IOC To Retest All Beijing Olympic Doping Samples

The International Olympic Committee is taking the unprecedented step of retesting all 5,000 doping samples taken during the Beijing Olympics. It is looking for a new blood boosting drug recently detected during testing in cycling’s Tour de France.
The IOC disqualified six athletes for doping during the Beijing Games  — Ukrainian heptathlete Lyudmila Blonska, Ukrainian weightlifter [...]

Olympic Gold Medals: Its All About The Economics

The Games are over. Beijing and the rest of China now faces the inevitable post-party hangover.
It was certainly quite a show both on and off the track. China got its craved for position atop the gold medals table, but the U.S. won the most medals overall, so both countries can claim to be No. 1 [...]

Chasing Gold

Following the gold medal table at the Beijing Games is rather like watching a middle distance race in which the front runner has taken a big early lead, but in which his main rival is now chasing him down. Can he hold on for victory? Or will he be pipped at the tape?
China’s lead in [...]

Protesters Limp Out Of The Olympics

Before the Games, the authorities said that protests would be permitted in three Beijing parks. How many have been allowed to take place? None, according to Xinhua. It says of the 77 applications received by Beijing’s public security bureau, 74 were withdrawn, two were suspended, and one was vetoed.  The majority of the withdrawn applications, [...]

Americans Think Better Of The Beijing Olympics

Now the Olympic Games are underway, Americans are feeling better disposed towards Beijing staging them, according to a new Pew survey.
The number saying it was a “bad decision” to hold the Olympics in China has fallen to 31%, down from 43% when Pew asked the same question in April. That was in the aftermath of [...]

Trying Too Hard

Underage gymnasts. A lip-syncing child singer. Computer generated fireworks. Beijing is just trying too hard to micromanage a successful games. And it is taking the gloss off the real achievements.

Kuqa Bombings Update

Xinhua has published details of the early Sunday morning attacks in Kuqa in Xinjiang, which the agency says left eight dead — seven of whom were attackers — in a dozen bombings.
The largest attack seems to have been a suicide truck bombing of the public security bureau. Two civilians, a security guard and two of [...]

More Uighur-linked Violence In Xinjiang

Reports from Kuqa in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region of early morning explosions and gunfire. Xinhua in a dispatch that speaks of “several” explosions says the area has been sealed off. No reports of casualties yet, or much else by way of detail come to that. Last week 16 armed police were killed in an [...]

What Did The Opening Ceremony Say About China?

Stunning opening ceremony for the Games, as expected. Seven years in the planning and $40 million spent according to some reports. Perhaps more. Director Zang Yimou told Xinhua that the budget for the opening and closing ceremonies of both the Olympics and the Paralympics would not exceed that of the Doha Asian Games Opening ceremony [...]

Bush Attends To Human-Rights Admonishment Duty

President George Bush has dutifully admonished China for human rights abuses. Beijing has been suitably outraged that one country would interfere in the internal matters of another. Now that is done with, everyone can get down to enjoying the politics-free Olympics.