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Which one still can't get a drivers license?
Faced with huge international pressure and a general sense of ‘give me a break’ the IOC has finally caved into demands and declared they will conduct an investigation into 12 14 16-year-old Chinese gymnastics star he Kexin (and any possible coverup by Chinese authorities).
An IOC official told The Times that because of “discrepancies” that have come to light about the age of He Kexin, the host nation’s darling who won gold in both team and individual events, an official inquiry has been launched that could result in the gymnast being stripped of her medals.
The investigation was triggered as a US computer expert claimed today to have uncovered Chinese government documents that he says prove she is only 14 – making her ineligible to compete in the Olympics – rather than 16, as officials in Beijing insist is her age.
Pulling up documents from ‘closed’ servers (closed after people started to notice the age discrepancy)
computer security experts are displaying some of the website information that shows her age as being 14, despite what is in her passport. You can view the documents at the
security experts blog.
Not dead
Many have wondered ‘where the hell is Jacque Rogge’ during the Olympics? His presence was noted at the opening ceremonies, but for the next 10 days he was AWOL and unspotted nearly anywhere. He managed to make an appearance the other day at the softball tournament (i.e. proving he was not detained in jail for trying to protest in China) but then quickly disappeared, only to re-emerge last night with some harsh words for 200m winner Usain Bolt:
Rogge said: “That’s not the way we perceive being a champion. I have no problem with him doing a show. I think he should show more respect for his competitors and shake hands, give a tap on the shoulder to the other ones immediately after the finish and not make gestures like the one he made in the 100m.
“I understand the joy. He might have interpreted it in another way but the way it was perceived was ‘catch me if you can’. You don’t do that. But he’ll learn. He’s still a young man.”
On the one hand, this was pretty odd. Usain Bolt has been one of the highlights of the Olympics. His ease of winning some of the most sought after titles in the games has been extraordinary. Despite knowing the final result, I myself watched last night and as he finished his turn with a five yard lead my jaw dropped and I spoke aloud ‘holy bejesus’ as I expect a number of other Americans did too. And then he sped up…
But on the other hand, as I watched his celebrations I did say to myself ‘Americans have celebrated like this at previous games and gotten raked over the goals by the British press and others for being too arrogant, too jerk-like.’ I did wonder if this had been an American winning this event and celebrating in such a manner how large the cry would have been from the European media.
As Bolt is a Jamaican and thus, not an American, he generally will get a pass for his behavior. Perhaps Jacque Rogge was on the right track last night in calling for some dignity.
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The Olympics are that way
While the US may likely lose in the ‘gold first’ medal table (but prevail in the ‘total medal’ table) the one thing that is becoming obvious is that one of the clearest paths to the Olympics is to go to college in the United States. Watching some of the athletics and other sports, I’m constantly surprised at that announcer saying ‘while he maybe from Zimbabwe, he goes to school in Arizona’ or ‘he’s running for Trinidad now, but he used to run for the University of Oklahoma’.
I’ve tried to pull together a list of all the Olympians and where they went to college, but it’s pretty much a lost cause. There’s simply too many and no orderly way of pulling them all together. I can say that of the 8 or so sprinters in the 100m, nearly all went to school in the USA.
I’m going to try to put that list together. I think it would be interesting.
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Austrian blood, German uniform, and a gold medal for his late wife.
I am not a fan of weightlifting, and it is generally a pretty boring sport to watch on TV, unless there is an accident and the barbell goes crashing. But yesterday I was flipping the dial and managed to catch the gold medal lift of Austrian German Matthias Steiner, followed by the insanely wonderful celebrations he commenced jumping all over the stage relishing in his accomplishments. (his lifts start about minute 7 on that video)
So I did a bit of searching and found that Steiner was actually born in Austria, but switched to Germany once his citizenship came through due to some disagreements with the Austrian federation. I also then found out what was giving him his strength–the tragic death of his wife in 2007 from a car accident. He threw himself into his sport to deal with the grief, giving all he had to his chosen sport. He had trained 3 years without being able to compete internationally while his citizenship was being processed. His wife passed away before the paperwork came through.
As he stood on the gold medal platform, he clutched a photograph of his late wife along with his gold medal.
One hopes he finds some peace now.
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Answer: Whomever he wants.
Really, when he gets back he’s got a ton of text messages and cell phone calls to return from pretty much every woman in America.
However, they are going to have to get in line between the two leading contenders. Fellow swimmer Amanda Beard has long been a rumored ‘friend’ of Michael Phelps, and many gossip columns in New York swear that Lily Donaldson is Michael Phelps’ official girlfriend (and no, I have no idea who that was either until I looked her up).
I imagine later in life when Michael Phelps is asked by his son or grandson ‘why did you date all those famous models’ his answer will be a simple and envy-worthy ‘because I could’.
More photos of Lily here.
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Who's got first? What? Second, third base.
A ritual source of controversy surrounding the Olympics is ‘how to rank’ the countries that have medals–most golds or most medals? The IOC currently (but unofficially) lists medals in the order of ‘most Golds’ first, where as many in the US media list ‘total Medals’ as their ranking guideline. So who is right?
Depends.
Some small minds feel it is all a conspiracy based on political underpinnings, but the truth is actually a bit stranger. Officially, the IOC does not believe in a ‘medal table’. It’s not something they ‘officially’ produce.
Strictly speaking, medal tables aren’t supposed to exist. According to the Olympic Charter, “The IOC and the OCOG (the local Organizing Committee of the Olympic Games) shall not draw up any global ranking per country.” Instead, the host stadium is supposed to display a “roll of honor” of the individual winners.
That wording was inserted into the charter in 1924 after organizers in some cities began ranking countries.
However, staring in 1992 the IOC started to release some tables, and when they did it was in the ‘gold first’ format. As the IOC says ‘nothing is official’ they don’t really take a policy one way or the other (though they do list past Olympics by the ‘gold first’ standard).
The Chinese media has taken the position that ‘One Gold is worth more than 1000 Silvers’, but others feel this sort of measuring system shortchanges the athletes. For example, countries that have no shot at gold will cut all funding for a specific program that has a chance at Bronze at best. A ‘gold or nothing’ attitude leaves some so-so athletes from getting the chance to develop. It also allows some countries with a ’super star’ to overshadow a country with a more developed and roboust sporting infrastructure.
For example, at present, Tunisia has 1 gold and 0 silvers and 0 bronzes. The next on the list is Hungary with 4 silvers and 1 bronze, followed by Belarus with 3 silvers and 7 bronzes. Who is having a better Olympics? Tunisia, Hungary or Belarus?
We’ll see when it ends. There are 302 events this Olympics and 185 have already produced a medal. Quite a few more to go.
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The Jamaican newspapers have asked a pretty interesting question–what kind of name is Usain and Asafa, the first names of the two Jamaican sprinting stars?
The name ‘Usain’ was picked out for the sprinter by his aunt, Betsy Davis.
When The Star contacted her yesterday, she said that she could not immediately recall what the name meant, jokingly stating it was 22 years ago that she chose it. She did, however, mention that the runner’s pet name, ‘Vijay’, was a Hindi word/name meaning ‘victory’.
While attempts to contact the star (Asafa Powell’s) parents were not successful, postings on a website dedicated to the former 100m world record holder revealed that the name ‘Asafa’, means ‘To rise to the occasion’. It is of African origin.
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China is in shock. Defending gold medalist Liu Xiang of China, the great hope for a Chinese gold in track and field, has pulled up injured in a preliminary of the 110m hurdles and dropped out of the Olympics. Most of China is in utter and complete shock. In fact thousands left the Birds Nest stadium after he pulled out of the race.
“Liu Xiang has two injuries, one in his foot and one in his leg,” his coaches told a news conference.
“One of the injuries is an accumulated injury. In the past he has not dropped out of any competition easily.
“His right heel injury has been a problem since six years ago, even before the Athens Olympics.
In China Liu Xiang is as popular as Yao Ming–perhaps even more popular as Yao has to compete with Kobe Bryant and Lebron James, but Liu Xiang sort of stands alone (and is also seen endorsing products, in the society pages, etc). This is a major blow to the Chinese hopes for track and field glory, but many folks who follow athletics were expecting something like this. They knew of his injury and the absolutely sick amount of pressure that was placed on Liu to win gold.
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You might have heard the story of Matt Emmons who was oh so close to a Gold in the Athens Olympics. He only had to hit the target in the general vicinity of the bullseye to win, but when he started shooting he shot the wrong target and lost.
Well it’s deja vu all over again. He had to get basically a 6 out of 10 possible to clinch a gold today, and his gun misfired causing him to lose one shot and get 4th place in the overall.
And you thought Dan Jansen had it bad.
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At home in Maryland, apparently. He’s been tracked down by the Baltimore Sun but has refused interview requests. Just for background, the family has had a bit of a rough time with estrangement and whatnot, but things do appear to be better now. It’s just the Senior Phelps didn’t want to distract from the attention due his son.
“This is just about Michael,” he said. “This is his glory, his time to shine, and I want him to get everything he wants.”
Rest assured, while Phelps is in the Beijing pool, his father is paying close attention, cheering from back in Maryland.
“I’m just on pins and needles every time he hits the water,” Fred Phelps said.
UPDATE : New story and photo here.
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