Salon Olympics Daily

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Gary Kamiya

The eternal flame
Like all the Olympics, the Beijing games leave us with abiding memories -- and a spark of inspiration.
By Gary Kamiya August 25, 2008
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.
By Gary Kamiya August 23, 2008
The Frodo smile of Laura Wilkinson
The great diver's farewell look showed us all how to say goodbye.
By Gary Kamiya August 22, 2008
The U.S. track team loses its grip
In a nightmarish 30 minutes, the world's track powerhouse is humiliated -- while amazing little Jamaica laps it again.
By Gary Kamiya August 22, 2008
All hail Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh!
I love the American beach volleyball champions -- and it isn't just because they have great derrieres.
By Gary Kamiya August 22, 2008
Running into history
Usain Bolt's performance was the greatest individual athletic feat of our time.
By Gary Kamiya August 21, 2008
In defense of race-based rooting
At the Olympics, you sometimes find yourself rooting for athletes because of their race. And that's OK.
By Gary Kamiya August 20, 2008
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
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
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
Why we identify with Olympic athletes
Yes, their feats are unimaginable -- but they pull us up with them.
By Gary Kamiya August 15, 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
The strange smile of George W. Bush
Bush looked weirder than he ever has during his Bob Costas interview -- but he made more sense. Too bad it's too late.
By Gary Kamiya August 13, 2008
"No fear, no regret"
In the men's team gymnastics final, no one lost.
By Gary Kamiya August 12, 2008
You want some freedom fries with your crow?
A trash-talking frog is croaking today.
By Gary Kamiya August 11, 2008
The pressure cooker
In their different ways, the Olympic events on the dazzling first full day in Beijing showcased the ultimate athletic feat: Overcoming fear.
By Gary Kamiya August 10, 2008
Beijing 2008: The blog
Meet the four scribblers, including author John Krich and former national gymnastics champ Jennifer Sey, who'll bring you Salon's take on the games.
By King Kaufman August 7, 2008

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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