Month: August 2008

Outsports photog Brent Mullins was able to shoot the late July U.S. diving championships. Among the divers competing were Olympians Troy Dumais (right, click image for larger view) and the pairs team of David Boudia and Thomas Finchum. More shots after the jump. Outsports photog Brent Mullins was able to shoot the late July U.S. […]

Swimmer Mark Foster, 38, will carry the flag for Britain at the Opening Ceremony in Beijing. Yep, he is 38 (with an amazing body you can see in more detail after the jump) and swims in the 50-meter freestyle. Swimmer Mark Foster, 38, will carry the flag for Britain at the Opening Ceremony in Beijing. […]

A tragic story out of Boston, passed on to us by Benoit Denizet-Lewis: I just wanted to let you know that it has been an extraordinarily painful week in Boston’s gay sports community. Dave Hildebrandt, a beloved 29-year-old player in the Beantown Softball League (he also played for four years in the gay basketball league […]

Nine-time Olympic gold medalist Carl Lewis — and that’s over three Olympics — spoke to NPR’s “Tell Me More” today about the Olympics, his success, boycotts, juicing and whether a Carl Lewis could happen today. He also talks about attitude, something a younger Lewis had plenty of. The interview didn't pursue any lingering speculation that […]

Reports earlier this spring suggested that Beijing’s gay scene had become a government target in advance of the Olympics. The Gay Times of London is challenging that notion, insisting that the western media was too quick to jump on the gay oppression story and that the shutdown of popular gay night clubs was infact the […]

As we’ve said many times before, there are surely many athletes at the Olympics who are openly gay with friends and family, and may have even told some of the press, but it just hasn’t gotten much coverage because they’re not a high-profile athlete. While Natasha Kai, who is a forward on the U.S. soccer […]

It's disappointing to see the Beijing Olympics veering back into gender testing — which was supposedly abandoned in 1999 by the IOC. But their move is not surprising. The Chinese are applying "The Art of War" to international sports in a classic way. They want to win piles of medals and prove their superiority as […]

Elsewhere on Outsports, I examine why the number of openly gay and lesbian Olympians in 2008 is only 10. The original article said five until a reader alerted me about U.S. soccer player Natasha Kai. In addition, we have now added four more lesbian Olympians, plus a bisexual softball player. Australian diver Matthew Mitcham, right, […]

Our long national nightmare is over — Brett Favre has been traded from the Green Bay Packers to the New York Jets. Maybe now ESPN can stop being All-Favre All-The-Time. In return for Favre, the Packers get the Jets’ fourth-round pick in 2009 that will escalate to a first-round pick if he meets certain performance […]

Pepperdine University is just up the coast from where I live and although I can’t say I’m a fan of their religious bent I can say that I was a fan of their volleyball team, the Pepperdine Waves. The school had a great record in the sport, it was well supported by the student body, […]

Here's some fan video from the outfield bleachers at Wrigley Field during last night's Cubs-Astros game. The Chicago region was rocked by severe thundestorms, which stopped the game for over 2 1/2 hours in the 6th inning. Tornado warnings were issued and fans were ordered out of the bleachers and into the concourses. Wind gusts […]

Before a single medal has been won within its walls, the stunning Bird’s Nest stadium, host to Track & Field events as well as the Opening and Closing Ceremonies, is stealing attention in Beijing. The New York Times offers an architecture review, and the NYTimes.com “Rings” blog has posted a not-sticking-to-the-talking-points interview with the stadium’s […]

For those guys-who-like-guys pro wrestling fans (isn’t that all of them? Anyhow…), we’ve gotten wind of a blog called “Pro Wrestling for Bisexuals” with the tagline, “No, this isn’t porn.” Well, maybe the blog isn’t porn, but as a connoisseur of late ’80s/early ’90s WWF, circa Hulk Hogan, Earthquake and Randy Savage, I can tell […]

While half-listening to Brian Williams read the news on NBC last night, I perked up when the chatter turned to the Olympics. I was well rewarded. The piece about the games made mention of Michael Phelps arriving in Beijing and attempting to quietly make his way to the Water Cube for practice. Phelps was sporting […]

Google always gets theirs. The company’s YouTube unit will get a sliver of the Olympic pie, getting about three hours a day of exclusive content after striking a deal with the International Olympic Committee. Just when you thought NBC’s $894 million broadcasting deal was enough. Don’t fret, interested viewer. The YouTube content, including highlight reels […]

Take a close look the next time you watch the NFL, MLB or NBA. You won’t see a woman with a whistle in her hand, with the exception of one or two females who have broken through the male-dominated bastion of pro sports to work NBA games. That’s why the appearance of Sarah Thomas at […]

Number of gay and lesbian athletes at the 2008 Games is on par with 2004 but includes only one man. In addition, there is one bisexual softball player. By Jim Buzinski Outsports.com Of the 10,708 athletes who will march into Beijing’s Bird’s Nest Olympic stadium on Friday, Outsports is aware of only 10 who are […]

In Olympic beach volleyball T&A are OK, but pecs and abs are not. Most people would be surprised to know that the dress code for the sport in the Olympics mandates bikinis for babes but shirts on for the studs. Teammates in Olympic beach volleyball must wear uniforms of the same color. The women can […]

What? You say you’ve never heard of 23 year old Mark Cavendish from the Isle of Man? Then you haven’t been keeping up with the world of cycling! Cavendish thrilled us this year in the Tour de France, winning four individual stages for USA Team Columbia, a British record, and being dubbed the “fastest man […]

In the U.S., badminton is nothing much more than a game played during a backyard barbecue. But in much of Asia, it’s a national passion and the elite players are amazingly skilled, having to handle serves that can top 200 mph. The favorite in the men's singles is Lin Dan of China, who owns a […]