Summer Olympics News

He’s supposed to retire (we’ve heard that before), but Roger Clemens would definitely consider foregoing retiring for a chance to pitch for the U.S. Olympic baseball team next year in Beijing. MLB.com reported that his agent said he is looking into his options. The decision will need to be made by early summer in order to add Clemens to the roster. Whether Clemens plays, or not, the 2008 Olympics will be a milestone for baseball. It is the last Olympics scheduled to include baseball, which has been dropped by the International Olympic Committee.

Roger Federer is one of the hottest players in tennis. He’s won 12 Grand Slam Tournaments. But one thing he’s never won is an Olympic medal. In this recent article, he talks about what it would mean to him to bring home the gold.

I read an article this week about Chinese children who are being pushed to unbelievable lengths to stand out in China, leading up to the Olympics. From an 8 year old who runs 40 miles per day to a 4 year old swimming prodigy riding a beluga whale, the stunts are outrageous and at what cost to children. Olympic fever is being blamed for some of the acts, but I think perhaps Western observation of China leading up to the Olympics is simply spotlighting what already exists in a country where children’s rights are still minimal at best and where one-child family planning policies put pressure on families to encourage overachievement in their child.

Top distance runner Ryan Shay died Saturday in New York City, five miles into the U.S. Olympic Marathon trials. He was 28 years old. Shay was considered somewhat of a dark horse to make the 2008 Olympic team, but he had been a strong finisher in the past, including winning the 2003 U.S. marathon. Shay had been diagnosed in the past with an enlarged heart, sometimes considered an asset for endurance athletes, but had been cleared to compete. His wife has qualified to compete in the women’s track trials in early summer. His former training partner Ryan Hall finished the trials first and will dedicate his race at the Beijing Olympics to Shay. You can read more about Ryan’s life in this USA Today article.

For those of you who might not know this, the 2008 Summer Olympics are being played in Beijing, China from August 8th-24th.

That means as of today there are only 279 days left until the 2008 Olympics start!

We won’t be counting down every day until it’s much closer… I just thought you might want to know when the Summer Olympics started.