Tag Archives: olympics

Have You Been Pulling Olympic All-Nighters?

I don’t know how Michael Phelps is feeling, but I’m exhausted. The live drama at the pool and in the gym during these Summer Olympic Games has kept me up later than my days as a college student (or at least since those foggy nights breastfeeding my daughter). Olympic viewers on the East Coast have taken the brunt of it. I live in the Midwest and stayed up well past midnight watching Phelps swim to victory (some of his races didn’t get underway until after 10 p.m. Central, 11 p.m. Eastern). Then, there were the nights I forced myself to … Continue reading →

You Can Do It

Who among us hasn’t been inspired by the amazing physical prowess displayed by the Olympians in Beijing? If nothing else I’m sure there have been times when the competition has motivated you to get up off the couch to cheer on your favorite athlete. So there–you expended at least a few calories by standing, raising your arms, yelling and cheering. Compared to how many calories the athlete is expending it might seem insignificant, but if you live a relatively sedate life it’s at least a step in the right direction. The point is: expending calories in an effort to lead … Continue reading →

Athletes Stripped of Olympic Medals – Part 3

Here’s the final installment of Olympians stripped of their medals: At the 1984 Los Angeles Games, long distance runner Martti Sakark Vainio tested positive for steroids and lost his silver medal. Vainio claimed he thought he was getting testosterone shots instead of steroids, but allegedly, he had already tested positive for steroids at the Rotterdam Marathon earlier that year, but that information was covered up. In 1988, Canadian Ben Johnson was making a name for himself as a sprinter. He set the 100 meter world record at the 1987 championships and the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul. However, the records … Continue reading →

Athletes Stripped of Olympic Medals – Part 2

In one of my last blogs, I was talking about athletes stripped of their medals by the International Olympic Committee. Most of those stripped of their medals failed drug tests. And for some reason, most of the medal removals seem to happen in summer Olympic games. For some reason, the records I found only showed four winter game athletes stripped of their medals. Full scale drug testing by the IOC started in 1972, but anabolic steroids were not banned until 1976. If you think they aren’t serious about their non-drug use policy, let’s take a look at the first athlete … Continue reading →

Olympic Diets–The Method Behind the Madness

Even if you haven’t watched a single second of the Summer Olympic Games in China you likely know the following: A.) Michael Phelps is an American swimmer. B.) Michael Phelps has won more gold medals in these games than most other countries have since the inception of the modern day Olympics. C.) Michael Phelps ingests 12,000 calories per day to fuel his daily swims. The latter fact is the one that has sparked the most attention by regular folks who try to maintain their weight (or if they are lucky, lose a few pounds) with daily workouts. While Phelps’ diet … Continue reading →

China’s Most Popular Export Milking the Olympics

You don’t need to have in-depth knowledge about China to know how much actor Jackie Chan means to the country. Chan and basketball superstar Yao Ming are China’s golden boys and its most popular exports (along with Mu Shu Pork). Right now all eyes are on Beijing as the Summer Olympic Games enter week two and no surprise, Chan is in the middle of all the action. The Chinese government recruited the movie star as an Olympic ambassador and he has been busy promoting the Chinese culture at various sporting events. “The Forbidden Kingdom” star was also given the honor … Continue reading →

Signs Your Baby May Be Ready for the Olympics

You know that your little one is special, but did you ever wonder if he or she is the next Michael Phelps, Katie Hoff or Nastia Liukin? Sometimes raw talent can be recognized very early. Here are some tongue-in-cheek ways that you can tell if your baby is headed for the Olympics. He can spit out strained peas farther across the room than any other baby you know, and his accuracy has the dog running for cover. You often find her sitting on top of the refrigerator or kitchen cabinets with no visible means of climbing up there. At bath-time, … Continue reading →

Swedish Wrestler Refuses Medal

You have to figure that most athletes who go to an Olympic Games have trained for it much of their life. Many put anything else in life on hold to train, train, and train. So I understand that emotions run high, whether you win or lose. Roman wrestler Ara Abrahamian won a medal this week, something most people dream about, but he was none to happy about it. It seems the 33 year old Swede was none too happy with the judges in the 84k Greco-roman competition. Abrahamian won a silver medal in Athens in 2004 and I suppose the … Continue reading →

Michael Phelps’ Olympic Size Diet

I don’t envy Michael Phelps’ exercise regime, but who wouldn’t love to adopt his diet? The 23-year-old swimming sensation recently revealed what fuels his intense daily workouts in the pool… and to say that the Olympic athlete puts away a ton of food is an Olympic sized understatement. Phelps says his recipe for swimming success involves eating a jaw-dropping 12,000 calories a day. That’s more than most pregnant women eat in a week. Okay, maybe not, but it is darn near close. According to nutritionists, the average man of the same age and height (Phelps is 6’4”) should be ingesting … Continue reading →

Olympic Opening Ceremony Spectacular, But How Much of it was Real?

There is absolutely no question that the Olympics opening ceremony in Beijing was brilliant, amazing, breathtaking, and every other superlative you could possibly think of. But, now questions are being raised as to just how authentic the stunning technological masterpiece really was. In the hours (yes, hours) following the opening ceremony, which aired in the United State on Friday night, several media outlets reported that some of the footage NBC and the BBC ran of the fireworks exploding across China’s capital during the finale was digitally inserted into television coverage. Reports say the networks did so over concerns that not … Continue reading →