*If coxswains, who don’t do any heavy lifting, can earn medals in rowing — and deservedly so — why can’t horses , who do all the work, earn them in equestrian?
*Most forgettable, global-marketing, Olympic quote: “As a child, I always dreamed of becoming a McDonald’s athlete.” — Venus Williams .
*It has been well chronicled in the media that Jeremy Wariner’s gold medal in the 400 meters was more than just another in an impressive line of American performances in that event over the last two decades. The 20-year-old Wariner, it has been noted, is the first white American to win a sprint medal of any kind in 40 years. Press accounts even includes this quote — politically incorrect, it can be argued, if it were the reverse — by the black Grenadian sprinter Alleyne Francique, who finished fourth to Wariner. Said Francique: “I’ve never seen a white man run that fast.”The question still begging is would the compliment — that’s all it is — have been similarly received — sans racial controversy — if it had been, say, “I’ve never seen a black man swim that fast”? Or “I’ve never seen a black man (pole) vault that high”? Or “I’ve never seen a black man perform that well on the parallel bars”?
*Find yourself periodically saying, “I didn’t know that was an Olympic event “? Get ready for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, when the Games will introduce croquet, horseshoes, darts, poker, Chinese checkers and the dissident toss