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Arnold Palmer, one of the greatest players in the history of golf, has exclusively told CNN that the Olympic Games could help to revive the recession-hit sport.
Our underdog soccer team's success last week in South Africa was a sweet surprise till Brazil caught us -- but, in the meantime, in the year's other major international sports competition, we're the heavy favorite. But can we hang on down the stretch this next time against Brazil? Can Chicago beat out Rio for the right to hold the 2016 Olympics?
The Dream Team is still dominating.
In his first competition since winning eight gold medals at the Beijing Olympics last summer, Michael Phelps came to the Charlotte Ultraswim meet in North Carolina well-rested and with some new style: he debuted a new straight-arm or "windmill" stroke technique for some of his freestyle events, a stroke that allows him to slice throw the water more efficiently.
Michael Phelps -- the Olympic gold-medal swimmer who jumped into hot water over a photo of him holding a bong -- has returned to competition for the first time since the Beijing Olympics.
Leading cyclist Davide Rebellin tested positive for doping at the Beijing Games, the Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) told CNN on Wednesday.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) have confirmed on their offical Web site that further analysis of samples taken from the Beijing Games have revealed that six athletes tested positive for blood-boosting hormone CERA.
London's preparations for the 2012 Olympics were scrutinized by International Olympic Committee (IOC) inspectors on Tuesday when they began a three-day tour of the £9.3 billion project.
Battered by the current economic recession, Hawaii's economy could get a strong boost from two key sporting events.
The Olympic torch relay for the 2012 London Games will be confined to Britain, organizers confirmed on Friday.
Arnold Palmer, one of the greatest players in the history of golf, has exclusively told CNN that the Olympic Games could help to revive the recession-hit sport.
Our underdog soccer team's success last week in South Africa was a sweet surprise till Brazil caught us -- but, in the meantime, in the year's other major international sports competition, we're the heavy favorite. But can we hang on down the stretch this next time against Brazil? Can Chicago beat out Rio for the right to hold the 2016 Olympics?
The Dream Team is still dominating.
In his first competition since winning eight gold medals at the Beijing Olympics last summer, Michael Phelps came to the Charlotte Ultraswim meet in North Carolina well-rested and with some new style: he debuted a new straight-arm or "windmill" stroke technique for some of his freestyle events, a stroke that allows him to slice throw the water more efficiently.
Michael Phelps -- the Olympic gold-medal swimmer who jumped into hot water over a photo of him holding a bong -- has returned to competition for the first time since the Beijing Olympics.
Leading cyclist Davide Rebellin tested positive for doping at the Beijing Games, the Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) told CNN on Wednesday.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) have confirmed on their offical Web site that further analysis of samples taken from the Beijing Games have revealed that six athletes tested positive for blood-boosting hormone CERA.
London's preparations for the 2012 Olympics were scrutinized by International Olympic Committee (IOC) inspectors on Tuesday when they began a three-day tour of the £9.3 billion project.
Battered by the current economic recession, Hawaii's economy could get a strong boost from two key sporting events.
The Olympic torch relay for the 2012 London Games will be confined to Britain, organizers confirmed on Friday.
This article is reprinted from the December 8, 2008 issue of Sports Illustrated.
Jim Scherr's abrupt resignation as Chief Executive Officer of the U.S. Olympic Committee leaves several questions: Why is he out, what does it mean for the USOC and could his resignation affect Chicago's chances to land the 2016 Olympics when the IOC awards those Games in October? Is an organization that had righted its ship after years of dysfunction now setting itself up for another era of wayward management or merely adjusting its priorities in a tough economy?
Olympic gold medalist Michael Phelps admitted to "regrettable" behavior Sunday and vowed it wouldn't happen again after a British newspaper published a photograph of the swimmer smoking from a bong.
Sada Jacobson may be a world champion fencer with three Olympic medals, but dressed in a T-shirt and sweats, she looked like any other student getting a lesson at the gym.
For Sebastian Coe, one of Britain's greatest athletes, the glory of winning Olympic gold medals comes in second to clinching the Olympics Games for London in 2012.
The International Olympic Committee will use newly developed drug testing procedures to retest samples taken from athletes at last summer's Beijing Olympic Games, the IOC said Tuesday.
The first venue for the 2012 London Olympic Games is complete and ready for competition more than three years out from the event.
World record holder Paula Radcliffe will return to run in next year's London marathon on April 26 when she faces five of the first six finishers at the Olympic Games in Beijing.
The party of the year in the swimming world took place not in Beijing's Water Cube in August but in a New York City hotel ballroom the week before Thanksgiving. The occasion was the Golden Goggle Awards, the Oscars of the amphibious set, and most of the 43 members of the U.S. Olympic swim team turned out for the splashy event. With their short skirts, high heels and ripped biceps the women were visions of powerful femininity. The dudes wore their tuxedos ironically, with shaggy hair and bow ties askew. Before the awards show began, there was a rip-roaring cocktail hour. The view of midtown Manhattan from the ballroom revealed the grand old Ziegfeld Theatre, which on this night was hosting a red-carpet premiere for the latest overwrought Hollywood drama. Despite the constellation of paparazzi flashes the assembled actors couldn't match the star power at the Golden Goggles.
Post-Olympics Beijing is a vastly changed landscape from the one that existed in 2001 when the city won the bid.
I have always dreamed of winning a medal at the Olympic Games -- and sailing seemed like a good sport to target.
Greece's former 400m hurdles Olympic champion Fani Halkia, her coach and two more athletes have been charged by Athens prosecutors with doping violations prior to and during last summer's Beijing Olympic Games.
International Olympics Committee president Jacques Rogge has confirmed his intention to stand as a candidate for a second term in the position.
China opened the 29th Olympic Games on Friday with stunning fireworks as the Asian nation kicked off one of the most heavily scrutinized games in history.
China's Olympic gold medal gymnasts have been officially cleared of lying about their ages.
Sanya Richards turned the tables on Olympic champion Christine Ohuruogu to win the 400 meters at the World Athletics Final in Stuttgart on Sunday, handing the Briton her only defeat of the year.
Without proper food, shoes, or support from his government, Hem Bunting, the Cambodian Olympic marathon competitor, prepared for the Olympics and hoped for international support in late July.
Pamela Jelimo collected the entire Golden League's $1 million jackpot on Friday, by winning her sixth straight 800 meters at the Van Damme Memorial meet in Brussels, while high jumper Blanka Vlasic lost for the first time in the series.
Jamaican sprint king Usain Bolt continued his unstoppable streak of form with a comprehensive win in the 100 meters at the Zurich Golden League meeting on Friday.
The Olympic football tournament was won by holders Argentina, who retained their title courtesy of a 1-0 final victory over Nigeria,
Brits are known for theater, pageantry, music and humor. But if stodgy politicians have their way, none of that may come through in the 2012 Olympics
True to the script, an outstanding Argentina team brushed aside all opposition in Beijing as it successfully defended its Olympic gold medal. La Albiceleste proved far superior to all the teams it faced in China as Sergio Batista's squad cruised to six successive victories, scoring 11 goals (second only to Brazil) while only conceding two (best at the Games).
The record-setting American calls the ceremony a "great start" to the 2012 games
I thought it was absolutely fantastic, the enthusiasm of the people, the logistics. I like it even more because there has been so much doom-saying and criticism in the run-up to these games. There must be a few very frustrated marathon runners who could have set a new world record in the terribly polluted air of Beijing but decided not to compete, not to mention so many journalists that wished the games to end up in a disaster. The people in the cities hosting Olympic events and BOCOG deserve praise. The IOC, in my opinion, deserves even more praise for choosing Beijing and sticking to its decision despite all the criticism.
French legend Julien Absalon took his status to new heights when he became the first rider to defend the men's mountain bike Olympic title.
Grand fireworks and spectacular choreography brought to a close the Beijing Games Sunday as one of the most remarkable Olympics in recent history were declared at an end.
The United States struck gold in Olympic men's basketball with a 118-107 victory over Spain in the championship game on Sunday.
As spectacular as the sports were, the Games in the end had become more of an extravaganza for the Chinese, with the rest of the world tagging along
He predicted the U.S. would win basketball gold in Beijing. Spain came close to spoiling it all, but James came through
BEIJING -- There are no fairy tale endings when a good man dies brutally and senselessly, nothing a victory in an Olympic final can alter.
So-called "age-doping" may be the scandal about to break over women's gymnastics. But are there lab tests to quantify how old you are?
BEIJING -- The gaggle of major-league scouts was seated just to the left of home plate in a section reserved for Olympic family, but no one was getting too comfortable on the hard plastic chairs.
Ukrainian Lyudmila Blonska has been stripped of her Olympic heptathlon silver medal, the highest-profile athlete kicked out of the Beijing Games for doping.
The International Olympic Committee has asked gymnastics officials to look into whether China's women's gymnastics team used underaged competitors, an IOC spokeswoman said Friday.
On Oct. 2, 2009, the International Olympic Committee will convene in Copenhagen to vote on the city that will host the Olympics in 2016. Chicago is one of four candidate cities, along with Rio de Janiero, Madrid and Tokyo. Chicago Bid Chairman Patrick Ryan talked with SI.com about the prospects of the Chicago bid.
As other U.S. women win gold, the one surefire team, softball, was shocked. And now the sport is leaving the Olympics. Superstar Jennie Finch shares her pain
Jamaica's sprint sensation Usain Bolt should show more respect to his beaten rivals says International Olympic Committee chief Jacques Rogge.
SI.com checked in with Sports Illustrated's Selena Roberts shortly after Japan's stunning 3-1 win over the U.S. in the gold medal game in softball on Thursday. It was the first Olympic loss for the U.S. since 2000, and ended its run of three consecutive Olympic titles.
Though rarely asked these days, the question "What is mixed martial arts?" was a common inquiry not too long ago. The best response came from Randy Couture: "Take elements of wrestling, boxing, judo and taekwondo, and you've got MMA."
The vaunted Olympic spirit is terrible for competition. What we need, says Joel Stein, are some anti-medals, and a new scoring system
In a dream world, the best baseball players on the planet would stop whatever they're doing every four years, pick up their bats and their gloves and their pine tar and make a pilgrimage to the Olympic Games, where national pride and Olympic ideals would combine to provide us with the world's greatest baseball spectacle.
MINNEAPOLIS -- If the quality of play in Olympic baseball competition was consistently more suited to a beer league than to Beijing, if the value of an entire sport depended solely on the names in that day's lineup, if someone was trying to pass off the worst-of-the-worst as the best-of-the-best, then dropping baseball beginning with the 2012 London Games might make some sense.
BEIJING -- It remains the most arresting track and field moment I have ever witnessed live.
When it comes to this nation's stick-and-ball sports as worthy Olympic pursuits, the United States apparently is damned if it dominates and damned if it doesn't.
Moments have defined the Olympic Games as much as individual accomplishments. Take a look at 10 snapshots in time that transcended sport and have become a part of history.
Throughout the history of the Olympics, athletes have used the Games as a stage to shine. But a special few have seized the moment -- sometimes several moments -- and enthralled us with their feats.
Great moments define the Olympics. From amazing highs to shocking disappointments, each Olympics produces its own signature snapshots in time.
BEIJING -- Television executives as a rule are an over-caffeinated bunch. They spit out platitudes with machine-gun frequency and sell their content with the same fervor Barnum sold his circus. That's why it's always interesting to check in with NBC Sports and Olympics officials during the second week of an Olympic Games. It's a dog-tired group, gutting out the final days after a month of little sleep. They've read the critics -- the NBC press office onsite gets faxed copies of every major publication daily -- and monitored the ratings with the circumspectness of a jeweler. If the news is good, you'll find smiles through the yawns.
Sports Illustrated photographer Heinz Kluetmeier has covered every Olympics for SI (with the exception of Innsbruck) since the Munich Games. He and his assistant, Jeff Kavanaugh, landed the signature sequence of the Olympics: Michael Phelps beating Serbia's Milorad Cavic to the touchpad in the 100 butterfly. Below, Kluetmeier explains how he got the shot and the difference between Mark Spitz and Michael Phelps as photography subjects. Click here to see the photos.
The American gymnasts closed out their Beijing stay in spectacular style Tuesday, with Shawn Johnson and Nastia Liukin adding to their medal haul by winning gold and silver in the balance beam, and Jonathon Horton, who'd led the men to a bronze in the team competition, unexpectedly taking the silver medal in the high bar.
Usain Bolt makes the impossible seem commonplace. His running has been so spectacular here that he has forced hard-traveled track scribes to consider the question: Can Bolt break Michael Johnson's 12-year-old record in the 200? The time to beat is 19.32.
More athletes are competing in Beijing under foreign flags than ever before in the Games' history. Is switching teams a betrayal of the Olympic spirit -- or just smart sportsmanship?
This was the Great Wail of China.
U.S. swimmer Michael Phelps broke the Olympics' most hallowed record Sunday by winning an unprecedented eight gold medals in a single Games.
A Swedish wrestler who discarded his bronze medal in a protest during the presentation ceremony has been stripped of the award and disqualified from the tournament in Beijing.
BEIJING -- On a sticky Sunday morning when history and mythology were intertwined, a 23-year-old swimmer with the slack-jawed smile and an acute sense of the moment churned through Lane 4 of the Water Cube and into sports immortality and the common currency of the English language. In rewriting swimming and Olympic history with his eighth gold medal, Michael Phelps was rewriting the dictionary. As backstroker Aaron Peirsol, who started the 4x100 medley relay, would say, "The term Spitzian might be outdated now by the Phelpsian feat."
When Chinese officials and the IOC declared the air in Beijing clean for the Games -- IOC president Jacques Rogge said the sun was simply hiding behind fog from "heat and humidity," never mind that, some days, there was less than 60 percent relative humidity -- it gave a seal of approval to pollution-control measures that Beijing has ramped up over years in preparation for the Olympics. And in the last few days, the fervor over Beijing's air pollution has subsided, as pea soup skies gave way to a pleasant azure backdrop, the first of the Games.
Well, there's always 48 Hours Mystery on CBS, and ABC appears to be showing another can't-miss episode of Eli Stone. Of course, if you're reading this, it's a safe bet you'll be watching the Michael Phelps coronation. If Phelps and his teammates win the 4x100 medley relay (bet the house, the vacation house and all your other possessions on it), he will become the all-time leader in gold medals in a single games with eight. The scheduled time of the race is 10:58 p.m., the final event of the swimming program in Beijing. "The U.S. should win unless something goes wrong," says Sports Illustrated's Brian Cazeneuve. "But keep in mind that the last time they swam this event at a major competition -- the world championships in 2007 -- something went very wrong. The team was disqualified because of an illegal exchange. Barring that, I just don't think there is a team with four swimmers at the level of the U.S."
Roger Federer made up for the disappointment of missing out in the singles by winning his first Olympic gold medal as he teamed up with Stanislas Wawrinka to claim the doubles title on Saturday.
BEIJING -- The track meet starts Friday morning at the Bird's Nest. Ten things I'm most intrigued by at the beginning:
BEIJING -- For a scene to be truly surreal, it has to go beyond the realm of what we call odd or strange. There has to be a feeling of displacement. Time must bend a bit. And there's got to be a bewildering wrench thrown in for good measure, something so incongruous that its absurdity somehow balances out the vague sense of menace in the air.
Swedish wrestler Ara Abrahamian threw away the bronze medal he won in the Greco-Roman category in disgust in a protest over judging in his semifinal bout.
Hungarian weightlifter Janos Baranyai's first Olympics ended in agony when he dislocated his right elbow in the ugliest moment yet of the Olympic competition.
Key errors ended the US women's team's gold medal hopes. But injuries and a new scoring system also played a role
It's a historic event taking place on an international stage that's been seven years and $40 billion in the making.
He cuts through the water like he's shredding through the record books at the Summer Olympic Games in Beijing.
How does NBC spell ratings? Two words: Michael Phelps. The Golden Boy takes to Water Cube on Tuesday for the men's 200 freestyle final (10:16 p.m. ET on Monday night). "Coming into the competition, I thought that would be one of his easier races," said Sports Illustrated's Brian Cazeneuve, who predicts -- surprise! -- gold for Phelps in the event.
The U.S. has sent nearly 600 athletes to Beijing for the Olympic Games. But who are they? America's new set of Olympians are from 47 of the 50 states -- as well as athletes who were born in 28 other countries -- and includes identical twins, teenagers, a cancer patient and the daughter of a Super Bowl champion. Who's from the smallest hometown? Which team is the brainest? Which college is represented by the most Olympians? Get to know a little more about Team USA.
A Chinese man wielding a knife stabbed an American couple in central Beijing on Saturday, killing the man and seriously wounding the woman before jumping to his death from an ancient tower, said U.S. Olympic officials and state-run media.
An Iranian swimmer at the Beijing Olympics who withdrew from a race that included an Israeli did so because he was ill, authorities said Monday.
The Beijing Games have officially become the first "YouTube" Olympics.
BEIJING -- The situation called for delicate diplomacy, but not by No. 41 and No. 43 on your Bush presidential dial. Bush senior and junior were simple hoop fans among rowdy Olympic spectators Sunday night -- the only Americans without face paint in the arena -- when the U.S. men opened its competition in the Beijing Games against China.
Controversial Greek sprinter Ekaterina Thanou was banned from the Beijing Games on Sunday by an IOC who could not forgive her role in a drugs-testing scandal at the Athens Olympics four years ago.
BEIJING -- The team that was too good for its own good returns for the final hurrah, an overwhelming favorite to win the fourth and, for now, last, Olympic softball gold medal.
Fireworks, athletes and pageantry on a scale never before seen in the Olympics opened the Summer Games in Beijing on Friday as the Asian nation kicked off the biggest and most scrutinized Games in history.
BEIJING -- Who's got more pressure on them in Beijing? The Chinese women's gymnastics team, which has never won an Olympic team title and is looking to ride a wave of hometown support to end that surprising drought? Or the U.S. women, the defending world champions, whose only Olympic team title was brought home by the legendary "Magnificent Seven" in 1996?
China's determination to keep the Games safe and free of dissent has taken some of the fun out of the host city
BEIJING -- On Friday morning, Lopez Lomong sat before a room full of journalists and was asked to tell his story. Twenty-six minutes later, he stopped. And if this constitutes the longest press conference soliloquy that many in attendance had ever heard, it was also scarcely long enough to embrace Lomong's remarkable young life.
"We have the power to unite the people. If we can unite people who are willing to take a stand, miracles can happen. In Darfur, hundreds of thousands have been murdered, mutilated. Families torn apart...we have the power to save lives. Restore lives." -- Kobe Bryant, in a widely distributed PSA
BEIJING -- This night was supposed to be different. Seven years ago, I was a student here when the city was awarded the 2008 Olympics. An amateur Olympics nut then, I watched the entire IOC meeting on Chinese national television that July 13, 2001.
Michael Phelps may rule the American sports universe for these Olympics, but in China, ask local fans who they're supporting and you'll start hearing names like Lin Dan (badminton), Zhang Yining (table tennis) and Zhao Ruirui (volleyball).
A spectacular opening ceremonies does what the rulers of Beijing have long wanted: declare the return of the Middle Kingdom to the center of the world
BEIJING -- The 24-hour Olympics are so 2004. In what NBC Universal is calling the most ambitious single media project in history, the network and its affiliates will present 3,600 total hours from Beijing on seven NBC Universal networks: NBC, USA, MSNBC, CNBC, Oxygen (for the first time), Telemundo and Universal HD, as well as NBCOlympics.com. That's an average of more than 212 hours per day of Olympic coverage.
The modern Olympic Games have always been a chick-flick moment for women who finally have the camera long enough to turn America's head. They haven't batted their eyes, but performed flips for enough mass adoration to last Mary Lou Retton's lifetime. They haven't vanished as fly-by darlings, but endured as women who have delivered iconic nicknames (Suzy "ChapStick" Chaffee) and haircuts (The Dorothy Hamill 'do) and first-name familiarity (Mia, as in Hamm).
A U.S. athlete who overcame the chaos of war in Sudan to become a middle-distance runner in the United States will carry the American flag during Friday's opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Games.
Basketball hero Yao Ming has been given the honor of carrying the flag of host nation China at Friday's Olympic Games opening ceremony in Beijing.
BEIJING -- In the last weekend in June, Tyson Gay finally seemed to have found his path to the Olympic Games. Less than a month after he was crushed in the 100 meters by 21-year-old Jamaican Usain Bolt's world record of 9.72 seconds at the Reebok Track Classic in New York, Gay won the U.S. Olympic Trials.
I'm like anybody else. I watch the Olympics because I want to see who wins. But the 2008 Summer Games are intriguing for reasons that go well beyond the 100-meter final, Michael Phelps' bid to become the greatest Olympian ever or the daily mine-is-bigger exercise of comparing medal counts.
For many overseas reporters now in Beijing, covering the Summer Games has turned into an Olympian task.
Ten thousand athletes have gathered in China for the Olympics, along with hundreds of thousands of fans and 30,000 journalists. All are being watched over by 100,000 security forces.
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