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BEIJING — X-ray bone analysis of 15,000 young Chinese athletes shows about 20 percent have lied about their ages, provincial sports authorities say. The analysis was conducted by sports officials in southern Guangdong province and reported on the Web site of the Southern Metropolis Daily. The confirmation of age-faking again puts pressure on Chinese sports officials. Several of China's gold-medal winning female gymnasts at last year's Olympics were widely suspected of being underage, although they were later cleared by officials of the sport's world governing body. NBA player Yi Jianlian is also widely reported to have falsified his age on...

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Olympic great Michael Phelps has acknowledged "regrettable" behavior and "bad judgment" after a photo in a British newspaper showed him smoking marijuana.

PAPER: OLYMPIC HERO PICTURED SMOKING BONG... DEVELOPING... 'NEWS OF THE WORLD' SET TO ROCK SPORTS WITH SHOCK PHOTO, STORY...

Three months after the end of the games, new figures show the "Olympic Effect" has been short-lived and hotels are empty, industrial output has fallen and the streets are quiet. Much of the pain is due to the worldwide financial crisis – and in some cases due to brave decisions by the government to keep polluting industries shut to spare the environment. But even the biggest single symbol of the modern rise of China, the "Bird's Nest" National Stadium, stands forlorn, largely unused except for a shrinking number of tourists. Attempts to attract the city's main football team to move...

Chinese dissident tipped to win Nobel peace prize Hu Jia could be awarded the Nobel peace prize to continue human rights pressure on China after the Beijing Olympics * Gwladys Fouché in Oslo * guardian.co.uk, * Wednesday September 24 2008 13:06 BST This year's Nobel peace prize could be awarded to a Chinese dissident to highlight China's human rights record in the wake of the Olympic Games, according to experts who closely follow the workings of the award. A likely candidate to receive the prize, the winner of which will be announced on October 10 in Oslo, is Hu Jia,...

We cannot say farewell to the 2008 Olympics without offering a 21-gun salute to the fine U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit, based at Fort Benning. (Not to be confused with the three-volley salute common at funerals, the 21-gun salute is typically reserved for the president as part of the "Hail to the Chief" ceremony, and for other heads of state.) The unit brought home two gold medals: Spc. Walton Eller III for the double trap competition and Pfc. Vincent Hancock for the skeet. Eller set two Olympic records with a score of 145 in the qualifying rounds and 190 in the...

On first blush, NBC's Beijing Olympics promotion for its other TV shows has come in underwhelming. "Deal or No Deal"--back from a two-week layoff due to the Olympic coverage--lost 18% of its prime-time ratings to a Nielsen preliminary 2.8 number among 18-49 viewers. Last year's season average was a 3.4 rating. Also underwhelming for most of the networks on Monday night were their respective ratings concerning coverage of the Democratic National Convention. NBC was tops among the big three networks for their 10 p.m. to 11 p.m. coverage, with a 1.5 rating. CBS earned a 0.9 number, and ABC took...

BEIJING -- If anybody feels a pang of jealousy over China's haul of Olympic gold medals, they need only pause to consider what the athletes went through to get them. The only mother on China's team, Xian Dongmei, told reporters after she won her gold medal in judo that she had not seen her 18-month-old daughter in one year, monitoring the girl's growth only by webcam. Another gold medalist, weightlifter Cao Lei, was kept in such seclusion training for the Olympics that she wasn't told her mother was dying. She found out only after she had missed the funeral.

As Britain's magnificent Olympians returned home on Monday, they left behind a fierce debate in China over London's eight-minute contribution to Beijing's glittering ceremony - and in particular, the performance of Mayor Boris Johnson. While some Chinese media and bloggers praised the creativity of London's segment, others were damning with Johnson described as 'arrogant, rude and disrespectful' when accepting the Olympic flag. There were mixed opinions too about the cameo performance featuring a London bus, David Beckham, singer Leona Lewis, rock guitarist Jimmy Page, dancers and singers which was very different from the rest of the spectacular show staged by...

Beijing, Aug. 25, 2008 (CWNews.com) - China's most prominent "underground" Catholic bishop was arrested on Sunday, August 24: the day that also saw the closing ceremonies of the Olympic Games in Beijing. Bishop Julius Jia Zhiguo of Zhengding was taken into custody by several police officers at Wuqiu cathedral. No immediate reason was given for his arrest, and authorities have not disclosed where the aging bishop is being held. The 73-year-old Bishop Jia, who heads an active diocese of over 100,000 Catholics in the Hebei diocese, spent 15 years in prison, from 1963 to 1978. Since his release he has...

Fidel Castro says corrupt judges are to blame for Cuba's sub-par showing at the Beijing Olympics. Castro alleges that judges blatantly stole semifinal fights from two Cuban boxers, and that a judge must have been bribed in the case of Angel Matos, who kicked a referee in the face after he was disqualified in a bronze-medal taekwondo match.

As Britain's magnificent Olympians returned home on Monday, they left behind a fierce debate in China over London's eight-minute contribution to Beijing's glittering ceremony - and in particular, the performance of Mayor Boris Johnson. While some Chinese media and bloggers praised the creativity of London's segment, others were damning with Johnson described as 'arrogant, rude and disrespectful' when accepting the Olympic flag. '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. Columnist Hi Yang continued : 'Perhaps due to...

Athletes sacrificed dearly -- one was separated from her toddler, one was banned from eating dinner, one missed a parent's funeral. While Americans spoke of fun, the Chinese were on a 'sacred mission.' If anybody feels a pang of jealousy over China's haul of Olympic gold medals, they need only pause to consider what the athletes went through to get them. The only mother on China's team, Xian Dongmei, told reporters after she won her gold medal in judo that she had not seen her 18-month-old daughter in one year, monitoring the girl's growth only by webcam. Another gold medalist,...

Kathmandu, Aug 24 (PTI) Maoist leader Prachanda's first foreign trip as Prime Minster to Beijing has sparked a row in Nepal, with the opposition Nepali Congress questioning his visit to China ahead of India, which had "invited him first". Prachanda's five-day official visit to Beijing is in a sharp departure from tradition where India has been the first port of call for most previous Nepalese prime ministers. Nepali Congress general secretary Bimalendra Nidhi criticised the newly-elected Prime Minister for visiting China to attend the closing ceremony of the Beijing Olympics at a time when thousands of people have been rendered...

LONDON, August 25, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - In 2004, U.K. Olympian Tasha Danvers-Smith sacrificed her spot at the Summer Olympics in Athens so she could bring her then-unborn baby to term.  Four years later, her little boy inspired her all the way to the podium in the women's 400-metre hurdle event at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.After discovering she was pregnant in 2004, Danvers-Smith made a joint decision with her husband and coach, Darrell, to put her baby's life ahead of her dream of competing in the summer games in Athens. At the time some in the track and field community...

On Friday night, the U.S. team entered the political fray again by choosing archer Khatuna Lorig, who was born in what is now the country of Georgia, to be the U.S. flag bearer in Sunday's closing ceremony.

US disrupts Olympic party with human rights attack on China America has openly attacked China for failing to live up to its Olympic promise to improve human rights after eight US citizens were arrested and imprisoned without trial for their part in a pro-Tibet demonstration. By Peter Foster in Beijing Last Updated: 12:20PM BST 24 Aug 2008 The Foreign and Commonwealth Office called on China to 'respect its commitment to freedom of expression' Photo: AFP In an unusually candid statement issued on the eve of the Olympic closing ceremony the US Embassy in Beijing expressed mounting frustration with China's refusal...

Why must everything be America's fault? An article published at the UK Times Online, brought on a firestorm of commentary from readers. In the literally hundreds of comments, many were in agreement that if there is any question of the girl’s age, an investigation is warranted. There were also those who thought that even if she were underage, she should still be allowed to keep her medals. Yet in addition to the comments arguing whether age should matter or not, there were a fair number of those that suggested the only reason this investigation has commenced is that the U.S....

Georgian born Khatuna Lorig will carry the US flag.U.S. team picks Georgian to lead them in closing ceremony

The closing ceremony of the Beijing Olympics Sunday night has drawn worldwide attention and Beijing's successful hosting of the Games has earned global applause. Pakistan's national TV station, and the private GEO, EXPRESS, NEWS and AAJ stations gave live coverage of the entire ceremony. Their commentators congratulated China on its successful hosting of the Games, saying that Pakistan is happy to see China won most gold medals. The Kyodo news agency said in a story that "The Beijing Olympic theme of 'One World, One Dream' turned out a success despite predictions of gloom and doom, including whispers of terrorist plots...

BEIJING (AP)—The United States said Sunday it was disappointed the Olympics had not brought more “openness and tolerance” in China and pressed for the immediate release of eight American protesters as the games ended.

Yet as I sat here watching the glorious fanfare that descended upon the Bird’s Nest in Beijing tonight, I could not help but be bothered by a few nagging questions which neither the humorous sight of Jackie Chan singing at the top of his lungs or the sound of a hundred fireworks could quell. These Olympic Games were truly remarkable; few can deny that. But now what? What happens after the last foreign Olympic athlete has boarded an airplane back to his home country?...

The 'Redeem Team" does it, beating Spain in a close game tonight.

THOUSANDS of Chinese farmers face ruin because their water has been cut off to guarantee supplies to the Olympics in Beijing, and officials are now trying to cover up a grotesque scandal of blunders, lies and repression. In the capital, foreign dignitaries have admired millions of flowers in bloom, lush, well-watered greens around its famous sights. Just 90 minutes south by train, peasants are hacking at the dry earth as their crops wilt, their money runs out and the work of generations gives way to despair, debt and, in a few cases, suicide. The water scandal is a parable of...

Laura Wilkinson has, among other things, an Olympic gold medal, a big ball of tape and a plan. The gold medal, won eight years ago in Sydney, represents the competitive apex of her 15 years in diving, which came to a close Thursday night (Thursday morning CDT) with her ninth-place finish in the women’s 10-meter platform final. The tape ball represents the physical stresses of hurling her body off a three-story tower day after day, month after month, embodied by the miles of athletic tape Wilkinson, 30, has required over the last year to wrap her wrist and, during Thursday’s...

BEIJING -- The U.S. men's volleyball team won the Olympic gold medal Sunday, defeating defending champion Brazil to complete a perfect run through a tournament shadowed by a grisly attack at a Beijing tourist site. The Americans captured their third gold medal in the sport with a 20-25, 25-22, 25-21, 25-23 victory in the final. Top-ranked Brazil, a two-time gold medalist, settled for the silver medal. The U.S. surge to the title came after coach Hugh McCutcheon's father-in-law was fatally stabbed the day before competition started. McCutcheon missed the team's first three games to be with his wife, a former...

For Gansu’s Uighurs, Beijing’s Olympics are a world away By Anna Bodner DPA, LANZHOU, CHINA Friday, Aug 22, 2008, Page 9 Olympic fever that has swept most of China seems to have limited influence in Lanzhou, considered the geometrical center of China. For many, the 3 million inhabitant city capital of Gansu Province is still a frontier town, and while the Games’ influence is hard to miss in the city center with flags on mass display in shops and cars, hardly a trace of the Olympics can be found in the city’s Muslim quarters, where minarets tower over the roofs....

am not going to allow myself to wonder why the IOC (International Olympic Committee) waited until three days before the end of the Olympics to fully address the Chinese gymnastic age scandal. I am not going to even dwell on the fact that the ID’s and birth certificates that China provided to the IOC last night could easily have been modified or reissued. I am just happy to see that the IOC took action...

<p>BEIJING (AP) - 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.</p> <p>The IOC asked the International Gymnastics Federation to investigate "what have been a number of questions and apparent discrepancies," spokeswoman Giselle Davies said.</p>

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. The IOC said Friday there is still no proof anyone cheated, though it asked the International Gymnastics Federation to investigate “what have been a number of questions and apparent discrepancies,” spokeswoman Giselle Davies said. However, all the information the Chinese gymnastics federation presented supports its insistence that its athletes were old enough to compete.

Excerpt - BEIJING (Reuters) - The International Olympic Committee has ordered an investigation into allegations Chinese authorities covered up the age of a double gold medal winning gymnast because she was too young to compete. ~ snip ~

BEIJING -- Torri Edwards' screeching expression said it all on a night of rain-soaked relay calamity on the Olympic track Thursday. Think about the famous Edvard Munch painting, "The Scream," and you get general idea of back-to-back disasters unfolding for the U.S. relay teams within about 30 minutes. There was disqualification for the men in the preliminaries of the 400-meter relay, followed by the same for the women, a huge dose of Olympic-size ignominy. This wasn't a whisper to a scream. It was a scream to a scream at the Bird's Nest. And, on top of it all, the botched...

From faked CGI opening ceremony fireworks to “16-year-old” gymnasts, China has squashed the arguments of the supra-national idealists like it squashed the Tiananmen Square protests: ruthlessly, decisively, and with a brazen disregard for how bad it makes them look on the world stage. The first question that comes to mind is: should this come as a surprise? It isn’t as if China thinks we’re ignorant of their internal repression and human rights abuses. It also can’t be that we think those gymnasts are 16. Coming as it has in a time when formerly communist Russia has brutally flexed its own...

The International Olympic Committee has ordered an investigation into the age of Chinese gymnast He Kexin, The Times of London reports. Faced with almost insurmountable evidence which suggests that He is two years younger than the birth date listed on her Chinese passport, the IOC has launched an inquiry that could result in the stripping of He's gold medals. This news comes on the heels of another Times report that details the findings of a New York computer security expert who found official Chinese documents that list He's age as 14 years and 220 days. Mike Walker used a Chinese...

International Olympic Committee launches probe into He Kexin's age Tim Reid in Washington, Jeremy Griffin and Jane Macartney in Beijing 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...

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. The investigation was triggered as a US computer expert claimed today to have uncovered Chinese government documents...

Every generation needs heroes. Young people especially need role models. How blessed we are that the role model of these Summer Olympics is Michael Phelps. Here is a young man who embodies self-discipline, hard work and goal orientation. It is not so much the world records he shattered. It is not only the number of medals he won. His whole outlook is to be celebrated. He has a commanding presence yet he is the boy next door. True, his endorsements will make him millions. Yet I dare say that is the furthest thing from his mind right now. As I...

Hacker uncovers 'proof' that Chinese gymnast is underage Jane Macartney in Beijing A determined computer expert has delved into cached pages on the Internet to unearth Chinese official documents showing a gymnast who took gold, edging Britain’s Beth Tweddle into fourth place, may indeed be underage. Controversy over whether He Kexin, gold medallist in the uneven bars, is under the minimum age of 16 has surrounded her participation in the Beijing Olympics. The latest challenge over the age of the tiny Olympian comes from the discovery through a cyberspace maze of Chinese official documents listing her date of birth. She...

Liu Xiang sent to Olympic death by China's £1 billion image-building exercise On the back of yesterday's China Daily, the English language newspaper in Beijing, the face of Liu Xiang filled a broadsheet page. But the tears had been airbrushed out, so to speak. By Kevin Garside Last Updated: 2:54PM BST 20 Aug 2008 Comments 29 | Comment on this article China's Olympic pin-up was selling the Nike brand and his country. He is the face of Nike in China, and of China across the globe. He didn't develop an ankle spur, injure his Achilles or damage his hamstring on...

You better eat your . . . Frosted Flakes? Olympic legend Michael Phelps will appear on boxes of the Kellogg's brand sugar cereal, drawing sharp criticism from health experts worried about the message he'll be sending to children across America. "I would not consider Frosted Flakes the food of an Olympian," said nutritionist Rebecca Solomon of Mount Sinai Medical Center. "I would rather see him promoting Fiber One. I would rather see him promoting oatmeal. I would even rather see him promoting Cheerios." The announcement yesterday that Phelps, 23, winner of a record eight gold medals at the Beijing Olympics,...

Mark Spitz thinks there's only one man who Michael Phelps can't beat. His name is Mark Spitz. Spitz, the American swimmer whose record of seven gold medals in a single Olympics Games was shattered by Phelps, said Wednesday that if the two legends squared off in their primes, it'd be a draw. "I think that the relationship between people that are great is they have a common thread of knowing how to beat their competitors and they know how to constantly be in shape and in top form," Spitz told the Daily News. "If that's the case, I'd know everything...

Former Secretary Madeline Albright criticizes White House reaction to Georgia/Russia conflict and calls Putin and Bush meeting in Beijing "very peculiar" on CNN's "Situation Room." “I’m speaking from myself personally. I found it very peculiar, that as the Russians were on the borders of Georgia and also practically going in, that President Bush and President Putin had kind of a passing conversation at the Olympics and I also think Secretary Rice should have gone to Moscow.” video

Leave it to the liberal print media to find some way to kill everyone's Olympics buzz. For instance, did you know that the choice by the U.S. Olympic Committee to have Ralph Lauren stitch the threads for Team USA's opening ceremonies uniform was an unfortunate nod to racism and classism and a futile, nostalgic clinging to America's waning WASP empire? That according to Sameer Reddy (pictured at right, photo via Newsweek) in an August 20 online exclusive for Newsweek

Sour-faced Bob Costas and Cris Collinsworth should take a lesson from the enthusiastic, America-loving Bela Karolyi. ---------------------------------------------------- Being the typical American family — 2.1 kids, house in the burbs, yappy dog — the Olympic Games have been running in the background pretty much non-stop at our house. In the evening, after work, I settle down with everyone else and watch what Bob Costas and company have for me that night. Maybe it’s just the fact that after three days both fish and avuncular TV anchors stink, but the NBC talking heads have gotten on my last olfactory nerve.....

Shawn Johnson had dark circles under her brown eyes and a headache, but when she jumped onto the balance beam Tuesday night she switched on her smile and defiantly pounded out a gold- medal routine. "This gold means more than anything to me," Johnson said. "Beam is my favorite event, and I've worked hardest on this for a long time. It's the perfect ending to my Olympic experience." The United States finished 1-2, with Nastia Liukin getting the silver. China's Cheng Fei won the bronze.

"I’m not offended," a Chinese friend told me today when I asked her about the controversial photos of Spanish and Argentinian Olympic teams making 'slit-eyed' gestures. "They can do what they want." she said laughingly as she used her fingers to try to make her eyes look more "Western."

He's the "eight" wonder of the world! Here is the iconic first photo of a bare-chested, medal-clad Michael Phelps doing his best Mark Spitz impression - sporting an Olympic-sized grin as his eight golds dangle from his neck. The photo - taken inside an ancient temple in Beijing on Sunday night - will grace the cover of Sports Illustrated, which hits newsstands tomorrow.

Jamaican Me Speedy - Why are Jamaicans so good at sprinting? By Nina Shen Rastogi Posted Monday, Aug. 18, 2008, at 6:57 PM ET Jamaicans dominated the Olympic 100-meter sprint this weekend, with Usain Bolt setting a world record and his teammates taking all three medals in the women's event. Jamaica is a poor, tiny nation about half the size of New Jersey. What makes its people such champion sprinters? A combination of nature and nurture. Runners of West African descent—which includes Jamaicans as well as most African-Americans—seem to be built for speed: In 2004, they held all but five...

Do you like your silly little Olympic games? Well, I hope you are really, really enjoying it because your support, your watching of this garbage makes you a direct, unequivocal party to the torture, imprisonment and oppression of the Chinese people. So, you, Mr. Olympics watcher, get a gold medal in torture. Congratulations. Feel proud. It's so easy to just shut your eyes and pretend that you are innocent, of course. After all, you didn't send thousands of storm troopers through the streets of Beijing to round up homeless people, prostitutes, the elderly, or unwanted races like black immigrants from...

Did I mention two home-plate collisions, one of which knocked China’s catcher out of the tournament? NBC’s highlight reel very stupidly doesn’t show all five HBPs, but it’s painfully clear that the one that sent Matt LaPorta to the hospital with a concussion was intentional. HuffPo captured a brief clip from MSNBC showing another HBP from earlier in the game, too. Square in the back. International-incident-generating bench-clearing brawl? Narrowly avoided. Heart-ache. Click the image to watch.