MEDALS TABLE
Olympics
To some, it’s a business. To others, a hobby.
TODAY
The use of the term “modern” to describe men’s and women’s pentathlon is deceptive.
SOMEWHERE IN TIME BETWEEN QIN AND MING DYNASTIES — I blogged from the Great Wall on Thursday, sent the text via BlackBerry and stood beside the structure that is more than 2,000 years old in some places while watching people order Starbucks.
In the basement of a prestigious sports school for Chinese youth here Wednesday, I watched young men compete in wushu. It is a martial arts tradition that includes more acrobatic jumps and movements compared to traditional styles.
The information you are about to read is highly confidential and might put those in the food service industry here in danger:
There is a certain race for Olympic supremacy here that has become more foregone conclusion than Jamaican sprinters being faster than your next thought. China might not dive away from these Games owning the most medals, but the United States is going to need six or seven extra basketball teams and a few more in softball to be in the same neighborhood when it comes to the shiny gold ones.
I ran across a couple of student interns from Beijing working the Olympics. They had some pretty specific thoughts about Las Vegas.
