China won praise Sunday for organizing an impressive Olympics and Germany predicted the Beijing Games would have an “irreversible” impact on Chinese society, but rights groups remained critical.

As the Games ended with a spectacular closing ceremony, the International Olympic Committee’s pledge when it awarded Beijing the Games in 2001 — that hosting the Olympics would open China up to the world — came under scrutiny.

Germany’s Interior Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble, who also has responsibility for sport, said that aim had been met.

“China opened itself to the world community to an extent that would have been unimaginable at the time of the east-west division of Germany,” he said in an interview to be published Monday with Bild newspaper.

That would lead to a change that would be “irreversible,” he said.

But Schaeuble cautioned against an overly positive assessment of conditions in the world’s most populous country.

“When the Chinese leadership sees the system questioned, it does not respect basic freedoms as we know them. That is why I am strictly against saying it is all good,” he said.

As the host country of the next Olympics, Britain chose its words carefully, with officials praising the way that Beijing organised the Games but staying silent on accusations from rights groups that pro-Tibet protests had been crushed by Chinese authorities.

Sebastian Coe, a former gold medal-winner in athletics who chairs the London 2012 organising committee, said ahead of the closing ceremony that “there wasn’t a good deal wrong” with the Beijing Olympics.

“The city has opened up and people are mixing like they did in Moscow when I was there in 1980.

“t is the right place to be now. Sport has been the catalyst,” he added.

The United States was still to comment after the closing ceremony, but on Saturday it showed signs of disappointment with the Chinese authorities as it urged Beijing to release eight American nationals detained after pro-Tibet protests during the Olympics.

“The US government encourages the government of China to demonstrate respect for human rights, including freedom of expression and freedom of religion of all people during the Olympic Games,” said Susan Stevenson, the US embassy spokeswoman in Beijing.

“We are disappointed that China has not used the occasion of the Olympics to demonstrate greater tolerance and openness.”

The American protesters were one of several small groups of foreign demonstrators detained during the Olympics for protesting about China’s 57-year rule of Tibet, which has been under the spotlight this year.

Amnesty International accused the Chinese authorities of violating human rights by preventing protests during the Games and the group said the IOC had failed in its duty to hold the organisers to account.

“The Beijing Olympics have been a spectacular sporting event but they took place against a backdrop of human rights violations, with activists prevented from expressing their views peacefully and many in detention when they have committed no crime,” said Roseann Rife, Amnesty International’s Asia-Pacific deputy programme director.

“The Chinese authorities and the IOC had an opportunity to demonstrate human rights improvements but in most respects they failed to deliver. Forced evictions, detention of activists and restrictions on journalists should not blight another Olympics.”

Amnesty urged the IOC to build human rights “indicators” into Olympic bids to ensure it did not “repeat its mistakes” at future Games.

The European Commission meanwhile merely praised the performances of European athletes and Culture and Youth Commissioner Jan Figel said he looked forward to the Olympics returning, in 2012, to “the continent where they were born.”

from: afp.google.com

- A Cuban taekwondo athlete and his coach were banned for life after Angel Matos kicked the referee in the face following his bronze-medal match disqualification.
Cuban coach Leudis Gonzalez offered no apology for Matos’ actions during the men’s over-80 kilogram (176 pounds) match.

Matos was winning 3-2, with 1:02 in the second round, when he fell to the mat after being hit by his opponent, Kazakhstan’s Arman Chilmanov. He was sitting there, awaiting medical attention, when he was disqualified for taking too much injury time. Fighters get one minute, and Matos was disqualified when his time ran out.

Matos angrily questioned the call, pushed a judge, then pushed and kicked referee Chakir Chelbat of Sweden. Matos then spat on the floor and was escorted out.

“He was too strict,” Gonzalez said, referring to the decision to disqualify Matos. Afterward, he charged the match was fixed, accusing the Kazakhs of offering him money.

“This is a strong violation of the spirit of taekwondo and the Olympic Games. The sanctions are the following and are effective immediately: Lifetime ban of the coach and athlete in all championships sanctioned by the (World Taekwondo Federation) and at the same time, all records of this athlete at the Beijing Games will immediately be erased,” said the announcer, reading a WTF release.

In his first match, Matos defeated Italy’s Leonardo Basile, then beat China’s Liu Xiaobo 2-1 in the quarterfinals. But he lost to South Korean Cha Dong-min in the semis to land in the bronze-medal match.

“To me it was obvious he was unable to continue,” Chilmanov said. “His toe on his left foot was broken.”

Matos won the gold medal in this division at the 2000 Sydney Games, dedicating the victory to his mother, who died on the day of the opening ceremony. At the 2004 Athens Games, he finished 11th.

from: foxsports.com

The International Olympic Committee asked the gymnastics ruling body to re-examine whether some members of the Chinese women’s team were too young to compete at the Beijing Games.

IOC spokeswoman Giselle Davies said the committee told the International Gymnastics Federation to check with China’s national gymnastics association after “questions that were raised regarding discrepancies,” without elaborating. The international gymnastics agency has received birth certificates and other documents and will “likely” get back to the IOC today, she said.

“The IOC is keen that the federation looks at this and can put the matter to rest,” Davies said at a news conference in the Chinese capital today.
Doubts over the ages of He Kexin and other members of China’s team arose following the emergence of Chinese media reports from last year that, if accurate, indicated the athletes were younger than the 16-year-old minimum for Olympic gymnastics. He was listed as 13 in a Nov. 3, 2007, report by the state-run Xinhua News Agency.

from: canada.com

Guillermo Perez of Mexico and China’s Wu Jingyu won gold medals Wednesday on the first day of Olympic taekwondo competition.
The first two weight classes contested provided a host of medal breakthroughs.
Perez won the men’s 58-kilogram class, giving Mexico its first gold of the Olympics. He defeated Yulis Gabriel Mercedes in the title bout and the silver medal Mercedes won was the first of any sort for the Dominican Republic in these Games.
One of the bronze medals went to Rohullah Nikpai, who gave Afghanistan its first medal of the Olympics. The other bronze was won by Chu Mu-yen of Taiwan.
Wu’s win in the women’s 49-kilogram class was a rarity for China. Of the 286 medals China had won in its Olympic history prior to the start of the Beijing Games, just three had come in taekwondo.
Wu’s victory came over Buttree Puedpong of Thailand, who took the silver. Dalia Contreras Rivero of Venezuela and Daynellis Montejo of Cuba received bronze medals.

from: upi.com

Jamaica’s yam-powered Usain “Lightning” Bolt hopes to become the first man since Carl Lewis in 1984 to win an Olympic sprint double on Wednesday.
The man whose father says owes his speed to the local vegetable has already won the showpiece 100 meters final in swashbuckling style, thumping his chest before the finish.
If he also carries off his preferred 200m in Beijing’s Bird’s Nest at 10.30 p.m. (1430 GMT) — and nobody looks capable of beating him — Bolt will not only equal the illustrious American.
He would also establish himself as the undisputed poster boy of the Beijing Games along with American swimmer Michael Phelps who won an unprecedented eight gold medals.
“I like to enjoy what I do,” said the lanky Bolt, who breezed through his 200m semi-final late on Tuesday, playing up to TV cameras and taking a look round at competitors during the race.
“You can’t be too serious in your job.”
Bolt, who runs the 200m final the day before his 22nd birthday, faces a tough challenge though to beat Michael Johnson’s 12-year-old world record of 19.32 seconds.
The Jamaican’s best is 19.67.
Bolt’s exploits have lit up his Caribbean homeland in the same way that Phelps’s eight golds in Beijing, passing Mark Spitz’s 1972 Munich record, have thrilled Americans.
While theirs have been the standout individual performances, it is team China’s overall record that is wowing the world.
The hosts, who came second to the United States in Athens 2004, go into Day 12 of the Olympics with a commanding lead of 43 golds on top of the medal table.
China now look impossible to catch, even by traditional Olympics powerhouse the United States, who have won 26 golds in Beijing so far. China’s Communist authorities are reaping the benefits of massive investment in a Soviet-style sports system.
“There is basically no worry about top spot,” state news agency Xinhua said, the confident tone contrasting with official caution over China’s prospects before the August 8-24 Games.

BRITISH SUCCESS
The Olympics have so far been a stunning success for China’s leaders, pollution and political concerns fading into the background once the sporting action began.
A few small pro-free Tibet protests by foreigners have barely troubled police, and Beijing authorities have declared the city’s much-decried air was the cleanest in a decade during August.
The only discordant note for the hosts, really, has been the injury to national idol and 110 meters hurdles Olympic champion Liu Xiang, who had been China’s main hope for a track gold.
Britain lie a better-than-expected third in the medals table thanks, experts say, to major investment in sport that has enabled athletes to train full time and improved facilities.
The latest success came from Christine Ohuruogu, who won the women’s 400 meters on Tuesday night for Britain’s first athletics win in China. She only made it to Beijing after winning an appeal against an lifetime Olympics ban for missing three drugs tests.
Britain’s 16 golds are its best showing since 1908 and the perfect way to fire up enthusiasm for the London 2012 Olympics.
“We have all seen what the Chinese have done. It has been fantastic,” London mayor Boris Johnson said, contemplating how the global credit crunch might affect Britain’s Games.
“But I am not intimidated by that. We can have a show that is equally as fantastic without wasting money.”
As well as Bolt, Jamaicans are also looking to Melaine Walker to boost their gold medal tally in the women’s 400 meters hurdles final on Wednesday in the Bird’s Nest.
The 25-year-old has the fastest time of the year of 53.48 but she will have to watch out for American Sheena Tosta.

from: reuters.com

Clear some more space in that pile of pretty Olympic medal boxes. Shawn Johnson and Nastia Liukin are bringing home more loot, including a gorgeous gold of Johnson’s very own.
Johnson beat her friend and teammate on the balance beam, the last women’s gymnastics event at the Beijing Games
“I finished off the Olympic Games with, to me, the most perfect ending ever,” Johnson said, beaming as she tugged at the ribbon around her neck. “To finally get the gold medal … on my very last routine meant the world to me.”
And it means the Americans will be strutting home with more bling than Diddy.
Johnson already had three silvers, including one from the all-around, where Liukin won gold. Together, the women have won eight medals. Throw in Jonathan Horton’s silver on the high bar Tuesday night, and the Americans are leaving Beijing with 10 medals. That’s the most they’ve won at a non-boycotted Olympics since 1932, when rope climbing and Indian clubs still got you medals.
“It just shows how strong we are,” said Liukin, who won five medals. “We went out there and showed we are the best. Going 1-2 in the all-around, that’s never been done by the United States. The Americans have never had 1-2 on beam before, either. And 2-3 on floor isn’t too bad.
“It’s definitely been a very successful Olympics for us.”
For the Chinese men, it was a rout. Li Xiaopeng won the parallel bars gold and Zou Kai got his third gold with a victory on high bar Tuesday night, giving the Chinese men a whopping seven gold medals. Yes, that’s every gold but one. And had the Chinese qualified a man in that final, they very well could have swept the top podium spot.
Quite a turnaround from four years ago, when China went to Athens as the overwhelming favorite and left with two measly medals, only one gold. The seven golds here tie the Soviet Union (1956 and 1988) for most at a single Olympics.
“Four years ago, we had a large failure and we blamed ourselves,” China coach Huang Yubin said. “But today, we are all proud of ourselves.”
Johnson arrived in Beijing as gymnastics’ latest “it” girl, the reigning world champion who had lost only one event in the past two years. It wasn’t a question of if she’d win gold, but how many. Team? All-around? Balance beam? Floor?
But the Americans were beaten by the Chinese in the team final, and Johnson finished second to Liukin, her close friend and roommate in the Olympic village.
It looked as if she’d finally win gold on floor, topping Liukin with a perky, powerful routine that would dazzle even the circus folks. But the last competitor of the night, Romania’s Sandra Izbasa, snatched the medal from Johnson, and the 16-year-old was left with yet another silver.
“I would never trade one of my silvers for gold,” she insisted. “What I went through to get them is very special to me and really touched my heart.”
Johnson is more mature than some people a decade older, and when she says things like that, she really does mean them.
But she’s been training for the Olympics since she was a little girl and no one trains for second place.
“It’s been a long battle,” said Liang Chow, Johnson’s coach. “She came in with the possibility of winning a few gold medals and that hasn’t happened. We were running out of chances.”
There was, however, one left.
The balance beam is gymnastics’ version of a tightrope over Niagara Falls, a 4-inch-wide slab of foam and wood that’s 4 feet off the ground. Make a mistake and something bad is bound to happen. But beam is Johnson’s favorite event. She whips off back handsprings and aerial somersaults with ease and confidence. Every move looks effortless.
When she finished, a grin spread across her face and she waved to the crowd. She and Chow slapped hands when she climbed off the podium, and Liukin’s father and coach, Valeri, clapped enthusiastically.
Johnson’s score was a 16.225, and she knew it was good enough for a medal.
Whether it would be gold would be determined by Liukin — again.
Liukin is the reigning world champion on beam, and her routine is gorgeous. She is long and lithe, giving an added touch of beauty to every move she does. Her leaps are done with a dancer’s grace, and one element flows seamlessly into the next. But she took a big hop on her landing, and the look on her face said she knew it was her turn to stand in her teammate’s shadow.
“I knew it wasn’t quite my best routine, but I knew it was enough for a medal. But I’m really happy for Shawn. Three silvers is kind of hard to take. I couldn’t be more proud of her,” said Liukin, who smoothed a few stray hairs in Johnson’s ponytail before the medals ceremony so it would be picture perfect.
When Liukin’s score — 16.025 — popped up, Chow hugged Johnson. As Liukin embraced Johnson, Chow and Valeri Liukin slapped hands.
“That’s the great ending. She was a little bit disappointed (after the all-around), but she went all the way to the end. I can appreciate that,” said Valeri Liukin, who finished a close second to his teammate in the all-around in the 1988 Olympics before winning gold on his last event, high bar.
“She deserved to be Olympic champion.”
The silver was Liukin’s fifth, tying the U.S. record for a single Olympics and giving her family bragging rights. Valeri Liukin won four medals — two golds, two silvers — in 1988.
Johnson bounced up and down after the final results were posted, grinning and waving to the crowd. But she was overwhelmed when she heard her introduction as Olympic champion, biting her lip and fighting back tears.
“To finally have a gold and be an Olympic gold medalist, it’s what everyone dreams of,” Johnson said. “It’s so exciting. It’s the best feeling ever.”
Horton was pretty thrilled, too.
He decided after the all-around final that he needed to upgrade the difficulty in his high bar routine to have any shot at a medal. While that might not sound too impressive, consider that most gymnasts spend months working on a routine before it’s ready for competition.
Horton spent all of three days.
“I had initially said, `No, don’t change your routine. Go with what got you here,’” said Mark Williams, Horton’s coach. “Jon’s a riverboat gambler. He said, `I’ll kick myself if I don’t.’”
Horton added one gravity-defying release move and changed his body position in another, adding a full half-point of difficulty. And he did it to perfection.
“I hit the floor and I looked at Mark and said, `Can you believe that just happened?’” Horton said. “I knew instantly I was going to medal.”
Had Horton not taken a hop on his landing, he might have had gold. But he’ll happily take his silver medal to go with the bronze the U.S. men’s team won.
“You can’t be upset with two medals at my first Olympics,” he said.

from: ap.google.com

A Swedish wrestler has been disqualified and stripped of his Olympic bronze medal for dropping it in protest.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) said Ara Abrahamian had been kicked out of the Beijing Games for violating the spirit of fair play during the medal ceremony.

Abrahamian walked off the podium and dropped the bronze medal on the mat after taking third in the Greco-Roman 84kg division on Thursday.

He was angry about a disputed penalty call that decided his semifinal match against Italian Andrea Minguzzi, who went on to win the gold medal.

The IOC executive board ruled the wrestler’s action amounted to a political demonstration and a mark of disrespect to his fellow athletes.

It said no athlete would receive Abrahamian’s medal.

from: sbs.com.au

No runner-up finish to her friend and rival this time. Nastia Liukin won the biggest prize of all. Liukin edged teammate Shawn Johnson for the all-around gold in women’s gymnastics Friday in an intense matchup that lived up to its billing at the Beijing Games. Liukin finished with 63.325 points, a mere six-tenths ahead of Johnson, the reigning world champion who beat Liukin at the U.S. championships and Olympic trials only a few weeks ago.

Yang Yilin of China won the bronze.

“I don’t think it’s really set in, but I feel like this journey has been so long,” Liukin said.

Made even longer by having to wait for Johnson to follow her on the floor exercise.

Liukin paced back and forth while Johnson, the final competitor, completed her performance, clapping as her teammate floated high in the air. In the end, it was Liukin who soared. When Johnson’s score was posted and Liukin realized she won, tears filled her eyes. Her father and coach Valeri grabbed her in a bearhug, squeezing her tight for several minutes.

Valeri Liukin was a double gold medalist for the Soviet Union 20 years ago, but came up achingly short in a rivalry with his own teammate in the all-around.

There would be no such disappointment for his only child.

“It’s not possible to describe how proud I am,” he said afterward.

Liukin wore a smile that lit up her face as she climbed atop the medals podium and waved to the crowd. She blinked back tears as the gold medal was placed around her neck, but let them flow when the U.S. anthem began to play.

“Standing on the podium and hearing `Olympic champion’ next to my name was a dream come true,” Liukin said. “Everything pays off at this very moment.”

For China, it was the first view from anywhere but the gold-medal step. The Chinese won both the men’s and women’s team titles, and Yang Wei ran away with the men’s all-around gold on Thursday.

But this was no surprise. Johnson and Liukin have been the world’s two best gymnasts for two years now, and most expected the teammates would be each other’s biggest competition. Johnson came in with all the momentum, winning every matchup with Liukin but one in the last few years.

It was Liukin’s grace under pressure, though, that made the difference. It had to, with everything coming down to the very last event, and the last two performers.

“I gave my heart and soul out there today,” Johnson said. “Nastia deserved the gold.”

Long and lean, Liukin has the elegance and classic lines of her mother, a former world champion in rhythmic gymnastics. While other gymnasts tumble on the floor, their music little more than background noise, Liukin puts on a polished performance. Every wave of her arm and brush of her fingertips oozes emotion, making it easy to forget how tough those tricks in her program really are.

Valeri Liukin stood on the sidelines, pacing back and forth, barely able to watch his daughter, who flashed a big smile for the cameras after her final tumbling run.

Her score of 15.525 put her in first place, and left Johnson with a huge gap to close. It was possible she could do it. Johnson is the reigning world champion on floor, a bundle of perkiness and power. She managed such great height on her opening pass she could have dusted off a light fixture or two, yet she landed as easily and confidently as if she was stepping off a curb. Her smile grew brighter with each second, and even Liukin was anxiously clapping as she watched. Johnson was thrilled when she finished, almost running off the podium.

It was a great routine, no question. It just wasn’t good enough for gold.

“I just knew that I had to give the routine of my life,” Johnson said. “I was pretty far behind, but I couldn’t control that. I gave a great meet today. That was probably my favorite moment, finishing on floor, because I knew I had given it my all and I couldn’t change anything.”

When the final mark flashed, Johnson smiled and immediately went to congratulate her teammate. Much has been made of their rivalry, with most people assuming there’s no way they can be friends. But they truly are, even rooming together at these games.

Liukin is the second straight American to win the all-around crown, succeeding training partner Carly Patterson as gymnastics’ greatest champion.

Liukin is the closest thing gymnastics has to royalty, her genes practically guaranteed to produce gold. If her parents had their way, she would be a pianist or anything but a gymnast. But Liukin had her own ideas, and her parents eventually relented.

“It’s a feeling I don’t think any father can describe,” Valeri Liukin said. “I’m very proud of my baby.”

“Just to know that he was so close to (the all-around gold) and didn’t quite achieve it,” his daughter said. “And I hope, you know, I cleared away any of those bad little memories for him. I hope that this definitely tops it. I have a few more to go, but it is an amazing accomplishment just to be here with him, out on the floor 20 years after he competed. I think it just means so much more to both of us. I don’t know, just all the hard work paying off. All the injuries, tears, blood, rips — everything.”

She would have been a favorite for gold four years ago but she was too young, and she was immediately anointed as the front-runner for Beijing. But an ankle injury before the 2006 world championships hobbled her for almost a year, right about the time the younger Johnson was beginning to make her grand splash.

Once everybody’s darling, Liukin learned how quickly everything can turn. When she struggled at the 2007 national championships and again in the all-around at the world championships, the criticism was fierce. She was washed up, some said. She should give up on the all-around, others said, concentrate on uneven bars and balance beam.

The harshness stung, though Liukin smiled and tried not to let on. She would let her performances speak for her.

Though the gold wasn’t decided until the final routine, it was on uneven bars that Liukin made her mark.

She has one of the most difficult routines in the world, filled with intricate moves that are linked together to make them even harder. But her grace and style make it look easy. When she pirouettes on the high bar, turning her body all the way around not once, not twice but three times, she looks just like a jewelry box ballerina.

And when she moves from high bar to low, she seems to float, suspended in the air.

Her only flaw was a big hop forward on her landing, but it was minor and her score of 16.65 moved her into second place behind Yang.

Though Johnson is rock solid on beam, Liukin is simply breathtaking. From the moment she puts her fingertips onto the beam and presses herself up into the splits, her long legs unfurling like the petals of a flower, every movement is performance art.

In one front somersault she lands without ever putting one of her feet on the beam, brushing it back until her leg is fully extended behind her. It’s incredibly difficult — few other people even try it — yet she does it as easily as a cartwheel.

Liukin knew she’d done well, smiling and blowing out her breath after she climbed down from the podium. When she saw her mark — a 16.125 that moved her into first place — she nodded as if to say, “OK, one more to go.”

Now there’s nothing left to do, nothing left to prove. Her gold medal says it all.

And she could have a few more before it’s done. Liukin will compete on the uneven bars, balance beam and floor event finals, hoping to catch her father’s total of four medals.

from: ap.google.com

Satoshi Ishii sent Japan out on a winning note in the Olympic judo competition when he won the men’s over-100-kilogram gold medal Friday at the Beijing Games.

Ishii, in his first major global tournament, defeated Asian champion Abdullo Tangriev of Uzbekistan in the final on the last day of judo at the Beijing University of Science and Technology Gymnasium.

With the victory, the 21-year-old Ishii gave Japan its fourth judo gold medal and sixth overall of the Beijing Olympics.

In the women’s competition, Maki Tsukada came up short in her bid to defend her Olympic title, settling for the silver medal in the over-78-kilogram class after losing to Chinese rival Tong Wen in a repeat of the title match at last year’s world championships.

Tsukada was leading with 16 seconds left when Tong flipped her over for an ippon victory.

from: yomiuri.co.jp

Communist China and the western media have been heading for a collision ever since the IOC’s daily press briefings began six days ago and unpleasant questions began to be asked about human rights, press freedoms, empty seats, armored personnel carriers parked outside the Main Press Centre, and assorted trickery and deception during the opening ceremonies.

On Thursday, they collided. East vs. West. Bang.

It began under the persistent questioning of Giselle Davies, director of communications of the IOC, who was repeatedly asked whether the IOC was embarrassed to be in Beijing considering the number of promises concerning press freedoms and human rights the organizers have broken since being awarded the Games seven years ago.
It ended with Wang Wei, chief spokesman for the Beijing Games and secretary general of Beijing 2008 bid committee, making an impassioned defence of the reforms China has made and will make because the Games are being staged here. The collision was inevitable. The world’s media has been itching for a fight every day during the briefings. The two sides are deeply suspicious and mistrustful of each other.

You have to wonder if China fully realized what it was getting into when it agreed to let 20,000 journalists in to cover the Games, considering what only a handful can do to the life of a NHL general manager in Canada.

For example, questioners in recent days have asked why no protests have yet been allowed so far in the three parks set aside for protests; why was a British journalist detained during an incident in downtown Beijing even though he was accredited; why hasn’t a Radio Free Asis correspondent of Tibetan descent been given accreditation for the Games; why was an armoured personnel carrier parked outside the Main Press Centre; why wasn’t the public told that certain elements of the opening ceremonies were faked; why hasn’t any information been provided about the dancer who was seriously injured during a rehearsal for the opening ceremonies; why are the stands empty when all the tickets were supposed to be sold.

It hasn’t made life easy for Wang and the Beijing organizers.

The Chinese have gone to enormous expense and trouble to stage a Summer Games that is unlikely to be equaled, in terms of venues and organization.

Yet, all they’re getting is criticism, which they had to be aware they would get in spades.

It will only get worse on Friday, because the Chinese can’t help shooting themselves in the feet.

Usually, the full transcript of the daily briefing is available on the publicly accessible Beijing Olympics site within hours.

On Thursday, six hours after the briefing ended, only half of the transcript – the one without the rancorous exchange over China’s broken promises – was available.

Highlights of it were available on the Games’ Info 2008 site, but that site is only available to journalists within the press centre and venues.

The Chinese version was also different from the English one and some of the questions were missing.

The trouble on Thursday started when Davies was asked whether the IOC was embarrassed because China hasn’t lived up to its pledges of media freedom and transparency during the Olympics.

Specific complaints in recent days have been over complete Internet access and the inability or unwillingness of officials to reveal how many requests have been made to stage protests and how many have been rejected.

Davies initially offered a roundabout response.

“There was certainly some hope and aspirations made in 2001 to have the Games have a positive impact on the wider social framework and I think we have to note that there have been enormous steps forward in numbers of areas,” she said.

“You’re here to report on the Games. The world is watching, and there will be commentaries made appraising how the Games have had an impact to bring sports, athletes and the world’s attention.

“We are very proud of the fact that these Games are progressing with spectacular sports, spectacular sports venues, operationally running smoothly, and that’s what we’re here for.”

Her questioner, a TV reporter from Great Britain, wasn’t buying the answer and wouldn’t let go, but that’s all he was going to get from her.

“We’re very pleased with how the organizers are putting on a good sports event,” she said.

“That’s what this is. This is an event first and foremost for the athlete and the athletes are giving extremely positive feedback about how they see these Games being held.”

Davies continued to be harangued by her questioner, but Sun Weide, chair of the briefing, seized control of the floor and tried to move on to the next questioner.

Before that could happen, though, the Rutgers-educated Wang, who began his professional career as an English teacher, signaled he wanted to speak.

His message was that for the last 30 years China has been making reforms step-by-step, but it was naive to think that one of the world’s oldest civilizations, with a history of states and cultures dating back more than six millennia, could or would make all the remaining changes in the three-week period of the Olympics.

“I was secretary general of the bidding committee,” said Wang.

“I was confronted with many questions about the opening up and the reform of China, and I did say that the Olympic Games coming to China would help China open up and reform better. And the effects show.

“After 30 years of reform, China is developing quickly. People enjoy more freedom and they have a lot to say and the welfare of people has improved a lot.

“Everybody can see that. The Olympic Games are a great platform. Everybody I see who comes to China for the first time will say to me, ‘China is so different,’ from what they read, what they saw in films, and in newspapers. “People are so friendly. People are living a good life. Everybody is happy. People are optimistic about their future.”

He noted that there are of course exceptions. Not everyone is doing better and some people have been disenfranchised. But it’s important to handle those grievances through the legal process because the country can’t be allowed to fall into “chaos.”

China welcomes the world, he said, and China also welcomes suggestions and constructive criticism.

It’s irritating, he suggested, that some journalists have come only to “peek and be critical, to dig into details and find fault with that.”

But finding flaws, he said, doesn’t mean that China is not trying to fulfill its promises.
“I did not say that China would promise to do whatever with the Games in China,” he said.
“I did not say that.
“But I said that the Games will open up the horizon about China.
“People will see better for themselves what China is like.
“You cannot underestimate the wisdom of the Chinese people.
“If you want to come over here and you want to be critical, it’s alright.
“But you have to believe the majority of the people, otherwise I think you are quite misled.”

from: canada.com

At least swimmers Kosuke Kitajima and Liu Zige accomplished something while getting wet Thursday at the Beijing Olympics.

Heavy rain delayed the start of Roger Federer‘s quarter-final match against James Blake, and the Swiss star may have wished it hadn’t gone ahead at all – he lost to the American 6-4, 7-6 (2).

The upset was a shock in that Blake had won only a single set in their previous eight matches. But the top-seeded Federer is battling a yearlong slump that has left him stalled at 12 Grand Slam titles, two shy of Pete Sampras’ record.

The rain also washed out rowing, canoeing and kayak whitewater events at Beixiaoying Town near Beijing and affected baseball and softball, with games suspended or called off by thunderstorms and lightning.

Only soggy beach volleyballers played through the heavy showers, watched by pockets of loyal fans in rain gear.

There was a different weather problem in Qingdao, site of the sailing competition. For the second day in a row, lack of wind in southern China forced all racing to be called off.

Inside the Water Cube, Kitajima became the first man to sweep the breaststroke events for the second straight Olympics by winning the 200 in two minutes 7.64 seconds.

“I was so calm that I think I could have seen each face in this venue,” the Japanese swimmer said. “I enjoyed my race.”

The host country celebrated when Liu won the 200 butterfly for China’s first swimming gold medal of the Games, setting the world mark of 2:04.18. Jiao Liuyang also went under the previous best to give the teammates a 1-2 finish and send the crowd into a frenzy.

“I didn’t expect that I could swim so fast,” Liu said. “I’ve only improved in the last year.”

Australia, led by Stephanie Rice, set the 18th world swimming record of the Beijing Games in the women’s 4×200-meter freestyle relay, obliterating the previous mark by nearly six seconds to upset the Americans.

Michael Phelps took care of a routine matter, advancing to the final of the 200-meter individual medley. With five golds and five world records, Phelps merely had to get by the semifinal of the 200 IM.

He won his heat and moved on to Friday with the second-best qualifying time, 1:57.70. He needs three more golds in Beijing to surpass Mark Spitz’s record total of eight at Munich in 1972.

Later Thursday, Phelps advanced out of the 100 butterfly preliminaries, keeping him on track to win his sixth gold medal.

On Thursday, IOC president Jacques Rogge called Phelps an “icon” of the Beijing Games.

“The quest to have more medals than Spitz will be something very important,” Rogge said. “And he’s keeping the attention of the public. He is a great athlete.”

China continued its domination of gymnastics. After winning both men’s and women’s team events, Yang Wei took the men’s all-around title that had eluded him for eight years.

Yang, the two-time defending world champion, finished with 94.575 points Thursday, nearly three points ahead of Kohei Uchimura of Japan. Yang had finished second to Alexei Nemov in 2000 and fell apart at the Athens Olympics.

“Today was perfect,” Yang said. “I felt tired before the competition, but after it I feel relaxed.”

Germany continued its domination of the equestrian competition in Hong Kong, capturing its third gold with a win in the team dressage.

Du Li of China rebounded from an earlier defeat, winning gold in the women’s 50-meter, three-position rifle event. Chiara Cainero of Italy won gold in women’s skeet shooting, beating Kim Rhode of the United States and Christine Brinker of Germany in a shoot-off.

Andrea Minguzzi of Italy was the surprise winner of the Greco-Roman wrestling 84-kilogram gold medal, defeating Zoltan Fodor of Hungary.

Minguzzi, who upset 2004 gold medallist Aleksey Mishin of Russia in the quarter-final, was 45th in last year’s world championships and has never finished higher than 18th in four world championship appearances.

Mijain Lopez of Cuba, the dominant big man in Greco-Roman wrestling since the Athens Olympics, beat rival Khasan Baroev of Russia to win the 120-kg gold medal. Another Russian, Aslanbek Khushtov, took gold in the 96-kg class.

Ukraine’s fencers won the team gold medal in women’s saber and China’s Zhang Juan Juan defeated South Korea’s Park Sung-hyun 110-109 to win the gold medal in women’s individual archery.

Yang Xiuli of China flipped her first four judo opponents then won in an overtime decision over Yalennis Castillo of Cuba to take the gold medal in the women’s 78-kilogram division.

Mongolia’s Tuvshinbayar Naidan won the men’s 100-kg class, defeating Kazakhstan’s Askhat Zhitkeyev. It was the first gold medal ever in the Olympics for the sparsely populated and landlocked country in east-central Asia.

The United States beat the Netherlands 7-0 in a baseball game that was called off after eight innings following a second rain delay. The Dutch protested the decision because they had loaded the bases in the ninth inning with no outs, but the protest was denied.

Canada led the U.S. softball team 1-0 in the fourth inning when rain forced players from the field. They’ll resume the game Friday with the defending champion American’s 16-game Olympic winning streak on the line.

Houston Rockets centre Yao Ming scored 30 points to lead China to an 85-68 win over Angola, giving the Olympic hosts their first victory in the tournament.

from: canadianpress.google.com

The Sydney Olympics ran out. Athens doubled the number. So organizers of the Beijing Games are hoping 100,000 condoms will satisfy the needs of Olympic athletes.

While sex is not an Olympic sport it is expected to be an activity in the Beijing village housing 10,500 athletes, all of whom are in great shape and with plenty of free time on their hands once knocked out of the Games.

Athletes have received free condoms at every Olympics since Barcelona in 1992 to help raise awareness of AIDS, and Beijing is no exception.

“There are many young, strong, single people in the athletes’ village and, like everywhere, some will fall in love or other things so we need to make condoms available,” Ole Hansen, spokesman for UNAIDS China, told Reuters.

“A lot of these young people are not married or in relationships so we want to make sure they have the information and tools to protect themselves if they have sexual encounters.”

The UNAIDS, the Beijing organising committee BOCOG and International Olympics Committee are providing 100,000 condoms as part of a campaign on HIV prevention and anti-discrimination.

At the Sydney Games in 2000 athletes quickly exhausted a supply of 70,000 and another 20,000 had to be brought in.

The Foundation for AIDS Research, amfAR, said 100,000 were distributed at the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics in 2002 after a plan to distribute 250,000 condoms met protests by religious groups and was scaled back.

At Athens in 2004 about 130,000 condoms were distributed.

Hansen said the number available at Beijing was based on previous Games’ experience and in keeping with previous Olympics would be available at medical centres at athletes’ centres in Beijing, Qingdao and Hong Kong rather than put in rooms.

“We have people here from all religions and cultural backgrounds, some of whom may feel uncomfortable or offended with condoms in their room,” he said.

To be discreet, two condoms are tucked inside every a brochure about HIV that are available at medical centres.

“No one can see that you are carrying condoms to save any embarrassment,” said Hansen.

“People are encouraged to take the leaflets and to take as many as they like. They can use them or take them home for friends and spread the knowledge and awareness.”

Chinese condom makers have jumped on the Olympics bandwagon.

One manufacturer, Elasun, has come up with a set of cheeky advertisements featuring a stickman swimming over a rippled condom that looks like a wave, riding two condom rings like a bicycle, and using a condom as a basketball hoop.

Condoms depicting the five Olympics mascots are also for sale on various online sites although nowhere to be seen in official merchandise stories.

from: in.reuters.com

Foreign leaders who are in Beijing for the Olympic Games have heaped praise on the successful opening ceremony and China’s efforts for hosting good Games, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said on Sunday while recalling “who said what” over the weekend.

United States President George W. Bush described the grand opening ceremony as “spectacular” during a meeting with his Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao on Sunday.

Bush said he has “fully enjoyed” the Games, and thanked the Chinese side for its considerate arrangements of various activities for himself and his family during their stay in Beijing.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy said he admires the Chinese people for their efforts and contribution to the Games organization.

Japanese Prime Minister Fukuda Yasuo said the Games are a grand sports rally as well as a hard-won opportunity for all the world’s countries to enhance understanding and mutual trust.

The opening ceremony on Friday night by China’s internationally acknowledged film director Zhang Yimou, used new technologies to bring icons of Chinese culture and the Olympiad to life.

Many foreign leaders and dignitaries particularly found the cauldron lighting impressive. The cauldron was lit by China’s gymnastics legend Li Ning after “space-walking” around the top of the 91,000-seat National Stadium.

“It’s very well organized and displays China’s traditional culture as well as high technologies,” said President of the Republic of Korea Lee Myung bak. “As an Asian, I’m proud of the success of the opening ceremony.”

President of Afghanistan Hamid Karzai said the Olympic preparations and all the good facilities demonstrate China’s tremendous capability and he trusts the Beijing Games will be one of the most successful in Olympic history.

Beijing’s achievements in hosting the Games have inspired the Brazilians, who are applying to host the 2016 Games in Rio De Janeiro, said Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

A better China will bring about a better world, and will benefit mankind as a whole, said Israeli President Shimon Peres. He said he was impressed by Beijing’s preparations for the Olympic Games, “an unprecedented effort in world history”.

More than 80 heads of state and government and royals attended the Beijing Olympics opening ceremony.

source: xinhuanet.com

To Australian journalist Garry Linnell, covering the Olympics in Beijing is “a lot of fun”. Dining “strange” food at noisy local restaurants, playing ping pong with the Chinese in park and even jogging at the Tian’anmen Square in the morning rush hour.

“I sweated a lot and people were staring at me, thinking I’m a crazy foreign guy,” Linnell said, joyfully recalling his half-hour adventure on Thursday and laughing.

A veteran sports reporter, Linnell, who works for Australia’s News Limited, arrived in Beijing half a month before the Games, leaving himself enough time to see the city and scrutinize the host’s preparations.

Tian’anmen Square is a must visiting place and Linnell has been there three times. “I interviewed local people and asked how they felt about the Olympics. I am glad that I could move around with no restrictions.”

As thousands of journalists pouring into Beijing, the host is making every effort to make the often critical group satisfied. From well-equipped media villages to the grandiose Main Press Center (MPC) and International Broadcasting Center (IBC), all life and work necessities seem to have been taken into consideration.

To many foreign reporters, the most noticeable phenomenon in Beijing is the huge number of volunteers who seem to be everywhere.

“I am impressed by the amount of people working here,” said Linnell, who also covered the 1992 Games in Barcelona and the 2000 Games in Sydney. “There are even two volunteers in front of the toilet room (in MPC).”

The Aussie said the volunteers are friendly and very helpful. Inorder to make it to an early TV interview, Linnell told volunteers at the transportation desk at the media village that he needs a Taxi at 5:00 o’clock in the morning. When he walked out of the building at 4:50 am, a Taxi awaited for him at the gate.

Brazilian reporter Rio do Janoiro shared Linnell’s compliments to the volunteers. “They are so attentive and ready to help.”

Janoiro said it’s a pity some of the volunteers don’t speak English. “But if they don’t understand, they call other people for help. I once had four to five volunteers around me trying to help. It’s so cool.”

According to the Beijing Organizing Committee of the 29th Olympic Games (BOCOG), there are about 100,000 Olympic volunteers in Beijing and the six co-host cities.

In addition to the huge number of personnel, Beijing’s efforts in providing first-class living and working environment are also “impressive”.

Linnell used “extraordinary” to describe the brand new North Star media village, which provides 6,000 rooms to accredited Olympic journalists. “It’s only 15 minutes away by bus from the MPC. The bed is big enough and the pillow is comfortable….”

In the Huiyuan media village which is two kilometers east to the MPC and IBC, about 2,000 volunteers and staff are working on shift and fitness center, clinic, bank, post office and free laundry are open to all journalists.

Stuart Vallace, staff of the Australian TV Channel 7, said he was very happy with the free laundry. “I spent 30 US dollars on laundry in Turin (Winter Games) for a bag of clothes. Here is free. It’s nice.”

In the Main Press Center, free snacks, fruits and coffee were served to all journalists twice everyday and the organizers even provide free massage service, hoping to help ease reporters’ pain on the neck, shoulder and back.

Despite all the efforts, complaints still came, ranging from food, internet, air or temperature.

Koji Kawasaki, a staff with the Events, Media and Public Relations Department of the Japanese Olympic Committee, said the food in the media village and the MPC is “not so good”. “There are not so many kinds of food…Bedsides, the price is a little bit expensive.”

Sun Weijia, director of the BOCOG Media Operations Department, said the prices, which were approved by the IOC, are in accordance to the Olympic traditions and also according to the agreement signed by BOCOG.

“We provide food at different levels of prices. There are also low-priced food available,” Sun said. The official catering service provider for 2008 Summer Games is the U.S.-based Aramark Coporation, whose cooperation with the IOC dates back to the 1968 Mexico City Summer Games.

In contrast to the critics, many reporters chose to shrug the complaints off and focused on their work.

“I can visit all the Brazilian websites. Till now, I have no problem visiting the websites I need for work,” Janoiro said. “It’s difficult to satisfy everyone. I can see that the BOCOG is doing things and they are working so good. It’s not necessary to complain about everything.”

Australia’s Linnell said he noticed Beijing’s efforts in fixing problems.

Linnell said he could see the “nervousness” of the organizers in the start, as all reporters were asked to drink the water in the bottle and turn on the laptop when passing through the security check points.

“It was frustrating. But now the security check is getting a lot easier,” he said, adding that he thought it showed the organizers “prepare to learn and listen.”

As an Australian, Linnell said his “unbiased” opinion is that 2000 Sydney Olympics is the greatest Olympic Games ever. As for the upcoming Beijing Games, “I think most people think it’ll be magnificent,” Linnell smiled.

source: xinhuanet.com

For some, not anymore. High-profile Beijing Olympics sponsors Kodak, Lenovo, and J&J are pulling the plug on future Games

With the opening ceremonies for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games just days away, corporate sponsors are getting ready to do victory laps of their own. This year’s Olympics have been hyped as a blockbuster for marketers, a chance to ride the wave of Chinese national pride that may translate into billions of dollars in sales of Adidas sneakers, McDonald’s (MCD) Big Macs, or General Electric (GE) wind turbines.
But Beijing 2008 is likely to go down as the high-water mark of the Olympic sponsorship program. While the Games offer unique attractions to sponsors, multinationals are already looking more critically at whether the payback will be worth it for future Games. Of the 12 global sponsors for the Beijing Olympics, only eight have signed on for the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver and 2012 Summer Games in London. (The International Olympic Committee sells sponsorships in four-year increments to cover both Winter and Summer Games.)
Among the high-profile sponsors deciding to back away is Lenovo. Its sponsorship of the 2006 Winter Games in Turin and the 2008 Summer Games in Beijing will be a one-time shot for the Chinese PC maker. Other current sponsors not ponying up for the next pair of Games will be Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) and Manulife Financial (MFC). Even longtime Olympic supporter Eastman Kodak (EK), a sponsor since the IOC first established its global partnership program in 1986, has pulled the plug. “It’s just not the best way for us to spend our money,” says Kodak Chief Executive Antonio Perez.
Payback Is Elusive for Sponsors
The issue comes down to weighing the value of shelling out increasing amounts of money vs. the potential payback. Companies have paid $866 million, or an average of $72 million apiece, to sponsor the Turin and Beijing Games (BusinessWeek.com, 1/30/06). That’s almost one-third more than the $663 million total paid to back the Salt Lake City and Athens Games in 2002 and 2004, and up from $579 million for the Nagano-Sydney cycle in 1998 and 2000. Rowland Jack, a senior bid consultant in the sports marketing and sponsorship team at Hill & Knowlton, says the attractiveness of the Beijing Games was probably a big factor accounting for the jump in sponsorship fees, as so many companies were interested in bidding.
Yet some research suggests few consumers even notice who is backing the Games. In a survey of 1,500 Chinese city dwellers earlier this year by London’s Fournaise Marketing Group, only 15% could name two of the 12 global sponsors, and just 40% could name one sponsor: Coca-Cola (KO). Adding to the confusion for consumers are 21 additional national-level sponsors, including Adidas and Volkswagen (VOWG.DE). “If you are a traditional marketer, it’s a big waste of money,” says Fournaise CEO Jerome Fontaine.
Some sponsors feel otherwise. Longtime partner Coke has signed on through the 2020 Games. “Coke has not in the least reconsidered its Olympic sponsorship,” says Kevin Tressler, director of Coke’s Worldwide Sports & Entertainment Marketing. Neither has GE, which has landed $700 million in revenues from 400 Olympics-related projects such as rainwater recycling at Beijing’s Bird’s Nest stadium. GE is a partner in London 2012, too.

Chinese Market Immaturity Was a Draw
There are other factors that make the Beijing Games unique. While provisions of the IOC charter ensure that nonsponsors’ ads are restricted in and around Olympics venues to prevent ambush marketing (BusinessWeek.com, 3/12/08), Beijing extended the ban to all outdoor advertising in the city’s airports, buses, and billboards within the city center. And just two weeks ago, the China Advertising Assn. took things even further, by saying use of Chinese Olympic athletes by nonsponsors was banned countrywide during the Games—something no other host country would attempt. (Companies can, however, apply for exemptions, as Nike (NKE) has done for its spots featuring China’s gold-medal winning hurdler Liu Xiang.)
Another draw of Beijing 2008: the relative immaturity of the Chinese consumer market, and the intense pride among Chinese in hosting the Games. “For any kind of marketer or advertiser, you have to view the Olympics in Beijing differently from Olympics in other countries,” says Michael Zhang, managing director of MediaCom China (MCCM). Government officials will notice which companies show up in support (BusinessWeek.com, 5/28/08) even if consumers don’t, a major factor for sponsors in a country where guanxi, or relationships, are such an integral part of doing business.
But corporate relationship-building with government officials is unlikely to rank high when companies weigh the costs of sponsoring the 2012 Games. “I don’t see that as important in London, where you are talking about a developed and mature market where commercial realities stand on their own merits,” says Richard Basil-Jones, managing director of Nielsen Media Asia Pacific in Hong Kong.
Instead, marketers will have to weigh whether there are more cost-effective ways to reach consumers and leverage Olympic enthusiasm without having to pay the high price. Frank Vial, strategy director of branding agency Landor Associates, argues that in a world that’s moving toward targeted marketing, “maybe the Olympics will have to reinvent itself as something other than a global, monolithic brand.”

Balfour is BusinessWeek’s Asia Correspondent in Hong Kong and Jana is deputy Innovation editor at BusinessWeek. With Jena McGregor in New York

from: businessweek.com

Beijing Olympics 2008

Olympic-themed condom adverts have been released in China to coincide with the start of the 2008 Beijing Games.

The cheeky adverts, which depict stick-man athletes using condoms as apparatus in Olympic events, have become a viral sensation in China.

The contraceptives prove themselves remarkably versatile, standing in as bicycle wheels, basketball nets, archery targets and gymnastic rings.

A ribbed condom is also used to illustrate choppy water in the swimming version of the campaign.

The adverts were made for Chinese condom-maker Elasun, with the broken English slogan “Sports make you health”.

The firm is by no means first to make the connection between the Games and sex, with Olympic villages reputed to be hotbeds of after-hours indulgence.

Earlier this week it emerged that the 16,000 competitors staying in the Beijing village will be able to purchase a wide variety of soft pornography, including erotic books featuring provocative pictures of naked women with titles such as “Drawing book for the Nude”.

At the 2004 Athens Olympics 130,000 free condoms were made available to athletes and officials.

In the Sydney 2000 Games, each competing athlete was given 51 condoms on arrival at the Olympic Village, but another 20,000 had to be shipped in when supplies began to run low.

Paul Hamm probably could have gutted through the pain in his broken hand. A bad shoulder that prevented him from doing some of his routines? With less than a week of training before the Beijing Games?
That was too tall an order, even for the reigning Olympic champion.
Hamm withdrew from the Beijing Olympics on Monday, saying he won’t be healthy enough to compete. He still is feeling pain in the right hand he broke two months ago, but the bigger concern could be the strained rotator cuff in his left shoulder that made training last week “a disaster.”
“For my comeback to be successful, I needed to make continuous progress and have no setbacks,” an emotional Hamm said. “The time frame I was given was extremely short. … This has been hardest decision I’ve ever had to make, but I have too much respect for the Olympics and my team to continue on when I know the best thing for everyone is for me to step aside.”
The loss of Hamm is a huge blow for the Americans, who were fourth at last year’s world championships and hoped his return — and that of twin brother Morgan — would get them back on the podium. Hamm is the only American to win the world (2003) or Olympic (2004) all-around titles.
Raj Bhavsar, who also was an alternate in 2004, will take Hamm’s spot.
USA Gymnastics also is still waiting for final clearance on Morgan Hamm, who received a warning July 3 from the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency for getting a prescribed anti-inflammatory shot without having filed the proper paperwork.
“Paul at his best is irreplaceable,” Bhavsar said. “(But) I believe in my heart the team goal is the same, and it’s definitely within our potential. … We’re not ever going to give up on that dream.”
Hamm’s withdrawal also clears the way for China’s Yang Wei in the all-around. Yang, the two-time defending world champion, is so technically superior that Hamm was co nsidered the only one who could challenge him.
“I was giving myself the chance to see how this past week went, to see if I could turn the corner at any point. That just never happened,” Hamm said. “When you go into the Olympic Games, you’re supposed to be in the best shape of your life. Not the worst shape.”
Hamm broke the fourth metacarpal — the bone extending from his right ring finger to his wrist — May 22 at the national championships, just 11 weeks before the start of the games. It’s a devastating injury for a gymnast, because every one of the six events the men do puts a heavy load of stress on the hand. Many moves require the hand to be twisted sharply or support a gymnast’s entire body weight.
Hand specialist Dr. Lawrence Lubbers stabilized the fracture May 27, inserting a titanium plate and nine tiny screws. Though Hamm was allowed to do strength and conditioning work, he wasn’t cleared to resume full gymnastics activity until July 3.
Hamm’s recovery appeared to be on track when he proved he was physically able to compete at a July 19 intrasquad meet. He did portions of all six events that day, estimating he was about 90 percent, but said he still had pain in the right hand.
He said his shoulder began hurting the day after that intrasquad meet. When he returned home to Columbus, Ohio, it was clear just what a toll the hard training had taken.
Time and again last week, he got up on the still rings only to have to quickly drop back off. Skills he had been able to do a few days earlier were now impossible.
“There came a point in the gym where I almost threw my arms in the air and just knew, this wasn’t working,” the 25-year-old Hamm said. “It was a really tough decision for me to make. You could drag this out even further. But what I know with my body and what I feel, there’s no point for me to do that. It’s not in the best interest of everyone involved.
“I pushed for the comeback, I did everything I possibly could,” he said. “There just wasn’t enough time. I feel like if I had another month, I would have been able to get the job done.”
But he didn’t have a month. The American men go through processing Tuesday and leave for China on Wednesday. Podium training — the one opportunity gymnasts have to train on the competition floor and in front of judges before the meet begins — is Aug. 6.
The men’s competition begins Aug. 9.
The Americans likely would have needed him on all six events in both qualifying and team finals. Because the scoring format in team finals is so unforgiving — three athletes compete on each event and all three scores count — Hamm didn’t want to hurt the Americans if he wasn’t fully ready to go.
“We were so close,” Lubbers said. “Without the shoulder, we probably would have made it. But the two were just too much.”
Hamm did talk with USA Gymnastics officials about going to Beijing and only doing a few events. But that isn’t realistic or fair, he said, especially considering rings is one of the events the Americans would have needed him on.
“What stopped us, I think, is the shoulder,” coach Miles Avery said. “It’s just from working hard. It’s just an overuse injury. If you rest and ice it, you’ll be fine and can pick back up. We don’t have the time.”
Hamm’s withdrawal likely ends the career of one of, if not the best gymnasts the United States has ever had. In addition to his world and Olympic titles, he led the Americans to a silver medal in Athens, their first at the Olympics in 20 years.
His comeback in Athens was one of the most spectacular ever in the sport. After a fall on vault dropped him to 12th place with only two events left, he rallied with two of the best routines of his career to win the gold.
Two days later, however, the International Gymnastics Federation said that bronze medalist Yang Tae-young of South Korea had been wrongly docked a tenth of a point on his second-to-last event.
Add that extra tenth, and Yang would have scored higher than Hamm. That assumes, though, that everything in the final rotation would have played out the same, something nobody can say for sure.
The Koreans did not protest in time, and the FIG said it couldn’t change results after the competition. But the Koreans took the matter all the way to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, forcing Hamm to defend his gold medal. CAS eventually declared Hamm the rightful champion.
Despite taking 2 1/2 years off after Athens — an unprecedented layoff in the sport — Hamm had firmly established himself as a contender for another gold, winning every meet he entered this year, often by large margins. Even with his injury, he still finished the first night of nationals almost four points ahead.
“Enough cannot be said about the effort Paul has made over the last few months and the contributions he has already made,” said Steve Penny, president of USA Gymnastics. “His decision is being made with the team’s best interests in mind. It’s a shame that it’s happening right now, and one of the world’s best gymnasts will not be able to compete at this summer’s Olympic Games.”
Hamm, a three-time U.S. champion, also was the cornerstone of silver medal teams at the 2001 and 2003 world championships. He has five medals from the world championships, and three from the Olympic Games.
He had said he planned to retire after Beijing, and said Monday that is still his intention. He graduated from Ohio State last year with a degree in accounting and plans to go to business school.
“It’s going to be tough, but I’m going to be cheering on the team, watching Morgan,” Hamm said. “I’m going to try and enjoy it from the spectator’s standpoint, I guess, this time around.”

by: By NANCY ARMOUR

source: mlive.com

Iraq have been banned from next month’s Beijing Games because of a government decision to disband the country’s National Olympic Committee (NOC), a senior official said on Thursday.

“This morning we were informed of the final decision of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to suspend the membership of the Iraqi Olympic Committee,” NOC general secretary Hussein al-Amidi told Reuters.

“It is a blow to Iraq and its international reputation, its athletes and its youth.”

The government of Iraq disbanded the NOC in May because of a dispute over how it had been assembled. The IOC gave Iraq a deadline to reinstate the committee but the government has refused to back down.

Iraq had planned to send a small team despite violence that has killed more than 100 athletes in the country since the 2003 United States-led invasion.

At least seven Iraqi athletes, two rowers, a weightlifter, a sprinter, a discus thrower, a judoka and an archer, had won places in Beijing.

“There’s nothing I can do. The government of Iraq wanted this. I can’t believe I’m not going to take part in the Beijing Olympics. The news is hard to take,” archer Ali Adnan told Reuters from Egypt where he had been training.

IOC DISAPPOINTED
The IOC, which has long supported Iraqi athletes training abroad to prepare for the Games, said it was very disappointed.

“We sent a letter to the Iraqi government today saying that as the situation stands today it is unlikely to have Iraqi athletes at the Beijing Games,” said IOC spokesperson Emmanuelle Moreau.

The chances of Iraq reinstating the NOC seem slim. The government has said the committee was illegitimate because it lacked a quorum and had failed to hold new elections.

“There is no review of the government’s decision because it was taken in accordance with the law,” Youth and Sports Minister Jasem Mohammed Jaafar told Reuters.

However, the IOC said the Olympic Charter forbids political interference in the Olympic Movement.

Rule 28(9) of the Charter provides for the suspension of an NOC in the event “any governmental body…causes the activity of the NOC…to be hampered.”

The Iraqi government was invited to go to (the IOC’s headquarters in) Lausanne to discuss possible remedies but did not positively respond to the invitation, the IOC said.

DETERMINED ATHLETES

Iraqi athletes had been determined to make their presence felt in Beijing despite the difficulties they faced.

Athletes’s reputations and international links make them and their families targets for violence in Iraq and the country’s sports infrastructure has decayed over decades.

Former basketball player and NOC boss Ahmed al-Hadjiya was kidnapped along with other sports officials by gunmen who stormed a conference in broad daylight in 2006. They are still missing.

Sport gave Iraqis arguably their greatest moment of unity since the fall of Saddam Hussein when the national soccer team, including members of all its main warring groups, defeated a heavily favoured Saudi Arabia to win the Asian Cup last year.

Over the last five years the IOC and the wider Olympic family have provided funding and training opportunities to support Iraq’s NOC and more than 50 Iraqi athletes and coaches.

“The Iraqi government’s actions have destroyed this progress,” an IOC official said.

(Writing by Mohammed Abbas; additional reporting by Karolos Grohmann in Athens and Wisam Mohammed and Tim Cocks in Baghdad; editing by Jon Bramley, Ken Ferris and Pritha Sarkar)

source: reuters.com