Tag Archives: 2008 Olympics

Australian Olympic gold medalist diver Matthew Mitcham dressed as an abs-tastic unicorn for a local Lady Gaga concert. The Advocate reports that he was too shy to use his name to try and get backstage to meet her, even though winning the gold and meeting Gaga have been his “only two wishes in life.” That outfit doesn’t really scream “shy” …

Openly gay Australian Olympic diving gold medalist Matthew Mitcham has finally landed his first big endorsement deal. While it’s not in Stephanie Rice’s league, Mitcham’s year-long contract with Telstra is a “relief” for the diver, who has stuggled to attract corporate interest, despite his final dive receiving the highest single-dive score in Olympic history. He blames the current economic crisis, …

In addition to the stunning upset victory of out gay diver Matthew Mitcham, six of the thirteen out lesbians at the Beijing Olympics won medals, including girlfriends Gro Hammerseng and Katja Nyberg, who took Norway’s handball team to the gold. Go to 365gay.com for a great photo recap of lesbionic fabulousity. Over at OutSports, there’s this fascinating factoid: Statistically speaking, …

In what is being hailed as one of the most tremendous upsets of the Beijing Olympics, openly gay Australian diver Matthew Mitcham won a gold medal today after his string of perfect 10’s recorded the highest scoring dive in Olympic history. Mitcham’s pulled off a stunning final dive in the 10 metre platform, scoring an incredible four perfect 10s, to …

The International Olympic Committee is finally looking into the ages of the Chinese female gymnasts. The IOC did not give details on what new information prompted it to act now, three days after the gymnastics competition ended. “With some questions still remaining, we asked the federation to take a closer look,” Davies said. The Chinese women won six medals, including …

Protests continue daily at the Chinese Consulate on the West Side Highway at 42th Street, where at night the Free Tibet crowd has been projecting a giant Tibetan flag and other images onto the bare face of the building. After the protesters posted a video of their projection of the Olympic rings turning into handcuffs, the International Olympic Committee lodged …

Via Gawker, a totally not Micheal Phelps but equally goofy tall guy gets mobbed by Chinese who can’t tell the difference. Steve Parry is a BBC commentator who won bronze swimming in the Athens Olympics. He’s very cute about the confusion.

For the first time since 1936, the total Olympic medal count winner may not be the United States or Russia.From the Dallas Morning News: The last time the U.S. failed to win the overall medal count was 1992, when the Unified Team earned 112 to America’s 108. That also was the last year in which the U.S. lost the gold …

Chinese gold medals won in women’s gymnastics are coming under question as proof has emerged that star competitor He Kexin is only 14 years old. In 1997 the minimum age for competing was raised to 16. Just nine months before the Beijing Olympics, the Chinese government’s news agency, Xinhua, reported that gymnast He Kexin was 13, which would have made …

Spanish basketballer Jose Calderon responds to yesterday’s “Asian eyes” controversy: Spanish basketball player Jose Calderon rejected international media accusations on Wednesday that slit-eyed gestures by his team at the Beijing Olympics were racist and said he had great respect for Asian people. Published pictures show the world champions dressed in Olympic kit standing on a basketball court marked with a …

NBC has a rather homoerotic game running on its Olympics page in which readers are invited to guess which abs belong to which Olympic swimmer. Go to “Ab Fab: Guess The Swimmer” and see what you think.

Surprising racism from Spain’s Olympic basketball team: Spain’s Olympic basketball teams have risked upsetting their Chinese hosts by posing for a pre-Games advert making slit-eyed gestures. The advert for a courier company, which is an official sponsor of the Spanish Basketball Federation, occupied a full page in the sports daily Marca, the country’s best-selling newspaper. The advert features two large …

Nice photo that the New York Times provides us of the gold medal winning Chinese men’s gymnastics team, eh? Being stereotypical gays, we rushed back from dinner last night to catch the finals, but found ourselves mostly grumbling about NBC’s insistence on making us listen to the American team’s inane “we are gymnasts, but we are totally not gay” sports …

I’ve watched the opening ceremonies of the Beijing Olympics three times now and I still cannot get over how fantastic it was. Despite all of my issues with the Chinese government, I must admit that the first 90 minutes of the show is quite simply the most amazing thing I have ever seen on any screen. But aside from the …

Eight is considered a lucky and “auspicious” number in China and that’s why the Olympics will begin on 08/08/08 at 8:08:08PM local time. Just so you know. “When you believe in things you don’t understand, then you suffer…”

China has taken dog off the menu at the official Olympic eateries and is asking local restaurants to do the same. Those who hope to taste dog meat when they visit Beijing for this summer’s Olympics may be disappointed. The Beijing Catering Trade Association has ordered all 112 designated Olympic restaurants to take dog off the menu, and has strongly …

Some female athletes at the Beijing Olympics will undergo controversial gender tests to ensure that they are genetically women. Organizers of the Beijing Olympics have set up a sex-determination laboratory to evaluate “suspect” female athletes, the official Chinese news agency Xinhua reported Sunday. The lab is similar to ones set up at previous Olympics in Sydney and Athens, and will …

The U.S. Olympic Committee wrote to the Seattle-area Northwest Bears Club to protest their calling this year’s camp-out the “Kamp Kodiak 2008 Olympic Village” on grounds of trademark infringement. (They also didn’t like the name “Big Ass Bear Olympics with Dr. Bob.”) Brendan McDonald, the event’s organizer, responded with this bit of hilarity: It is with bewilderment and amusement that …