Salon Olympics Daily

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Paulie Walnuts has been located!
The scary "Sopranos" mobster showed up in Beijing, cunningly disguised as an American pole-vault coach.
By Gary Kamiya August 19, 2008
Fool's gold
The real question to ask after Liukin and He's routines: Why can't there be a tie?
By Jennifer Sey August 19, 2008
Mom favored for Sap-o-Meter gold
Slate has a scientific method for measuring the mawkishness of NBC's coverage.
By King Kaufman August 19, 2008
Memo to NBC gymnastics commentators: Shut up!
Their overheated, U.S.-obsessed reaction to Monday night's uneven-bars final made America look like a banana republic.
By Gary Kamiya August 19, 2008
Why do runners "shut it down"?
Saving energy for the final is one thing, but slowing down before the tape in heats looks like a recipe for disaster.
By King Kaufman August 19, 2008
Gymnastics tiebreakers are nuts!
Crazy rules cost American Liukin a gold. Then again, all gymnastics rules are crazy, and sane ones wouldn't have helped her.
By King Kaufman August 19, 2008
Dare to struggle, dare to win!
Nike darling Liu Xiang let down his nation. Shouldn't the poster boy for the new China have crawled across the finish line -- no matter what?
By John Krich August 19, 2008
Baseball gets chippy
Six hit batsmen, two collisions, an injured catcher and a woozy top prospect. No wonder big-league teams want no part of the Olympics.
By King Kaufman August 18, 2008
The naked city
Beijing's artists deserve a gold for the sheer wealth of their audacity and talent.
By John Krich August 18, 2008
Where have you gone, Allen Iverson?
The U.S. men's return to basketball dominance is a lot less interesting than those fascinating days of dysfunction in Athens.
By King Kaufman August 18, 2008
33 and fabulous
The most astonishing event of the women's individual gymnastics event finals was turned in by a 33-year-old mom.
By Jennifer Sey August 18, 2008
Short people got no reason to live
It isn't enough that tall men get all the girls and win all the elections. After Usain Bolt's ridiculous world-record sprint, now we can't even run away from them anymore.
By Gary Kamiya August 18, 2008
The bluest day
Sun shines bright on Beijing at last -- a perfect day for pure sport, beckoning all to party (and spend) within the Forbidden City.
By John Krich August 17, 2008
A tale of two Beijings
It wasn't the Red Army that killed feudalism -- it was the Olympics.
By John Krich August 16, 2008
Why we identify with Olympic athletes
Yes, their feats are unimaginable -- but they pull us up with them.
By Gary Kamiya August 15, 2008
Get the names right
NBC's lazy approach to pronunciation isn't limited to non-American athletes. The Peacock even butchers "Beijing."
By King Kaufman August 15, 2008
Grace under pressure, and over power
It would have been great to see Shawn Johnson's explosive athleticism win the women's gymnastics gold.
By King Kaufman August 15, 2008
Watching Nastia's gold and Shawn's silver
As a former elite gymnast myself, it's hard to watch Olympic competition. But then Nastia Liukin and Shawn Johnson blew me away.
By Jennifer Sey August 15, 2008
Clear the beach!
Volleyball in sand. Skimpy outfits. Americans good. We get it. Can we have a little basketball on TV please?
By King Kaufman August 14, 2008
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern aren't gold
The two American gymnasts were bit players in the men's all-around finals. But NBC treated them like Hamlet.
By Gary Kamiya August 14, 2008
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Recent posts

Scoring the Beijing Olympics
They get a 9 for pomp and spectacle, but only a 3 for furthering world understanding and a 2 for the fan experience.
Athletes are just people
The outrage over Usain Bolt's chest-pounding proves that we expect athletes to be heroes -- and when they're not, we turn on them.
What happened to the real Olympics?
By only showing snippets of classic events like the decathlon, high jump and pole vaulting, NBC is missing what makes the Olympics special.

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About the Authors

Gary Kamiya is Salon's writer at large. He covered the Olympics for the magazine in Nagano, Sydney and Athens.

King Kaufman is Salon's daily sports columnist.

John Krich has been covering China for 20 years, most recently as the Asian Wall Street Journal's main food/sports/culture writer. He's the author of "El Beisbol," "Won Ton Lust" and other literary travelogues.

Jennifer Sey is the author of "Chalked Up," her memoir about the ups and downs in internationally competitive gymnastics. She was the 1986 U.S. National Champion and a seven-time national team member.

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