Results tagged “olympics”

The Olympics and their sponsor, Visa, have installed 3-D ads narrated by Morgan Freeman in the Grand Central subway station. As commuters put on paper glasses to watch death-defying snowboard tricks and soaring ski jumps, they shared their quirky, New York-y reactions with the Daily News. "It's too short, they show 'Visa' too much and they didn't name one person," griped one curmudgeon, Marvin Herskowitz. David Ezell, a 40-year-old therapist was impressed: “This is as close as I'll ever get to the Olympics," he said wistfully. "What year is the Olympics?" asked Marjorie Bogle who was passing out Day of Judgment pamphlets nearby. She was told they were this year. Her response: "That's the last one." more ›

Former figure skater Nancy Kerrigan—whose bruised kneecap made headlines and SNL skits in 1994—has more blood in the family. Today her troubled older brother Mark was taken in on charges of giving their father a beating that caused his death. more ›

In a decision that insiders say could prove once and for all that Rudy Giuliani isn't seriously considering another run for office, the former Mayor has accepted a long-term job as a security consultant for the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. more ›

[UPDATE BELOW] Chicago, welcome to how NYC felt back in 2005! The Second City was eliminated in the first round of International Olympics Committee voting for the 2016 Olympics location. One lesson: The star power of President Barack Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama and Oprah Winfrey is not enough to win an Olympics. The city is apparently in shock. But let's face it—if NYC wasn't getting the 2012 Olympics when times were flush, what made Chicago think they could get it during a recession? more ›

The gloves are off! Brazilian paper O Globo is angry that the New Yorker of published an article about crime and drugs in Rio just days before the International Olympic Committee decides the location of the 2016 summer games. This comes the day after former New Yorker coverboy President Obama flew to Copenhagen on behalf of the Chicago 2016 bid. However, besides the gang violence, Rio may not have the financial capacity to host the games as it recently had to cancel several international swimming events. Whatever, the New Yorker is probably just bitter that we didn't get the bid for 2012, right? more ›

They couldn’t pull of a second miracle this week, but the U.S. Soccer team has nothing to be ashamed about. They beat the #1 team in the World, Spain, and led another soccer powerhouse, Brazil, for most of their game today. In the end though, Brazil had too much firepower and they prevailed 3-2. While a win today would have captured the World’s attention, today’s loss should capture the attention of this country. We have a soccer team that can compete with the best in the World and it is time for the U.S. to give it some attention. more ›

Michael Phelps proved once again that it's almost always a bad idea to go to a college party after you've earned your degree. After photos emerged yesterday of Olympic record holder smoking from a bong while at a party in November at the University of South Carolina. Today Phelps released a statement saying, "I engaged in behavior which was regrettable and demonstrated bad judgment. I'm 23 years old and despite the successes I've had in the pool, I acted in a youthful and inappropriate way, not in a manner people have come to expect from me. For this, I am sorry. I promise my fans and the public it will not happen again." Many are speculating what action may be taken by sponsors and the World Anti-Doping Agency which lists marijuana as one of its banned substances. Phelps pleaded guilty to drunk driving in 2004 at the age of 19 and was sentenced to 18 months probation. Phelps's diet once consisted of 12,000 calories a day and after the Olympics he admitted to not training and getting antsy looking for something to do. more ›

A follow-up to our post about the Olympic-style street harassment last month, when men rated women walking in Madison Square Park. Reader Lauren writes in to confirm it did happen with a photo and says, "To be honest, 'crude' or 'offensive' as the guys may have been, I thought it was one of the funnier things I’ve ever seen in NYC." But maybe that's because she was getting 9's and 10's! more ›

With the Beijing detainees now out of reach of the Chinese government, they're doing some talking. Animal spoke with New Yorker Jeffrey Goldin last night, one of the ten American activists released earlier this week. Like James Powderly, Goldin was also taken in V for Vendetta-style, but he goes further into the details about the 2 a.m. wake up call, saying the eight secret police were asking a lot of questions about “Earth Mouse."

Goldin had met with Powderly and the others earlier in the day in Beijing to discuss the high tech L.A.S.E.R. protest, but eventually trouble came. "That's the night they picked us up." After being taken to a basement of a hotel and interrogated one by one in conference rooms, the six were then put in vans and told they were going to be deported. However, the mini-caravan drove past the airport and continued on, straight to a prison. more ›

With James Powderly & Co. safe at home stateside, details about how he was detained are surfacing. Animal New York reports that "cops busted in Powderly's hotel room 'V for Vendetta style' while he was sleeping and carted him away to the Chong Wen Detention House." The website also notes that while Powderly never even got to L.A.S.E.R. the words "Free Tibet" over there, he managed to get the word out nonetheless--the activists were greeted by a slew of reporters at the airport yesterday. The crew flew in to LAX, five days ahead of time--likely due to U.S. officials pressuring Beijing to release them. more ›

The Beijing Olympics ended after a memorable 16 days of competition and world record-breaking. The opening was massive and lavish, focused on China's history, and the finale was another extravagant display of modern, fanciful performances and fireworks. more ›

The end of the year is always overloaded with tributes to how great the past year has been. Luckily in 2008, we don’t have to wait. We can come right out and say that 2008 has been the greatest year in sports. more ›

There's an amusing article in the Times of London about libidos unleashed after Olympians compete in their events. Former Olympian Matthew Syed remembers, "In 1988 that there were so many used condoms on the roof terrace of the British team's residential block the night after the swimming concluded that the British Olympic Association sent out an edict banning outdoor sex... It is a common sight to see recently knocked-out athletes gorging on Magnums and McDonald's, swilling alcohol and, of course, shagging like crazy." Syed points out how 2008 organizers have more of a "If you can't stop 'em, at least make it safe" philosophy by handing out 100,000 condoms to the 10,500 Olympians in Beijing. There is no count on how many were used, but Syed heard from one competitor, “The swimmers finished earlier in the week and it was like there was an eruption.” [Via Page Six] more ›

Last week it was announced that James Powderly and 9 other activists are being held for 10 days after protesting at the Olympics in Beijing. Now U.S Ambassador to China Clark T. Randt Jr. has asked that the protesters be released. The activists will be held until August 30th and 31st, and Randt Jr., who met with the detainees, said there were no claims of "maltreatment at the hands of Chinese officials," but noted "We are disappointed that China has not used the occasion of the Olympics to demonstrate greater tolerance and openness." While China agreed to allow protests in three designated areas, in which activists could apply for permits, no applications turned in were approved. Meanwhile, GRL has word from Powderly (being held for “upsetting public order”), saying he "is in good health and eager to get back home." UPDATE: This afternoon Students for a Free Tibet tell Boing Boing that the protesters have been released. "James Powderly, Brian from Alive in Baghdad, and everyone else all arrive at LAX around 6 or 7pm tonight," says an SFT rep. more ›

Whoa! James Blake beat number 1-ranked Roger Federer in straight sets during their Olympics tennis match today. The Yonkers native, currently ranked #7 in the world, won 6-4, 7-6 (2) during a quarterfinals match. more ›

After setting yet another world record last night in the 200m freestyle, swimmer Michael Phelps racked up his third gold medal at these Beijing Olympics. And he has two finals, the 200m butterfly and 4x200m freestyle relay, which will air tonight in the United States--the 200m fly at 10:18 p.m., the 4x200m relay at 11:16 p.m. more ›

The Empire State Building will celebrate the Olympics by illuminating each of its sides with the colors of a different nation's flag throughout the sixteen days of the Summer Games. This will be the first time the skyscraper will have separate color schemes on each side as it will represent the 66 nations with the most athletes sent to Beijing. A typical color change at the Empire State Building takes six electricians six hours to switch out whichever of the 182 lights needs altering. Good thing there were so many electricians nearby during last night's power outage! more ›

Last night during the opening ceremonies in Beijing, the U.S. flag was carried by Lopez Lomong, one of the "Lost Boys of Sudan" who now hails from the upstate town Tully, NY. Governor Paterson issued a statement on his web site praising Lomong for not only "the joy and dedication he brings to the sport, but because of the amazing story of how he came to represent our State and Nation." Lomong is one of 75 other Olympians part of a group called Team Darfur that seeks increased recognition of the situation in his homeland. Once having fled from bullets all the way across the Sudanese border to Kenya, he will run in the 1500-meter event in Beijing. more ›

Two Americans were stabbed in Beijing today by a crazed Chinese man who then immediately committed suicide. The victims were a man who was killed and a woman who was injured, both relatives of a U.S. Men's Volleyball Coach. The stabber, a 47-year-old man from Hangzhou, then threw himself from the second story of the site of the attack, the 13th-century Drum Tower three miles from the main Olympics site. more ›

Yesterday, the U.S. Olympic cycling team arrived at Beijing's airport and their masked visages caused a frenzy. The cyclists wore the U.S. Olympic Committee-designed and issued masks to protect them from Beijing's polluted air. One team member told the NY Times, “They told us that the Chinese were mad and that this is a politically charged issue, but we didn’t mean to offend anybody. When [the USOC] handed us these masks, they never said, ‘Here they are, but don’t wear them.’" Now the team has apologized, saying, "The wearing of protective masks upon our arrival into Beijing was strictly a precautionary measure we as athletes chose to take, and was in no way meant to serve as an environmental or political statement." more ›

A march from the Brooklyn Bridge through Chinatown to celebrate the Beijing Olympics is exposing a big rift in Manhattan's Chinese immigrant community. Opposed to the celebrations are older Chinese-Americans from Taiwan and Hong Kong who've seen their ranks diminished; on the other side are newer immigrants from the mainland who've poured into Chinatown in recent years. A 74-year-old business consultant tells the Sun,"The mainland government, they're Communists, and we don't like that. The new immigrants came from China in a happier time, so they like it more than I do." Jimmy Cheng, an organizer of this weekend's festivities, says, "People who protest about human rights in China, they don't get it. China needs to do what it needs to do." more ›

Infinite emails (all from the same source) flooded inboxes citywide last night (following a Reuters photo that was published) with messages pondering "how Americans would feel if they knew that just before the Olympics start, a theme park in Beijing still shows the Twin Towers standing in a NYC exhibit of mini models?" With many Americans already protesting the Olympic Games, this might not help the Chinese government's boffo P.R campaign. more ›

Olympics planners and San Francisco authorities made many attempts (making up the route as it went along) to prevent demonstrators from disrupting the Olympic torch's only North American appearance on Wednesday, they couldn't stop a torch bearer from the Bronx from expressing her pro-Tibet sympathies. more ›

While San Francisco is bracing for tomorrow's Olympic torch relay--protesters scaled the Golden Gate Bridge and unfurled "Free Tibet" banners yesterday --torchbearers hailing from New York City say they aren't worried about potential disruptions. A retired NYPD cop, James Dolan, told the Daily News, "I've seen enough demonstrations in my career. I'm confident the city will be able to make the event go off smoothly." more ›

Councilman Tony Avella (D-Queens) will be formally announcing his bid to replace Mayor Bloomberg this Sunday. Theories about likely candidates abound (e.g. Councilman John Liu, Rep. Anthony Weiner, Council Speaker Christine Quinn, City Comptroller Bill Thompson, and NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly), but Avella is jumping to the head of the line by explicitly announcing his desire to be Mayor this Sunday at 1 p.m. on the steps of City Hall. more ›

Roughly 100 protesters, most of them Tibetans, demonstrated outside the United Nations today against the Chinese government, which has been trying to put down protests and rioting in Lhasa. Three demonstrators were arrested for trying, unsuccessfully, to enter the U.N. and six were arrested for disorderly conduct. more ›

City Council member and probable 2009 mayoral candidate, Tony Avella, is the latest politician to ask for America's withdrawl from the Beijing Olympics if China will not grant Tibet independence. Under China's rule for over 50 years, Tibet has made no headway, even with the support of human rights groups, activists...and Richard Gere. When we interviewed Robert Thurman, co-founder of the Tibet House, earlier this year he touched on the Olympics, saying:

The thinking is that if you give them a big P.R. thing to do like the Olympics, they won’t want people to see how they’re beating up the Falun Gong or whatever it is they’re doing lately. This is a fallacious concept but within that it’s true that the Chinese are trying to clean up their act so they won’t be embarrassed during the Olympics. Unfortunately, what the Chinese consider ‘cleaning up their act’ is to wipe out people who might do human rights protests; they don’t mean stopping the human rights violations.

Five different car crashes in Brooklyn, Manhattan and Queens have left five people dead yesterday. more ›

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: an officer shot on Vandalia Ave & Ardlsey Loop in Brooklyn, a gas leak at Dongan Pl. off Broadway in Manhattan, and an aircraft emergency at JFK in Queens.
• The City's investigating whether its artificial turf fields are poisonous.
• The Brooklyn Paper finds Obama did get votes in many Brooklyn districts (here's the congressional district breakdown for all of NYC).
• Blogging by athletes at the summer Olympics in China will be allowed. Blogging about the summer Olympics by athletes will be highly restricted.
• The father of the three children murdered by their mother is suing Nassau County for $60 million.
• Rupert Murdoch's ownership of Dow Jones is practically unnoticeable, unless one is longtime Wall Street Journal First Amendement lawyer Stuart Karle. He's fired.
• St. Saviour's demolition was halted by the Department of Environmental Protection.
• This time arguing over a grade worked: The City will revise public school report cards issued last year, after feedback from pretty much everyone.