Overall Medal Standings
Labels: Olympic medals, Olympics
Olympics - Dutch Cancer Survivor Wins Marathon Swimming Gold
Cancer survivor Maarten van der Weijden of the Netherlands captured the gold medal in the men's 10km open swimming race on Thursday at the Olympics, finishing a scant 1.5 seconds ahead of Great Britain's David Davies. Thomas Lurz of Germany won the bronze medal and was a full two seconds behind van der Weijden's pace of 1 hour, 51 minutes, 51.6 seconds. The result completed a fairy tale comeback for the 27-year-old van der Weijden, who was diagnosed with leukemia in 2001. That put a hold on his swimming career, but he came back for the 2003 and '04 Open Water World Championships. He now dedicates time to the fight against cancer.
Labels: EU, Netherlands, Olympics, swimming
Olympics Soccer: Nigeria: Dream Team Cruises to Olympics Soccer Final against Argentina - by Aliou Goloko
Nigeria qualified for the final of the soccer tournament at the Beijing Olympics on Tuesday by defeating Belgium by four goals to one, 12 years after winning the gold medal at the Atlanta games. They will be playing Argentina which won a 3-1 victory over Brazil for the gold medal.
Basketball - U.S. brings pain to Spain and soars past them, 119-82, in Olympic men's basketball game - by Mark Heisler
After buttering up undefeated Spain for two days, or convincing themselves the Spaniards were a threat, the U.S. routed them, 119-82, Saturday night in the Wukesong Arena. The U.S. is 4-0, leading Pool B. The only other undefeated team is Lithuania, which is 4-0 in Pool A. Despite the skepticism that comes with seven losses in the last three world competitions, it's becoming ever clearer this is an old-fashioned, dominant U.S. team. "When you commit to something, the hard work that you put in, you want the prize at the end, and they've identified the prize," said Jay Triano, the Toronto Raptors assistant who coached the U.S. select team against the big team in practices in Las Vegas.Posting up NBA-style, Gasol was like a human bull's-eye. The U.S. players have spent weeks adjusting to the international drive-and-kick game with its premium on three-point shooting. Post basketball is something they already know from the NBA. So the U.S. players double-teamed Spain's Gasol as if he were Shaquille O'Neal in his prime. Just for good measure, they ran the offense through Gasol's man, usually Dwight Howard, at the other end.
Labels: Basketball, Dream team, Olympics, USA
The Olympics as a political arena - by Dallas Darling
When Georgia and Russia came to blows over the long-sought-after reunification of South and North Ossetia, it reminded me of ancient Sparta and Arcadia. In 420 and again in 360 BC, Sparta and Arcadia used the Olympic lull to attack and defeat several neighboring Greek city states. [1] For anyone who believes the Olympic Games brought peace and harmony, they are wrong. The Olympics have instead been used as a political instrument to either further imperialistic values and ambitions, or express international outrage against human rights abuses. In the mythical world that the ancient Greeks dreamed and wrote about, it would be easy to believe sports could be separate from politics and war. In the real world, though, sporting events, such as the Olympic arena, are often symbolic ritual performances of politics and conflicts.
China: Editorial: Games controversies provide a view of an unfamiliar world
Halfway through the Olympic Games that pledged to show the world a "New China, New Beijing, New Olympics", the Chinese certainly seem to have their PR work cut out. For many, the abiding image is just as likely to be that of seven-year-old Yang Peiyi, who sings like an angel but was adjudged not pretty enough to appear before the eyes of billions at the opening ceremony. She was replaced by a lip-syncing Lin Miaoke who was, in the eyes of ceremony organizers - "flawless in image, internal feelings and expression". The switch was revealed in an interview with the ceremony's music designer, broadcast - apparently unapologetically and certainly unremarked-on - on state-run television, which suggests that Chinese television audiences may not have found it either remarkable or reprehensible. But in some corridor of power, the Western reaction was quickly noted: an immediate and hostile international response prompted the pulling of the interview from the Chinese news website sina.com, where it had been briefly posted.
Overall Medal Standings - EU Nations total 72, China 35 and the US 34
If the EU had participated in the Olympics as a Federation of Nations they would be the overwhelming total medal holders with 72 medals won so far versus 35 for China and 34 for the US.
Labels: EU, Olympic medals, Olympics
China - Failing the real Olympic test - by David Bandurski
When the Chinese Government last week reneged on its pledge to offer unfettered internet access to foreign journalists in Beijing to cover the Olympic Games, the flashpoint issue of press freedom in China moved once again to centre stage. BOCOG spokesman Sun Weide responded to concerns over the blocking of internet sites: "Our promise was that journalists would be able to use the internet for their work during the Olympic Games. So we have given them sufficient access to do that."Ah, so the slogan of media freedom was really about "sufficient access"? But as we criticise China's Government for its cynical actions, and as we harp incessantly on the Olympics as a test of media freedoms in China, aren't we glossing over our own duplicity? Our promises resound like empty slogans, too. We talk about human rights in China, about its commitment to media freedoms. But we seem to have forgotten how meagre the promise was that we levied on the Chinese in the first place as a condition of playing host to this year's Games.
China's Climate Change Playbook is Worth Reading - by Jonathan Lash and Deborah Nelson
The Olympics are an opportunity for the U.S. and China to better understand each other and move forward together on fighting climate change.The Olympics offers an opportunity for the U.S. and China to better understand each other and move forward together on fighting climate change.China and the U.S. are the world’s two biggest producers of greenhouse gases. The U.S. can no longer use China as an excuse for inaction. Contrary to popular belief, China is already implementing a comprehensive energy policy that addresses climate change. While China’s climate-change challenge equals the U.S. in scale, China’s emissions footprint is fundamentally different. In the U.S., one-third of energy use and CO2 emissions come from transportation. In China, transport accounts for just 10 percent of emissions, and industry is the biggest contributor by far.
Labels: China, Olympics, Pollution and the environment, US
Berlusconi ally urges Italian athletes to show dissent in Beijing
A senior member of Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's political party has triggered a row by urging Italy's Olympic officials to allow Italian athletes at the Olympics to protest China's human rights policies. Maurizio Gasparri, chief whip in Italy's Senate for Berlusconi's People of Freedom party, also said he would send the athletes in Beijing a video showing 'Communist China's daily repression in Tibet,' according to a statement from his office Tuesday.
Labels: China, EU, Italy, Olympics, Silvio Berlusconi
Olympics "Catastrophic" for Chinese Press Freedom
A Chinese journalist jailed for her reporting told a conference in Paris today (Friday) that press freedom and human rights have worsened in China and that conditions for journalists in the run-up to the Olympics are "considerably more catastrophic" than they were when she was arrested 15 years ago. "Freedom of the press and human rights constitute the most serious problem currently facing China," said Gao Yu, who was arrested in 1993 and sentenced to six years in prison for sending two articles on current affairs to a Hong Kong review. She was charged with "divulging state secrets", a catch-all charge often used by Chinese authorities to stifle independent reporting and dissent.
Labels: China, Freedom of the Press, Olympics, Tibet
Flemish Government Will Not Attend CDhina Olympic Opening Ceremony
No Flemish government member will attend the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in Beijing", Bert Anciaux, the Flemish Minister of Sport, stated at a session of the Commission on Foreign Policy in the Flemish Parliament in Brussels dedicated to the Olympics and the human rights situation in China. The Minister, who had some personal experience with the Chinese regime last year when he was invited to China and saw his visa revoked after he announced he would speak about the situation in Tibet, said he tries to find a balance between his commitment towards sports and respect for human rights.
"The problem is not that the Olympic Games will take place in China, but that the Chinese regime is using the Olympics as a propaganda event at the expense of the fundamental rights of the Chinese people." —Nicolas Schols, representative of the Belgian Falun Dafa Association
Boycot China Olympics: Largest crackdown on gays in China ahead of Olympics
AIDS activists and gay rights supporters in China have sounded an alarm following one of the largest crackdowns on gays and lesbians in Beijing, evidently as part of a “clean-up” ahead of the Olympics. Wan Yanhai, China’s best known and most outspoken AIDS activist, has detailed several instances of police raids targeted at LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans-sexual communities) in Beijing during March. Several gays and lesbians have been detained or interrogated, and establishments frequented by them have been raided and, in some cases, even shut down. Gays and lesbians otherwise enjoy unfettered freedom to live out their lifestyle in China, where homosexuality has been decriminalised in recent years. Official Chinese policy towards gay issues is, however, characterised by the “three Nos”: no approval, no disapproval and no promotion.
Labels: China, Gay Rights, Olympics
Boycott China Olympics: Brown denies avoiding China row
Gordon Brown has rejected suggestions he avoided a human rights row with China because Britain could not afford to jeopardize economic relations. "It's nothing to do with that - in a human rights dialogue with China we make our views perfectly clear," the prime minister told the BBC. Note EU-Digest: Tell us another one Mr. Brown...
Labels: Britain, China, Council of Europe, Gordon Brown, Olympics
Boycott China Olympics: Demonstrations in Paris against Human Rights abuses
The Olympic torch was extinguished several times during demonstrations in Paris that denounced China, host of the Summer Games, for its policies in Tibet. In the end, organizers canceled the final leg of the torch procession through the city. Police officers apprehended an advocate for Tibetan rights who was waving the Tibetan flag. The protests turned the torch relay into a chaotic series of stops and starts.
Labels: China, Human Rights, Olympics
London - Police compete in olympic farce - Boycott China's olympics and expose their terrible Human Rights record
To all those who think politics shouldn't enter into sport - well I'm really sorry but thousands of people being beaten, tortured, forcibly sterilized and imprisoned while their country is ethnically cleansed, colonised and ransacked of it's timber and minerals is just way more important than running and swimming races. If only the IOC had said to China "Very nice bid for the games but your human rights record just stinks! Clean up your act and only then will we consider you as a host in the future". Imagine then how much the regime in China would just have to start changing its brutal ways. Instead the IOC at a stroke afforded the Chinese government respectability which is what they most desired in the world and effectively said that human rights are only a minor issue compared to sport. What a wasted opportunity to do real good.
Note EU-Digest: let us not forget the devious role sponsoring corporations play in this so called "major sport event" and those hypocritical political dignitaries, who pride themselves for being democratic leaders, planning to attend the event. Compliments to European and other world leaders, including Mrs. Merkel from Germany and Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who have had the moral courage to announce they are not attending because of China's terrible Human Rights record and the attrocities in Tibet.
Labels: China, Human Rights, Olympics
Chinese Christian believers to print Olympic Bible in China
As Tibetan Monks continue to protest against the Chinese government, Chinese believers are excited about the possibility of outreach during the Olympics games in Beijing this year. China Partner works with the registered church in the country. China Partner's Erik Burklin says, "The China Christian Council is right now working with the Olympic committee to print a New Testament of the Bible both in English and Chinese. It will be handed out as a gift to incoming athletes and foreigners attending the Olympics this summer in Beijing and for the media personnel that are coming in."Some 20,000 Bibles will be printed. Burklin says the Bibles will also be placed in local hotels.
Labels: China, Christianity, Olympics
French President refuses to rule out Olympics ceremony boycott
French President Nicolas Sarkozy said Tuesday that "all options were open" regarding a possible boycott of the Beijing Olympics' opening ceremony. "All options are open and I appeal to the Chinese leaders' sense of responsibility," Sarkozy said during a visit to the southwestern Pyrenees region. Aides to Sarkozy said France had not shut the door on a possible boycott of the August 8 Olympics opening ceremony, even though it still opposed calls to stay away from the entire games. "I want a dialogue to start and I will step up my response according to the response given by the Chinese authorities," Sarkozy said.
The media rights group Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has called for a boycott of the opening ceremony to protest China's human rights record and the violence in Tibet.
Following film director Steven Spielberg's decision last month to pull out as an adviser to the Beijing Games opening ceremony over China's support for Sudan, the IOC were already bracing themselves for a wave of protests in the run up to the start of this summer's Olympics.But yesterday's crackdown in Lhasa has left many in the Olympic movement fearing that the Beijing Games could now be hit by a series of international boycotts, reviving memories of America's withdrawal from the 1980 Moscow Olympics over the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.
Although European leaders yesterday dismissed talk of a boycott, one leading IOC member told the Daily Telegraph: "Clearly we are very worried about the situation. Our role is ultimately to organise a good Games but we have always been clear; when things start to affect the Games then we will react."
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