Officially known as the National Aquatics Center, the Watercube is a truly beautiful building. We posted a video about the construction of the Watercube and several other venues back in April. The completed product was revealed Monday. Below is a video about the unveiling.
Shawn Johnson won’t be an official member of the U.S. Gymnastics Olympic Team until the Olympic trials in June. But as the reigning world champion, it’s hard to imagine she won’t make the team. I recently read a nice profile on Shawn that I though I’d share with you all.
Oscar Pistorius, a double-amputee dubbed the fastest man on no legs, will most likely be banned from pursuing his Olympic dreams. Tests conducted show that his prosthetic legs give him a competitive advantage. He plans to appeal the decision and request additional testing.
I understand the IAAF’s need to ban any items which give a technological advantage. However, it does seem that the fact that the man has no legs mitigates any advantage the prosthetics may give him. If ever there were a place for an exception, this would seem to be it. By the way, Pistorius is not exactly the bionic man. He has not yet run Olympic qualifying times and was simply seeking the opportunity to compete. He was not considered a high threat for qualifying, much less medaling at the Olympics.
I’m going to start writing a periodic feature called unlikely athletes, which will bring you stories of athletes chasing their Olympic dreams, despite hurdles such as age and physical challenges. If you know of an athlete who should be featured, please tell me about it in the comment section or contact me through the contact information.
Our first athlete is 49 year old Tim Barnes of Pueblo, Colorado. Barnes hopes to make it to Beijing competing in kayaking. Not only will Barnes have to compete against athletes half his age but he’s also had both hips replaced. In spite of this, he’s already had a couple of strong finishes in national competitions. In April, he’ll compete in the Olympic trials in Oklahoma, hoping to complete his dreams of a trip to the Beijing Olympics this summer.
Highlighting concerns about China’s human rights’ violations, ticket broker Ticketfinder.com has decided to boycott the 2008 Summer Olympics.
CEO David A Boitano had this to say on the subject:
The Olympics symbolize peace, harmony and oneness and a country which has such widespread Human Rights violations, I believe, cannot do justice to an event which calls for world peace. China’s Human Rights violations have always been, and currently are, systematic. The Chinese government continues to suppress dissenting opinions and maintains political control over the legal system. We feel that at this time China is not a country that we want to support any more than we are forced to. Until they can prove that they have stopped violating Human Rights, started complying with Child Labor Laws and allow their citizens the freedoms we all enjoy, we will continue to hold this position.Our decision to discontinue the sale and market of 2008 Summer Olympics tickets has nothing to do with China as a nation but its policies which are inhumane and should be abolished as soon as possible. There has been a lot of unrest since China was picked as the host nation and, at one point of time, it was almost certain that the games would be boycotted. Although that is not happening, we are protesting in our own way and the tickets will not be put on sale again till China provides the world definite proof of its innocence.
