Final cut...

My posts are almost never short, but even so, this one will be short. I guarantee it. It's actually slightly out of date, and I apologize--I've been on vacation away from the internet so blogging wasn't high on the priority list. Anyway, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) narrowed down the list of possible candidate cities for the 2016 Olympic games to 4 cities.

• Rio de Janiero, Brazil: the Olympics have never been held in South America, and Rio showed it can hold a major sporting event by holding the Pan-American Games last summer
• Tokyo, Japan: in narrowing down the cities, Tokyo had the highest technical score. It may be hard to convince the IOC to bring the Games back to Asia for the second time in three Olympics
• Madrid, Spain: They went for a bid for the 2012 games, but lost to London. Like Tokyo, they may have trouble bringing the Olympics to Europe twice in a row
• Chicago, United States: Our hope for the 2016 games. It'll be 20 years since the last time the Olympics were in the US (Atlanta 1996), but Chicago has some major hurdles to get over

Now, for the teams that were dropped:

• Doha, Qatar: the Olympics have never been to the Middle East, and won't be until at least 2020 (for which Dubai and Doha will contend). Doha wanted to hold the games in October to avoid the desert heat, but the IOC thought that was too big of a change.
• Baku, Azerbaijan: This resort city on the Black Sea was a longshot at best. They may try for the games in 2020 or 2024
• Prague, Czech Republic: Another longshot, but this was partly in preparation for a later bid

Event updates

It's been about two weeks since my last blog, so I though I'd take this time to go through some of the recent developments with regards to the events that we'll be seeing in particular.

As many of you may know, the world record in the 100m dash was broken several days ago by Jamaican Usain Bolt, previously held by countryman Asafa Powell. It's not even his best event--so much so that he wasn't even sure if he'd be running it in Beijing! The American hopes most likely will rest on former Lafayette HS (Lexington, KY) and Arkansas standout Tyson Gay, who won gold at the 2007 World Championships in Osaka. The other American standout, Justin Gatlin, will be serving a four-year drug suspension in lieu of going to Beijing. We'll see if the Americans can retain the gold medal in Beijing.

As for rowing, I should point you to a recent article in the New York Times regarding China's newfound love of rowing. Rowing is a sport with a lot of medals available (14 events for a total of 42 medals), so the Chinese look to cash in on the gold there (they did not place in any rowing event in Athens). In 2004 the Americans won two medals: one gold and one silver. We will see the Men's eight--America's lone gold medal in Athens--and we will hope that the Americans can defend their title.

The Olympic Trials in swimming are June 29 to July 6 in Omaha, Nebraska. Coincidentally, Omaha is also the location of the College World Series just the week before (which we all hope produces a national championship for Rice). Superstar Michael Phelps looks to accomplish everything he left unaccomplished in Athens. That is, breaking Mark Spitz's record of seven gold medals at a single Olympics (apparently six golds and two bronzes were not enough for Mr. Phelps). In any case, we will (hopefully) see him in one of his preliminary events. America should return to Beijing with a strong team with the likes of Phelps, Natalie Coughlin, Brendan Hansen and Katie Hoff.

Finally, for triathlon, Julie Swail Ertel and Laura Bennett are slated to compete in the women's triathlon (with nods to Jarrod Schumacher and Matt Reed for the men). The final member of the each team will be determined at the Hy-Vee Triathlon on June 22. Unfortunately for the men's team, only one of the top two Americans, Andy Potts and Hunter Kemper, will be able to go to Beijing. In any case, we will see how the Americans do, and whether they can reach the medal stand.

In a little over a month, the Olympic teams will be complete, and we will know who will be competing for Olympic gold (and conversely, who will not be competing). As of writing, I will be leaving for Beijing in 69 and a half days (not that I'm counting or anything!).

Olympic Glory

Well, I'm back, after a few short days of not blogging. A few interesting developments have happened in preparation for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. There is now a new blog up on the New York Times called "The Rings" that has blog entries much more often than this one. Check it out here. So, here are a few thoughts and updates.

Oscar Pistorius
Oscar Pistorious is a South African sprinter who would like to make it to the Olympic games. While he's probably not fast enough to make it in his big events, the 100, 200 and 400 meter dashes, he will probably be placed on the South African 4x400 meter relay team. He is, as far as anyone can tell, a model athlete, trains well, and would like a shot at the Olympics. However, in January, the International Association of Athletics Federation (IAAF) prohibited from going to the Olympics.

The reason for that is that Oscar Pistorious is a double leg amputee. He runs with the aid of what are known as "cheetah legs," shown on Pistorious here. In January it was determined that the legs he uses gives him an unfair advantage in competition with able-bodied people. Note the wicked irony: a man who has neither of his legs is determined to be better equiped than those who have both of their legs, and thus is not allowed to compete.

Pistorious appealed his decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, and research was done at Rice University's Locomotion Laboratory under the direction of Professor Peter Weyand. He is also part of a six-member team led by Hugh Herr of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (a bilateral amputee himself) and comprising of scientists from the University of Texas at Austin, the University of Colorado at Boulder, the University of Saint-Etienne (France), and the University of Wyoming. This team presented their findings to the Court, saying that the prosthetics used gave no significant competitive advantage and the previous study was not scientifically valid.

In a shocking overturn, the Court reversed the ruling of the IAAF, allowing Pistorious to have a shot at competing on the highest stage in all of sports. Pistorious hopes to follow in the footsteps of fellow South African Natalie du Toit and make a trip to Beijing in August. Du Toit is a swimmer who has only one leg and will compete in the 10k open swim, which makes its Olympic debut this summer.

Other "Heartwarming Stories"
The Olympics will have some of the most heartwarming stories you'll here about--people who have defied the odds. Oscar Pistorious and Natalie du Toit are just two examples of people like that. Kenyan athletes will come out of a country torn by a recent bout of violence leaving 1200 people dead and thousands more injured. Some of their athletes sustained injuries in the violence that ensued. Yet they will be going to the Olympics this summer.

In 2004, the North and South Korean athletes marched into the opening ceremonies under the Korean unification flag, a hopeful gesture of future peace between two countries separated by one of the most heavily armed borders in the world.

During the Olympic torch relay, I noted in my last blog that the torchbearers made it to the top of Mount Everest. The torch was passed between five torchbearers to a Tibetan woman standing on the summit of Everest. It was perhaps a step towards unity between the Chinese and Tibetans--a step which is small, and smells of propoganda, but perhaps a nice gesture on the part of the Chinese government.

What are the Olympics About?
Those who place at the Olympics will bring home a gold, silver, or bronze medal and glory for their country. But very few of the athletes who compete actually win. There are swimmers who don't have a pool to train in--they train in their local lake instead. Will they come away with a medal? They're going up against athletes who have had their skills honed against stiff competition in the world's fastest pools in the world's fastest suits. Of course they won't. But that's not why they're there. They are there to be part of the Olympics, which is bringing together the countries of the world in a supra-political way. It is one event where people from Iraq and Iran, North and South Korea, Israel and Jordan, France and England, and the United States and Russia can come together in harmony.

Why would we want to ruin that? We are angry with China for their political deeds (or misdeeds). But the Olympics aren't Chinese--nor where they ever Australian or American or Spanish. A host country opens itself up to invite harmony between countries. Hopefully Beijing 2008 will fulfill that ideal.

An Update on Beijing

Well, finals have come and gone, work has started, and this blog has fallen into disrepair. It's not for disinterest--I have a fervent interest in the 2008 Olympics, to be sure--it is quite simply for lack of time. Without any further ado, I shall address the latest updates about Beijing.

China Under the Microscope
Quite simply, China has its hands full. Not only is it preparing for one of the most extravagant Olympics in history, but the world's largest country has to deal with its own extensiveness--and it's under more pressure and more scrutiny than the formally-backward country has ever experienced.

Per usual, it must deal with the day-to-day strife regarding political control on the island known as Taiwan, conflict with the West (read: United States) regarding North Korea, and border disputes with (count them): India, Pakistan, Bhutan, Malaysia, Philippines, Taiwan, Vietnam, Brunei, Japan, North Korea, Burma and Thailand (with recent conclusion in disputes with Tajikistan and Russia). Let's not forget Western (again, read: United States) criticism of Chinese practices like communism, its dealings with countries like The Sudan, its greenhouse gas emissions, its production of practically everything Americans buy, and its enormous consumption of virtually every natural resource humanity finds a use for.

That, of course, is just for starters. The Beijing Olympics, which to date only comprises of a torch relay, has become Tibetan protesters' newest platform for the promotion of human rights. And plenty of other anti-China causes. Finally, Sichuan province in China has just suffered one of the deadliest earthquakes in recent history. The central-Chinese quake was felt as far away as Beijing, and currently (as of May 14, two days after it happened), the official report is that there are 80,000 people killed or injured by the damage. That is not an estimate of the final tally, so it does not include people who are missing. The final figure looks to be much higher. For once, the world has backed behind China as a huge humanitarian crisis emerges north of the Himalyas, and put political differences aside. Perhaps we should take a hint and treat the Olympics in the same apolitical sense.

So What Should the US Do About the Olympics?
Hillary Clinton, soon-to-be former presidential candidate and current US Senator from New York, believes the president should boycott the opening ceremonies. Others go farther: perhaps the United States as a country should boycott the the ceremonies. Radicals take it to the extreme and think that the United States should boycott the games entirely.

The radical idea of a boycott is just plain silly, as evidenced by the boycotts (by the Soviets) of the 1984 Los Angeles games and (by the Americans) the 1980 Moscow games. It simply took away the competition (and the spirit) of the Olympics. The Soviets won far more medals than they would have in 1980, and the Americans did the same in 1984. What did we gain? Our best athletes couldn't compete for the prize they had waited four years for, and the Soviets got a leg up on us.

Gordon Brown, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, has declared his intentions, under intense national pressure, to boycott the opening ceremony. Again, what is the usefulness of such a move (with no disrespect to the Prime Minister intended)? The ceremony isn't about the Prime Minister or the Premier or the President. In fact, it's not about politics at all. It's about the people--the people of China, the people who will compete, and the people who will cheer them on. China has an impressive coming-out party awaiting us, so we gain nothing by missing out on the first night of the festivities, fittingly scheduled for the 8th day of the 8th month of the 2008th year (according to the Christian calendar). For those of you who didn't pick that up, that would be 08/08/08. Eight happens to be a lucky number in China (I thought all one or two digit numbers were lucky, judging by all the numbers I get on the back of my fortunes from fortune cookies, but alas, I was wrong). There is no harm in going to the Olympics, other than by experiencing fruits of the money China poured into preparing the games for the West.

So What Else is Going on in China?
So not everything in China is dismally political and depressing. China is indeed preparing itself for what I hopes to be its finest moment. It all starts when your plane touches down Beijing Capital Airport, and walk into their brand new Terminal 3 (which, incidentally, it does not look like we will be using, as Korean Air uses Terminal 2). That terminal, pictured here, is larger than the Pentagon, and the Chinese used hired a feng shui master to incorporate Chinese elements into it.

In other news, the Chinese reached the summit of Mount Everest (also known as Mount Qomolangma) on their torch relay. It is an impressive achievement, to be sure, and underscores the nature of the Chinese Olympic effort. There was criticism over the event, as Mount Everest lies on the border between Nepal and Tibet, the subject of much antagonism toward China. However, one should note that many of the climbers on the team that summitted Everest with the torch were actually Tibetans.

China is under enormous scrutiny and pressure (albeit some of it self-imposed). How will it perform? That is the million-dollar question, or in the case of China, the 400 billion-dollar question. News from China has moved from being second page biweekly stories to front page weekly stories, to front page daily stories. The closer one gets to Beijing, both chronologically and geographically, the bigger the story from China becomes.

The Olympic Torch and Tibetan protestors

It seems as though every Olympic games has its troubles. The '96 games in Atlanta had traffic problems, allegations of bribery, and a terrorist incident that killed 11 people¹. The '00 games in Sydney seemed "mired in troubles" less than five months out². The '04 games barely finished their venues, and was a financial disaster for Athens³. So it should come as little surprise that Beijing is having troubles of its own in the months leading up to its opening ceremonies.

As you may well know, the Olympic torch relay has had considerable controversy surrounding it. The torch (pictured right), as I noted earlier, is going all over the world, and is currently going between some of the major European capitals, including London and Paris. Each of its stops has sparked protest from groups opposed to China's takeover of Tibet in 1959. In Paris, the torch was extinguished during the turmoil of protesters⁴.

The protests have not been limited to cities where the torch is. In San Francisco on April 7, climbers got onto the Golden Gate Bridge and put up signs with slogans along the lines of, "Free Tibet 08". Senator and presidential candidate Hillary Clinton announced that she wanted President Bush to impose a "partial boycott" of the Olympics by not participating in the Opening Ceremony because of China's failure to deal with both Tibet and the Sudanese situation in Darfur⁵.

Chinese embassies from places like Budapest, Vilnius, Rome, and Reykjavik have been bombarded with protesters, symbolizing international pressure on China to do something regarding Tibet. In The Hague, protesters stormed the consulate, replacing the Chinese flag with a Tibetan flag (pictured below: this flag is illegal in China)⁶.

The problems the Chinese have had with their torch relay from Greece to the U.K. to France may cause significant changes in the route. For example, the section of the route scheduled to go to Tibet may be canceled or altered⁷.

For China, this is an international PR disaster. The torch relay was, in a sense, China's big "homecoming," with its magnificence. The Chinese have been planning everything down to a tee to make sure that everything ran flawlessly. 123 days before the opening ceremonies, the torch relay has been in every sense a nightmare. Mobs, protesters, Tibetan flags: the magnificence of China's torch relay is, in a poetic sense, going up in flames.

The only people in the world unaware of the disaster that is slowing unfolding toward Beijing are, unsurprisingly, the Chinese themselves. Extensive censorship of news coming into the country (and news coming out of Tibet) has limited the government's image in its own people⁸.

Nonetheless, China must be worried right now about what's going to happen. After all, if protesters are doing this to torchbearers in their own countries, what could happen in Beijing. With on the order of two million people headed to Beijing in August, how many of them could be protesters, and of those, who might become violent, resorting to terrorism? Big name events (especially where the Chinese may be favored and the opening and closing ceremonies) could be especially lucrative terrorist attacks. The question now is what China will plan on doing to protect its tourists (and thus, its image--the all important factor of the 2008 games)? It remains to be seen how China will work out its Olympic troubles.

References
1. Wikipedia: 1996 Summer Olympics
2. IOC plays down troubles as Sydney Olympics approach
3. Wikipedia: 2004 Summer Olympics
4. Olympic Torch Run in Paris Halted as Protests Spread
5. Clinton calls for partial boycott; torch protesters scale Golden Gate Bridge
6. Wikipedia: 2008 Tibetan Unrest
7. Olympic Officials May Reconsider Torch Relay
8. Chinese Media in Spin of Indignation

Trials Update and Odd Olympic Events

This blog is about the selection process for the Olympic teams we hope to see win gold in Beijing this summer. For the four events we're going to, none of them have yet decided their full Olympic teams. We're a little over four months out from the opening ceremonies, and it may be surprising that we have relatively few people officially guaranteed a spot on the team, but it makes sense, because a lot can happen in a short period of time, and the United States wants to go to the Olympics with the team at its absolute peak. The second part is a listing of a few random Olympic games that we will not be watching, but which nonetheless caught my attention as interesting or odd.

Olympic Trials Update
For the swimming events, the Olympic trials will be held June 29 to July 6 in Omaha, Nebraska. For the athletic events, are held from June 27 to July 6 in Eugene, Oregon. Both will be huge events, coinciding nicely with the July 4 holiday weekend.

For the traithlon events, selection is slightly more complicated there are three events that will decide who goes to the Olympics:

• The Beijing ITU World Cup (completed last September), with Laura Bennett and Jarrod Shoemaker earning automatic bids
• The 2008 U.S. Olympic Team Trials in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, will be on April 19, and the top finisher will earn an automatic bid
• The The 2008 USA Team Selection Event in Des Moines, Iowa, will be in June, and will help decide the third at-large member of the US Olympic team

For the rowing events, it becomes even more complicated. Events are divided into "Big Boats" and "Small Boats," and then qualified and unqualified boats. All 6 big boats qualified at the World Championships last year in Munich, Germany, and their crews will be announced by late June. All but three of the small boats qualified as well. The three that did not qualify have another chance this June in Poznan, Poland. In order to get there there will be a trial in West Windsor, New Jersey in May. Trials for crews are a slightly complicated process of several trials, including the World Cup and one or two trials in New Jersey. In any case, the US Olympic rowing team will be known by the end of June.

Weird Olympic Events
Imagine devoting your life to training for an event or sport that no one has heard of. Well, here, in this obscure blog, I will share the limelight with (fittingly) obscure Olympic events:

1. Racewalking: It comes in men's 20km, men's 50km, and women's 20km. You are required to walk the entire distance (i.e., one foot must be on the ground at all times). The top 20 (out of 30) times for these events are held by people from either Russia (or the Soviet Union, since one time was recorded in 1989) or China.
2. Triple Jump: This event is exactly as it sounds: you jump three times without a start, and you see how far you can get. It's also known as "Hop, Step, and Jump." The father of former Ohio State basketball star Mike Conley, Jr. was a standout in this event.
   
3. Steeplechase: This event is running through an obstacle course. Training begins at Vacation Bible School.
4. Modern Pentathlon: It used to be javelin throwing, discus throwing, sprinting, and the long jump. But that was ancient times and we've moved beyond that to swimming, fencing, pistol shooting, cross-country running, and swimming. How...modern...and civilized! It's supposed to be based on abilities needed by soldiers. Perhaps the IOC should consider Humvee driving, machine gun firing, supersonic jet flying, night vision goggling, and target choosing. Or to make it more cost effective, borrow a playbook from the Navy SEAL training program.
   
5. Windsurfing: One question. How do you win windsurfing?
   
6. Table Tennis: The names of several Olympic gold medalists: Ryu Seung-Min, Chen Qi, Ma Lin, Zhang Yining, Wang Nan (in Athens). The only non-Chinese/Korean to win Olympic gold in this "sport" is Jan-Ove Waldner of Sweden. The Chinese have won 16 out of 20 gold medals since its inception in 1988. Behold! The great Chinese dynasty of...Ping Pong! Too bad this wasn't an Olympic event when Forrest Gump was around.
   
7. Beach Volleyball: The only reason why this gets airtime are well-toned (and tanned) athletes in skimpy bathing suits. No one cares about the sport*.

So come August, NBC will be airing converage of high-flying gynmasts, Michael Phelps (assuredly in both his events and during the commericial breaks), high-speed track races, and perhaps a couple slightly more obscure events. Look for hints of the previous 7 events. It's doubtful many Americans will medal in those events, but August will be the closest these events get to having national attention.

*I realize some people do care about this sport, and I apologize to you for the gross generalization.

What is going on right now in Beijing?

The Beijing Olympics has proven to be a very polarizing event, with some of the most elaborate and extravagant preparations in Olympic history being completed on one hand, while protesters line streets against the Chinese government on the other hand. Aspects of both have made front page news for months now. Thus, I will devote this blog to the "positive" aspect of the Games first, and then the "negative" aspect.

Three days ago, on March 24, the longest torch relay in history began when the torch was ignited in Athens, Greece. On the 30th, it will leave Greece and head to Beijing, beginning its marathon journey of 85,100 miles on continents. One of the highlights of the trip will be an attempt to carry it to the top of Mount Everest, an event that the Chinese government will assuredly claim to be a success¹.

The Chinese will have poured close to $40 billion into making the 2008 Olympic Games a showcase for the world. The facilities are incredibly expensive, and at the same time, spectacular in their own right². The two facilities that people in the United States may be most acquainted with (and ones which I will be in) are the Beijing National Aquatic Center (i.e., the Water Cube or [H₂O]³) and the Beijing National Stadium (i.e., the Bird's Nest), both of which are pictured, with the Water Cube in the foreground.

In addition, Beijing is trying to update their outdated mass transit system before the games arrive. The subway system will be newly renovated and the cab drivers will (supposedly) all know some English^{3 4}. The Beijing airport, already the 9th largest airport in the world in terms of passenger traffic, is building another terminal, set to open this month. As a side note construction for a new "super-airport" is set to begin in 2010, replacing Beijing Capital International Airport. It will be capable of 70-100 million passengers per year. For comparison purposes, Atlanta, the world's busiest airport, has almost 90 million passengers per year⁵.

As I address the first of the negatives, I will start by saying that China is doing everything in their power to address this. Beijing is one of the most polluted cities in the world, as you can see by the picture of the smog in Tiananmen Square. China has been enforcing government regulations in order to reduce the output of pollution, and may institute similar practices during the actual games. The Chinese have even gone so far as to perform atmospheric tests by releasing chemicals to see if they can control the weather so it doesn't rain on their Olympic party⁶.

In going to China, one of our concerns is not so much the pollution for us (we're not going to be there that long), but the fact that some of the long-distance events such as triathlon may be postponed, which wouldn't work out for our rather tight schedule⁷.

Another negative is the current situation regarding Tibet (and Taiwan). I won't go into any details, simply because I don't know many of the details, but suffice it to say that China has some strained relationships with some of its neighbors. The region of Tibet is part of China, but the Chinese government has practiced a sort of cultural genocide against the Tibetan nation. As a result, there have been many protests, some of which happen during the torch relay. That is bad PR for the Chinese to the rest of the world, though Chinese censorship makes it so that the Chinese people never know about it. On the other hand, China believes that it owns the island of Taiwan, which has declared sovereignty, but it is only formally recognized by about 30 countries (not including the United States)⁸.

China has other issues, many dealing with human rights and the interminable question of how well prepared Beijing will be for the Olympics. The present day political clime asks the question of how well protected the Games will be from a terrorist attack. Analysts expect two million visitors from around the world to be present for China's exposition to the world⁹. How will that hold up?

References:
1. Wikipedia: 2008 Olympic Torch Relay
2. Olympic Games the Chinese Way
3. Wikipedia: 2008 Summer Olympics
4. 90,000 Beijing Taxi Drivers to Learn English
5. Wikipedia: Beijing Capital International Airport
6. Beijing to Shoot Down Olympic Rain
7. Endurance Athletes Worry About Pollution in Beijing
8. CIA World Factbook: Taiwan
9. China, Air Travel, and the 2008 Beijing Olympics