August 7, 2008, 18:48
Haze hovers over Beijing
Haze hovered over the Chinese capital on Thursday, just a day before the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games that have been beset by worries about pollution. Cloudy skies were forecast for the rest of the day in Beijing where the Environmental Protection Bureau said that levels of particulate matter were within the "fairly good" range on Wednesday. Humid, still weather and temperatures hitting 34 degrees Celsius (93 Fahrenheit) have seen stubborn smog hanging over the city over the past few days. The capital has already pulled millions of cars off the roads and halted factory production to ensure cleaner air. Friday is expected to be cloudy too, with scattered rain, and a maximum temperature of 30 degrees Celsius (86 Fahrenheit). It was raining in muggy Hong Kong, where equestrian events are scheduled to start on Saturday, as a tropical storm looms over the former British territory. Tropical storms often develop over the South China Sea in the summer months, growing into full-fledged typhoons threatening China, the Philippines, Taiwan, South Korea and Japan. For athletes of endurance events, smog could pose a major problem and the International Olympic Committee has said it might reschedule events if the pollution is too bad.
August 7, 2008, 18:47
Beijing torch climbs the Great Wall
The Olympic flame climbed the Great Wall on Thursday, an ascent shrouded in morning mist and laden in symbolism as it neared the end of a tortuous route around the world. The build-up to the Games, starting on Friday, has been troubled by international tensions over China's policies on human rights, worries about smog, and protests over restive Tibet which dogged the international leg of the torch relay. The torch drew patriotic throngs to the Chinese capital on Wednesday and the Great Wall was lined with volunteers in yellow uniforms waving red fans as far as the eye could see on Thursday. The crowd was showered with confetti as the torch was lit against the backdrop of the winding wall and craggy mountains just outside Beijing. "There have been problems with the torch but now is the time for the party," said Weng Chengyu, 28-year-old student. "You see all this? This shows how much the Chinese love the Olympics." The torch was paraded along the ramparts of the Great Wall, which are wide enough for five horses. The model of a giant dragon was crouched on one of the watchtowers and, with the mountains behind, it looked like the backdrop for an ancient Chinese painting. Patriotic music blared out from loud speakers, echoing around the wall and drums and cymbals thundered out a pounding beat. A flock of doves was released and the birds swept out across the countryside and into the mist.
August 7, 2008, 18:47
Beijing police ask about shoe size, politics, cash
Living in Beijing? The government wants to know your shoe size, blood group, political affiliation and where you get your money from, according to police in at least one corner of the security-obsessed Olympic host city. Questionnaires handed to a businessman in Beijing's east also demanded full technical details of the company computer network and a hand-drawn map of Internet connections. Beijing has ramped up security ahead of the Games, with missile launchers guarding the main venues and a special 100,000-strong security force on the alert for terrorists. Residents of the capital have got used to over-zealous police intruding into their lives. Visitors, even those who stay only one night, are expected to register at the local police station. Police sometimes call to ask why if they do not. Compounds in the city centre have demanded even long-term residents carry special identity cards, while one restaurant owner said his staff had been warned by police not to speak to foreign customers about anything but their orders.
August 7, 2008, 18:47
Bejing visitors feast on fakes
Visitors to Beijing hoping to buy cheap pirate copies of hit movies or fake designer clothing have been relieved to discover that government efforts to crack down on counterfeit goods have come up short. With the Olympics just a day away, athletes, officials and fans were using the time to snap up bargains of dubious quality, crowding into the Silk Street Market, a six-floor mall in the east of Beijing that is the city's largest bazaar for fakes. They didn't have to venture that far. Watch vendors, selling Rolex timepieces of questionable time-keeping ability, were just outside the gates of the Forbidden City, the old imperial heart of the capital. And DVD sellers strolled through the streets outside nearby hotels, offering an up-to-date selection, including Batman sequel "The Dark Knight", which is still in the theatres. China had announced a "hundred day operation against pirate copies", keen to present a squeaky clean image to the world during the Olympics. The campaign to clear fakes off the streets of Beijing has made life more difficult for vendors, but many have judged that the prospect of profiting from visiting crowds outweighs the risk of trouble with the law. "I've got to make a living. I'm careful. A few sellers have been caught and held in the police station for two or three or days," said Zhang, a DVD salesman.
August 7, 2008, 18:46
Brazil coach Dunga exasperated over menu
Attempting to alter the menu served to his multi-millionaire players is turning into a wild goose chase, Brazil coach Dunga has said. "When you ask the chef to change the menu, he has to talk to his boss, who has to talk to his boss, who has to talk to his boss and by that time the Olympics are over," said Dunga, whose team face Belgium in Shenyang on Thursday. The former World Cup captain also complained that his team were not being allowed enough time to train. "There are a lot of difficulties.....we were only allowed to train for one hour and 15 minutes, something which was decided by someone who has never played football," he told Brazilian media. Brazil, who usually stay in top hotels, fly to venues and bring their own food, have this time settled for the official accommodation and travel, even though their squad includes players such as Ronaldinho, Anderson and Diego. Brazil, who will travel by train to their final group match against China in Qinghuangdao, are attempting to win the Olympic soccer tournament for the first time and regard it as the one major title which has eluded them.
August 7, 2008, 18:46
US nude swimmer defies ban on animal rights protest
Some athletes fret about the Beijing smog. Others say, relax and have a cigarette. While many Olympians meditate or listen to music to calm their pre-competition nerves, several weightlifters training in Beijing on Tuesday tried to lighten up by lighting up. "I'd say 70 out of a 100 athletes in the Olympic village smoke," said Italian weightlifter Giorgio de Luca, perhaps exaggerating a little. The lifter, looking happy and relaxed in shorts and green flip-flops, was winding down after a gym session with a coffee and a cigarette. He cheerfully ignored the mildly disapproving glances from his coach. Smoking is banned in most parts of the Olympic Village, but there are designated smoking areas and some athletes even sneak out on to the balcony for a quick puff, de Luca said. Two North Korean coaches and an athlete wandered over to the ashtray outside the gym and lit up, sharing a few laughs after a tough work-out. Asked if smoking hurt his athletic performance, de Luca shrugged and grinned: "I always say, 'I'm not an athlete, I'm a normal guy with a passion for weightlifting.'"
August 7, 2008, 18:45
Beijing smog? I'm off for a smoke
US swimmer Amanda Beard unveiled a demure nude photograph of herself urging women "Don't wear fur" on Wednesday, hours after Chinese authorities had prevented her from her staging a news conference for "safety" reasons. The Athens 2004 Olympic gold medallist said she was determined to carry on even after plainclothes police banned her scheduled news conference at a Beijing hotel "for our safety". Beard, 26, declined to say if she believed that was the real motive for the ban. She went ahead with her campaign, only at a different location. Instead of the hotel, she appeared in front of reporters and TV cameras outside the heavily fenced Olympic athletes' village. "What happens with animals when their skin is ripped from their bodies when they are still alive, it's heartbreaking for me," she said. The Olympics provided a great platform for making those views known, she added. Chinese Olympic security guards watched the media scrum from the South Gate of the village but did not intervene. The German Olympic cycling team, heading out for training in hot, muggy weather, stopped for a look. PETA spokesman Jason Baker said eight Chinese security officials in plain clothes showed up at the group's hotel late on Tuesday to announce the planned press conference would not be permitted. They cited safety concerns, he said.
August 7, 2008, 18:45
Torch cheered through Tiananmen Square
Euphoric crowds chanting "Go Olympics, Go Beijing" cheered the Olympic flame through Tiananmen Square on Wednesday at the end of its troubled global relay. Two days before the Games start, one of China's best-known sportsmen, 7ft 6 in basketball player Yao Ming, held the flame above a sea of beaming faces in the Beijing landmark best-known to the world for the crushing of 1989 student protests. Children wore "I Love China" T-shirts and workers waved flags and pom-poms, while drums and cymbals reverberated around the square under a portrait of late revolutionary leader Mao Zedong. China hopes such images of the torch's final passage through Beijing will banish memories of pro-free Tibet protests dogging the flame's journey through Paris, London and elsewhere. But the party mood was marred for the Communist government when, according to state media, four foreigners were arrested for unravelling a "Free Tibet" banner from electricity poles near an Olympic venue. The Games -- which have given China an unprecedented chance to showcase its modern face but also galvanised critics of its human rights record -- start on Friday. China's half-century rule in the Himalayan region of Tibet is the most contentious issues. Demonstrations around the torch's international legs offended many Chinese, who see the Games as a moment of national pride for a nation some view as the emerging 21st century superpower. "It's not just about the sport, it's about the image of China," said Xi Li, 29, one of thousands of officially organised well-wishers watching the torch near the entrance of the Forbidden City on the edge of Tiananmen Square. "Chairman Mao would have been happy if he were here today!"
August 7, 2008, 18:44
Olympic flame starts journey through Beijing
Flag-waving crowds readied to cheer the Olympic torch through China's national capital on Wednesday as it began the final steps of a relay marked by patriotic pomp, controversy and strict security. The flame for the Beijing Games started its final journey from the ancient Forbidden City, once home of China's emperors, where crowds shouted "Go Olympics, Go China!." It will reach the main Bird's Nest Stadium on Friday for the opening ceremony. People lining the torch route near Tiananmen Square, symbolic heart of the capital, brandished white Games banners and red national flags, reflecting the ardent patriotism that has accompanied the torch since it began its 130-day journey. Tens of thousands of troops, police and plain clothes security guards on Beijing streets underscored official worry about security after militants killed 16 border police in China's far northwest Xinjiang province on Monday. In a tradition introduced before the 1936 Berlin Olympics, the flame is lit from the sun's rays in ancient Olympia, Greece, then carried across the globe by thousands of runners.
August 7, 2008, 18:43
Federer in no mood to party
A quick glance towards the Centre Court scoreboard at the Olympic Tennis Centre hardly helped Roger Federer's prickly demeanour on Tuesday. As the Swiss went through a sweaty two-hour practice with doubles partner Stanislas Wawrinka the name of Tomas Berdych was frozen on to the screen alongside that of Federer.
A reminder of the Czech who stunned him at the Olympics four years ago in Athens was either a pure coincidence or the work of some mischievous technician. Whatever, Federer was not laughing as he avoided waiting reporters. He barely smiled and hardly looked in the mood for a party at the world's greatest sporting festival as he went through his routines in sweltering conditions searching for the form that has suddenly deserted him.
Even his long-term girlfriend Mirka Vavrinec got the silent treatment as she sat on a courtside chair handing out water to the 12-times grand slam champion who lost his Wimbledon crown to Rafael Nadal last month and is soon to hand over the world number one ranking. Over on an outside court the mood could hardly have been more different as Nadal, who will become top dog on August 18, enjoyed a relaxed hour-long hit with compatriot Tommy Robredo.
Nadal looked worry-free and jovial, chatting to reporters and signing autographs for some of the army of eager volunteers working at the venue. He even played some football with a tennis ball with Robredo who he is sharing a room with in the nearby Olympic Village. He is clearly revelling in the atmosphere.
"It's something a little different to what we are used to but it's good," he told reporters. "Now that I'm going to be number one my only thoughts are on the Olympics."
August 7, 2008, 18:34
Murray in perfect frame for Beijing
Andy Murray grew up playing tennis in the wind and rain of Scotland but appears perfectly adapted to the heat and humidity waiting for him in Beijing as he targets Olympic gold. The 21-year-old will check into the Olympic Village on Thursday with his first Masters Series title in the bag after overcoming soaring temperatures and Serbia's Novak Djokovic to win the Cincinnati Masters Series final on Sunday.
His form since losing to Rafael Nadal at Wimbledon has been almost perfect on north American hardcourts. After falling to Nadal in the semi-finals at Toronto, he went one better in Cincinnati and is clearly the man in form. The physical frailties that dogged the languid Scot's early professional career are no longer an issue and despite his punishing workload in the last fortnight he will fear nobody. "I'd rather be in this position than going to Beijing early after losing in the first round," Murray told Britain's Independent newspaper.
"Of course, ideally I'd like to have more time to relax and get used to the venue and the whole Olympic atmosphere, but I'll just have to deal with it. "I've been playing a lot of matches, but right now I feel fine both physically and mentally. "The humidity (in Cincinnati) was unbelievable. It was well over 100 degrees (38 degrees Celsius) out on court." The draw for the Olympic tennis event takes place on August 7 with first round action beginning on August 10.