I think we're really in Asia now, Toto

MACAO -- A week after the U.S. men’s basketball team arrived in Asia, it’s going to really arrive in Asia when it sets foot on the Chinese mainland after the team's plane lands in Shanghai.

The Americans will spend five days there, and play exhibitions against Russia and Australia before going on to Beijing.

The progression is expected to have gone something like this:

MACAO —This is Asia?

It’s true, almost everyone here is Asian. Aside from that, with the team at the Macao Venetian, it was just like Las Vegas, although with more decorum (no flashing lights or ringing bells on the slot machines) and more high rollers.

As crowded as the Macao Venetian was, it was an ideal venue with its own in-house 15,000-seat arena. A little hard to find your way outside, perhaps, but most of us solved that problem by not worrying about it.

(The only time the team and staff left the building was to be feted during a banquet at the nearby Wynn Macao.)

Put it this way: it’s the first assignment I’ve ever had in which I could walk from my hotel room to the arena in five minutes. Yes, we’re all going to miss this place.

SHANGHAI -- This is Asia, but the modern version.

The U.S. team is staying at the local Ritz-Carlton. There’s a glittering downtown with great shopping (the specialty is custom clothing at unmatched prices.)

BEIJING -- Well, at least they have actual games here.

We weren't sure what to expect, but there's definitely less shopping, and no gambling. There’s also an ongoing pollution problem—which we have been following through emails from friends back home, like the Newark Star-Ledger’s Dave D’Allesandro, who sent NBA PR boss Brian McIntyre and me a picture of what appeared to be the city photographed through a heavy haze.

Of course, I’m from Los Angeles where we’ve seen some bad days ourselves. So when McIntyre pulled up the photo on his BlackBerry and showed it to me, I said, “And the problem is?”

Ask the U.S. basketball program, nobody ever said this would be easy.

-- Mark Heisler

Photo: Carmelo Anthony (left) and Kobe Bryant during a July 30 press conference in Macao. Credit: CSPA via US PRESSWIRE

Beijing promises unfettered Internet access during Olympics

Chinese officials will allow foreign journalists to view websites that the government previously had censored at the Beijing Games press center.

The decision came after the International Olympic Committee pressured the host country to make good on its promise of unblocked Internet access for foreign reporters.

Reporters working in the Beijing Games' main media center have been unable to access websites operated by such organizations as Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the BBC’s Chinese service.

Reuters reports that each of the censored websites was available Friday morning at the Beijing press center.

Beijing Games organizers earlier this week said that they had blocked Internet access to sites that “propagated information” banned under Chinese law. The censorship occurred even though the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games told the IOC that reporters would enjoy unfettered access.

“We asked them to address the issues we were worried about,” IOC spokeswoman Emmanuelle Moreau told Reuters during a telephone interview on Friday. “That’s good news.”

Beijing Olympic organizing committee spokesman Sun Weide declined to comment.

Chinese officials acted just a day after Kevan Gosper, head of the IOC’s press commission, alleged that the IOC had struck what he described as an unsavory deal with BOCOG.

-- Greg Johnson

Photo: Foreign journalists at the Beijing Games' main press center on Wednesday. Credit: Eng Koon/AFP/Getty Images

The view from Beijing on Friday morning

Updated at 9:00 p.m. PST on Thursday. Philcam photo added below.

Updated at 10:37 p.m. Chaoyang District, spelling corrected.

BEIJING -- Here's the PhilCam view at 8 a.m. on Friday in Beijing. The report from blogger Philip Hersh: "Morning began as the clearest yet." But, as Hersh notes, "still no blue skies."

The Beijing Municipal Environmental Protection Bureau website has relevant air pollution data. The Chaoyang District is home to the Olympic Green, where much of the Olympic action will occur. Rowing will be contested in the Renhe Town station in the Shunyi District.

Here is the update. Philcam focuses in another direction. Blogger Hersh reports that the distant mountains are available for the first time in about a week.

Some details about the Russian doping allegations

Some details are starting to emerge in the Russian doping scandal that threatens to keep five athletes, including some possible medal contenders, from competing in the Beijing Games.

All that the International Assn. of Athletics Federations said early Thursday was that seven female Russian athletes had been "provisionally suspended" for suspected doping violations.

Listed in the brief news release were: runners Svetlana Cherkasova (800 meters), Yulia Fomenko (1,500), Yelena Soboleva (800 and 1,500), Tatyana Tomashova (1,500) and Olga Yegorova (1,500 and 5,000), hammer thrower Gulfiya Khanafeyeva and discus thrower Darya Pishchalnikova.

Fomenko, Khanafeyeva, Pishchalnikova, Soboleva and Tomashova were members of the preliminary Russian team named for the Beijing Olympics. Tomashova is a two-time world 1,500 champion. Soboleva is a world-record holder and world champion middle-distance runner who was favored to win both the 800 and 1,500 meters at the Olympics.

The rules allow the athletes to call for an emergency ruling to suspend the ban, but time is going to be an issue because track and field competition starts Aug. 15.

The Associated Press reports that doping experts began to compare athletes' in-competition urine samples -- which clearly were delivered by the athletes themselves -- to those taken out of competition.

"After a long and careful study, it was clear it was not the same people giving the sample," a source close to the investigation told the Associated Press. The samples taken out of competition dated from March to August 2007, the source said.

How badly would losing the five Olympic team members hurt Russia?

“According to their latest results, they were considered to be real contenders for Olympic medals, including gold,” said All Russia Athletics Federation President Valentin Balakhnichev.

-- Greg Johnson

Photo: Russia's Tatyana Tomashova wins the gold medal in the women's 1,500-meter race during the European Athletics Championships in Goteborg, Sweden, in 2006. Credit: Anja Niedringhaus / Associated Press

Q & A with U.S. boxer Luis Yanez

The U.S. Olympic boxing team arrived in Beijing on Wednesday to begin final training for the Summer Olympics. Among the boxers now practicing at Beijing Normal University is light flyweight Luis Yanez, who was reinstated to the Olympic team in mid-July after being kicked off earlier in the summer for missing more than two weeks of practice.

Yanez shared some of his thoughts during a Q&A conducted by a team representative. Here are some of her questions and his answers.

Q: How are you feeling now just nine days out from the Opening Ceremonies?

A: I feel good, I feel strong, I feel confident and I’m just ready.

Q: What is the most challenging part of being here in Beijing?

A: Staying focused, because we have so many distractions around you, such as media. You have a lot of people coming up to you. I keep pushing myself to stay focused.

Q: What was the one thing you wanted to make sure you brought to China?

A: One thing I wanted to bring to China with me was my family, and they are here in my heart, but also my motivation and my confidence. I take my rosary everywhere with me, and it was blessed by my grandmother and I take that everywhere I go.

Q: Are any family and friends coming to China to support you?

A: Not at all.

Q: What does being an Olympian mean to you?

A: It means that I can represent my country, myself and my family, and I know that I am someone out there representing something positive.

Q: What can people expect to see from you when you finally take the ring at the Workers Indoor Arena?

A: For sure, confidence. They are going to see I am a new and different Luis coming in. They are going to think that Luis Yanez that competes on the 13th is a whole new Luis.

Q: What is your favorite thing to eat here?

A: Pasta

Photo: Boxer Luis Yanez during the 2007 Panamerican Games competition in Rio de Janeiro.  Credit: Jorge Saenz / Associated Press

More of the politics of Olympics

A bipartisan group of U.S. senators is calling for an Olympic truce in Darfur, Sudan, during the Beijing Games.

The Senate resolution introduced Thursday urges China to pressure Sudan, one of its trading partners, to stop violence that has claimed at least 200,000 lives and displaced more than 2 million people.

“The Chinese government hoped to show the world a new China with the Olympics, but instead the spotlight will be on their same old policies that disregard the rights of human beings,” said Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), one of the resolution’s sponsors.

The resolution was welcomed by Team Darfur, a group of athletes that is urging Sudan and China to observe the truce, a tradition that dates to the ancient Olympics.

“With the U.S. behind the Olympic truce, we hope that more countries will join in the efforts to give the people of Darfur a chance at lasting peace,” said 2006 speedskating gold medalist Joey Cheek, co-founder of Team Darfur.

Meanwhile, Chicago Mayor Richard Daley is heading to Beijing to check out Olympics preparations, including the city's public transportation. He'll look for ideas that could help the Windy City refine its bid for the 2016 Summer Games.

Beijing is the only Games during which Chicago officials can see how the Olympics work before the International Olympic Committee decides whether Chicago, Madrid, Rio de Janeiro or Tokyo gets the 2016 Summer Games. A decision is due next year.

-- Greg Johnson

Photo: Speedskater Joey Cheek, co-founder and president of Team Darfur, appeared in a Washington, D.C., news conference July 1. Credit: Susan Walsh /Associated Press

Sharapova is out of Beijing Games

It's official. Maria Sharapova, the world's No. 3 women's tennis player, will skip the Beijing Games after an MRI found small tears in the tendons of her right shoulder.

Here's how Sharapova explained it on her website:

After yesterday's match I knew there was something seriously wrong with my shoulder. After taking a few different exams and MRI's this morning, the doctors found two small tears in the tendons of my shoulder. There are so many mixed feelings because last night they were almost positive there was something wrong with my nerve which could have ultimately been much more serious but after the tests this morning, for the first time in a while, they were able to give me a different answer and a different problem. But on the other hand this is something that needs a lot of time to heal, which really hurts me to say that I have to miss the Olympics.

The next question is whether Sharapova will be able to compete in the U.S. Open, which begins Aug. 25 in New York City.

-- Greg Johnson

Photo: Maria Sharapova talks to a trainer about her shoulder injury during Rogers Cup Tennis action on July 30 in Montreal. Credit: Elsa Garrison / Getty Images

Cone of silence

There will be an arbitration hearing for Jessica Hardy, the Long Beach swimmer who tested positive for the banned substance clenbuterol. But she is racing against the clock, so to speak, in her appeal to swim at the Beijing Games.

Hardy remains on the team and will stay on the roster until the appeal process runs its course.

So what's the arbitration process?

Her lawyer Howard Jacobs responded promptly on Wednesday to an e-mail query: "The Panel has stated that under the rules, the date and location of the hearing are confidential, sorry."

He also declined to discuss defense strategies "for now."

So all we know is that the hearing will be this week. Or it could very well being going on right now.

Time to go dig out a most-appropriate CD, "Sounds of Silence."

-- Lisa Dillman

Photo: Jessica Hardy listens to the U.S. national anthem after winning the 100-meter breastroke during an April meet in England. Credit: Leon Neal / AFP/Getty Images

How disappointed were the Lakers?

MACAO -- Kobe Bryant took a complete pass on the deal that is expected to send Sacramento’s Ron Artest to Houston, but even if the Lakers appreciate his tact, there’s every chance they did try to get Artest, and Bryant is disappointed.

Bryant tried to get the Lakers to pursue Artest three seasons ago when he was an Indiana Pacer with a “for sale” sign, having worn out that welcome.

Coach Phil Jackson wants a tough guy — which Artest definitely is, no matter how lucid you think he is — and thinks highly of Artest. And Jackson and Bryant usually are on the same page these days.

However, GM Mitch Kupchak’s problem would have been looking at it from a cost-benefit perspective, after finding what it would have taken to get the Kings to overlook their rivalry and send them Artest — reportedly Lamar Odom.

If there are concerns about how Odom will do at small forward, that’s not where the Lakers are now. They want to see how their team plays next season, and that includes Odom.

If the Kings couldn’t get Odom, even if they were going to give Artest away, it wouldn’t be to the Lakers.

Personally, I don’t see why the Lakers would want to climb aboard the whirlwind that is Ron Artest.

This was a slam dunk for Houston, which had to take a shot to get out of the pack of 55-win also-rans in the West. The Lakers will be a powerhouse if they play a season ticker-holder at small forward.

If Odom can shoot well enough to play the position, which I question, or Luke Walton makes a comeback, which could happen, or Trevor Ariza improve enough as a shooter, which could happen, the Lakers will be fine as constituted.

If none of that happens, they can trade any and all of their small forwards for a better one.

Remember the days when the Lakers had nothing but interpersonal issues?

All that is over, at least for the moment. If I were them, I wouldn’t be looking to re-launch the Soap Opera Era.

-- Mark Heisler

Photo: Kobe Bryant drives against the Turkey national team during an exhibition game Thursday in Macao. Credit. M.N. Chan / Getty Images

IOC issues statement on Internet censorship in Beijing

In a terse statement released a short time ago, the IOC stated that "no deal with the Chinese authorities to censor the Internet has ever in any way been entered into."

The statement adds that Hein Verbruggen, chairman of the Beijing 2008 IOC Coordination Commission, and Olympic Games Executive Director Gilbert Felli held meetings earlier today with BOCOG members to discuss censorship issues.

Two weeks ago, IOC President Jacques Rogge promised that there would be no Internet censorship for working journalists in Beijing. But today, Kevan Gosper, head of the IOC media commission, alleged that the IOC had bowed to Chinese pressure and agreed to let the host country limit Internet access for reporters working in Beijing. Reporters are unable to access websites that deal with such issues as Tibet.

"The issues were put on the table, and the IOC requested that the Olympic Games hosts address them," according to the ICO statement. "We understand that BOCOG will give details to the media very soon of how the matter has been addressed. We trust them to keep their promise."

The statement also maintained that "our position is that the IOC has always encouraged the Beijing 2008 organisers to provide media with the fullest access possible to report on the Olympic Games, including access to the Internet."

-- Greg Johnson