Don’t look for Roger Clemens on the US Olympic baseball team this summer. Team USA GM, Bob Watson said today that he won’t consider the 45-year-old former Yankee pitcher and seven-time Cy Young Award winner. Said Watson to the Associated Press, “”From my standpoint, we don’t need that type of distraction.”
One of Watson’s duties as GM is to help select the 24-man team with manager, Davey Johnson. Any player not on a MLB 25-man roster is eligible for the Olympic team. The final Olympic roster is expected to be finalized by mid-July.
Clemens, who last played for the Yankees in 2007, has been plagued with bad press during the last year. He was named in the steroid drug scandal, a charge Clemens denies. The married pitcher has also been linked romantically to a number of women, allegedly including country singer, Mindy McCready and Paulette Daly, the ex-wife of golfer, John Daly.
Why Watson felt he had to make a statement about Clemens puzzles me. Just pick your best team and concentrate on winning the Olympics.
The Olympic flame made it to the top of Mount Everest where it was lit! That is very exciting, especially in light of all of the protests and controversy that have followed it around the world. A climbing team hiked to the 29,030-ft peak and protected the flame by carrying it in a lantern before lighting the torch.
It is now officially three months to the day before the start of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. Can you feel the excitement? My heart is pounding just typing about it!
The third and final phase of individual tickets to events at the Beijing Olympics are sold out. The ticketing began on Monday, May 5 at 9am and many events were unavailable by 930am. (You can see the action better on TV, anyway…and you don’t need a passport.)
No, the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games organizers aren’t going to replace real action with a "green screen" but they are going to entertain viewers with one that is environmentally-friendly. The Xicui Entertainment Complex has erected a gargantuan screen that is lit entirely by LED lights! It’s fully self-sustaining since the "Greenpix" LEDs are powered fully by solar energy. Considering how much China has been criticized for their pollution and lack of commitment to the environment, I think it’s a great step in the right direction.
Here’s a video of the Greenpix Zero Energy Media Wall:
Dara Torres already has an Olympic record of which to be proud. She’s competed in four Olympics and has eight medals (including four gold ones) to show for her effort. But that’s not enough for the 41-year-old Californian. She’s hoping to compete in Beijing, which would make her the oldest US swimmer to ever make the team and the only one to compete in five Olympic games.
She has a real chance. In 2007, after a seven-year hiatus from swimming and the birth of her daugther, Torres competed in the US Nationals, winning the 100m freestyle event and setting a new record in the 50m freestyle. ABC News recently profiled her comeback and Olympic hopes on the evening news. Take a look:
The World Health Organization has issued a statement saying that the highly infectious virus that has already claimed the lives of 24 children in China probably won’t be a threat to the Beijing Olympics. They add, however, that it is too early to tell whether it has peaked. I must mention that, according to the report I read, the virus usually peaks in June or July so who knows, really, if things aren’t going to get worse?
A type of hand, foot and mouth disease, enterovirus 71, has been another concern for the Chinese government as they deal with pollution woes and protests stemming from their possibly human rights violations.
"I don’t see it at all as a threat to the Olympics or any upcoming events … This is a disease mainly affecting young children," WHO China representative Hans Troedsson told a news conference.
It’s worth mentioning that, while I am trying to be fair, I have a hard time trusting the Chinese government on this one. The first deaths from the virus occurred in March but were not revealed until April 15, 2008. As was the case with the SARS outbreak, it’s starting to look like a cover-up. The truth about the seriousness of SARS was not immediately divulged from the Chinese government and it eventually killed almost 800 people worldwide. With so many people travelling to Beijing for the Olympic games, I fear that they could transport the virus to different parts of the world.
This is incredible! I was just on the USA Today site where I read that Natalie Du Toit of South Africa, is the first amputee to qualify for the Olympics! In 2001, she was hit by a car while riding on her scooter and lost her left leg as a result but that hasn’t stopped this 24-year-old champion. She came in fourth place Saturday in the 10 kilometre open-water swim at the world championships in Seville, Spain. Of those participating, the top 10 swimmers qualified for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. "I think this is the first time I’ve ever cried after a swim because it means so much," Du Toit told The Daily Telegraph of London after the race.
How good was she? With a time of 2 hours 2 minutes 7.8 seconds she finished only 5.1 seconds behind winner Larisa Ilchenko of Russia. Outrageous! I am simply blown away by this story.
In case you are wondering (as I was), she doesn’t wear a prosthetic leg during competition which makes this that much more amazing.
The Olympic torch has arrived on the Chinese mainland after stops on the Chinese island territories of Hong Kong and Macau. The torch will criss-cross the vast country before arriving in Beijing on August 6.
The United States Women’s Field Hockey Team won the Olympic qualifying tournament in Kazan, Russia on April 24, going 6-0 in the tournament. They defeated Belgium in the gold medal game 3-1.
The United States team joins a 12-team field that includes China, Germany, Argentina, the Netherlands, England, New Zealand, Australia, Japan, Spain, and South Africa. The twelfth spot will be filled in a qualifier in Victoria, Canada on Sunday.
The Olympic Torch hit Chinese soil on Friday, at least that of the territory of Hong Kong. The eight-hour relay was relatively free of protest (as was expected) and criss-crossed the city, using 120 runners, including Hong Kong’s only Olympic golf medal winner, windsurfer Lee Lai-Shan.
Pictured above is the conductor of the Hong Kong Orchestra, Yip Wing-Sie crossing Victoria Harbor with the torch.
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