The 10-plus days I’ve been here, we’ve had two types of weather. Rain. And smog-choked gloom. Ten consecutive days of one or the other. In both meteorogical conditions, the sun was basically a rumor. At best, making a short appearance before going behind the clounds (or gunk) again. Imagine my surprise when I walked outside […]

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If I understand any of the basics about modern China, two highly prized life commodities are 1) greenery and 2) space. I have both, in spades, at the place I am staying, the Beijing Conference Center. Yes, I do appreciate it. (I so rarely admit to appreciating anything.) And it’s growing on me as we […]

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Nastia Luikin and Shawn Johnson just went 1-2 in the women’s individual all-around gymnastics competition, which apparently none of you back home saw tonight. It was running just late enough in the day (midnight-ish, EDT) that it won’t be shown in the States till Friday night. (NOTE: I’m told this isn’t so … that it […]

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I’ve been occasionally asthmatic since I was 13. It is exercised-induced, and it’s worse when the air is cold. I also notice that, in recent years, it’s coming back a bit, after a decade or three of not being much trouble. And I notice it a bit more when the air is particularly foul. I’m […]

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Interesting woman. Touted for a medal in the women’s individual pursuit, which is just a lung-burning, thigh-busting drag race of a cycling event around the velodrome. Nobody much pays attention to track cyclists, not even at the Olympics, but Hammer and some of her teammates became infamous, for a day or three, when they were […]

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The Chinese scored a couple of touchdowns and now lead the U.S. in the gold-medal race, 22-13. That is a gap the Yanks won’t be erasing. Not at this Olympics. China’s golds are concentrated in four sports: Weightlifting (6), shooting (4), diving (4) and gymnastics (3). (We should note that China has 13 of the […]

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I’ve covered the fortunes of several athletes at the Beijing Olympics now, but this was the first time I actually felt nervous for the kid I was watching — and writing about. You talk to the guy, you meet his mom and his wife and his high school coach, and it’s odd how you can […]

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I haven’t heard any official pronouncements on this, but I saw soldiers with automatic weapons standing at key checkpoints on Wednesday. I had not seen an actual gun — aside from the competitors at the shooting venue — until then. Which really is quite remarkable, considering how well (and patently obvious) soldiers with guns were […]

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This is not a joke. Apparently, this is taught here. At least, according to the China Daily. In reviewing an upcoming television series based on the life of “witty ancient Chinese courtier” Dongfang Shuo, today’s China Daily writes, “Some historic books say he was the first Chinese to travel to the North Pole.” That would […]

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One would think no one could really claim to have invented jumping and tumbling, but my favorite reading material in Beijing, the English-language China Daily, says otherwise. Referring to China’s victory in the women’s gymnastics team event on Wednesday, someone named Patrick Whiteley wrote, “The Chinese girls, for the first time in Olympic history, could […]

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