One of my best buddies said to me the other day, “You know, I’m so American that I don’t even care about the Olympics.” I laughed, because these are the kinds of things that she says to me fairly frequently. At the time, I wasn’t all that excited about the Olympics. It wasn’t that I wasn’t looking forward to them; it was just that I had a hell of a lot more on my plate.

Still, as we get closer by leaps and bounds (only hours away!) to the Summer 2008 Olympics, I guess I am kind of excited. I’m sure I’m not as psyched as lots of die hard sports fans who will be watching the Games like a hawk. But I am looking forward to seeing that torch lit. Just…not for reasons that I think resonate with the majority of Olympics viewers.

Love Those Losers: My grandmother and I started the tradition about ten years ago of watching the Olympics and rooting for the country with the least chance of winning. I’ve always had a thing for underdogs; I don’t know if it’s because they’re so utterly pathetic (really, you should watch just to see their, “Well, I saw that coming,” expressions when they fail horrendously) or because of how awesome it is when the team no one thought would even place gets the gold. Either way, I’ll be keeping a semi-close eye on the teams that the rest of the viewers and participants could care less about. (But I won’t be making any bets. I always lose those.)

Summer Olympics are HOT: I know you know it. Gawker knows it. We know it. This summer there is a delicious smorgasbord across several of the sports, and I do not just mean the competitive spirit. Two of my favorites are USA softball girl Jennie Finch and Australian diving boy Matthew Mitcham. Too bad I’m pretty certain Finch is straight and I know for certain that Mitcham is gay, so I’ve got no chance with either of them. Still, I can gawk and unfairly root for them. Read More »

Sure, if you want to go to the Olympics, you’ve got to be the best at your sport. But for some, even that isn’t enough.

This year’s Beijing Olympics are possibly the most politicized Olympics to go down on the planet in decades. It’s always ugly when politics enter into something supposed to be as pure an ideal as the excellence of sport, but the polluted skies over Beijing aren’t the only source of dirt and grime these days.

Everyone knows about the furious and polarizing debates and protests over Tibet. It’s hardly news anymore that there are monks on the march, and Chinese police cracking down on them. What I find even more disturbing, however, is the crushing influence of the Chinese government over people’s free speech. When so-called public opinion polls emerge saying that over 90% of all Chinese people are wholeheartedly in favor of every aspect of the Chinese government, as I’ve been reading about in the New York Times, you know something’s wrong.

No country likes their government that much, unless they’re too frightened to say differently. And now, this strong tendency to crack down on opposing opinions has gone one step further: it entered the olympics.

Princeton student Joey Cheek, class of 2011, a world champion speed skater and former Olympian (who was only going to the Olympics to support his team) has had his visa revoked by the Chinese government. The reason? Cheek is an outspoken activist for the genocide in Darfur, and has been critical of China’s many investments in the Sudan. Read More »

In several previous posts I discussed the intense controversy surrounding the upcoming Beijing Olympics. In recent weeks the traditional international journey of the Olympic Torch has served as a flash point for clashes between supporters and protesters.

Ironically, this torch relay was supposed to be the largest in Olympic history—a showcase of international cooperation and sport. Instead, it has become a testament to international outrage over China’s human rights abuses, especially over Tibet.

March 31: A huge carefully scripted ceremony at Beijing’s Tiananmen Square sent the torch off across the globe

April 3: In Istanbul, Turkey, the Uighur expat community staged demonstrations against Chinese persecution of their “brother” expats in Xinjiang. In February 2007, for example, an Uigur activist named Ismail Semed, was executed on the shaky grounds of attempting to “split the motherland” and possessing explosives.

April 6: Massive clashes occurred between Free Tibet protesters and police during the London relay. Thirty-seven protesters were arrested including a man who tried to snatch the torch away from one of the runners. Another tried to put out the torch with a fire extinguisher. Read More »

Free Tibet!

The slogan is everywhere, from T-shirts to bumper stickers, splashed across skater mags and on backpack patches. As protests this past weekend in Tibet once again highlight this cause, it seems clearer than ever that the only way a Free Tibet will ever occur is if China itself is freed from its’ totalitarian, anti-human rights, repressive regime.

Last week, on the anniversary of the 1959 uprising against Chinese rule, Tibetan monks held a series of peaceful protests to draw attention to their concerns.

On March 14 (Friday morning), the police decided to crack down, prompting Tibetans to riot.

According to the Economist’s correspondent in Tibet,

“The violence was fuelled by rumours of killings, beatings and detention of Buddhist monks by security forces in Lhasa this week. Access to the city’s big three monasteries has been blocked by police since the beginning of the week when hundreds of monks staged protests coinciding with the March 10th anniversary of the 1959 revolt. Dozens of them, residents believe, have been arrested. On Friday morning, rumours spread that monks had been shot dead outside the Jokhang temple, the holiest shrine of Tibetan Buddhism in the heart of the Tibetan quarter. A couple of monks outside another temple were said to have been beaten by police.” Read More »