and swimming championships in Manchester. They passed off without anyone mentioning Tibet. But they did not have to justify $30bn."


I have to disagree completely that "There is no fraternity in international sport, which as Coubertin recognised is war by other means." I've seen far too many examples of athletes helping eachother, and even teams and coaches helping teams and coaches from other countries, to be agree with that for a moment. But much of the rest is worth considering.

One "possible" solution was put forward twenty or so years ago: a permanent Olympic site on neutral ground. One idea was to return to Greece, and dedicate a bit of land to the Olympics, making it non-territorial (or whatever the right phrase might be). Countries would support it in reltaion to the size of their delegations. Sweden or Switzerland might do for the winter Olympics, and it might e interesting to ban official flags and anthems, although even the ancient Greeks were great supporters of their respective cities.

This one's a mess. But maybe the growing size of the mess will force some re-thinking.

Are the Olympics (caps and all!) worth saving in some form? From my experience, the answer is yest - but also from experience, the form needs some fundamental re-thining and re-structuring - and I doubt it can be done.

Nat

Typical of the Guardian. The guy has no clue about athletes, what motivates them and why they buy into this "olympic mess". If he really believes that the athletes buy into an idea of some sort of nationalistic war by another means, he's an idiot. There are some good points about why the olympics is a very flawed institution, though.

You are right in as much as the olympics bringing out the best and worst in people. Tired cliche, yes, but it seems pretty true. A x country skiing coache giving another teams athletes spare poles because the Olympics should be a level playing field and "that means 2 skis and 2 poles"... Sailors stopping to ensure the safety of capsized crews... there are a few other examples and they go a long way to show the basic decency of people. But you don't need the olympics to see this sort of thing. It happens at all levels. It's just somewhat touching that people at the highest level still believe in fair play as being more important than winning.

As a happy example of your last statement - and an aside from the main trajectory of this discussion: my "summer town" in British Columbia has approached me about hosting a pre-Olympic traing camp for a foreign team at my ranch (both before the pre-Olympics and before the Olympics). The town will be paying a full ride for the team that comes, probably the Slovenes. So here we have a small rural Canadian town and an American supporting a European Team... Seem to me to be close to the ideal.

Response among "my" alumnae has been great - we're going to have a very large volunteer force to bring things up to speed: parents of former atheltes, former athletes, fellow coaches.

So if you've got a pair of work gloves, I can supply a shovel and hammer...

Nat

ahhhh, a good day's labour to cure my cynicism... Sounds like a great idea.

I just hope all this boycott nonsense goes away fast. Nothing good comes out of it. And the athletes, who have trained years to compete in their dream suffer tremendously.
Yes China has human rights issues. So do we. We invade countries based on lies. Our own VP is a war profitier who should be brought up on charges of crimes against humanity just like the Chinese government. Let the athletes compete for Gods sake. The olympics are one of the last symbols this planet has to show our respect for each other. And I'm not talking about the governments of the world, I'm talking about the citizens of different nations. The idiots who are protesting and marching with signs seem to only care about their own political views. What do they have to lose, nothing. It's the athletes who will lose their dreams.
The two athletes from Sri Lanka or the three athletes from Guyana don't care about the politics of the giants. The do care about competing against the best from all nations. They want to walk into that stadium during the opening events with pride and the hopes of all the people in their home countries. And stand there on equal terms with the U.S. and China. So don't let the hypocritical actions of selfish protestors succeed with their own issues. The athletes from all countries want all other countries to participate.
Now I going to wave the American flag for a few minutes then it's on to my next merit badge; Early Russian Poetry.

Do they really? Don't most sports have world championships that they can compete in?

Yes, they do. Biathlon, for example, has a World Championship every year. But Worlds do not have the prestige of the Olympics, and they don't get the tenth part of as much of the public's attention. At one level, this doesn't matter: those "in the know" value World Championships highly. But in terms of funding your sport, finding support for individual athletes, inspiring the up-and-coming - Worlds don't do it. The Olympics are where it's at.

This may not be quite such an issue in the larger sports, but for any "minor" sport working for funding and recruiting, the Olympics are where the oxygen is. In fact, some USOC support is calculated in proportion to the number of Olympic medals available in the given sport (or used to be - I'm out of it).

Back at the grass roots, ask any aspiring athlete whether he'd prefer an Olympic or a World Championship medal...

A boycott, tempting as it may be in the face of human rights oppression, doesn't punish the Chinese - it punishes the athletes, it discourages emerging and even beginning athletes - and it opens the door to more and more of the same, for political reasons.

Boycott the IOC for picking China (and for the corrupt way they pick sites!). Stay away from the Games as a spectator. Prevent world leaders from photo ops at the Games. Boycott TV coverage. But not allowing athletes to go to the games deprives them of the Right to Compete - which is actually law, at least in the US – and is part of why we do sports in the first place. A boycott is a boycott of sports, not the Chinese government.

Nat


Nat

Boycotts do work. The boycott of South Africa in response to apartheid is the best example of this. While the problems of, and abuses of power by the current Bush administration are legion, China's human rights record is horrendous. Americans have the ability to respond to such abuses of power by their own government. It's called the ballot box. No such recourse is available to the Chinese.

The People's Republic of China should never have been chosen as a venue for the Olympics. Its choice proved yet again that the IOC is worse than an Old Boys' Network. Don't worry, though. There will be no boycott. There is not any widespread sentiment among the public for it. Viewers in the US, however, should make sure that NBC reports the dissident voices in China, remembers those that rallied around liberty in 1989 and were cruelly suppressed, and not just marvel at the economic strides that society has achieved.

Athletes have worked long and hard for their chance to compete. And they should compete. But they should also bear in mind that they do not compete in bubbles immune from other concerns. They, too, while in China, might consider ways of protesting that regime's policies. A gold medalist, for example, could return his/her medal in protest over the host country's policies. I, for one, would admire such a stance greater than a record broken or another notch added to a country's win column.

leave my Olympics alone. harrumph!

[quote name='BigBlueCowboy' date='Apr 18 2008, 10:00 PM' post='357409']
Boycotts do work. The boycott of South Africa in response to apartheid is the best example of this. We're in agreement, and well put.

However, there is a difference between a long-term boycott such as of S Africa, and a last-minute boycott such as this. The former you can work around - this one would take four years out of a lot of lives with no warning.

A returned medal would be wonderful!

less than 90 days 'til 08/08/08. that's just about 3 months away.

The Olympics, this one in particular, forces athletes into the political part of it all, when ideally they should only be worried about competing...Bejing is using the Olympics to further its own agenda; while that's certainly been done before, arguably never as deliberately, and transparently. But hey, they were awarded the games so game on...it just adds a huge burden to the athletes...It'd be nice if the Olympics could seriously and truely be only about excellence in sport and competition but we know it's far more complex than that...

U S A !!! U S A !!!

Exciting Swimming and T&F Olympic trials.

I can hardly wait 'til 08-08-08

I can't wait to see the USA athletes represent themselves, their sports, and country. It will be great great times! GO USA!

WooHoo!!
Only 23 days left. I can't wait. Just received all my HDTV cable hook-ups. The opening ceremonies should be spectacular. I just hope everyone focuses on the atheletes, the competition and the true spirit of the games. And not all the ass****s in the Chinese government. For these three weeks lets not bitch about the politics. We have the rest of our lives to do that.
GO USA!!! Beat the crap out of those communist bastards!

I'm sad that a start USA women's soccer player broke her leg and won't be eligible for China...Wimbauch?

Two Weeks Until the Games Start !!!!

I'm interested to see the new sports events of BMX Cycling and Marathon Swimming.

It's almost here and I can't believe it!!!

Iraq is being allowed to send a delegation to the Beijing Games. Iraq was initially banned from going, due to the instillation of a new National Olympic Committee not recognized by the IOC. It could have been the only nation not going to the Games. With the addition of Iraq, the 2008 Olympics will have a record 205 countries participating.

Three countries will make their debut at the Olympics, in Beijing. Those being the Pacific island nations of Tuvalu and the Marshall Islands, and the former Yugoslavian republic of Montenegro (MNE).

More doping suspensions and the Olympics hasn't even started yet.



Meanwhile, many countries have been securing their own supply of food in China for fear that the local food, particularly the meat, may be laced with all sorts of drugs. Reports of obscenely large chicken breasts (the size of dinner plates) have been reported, and while even domestic cattle get all sorts of hormones and steroids, who knows what they give them in China?

Globe and Mail article



I'm sure some athlete who tests positive is going to use that as an excuse: it was the kung pao chicken!

A little behind the times, but I picked up the Sports Illustrated Olympics Preview issue today, read it, and now I'm even more excited about the Olympics. There will be some big stories ahead, new sports heroes, dramatic performances. The biggest sporting event in the most populous country in the word. Dramatic new sporting facilities. Records broken. The whole world watching. Very exciting.

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The NY Times has a good feature on some of the striking new architecture in Beijing.

6 more days.....

*applauds*, *claps*, *whoops and hollers*

Although one can certainly say plenty against the IOC, they are at least trying to nab some of the obvious cheats even before they get to Beijing. Cheaters that have been caught in out-of-competition testing:

Goodness, there are even cheats in fencing!

I can't wait for the opening ceremonies. Of course we can't see them until 12 hours later. They actually start at 7am EST. Does anyone know if NBC plans on covering this live on one of their other cable channels?
I would really like to see it live and not wait till Friday nights prime time coverage. This way when little Tiffany Chan drops her flag, I can actually see it happen before NBC switchs cameras.

There is no chance there will be coverage live on NBC or any of its cable outlets, unless a major news event such as an earthquake occurs. They want the maximum number of people watching in prime time, where they'll make their money.

The CBC will be broadcasting the Opening Ceremonies starting at 7am EST on Friday morning. They will also have a prime time show starting at 7pm EST.

I've heard that NBC will begin the Opening Ceremony coverage, 30 minutes earlier, than announced. So it'll begin @ 6:30 CDT, my time.