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BEIJING — The Olympic sport that brought you such U.S. gold medalists as Floyd Patterson, Muhammad Ali (when he was still known as Cassius Clay), Joe Frazier, George Foreman, Sugar Ray Leonard, the Spinks brothers and Oscar De La Hoya now brings you ... no one.
The United States’ last chance for a gold medal in boxing ended with a 7-1 semifinal loss Friday by Deontay Wilder of Tuscaloosa, Ala., to Italy’s Clemente Russo.
The United States, which has won more boxing gold medals (48) than any other country had its last real success in 1988 when it won three titles, and would have won another if Roy Jones Jr. hadn’t been robbed. That’s not a biased opinion but a fact later acknowledged by the International Olympic Committee.
Since, the United States has won three gold medals total. De La Hoya won in 1992.
A trivia question: Who won the other two? (Answer below.)
USA Boxing, the governing body, is in such disarray today that promoters who used to launch young boxers based on their Olympic success now advise them to bolt from the amateurs as soon as possible and turn professional.
So we’re seeing a lot of U.S. fighters in the Olympics who will be filling up professional undercards at rings near you in the future. Someone has to do it.
(Trivia answer: David Reid, 1996; Andre Ward, 2004.)
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BEIJING -- The International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) just announced that it would ask the Chinese gymnastics federation to "submit further documents" to clarify the ages of three women gymnasts whose Olympic eligibility has been questioned.
The names of gymnasts He Kexin, Yang Yilin and Jiang Yuyuan have appeared on various government documents with birth dates that differed from the passports submitted to FIG last February. The IOC rule requires gymnasts to be 16 or to turn 16 this year in order to qualify for participation in the Beijing Games.
Earlier Friday the International Olympic Committee requested that FIG again review information on those passports. Despite information published by several media sources including the Los Angeles Times last month, FIG officials previously had said they were satisfied with the passports submitted by the Chinese gymnastics federation.
But after a Times of London story, relying on the same documents, appeared Friday, the IOC requested that FIG recheck the information.
-- Diane Pucin
Photo: Fans line up Friday to snap pictures of the Chinese gymnastics team prior to a news conference at the Samsung Pavilion at the Beijing Games. Credit: Rob Carr / Associated Press
Click here or on the image above to view the full-size graphic.
U.S. swimmer Michael Phelps won a historic eight gold medals at the Beijing Olympics, spending less than 15 minutes in the water and swimming just under a mile in the event finals.
BEIJING -- Well after the U.S. women's water polo team had lost the gold medal game to the Netherlands Thursday, star U.S. Brenda Villa was still in doping control while four lonely U.S. journalists waited in an interview room for Villa to have several bodily fluids collected.
As we waited for nearly an hour, the Dutch coach, Robin Van Galen, finished up some Dutch radio interviews and apparently felt the need to change his clothes. Immediately.
Van Galen took of his shirt, then his pants and, without asking, the question was answered.
Briefs. Not boxers.
-- Diane Pucin
For the record: An earlier version of this post misspelled Robin Van Galen as Robin Van Halen.
U.S. beach volleyball players Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh take their 107-match winning streak into today's gold medal final at the Beijing Olympics. A list of their victories since the streak began in August 2007.
BEIJING -- Nastia Liukin, 18, the gymnastics all-around champion, said Wednesday morning that she might keep in competitive shape and try to add to her total of nine world championship medals. The 2009 worlds are in London and are only for individual events. There is no team championship.
Shawn Johnson, 16, who was favored to win the all-around gold but settled for balance beam gold instead, sounded less sure she would keep competing.
"Honestly, continuing after the Olympics, after you accomplish your greatest dreams and goals, it's going to be hard," Johnson said. "I don't know what other goals to set. The feelings and emotions I have, how proud I was, it was the best feeling ever. Whether I can get that feeling again for next worlds, it depends on how I feel, how my body holds up."
-- Diane Pucin
For the record: An earlier post said Johnson settled for the floor exercise gold. She won gold for the balance beam.
Four U.S. riders — three men, one woman — will compete in the BMX motocross cycling events Aug. 20-21 at the Laoshan venue in Beijing. Riders will reach speeds of 40 mph and heights of 12 to 15 feet above the big ramps. Runs last about 35 seconds.
more BMX stories: Lighten up it's just the Olympics!
Mike Day locks up BMX Olympic berth
more Olympic graphics
BEIJING -- After Zou Kai had won the high bar gold medal Tuesday for his third gold of these Games, and after his men's Chinese Olympics gymnastics team had tied the Soviet Union record for most Olympic gymnastics gold medals -- seven -- Zou was asked why the Chinese men had been more dominating than the women's team.
"Because they're so much younger," Zou said of his female counterparts. Zou certainly didn't mean to suggest that the Chinese female gymnasts were TOO young, but it was an apt comment in the final gymnastics press conference.
For nearly a month, stories have been surfacing about apparent discrepancies in the ages of three of the gold-medal winning Chinese female gymnasts -- He Kexin, Yang Yilin and Jiang Yuyuan.
The reports were prompted by documents filed by Chinese provincial sports authorities, as well as Chinese news accounts -- not because the Chinese gymnasts appeared young or small.
Kexin, who won the uneven bars gold medal, was described as being 13 years old last November by a prominent Chinese sports authority.
Each of the girls had turned in passports last February to the international gymnastics federation. And the passports indicated that the gymnasts were either 16, or would turn 16 this year, making them eligible for the Olympics.
But, whatever their ages, Zou did the math. They were younger than the men. And almost everybody else.
-- Diane Pucin
Photo: From left, Germany's Fabian Hambuechen, China's Zou Kai and the U.S.' Jonathan Horton. Credit: How Hwee Young / EPA
Cat Osterman combines physical attributes with technical proficiency, operating tightly down her “power line” — an imaginary plane from the center of her body to the catcher — that leads to maximum power. Her breaking pitches are among softball’s most difficult to hit and her favorite is the peel drop ball.
Articles from the Tuesday edition of The Times.
U.S. men sweep 400-meter hurdles
Philip Hersh, Special to The Times: Angelo Taylor leads a 1-2-3 finish after the American track and field team gets off to a rough start. Full article>>
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U.S. women win their 200-meter heats
Philip Hersh, Special to The Times: Allyson Felix, Marshevet Hooker and Muna Lee move on to the second round Tuesday night. Full article>>
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Stephanie Brown Trafton ends U.S. gold drought in discus
Helene Elliott, Los Angeles Times: The discus thrower, who started out wanting to be a gymnast, gets the first U.S. gold in track and field. Full article>>
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Photo: United States hurdlers, from left, Kerron Clement, Bershawn Jackson and Angelo Taylor celebrate following the men's 400-meter race, after posting the first U.S. medal sweep in the event since 1960. Taylor won the gold, Clement the silver and Jackson the bronze. Credit: Valery Hache / AFP / Getty Images
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U.S. diver Troy Dumais is expected to contend for a medal in the 3-meter springboard competition at the Beijing 2008 Summer Olympics. A look at one of his most difficult dives: the forward 2 1/2 somersault 2 twist pike:
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Women will compete in the pole vault for only the third time in the Olympics. The event has been sanctioned only since 1992, but world-record heights have climbed quickly for the women while the men’s record has gone unchanged since 1994.
A Beijing Games official said Monday that authorities have caught more than 100 scalpers and confiscated about 340 tickets for the Olympic Games.
"I think policemen have done their best, as it's not easy to distinguish the situation in which tickets are actually transferred in a fair way and the situation in which the tickets are scalped for high profits," Games spokesman Wang Wei said at a Monday news conference in Beijing.
According to the New China news agency, Wang also said that Beijing Games organizers have no unused tickets to distribute -- even though empty seats are evident at some venues.
"Of course, as a standard practice, there are some emergency tickets, about two percent of the total and scattered all over the venues, for dealing with emergencies, such as the certain part of a venue has to be blocked," Wang said in New China's report. "Such kind of tickets must be kept and we do not have any other tickets."
-- Greg Johnson
Photo: Chinese authorities have installed signs that warn scalpers against selling tickets. Credit: Paula Bronstein / Getty Images
 BEIJING -- I've been looking for translations of the Chinese national anthem, which I've heard five times so far at the gymnastics venue for the men's and women's team gold medalists, for Yang Wei in the men's individual all-around, for Xiao Qin on pommel horse and for Zou Kai on floor exercise. With six more event finals still to come over the next two nights at the National Indoor Stadium, I suspect I'll hear it again.
Xaio gave a crisp military salute during his solo appearance on the podium Sunday night and afterward said he had planned that tribute because he has been a soldier.
This seems to be the translation I've uncovered the most frequently:
"Arise, ye who refuse to be slaves;
With our very flesh and blood Let us build our new Great Wall!
The Peoples of China are in the most critical time, Everybody must roar his defiance.
Arise! Arise! Arise! Millions of hearts with one mind,
Brave the enemy's gunfire, March on! Brave the enemy's gunfire,
March on! March on! March on, on!"
Can anyone tell me if that's accurate? Rumor has it that after gymnastics I may be covering some diving. If so I think I may be able to sing along pretty soon.
-- Diane Pucin
Correction: An earlier version of this post inadvertently identified the athlete in the photo above as Zou Kai. The saluting gymnast is Xiao Qin.
Photo: Xiao Qin of China salutes during the playing of the national anthem. Credit: Mark J. Rebilas / US Presswire
BEIJING -- Sunday night, about 90 minutes after the final interviews with gymnasts had been finished at the National Indoor Stadium, with about two dozen journalists working away in the press tribune -- those seats you see on TV that have tables and small televisions and telephones -- it happened.
With no warning and more than an hour earlier than the media handbook told us, the lights went off. All of them. Suddenly, it was pitch black. A Chinese volunteer tripped over one of our computer bags and took a hard fall. We asked another volunteer if the lights could be turned on, even if for only a minute or two so everyone could gather assorted electronics -- cellphones, BlackBerrys, tape recorders, computers -- plus notebooks and stat sheets, all the paraphernalia you use to write a story. The answer was a simple and understandable no.
The National Indoor Stadium must have a very good workers' union. Lights out when they say lights out. Forget about those pesky "stay open three hours after the competition" stuff.
So we used our cellphones to provide light, hoped we didn't leave anything behind and gingerly climbed the cement steps.
About 12:30 a.m. I got a panicked phone call from another American writer. She had stayed in the press work room. She had light but when she tried to leave, yep, all the doors she could find were locked tight.
Apparently she escaped. At least she's not still here today.
-- Diane Pucin
Photo: Members of the media work in the so-called press tribune area, a cluster of computers, notebooks, stat sheets and electronics. Credit: Frank May / EPA
BEIJING -- Nastia Liukin chose a dark blue velvet leotard with red swirls and silver sparkles that make Liukin the obvious red, white and blue girl. Her Chinese competitors -- He Kexin and Yang Yilin -- are wearing the same leotard in national colors of red and yellow that they wore for the team competition.
It's the first time Liukin has worn red, white and blue, and maybe she is making a statement since she's the only American to have qualified for the uneven bars finals.
The draw his He up first, then Liukin, Dariya Zgoba of Ukraine, Steliana Nistor of Romania, Anastasiia Koval of Ukraine, Yang Yilin of China, Beth Tweddle of Great Britain and Ksenia Semenova of Russia.
U.S. teammate Chellsie Memmel helped Liukin get reading for warm-ups by putting chalk on the bars and helping Valeri Liukin, Nastia's father, adjust the tension. Memmel had hoped to be an uneven bars finalist but her fall in the qualifying round ended the hopes of the 20-year-old, who later revealed she had a broken bone in her ankle during the competition.
He is the Chinese gymnast who was listed as 13 years old in some media reports as recently as last November. She suggested after the team competition she would add extra difficulty to her uneven bars routine tonight. She and her teammate Yang already have the highest start value (along with Liukin) of any girl.
-- Diane Pucin
Photo: American gymnast Nastia Liukin competes on the uneven bars in the women's all-around competition, which she won. Credit: Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times
BEIJING -– With her recovery progressing, Barbara Bachman, the mother-in-law of U.S. men's volleyball Coach Hugh McCutcheon, has been transferred to a hospital in the U.S.
Bachman suffered stab wounds in an attack a week ago at a Beijing tourist site that left her husband dead. All three of her daughters, including Elisabeth McCutcheon, the wife of the volleyball coach, have also returned to the U.S.
Hugh McCutcheon will remain in Beijing and return to his coaching duties.
"We are indebted to the physicians and caregivers at Peking Union Medical College Hospital who have done such a wonderful job providing Barbara with the medical care she needed," Hugh McCutcheon said. "We are also extremely appreciative of the support we have received from people here in Beijing, the United States, New Zealand and around the world. The prayers and support have been a source of strength for our family during this difficult time."
-- Debbie Goffa
Every team in the NBA has at least one foreign-born player, many of whom play for their country during the Olympic Games.
NBA players on foreign rosters in Beijing: Luis Scola, Manu Ginóbili, Fabricio Oberto, Andrés Nocioni, Andrei Kirilenko, Linas Kleiza, Roko Uki, Chris Kaman, Dirk Nowitzki, Andrew Bogut, Pau Gasol, Rudy Fernández, José Calderón, Marc Gasol, Yi Jianlian, Yao Ming.
BEIJING -- About five hours after the gymnastics competition ended at National Indoor Stadium, long after the medals had been handed out and even after the equipment had been taken down and replaced by trampolines so that the trampoline competitors could practice, after all-around gold and silver medalists Nastia Liukin and Shawn Johnson had done interviews in the arena for NBC and every other television and radio station in this world and some other, and after they did a conference call in which they both said how happy they were and how proud and when they probably wanted to ask us all what else in the world we could possibly ask, it was time to leave the National Indoor Stadium.
Not so fast. Getting outside of the indoors wasn't easy.
The entrance the media normally takes was locked. Chained shut. Really closed. So was the next entrance and the next and the next. A lonely volunteer saw me and pointed at me. I said, "Out." As if she understood. She told me "Venue manager" which I believe was the only English phrase she knew.
After some pantomimes and me leading her to each of the locked exits the light dawned. And I was led down hallways and through tunnels until I came to one, small, unlocked door that led to a super-secret entrance/exit for volunteers. I volunteered to leave from that exit. It was allowed.
And when I got outside for the first time in 10 hours, the sky was blue! Who knew?
Making the escape seemed important because the concrete stairs and passages at the National Indoor Stadium seemed to be even harder than the bed at the hotel. Barely.
-- Diane Pucin
An Olympics volunteer rides a Segway Personal Transporter past the National Indoor Stadium, host venue for the Artistic Gymnastics, Trampoline and Handball events located on the Olympic Green during the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. Photo credit: FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP/Getty Images
BEIJING -- It's not sour grapes now.
Nastia Liukin's father and coach, Valeri Liukin, said the international gymnastics federation would be wise to eliminate the age rule that requires gymnastics athletes to be at least 16 or turn 16 during the year they compete in the Olympics and world championships.
The issue has been in the forefront of gymnastics discussion because of some evidence that three of the girls on the gold medalist Chinese team may be too young to compete.
Liukin, who turns 19 in October, just missed that cut-off for the 2004 Olympics. Athens all-around gold medalist Carly Patterson trained at the gym run by Valeri Liukin, WOGA in Parker, Texas, and Rebecca Bross, a 14-year-old who also trains at the gym, was just shy of being old enough for these Games.
"It's a shame Rebecca couldn't compete this year," said Valeri Liukin. While he wouldn't criticize China directly, he said, gymnastics would be better off without an age limit. "Let everybody compete and be fair," he said. "That's the best way."
-- Diane Pucin
Photo: Gold medalist Nastia Liukin poses with her father and coach, Valeri Liukin, on Friday in Beijing. Credit: Julian Finney / Getty Images
Click here or on the image above to view the full-size graphic.
Nastia Liukin harnesses her strength and grace in a signature combination balance beam move commentators call “The Liukin.” Liukin is expected to perform the move in the upcoming all-around competition at the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics.
Click here or on the image above to view the full graphic.
U.S. swimmer Michael Phelps continues his bid at the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics to win eight gold medals in a single Games. U.S. swimmer Mark Spitz won seven gold medals at the 1972 Olympics in Munich.
BEIJING -- There was a lot of talk earlier in the summer about the rush on tickets for Olympic events by the Chinese people.
So where are they?
Give the Chinese credit so far. They have organized the Games well. But many of the venues aren't even half full of spectators.
To be fair, this is a common refrain during the Summer Games. The crowds can hardly be called crowds during the first week of competition. They start coming during the weekend. And the momentum carries over until the closing ceremony.
China was supposed to be different, though, because, well, there are so many people here. It's the most populous country in the world. You'd think it could fill up an arena, even for Greco-Roman wrestling.
The International Olympic Committee is concerned about the attendance, especially because of the way it looks on television. No one likes to see empty seats.
But the IOC also doesn't want to say anything that in any way can be interpreted as criticism.
So here was the response Wednesday from the IOC's executive director, Gilbert Felli, when asked about the attendance.
"I would not say we are not pleased,'' he said. "But where I would say we are not praising as much concerns the issue of spectators at some of the venues -- you can take it as not being happy because I like to be performing at 100%. I would like to have, always, all the stadiums full. But if I compare it to past Games, I can be pleased because we are not the worst and we are even better in some of the events.''
Priceless.
-- Randy Harvey
Photo: Spectators watch the archery competition in the Olympic Greeen Archery Field at the Beijing Olympics on Tuesday. Credit: Nicolas Asfouri / AFP / Getty Images
 BEIJING -- Chellsie Memmel's injured ankle, which she hurt at practice Aug. 3 and kept her from competing in any events in Beijing except the uneven bars, has a small break.
Jeanelle Memmel, Chellsie's mother, said her daughter never considered withdrawing from the Olympics. Memmel finished the 2006 world championships with a shoulder tear that ultimately required surgery and kept her from making the 2007 world championship team.
"I was completely fine (with Chellsie competing) because at the '06 worlds she finished with her shoulder completely torn. That's just what she does for the team. A little broken ankle wasn't going to stop her. This is the Olympics. She could have done more if the team asked her. How many people can say they have an Olympic medal? Not many. Of course, it would have been good to get the gold but we're all thrilled with the silver."
-- Diane Pucin
Photo: American gymnast Chellsie Memmel competes in the women's gymnastics team competition Wednedsay in Beijing, helping the U.S. take the silver medal. Credit: Harry How / Getty Images
U.S. swimmer Michael Phelps set the record for gold medals by winning his fourth gold at the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics in Wednesday's 200-meter butterfly event. After starting out behind New Zealand’s Moss Burmester, Phelps led the last 150 meters. Hungary’s Laszlo Cseh and Japan’s Takeshi Matsuda both overtook Burmester to win silver and bronze, respectively.
Click here or on the image above to view the full-size graphic.
For Olympic gymnasts, the minimum age is 16 by year’s end. Questions have been raised about the ages of several Chinese gymnasts and whether this gives them an unfair advantage.
The Chinese womens' Olympic gymnastics team: Li Shanshan, Yang Yilin, Cheng Fei, He Kexin, Jiang Yuyuan, Deng Linlin
The U.S. womens' Olympic gymnastics team: Chellsie Memmel, Nastia Liukin, Alicia Sacramone, Samantha Peszek, Bridget Sloan, Shawn Johnson
Even though Medals Per Capita trumps the fallacy of the standard Medals Table (as seen on the right-hand side of this page) and rightfully exalts smaller countries as a rule, let us take this opportunity to applaud India.
This global colossus just harvested the first individual gold medal in its Olympic history when Abhinav Bindra won the 10-meter air rifle event, and while MPC certainly tilts toward the Lilliputians in exquisite fairness, that doesn't preclude some sympathy for a giant.
MPC fully realizes that India, working with a staggering population of 1,147,995,898 -- one of only two three-comma populations in the world -- has an unforgiving road in the MPC standings, especially for a country that has never bothered with the Olympic oomph of China, the other billion-plus population.
India finished 75th of the 75 countries that won medals at Athens 2004, and now stands 46th of the 46 countries that have won medals so far in Beijing.
Still, it's a giddy 46th at the moment, so let's say "hooray."
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The U.S. men’s 400 freestyle relay team of Michael Phelps, Garrett Weber-Gale, Cullen Jones and Jason Lezak came from behind to win the gold medal at the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics. France took the silver and Australia the bronze.
 BEIJING -- If you don't have curly, frizzy, thick hair, if you don't live for the perfect blow dry and the shiny goodness of straight, well-behaved hair, you can stop reading.
I have all that. After trying to grow my hair long way back when and setting it on Coke-can-size rollers and sitting under monstrous hair dryers for hours on end only to have the hair become a frizzy nest within an hour, and after celebrating as if it were Christmas when a product called Curl Free debuted only to have it make my head bleed and not straighten my hair, and after having it professionally straightened to the tune of hundreds of dollars at a time but realizing that coloring and straightening together ruin the hair, I opted to continue going un-gray and taking another route to straightness.
It is a small indulgence but a twice-weekly blow dry by a professional, someone who can brace herself, dig that round brush into my hair, turn the dryer up full blast and pull, pull, pull is worth the cost. And when I travel, I always, always try to locate a reputable hair salon in the city.
That can be a challenge sometimes but never more so than here. And I've never needed a blow dry so badly. You may have heard: It's really hot and really humid. And my hair type is not the norm.
There's actually a hair salon in the Main Press Center, and I went there Saturday. A team of five touched and sniffed my hair and huddled and talked, then brought out the dryer and took turns. The result? When I came back to our office, a friend who knew I was going to test out the salon said, "Oh, it wasn't open?" But for the equivalent of $7, it was worth a shot.
After two 14-hour days at gymnastics team qualifying -- love the sport, but there are many bad gymnasts in qualifying; I think four of the five Brazilian women took horrifying falls off the balance beam, they were all in tears and Brazil still qualified seventh for the team finals and their hair is fabulous -- I decided to take advantage of what was an off-day gymnastics-wise on Monday to try to find another hair salon.
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BEIJING -- The U.S. men's gymnastics team, which competes in the eight-man team finals Tuesday, released its lineup for the three-man, three-count format. In the finals, only three of the six men eligible compete on each of the six apparatus with all three scores counting. That's different from team qualifying, in which five men competed on each apparatus with four scores counting.
While China overwhelmingly won the team qualifying competition, the team has historically faltered in the three-up, three-count format, which can reward lower-difficulty but more consistent routines more than high-difficulty maneuvers that result in big mistakes.
Interestingly, Alexander Artemev, who did qualify for the all-around finals, is only doing one event, pommel horse, Tuesday. Artemev is notable on the U.S. team for attempting more high-difficulty moves but often missing.
U.S. lineup after the jump...
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Medal Count |
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| Country |  |  |  | Total |
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 | 1. United States | 36 | 38 | 36 | 110 |
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 | 2. China | 51 | 21 | 28 | 100 |
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 | 3. Russia | 23 | 21 | 28 | 72 |
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 | 4. Great Britain | 19 | 13 | 15 | 47 |
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 | 5. Australia | 14 | 15 | 17 | 46 |
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