This has a lot to do with Rico’s original post on the death of amateurism in the Olympics. Taking the point further, perhaps we can argue that the Olympics themselves are irrelevant. Many of the popular sports of the Olympics now feature their own, stand-alone international games. Football has of course, the World Cup, and Track & Field has the World Championship. If the Olympics are partly about determining the best in the world, isn’t this role already fulfilled by the sports’ respective world competitions? Just what do the Olympics have that these events don’t? The torch? International camaraderie? Aren’t dropping TV ratings proving that these concepts are no longer contemporarily relevant? Feel free to convince... [Read more]

Topless Robot featured what’s apparently a copyright-infringing use of a popular anime character for a Beijing 2008 pamphlet: So exactly who is this “Haruhi Suzumiya” character? And will this affect the upcoming Olympic games? Probably not. And what’s with this Chinese-bashing? [Read more]

So the speculation has ended: Marion Jones recently admitted to lying to federal agents, who were investigating her drug use. Still, Shaun Assael of ESPN writes that “Only the truly naive will believe this version of Jones’ story. Jones’ confession follows Floyd Landis loss of his Tour de France title due to drug use. With all of these doping-related scandals, athletes and sports in general risk losing our trust. Without a doubt, this is a bad thing. We all rage at the unfairness of life, at people who get ahead because they know the right people or invested in improvements like breast implants, which can arguably be interpreted as artificial enhancements of sorts. We can also argue that Yao Ming enjoys an unfair advantage... [Read more]

Formula One’s front offices must be breathing a sigh of relief. Viewers were turned off by the dominance of Ferrari and Michael Schumacher, the controversial 2005 American Grand Prix, and ironically the departure of Schumacher two seasons ago. Formula One needed stars to keep the audience glued to the telecasts, and to justify the millions of dollars spent by advertisers each year. Enter Lewis Hamilton. This 22-year-old came out of nowhere, making an impact in such a short amount of time: In his debut year Hamilton has set three Formula One records in quick succession. With his first start at the 2007 Australian Grand Prix, he became the first black driver to compete in Formula One. At the 2007 Bahrain Grand Prix, he became the first F1... [Read more]

I remember being taught in Grade school that the Olympic motto was Citius, Altius, Fortius, which is Latin for Faster, Higher, Stronger. It’s a great phrase, signifying man’s struggle to push beyond his limitations. Then, in 2000, we started hearing less of the motto and more of the IOC’s new advertising campaign: Celebrate Humanity. There was nothing wrong with Faster, Higher, Stronger. But apparently, with all the doping going on, many athletes took it literally, justifying the use of performance-enhancers as a part of winning at any cost. And that’s why the Celebrate Humanity campaign is a huge success. It refocused the Olympic message, reminding people that the Games aren’t solely about scoring the lowest time,... [Read more]