"silent gratitude isn’t much use to anyone" – g.b. stern

Much of the focus on volunteers in these past Beijing Olympics have been on those taught how to approach Westerners, and on those infamous Chinese seat fillers – but little of the attention was placed on the more unassuming philanthropists.
So to the volunteers who sat still, expressionless, and usually alone throughout competitions, thank you. Your [...]

hot of the presses – ioc calls for investigation into the actual ages of the chinese women’s gymnastics team

http://www.smh.com.au/news/off-the-field/ioc-calls-for-probe-into-china-star/2008/08/22/1219262483864.html
The age of 3 of the Chinese women girls on the Olympic gymnastic team has been heavily disputed all throughout their competition. It seems that the IOC has succumbed to all the media pressure. And part of me hopes it has more to do with following the actual rules – it’s just surprising how this [...]

what if the olympics were in toronto?…

I still remember that day. My eyes were glued onto the live televised announcement of which city would host the 2008 summer games. My understanding was it was a two-horse race, between Beijing and Toronto. But for an event that tries its best to separate itself from politics, the decision to hold the games in [...]