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NEWS ABOUT: 2008 Beijing Olympics

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China Revokes Visa of Olympian Darfur Activist

Speedskater Joey Cheek leads team for peace in Sudan

(Newser) - Hours before he was due to leave for Beijing today, US gold-medalist and Darfur activist Joey Cheek got a call from Chinese authorities revoking his visa, the Boston Globe reports. A retired speedskater, Cheek is the founder of Team Darfur, a global group of athletes devoted to bringing peace to... More »

A 10 Won't Win Gym Gold in Beijing

New system eliminates 'perfect score' ceiling in gymnastics

(Newser) - When gymnasts take to the vault and the uneven bars at this summer's Olympics, viewers will notice a major change to the scoring: the perfect 10 has been eliminated. For the first time at the Games, gymnastics will be assessed on a scale with no ceiling, with gold medalists expected... More »

Faster, Stronger ... and More Polite?

US athletes hit 'manners training' to avoid Bode fiascos

(Newser) - US Olympians are getting a new type of training: lessons in how to behave in Beijing, reports the Wall Street Journal. In a required course the USOC calls the "ambassador program," US athletes are receiving instruction on topics ranging from appropriate chopstick use to the correct way to... More »

Delirious Throngs Greet Torch in Beijing

But Yank, Brit protesters busted for 'Free Tibet' banner

(Newser) - After a beleaguered relay dogged by Tibet protesters in many of its legs around the world, the Olympic flame finally reached Beijing today. Ecstatic crowds under smog-choked skies shouted "Go Olympics, go Beijing" to greet torchbearers in Tiananmen Square, with Chinese basketball sensation Yao Ming holding the torch above... More »

Media at Full Boil Over China Restrictions

Awarding Olympics to 'dictatorial regime' was 'drastic mistake'

(Newser) - As the Beijing Games draw near, journalists are worrying about the Chinese government's handling of a swarm of international reporters in an otherwise heavily censored society. Der Spiegel compiles commentaries from varying German sources, all of which agree that the decision to award China the 2008 Olympics was misguided at... More »

McCain Hopes $6M Olympic Ad Buy a Winner

Last-minute grab, rare in national reach, tops Dem's $5M outlay

(Newser) - Athletes won’t be the only competitors when the Beijing Olympics open Friday, Advertising Age reports: John McCain’s campaign made a last-minute, $6 million ad buy with NBC, topping the whopping $5 million Democratic opponent Barack Obama is spending. The large national scope of the advertising blitz is a... More »

Bejing's Clean-Air Blitz Falls Short

Independent readings, photos show smog persists despite pre-Olympic crackdown

(Newser) - The Chinese government’s goal of dispersing the thick smog around Beijing is not working, Wired reports after analyzing independent data. Efforts including factory shutdowns, car bans, and cloud seeding have not improved air quality, with pollution levels still far above the World Health Organization’s standards on most days.... More »

6.0 Quake Shakes China's Sichuan

Olympic torch had just completed tour of temblor-ravaged area

(AP) - A 6.0 earthquake today rattled China's Sichuan province, which was devastated by a more powerful quake in May, the US Geological Survey said. One person was killed, reports CNN, and five seriously injured. The tremblor is the latest of numerous aftershocks from the 7.9 quake that struck Sichuan... More »

Why the Chinese Need Olympic Glory

(Newser) - Those shocked by China’s bristly response to Olympic protests and criticisms would do well to remember some history, Orville Schell writes for the New York Review of Books. After what the Chinese call a "century of humiliation" at the hands of the West and Japan, the nation has... More »

16 Killed in China Border Attack

East Turkistan Islamic Movement suspected

(Newser) - A pair of supected Islamic terrorists attacked a border post in western China and killed 16 paramilitary police officers, hacking some of them with knives, reports CNN, quoting the Xinhua news agency. The two crashed a truck into a group of officers jogging near the station and then lobbed two... More »

Phelps: Growing Into All Those Golds

(Newser) - At 23, Michael Phelps is poised to win the most gold medals ever by an individual at the Beijing Games, and earn some $5 million in endorsement deals for companies such as Visa and Speedo. Yet Phelps’ journey—from an 8-year-old throwing a temper tantrum after his first swimming loss... More »

Let Athletes Use Genetic Doping

The only question should be one of safety, not fairness

(Newser) - Genetic therapy's potential to boost athletic performance has sports bodies worried, but fairness should not be an issue, the Economist opines. The luck of the genetic draw already gives some athletes an edge over their competitors, and the only question should be whether gene treatment is safe for the athletes.... More »

Forget Olympics: Gladiators Takes Gold for Fun

Rocketball and Gauntlet make better TV than all that running and swimming

(Newser) - American Gladiators wraps up just before the Olympics, and the Games will seem mighty dull by comparison, Ben Mathis-Lilley writes in the Washington Post.  Rooting for the team is what makes watching sports fun, he writes, and it's much easier to root for an ordinary joe playing Rocketball than... More »

China Lowers Internet Firewall

Beijing allows access to certain sites to appease Olympics

(Newser) - Facing pressure from the Olympics, Beijing lowered its so-called Great Firewall today to allow access to some news and human rights websites, Time reports. But other sites—like those supporting Tibetan independence or the outlawed spiritual group Falun Gong—remain off-limits in China. And "everyone knows that the minute... More »

Sharapova Pulls Out of Beijing

Shoulder injury dashes Russian's Olympic ambitions

(Newser) - The Olympics lost a bit of its star power today when Maria Sharapova announced that she won't be able to compete because of a shoulder injury, AFP reports. The 21-year-old Russian, ranked third in the world, also will miss the US Open in late August, the AP reports. “The... More »

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... More »

9,000 Plan Olympic Weddings

Opening day is lucky date

(Newser) - Thousands of Beijing couples plan to tie the knot on the opening day of the Olympic Games, reports USA Today. The all-eights date, 8/8/08, is considered lucky in China, which is why authorities chose that day for the start of the Olympiad. Now some 9,000 lovers hope to share... More »

7 Russian Athletes Suspended for Doping

Female runners banned from Olympics

(Newser) - Seven female athletes from Russia were suspended today for doping violations, a potentially devastating blow to the nation's medal hopes just a week before the Olympics begin, the New York Times reports. Five of the women, all members of Russia's track and field team, were scheduled to compete in the... More »

Beijing Becomes Obsessed With Rain

Chinese people want some, but not too much, for Olympics

(Newser) - Talking about the weather isn’t just idle conversation in Beijing these days—it’s a national obsession, the Washington Post reports. The country is so anxious for a sunny Olympics—with just enough rain to clear the smog, of course—that changes in the forecast have become front-page news.... More »

Beijing Amps Up Anti-Pollution Measures

New cuts on factories, cars as air flunks tests ahead of Olympics

(Newser) - Beijing today rolled out new emergency measures to ease pollution, with the Olympics just more than a week away. The new rules will close more factories and take more vehicles off the road, in a wider radius around the capital, in the event of “extremely unfavorable weather conditions"—... More »

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