Bud Greenspan's documentary on the Beijing Olympic premieres tonight at 7 p.m. on Showtime. (Getty Images) "Bud Greenspan Presents: Beijing 2008 - America's Olympic Glory" premieres at 7 p.m. EST tonight on Showtime.
The two-hour documentary presents a behind-the-scenes look at six Americans who competed in Beijing including gymnast Nastia Liukin, rower Marry Whipple, swimmer Jason Lezak, brother and sister fencers Erin and Keeth Smart, and 100-meter hurdlers Dawn Harper and Lolo Jones. Greenspan follows their personal stories from training to results.
This is the 12th Olympic documentary made by Greenspan and his New York-based Cappy Productions since 1984.
The 83-year old Emmy award winning Greenspan first documentary was in 1968 called "Jesses Owen Returns to Berlin" in which he followed the runner's 1967 visit to West Berlin.
China Impressive at World Gymnastics Championships
Deng Linlin celebrates winning a world title on the beam on Sunday. China won six titles at the Artistic World Gymnastics Championships. (Getty Images) After dominating gymnastics at the Beijing Olympics, China was just as impressive at the world championships, held at the London 2012 Olympics venue.
The artistic championships concluded on Sunday at O2 Arena with China dominating the competition. China finished on top of the team competition with six titles and a total of nine medals. No other team came close. On Sunday Olympian Deng Linlin won the balance beam and Zou Kai won the high bar. Wang Guanyin also added a gold on parallel bars.
The United States won five medals, all by women. In the all-around competition, Bridget Sloan and Rebecca Bross finished first and second, respectfully.
Great Britain's Beth Tweddle won gold on floor exercise on Sunday to give the home crowd some excitement. Tweddle, 24, has not announced if she will try to compete in the London Olympics. She competed in Athens and Beijing.
Korea, China, Claim Team Titles at Taekwondo World Championships
Action from the final day of competition at the WTF World Championships. (WTF) The Korean men’s team and Chinese women’s team took home top honors at the World Taekwondo Federation World Championships which concluded Sunday in Copenhagen.
Winning three golds and one silver, the Korean men beat Iran for the men’s team award. China edged out Korea after winning two golds, two silvers, and one bronze.
It marked the first time that Korea failed to win both the men’s and women’s overall titles at the championships.
American Steven Lopez was named male MVP when he became the first five-time world champion. Yague Enrique Brigitte of Spain was the female MVP when she became three-time world champion.
The 2009 World Taekwondo Championships, which took place at the Ballerup Super Arena, drew a total of 928 athletes, including 558 men, from 142 countries, the largest in WTF history.
The next world championships are in 2011. The host will be determined at the next WTF General Assembly in Cairo.
Olympic Broadcast Rights for Taipei
Chinese Taipei broadcaster ELTA Technology reached an agreement with the IOC to broadcast the Vancouver Winter Olympics and Singapore Youth Olympic Games. ELTA acquired the broadcast and exhibition rights across all broadcast platforms, including free-to-air television, subscription television, radio, the internet and mobile phone.
IOC President Jacques Rogge said “We are delighted to be working with ELTA to bring extensive coverage of the Winter Games to Chinese Taipei for the first time, as well as coverage of the first ever Youth Olympic Games, which will be held in Singapore next summer”.
No details about the agreement’s value were released.
UN to Approve IOC Status
A vote is scheduled for later today to approve the IOC’s observer status at the U.N.’s General Assembly.
The draft resolution is signed by 25 countries. If approved, the IOC would have the authority to write and sign resolutions, as well as speak to the body, but it will not be allowed to vote.
A spokesman for U.N. Secretary General Ban-ki Moon said “This shows how important the IOC is to the UN network.”
Moon spoke at the start of the IOC Congress in Copenhagen this month. He was the first secretary general to do so.
The IOC already takes part in some U.N. activities.
Also being proposed is the Olympic Truce, submitted by the Canadian government. It is tradition that the host of the next Olympics submits the Truce, which encourages warring countries to cease fighting during the Games.
World Masters Games Conclude
Closing ceremonies for the 2009 World Masters Games were held in Sydney's Darling Harbour on Sunday.
A record-breaking 28,292 people participated in the seventh edition of the games, including newly elected IOC member Prince Frederik of Denmark. Organizers estimate that economic impact of the games was $50 million.
There is no official medal tally for the games since athletes represent themselves, however most of the medals were won by Australians according to unofficial tallies.
Turin will host the next Masters Games in 2013.
Written by Ed Hula III.
Recent Articles
Sinner-Alcaraz, the duel that came to succeed the three phenomenons
Beyond the final result, Roland Garros left the feeling that the Italian and the Spaniard will shape the great duel that came to help us through the duel for the end of the Federer-Nadal-Djokovic era.
Table tennis: Brazil’s Bruna Costa Alexandre will be Olympic and Paralympic in Paris 2024
She is the third in her sport and the seventh athlete to achieve it in the same edition; in Santiago 2023 she was the first athlete with disabilities to compete at the Pan American level and won a medal.
Rugby 7s: the best player of 2023 would only play the medal match in Paris
Argentinian Rodrigo Isgró received a five-game suspension for an indiscipline in the circuit’s decisive clash that would exclude him until the final or the bronze match; the Federation will seek to make the appeal successful.
Rhonex Kipruto, owner of the world record for the 10000 meters on the road, was suspended for six years
The Kenyan received the maximum sanction for irregularities in his biological passport and the Court considered that he was part of a system of “deliberate and sophisticated doping” to improve his performance. He will lose his record and the bronze medal at the Doha World Cup.
Katie Ledecky spoke about doping Chinese swimmers: “It’s difficult to go to Paris knowing that we’re going to compete with some of these athletes”
The American, a seven-time Olympic champion, referred to the case of the 23 positive controls before the Tokyo Games that were announced a few weeks ago and shook the swimming world. “I think our faith in some of the systems is at an all-time low,” he said.
