10.26.07
The WSJ on Beijing’s air quality
From Beijing-based WSJ writer Mei Fong, a report on the still-disturbing environmental conditions in Beijing:
Hazy outlook for Games (Wall Street Journal Online)
Beijing Marathon and Sun Yingjie
The Beijing International Marathon was held on Sunday morning - the IAAF report can be found here. Normally Sun Yingjie, formerly a star distance runner for China who failed a doping test at the National Games in 2005, would have been among the entrants for this prestigious race. Her ban ended last Friday and Chinese national media is reporting that she will be attempting a comeback, possibly at the Xiamen Marathon in southeastern China in January.
Star runner’s Olympic hope still pending after dope ban (China Daily)
10.20.07
BOCOG news today
A few article links with news of BOCOG’s goings-on in the last few weeks:
All Olympic venues except Bird’s Nest to be completed this year (People’s Daily Online)
Do not politicize Olympic Games, warns BOCOG official (China Daily)
Olympic Tripod a gift to Beijing (China Daily)
How will Beijing Olympic’s organizers appease global media? (Daily Telegraph, Australia; Editor’s note - this link comes from the World Press Briefing earlier this month regarding the issue of international press freedom at the 2008 Olympics)
Olympic spirit full steam ahead (china.org.cn)
IOC happy that Beijing is on schedule with Olympic preparations (Digital Journal)
Challenges for land of “purple days” (press.co.nz)
BOCOG ready for massive media management task (China Daily)
10.18.07
Liu Xiang news
Lots of news about Liu Xiang today, owing to his coach Sun Haiping’s attendance at this week’s Party Congress, much of it from the Chinese press.
Olympic champion Liu Xiang has no plan to retire (www.chinaview.cn)
Coach cares for Liu ‘like a son’ (China Daily)
Liu “on drip” before world title run - coach (China Daily)
Chinese hurdler Liu Xiang is Communist Party member interested in politics, says coach (International Herald Tribune)
Olympic hopefuls make their debut at Party Congress (China Daily)
10.17.07
LeBron in China, Aussie Olympic funding, and more
Press clips from today run the gamut from the latest LeBron James news out of China (where basketball is amazingly popular) to news of WADA recommending automatic four-year competition bans for first-time doping offenders, to controversy over Australia’s plans for future funding of Olympic sports.
Cavs star LeBron James looms large in Shanghai for NBA and Nike (The Canadian Press)
Four-year ban for doping (Daily Telegraph, Australia)
Olympics cash down to survival of fittest (The Age, Australia)
Olympic sports told medals key to funding (Herald Sun, Australia)
Sun Haiping on China’s “Soviet-Style” Sports System
Sun Haiping, coach of world champion 110-meter hurdler Liu Xiang, is a delegate to this week’s Party Congress in Beijing. He’s not often quoted in English, but the AFP has an excellent story today on Sun’s advocacy of a centralized sports training system. In China, of course, winning is everything, and if all of an athlete’s needs are taken care of, then of course they can devote themselves just to training. I wonder, though, if that system adequately prepare athletes for their lives after their competitive careers are over. European and American athletes might have to “book their own hotel rooms,” as Sun is quoted as saying in this article, because they don’t develop inside a centralized government-run system that takes care of every detail of their lives. But what about life after sport? Food for thought for a sports system that has seen more than one former champion slip through the cracks of society after the gold medals were won and forgotten.
10.15.07
Voices from America’s track stars
WCSN hosts an athletes’ blog for track and field - a nice read by American stars Sanya Richards and Lauryn Williams, both of whom are sure to be big stories at the Beijing Olympics:
Notes from last week’s BOCOG World Press Briefing
Foreign media raise fresh fears on 2008 Games coverage (South China Morning Post - subscription required; 7-day trial available)
World press meets in Beijing (International Paralympic Committee)
Rules not for breaking (News.co.nz)
Hu Jintao’s speech
As the 17th Party Congress opened today in Beijing, President Hu Jintao had a few words to say about the importance of the Olympics. No doubt, it’s going to be a political Olympics, as well as one in which doping scandals (or the lack of them) take center stage. The CSB is out the door to the first day of a week of Houston Rockets coverage, so I’ll reserve comment on the politics of the Olympics for a bit later.
2008 Games a priority for China’s leadership (New York Times)