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Chicago loses in first round of voting. 101st Airborne Division due in Copenhagen shortly. Beck, an increasingly contentious figure, got under the Administration's skin via typically goofy segment (Link goes directly to video) on Obama's plan to travel to Copenhagen to lobby on behalf of the city of Chicago's bid for the 2016 Olympic Games. While the White House bloggers do effectively rebut several of the points raised during the segment on Beck's show, you have to ask yourself when the White House decided to duke it out with television pundits. Guy Benson, blogging for the National Review, is wondering...

Obama’s Olympic failure will only add to doubts about his presidency Tim Reid in Washington There has been a growing narrative taking hold about Barack Obama’s presidency in recent weeks: that he is loved by many, but feared by none; that he is full of lofty vision, but is actually achieving nothing with his grandiloquence. Chicago’s dismal showing yesterday, after Mr Obama’s personal, impassioned last-minute pitch, is a stunning humiliation for this President. It cannot be emphasised enough how this will feed the perception that on the world stage he looks good — but carries no heft. It was only...

Republicans have been ready with criticism for President Barack Obama's overnight journey to Copenhagen, where the president today pressed Chicago's case for the 2016 Olympic Summer Games -- playing booster, as the Republican National Committee put it this morning, for Obama's "Chicago Fat Cat Friends.'' RNC Chairman Michael Steele, Sen. Kit Bond of Missouri and then House Republican Leader John Boehner of Ohio all have questioned the president's priorities.

WASHINGTON (AFP) – US President Barack Obama was left with the rare taste of failure when votes were counted on Friday, after his hometown Chicago's hopes of hosting the 2016 Olympics died in Denmark. Chicago's rejection by the International Olympic Committee in Copenhagen, dealt a personal blow to Obama, who had put his glowing global prestige on the line, as a favor to the city where he nurtured his own American dream. Obama, who polls show is hugely popular outside the United States, was seen as the trump card in Chicago's pack on decision day at the IOC meeting. But...

RedEye social media intern Ernest Wilkins was on the scene.

In 2008, voters in the Iowa Caucus -- famous for their quirky picks -- gave a little-known Democrat named Barack Obama his first victory, propelling him toward the White House. Now, First Lady Michelle Obama is in Copenhagen, stumping for Chicago's bid to host the 2016 Summer Olympics. And last night, at a pep-rally dinner for 300 supporters of Chicago's bid, she likened the race in Denmark to that contest way back when in Iowa. "As my husband would say, we are fired up and ready to go in here," she said, echoing the slogan that generated so much excitement...

WASHINGTON (AFP) – US President Barack Obama will make a whirlwind trip to Copenhagen this week to leverage his global popularity in a last-minute pitch for his hometown Chicago's 2016 Olympic bid. The White House said Obama would arrive in Denmark Friday, hours before the International Olympic Committee (IOC) votes on the destiny of the Summer Games after a final battle between Chicago, Madrid, Tokyo and Rio de Janeiro. The trip represents a change of heart: the president had previously said the pressure of his under-fire health care reform drive would keep him at home, and nominated his wife, First...

Baseball will try to grow globally after IOC setback Thu Aug 13, 3:23 pm ET NEW YORK (Reuters) – Major League Baseball (MLB) will continue its push to grow the game internationally despite losing out on Thursday in a bid for the sport to be included at the 2016 Olympics. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) said baseball's next chance to become part of the Games would be in 2020. "Baseball has enjoyed great international growth in recent years and today's decision by the IOC will not deter us from continuing our efforts to grow the game globally," MLB said in...

JUPITER, Fla., May 9 (UPI) -- Chuck Daly, who coached the Detroit Pistons to back-to-back NBA titles, died Saturday of pancreatic cancer at the age of 78. Daly, who was diagnosed with cancer in March, died in Jupiter, Fla., surrounded by his family. Known as the ultimate players coach, Daly led the Pistons to NBA titles in 1989 and 1990 and coached the original Dream Team to the Olympic gold medal in 1992. Daly affectionately earned the nickname "Daddy Rich" for his perfectly fitting dapper suits, The Detroit Free Press reported Saturday. "Tailoring covers your sins," Daly once said. Daly,...

Beijing's Olympic building boom becomes a bust Many buildings in the city's impressive skyline are empty. By Barbara Demick February 22, 2009 Reporting from Beijing — "Empty," says Jack Rodman, an expert in distressed real estate, as he points from the window of his 40th-floor office toward a silver-skinned prism rising out of the Beijing skyline. "Beautiful building, but not a single tenant. "Completely empty. "Empty." /snip Beijing went through a building boom before the 2008 Summer Olympics that filled a staid communist capital with angular architectural feats that grace the covers of glossy design magazines. /snip By Rodman's calculations,...

THIS is the astonishing picture which could destroy the career of the greatest competitor in Olympic history. In our exclusive photo Michael Phelps, who won a record EIGHT gold medals for swimming at the Beijing games last summer, draws from a bong. The glass pipes are generally used to smoke cannabis. And after sporting chiefs announced laws which mean four-year bans for drug-taking, Phelps’ dreams of adding to his overall 14 gold medal tally at the 2012 games in London could already be OVER.

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...

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...

South Korea surprises defending champion Cuba for baseball gold South Korea finished Olympics with 9-0 record Cuba's only two losses in '08 Games came to S. Korea Bases loaded double play in ninth inning sealed win BEIJING (AP) -- Campeones no more. There's a new champion in Olympic baseball: the surprising, gutsy South Koreans. South Korea captured gold and capped a perfect and improbable Olympic run with the country's biggest win yet in international baseball, a 3-2 victory over defending champion Cuba on Saturday night in the final of the Beijing Games.

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....

The Crackdown to Come By WILLY LAM FROM THE WALL STREET JOURNAL ASIA August 22, 2008 Not only have the Olympics failed to act as a catalyst for political liberalization in China, but the regime's pre-Olympics security buildup looks set to enable the government to crack down as hard as ever on dissent after the Games are over. In line with the time-honored Chinese tradition of "taking revenge after the autumn harvest," police and military authorities are planning major reprisals against a host of troublemakers. Punitive action has begun even before the athletes and the estimated 400,000 foreign tourists leave...

Grannies vow to fight on after punishment for Olympic protests Fri Aug 22, 11:14 AM BEIJING (AFP) - Two Beijing grandmothers remained defiant and in good spirits Friday despite being sentenced to one year of reeducation through labour for applying to protest during the Olympics. In an interview with AFP, neighbours Wu Dianyuan, 79, and Wang Xiuying, 77, said they had not received compensation after their homes were demolished by the city government seven years ago and were simply fighting for their rights. "We have done nothing wrong," said Wang. "They won't let me protest, then they sentence me to...

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...

Don't laugh at Dear Leader, SKorean athletes warned Wed Aug 20, 4:14 AM ET South Korean Olympic athletes have been given detailed guidelines to avoid friction with their North Korean counterparts in Beijing, officials said Wednesday. Contestants should not point or laugh at badges or portraits depicting North Korea's "Dear Leader" Kim Jong-Il or his late father Kim Il-Sung, the (South) Korean Olympic Committee (KOC) says in a handbook. "Refrain from pointing, touching or laughing at badges, portraits and remarks idolising the father and son," the booklet advises. Athletes should also avoid using names like "South Korea" and "North Korea"...

Too Old and Frail to Re-educate? Not in China By ANDREW JACOBS BEIJING — In the annals of people who have struggled against Communist Party rule, Wu Dianyuan and Wang Xiuying are unlikely to merit even a footnote. The two women, both in their late 70s, have never spoken out against China’s authoritarian government. Both walk with the help of a cane, and Ms. Wang is blind in one eye. Their grievance, receiving insufficient compensation when their homes were seized for redevelopment, is perhaps the most common complaint among Chinese displaced during the country’s long streak of fast economic growth....

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...

IOC breaks ranks with hosts over protests By Roger Blitz Published: August 19 2008 20:42 | Last updated: August 19 2008 20:42 Olympic officials have for the first time openly criticised their Beijing hosts for China’s intolerance of public protests, questioning their desire to allow citizens the right to raise grievances during the games. The International Olympic Committee is also understood to believe that lower-than-expected attendances at games venues is the result of Beijing’s poor distribution of tickets for the general public, including a failure to reallocate unwanted tickets.

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.

Look, I don't know much about gymnastics, but I do know that landing a vault on two feet is better than landing one on two knees. Olympic gymnastics judges evidently disagree with me, as they awarded China's Cheng Fei a bronze medal yesterday even after she fell on her vault landing. American Alicia Sacramone finished fourth despite, you know, not falling.

The mystery of the half-filled stands at many events at the 2008 Olympic Games has been solved, according to Chinese internet users, who say it is the result of a policy to prevent the gathering of large and possibly uncontrollable crowds. They claim ticket sales to the public were secretly restricted. Blocks of tickets went to government departments, Communist party officials or state-owned companies, which have quietly obeyed orders not to hand them out. “People are so angry because they slept all night outside ticket booths and got nothing and now they see this,” said one blogger, Jian Yu. Official...

Editorial: How China's inflation wallops us 12:00 AM CDT on Thursday, August 14, 2008 As an inflation hawk, Richard Fisher, the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, is a bit worried about the day the Olympic flame is extinguished. Mr. Fisher, a member of the Federal Reserve committee that influences U.S. interest rates, says China is about to face an inflation conundrum that the Olympics temporarily is holding in check. Beijing tamped down worker wages and subsidized energy to make sure the world sees China in the best possible light. But pressures from rising demand in China aren't...

Some Olympians Dissatisfied With Religious Center By Ariana Eunjung Cha Washington Post Foreign Service Thursday, August 14, 2008; A13 BEIJING, Aug. 13 -- The Olympic Village's religious center has become the target of a quiet protest by athletes, coaches and other delegates who say its staffing and services fall woefully short of the promises made by Chinese organizers. Previous Olympic hosts welcomed foreign chaplains, but China has banned them from living with the athletes. It has instead pledged that it will provide equivalent services from its pool of state-employed pastors, imams and other clerics. Josh McAdams, 28, an American athlete...

Jang Miran of South Korea sets a world record of 186kg in the women's +75kg Group A clean & jerk weightlifting competition at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games August 16, 2008. REUTERS/Nir Elias (CHINA) Jang Miran, of South Korea, lifts 140 kilograms in the snatch, to set a new world record in the women's over 75 kg of the weightlifting competition at the Beijing 2008 Olympics in Beijing, Saturday, Aug. 16, 2008. (AP Photo/Andres Leighton) Jang Miran of South Korea listens to her national anthem after winning the gold medal in the women's +75kg weightlifting competition at the Beijing...

Olympic artists angry The Kung Fu pupils in the opening ceremony of the Olympics have spent the last year cooped up in a military camp outside Beijing. Conditions have been bad. "They weren't even given enough food," says their trainer. This news adds to the criticism of the Beijing Organizing Committee. Viewers from around the globe marvelled at the Opening Ceremony last Friday. One of the most spectacular features was the martial arts display by 2008 pupils from the famous Shaolin Centre in Henan province. With coordinated movements, they showed the Tai Chi variant of Kung Fu; a popular way...

Olympic drunk is sports minister A drunk fan of Olympic competitors from Belgium has been identified as the country's sports minister. A loud Belgian fan had been shouting out during a doubles match between Argentinian and Belgian players. Eventually Argentine tennis ace David Nalbandian lost his temper and told him to be quiet. But other Belgian supporters recognised the "very drunk" man as sports minister Michel Daerden, media in the country have reported.

Food Cited In Illnesses That Hit Track Team By GINA KOLATA and JASON STALLMAN BEIJING — Several members of the United States track team became ill at the team’s pre-Olympic training center in Dalian, about 300 miles east of Beijing, and food poisoning was the likely cause, according to a coach for three Olympians. “When we were in Dalian, a lot of guys got sick — five or six every day,” said John Cook, who coaches the runners Shalane Flanagan, Shannon Rowbury and Erin Donohue. United States Olympic officials, who had acknowledged concerns about food issues in China leading up...

Rain and lightning bring delays to Games Agencies Posted online: Thursday, August 14, 2008 at 1609 hrs IST Beijing, August 14: Heavy rain and lightning badly disrupted Olympic Games action on Thursday with rowing and canoe events put back to Friday and the tennis quarter-finals seriously delayed. The women's semi-finals in the kayak and the double canoe final were put back to Friday after violent storms battered the venue at Shunyi, just to the north of Beijing. Only semi-finals of canoe doubles were completed before weather worsened and schedule was halted for security reasons. The semi-finals of rowing, due to...

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...

Olympic repression and a gutless IOC Published: August 14 2008 19:30 | Last updated: August 14 2008 19:30 It has taken less than a week for the contradictions between the reality of Communist party rule and China’s pre-Olympics promises of openness and press freedom to burst unpleasantly into the open. Perhaps the party’s decision to order a pretty nine-year-old girl to lip-synch the patriotic singing of another girl deemed insufficiently cute for the opening ceremony can be dismissed as a misguided quest for artistic perfection. Nor is the manhandling of journalists by police – as happened on Wednesday during a...

Briton and Australian among five detained for Beijing Tibet protest Jane Macartney in Beijing A Briton and an Australian-Canadian staged the latest challenge to Chinese rule in Tibet this morning, climbing up a huge billboard in front of the headquarters of Chinese Central Television in Beijing and unfurling a huge banner calling for a free Tibet. Philip Kirk, 24, from Hertfordshire and Nicole Rycroft, 41, a former national rower for Australia, carried out the latest demonstration against Chinese rule of the deeply Buddhist Himalayan region. The move is deeply embarrassing for China with the eyes of the world watching it...

BEIJING - Just nine months before the Beijing Olympics, the Chinese government's news agency, Xinhua, reported that gymnast He Kexin was 13, which would have made her ineligible to be on the team that won a gold medal this week.

/snip Under Olympic regulations, female gymnasts must turn 16 years old during the year of competition. According to their passports, which determine Olympic eligibility, He Kexin, Jiang Yuyuan and Yang Yilin are all 16. But Chinese online records and local newspaper articles have presented different information, raising questions about these three gynmasts' true ages. A 2006 biography from the local sports bureau where He was registered gave her date of birth as January 1, 1994, which would make her 14. A story earlier this year in the China Daily, the country's largest English-language newspaper, also reported that she is 14...

Blue Screen of Death Strikes Bird's Nest During Opening Ceremonies Torch Lighting Well this is just perfect. At the exact moment Li Ning was rounding the lip of the Bird's Nest during the amazing torch-lighting climax, someone snapped this photo of our good friend the BSOD nestled amongst the Nest's steel twigs. Perhaps an Opening Cermonies IT dude spit out his coffee on the machines in the server room when Li took to the sky? Another question is what a projection screen is doing inside the Nest at that location, but I think the better question is what wasn't going...

Beijing ratchets up security following violent attacks 2 hours, 51 minutes ago China stepped up security around Olympic sites on Tuesday following recent violent incidents but a Games official repeated assurances that visitors were in no danger. The tighter security included extra new checks on journalists entering the Olympic media village and an armored personel carrier parked in front of the main Olympic press center. The moves come a week after the fatal stabbing of a US Olympic coach's relative on Saturday by a Chinese man and violent incidents in western China that Beijing has blamed on Muslim militants targetting...

China faked footprints of fire coverage in Olympics opening ceremony Viewers saw computer-generated film of fireworks procession Jonathan Watts in Beijing guardian.co.uk, Monday August 11 2008 16:23 BST Was it real? Was it faked? Does it matter? Chinese netizens are debating the computer simulated special effects used for one of high points of the Olympic opening ceremony, the footprints of fire that "stepped" from Tiananmen Square to the Bird's Nest stadium. Although the procession of fireworks actually took place, it was deemed too difficult and dangerous to film, so billions of viewers were treated instead to a computer-generated film of...

Stocks slide to lowest in 19 months Last Updated(Beijing Time):2008-08-12 07:21 Led by a plunge in metal and energy stocks, the benchmark index of the Chinese stock market Monday lost more than 5 percent to fall to its lowest level in 19 months amid growing concern about a slowing economy. Massive unloading of Olympics-related stocks, such as tourism and catering, also weighed down the key indicator. A man at a securities house in Huaibei, Anhui province August 11, 2008. The Shanghai Composite Index plunged 5.21 percent to reach a 10-month low. [Asianewsphoto] The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index slid 5.21 percent...

China bans child singer with crooked teeth from singing at opening ceremony Jane Macartney and Ashling O'Connor in Beijing The cute little girl whose sweet-voiced rendition of one of China’s favourite revolutionary anthems started off the Olympic opening ceremony performance may not have been all that she seemed. Little Lin Miaoke, it has been revealed, was only lip-synching. Officials have now admitted that the voice that rang out through the vast Bird’s Nest stadium was really that of seven-year-old Yang Peiyi, who may have had the voice of an angel but whose crooked teeth made her unsuitable for the opening...

Even the volunteers go for the gold at the Olympic beach volleyball venue. When American beach volleyball star Kerri Walsh's wedding ring flew off during her opening match of the Olympics, venue workers combed the sand with metal detectors to find it. Volunteer Song Zhendong dug it up after about 20 minutes. The ring came off when Walsh went up for a block in Sunday morning's match against Japan's Mika Saiki and Chiaki Kusuhara. American broadcasters could see what happened, and they called officials from the international volleyball federation to see if the ring could be recovered.

If Michael Phelps goes on to win eight gold medals in the Olympic swimming competition at the Water Cube, he will owe a huge debt of gratitude to teammate Jason Lezak. No, make that HUGE. In one of the greatest anchor legs in swimming history, Lezak reeled in boastful Frenchman Alain Bernard in the final 50 meters to bring the United States home to a breathtaking victory in world-record time in the 4x100 freestyle relay to provide a riveting finish to this morning's program. "It was a crazy thing to watch," said Garrett Weber-Gale, who swam the second leg for...

An American tourist related to a US Olympic coach was stabbed to death and a second seriously injured by a lone knifeman at a Beijing tourist attraction. The stabbings happened in the heart of the Chinese capital as the Games got into full swing. After the attack, the Chinese killer jumped to his death. American president George W Bush said: "Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families. "The United States government has offered to provide any assistance the family needs." US Olympic officials said the pair - who have not been named - were related to...

Woman falls from consulate in Olympics protest Heather Knight, Chronicle Staff Writer Thursday, August 7, 2008 (08-06) 13:03 PDT SAN FRANCISCO -- A rappelling protester fell two stories from the roof of the Chinese Consulate in San Francisco Wednesday, two days before the Olympic Games begin in Beijing and amid worldwide protest against China's human rights record in Tibet. San Francisco police and the State Department are conducting a joint investigation into the incident, including claims that the protester's ropes may have been intentionally cut. The protester was identified as Nyendak Wangden, 22, of Suisun City and a member of...

Beijing smog makes for a painful jog Will Pavia in Beijing All day yesterday Beijing was obscured by thick grey air, a phenomenon known in the Chinese state media as “overcast and hazy skies”, and described by the rest of the world as smog. Beijingers claim that the smog has thinned slightly in recent weeks, thanks to the factory closures and the one million cars removed from the roads, but still, for the newly arrived visitor, the vast windows of Beijing’s new airport terminal present an astonishing vista of nothingness. “We were gobsmacked when we landed,” an American athlete said....

Pyrrhic Olympic Victory for China 07 August 2008 By Boris Kagarlitsky For China's leaders, the 2008 Summer Olympic Games were supposed to mark the country's incredible achievements -- a testament to the Celestial Empire's rebirth as a modern world power. Some observers even speak of China as the next global leader that will soon eclipse the waning power and influence of the United States. /snip Admirers of the "Chinese miracle" fail to recognize the inherent vulnerability and instability of Beijing's economic model. The new Asian capitalism, marching forward under red Communist Party banners, has combined the most abhorrent elements of...

Bush to rebuke China on human rights, dissidents Wed Aug 6, 2008 9:42am EDT BANGKOK (Reuters) - U.S. President George W. Bush plans to voice deep concerns about human rights in China in a speech on Thursday, hours before he arrives in Beijing for the opening of the Olympic Games. "The United States believes the people of China deserve the fundamental liberty that is the natural right of all human beings," Bush will say in a speech in Bangkok, copies of which were released in advance. "So America stands in firm opposition to China's detention of political dissidents, human rights...