August 31, 2004

The Greek government, via the Education Ministry, has purchased 50,000 tickets to give to schoolchildren and teachers in Athens in hopes of avoiding a repeat at the Paralympics of the sparse crowds on the first weekend of the Olympic Games.  The tickets will be for weekend and afternoon events, when children are out of school.

In Great Britain, BBC will broadcast the games for the first time ever. Coverage will be on BBC TWO from 6 to 7:30 pm daily and on weekends on Grandstand and Sunday Grandstand.  BBC radio will also cover the games

Australia will be televising the Paralympic Games on the SBS network, which earned the rights after the Australian Paralympic Committee rejected the bid from the Australian Broadcasting Company, which had broadcast the games before and had assumed based on past experience, that it would automatically be the games broadcaster.

East African Secondary School Games open in Mombasa, Kenya

August 31, 2004

A record 49 secondary schools from Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania are competing in basketball, volleyball, football, handball, rugby at the East African Secondary Schools Games in Mombasa, Kenya this week.  Boys and girls are playing soccer, volleyball and football. Girls teams will also participate in netball.

Handball and rugby are being included in the games for the first time.

The games are being sponsored by the Nation Media and held at Shanzu Teachers College and Shimo la Tewa High School and other venues in Mombasa.

This is the third edition of the games, which were held in Nairobi in 2002 and Kampala in 2003.

Liu Xiang wins first ever Olympic Athletics gold medal for China

August 28, 2004

Running a near flawless race, China's Liu Xiang won the 110 meter high hurdles gold medal, tying the world record of 12.91 seconds in the process.

The Olympic gold was the latest in a string of successes for the Chinese star, bound to become an even bigger hero in China, as the gold is China's first ever in Olympic athletics competition.

Xiang's winning margin was by .27 seconds , the largest winning margin in the Olympic Games 110 hurdles race since 1988. Terrence Trammell of the United States won the silver in 13.18.  In the process Xiang also beat the defending Olympic Champion from Cuba, Anier Garcia, who won the bronze in 13.20. 

China's Xinhua news agency reported, in typical fashion, that Xiang's 12.91 should be considered superior to Colin Jackson's 12.91 from the 1993 world championships as the wind for Jackson's race was .5 mps and the wind for Xiang. .3mps.

The 21 year old has had numerous successes on his way to Olympic gold. Xiang won the 2001 South East Asian Games in Osaka, the 2001 World University Games in Beijing  the 2001 China National Games.

Xiang won the 2002 Asian Games in Busan Korea, in an Asian Games Record time, 13.27 seconds. His closest challenger then was Satoru Tanigawa of Japan in 13.83.

Xiang was third in the 2003 World Championships in Paris, 3rd in the World Indoor 60m hurdles in 2003, 2nd in the World Indoor 60m hurdles in 2004 and won the 2003 China City Games.

Xiang said after the race, "This is a miracle, but I believe there will be a lot more miracles taking place in China."

1 million trees for Commonwealth Games

August 24, 2004

The State Government of Victoria has plans to plant up to one million trees, in and around Melbourne leading up to the 2006 Commonwealth Games, in an effort to offset greenhouse gas emissions.  Original plans had called for 2.5 million trees to be planted.

Games organizers were heavily criticized in the last two years when they cleared over 1000 trees to make room for the Games village.

Volunteers are being asked to both grow seedlings in their back yards, and then help plant the trees, in the next year and a half. The games are scheduled to begin in March 2006.  

Kits containing seeds and potting mix are available to citizens in Melbourne until September 20 of this year.

The plan would have to account for an average of about 56,000 trees per month (1870 trees a day) for the next 18 months to reach the goal.

Reports after the Sydney Olympic Games stated that over 5 million trees were planted in and around Sydney and other parts of Australia in efforts to create a green games.

The Athens Olympic Games by the Numbers

August 18, 2004

A variety of numbers describing the breadth and scope of the Olympic Games.

The French computer systems company Atos Origin has 3400 people working on Olympic information infrastructure. Atos Origin bought the Sema Group from Schlumberger earlier this year.

In Athens, Atos Origin has 10,500 workstations and 4000 printers, 900 Windows and Unix servers, 300 routers and 200 switches in the 60 Athens venues.

Sports Illustrated magazine, will be taking approximately 500,000 digital photographs during the games. This is the first Olympic Games the magazine will shoot entirely in digital format. In 2002 the magazine was still shooting 95% of its Olympic pictures on film. The magazine expects to save $4 million dollars in film and processing costs. 
 
For television numbers in the United States, there are seven television channels (NBC, MSNBC, CNBC, Bravo, USA, Telemundo and NBC's HDtv channel) 103 commentators and 1,210 hours of coverage over 17 days.

For security, 70,000 police and military personnel, and 35,000 other personnel with “secondary” duties are in and around Athens and the rest of the venues. 120 Patriot missiles have been deployed.  The Greek military is providing 500 vehicles and 50 naval ships to the security efforts.  The Greek Air Force intends to fly some 1,200 hours during the Olympic and Paralympics, at a rate of $3,614 an hour per plane.

On a lighter note, the IOC reported after the first weekend of the games that the IOC web site had 135,000 visitors on August 13th and 270,000 visitors on August 14th, both records. The previous high traffic total for the IOC site had been 78,000 for one day during the 2002 Salt Lake City games.

Of course there is always the food in the village, this year reported by the Athens official web site.

During the period of the Olympic and Paralympic Games:

12 million meals to athletes, officials, volunteers, media, sponsors and spectators.

At the Olympic Village, 22,000 people will eat 50,000 meals every 24 hours, consuming 100 tons of food and creating 55 tons of waste each day.

For the duration of the games, the village will serve; 2 million liters of  water, 120 tons of meat, 85 tons of seafood, 300 tons of fruits and vegetables, 25,000 loaves of bread, 15,000 liters of milk and 2500 dozen eggs.

Jim Alford, 1937 University Games, 1938 Empire Games champion, dead at 90

August 18, 2004

Jim Alford, a Cardiff-born Welsh distance champion from another time, died at his home in Wales on August 4.

Alford had a long and distinguished career as an athlete and coach and then worked on several projects for the IAAF. 

At the 1937 World University Games in Paris, Alford won both the 800 and 1500 meter races. Le Matin, a French paper covering the games, wrote that Alford won the 800 meter race over four competitors who finished so close together they were "dans un mouchoir" or in a handkerchief. Alford won in 1:54.1, fifth place finished in 1:54.5. 

Earlier in the 1500 meter race, Alford qualified for the final finishing fourth, conserving his energy in a heat that was won in 4:48.  His compatriot Emery, won the second heat in 4:09.6.  Alford won the final in 3:56, Emery finishing second in 3:57.

In 1938 at the Empire Games in Sydney, Alford, running for Wales, set a new Empire Games record in winning the mile in 4:11.6

Alford then served in the RAF as a squadron leader during WWII, and won the RAF 880 and Mile championships while in the service.

Alford was also on a British 4x1500m world record relay team.

Alford coached the Welsh team at the 1958 Commonwealth Games, which were held in his hometown of Cardiff, then became the national coach to Rhodesia and Nyasaland (now Malawi). 

ESPN Shot Put results lacking in accuracy

August 18, 2004

We really like ESPN's work, most of the time, but of late it seems like there has been something every week to complain about with ESPN (see X Games Athletes Shine:  Live TV causes presentation to falter August 11, 2004 and Testing, testing, one, two, three. ESPN gets ahead of itself with Olympic Results July 22, 2004).

This week it's ESPN's presentation of the Olympic Shot Put Results, which were, at best 'rounded off a bit.

Below are ESPN's interpretation of the results, and in the adjoining columns, shall we say, a more precise version of the results. 

It's ironic, that in the closest Olympic Shot put final in history, (the winner was decided by a better second throw - Adam Nelson of the US fouled on all five of his other throws, and did not have a second mark, making Bilonog the Olympic Champion) that ESPN rounds of the results to the nearest foot, and in the women's results, actually list better marks, lower in the results. 

Shot Put - Final Men

Shot Put  - Final Women

Seriously, an operation as large as ESPN should present the results in their accurate state, or they risk making themselves a joke. 

August 17, 2004

Sheik Ahmed Al Maktoum of the United Arab Emirates has won the first ever Olympic medal for the gulf nation in winning the double trap shooting event.

Maktoum finished tied for 18th in the same event at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, and earlier in the Athens Games had finished 4th in the single trap shooting event.

The forty year-old Maktoum, is a member of Dubai's ruling family, and was educated in the United States, at Western States University in Phoenix, Arizona.

Newspapers in Australia after the 2000 Sydney games reported that as the Sheik went through the airport in Sydney, he was asked for his flight number by Australian customs. His short answer was reportedly "No number, no airline, my plane." Customs then asked for the registration number of his plane which he didn't have. He then told customs officials that he had five planes, and he just phoned for one of them to come pick him. A 747 showed up to take him home.

United Arab Emirates medal history in various games.

Taiwanese delegation in Athens, gathering info for 2009 World Games

August 17, 2004

The Taipei Times is reporting that a six person delegation from the 2009 World Games is currently in Athens, studying operations in hopes of putting that knowledge to work in preparing for the 2009 World Games in Kaoshiung. 

The group will be in Athens for ten days, and have already met with Ron Froehlich, president of the International World Games Association.

Kaoshiung Deputy Mayor Lin Yung-chien told the Times that the first lesson learned is that they can not waste time in preparations, and might move up some planning dates, and also need to convince the Kaoshiung city and central governments to do the same. The games organizers intend to use the games not only to publicize Kaoshiung, but the whole of Taiwan, and to help Taiwan distinguish themselves from mainland China.

The Deputy Mayor also told the Times that they have noticed that Athens does not have good Internet services for providing Olympic Games information. Lin said much information in Athens needs to be photocopied, and there is too much paper.

Athens did not have enough time to train volunteers, according to Lin there are problems such as a "shortage of resources and inadequate coordination, and the less-than-helpful, less-than-friendly attitude of the Greek people and each facility toward foreigners."

Lin said the 2009 World Games organizers would concentrate on issues such as language skills, both in their staff and in written materials and even directional signs around the city during the games, with the goal of making visitors feel at home.

Budget issues will be immediately addressed upon returning to Taiwan, and a number of test events will he held in the run-up to the games.

The 2009 organizers will also travel to observe operations at next years World Games in Duisburg, Germany.

Taiwan will also host the 2009 Deaflympics, Taipei having won the bid over Athens for those games. 

Fan interrupts men's Olympic diving competition

August 16, 2004

A fan, reported to be a 31-year-old Canadian man, wearing a tutu, polka-dot tights and clown shoes, interrupted the diving competition by climbing onto an adjacent board and diving into the pool.

The man had the name of an online betting service scrawled onto his chest, leading some observers to conclude that Mark Roberts, the self proclaimed "world's greatest streaker" has made good on his guarantee of one year ago to streak at the Olympic Games.

Last summer, Roberts told HBO television in the United States, "the world's greatest athletes deserve to be streaked by the world's greatest streaker!"

It turned out not to be Roberts, but could Roberts still be lurking in Athens?

By some reports, the man was in the pool for several minutes. After he was removed, he claimed he was simply sending a message of love to his wife back home in Canada. Greek organizers have said that they will now add security around the pool.

NBC announcers were flustered by the incident, as were several of the diving teams. The Chinese, Russian and US pairs performed anywhere from below par to disastrous in the last round.

The Greek pair, Nikolaos Siranidis and Thomas Bimis, saw the streaker as a "good omen."  A streaker had made his way onto the field during the Euro 2004 Final when Greece beat host Portugal. Greek divers held on to win a much appreciated gold medal.

Jordan announces 2014 Asian Games bid

August 16, 2004

Prince Faisal bin Hussein of Jordan has announced that Jordan will be bidding for the 2014 Asian Games and other sporting events, including a leg of the World Rally Championship and will try and pursue more events in the future.

Amman has hosted the Arab Games and Arab Games for the Handicapped in 1999 and a version of the Arab University Games earlier this year.

Korea and India are two other nations so far that have mentioned the possibility of pursuing the 2014 Asian Games.

Early Athens Olympic Observations

August 15, 2004

The Athens Olympic games are a few days old, and already full of story lines, some light, some deadly serious, for the historians to debate. 

NBC TV reportedly left out parts of the Opening Ceremony. Well before the ceremony began, Greeks made light of the fact that the stadiums and venues took a long time to complete. About an hour before the scheduled start of the ceremony, several men in overalls and hardhats walked onto the stadium floor. One of the men pulled out a hammer and pounded a nail into the stadium floor. Then he ripped off his coveralls, threw down the hammer, and picked up a microphone, and yelled "There! It's finished." It turned out the "worker" was Nikos Aliagas, a humorist and TV personality in Greece.

NBC also didn't show part of the ceremony in which actors posed as nude statues, reportedly with male organs that were actually realistic looking plastic reproductions.

NBC also for some reason, did not show a recorded video a video greeting from the Russian and American crew of the International Space Station, or the athletes or officials oath, usually a tradition part of the ceremony, or  Greek swimmer Zoi Dimoschaki spoke the oath for the athletes.

Also not seen at the ceremony was Greek sprinter Kostas Kenteris, the Sydney 200 meter champion.  Heavy speculation was that Kenteris was actually the chosen athlete to light the Olympic torch. However, Kenteris and Katherina Thanou, Greece's 100 meter silver medallist from Sydney, missed drug tests under strange circumstances. Reports were that they had also missed drug tests in Chicago two weeks before the games.  Both ended up in the hospital after a mysterious motorcycle crash, and both missed the ceremony.

Organizers had said that seven people would handle the torch inside the stadium, but only six did.  Most of the press speculated that Kenteris was the missing link, though organizers denied this. Greek sailboarder Nikolaos Kaklamanakis, became the final torchbearer. At any rate, Kenteris and Thanou (long suspect in the track and field community for their suspicious behavior regarding drug tests) have been suspended for missing the test and will not compete in the games.  Swedish track and field athletes had mentioned the possibility of a boycott, if Kenteris and Thanou were not thrown out of the games.

Also seen during the ceremonies, briefly, was a sign, in Greek, held up by the Andorran delegation while it marched into the stadium.  US television quickly moved to another camera angle, leading some observers to speculate if the sign was some form of protest.  The message turned out to be not only benign, but polite, reading, "Greece, thanks for your great creation."

Once the events began, the firsts began to fall. Thailand's’ and Turkey's first ever gold medals for a woman in any sport, Udomporn Polsak and Nurcan Taylon both won gold in weightlifting.

The United States men's basketball team lost a basketball game for the first time while playing with NBA players.

Another first, Andrew and Bettina Hoy, husband and wife equestrian competitors, competing against each other.  Numerous married couples have competed in the same Olympic Games, (several are competing in this year's games) but never against one another. Andrew competes for New Zealand, while Bettina competes for Germany.

In the first reported flag mix-up of the games, Ireland's sailors had to request that Greek organizers replace the flag on the official sails of all of Ireland's boats.  It is official protocol for the flag to be part of the sail in the games. Ireland's flag, rather than green, white and orange, was instead portrayed as green, white and "mustard." Sailing officials made the changes.

Mexico's la Cronica de Hoy newspaper issued an editorial protesting the lack of Spanish on the official games web site www.athens2004.com, claiming that the web site is discriminatory against Spanish speakers. The Cronica wrote, that with an event so important it is inconceivable that the organizers would ignore a language spoken by one quarter of the world's population.

The official languages of the IOC are French and English, and it would be nice, if possible, if the games web sites could be translated into as many major languages as possible. 

Things may not change for the next Olympic Games. The 2006 Turin web site, www.torino2006.org/, is right now in only Italian, English and French, and the Beijing web site, beijing-2008.org/, is in Chinese, English and French.

Discrimination reared its head again in Arab-Israeli relations when an Iranian Judo representative  decided to withdraw from the Olympic Games rather than compete against an Israeli opponent.

This comes as no surprise as it is the official policy of Iran, and Iran's National Olympic Committee web site carries inflammatory remarks against Israel, and is consistent with several decades of behavior against Israel, and its sportsmen and women.

The Iranian NOC and government said that they would consider still giving the athlete the reward for Iranian gold medallists some $115,000, for his "heroic" actions.  

After the boycott was announced, the Iranian failed to make weight. 

Iran's President Mohammad Khatami said the act would "be recorded in the history of Iranian glories" and that "the Iranian nation considers the athlete as the champion of 2004 Olympic games."

The International Judo Federation is looking into the matter, and the International Olympic Committee would be wise to suspend Iran's judo teams entirely from the games for their overt discrimination, but will not as this would simply be too controversial, and would probably lead to a boycott by all Arab nations.

Security at soccer matches may be stepped up after exuberant fans from Iraq stormed the field on two occasions, after both of Iraq's goals in their 2-0 win 

Fans leapt several feet to the ground and ran onto the field to hug and kiss the Iraqi players, before being escorted off by limited security.

Finally, a big party at chief Olympic organizer Gianna Angelopoulos- Daskalaki  house was a little more exciting than intended when fireworks started a fire in the woods next to the mansion. It took sixty firefighters to put out the blaze, which raged for an hour.

August 15, 2004

In August, 1928, the Vatican said the Olympic Games were not good for sports. In August 2004, the Vatican set up a Church and Sports division within the Vatican office dealing with the laity.

Seventy-six years ago this month, in the Osservatore Romano, the Vatican called the Olympic Games a "mad race" for sporting championships and the Olympic Games made for a false sense of national pride. 'The exaltation of the victors as though they were idols of the nation becomes grotesque and discourages the more mediocre athletes from physical training." 

The 1928 statement also said that sports for women were not always "appropriate to their natural dispositions and admission."

Last week, in creating the Church and Sports division, the Vatican statement read, "today, sports occupy a very relevant role, both on the personal level as well as on the global level." 

"The Church, which has always shown particular attention to various and important sectors of human co-existence, is called upon without doubt to pay attention to sports, which certainly can be considered one of the nerve centers of contemporary cultures and one of the frontiers for new evangelization." 

Pope John Paul wants the Olympic Games to remind the world of the possibility of peace in the world. "I strongly wish that for the world, that is today disturbed and devastated by many forms of hate and violence, the important sporting event of the Games will be peaceful and will serve to promote understanding and peace between nations."

Games for Catholic Youth have been organized for over a century,  with the FISEC (The Fédération Internationale Sportive de l'Enseignement Catholique) Games for Boys organized from 1948 to 1979, and FISEC Games for Girls from 1959 to 1979.  Since 1980 these games have been organized together for both boys and girls, as the FISEC Games.   

The Parafiada have been organized in Poland for catholic youth since 1989. 

Hong Kong publicizing 2009 East Asian Games in Athens

August 15, 2004

The Hong Kong Home Affairs Bureau and Hong Kong's Sports Federation & Olympic Committee, are presenting in Athens a three day exhibition, "Hong Kong -- Asia's world city and Sports Events Capital."  The exhibition is at the Divani Caravel Hotel in Athens from August 14-16.

Hong Kong is advertising its facilities as a training site for teams preparing for the 2008 Olympic Games, and its facilities for conferences, and a site for major sporting events.

Hong Kong hosted the first ever Far East and South Pacific (FESPIC) Youth Games in December of 2003.

The most common sports in International Games

August 14, 2004

Daniel Bell - International Games Archive

What is the most common sport in international games? How widely distributed are these sports in International Games throughout the world? 

Of the 28 sports included the Athens 2004 Olympic Games, the three most popular are athletics, swimming and basketball. 

These numbers below are rough, but close estimates, as not all sports data is available and entered into the International Games Archive database. Data is extracted from sports data on approximately 714 summer international multisport competitions available to the International Games Archive as of August 2004. Data is from 1896 to 2004.

A more precise approach would choose complete sports data from the major games (African Games, Arab Games, Commonwealth, Asian, University, Pan American and so on) and work with an explicit universe of games. Look for that report on this site sometime in the future.

Most common sports in summer International Games: 

590 Athletics 
536 Swimming 
474 Basketball 
428 Volleyball 
387 Football 
319 Table Tennis 
317 Cycling Road / track
259 Shooting 
239 Wrestling 
234 Boxing 
204 Judo 
202 Weightlifting 
169 Badminton 
168 Tennis 
158 Handball 
151 Sailing 
149 Water Polo 
146 Gymnastics Artistic (all forms)
140 Diving 
126 Rowing 
116 Softball 
105 Baseball 
96 Equestrian 
92 Archery 
85 Triathlon 
71 Field Hockey 
68 Fencing 
67 Canoe / Kayak Flatwater Racing 
40 Taekwondo 
38 Beach Volleyball 
36 Modern Pentathlon 
33 Cycling Mountain Bike 
20 Synchronized Swimming

Ghana thinking way ahead; 2015 African Games, 2022 Commonwealth Games and 2032 Olympic Games bids

August 13, 2004

The Minister for Education Youth and Sports from Ghana, Mr Kwadwo Baah-Wiredu, speaking at a national cycling awards presentation, laid out plans for Ghana to bid for several big events over the coming decades, according to TheGhanaHomePage.

Baah-Wiredu first mentioned the intent for Ghana to look at hosting the African Games in 2015. After that, Ghana would bid for the 2022 Commonwealth Games, the 2032 Olympic Games and the 2052 World Cup.

Ghana is scheduled to host football's African Cup of Nations in 2008, and according to Baah-Wiredu, the West African Games in 2005, with the hopes that by hosting these two events successfully, other events would follow.

Ghana hosted West African University Games in 1967 and 1973 and All African University Games in 1974.

Big field awaiting decision on next X Games host

August 12, 2004

Boston, Los Angeles, Houston, Miami,  San Diego, San Francisco and Rhode Island have all contacted ESPN about the possibilities of hosting the next two X Games. ESPN, to date, has established a tradition of giving the games to a city for two years in a row.

Rhode Island, San Diego, San Francisco and Los Angeles have all hosted the games before.

ESPN and the Anschutz Entertainment Group (owners of the Staples Center and Home Depot Center) are discussing keeping the games in Los Angeles for at least one more year, but are said to be still in contract discussions.

The decision on the host for the next games is not scheduled to be made for several weeks.

That depends on what the definition of "all" is

August 10, 2004

Do attorneys ever wonder how they get their reputations?

According to Elliot Almond, reporting in the San Jose Mercury News, one of the prime individuals in the case, coach Remy Korchemny, has expressed his desire to go to Athens to watch the Olympic Games. He would need the permission of the courts first.

One of Korchemny's attorney's argued that Korchemny is not a flight risk, "He has lived here all of his life; he has good references."

Korchemny, now 72 years old (born around 1932 or so), moved to the US from the Ukraine, where he was Valeri Borzov's coach, in 1975.

29 of 72 years, "all of his life", whatever.

Jakarta to get some Olympic TV

August 9, 2004

After exploring several options Indonesian TV stations have declined the offer from the Asian Broadcasting Union for an Olympic broadcast package proposed several weeks ago for a price of $1.5 million.

However, a local cable company, "Kabelvision" has decided to purchase a package and to offer at least some TV. The coverage will be limited only to cable subscribers in Jakarta.

The ABU had given a final offer of a daily highlight program for just US$75,000 to the national stations, but the stations still did not bite on the offer.

Meanwhile in Korea, the South Koreans are assisting North Korea with access to Olympic broadcasts, beaming them by satellite

South Korean papers report that the normal procedure for North Korea is to pirate the broadcasts without paying. The Asian Broadcasting Union recently concluded negotiations with North Korea that gave them the rights for free. The Korean Broadcasting Company and the Inter-Korean cooperation fund will share the cost of the satellite, around $340,000 US.

The South provided the same TV access for the North during last years World University Games from Daegu.

North Korea will still most likely censor parts of the broadcasts that it may find objectionable.

Cuba, will have plenty of Olympic action available on TV according to Cuba's Granma International newspaper.

Cuban Television has the rights to transmit up to 24 hours a day, but will attempt to broadcast many events live in the early morning hours in Cuba.

Cuba will show all the Olympic baseball games, and all of Cuba's baseball games live.

In addition, Cuban radio will be broadcasting live, fifteen hours per day, with broadcasts starting at 1:30 a.m.

One Ethiopian reportedly attempting to defect after Children's Games

August 9, 2004

Jesse Tinsley of the Cleveland Plain Dealer has reported that a young fifteen year old runner from Ethiopia, Aden Alemu, is trying to defect and stay in the United States with relatives or friends, after competing in the International Children's Games in Cleveland.

Alemu, evidently brought with her to the games in Cleveland a list of phone numbers of friends and relatives in the US and Mexico, and spent several days trying to contact them.

Authorities have said that she might have a difficult time defecting, as there might not be legal grounds. Individuals must show that they are in danger of being harmed because of their race, or religion or political opinion.

A phone call from an unidentified male to her games sponsor in Cleveland indicated that she might be headed to the East Coast of the US.

Museums around the US ready for Olympic Games

August, 8 2004

Daniel Bell

Museums around the United States are ready for the Olympic Games, with exhibits focusing on Olympic topics, ancient and modern.

In New York City, the Metropolitan Museum of Art has opened an exhibit entitled The Games in Ancient Athens displaying Greek vases, bronzes, and other works from its collection displaying foot races, chariot races, discus and wrestling. The collection also includes pieces of athletic art from the Museum's New Greek Galleries. 

The exhibit, on display in the Mary and Michael Jaharis Gallery, began June 29 and runs until October 3, 2004.

Chicago

Chicago's Hellenic Museum and Cultural Center is running an exhibit entitled, Olympic Games: Then & Now from May 23 – November 14. 

The focus of the exhibit is the 1904 Olympic Games originally awarded to Chicago, which were "stolen away" by St. Louis. The museum states that new research, including investigative reporting by journalism students at Columbia College in Chicago, has uncovered the rest of the story of how Chicago lost the games, a story that the museum claims has been shrouded in mystery for the past 100 years.

The exhibit is housed in the Museum's new space in the Greek Islands Restaurant, 801 West Adams Street, Chicago. 

Boston

The Museum of Fine Arts, in Boston, has opened "Games for the Gods: The Greek Athlete and the Olympic Spirit" which it claims is the first major American exhibition dedicated to Greek athletics. 

The museum uses photographs, video and sculpture to tell the ancient Olympic story in four areas: Origins of the Games, Athletic Events, the Training grounds, and Victors and prizes. The exhibit includes 180 pieces from the museum's collection and material loaned from the National Archaeological Museum in Athens.

The exhibit is in the Torf Gallery, from July 21-November 28, 2004.

More about the Boston exhibit

Also in Massachusetts, "Sacred Groves: Ancient Greek Athletic Sites", there is an exhibition of photographs of the sites of the original Pan Hellenic Games by Karen A. Vournakis, at The Griffin Museum of Photography in Winchester, MA. 

Vournakis, in the summer of 2003, photographed the sites of the major competitions of the original four Pan Hellenic Games: Olympian, Pythian, Isthmian and Nemean, in Olympia, Delphi, Isthmia and Nemea.

Vournakis focused her lens on both the ruins of stadia and athletics venues, and the religious shrines associated with each games; the Great Altar of Zeus at Olympia, the Sacred Grove at Nemea and the Temples of Zeus at Isthmia and Nemea. 

Washington D.C.

The Old Post Office Pavilion in Washington D.C. will present “Fun, Sports and Games”, a traveling exhibit created by Illinois State University, with children's artwork from 20 different cultures depicting games and sporting activities some with Olympic Themes.  The exhibit began April 1, and runs until August 31. 

The exhibit was originally created for the 1980 Olympic Games in Lake Placid. The children's drawing were also displayed at Chicago’s Soldier Field during the 1994 World Cup.

Coming soon to the Smithsonian, opening October 7, 2004, "Sports: Breaking Records, Breaking Barriers" will include some Olympic materials, including Bonnie Blair's speed skating skinsuits; Mia Hamm's Olympic soccer jersey; and Brian Boitano's ice skates. 

US Holocaust Museum in Washington D.C. created an exhibit in 1996 titled "Nazi Olympics Berlin 1936" to remember the 60th anniversary of the Berlin Games. The exhibit was first shown at the Holocaust Museum in 1996, and has since traveled to Chicago, San Diego, Houston, Salt Lake City, and Chico, CA.  "Nazi Olympics Berlin 1936" is now in Des Moines, Iowa at the state Historical Society of Iowa, April 19 through September 30, 2004.

Philadelphia

The University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia has created an online exhibit ”The Real Story of the Ancient Olympic Games” in which Dr. David Gilman Romano, of the University's Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, debunks ancient Olympic myths, and shows us that the ancient and modern Olympic games are really not all that different, in terms of scandal, cheating and the rest.

Romano will also be publishing a daily diary during the games, with an ancient perspective on the events of the Athens Games.

Ft. Lauderdale

The International Swimming Hall of Fame in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida has several Olympic themed displays including:

-a history of the development of FINA

-an Olympic Flag from the Antwerp Olympic Games in 1920, the first Olympic Games in which the flag was used.

-a collection of over 20 Olympic medals won by athletes in aquatic sports since 1896, and Olympic diplomas.

-life-size wax statues of both Johnny Weissmuller and Mark Spitz.  The Weissmuller display includes his gold medals, and swimsuit worn at the 1928 Olympic Games.  The Spitz' display includes a starting block from the Olympic Games in 1972. 

-a photo and memorabilia review  of synchronized swimming , swimsuit costumes and memorabilia worn in international and Olympic competitions.

Indianapolis

The NCAA Hall of Champions in Indianapolis has on display "Journey to the Gold" which features items on both NCAA athletes and coaches who have participated in the Olympic Games, and an Olympic timeline highlighting NCAA athletes' participation in the games. The exhibit runs until October 16.

Among the items: Jesse Owens' bronze shoe, coach James (Doc) Counsilman's swimming robe, an Olympic torch which passed through Indianapolis when the Games were held in the United States in 1984, material from "Tigerbelles" from Tennessee State University's track and field team, Indiana University's (Bloomington) swimming team, and the University of Iowa's wrestling team.

Photographs of NCAA Olympic Champions complete the display.

South Bend, Indiana

The College Football Hall of Fame is currently running an exhibition on US college football players who have participated in the Olympic Games.

Dallas

For a bit of Greek culture, the Dallas Children's Museum installed this year a permanent exhibit, Yiayia’s Sofia’s Greek Village, a replica of a home and village square in Greece. 

Children can visit "Grandma" Sofia, explore her home and kitchen, try on traditional clothing, serve a meal in or enjoy the outdoor taverna.

Also in Dallas, the Women's Museum presents a photographic display by Annie Leibovitz which includes, among other things, some photographs of Olympic athletes.

San Diego

Advertised as "The World's Largest Personal Collection of Olympic Medals", the San Diego Hall of Champions is displaying local citizen Art Prior's collection of medals from the Olympic Games, sixteen to date, from fourteen different games. The Hall is also displaying other Olympic medals in its collection.

Prior began the collection in 1985, collects only summer games medals (he finds them more historically significant than winter games medals), and adds about one medal per year, primarily through sports memorabilia auctions.

The display began on June 10 and runs to October 1. 

Los Angeles

The California African American Museum has a small exhibit honoring Black Olympians. (No other information is available from the CAAM web site.)

The Museum of Television and Radio, in Los Angeles, has had memorabilia displays and seminars on television and the Olympics this summer, with appearances by Bud Greenspan, Peter Ueberroth and Anita DeFrantz.  A memorabilia display continues until August 29. Visitors can view Bud Greenspan's works in the Museum's viewing rooms.

Soon to be seen in to Los Angeles, is the exhibit "Coming of Age in Ancient Greece: Images of Childhood from the Classical Past"  at the J. Paul Getty Museum from September 14 to December 5, 2004. 

The exhibition is organized into five  sections that follow the  development of a child from birth to adulthood, and claims the Greeks were the first culture to represent children and their activities as children and not as "miniature adults" in their art.

Toys included are pig rattles, wheeled toy horses, tops, and clay dolls. There are also pictures of kids playing with wooden hopes, toy carts, juggling and playing on seesaws.

The exhibit includes 128 artifacts, gold jewelry, silver coins, bronze statuettes, wooden writing tablets, baked clay figurines, marble statues, and a toy glass knucklebone, from about 1500 B.C. to the fourth century A.D.   Several American museums contributed to the collection, but some artifacts came from Museums in Canada and Europe.

The collection was first shown at the Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, August-December 2003, the Onassis Cultural center in New York, January-April 2004, the Cincinnati Art Museum, May 21 to August 1, 2004.

Sacramento

The Olympic Memorabilia Exhibit, in the Cal State University Sacramento Library, was created by the University's Special Collections and University Archives.

The exhibit includes stamps, Olympic tickets, programs, maps and athletic clothing. Many of the stamps were donated for the exhibit by CSUS alumna Anne Evans. 

The CSUS Olympic Memorabilia Exhibit continues to Thursday, Aug. 31.

Just closed, an exhibit of art commemorating U.S. Olympians by Euripides “Rip” Kastaris. The works were part of CSUS Showcase, which included exhibits, performances, concerts, lectures and displays to complement the U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials at the University from July 9 to 18.

Homer Simpson wins X Games Skateboard Medal? August 6, 2004

D'oh!  The official X Games newspaper, distributed daily at the games, issued the correction on the right in the Saturday edition. The Friday edition had 'misidentified" the bronze medallist in Skateboard vert. (left)

by Daniel Bell

August 5, 2004

Are we seeing the jading of the X Games crowd?

At X Games X in Los Angeles this week, ESPN has decided to have far more events on "live" television, than in any previous year.  The problem?  The definition of a "live" event. Spectators at this evening's games were treated to delay after delay, in both the Skateboard Vert and Moto X Best trick events, as ESPN held up the event on several occasions.

Rather than televise the event, as it ran, the event was paused or stopped for television breaks in between each Vert run or Moto X jump, which severely dampened the vibe inside Staples Center. One fan in the arena was spotted sleeping during the last round of Moto X.

Skateboard fans saw 20 runs of 45 seconds each, over a two and a half hours, while Moto X fans saw 20 jumps, which took about 5 seconds each, in about 70 minutes. 

Fans were treated to a second "encore" jump by Travis Pastrana, after his second round jump, simply because there was so much time.

Chuck Carothers won the Moto X Best Trick event, with a spectacular new - so far unnamed - trick. He started with a Superman, released from the bike with a small push on the seat, and spun or rolled his body a 360, and then got back on the bike, grabbing the handlebars and landed the jump.  Carothers credited Travis Pastrana for helping with the trick, saying that Pastrana had allowed Carothers to use Pastrana's foam pit in Maryland for a whole month earlier this summer to practice. Carothers said he has been practicing the maneuver for two years now, and broke several bones trying.

Before the attempt, Pastrana could be seen in the landing area, excitedly gesturing to a reporter, approximating the moves that Carothers was about to attempt.

This was the high point of the night for the fans, who cheered wildly as the scoreboard big screen played Carothers' jump over and over, in slow motion.

On the other hand, surprisingly, fans are quickly becoming ho-hum about the backflip. A trick that was deemed nearly impossible on a motorcycle just a few years ago, and was first pulled by Mike Metzger at the X Games in Philadelphia in 2002, was thrown by six riders in a row in warmups tonight.

Several of the backflips in tonight's competition were met with tepid applause.

The riders, however, are adding more and more to their backflips, with releases, seat-grabs, can-cans and heel-clickers.

Had the competition been run in a reasonable amount of time, the quality of jumps was great, but the breaks in competition cooled off the enthusiasm.

On the vert ramp, Bucky Lasek won yet another X Games gold medal with a fine run. The skateboard ramp this year has an enclosed bowl on one end, which looks fine on television, but is hard to see when inside the arena.

Word is that seasoned skaters like Bob Burnquist have been practicing hard on the  super Big Air ramp out in the Staples Center parking lot, and are having a bit of trouble getting the feel and speed of the ramp.  Burnquist looked somewhat tired in his runs this evening, but the competition on Sunday should be spectacular.

Last year's events from the Staples Center, the Coliseum and the Downhill BMX from Woodward West were fantastic. Let's hope ESPN's version of "live" TV won't interrupt the rest of this weekend's events.

August 3, 2004

The message evidently continues to get lost in the translation.  The word Olympic used in the context of games, except in certain permitted circumstances, is reserved for the use of the International Olympic Committee.

As the Athens Games approach, it looks like domain name speculators continue to try to ride on the coattails of the Olympic name, and the IOC has its work cut out for it in attempting to curb the use of the word Olympic in internet domain names. 

Of the more curious examples are, 2001olympics.com 2003winterolympics.com 2005londonolympics.com, 2005olympics.com

Here are some of the domain names out there, most of which are not serving content.

04greekolympics.com
04olympicgames.com
04olympics.com
06olympicgames.com
06olympics.com
08olympic.com
08olympicgames.com
08olympics.com
1-800-olympic.com
1-olympics.com
10olympicgames.com
10olympics.com
111-olympics.com
11400olympicboulevard.com
1800-olympics.com
1800olympic.com
1888olympic.com
1896olympics.com
1olympicway.com
1stolympics.com
1stolympicss.com
2001olympics.com
2002olympicgames.net
2002olympicpins.com
2002olympics.biz
2002olympics.com
2002saltlakecityolympicgames.com
2002usolympics.com
2002usolympicteam.com
2002winterolympics.com
2003winterolympics.com
2004-athens-olympics.com
2004-athens-olympics.net
2004-olympic.com
2004-olympic.net
2004-olympic-games.com
2004-olympic-games.org
2004-olympicgames.com
2004-olympicgames.net
2004-olympics.biz
2004-olympics.com
2004-olympics.net
2004-olympics.org
2004-olympics-betting.com
2004-olympics-greece.com
2004-olympics-greece-accommodation.com
2004-summer-olympics.com
2004-summer-olympics.net
2004athenaeolympic.com
2004athens2004olympics.com
2004athensolympic.com
2004athensolympicpins.com
2004athensolympics.com
2004athensolympics.net
2004athensolympics.org
2004athenssummerolympics.com
2004athenssummerolympics.net
2004athenssummerolympics.org
2004brandolympics.com
2004greeceolympics.com
2004greek-olympics.com
2004greekolympics.com
2004juniorolympics.com
2004laolympics.com
2004olympic.com
2004olympic.net
2004olympic.org
2004olympic-games.com
2004olympica.org
2004olympicd.org
2004olympicgames.com
2004olympicgames.net
2004olympicgames.us
2004olympicgamesinfo.com
2004olympicgold.com
2004olympicguide.com
2004olympicguide.net
2004olympicpackages.com
2004olympicpins.com
2004olympics.biz
2004olympics.com
2004olympics.us
2004olympics-blog.com
2004olympics-pins.com
2004olympics4u.com
2004olympicsathens.org
2004olympicsblog.com
2004olympicscenter.com
2004olympicsdvd.com
2004olympicsgreece.com
2004olympicsnow.com
2004olympicsports.com
2004olympicstravel.com
2004olympicsummergames.com
2004olympicszone.com
2004olympictickets.com
2004olympictours.com
2004olympictravel.com
2004olympicvs.org
2004olympicwinners.com
2004olympicxs.org
2004summerolympicgames.com
2004summerolympics.com
2004summerolympictickets.com
2004usolympics.com
2004usolympics.net
2004usolympics.org
2004visaolympics.com
2004worldolympics.com
2005londonolympics.com
2005olympics.com
2005seniorolympics.org
2005specialolympics.com
2006-olympics.org
2006-winter-olympics.com
2006gayolympics.com
2006juniorolympics.org
2006olympicgames.com
2006olympicgames.net
2006olympics.com
2006olympics.net
2006olympics.org
2006olympics.us
2006olympictickets.com
2006olympicwintergames.com
2006torinolympics.com
2006torinoolympics.com
2006torinowinterolympics.com
2006winterolympics.com
2007specialolympics.com
2008-beijing-olympic.com
2008-beijing-olympic.org
2008-beijing-olympics.com
2008-bj-olympics.com
2008-china-olympics.com
2008-china-olympics.net
2008-china-olympics.org
2008-olympic.com
2008-olympic-games.com
2008-olympicgames.com
2008-olympics.com
2008-olympics-beijing.com
2008-olympics-beijing.net
2008beijing-olympic.com
2008beijing-olympic.net
2008beijingolympic.com
2008beijingolympic.net
2008beijingolympicgames.com
2008beijingolympics.biz
2008beijingolympics.com
2008beijingolympics.net
2008beijingolympics.org
2008beijingolympicsinfocenter.com
2008beijingolympictickets.com
2008china-olympic.com
2008china-olympics.com
2008chinaolympic.com
2008chinaolympic.net
2008chinaolympic.org
2008chinaolympicgames.com
2008chinaolympicreservations.com
2008chinaolympics.com
2008chinaolympics.net
2008chinaolympics.org
2008chinaolympictickets.com
2008chinaolympictickets.org
2008liveolympics.com
2008olympic.biz
2008olympic.com
2008olympic.net
2008olympic.org
2008olympicad.com
2008olympicbeijing.com
2008olympicbeijing.net
2008olympicbeijingtravel.com
2008olympicchina.com
2008olympiccommittee.com
2008olympicevents.com
2008olympicgames.biz
2008olympicgames.com
2008olympicgames.net
2008olympicgames.org
2008olympicgames.us
2008olympicgiftshop.com
2008olympichotels.com
2008olympicjobs.com
2008olympiclodging.com
2008olympiconline.com
2008olympicosaka.com
2008olympicreservations.com
2008olympics.biz
2008olympics.us
2008olympics-beijing.com
2008olympicsbeijing.com
2008olympicsbeijing.net
2008olympicshop.com
2008olympicsinbeijing.com
2008olympicsnews.com
2008olympicsouveniers.com
2008olympicsouvenirs.com
2008olympicsummergames.com
2008olympicszone.com
2008olympictickets.com
2008olympictours.com
2008olympictravelagents.com
2008summerolympics.com
2008summerolympics.net
2008summerolympics.org
200olympics.org
2010-canadaolympics.com
2010-olympic-games.com
2010-olympic-games.net
2010-olympic-games.org
2010-olympic-winter-games.com
2010-olympicgames.com
2010-olympicgames.net
2010-olympicgames.org
2010-olympics.biz
2010-olympics.com
2010-olympics.net
2010-olympics.org
2010-olympics.us
2010-olympics-accommodations.com
2010-olympics-games.com
2010-olympics-rentals.com
2010-olympics-souvenirs.com
2010-olympics-vancouver.com
2010-olympics-whistler.com
2010-olympicvacations.com
2010-vancouver-olympic-games.com
2010-vancouver-olympics.com
2010-vancouver-whistler-olympic-games.com
2010-vancouver-winter-olympic-games.com
2010-vancouverolympics.com
2010-whistler-olympics.com
2010-whistler-winter-olympic-games.com
2010-whistlerolympics.com
2010-winter-olympic-games.com
2010-winter-olympic-games.net
2010-winter-olympic-games.org
2010-winter-olympic-games-vancouver.com
2010-winter-olympic-games-whistler.com
2010-winter-olympics.com
2010-winter-olympics.net
2010-winter-olympics.org
2010-winter-olympics-vancouver.com
2010-winter-olympics-vancouver.net
2010-winter-olympics-vancouver.org
2010-winterolympic.com
2010-winterolympicgames.com
2010-winterolympics.com
2010-winterolympics.net
2010-winterolympics.org

August 1, 2004

The Jakarta Post is reporting that Indonesian sports fans will not be able to watch the Olympic Games on television in Indonesia this year.

John Barton, the Head of Broadcasting Operations for the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union, told the Jakarta Post, "We have done everything to secure television coverage for the people of Indonesia. However, Indonesian television and radio broadcasters have decided against broadcasting the Athens Olympic Games."

"It is a sad day for international sport, and for the many people in Indonesia who would like to support their athletes and team in Athens, and in particular the nation's champion badminton players who still have a strong chance for medals," he said.

Barton also stated, "Indonesia will be the only country out of 220 which will be represented in Athens not to have a telecast," a report that contradicts information that came out of the Philippines last week.

The Jakarta Post stated that various Indonesian TV stations recently paid for events such as badminton's Thomas Cup and Uber Cup, and football's Euro 2004 and Copa America events, but none had paid for the rights to televise the Olympic Games.