Liar Liar Tights On Fire

It looks like the Chinese government has done a poor job of hiding the fact that some of their ChiComBots aren't old enough to compete in the Olympics:

A determined U.S. computer expert has delved into cached pages on the Internet to unearth Chinese official documents showing a gymnast who took gold in the uneven bars competition, edging the U.S.'s Nastia Liukin, may indeed be underage. [...]

First he simply tried Google, only to find that an official listing by the Chinese sports administration that had given her age could no longer be accessed. Then he tried the Google cache, only to find that He’s name had been removed.

Finally, he tried the cache of Chinese search engine Baidu. There, he found that Baidu lists two spreadsheets in He's name, both giving her date of birth as January 1, 1994 — making her 14 years and 220 days old and too young to compete at the Beijing games.

Dictators should take note: the internet makes it quite difficult to rewrite history, even for the "good of the state."

The IOC meanwhile is too busy criticizing real winners to do anything about the cheaters:

OC president Jacques Rogge criticized Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt on Thursday for showing a lack of respect to other competitors after his record-breaking gold medal performances in the 100 and 200 meters. [...]

Having built a huge lead in Saturday's 100 final, Bolt slowed, glanced around with arms outstretched and pounded his chest before crossing the finish line in a world record time of 9.69 seconds. [...]

Bolt, who turned 22 on Thursday, stormed to another one-sided victory Wednesday night in the 200, breaking Michael Johnson's 12-year-old record of 19.32 seconds and lowering the mark to 19.30.

Bolt made little effort to congratulate the other runners as he wrapped himself in a Jamaican flag and set off on a solo victory lap. Swaying to the reggae music on the stadium loudspeakers, he walked barefoot around the track, putting his face inches from a TV camera, raising an index finger and yelling, "I am No. 1! I am No. 1!"

"That's not the way we perceive being a champion," Rogge said. Yeah, well fuck you Jacques.

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Gold Medal Winners, Poor Losers, & Cheating Hosts

Congratulations Michael...

Congratulations Usain...

Screw you cheaters...

Don't let the door hit you on the way out poor sport...

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Phelp's Win Makes Phoreigners Phume

Congratulations Michael! It's good that you won:

The naked eye said he lost. The naked eye said the bid to win eight gold medals had stopped in a stunning upset at the hands of Cavic -- a previously anonymous Californian swimming for Serbia, and doing a splendid impersonation of Buster Douglas in a Speedo. The naked eye said the most captivating Olympic story line since the Miracle on Ice had been scuttled.

Do you believe in heartbreak?

No.

Believe in The Closer, the guy who now has won the gold in this event twice, in back-to-back Olympics, by a combined five-hundredths of a second. Believe in Phelps. Don't ask how he does it, because sometimes there are no rational explanations. Just believe. [...]

"I thought Cavic won," fumed Serbian journalist Dejan Stevovic of Sportski Zurnal. "It was obvious."

"But he doesn't have $50 million in sponsors, like that guy," grumbled another Serb.

A world record was set for fastest hatching of a conspiracy theory. The greedy Americans were winning again, and cheating to make sure.

Never mind that there was no conceivable way to cook the timing of a bang-bang finish that displays instant results -- people wanted to believe the race was fixed. Or at least that the touch pads were faulty.

So the Serbs filed a written protest with FINA, the governing body of swimming. The Omega timing system had the same times on both its standard and backup apparatus. Referee Ben Ekumbo of Kenya then reviewed super-slow-motion replays of the finish and rejected the protest.

Perhaps if Cavic had competed for the country that welcomed his parents from communist oppression - you know the country he was born in...

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It Might Be A Long Two Weeks

Relatives of U.S. Men's Volleyball Coach Stabbed In Beijing, 1 Dead

A knife-wielding Chinese man attacked two relatives of a coach for the U.S. Olympic men's volleyball team at a tourist site in Beijing, killing one and injuring the other on the first day of the Olympics on Saturday, team officials and state media said.

The man then committed suicide by throwing himself from the second story of the site, the 13th century Drum Tower just five miles from the main Olympics site.

The brutal attack shortly after midday was all the more shocking because of the rarity of violent crime against foreigners in tightly controlled China, which has ramped up security measures even more for the Olympics.

Given the threats, one of course has to suspect Muslim militants. It'll be interesting to see how China responds.

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Tensions Over Olympics In Bejing Still Ratcheting Up

Athletes Who Take Tibet Stand "Face Olympic Cut"

Athletes who display Tibetan flags at Olympic venues — including in their own rooms — could be expelled from this summer’s Games in Beijing under anti-propaganda rules.

Jacques Rogge, the president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), said that competitors were free to express their political views but faced sanctions if they indulged in propaganda.

He accompanied those comments with an admission that the Games were in “crisis” after pro-Tibet protests engulfed the Olympic torch relay.

Mr Rogge’s call for Beijing to abide by its promise to address human rights was given short shrift by Beijing, which bluntly told him to keep politics out of the Games.

The Red Chinese and the IOC using similar tactics. It looks like authoritarian birds of a feather will flock together. I've lived in an Olympic city and let me tell you, the IOC is nothing but a bunch of bastards. This Olympiad is going to be a complete cluster-fuck. I couldn't have asked for a better birthday present this year.

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China, Olympics, Tibet

The German chancellor, Angela Merkel, yesterday became the first world leader to decide not to attend the Olympics in Beijing.

Perhaps this is the right way to handle China and the Olympics. A little carrot, a little stick. They get the Olympics, but no major leaders attend. Instead of Presidents, Chancellors, and Prime Ministers, send lower level officials. No full out boycott, but a little nudge to say: You're doing some good things, but there's still room for improvement.

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