Olympics News: Around the Grounds

Posted February 20, 2008 at 07:00 PM by Rich Rodriguez

Section: Beijing 2008, Events, Tennis

The International Olympic Committee has discovered new media! The IOC gave the proverbial ‘thumbs up’ to athletes blogging from Beijing saying it’s a “legitimate form of personal expression” but they must abide by a few ruless, of course. Athletes must only write about their own experiences; they can’t post audio or video clips of any Olympic events; they can post still images, but not of any events; and athletes cannot profit from their blogs by placing advertising and/or sponsorship campaigns or logos on the same screen as Olympic content. This all sounds fine, but let’s call it ‘journaling’ then, shall we? [USA Today]

President Bush is still planning to attend the Olympics this summer even amidst the controversies surrounding the Games being held in China. “I’m going to the Olympics. I view the Olympics as a sporting event. I have a little different platform than Steven Spielberg, so I get to talk to President Hu Jintao,” said the president in reference to Spielberg’s withdrawal as artistic adviser to the Games. Quentin Tarantino, director of 1994’s Pulp Fiction has been named as Spielberg’s replacement.[Beijing Olympic 2008][Variety][News Biscuit]

The IOC is set to announce which city, Moscow or Singapore, will host the first edition of the Youth Olympic Games in 2010. Jacques Rogge, president of the IOC, will make the announcement on February 21st from the Olympic museum. [Beijing 2008]

Continuing its message of an environmentally-friendly Olympics, the Beijing organizers have devised numerous ways to display their efforts to make the Summer Games green. Their plans include the Olympic Green Tennis Center which was designed “to maximize natural ventilation” and the construction of 33 windmills to power the Games, which will “produce about 100 million kilowatts of electricity for the city, which currently uses coal-fired generators.” [Pacific Daily News]