Olympic Overload!

Oh man, there is so much Olympics going on, I can't even say.

First off, we have an amazing entry into the field of sports journalism by Timothy Eagan, about Canada broadly and his fake ID specifically and national identity and all that good stuff.

And then we have some malfunctioning zambonis, that meant an intermission of about an hour for no good reason... but it gave us more time to ogle the speed skaters.

There's a good story in here somewhere about gender bias in the Olympics and why women aren't allowed to ski jump (spoiler alert: it's because they would beat all the men) but a Canadian curler could be competing while five months pregnant (awesome!!).

I've got to write more in-depth about the NBC coverage and the internet and twitter and Olympics Triple Play (and Dick Ebersol and Dick Ebersol's sweater) and why something like this can totally happen in this day and age:

Aaaaaand that's not even getting started on the incredible tales of athletic prowess, speed, precision, and artistry that are going on. So yes! I am going to get back to watching Shaun White beat the pants off everyone. In the meantime, here:

Enjoy your mind trip as you watch Quatchi watch himself WATCH YOU.

Caster Semayana and Gender in Sports

That's a pretty pretentious title for what is mostly going to be a bucket o' links post. As soon as this controversy arose, we here at Mount Olympics began composing a brilliant post about gender, sex, and its role in sporting competition. The problem? We got distracted by shiny, shiny things and then... other people said it better. So this post will have three parts!

Part 1: Bucket o' links!



John Green is amazing.

Lauren McMillan is similarly amazing.
IAAF urges caution, which would be great, except that somebody kind of leaked the results.
"Results of the gender investigation aside, Caster Semenya’s humanity has already been sacrificed to Western culture’s desperate, frightened effort to maintain the fiction of binary, fixed gender."
Semayana gets a makeover for You magazine. Gah.
Time offers an incredible slideshow showcasing Semayana's triumphs and strength.
The science behind the scandal.
Idiocy of sex testing!
Semayana withdraws from race in South Africa.

God, it's just so monstrous.

Part 2:

This is not the first time that an athlete's gender has come into question. Here's the thing: sometimes people do try and cheat. I'll have to try to have more GoogleFu later, but I'm pretty sure there were a couple of instances of men entering women's competitions just to win. I'm also pretty sure they don't always win.

Here's the story of another athlete who had to deal with this gender testing: Santhi Soundarajan. And her advice? Don't let them win. You already won.

And don't let anyone stop you.

A look back, a look forward

Look both ways before you cross the time line!

Wow, it's been a while. Almost an entire year, in fact, since last we updated the blog, and a year to the day since the Opening Ceremonies (08/08/08!).

Happy Anniversary, little guys.

And there's been a year of international sports and excitement that we here at Mount Olympics have allowed to pass un-blogged. So much has happened, in fact, that it merits a bucket o' links! These are the stories we would have been following, had we, you know, been blogging.

Don't worry, China, not having the Olympics won't be terrible for your economy!
Don't worry, world, a terrible economy won't hurt the Olympics!
Sorry, Russia, the economy might hurt the Sochi 2014 Olympics.
Sorry, London Olympics, the economy might hurt you, too.
WAIT, by "hurt" we meant "the Olympics will save the British economy," right?

Poison + Milk = Scandal, but Olympics + Scandal = Chinese cover up...

OPRAH wants the 2016 Olympics in Chicago. OPRAH. WE MUST DO AS SHE SAYS.
OBAMA wants the 2016 Olympics in Chicago. OBAMA. (Remember: Bigger than Oprah.)
A BILLION DOLLARS wants the 2016 Olympics in Chicago.

Olympics has opened China to foreign media? WaPo says it is so.
Beijing brings back Olympic pollution control! Olympics make things greener, and not just in Canada!
Also, Olympics maybe helped China's human rights record!

Rugby is trying to get to the Olympics. BADASS.
Baseball too.
Also golf.

As a final sendoff to the summer games, FINA bans technical racing suits!

Phew, I feel refreshed, don't you?

In conclusion, look for this blog to be updated more often! Up next we have a shout-out to all you google searchers out there.