The International Olympic Committee stripped China of a bronze medal in the women’s team event at the 2000 Olympic Games, after finding one of the team’s athletes was underage.
You think?!?
The United States will be awarded the bronze medal instead, the IOC said in a news release.
“The FIG conducted an inquiry which showed that the athlete was only 14 years old during the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games,” the IOC said. Under FIG qualification rules, athletes must be 16 in the year of the Games in order to compete.
The IOC’s executive board on Wednesday decided to reallocate the results of the events that Dong participated in. She had placed sixth in the women’s individual floor exercises and seventh in the women’s individual vault.
Dong has been disqualified from all the events she participated in, which also included the women’s individual uneven bars, the women’s individual all-around and the women’s individual balance beam.
source: China stripped of medal; gymnast found to be underage [CNN]
Scotty Lago is leaving the Vancouver Olympics a little early, as the X-Games stars got a little XXX.
American halfpipe bronze medalist Scotty Lago volunteered to leave the Olympics on Friday after risque pictures of him showed up on the Internet.Lago, who was awarded his bronze medal Thursday night, was at a party, wearing a Team USA T-shirt when somebody snapped a photo of a woman kneeling below Lago’s waist to kiss his medal. That picture, and another showing him sticking the medal in the woman’s mouth while teammate Greg Bretz looks on, appeared Friday on the TMZ Web site.
Lago apologized to officials at the U.S. Olympic Committee and the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association and decided to go home.
“Scotty Lago is a great athlete, but with that comes a responsibility of proper conduct, and his involvement in this situation is not acceptable,” U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association President and CEO Bill Marolt said in an e-mail. “Scotty realizes his conduct was inappropriate. He has formally apologized and also made a decision to leave Vancouver today.”
In the aftermath of several out-of-competition incidents in Turin, one of which resulted in the dismissal of freestyle skier Jeret Peterson, the USOC has made extra efforts to emphasize athletes be on their best behavior when they’re at the Olympics.
Frankly, the photos are pretty mild. But, sheesh, after the Michael Phelps fiasco, you’d think these guys would learn.
Story: ”Lago leaves after picture hits Web” AP/ESPN. Photo: “Olympian Scotty Lago — To the Victor Goes …” TMZ
With the 2010 Winter Olympics going on in Vancouver right now and a bit of controversy surrounding the games. Let’s take a look at the all time biggest scandals for the Winter Olympics shall we?
1994: Tonya Harding’s figure skating sabotage
The most widely publicized and oft-remembered scandal in Winter Olympic history is the attempted sabotage of U.S. figure skater Nancy Kerrigan by teammate Tonya Harding. Harding’s ex-husband and his friends attacked Kerrigan after a practice event for the 1994 Figure Skating Championships before the big games. Although Kerrigan was badly injured, she maintained her spot on the Olympic team and went on to win the U.S. the silver medal. In an ironic twist, Harding’s ice skate broke during her performance, and she came in eighth.
Harding was never officially charged with responsibility for the attack, although she did plead guilty to attempting to cover up the attack. However, the USFSA conducted its own investigation and found Harding guilty — she was stripped of her FSC win, and banned for life from all USFSA events.
2002: Salt Lake City officials bribe IOC to win bid
After multiple failed attempts to win the bid for the Winter Games, the heads of the Salt Lake City Olympics Committee decided to try a new approach for 2002: bribery. They spent millions on gifts, trips, scholarships, and plastic surgery for International Olympics Committee members, and even hooked their family members up with jobs. Of course, it worked, and Salt Lake won the bid. The bribery was uncovered in 1998, and the two heads of the SLOC, as well as several members of the IOC, all resigned.
2006: Skier Bode Miller skis while drunk
A month before the 2006 Winter Games at Torino, U.S. favorite Bode Miller appeared on 60 Minutes. He ended up revealing that he had skied while “wasted” before, and that he wouldn’t be opposed to trying it again. Obviously, the public wasn’t very happy about this. Miller’s sponsors, coaches, and fans all questioned his devotion to the sport, and he quickly apologized and backtracked. This year, he came back strong and won the bronze medal in the men’s downhill event
1988: Ticket scams galore
Trouble at the 1988 Calgary games started way before the torch was lit. For starters, the government reserved 10,000 tickets for officials, sponsors, and other “VIPs,” leaving tickets for the public in short supply. Scalpers had a field day with the remaining few, and hiked their prices up to as high as $4,000 a ticket.
Additionally, ticket manager James McGregor scammed American ticket-buyers into paying the ticket price (listed in Canadian dollars) in American dollars, then pocketing the difference. He was later charged with fraud and spent five years in prison. In an ironic twist, not a single Canadian athlete won a gold medal in the 1988 games. (Canada finally ended their gold medal drought in home Olympics this year.)
1968: Women’s luge competitors cheat with heat
East Germany dominated the women’s luge competition in 1968, taking first, second, and fourth place. Few wondered how, after it was discovered that the women had been heating up the runners of their sleds prior to the races to increase their speed. All three of their medals were revoked, and third-place Italy was awarded the gold.
1976: Denver originally won the bid… but taxpayers refused
Taking note of this sign, which was photographed at the 1972 Olympics, you might recall that the 1976 Olympic games actually took place in Innsbruck, Austria. When, in 1970, Denver won the bid for the Olympics, everyone was excited — except for the citizens of Colorado. Concerns about a rise in taxes prompted them to reject the bid in the Fall of ’72, and the games were moved to Austria. This was the first and only time in history that citizens have refused the honor of hosting the Olympics.
1998: Is marijuana a performance-enhancing drug?
Canadian Ross Rebagliati won the first ever gold for snowboarding at the 1998 Olympics. And then he immediately had it taken away when authorities found traces of THC in his blood. Rebagliati argued that his friends had been smoking around him and the substances must have gotten in his system secondhand. Shoddy excuse aside, the decision was quickly overturned and Rebagliati’s medal reinstated when the Court of Arbitration for Sports determined that the International Ski Federation had not put marijuana on its list of banned substances.
1994: UK’s stars lose out over controversial “lift”
Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean seemed like an unstoppable duo. They became the highest-scoring figure skaters of all time in the 1984 Olympics, when they earned perfect scores across the board. So when the pair ended up with the bronze medal in 1994 after a seemingly perfect routine, everyone was surprised.
Some of the judges argued that one of the couple’s “overhead lifts” was illegal and marked them down severely for it. But Torvill and Dean countered that their lift did not violate the rule, and asked why no one had noticed it in the preliminaries. Further inconsistencies in the judging for figure skating across the board were later revealed. 1994 was their last competition. To this day, the pair holds firm that the lift was legal.
2002: Corrupt judge docks points from flawless performance
After Canadian figure skaters Jamie Sale and David Pelletier performed their flawless routine, Olympic commentators across the board assumed they would win. So it was a shocker to everyone when the judges awarded the gold to the Russian team, who had made an obvious technical error during their performance.
“How did that happen?” exclaimed NBC announcer Scott Hamilton.
As it turned out, French judge Marie-Reine Le Gougne had arranged a deal with the Russian judges to score their team higher in exchange for favorable marks for the French team in another competition.
Sale and Pelletier were awarded a second set of gold medals.
2010: Vancouver’s deadly luge track
The 2010 Olympics have barely begun, but disaster struck early. On Friday, Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili was taking his second practice run of the day when he spun out of control on a straightaway, flew off his sled, and hit a steel pole at 88 MPH. He was pronounced dead soon after the crash.
The Olympics organizers wound up shortening the luge race by having men start at the women’s starting position, and eventually added more walls to the course and padding to the rails. But officials refused to admit the course was dangerous, and pathetically blamed Kumaritashvili for his crash and death.
2010: NBC ruins the Olympics for millions by refusing to broadcast events live
NBC: The network that prevents you from watching the Olympics.
In the age of Twitter, 24/7 real-time online news coverage, and real-time everything, NBC still thinks it’s 1976, and that the best way to cover the Olympics is via tape delay. Actually, that’s the worst way to cover the Olympics. For instance, by the time NBC got around to airing Bode Miller’s downhill run last night, everyone already knew that he came in third place.
You know, I still can’t believe that NBC think it’s okay not to air the Olympics live. What would be your choices?
source: The 10 Worst Winter Olympics PR Disasters Of All Time [Business Insider]
Georgian luge competitor Nodar Kumaritashvili died today after crashing into a steel pole at 90 mph.
It was only hours before the Olympics were set to open in Vancouver, that the crash claimed the life of the 21-year-old competitor.
The luge competitor was training at the Whistler Sliding Centre in Whistler, B.C., when his sled veered off the Olympic track and crashed.
An official statement said, “Georgian slider Nodar Kumaritashvili has had a serious crash in the final run of official training for the men’s singles on Friday. He fell out of the track when he crashed. He was treated on site by medical staff who administered CPR, and was then taken away in an ambulance.”
Officials suspended training after the accident. This is not the first reported incident, as others who have trained on the same track have had injuries as well.
source: Olympic luger Nodar Kumaritashvili from Georgia is killed after horrific training crash – [nydn]
The decade is ending, another list is made, yada yada yada. But this is one that is actually pretty good, the top 10 sporting moments of the past decade. Take a look and see if your favorite sporting moment is on it.
10. 2006 college football championship game, Texas 41, U.S.C. 38Video Here
It’s American college football, which translates about as well as George W. Bush internationally, but this wild ride and the Texas quarterback Vince Young transcended cultural barriers. Never has a winning touchdown run on 4th and 5 seemed more like a sure thing.
9. 2006 World Cup final, Italy 1-France 1 (5-3 on penalty kicks)Video Here
8. 2003 Rugby Union World Cup final, England 20, Australia 17Video Here
On a soggy night in Sydney, Jonny Wilkinson broke a tie and turned long-overdue England into a winner with a drop kick in the closing seconds of overtime.
7. Super Bowl XLII in 2008, New York Giants 17, New England Patriots 14Video Here
All that was required to keep the Patriots from the first perfect season in 35 years was a backup wide receiver, David Tyree, catching the ball on the side of his helmet on a third-down desperation pass with little more than a minute left. Eli Manning then threw the winning TD to Plaxico Burress.
6. 2008 Olympics, men’s 100-meter finalVideo Here
It wasn’t a race; it was Usain Bolt’s coming-out party. The tall Jamaican accelerated like no man in history, then downshifted with 20 meters to go. He still broke the world record.
5. 2008 Olympics, men’s 4-by-100 freestyle swimming relayVideo Here
With a half lap to go, Alain Bernard of France, the 100-meter world-record holder coming into the race, had a half-body length lead on Jason Lezak of the United States. France couldn’t possibly lose but did, and Michael Phelps would go on to win eight gold medals after all.
4. 2004 American League Championship Series, Game 4, Boston Red Sox 6, New York Yankees 4
One inning from being swept, the Red Sox stared down their bum luck and rallied to win. They went on to win the World Series for the first time since 1918, ending the “curse of the Bambino†(i.e., never trade Babe Ruth).
Tiger Woods in pain was even more compelling than Woods at the top of his game, and Woods limped and grimaced his way around the Torrey Pines course to a playoff victory over the lovable loser Rocco Mediate. Not bad for a man with a double stress fracture in his leg and a knee that would require surgery. Sounds like fun compared to what Woods has been through lately.
2. 2005 Champions League final, Liverpool 3, A.C. Milan 3 (3-2 on penalty kicks)Video Here
In Istanbul, Milan led 3-0 at halftime, which, considering how Milan usually plays defense, should have been more than enough. But three goals in six minutes from Liverpool turned this into a classic.
1. 2008 Wimbledon men’s final, Rafael Nadal def. Roger Federer, 6-4, 6-4, 6-7 (5-7), 6-7 (8-10), 9-7 Video Here
The perfect blend of the right men and the right moment. Nadal weathered two rain delays and an offensive from Federer to end his friendly archrival’s five-year reign at Wimbledon in a five-set epic that compared favorably with the John McEnroe-Bjorn Borg duel in 1980. The match, which lasted four hours and 48 minutes is widely considered by critics, players and fans alike as one of the greatest (if not THE greatest) tennis matches of all time.
President Barack Obama has been trying to get the Olympic leaders in Copenhagen to give the 2016 Olympics to Chicago.
Barack and his wife Michelle Obama both tried to to convince the leaders by saying “I urge you to choose Chicago, and if you do – if we walk this path together – then I promise you this: The city of Chicago and the United States of America will make the world proud.”
Well it has been announced that after the first round of voting Chicago has been knocked out of the running, Tokyo was also eliminated in the second round. Madrid and Rio de Janeiro are left, with the latter being the front runner.
Oprah Winfrey was also in Copenhagen doing her best to help the Olympic leaders, when the big O can’t persuade you then there must be a problem. Where would you like to see the Olympics being held?
source: Obamas’ Olympic Bid for Chicago Fails [People]
Phelps, who said that he “clearly made a mistake” and that the past week has been both embarrassing and uncomfortable for him, spoke with The Baltimore Sun inside Meadowbrook Aquatic Center after finishing his daily workout.
While he still has goals he wants to achieve in the sport, he said, he’s going to discuss it with his family and his coach, Bob Bowman.
“This is a decision of mine that I’m not going to make today and I’m not going to make tomorrow.
It’s going to require a lot of time and energy and a lot of thinking for myself – but also talking to Bob and talking to my family and just deciding what I want to do.
Yeah, there are still goals that I have in the pool, 100 percent. But I’m not going to let anything stand in my way. If I decide to walk away, I’ll decide to walk away on my own terms. If it’s now, if it’s four years, who knows. But it is something I need to think about and decide what I want to do.”
I’m sad for Michael Phelps. I don’t think he should retire. People will forget about this and move on to the next scandal. Right Christian Bale?
Chinese press and bloggers have been less than favorable about London’s contribution to Beijing’s Olympic closing ceremony – criticizing contributions from the London Mayor Boris Johnson and David Beckham.
As the torch was put out in the “Bird’s Nest” stadium, one blogger described Mr Johnson as “arrogant, rude and disrespectful” when he accepted the Olympic flag. There were mixed opinions too about the eight-minute cameo performance featuring a London bus, Beckham, the singer Leona Lewis, Led Zeppelin’s guitarist Jimmy Page, dancers and singers.
The Titan Sports Daily contrasted the “neatness” of the Chinese performers with the “outrageous outfits” worn by the Britons. Unlike the Chinese custom which tends not to reveal their weakness to the outsiders, “the British seem to like to laugh about their stupidity in a funny way”, it said.
“During the performance, when the London bus pulled over, all the passengers waiting for the bus rushed into the door at the same time, which truly damaged the British image,” it added.
In the run-up to the Games, Beijing officials had run a campaign to “civilize” the city’s inhabitants, teaching them of the importance of queuing in Western culture.
It also complained that Lewis and Page were not A-list celebrities. “Unfortunately, the singer and Jimmy Page are absolutely not famous enough to be known or recognized by millions of the Chinese audiences. As for David Beckham, he was supposed to kick the football towards the red circle in the center of the ‘Bird’s Nest’. In the end, just like any of his penalties at a football match, he totally missed it. He kicked the ball to the left and dropped in the crowd, then was picked up by a lucky Chinese volunteer who would not let go of the ball.”
The Daily First praised the use of a red London bus, but questioned whether the performance had anything to do with sport or the Olympic Games. Mr Johnson was also criticized for accepting the Olympic flag with one hand only.
source: Chinese ridicule London’s part in closing ceremony [independent]
Amanda Beard got naked, again, this time for a cause. But the dirty Commie Chinese tried to keep her down.
Olympic swimming gold medalist Amanda Beard had to launch her naked, anti-fur campaign poster outside the Athletes’ Village on Wednesday after Chinese authorities canceled a planned unveiling, citing safety concerns.
In a poster for the animal rights group PETA, the reigning 200-meter breaststroke champion appears naked in front of the U.S. flag and the slogan “Be comfortable in your own skin. Don’t wear fur.”
Jason Baker, an Asia-Pacific spokesman for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, said the launch was “a bit more dramatic than we had planned” after Chinese security officials visited a hotel where an official news conference had been scheduled and shut it down. “From what I’ve been told from the hotel, the public security bureau showed up at midnight and told them our specific event had to be canceled for safety reasons, without going into any specifics,” Baker said. “When I arrived at 8 a.m., there were public security officials in the press conference room we had booked. “Amanda didn’t want her voice to be silenced, so we went ahead and arranged something else — we never knew if we were going to be stopped at any point.”
Baker said the protest was not against China and did not interfere with the Olympics. Police and security saw the launch going ahead outside the south gate of the Athletes’ Village but did not interfere.
“It was a sexy ad really designed for the U.S. market. It was positive and it was (supposed) to be done in a private function room,” Baker said. “I’m surprised they were so concerned, given we’ve done similar (things) with Asian celebrities in the past.”
Beard, 26, who has posed nude in men’s magazines, said she decided to participate in the PETA campaign because she loved animals and was horrified to see how fur was produced for fashion in some places.
She said the Olympics was the perfect forum to get out a positive message, but now she was concentrating entirely on competition. “It’s an important issue — I’m proud to be part of this,” she said. “The more I’ve heard about what happens to the animals … fur ripped off them when they’re still alive — it’s heart breaking.” “I have seen a lot of the videos, and (it) brings me to tears,” the four-time Olympian said in a PETA statement. “What (some people) think is pretty is actually something that’s very gruesome and gross.”
Amanda Beard, though, is awesome and not at all gross. PETA had this to say:
Swimmer Amanda Beard might be the sexiest and most compassionate U.S. Olympic athlete of all time. Need proof? Check out the anti-fur ad that she did—naked—for PETA.
Even with her busy and demanding training schedule, Amanda took the time to bare her skin to help save animals’ skins. With the tagline “Be Comfortable in Your Own Skin. Don’t Wear Fur,” Amanda posed nude to help raise awareness of the cruelty inherent in the fur industry.
There’s also a video interview with Amanda about the making of the poster.
Dara Torres is smokin’ hot for a 41-year-old chick.
The above photo of Torres showing her six pack and a whole lot more is from a New York Times Magazine profile from over the weekend that J.A. Adonde can’t stop talking about on PTI. I finally had to take a lot for myself and I have to admit that I’d hit it, even if she is old enough to be a grandma.
Okay, she’d have had to have her first kid at twenty and that kid would have had to follow suit, but she could be a grandma at 41.
As it is, she’s just a mother of a 2-year-old todder, Tess Grace. I guess that just makes her a MILF.
She gets what Elizabeth Weil terms “a breathtaking body” honestly.
She broke her first of three world records in 1982, at 14, and she has retired from swimming and come back three times, her latest effort built on an obsessive attention to her aging body.
Torres’s retinue includes a head coach, a sprint coach, a strength coach, two stretchers, two masseuses, a chiropractor and a nanny, at the cost of at least $100,000 per year. At the Olympic trials, this week, in Omaha, Neb., she’s expected to swim fast enough to make her fifth Olympic team. If she does, she’ll be the first American swimmer to compete in five Olympics (despite sitting out 1996 and 2004). She’ll also be oldest female swimmer in the history of the Olympic games.
I hope she makes it. And then retires to do a nude shoot for Playboy before it’s too late.
Source:Â A Swimmer of a Certain Age [NYT Magazine]
Tyson Homosexual ran 100 meters in a wind-aided 9.68 seconds at the U.S. Olympic trials today, in what would have been world record time. I mean, Tyson Gay.
Leftie People For the American Way’s Right Wing Watch blog reports that,
In addition to blocking traffic from websites they don’t like, it looks like the web-geniuses behind the American Family Association’s OneNewsNow site have a few other tricks up their sleeves, such as automatically replacing any use of the word “gay†with the word “homosexual†in any of the AP stories they run … leading to instances in which proper names are reformatted to meet their ridiculous standard, such as this article about sprinter Tyson Gay winning the 100 meters at the U.S. Olympic track and field trials in which he is renamed “Tyson Homosexualâ€
As Steve Benen observes, “auto-replace is not your friend.”
I checked and, apparently, someone tipped off OneNewsNow and they have rendered Gay’s name as Gay in updated stories such as “Gay runs 100 in windy 9.68 to make US Olympic team.” Which, in this context, is still a pretty funny headline.
The sports world has no doubt had its fair share of hot female athletes, here’s a list of the Top 10 of all time.
10. Peggy Fleming
Peggy Fleming was a figure skater in the 60’s, winning a gold medal at the 1968 Winter Olympics. She parlayed her good looks into a job commentating on figure skating events that she held for over 20 years, including several Winter Olympic games. Fleming is now a breast cancer activist after successfully battling the disease in the late 90’s.
9. Maria Sharapova
Maria Sharapova is absolutely stunning, but she’s also a phenomenal athlete which makes her all the more attractive. While some women make this list almost primarily for their looks, Sharapova is just as noteworthy for her career achievements. Watching her play is always an enjoyable experience.
8. Gabrielle Reece
Gabrielle Reece was named by ELLE magazine as one of the five most beautiful Women in the World in 1989. Even though she was a very talented beach volleyball player, Reece was probably more well known for her modeling and television work. Most people who grew up watching MTV in the early 90’s will remember her as host of MTV Sports.
7. Danica Patrick
Danica Patrick is so hot she makes people care about IndyCar racing, at least for one weekend a year. That’s a hell of an achievement and pretty much enough said.
6. Biba Golic
I feel pretty comfortable saying that Biba Golic is the hottest table tennis player to ever live. She’s also the only table tennis player I’ve ever technically heard of, but I’m still willing to bet she’s the hottest.
5. Jennie Finch
Softball players don’t immediately come to mind when you think of hot female athletes, but Jennie Finch is definitely the exception. Probably for that reason, she’s the most famous softball player of all time. Finch has appeared in SI’s swimsuit issue and won an online ESPN.com poll naming her hottest female athlete.
4. Chris Evert
Chris Evert is one of the most popular women athletes the United States has ever had. Her nickname for quite awhile was actually “Chrissy Americaâ€. She was linked to damn near every high profile actor and athlete in the 70’s (including Burt Reynolds, Geraldo Rivera, Adam Faith, Vitas Gerulaitis, Pat Boone, and John Gardner “Jack†Ford, son of U.S. President Gerald Ford) and even hosted an episode of Saturday Night Live.
3. Anna Kournikova
Anna Kournikova would probably break the internet if she ever posed nude. She gets slammed unfairly for being a poor tennis player (she’s never won a singles tournament), but she was at times one of the best doubles players in the world, even reaching #1 at various times. And she has a poker named after her. Ace King. Looks good but hardly ever wins.
2. Katarina Witt
Katarina Witt appeared in Playboy in December of 1998. It was the second issue of Playboy to ever sell out, the first being the inaugural issue featuring Marilyn Monroe.
1. Natalie Gulbis
Possibly a controversial choice, but Natalie Gulbis is ridiculously, ridiculously hot. Female golfers have come a long way in perceived attractiveness in the past ten years, and Gulbis is leading the way, having sold a personal calendar as well as posing in magazines like FHM.
Katarina Witt NSFW photos after the jump!
For more pictures of these lovely ladies, visit [popcrunch]
In the run-up to the Games, Beijing officials had run a campaign to “civilize” the city’s inhabitants, teaching them of the importance of queuing in Western culture.
Olympic swimming gold medalist Amanda Beard had to launch her naked, anti-fur campaign poster outside the Athletes’ Village on Wednesday after Chinese authorities canceled a planned unveiling, citing safety concerns.
