i hate the beginning to Olympic games.

It seems they took on the event like they were producing a movie, and used tools perfectly acceptable in movies.

They were, in a sense, passing off a movie as a document of a real-world ceremony, and many people in many countries don't like the idea that an Olympic Games ceremony was essentially photoshopped a little.

I'm still confused. Are you saying we should boycott the olympics because China is occupying Tibet? If so, then should we also boycott any future olympic games being held in the US, in Russia, Australia, Turkey, Spain and Israel (just the countries I can think of at the top of my head)?
I'm not saying the situation is anything but grim in Tibet, but as I understand it the Chinese consider Tibet a part of China which would make the Tibetan nationalists rebels. What I'm trying to get at is that there's always (atleast) two sides to an issue, and from what I've gathered the west has chosen to highlight and support the Dalai Lama's plight with strong propaganda against China. Apparently, the situation before the Chinese invasion wasn't any better than today, and while it in no stretch justifies murder like what we witness in the video, I think boycotting the olympics because they're held in China makes little sense.
First of all, it's not like they chose to hold the games there because the Chinese (in our perspective) occupy Tibet nor because they've commited human rights violations. Instead, they chose that particular country because it proved it was able to successfully hold the event, properly set up the various arenas and make sure the games were covered adequately.
Second of all, and this will be my last point, if we should decide on boycotting the games for above mentioned reasons then I'm afraid we'll quickly run out of countries to hold them in. I guess we could hold them on Iceland, but that's kind of self-defeating since the whole idea (as I understand it) is that every country that participates should have a chance of holding the games, and that should be the only thing relevant to the people watching the olympics in my mind. It's completely detached from any of its participating countries' internal policies, and it should stay that way.

This is pretty old stuff. They had the swimming suits in world level and olympic games for one year, but if I recall correcly, they banned them and removed the records done with the suits on.

The only reason these people are probably getting any compensation at all, is because all the world's eyes are currently on China due to the olympics.

BBC once had a report on people simply being evicted and their houses demolished with no compensation whatsoever in other parts of China.

I don't think I'll be watching much of the olympic games.

Poor Sonic, While Mario excelled into 3-D and got better... Sonic got left behind and was stuck with mediocre games... Hopefully Sonic's luck will change when he works with Mario in two games... at the olympic games and of course SSBB...

http://www.japanprobe.com/?p=2877

Main Points:

• Character parades back in May were full of unauthorized copies of Disney characters, but now there are none. However, all around the park there is unauthorized use of Japanese anime characters.
  
• When asked if the characters in question are from anime, some Chinese customers say they don’t know.
  
• A fast food restaurant called MFC combines the Chinese characters for McDonald’s and Kentucky Fried Chicken, crudely combining the menus of both chains.
  
• Our brave reporter tries a chicken burger and determines it is less tasty than what he could eat at McDonald’s.
  
• MFC’s homepage states it was started in America during the 1960s. However, when their reporter calls the company they are told it was founded in China 7 years ago.
  
• There is something that looks like a Beijing Olympics logo on their menu. However, their phone interview finds that MFC is not an official sponsor of the Olympic games.
  

As an MMAer myself, I don't quite understand what's so mindblowing about MMA making it onto the cover of SI. It's a terrific sport, albeit somewhat misunderstood, and is quickly becoming one of the leading sport draws. I men, it's fighting for pete's sake, how can that NOT appeal to young adults?

As you may know, mixed martial arts, in the form of pankration, was one of the most popular sports in the original Greek Olympic games, back in the 600s B.C., and is currently under review for admittance as a demonstration sport in the 2008 and 2012 Olympics.

Contrary to popular belief, mixed martial art fighters are not mindless brawlers: in fact, to reach a high level in the sport requires excellence in not just one martial art, but many arts, in order to adequately cover the three ranges of combat (standing, clinch, and ground) as well as both striking and grappling. For example, Fedor, almost universally considered the best fighter in the world, draws his base as an international champion in judo and sambo, and usually trains in submission grappling, boxing, and Muay Thai. He has, among many other feats, thrown and submitted an Olympic gold-medal judoka, hip tossed an Olympic silver-medal Greco-Roman wrestler, submitted some of the world's best Brazilian jiu-jitieros, and knocked out high-level Muay Thai fighters and kickboxers.

MMA has become a proving ground for martial arts, in what I believe is the spirit of Bruce Lee's philosophy of Jeet Kune Do: take what works, discard what doesn't. Arts that are effective are proven in the ring, and ones that aren't are dropped quickly - people can't make excuses when they get hit in the face. And the arts that work have coalesced into an overarching view of fighting, making for basically the most effective method of training and preparation for unarmed combat.

As for homoerotic overtones....well, I guess one can see what one wants to see.

Sifters interested in learning more about specific aspects of MMA can check out my Fighting Arts playlist, which includes sifts covering an expanding selection of martial arts practiced and used in mixed martial arts competitions.

'By the 1954 Olympic Games apparatus and events for both men and women had been standardized in modern format, and uniform grading structures (including a point system from 1 to 10) had been agreed upon. At this time, Soviet gymnasts astounded the world with highly disciplined and difficult performances, setting a precedent that continues to inspire. The new medium of television helped publicize and initiate a modern age of gymnastics. Both men's and women's gymnastics now attract considerable international interest, and excellent gymnasts can be found on every continent.

Nadia Comaneci received the first perfect score, at the 1976 Olympic Games held in Montreal, Canada. She was coached by the famous Romanian, Bela Karolyi. According to "Sports Illustrated", Comaneci scored four of her perfect tens on the uneven bars, two on the balance beam and one in the floor exercise. Unfortunately, even with Nadia's perfect scores, the Romanians lost the gold medal to the Soviets. Nadia will always be remembered as "a fourteen year old, ponytailed little girl" who showed the world that perfection could be achieved.

In 2006, a new points system was put into play. Instead of being marked 1 to 10, the gymnast's start value depends on the difficulty rating of the exercise routine. Also, the deductions became higher: before the new point system developed, the deduction for a fall was 0.5, and now it is 0.8. The motivation for a new point system was to decrease the chance of gymnasts getting a perfect score.'

- from Wiki

BTW, brilliant video here of the aforementioned Nadia Comaneci...

http://www.videosift.com/video/14-Year-Old-Nadia-Comaneci-Makes-Olympic-Gymnasic-History