COPENHAGEN — The Olympics were awarded to a South American city for the first time, when the International Olympic Committee voted Rio de Janeiro as the host of the 2016 Games on Friday.COPENHAGEN — The Olympics were awarded to a South American city for the first time,... more
Roughly 250 people gathered outside City Hall in downtown Chicago this evening to protest the city's bid for the 2016 Olympic games. Protesters criticized Obama for traveling to Copenhagen to back the Chicago bid, and cited Mayor Daley's recent follies - like selling the city's parking meters to a privately-owned company - as evidence of the city's inability to host the games. Partially coordinated by the non-profit organization www.nogameschicago.org , the demonstration comes just days before the IOC announces its decision as to which candidate city wins the bid.
Although the Olympics will increase tourism, revenue, and job offerings in Chicago, protestors believe the games will not benefit the average Chicago citizen - stating they will uproot low-income families from their homes to make room for stadiums, pave over public parks, and ultimately add to the city's $300 million deficit.Roughly 250 people gathered outside City Hall in downtown Chicago this evening to... more
International Olympic Committee (IOC) ceased from the idea of torch relay for the 2012 London Olympic Games because of fear for incidents.International Olympic Committee (IOC) ceased from the idea of torch relay for the 2012... more
The International Olympic Committee will retest all doping samples from the Beijing Games to check for traces of a new blood-boosting drug.The International Olympic Committee will retest all doping samples from the Beijing... more
www.ArtofPeaceFoundation.org. As a show of solidarity with the Dalai Lama and Tibet, 20 artists have come together to release this historic double album on the eve of the Beijing Olympics. These recordings - some original for the project and some acoustically driven recordings of previously released songs - express our common vulnerabilities and experiences in pursuing happiness, peace and freedom. Collectively, these tracks represent a heartfelt message of support for the path of compassion and non-violence championed by the Dalai Lama. Begun in May of 2008 and completed in two months, the outpouring of support from all corners of the world was unparalleled. Funds raised from the album by the Foundation will go to support peace initiatives and Tibetan cultural preservation projects important to the Dalai Lama.
As the start of the Bejing Olympics nears, we applaud the athletes and the people of China in their accomplishment.
Unfortunately promises made by the Chinese Government to the I.O.C. have been broken over and over, including China's promise to remove the "Great Firewall of China" which blocks access to the internet and information.
Journalists who are reporting on the Olympics are still being blocked and hindered as of today.www.ArtofPeaceFoundation.org. As a show of solidarity with the Dalai Lama and Tibet,... more
Michael Phelps' love life has been the source of many rumors over the last week — including, most notably, his connections to fellow gold medalist Amanda Beard and British model Lily Donaldson. But the question of Michael Phelps' girlfriend may have been put to rest after the swimmer was spotted making out in Beijing with Australian swimming sensation Stephanie Rice.
Michael Phelps doesn't have a girlfriend, but he celebrated his record-breaking eight gold medals in Beijing by sneaking off for a sizzling game of tonsil hockey with one of Australia's hottest Olympians.
Phelps, fresh from shattering Mark Spitz's 36-year-old record, was spotted Monday night in a hot make-out session with Down Under swimmer Stephanie Rice at a celebratory bash outside the Olympic Village.
The day after the face-sucking frolics, Phelps and Rice cheekily posed together for Speedo - laughing and playfully groping each other as a photographer snapped them in their swimsuits. "I definitely admire him for his athletic ability and everything he's achieved," gushed Rice, who won three gold medals of her own. "I'm just really glad to be in the mix with that."
Michael Phelps' love life has been the source of many rumors over the last week —... more
Was she 14 or 16? Who knows but we may find out...
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The International Olympic Committee has ordered an investigation into mounting allegations that Chinese authorities covered up the true age of their gold-medal winning gymnastics star because she was too young to compete.
An IOC official told The Times that because of "discrepancies" that have come to light about the age of He Kexin, the host nation’s darling who won gold in both team and individual events, an official inquiry has been launched that could result in the gymnast being stripped of her medals. Was she 14 or 16? Who knows but we may find out...
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The International... more
With the parents growing indignant and the Beijing Games winding down, the International Olympic Committee wants to ``put to rest'' persistent questions about the age of China's gold medal women's gymnastics team.With the parents growing indignant and the Beijing Games winding down, the... more
"BEIJING -- Despite persistent questions about the ages of several members of the Chinese women's gymnastics team that won the gold medal, the International Olympic Committee said Friday there is still no proof anyone cheated and believes the controversy will be "put to rest."
The IOC asked the International Gymnastics Federation to investigate "what have been a number of questions and apparent discrepancies," spokeswoman Giselle Davies said. But all of the information the Chinese gymnastics federation has presented so far supports its insistence that its athletes were old enough to compete.
"We believe the matter will be put to rest and there's no question ... on the eligibility," Davies said. "The information we have received seems satisfactory in terms of the correct documentation -- including birth certificates.""
Head in sand, people."BEIJING -- Despite persistent questions about the ages of several members of the... more
Hackers have unearthed more compelling evidence that China's dual-gold medal winning gymnast He Kexin is underaged and should have been barred from competing at the Olympics.
A US-based internet security consultant and part-time hacker calling himself "Stryde Hax" has trawled through the search results on Google, Google China and the Chinese search engine Baidu, unearthing numerous examples of cached official Excel spreadsheet showing He Kexin listed as being born on January 1, 1994.
Search engines work by trawling the web and indexing search results. They usually take a snapshot of their findings at the same time in a process known as caching. So while original web pages can expire or be removed, the cached snapshot of the page can usually still be recovered.
The 1.42-metre (4'8") tall gymnast was part of the women's gymnastic team which won gold and then took an individual gold medal in the uneven bars at the Beijing Olympics. If correct, that would make her 14 instead of 16 and under the competition rules, gymnasts must be aged 16 in the year an Olympics takes place in order to qualify to compete.
The rules were put into place to avoid exploiting younger gymnasts, who have more flexible bodies.
Hackers have unearthed more compelling evidence that China's dual-gold medal winning... more
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has requested the Swedish government to stop notorious file sharing site The Pirate Bay ( http://thepiratebay.org ) from distributing recordings of the Olympic Games opening ceremony.
"The rights to the opening ceremony cost big money and all forms of pirate copies are forbidden", according to Gunilla Lindberg, one of the IOC's four vice-presidents. The IOC had written a letter to the Swedish government, "requesting the government to ensure that The Pirate Bay remove the recordings."
Justice Minister Beatrice Ask (m) told TT news agency that she understood the IOC's position. "They want to know what the government can do to help them in this issue. They want to find out about their legal rights in Sweden and how we work to prevent internet piracy," she said. However, Ask pointed out that the government could not intervene in an individual case and said it was normal procedure to refer the matter to the police.
But the IOC is not just targeting Sweden. According to Gunilla Lindberg, the IOC has sent out a number of letters to other countries where similar file sharing sites have distributed recordings from the Olympic Games.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has requested the Swedish government to stop... more
The Pirate Bay has a new logo, at least temporarily.
The world's most notorious torrent-tracking site has temporarily renamed itself The Beijing Bay after the International Olympic Committee sought the assistance of the Swedish government to stop it from tracking clips from the ongoing Olympics in Beijing.
The IOC claimed Monday there were more than 1 million downloads of footage from the Olympics -- mostly of the opening ceremony. TorrentFreak was the first English-speaking site to report the news.
The Swedish government has already charged the Pirate Bay operators, based in Sweden, with copyright infringement. No trial date has been set.
The Pirate Bay, which tracks millions of copyrighted works available to users for free, has no intention of shutting down or of shuttering its Olympic trackers.The Pirate Bay has a new logo, at least temporarily.
The world's most notorious... more
This week, close to two million people have downloaded the Olympics opening ceremony, which makes it the most pirated TV-show of the week - again. The International Olympic Committee is not too happy about it, and they are urging the Swedish government to take on The Pirate Bay.
top gearLast week we reported that the Opening Ceremony had been downloaded by more than a million people, and this figure has doubled over the past 7 days. However, there is less demand for the other Olympic events, as most of these get less than 20,000 downloads.
Compared to 2004, the availability of Olympic events on BitTorrent has grown significantly, both in quantity and quality. Interestingly, the demand for Olympic torrents is the greatest in China, as 65% of the people who downloaded the Openings Ceremony come from the host country.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) is not pleased seeing their shows on BitTorrent sites though. Yesterday they even sent a letter (read it here) to the Swedish Minister of Justice, urging her to take on The Pirate Bay. From the letter, it looks like they have been reading last week’s article. “Our technical advisor Informs us that as many as 1 million copies of the Opening Ceremony have been illegally downloaded worldwide, with the most significant activity taking place through Pirate Bay,” they write.
The IOC claims to have contacted The Pirate Bay with a takedown request, but turned to the Minister when they got no response. The Pirate Bay denies this, and Pirate Bay co-founder Peter Sunde writes: “The phone hasn’t rung. And I guess their e-mail probably got caught in the Chinese firewall, since TPB is blocked there.”
From the letter, it seems that the IOC is predicting that the Closing Ceremony will hit BitTorrent immediately after the fireworks. “We are also gravely concerned about the upcoming Closing Ceremony on August 24, as it is entirely predictable that illegal copies of that event will be immediately made available through the Pirate Bay.” They are right of course, and we’re afraid that the Swedish government can’t do much about it either.
Today, the Minister said in a radio interview that The Pirate Bay is not really good promotion for Sweden (although some would disagree), but that there is indeed little they can do to stop the tracker from hosting torrent files.
It is not clear why the IOC is going after the Pirate Bay, and not any of the other BitTorrent sites. Of course, they are the most outspoken, but the majority of all the Olympic torrents are downloaded from other sites. Most BitTorrent sites do take down torrents when they are asked to, so it might be a good idea to start there….
Below is this week’s chart of the most pirated TV-shows on BitTorrent, the Olympics Opening Ceremony tops the chart again. The data for the TV-torrent chart is collected by TorrentFreak from a representative sample of BitTorrent sites and is for informational and educational reference only.
Top Downloads August 10 - August 17
Ranking (last week) TV-show
1 (1) Olympics 2008 Opening Ceremony
2 (2) Weeds
3 (3) Eureka
4 (4) Generation Kill
5 (5) Burn Notice
6 (back) Stargate Atlantis
7 (new) Fifth Gear
8 (10) Mad Men
9 (6) Psych
10 (back) MythbustersThis week, close to two million people have downloaded the Olympics opening ceremony,... more
Greek sprinter Katerina Thanou will sue the "totalitarian” International Olympic Committee following its decision to ban her from competing in Beijing.
The IOC has clearly had enough of Thanou but the decision by the disciplinary commission is not the end of the affair.
The fear is that it could lead to the case that began on the eve of the last Games in Athens stretching on and even beyond the next Olympics in London.
The IOC ban, using rule 45.2 of the Olympic Charter, came on the grounds that Thanou had brought the Olympic movement into disrepute before the Athen Games.
That was when she and her training partner, Kostas Kenteris, missed a drug test and claimed later that they had been admitted to hospital in Athens after suffering injuries in a motorbike accident as they tried to return to the Olympic village.
Both athletes were disciplined and surrendered their accreditation.
In a scathing report that accompanied the decision, the IOC maintained that Thanou’s behaviour included "pretending she had a traffic accident” and "causing six medical doctors to hospitalise her for five days in order to avoid IOC controls”.
It resulted in, the IOC said, "a scandalous saga which cast a most negative shadow over the 2004 Olympic Games at the time of their opening ceremony.”
As a result, the IOC took up the option of looking again at her eligibility that it highlighted back in 2004 and refused to ratify the sprinter’s accreditation to compete in Beijing, even though she had qualified and has been training with the Greek team.
According to the IOC, the prejudice caused by Thanou had been "most serious”.
The 33 year-old Thanou, who later accepted a two-year ban for missing drug tests, was invited to address the disciplinary commission in person last week but declined.
She called her ban a "prearranged mockery of a decision.”
She added: "It is these totalitarian practices and decisions that bring the sporting spirit and the Olympic ideal that my country gave birth to into disrepute."
The Court of Arbitration for Sport, which has a presence in Beijing, was poised to hear an appeal from the sprinter but that will not happen.
Instead, her British-based lawyer, Dr Gregory Ioannidis said she will take legal action against the IOC at a time and place still to be decided.
Dr Ioannidis said: "The IOC decision is completely unfair. They do not respect the law.
"This is the wrong message to send to society. This decision has been taken with no legal basis and with no legal merits.”
In a statement, he added: “It is simply unfair and discriminatory to allow specific athletes with admission and bans for the use of prohibited substances to participate in the Olympics, but not Ms Thanou.”
Dr Ioannidis ended his statement by saying: "This situation must now come to an end and those responsible for such a decision must come to the understanding that there are rules and laws that need to be followed.
“We have accepted and respected decisions by courts and they have to do the same.
“The time has now come where the public opinion must discover all the facts and the whole truth.”
That is set to be in court and the saga will continue. Greek sprinter Katerina Thanou will sue the "totalitarian” International Olympic... more
A Swedish wrestler was disqualified and stripped of his bronze medal Saturday for dropping the prize in protest after a disputed loss at the Beijing Olympics. A Swedish wrestler was disqualified and stripped of his bronze medal Saturday for... more
BEIJING – For a long time, elements of the Chinese government itself thought women’s gymnast He Kexin was born Jan. 1, 1994, which would make her 14 and too young to compete in these Summer Olympics.
Whether it was repeated mentions in the government-controlled media – including a new one uncovered Friday by the Associated Press – or on official gymnastic meet registration forms and websites, He was “this little girl” and a “new star.”
As recently as December 2007, in provincial gymnastics meets and news reports that covered it, she was a 13-year-old prodigy, too young for the 16-year-old Olympic age limit for gymnastics.
Then, suddenly, she wasn’t.
Earlier this year China produced her passport that claimed she was born Jan. 1, 1992, making her old enough to perform a brilliant uneven bar routine and push China to the women’s all around gold medal.
The Chinese either got it wrong in 2007 or wrong in 2008. Considering 2000 Chinese bronze medalist Yang Yun later admitted on state television she was 14 that year, the reported ages of He Kexin and at least two of her teammates have aroused suspicion in nearly everyone except the powers that be – the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) and the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
Both organizations accepted the new passport as fact, certified He and tried to cover their collective ears at all the complaints. Wednesday, the IOC even slipped a gold medal around He Kexin’s neck.
If the IOC had a modicum of decency and courage (don’t count on it), it would open an immediate investigation into whether it might take that medal right back.
If not for the of-age gymnasts who lost to the Chinese, then for He and her diminutive teammates, who – if they actually are old enough – don’t deserve suspicion tainting their accomplishment.
While the IOC undoubtedly is petrified of humiliating the host country in such a scandal, doing nothing merely humiliates the IOC and continues the belief that the organization is about money, not fair play.
continued...........The Olympics’ age-old problem
By Dan Wetzel,
BEIJING – For a long time,... more
"The Chinese gymnasts could have picked out their leotards from Thumbelina's closet as they performed gymnastics in miniature on Wednesday. Wearing blue eye shadow with their hair pulled back, He Kexin, Jiang Yuyuan and Yang Yilin looked like girls who had just rummaged through their mothers' makeup. This was a ladies' final, though somehow it was hard to see how they qualified as women.
Amid pre-Olympic hand-wringing over why the birthdates of He, Yang and Jiang didn't jibe with other registration materials that showed they might be as young as 14, China swore on its stars' passport stamps that the tots are the legal tumbling age of 16.""The Chinese gymnasts could have picked out their leotards from Thumbelina's closet as... more
The International Olympic Committee has filed a copyright infringement claim against a youtube video showing August 7th’s high profile projection action at the Chinese Consulate in NYC.
While the activists projected the Olympic Rings on the Chinese Consulate and other dramatic content, it is in no way an infringement of the IOC’s copyrighted Olympic rings. This claim is dubious at best. The IOC seems to understand copyright as infringing if videos of photos of photos are projected on rough urban services.
** Warning: Video at link contains some graphic images **The International Olympic Committee has filed a copyright infringement claim against a... more
As Beijing's polluted air came close to exceeding levels even the Chinese consider dangerous yesterday, one of the International Olympic Committee's most senior figures dismissed the yellow-grey haze that periodically hangs over the city as mist, and blamed the media for overstating pollution problems.
Air quality in Beijing remains a big cause for concern three days before the start of the games. Members of the US athletics team arrived in the city wearing face masks yesterday and organisers are preparing to postpone or relocate endurance events including the marathon and road cycling if smog levels reach dangerous limits.
But yesterday Arne Ljungqvist, chairman of the IOC's medical commission, said he was confident that pollution would not harm athletes or visitors, and suggested media coverage had created a false impression of pollution levels.
"The mist in the air that we see in those places, including here, is not a feature of pollution primarily but a feature of evaporation and humidity," he told the IOC's annual session. "We do have a communication problem here. Once the misconception has become sort of established in the minds of people, it's not that easy to get the right message through. As Beijing's polluted air came close to exceeding levels even the Chinese consider... more
Going against their own mandate to protect the independence of the Olympic Movement and to preserve human dignity, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has caved to Beijing's demands to censor the media's Internet access during the Games.
Sites from human rights organizations such as Amnesty International, Reporters Without Borders, Human Rights Watch, or any search for a site with Tibet in the address have been blocked, making it difficult for journalists to find information on political and human rights stories the Chinese government dislikes.
Seven years ago, when bidding for the games, China promised to allow "complete freedom to report." But that didn't matter to the IOC officials, who have agreed to China's request to Internet censorship only a few days before the Games. A senior IOC official apologized for that decision, but an apology is not enough.
The IOC's mission is not to be China's accomplice but to "place sport at the service of the harmonious development of man, with a view to promoting a peaceful society concerned with the preservation of human dignity," and that won't happen as long as the games are held against a backdrop of torture, political persecution and lies.
It's time for the IOC to stop playing China's Games. Cutting a deal with China to allow Internet censorship was wrong and we want more than a simple apology. Tell the IOC to demand free Internet access for journalists covering the Olympic Games and to pressure China to honor its pledge to improve human rights before the Games. Olympic Committee: Stop Playing China's Games!
Target: The International Olympic... more
