The Olympics are Coming...

It is almost time for amateur athletes to get their 2 weeks of fame. The Beijing Olympics start next weekend (8-8-08) and for all those under-the-radar athletes who spend 4 years getting ready for one competition and one chance for glory. Now not all athletes go to the Olympics with a chance or a hope of glory, but it is the biggest sporting event on the planet with over 11 thousand athletes getting their dreams of going to an Olympics rewarded. It has been said that an athlete needs to 10,000 hours of sport training to get to the Olympics, so even those athletes who "only" finish 63rd in an obscure canoeing race should still be feted as elite athletes.

Although the Olympics are supposed to be about the athletes and not the global companies, the big two athletic companies are going head to head in Beijing. Adidas has spent $100 million to be the "official clothing sponsor" of the Games, while Nike has spent its money on individual athlete sponsorships. Nike also uses its role with the US Olympic team to bring out new products. Check out their Nike Swift track uniforms (below). Directly from the press release..."The rationale behind the Swift System of Dress is to cut the drag on the hands and feet of the sprinter when running. According to Nike, the dimpled fabric on the gloves and arm coverings helps to minimize wind resistance, thereby allowing the arms to slice through the air faster. Its design team believes the gloves and arm coverings can reduce drag by 19 percent and the socks by 12.5 percent."


However, even the big guys sometimes lose. Nike has decided (or been forced) to allow it's sponsored athletes to wear Speedo's LZR racing suit. Of course, the new LZR suit has been involved with 48 world records this year, with many more to come in Beijing. So Nike must've decided it's better to have it's swimmers win medals with the competitors suit than to not win medals...

Although for some athletes the Olympics are a time to shine, for others they might not even get that chance. This week, the doping news continued. 7 Russian women were suspended yesterday from the Olympics due to breaking IAAF rule 32.2. What rule is that? That rule deals with "fraudulent substitution of urine". Yep, the Russians seemed to have a systematic program to avoid testing positive for something. It appears the doping cops noticed that their urine tests from last year's Worlds in Osaka did not match previous samples. Oops. Anyhow, these Russians are big names, including Yelena Tomoshova (1500 m indoor world champion) and Tatyana Tomoshova (2 time outdoor 1500m world champion). Also yesterday, the Romanian Olympic team left two more women off its Olympic Team for having abnormally high hemoglobin levels. The Romanians had previously left 2008's fastest 1500m runner Liliana Popescu off their Olympic team for the same reason. Are there going to be any 1500m runners left for Beijing?


Two quick Paula Radcliffe notes. One, she is at least healthy enough to join the British Team at their Beijing prep camp in Macau. So it appears that she is still hopeful to be ready for the women's marathon on the 17th, despite having a stress fracture in her femur. Here's hoping. The second Paula note again is a positive story. Among those cheating Russians in the previous paragraph, one of the suspended runners is Olga Yegerova, who is famous for testing positive for EPO in 2001, getting off on a technicality, and was permitted to run 2001 Worlds in Edmonton. This lead to the famous sign that Radcliffe held in the stands when Yegerova competed (and won) the 5000m. So it took 7 years, but eventually the cheaters got kicked out!



2 quick Canadian notes - Gary Reed is indeed peaking for the Olympics. This week he broke the Canadian record in the 800m, even though he only finished 4th in one of the fastest 800m fields ever. Reed is still optimistic that he can win a gold medal in Beijing, and he probably is one of the best medal hopes for Canada on the track.


Simon Whitfield and the men's triathlon team are skipping the Opening Ceremonies. Instead, they are staying in Canada until the 13th, preferring to train in the clear skies of Victoria before flying over about 5 days before they compete. I like the fact that they will watch the Opening Ceremonies by eating chinese food. Sounds like a plan!

Okay, the Tour is over. But the stories keep coming. It seems as though Mr Cadel Evans has an anger management problem (thanks to velonews.com for the links)! These videos have been posted on YouTube and show Evans flipping out a various media sources. Now, i must admit, the post-stage media circus would get to the most patient of us, with so many cameras and shouting journalists. Especially for the pre-race favorite. So enjoy the videos, and we'll see you on Monday!