The O List, Part 6: More SBMSL

Sports
Today I give you more Stories from the Bottom of the Medal Standings List, the Middle East edition:

1. Rohullah NIKPAI (Afghanistan)

With little in the way of training facilities - let alone stability - in his home country, Nikpai surprised the Taekwondo world by snatching a bronze in the 58-kg weight division. He lost in the quarterfinals to eventual champion Guillermo Perez of Mexico, but defeated last year's world champion Juan Antonio Ramos of Spain 4 points to 1 in the repechage to take a spot on the medal stand. His medal is the first in Afghanistan's Olympic history. And he is now undoubtedly a national hero.

2. Rashid RAMZI (Bahrain)
Moroccan-born Rashid Ramzi gave Bahrain its first ever Olympic medal, and it was gold. Ramzi just edged out Kenya's Asbel Kipruto Kiprop in the 1500m run with a last-minute burst of speed and a time of 3:32.94. He garnered his Bahrani citizenship in 2002 after a short stint in the Bahrain Defense Force, which caused a bit of a stir in the country of his birth. But he has not renounced his attachment to Morocco: "I am a Moroccan, I was born a Moroccan."

3. Shahar ZUBARI (Israel)
Zubari has found instant stardom at home in just the few days following his bronze-medal performance in the Men's Sailboard race (commonly known as Windsurfing) at the Qingdao Olympic Sailing Center. He received phone calls from both Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and President Shimon Peres, with Peres offering Zubari an open invitation to visit his home upon Shahar's return from China. "We in Israel almost mourned in a sea of desperation, and you took us out of there to a new dawn," commented a thrilled Peres, who attended the opening ceremonies, and hoped for more Israeli success in Beijing. This was Israel's first medal of this Olympics, and 7th overall. Israel has had previous success in the Sailboard competition, as well as in Judo and Canoeing.

The 1 Greatest (Olympic) Athlete in History

Sports

No one - at least in my lifetime - has made it look this easy. Michael Phelps will be going for his seventh gold medal of the Games tonight in the 100m Butterfly, and would tie Mark Spitz's record of the '72 Munich Games - should he win - with still one race to swim. He has already surpassed the great Jenny Thompson as the most decorated Olympic Swimmer ever (she won 12 medals over the course of four Olympics - his 14 medals have come out of just two.) And it is impossible to deny the class with which he has handled himself in Beijing; he is an extraordinary representative of both his country and the sport of swimming. So do yourself a favor, and watch history in the making tonight...GO MP!

The O List, Part 4: O Yeah! Olympic Superlatives

Cheers on day three to the US Men's Gymnastics team. They seemed more excited about their Bronze than even the Chinese team about their gold. And the Japanese team looked downright depressed about their silver.

Each Olympics is filled to the brim with great stories; here are just a few of the 'bests' and 'mosts' this year:

1. Oldest Athlete: HOKETSU Hiroshi Born - March 28, 1941; Age - 67.
Mr. Hoketsu returns to the Olympics for the first time since his debut 44 years ago at the 1964 Tokyo Games. He finished 40th there in the Equestrian Show Jumping event, but expects to do much better this time competing in Dressage on his mare, Whisper. "I didn't see why my age should be such a big thing. I wasn't selected for the Olympics because I'm 67," he said in an interview with Reuters. More power to him. I know I'll be cheering him on.

2. Youngest Athlete: Antoinette Joyce GUEDIA MOUAFO Born - October 21, 1995; Age - 12.
Miss Guedia Mouafo will be swimming for Cameroon in the 50m Freestyle event, as part of the long-standing Olympic tradition of building athletic programs in developing countries. Her entrance time of 36.00 seconds is a full 12 seconds slower than that of Aussie World Record holder Lisbeth Trickett (23.97), and she has next to no chance of making semis. But she is the only woman representing her country in the pool, and one of only two Cameroonian swimmers in Beijing.

3. Most Olympic Appearances: Ian MILLAR, 9
This would have been Mr. Millar's 10th Olympics, had it not been for Canada boycotting the 1980 Olympics in Moscow. His best finishes were fourth in both '84 and '88 in the team jumping equestrian event; and with a solid Canadian team behind him this year, he may finally capture that elusive Olympic medal.

4. Newest Sport: BMX
32 men and 16 women will compete for Olympic glory for the first time in Bicycle Motocross. Check out the venue:

(Laoshan BMX Venue)

5. First-time Countries: Montenegro, Tuvalu, Marshall Islands Montenegro, the newest country in the world, has fielded Olympic athletes in the past as a part of Serbia and Yugoslavia. Their first independent team includes a water polo squad expected to contend for a medal (first result - 10:10 draw with Hungary). To participate in the Olympics, a country must have at least five internationally recognized sporting federations. The small South Pacific island nations of Tuvalu and the Marshall Islands met this requirement for the first time over the last cycle, and will field 3 and 5 athletes respectively.

The O List, Part 3

Sports

"The greatest relay race in the history of the Olympics," this commentator called it. Jason Lezak led the US 4x100 free relay team to stunning victory over the favored French on day three. The 32 year-old Lezak - in the anchor position - came from behind to just out-touch France's 25 year-old Alain Bernard by eight hundredths of a second. His split of 46.06 seconds became the fastest in Olympic history, and shamed Bernard's comments of last Thursday: "The Americans? We're going to smash them. That's what we came here for."

***

The widely-published medal counts never seem to go into too much detail; and there is no doubt you can learn so much about a country by the sports it succeeds in. So today I present the top 5 in the medal count to this point with that additional bit of information:

1. China - 14 (9 gold): 2 Archery, 3 Shooting, 2 Diving, 1 Swimming, 4 Weightlifting, 2 Judo

Fierce all-around competitors, obviously with some muscular strength and good aim.

2. United States - 12 (3 gold): 8 Swimming, 3 Fencing, 1 Shooting

A swimming powerhouse, with dominant female fencers.

3. South Korea - 8 (4 gold): 2 Archery, 2 Judo, 1 Shooting, 1 Fencing, 1 Swimming, 1 Weightlifting

All-around force part 2; Judo's a winner, just wait until Taekwondo starts.

4. Italy - 8 (3 gold): 2 Cycling, 3 Fencing, 1 Judo, 1 Shooting, 1 Archery

One disappointment from swimmer Federica Pellegrini may be redeemed; strong cyclists and fencers can make up those medals for now.

5. Russia - 6 (0 gold): 3 Shooting, 2 Diving, 1 Weightlifting

Seemingly always a step behind the Chinese divers; but their talented shooters have padded their count, until that first gold just around the corner.

The O List, Part 2

Sports
Beijing may be playing host city, but it will not be the only major city to see Olympic competition this summer. A quick list of the other cities that have been given the great honor of hosting an event:
(click on a tag and zoom in to see arial view of each venue)

View Larger Map

1. Olympic Sailing Center at Qingdao (pop. 7.6 million) all sailing events
2. Hong Kong (pop. 7 million) all equestrian events
Sha Tin Racecourse (Jumping & Dressage)
Beas River Country Club (Cross-Country)
3. Olympic Center Stadium at Tianjin (pop. 11.5 million) soccer
4. Shanghai Stadium (pop. 18.4 million) soccer
5. Olympic Stadium at Shenyang (pop. 7.2 million) soccer
6. Olympic Sports Center Stadium at Qinhuangdao (pop. 2.8 million) soccer

Big congratulations on day two go out to: MP, for winning his first of many golds in the 400 IM; the men's Basketball team, for facing down their first challenge from the host team (101-70); and the men's Volleyball team for eking out their first victory against a tough Venezuelan squad, even after yesterday's tragedy.

The High List Presents: The O List, Part 1

Sports
The first full day of Olympic competition from Beijing was one of incredible triumph (Zagunis, Jacobson & Ward sweeping Women's Sabre event in fencing) and tragedy (the murder of Volleyball coach Hugh McCutcheon's father-in-law) for the US Olympic team. But I thought I'd switch things up from the typical Olympic coverage to highlight three medalists from countries not vying for tops in the medal count. I call this piece Stories from the Bottom of the Medal Standings List (SBMSL):

1. Rishod Sobirov (Uzbekistan)
Rishod won bronze in Judo's smallest weight class, 60 kg. He defeated his first opponent, Algerian Omar Rebahi by ippon, the highest possible score in Judo. After a second victory, he lost to the eventual gold-medalist, South Korea's Choi Min-Ho, in the quarterfinals. He then fought his way through the Bronze Medal bracket - known as "repechage" - ultimately defeating Frenchman Dimitri Dragin to take a spot on the medal stand. His medal is the 13th in Uzbekistan's short Olympic history, his country's second in Judo. All of Uzbekistan's Summer Olympic medals have come in three combative arts, the others having been won in Wrestling and Boxing.

2. Chen Wei-Ling ("Chinese Taipei"/Taiwan)
Wei-Ling took a bronze in the 48kg weight-class of weightlifting, the smallest for that sport. She managed 84 kg in the snatch - the one where the lifter pulls the weight over her head in one swift motion - and 112 kg in the clean and jerk, or the two-motion lift. Her clean and jerk actually beat that of the silver medalist, Turkey's Sibel Ozkan, but wasn't quite enough to make up the deficit she faced from her snatch. This is the 16th medal for "Chinese Taipei," and their fourth weightlifting medal. The Taiwanese have also found success in recent times in Archery, Taekwondo, and Table Tennis, and in 1992, their baseball team took the silver medal.

3. Fabian Cancellara (Switzerland)
A familiar name to the cycling scene, Fabian had never before participated in an Olympic road racing event, but snatched a bronze in the 245 km (152 mi) Men's Road Race. He is a time trial (race against the clock) specialist at the Tour de France, and has won a couple of stages over the past few years. Swtizerland is no stranger to the medal stand, having participated in the Olympics since their modern inception in 1896. They have hosted the Winter Olympics twice - in 1928 and 1948 - both times at St. Moritz. Switzerland is also host to the headquarters of the Olympic Movement in Lausanne.

The 1 Show You Should Be Watching Tonight

Television
The 2008 Summer Olympics Opening Ceremony from Beijing, 8pm (Eastern) on NBC. It's better with some food and some friends, too. So get on it.

4 Upcoming Projects from Mr. Spielberg

Movies

He is America's favorite director, and easily the most well-known filmmaker in the world. Love him or hate him, his influence on our pop culture is undeniable. He is Steven Spielberg. 2008 has been an up-and-down year for Mr. Spielberg. In February, he pulled out of his role as an artistic advisor for the Olympics Opening Ceremony, because of China's support for the Sudanese regime. Then, of course, there was the fiasco that was The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. But we have not lost faith in our favorite son. So for those of us who have been waiting with bated breath for Steven's next triumph, here are the candidates, according to that great resource, imdb.com:

1. Tintin (2009) "pre-production"

The Belgian children's comic - dripping with suspense and intrigue - was simply destined for the big screen. Word is that it will be animated using live-action capture technology, though I think watching a straight Spielberg live-action take would be a thrilling experience. These studios try to make their animation too real as their top priority, and it seems to take some of the magic away from it. And Tintin was definitely fantasy for us little kids who weren't really in to the fantasy genre. Steven Moffat - creator of the funniest sitcom of the last 10 years, "Coupling" - is rumored to be writing the screenplay.

2. Interstellar (2009) "announced"
Mr. Spielberg's next foray into science fiction (his home turf) will focus on the theories of American physicist Kip Thorne, according to imdb. From what I could find out online, Thorne is one of the foremost experts on Einstein's theory of relativity, and a lot of his research has to do with black holes, so a sci-fi writer could definitely go crazy with that. And it looks like that writer might be Jonathan Nolan, kid brother to Batman director Christopher Nolan. Jonathan already shares writing credits on his big brother's films The Dark Knight, The Prestige, and Memento. I know that will make some sci-fi buffs drool.

3. Trial of the Chicago 7 (2009) "in-production" UPDATED!!
Just as I was writing this passage, this story broke from British entertainment site digitalspy. Mr. Spielberg has decided for the moment to pull out of this project about the 1968 riots at the Democratic National Convention and their aftermath. This would have been Spielberg's first production with the immensely-talented political screenwriter Aaron Sorkin of "West Wing" and A Few Good Men fame. Hopefully they will get the chance to work together in the future, because I can't imagine a combination like that creating anything but screen gold.

4. Lincoln (2010) "announced"
Mr. Spielberg's much-anticipated biopic on the 16th US President may be ready to shoot as early as next year, according to imdb. Liam Neeson is rumored to play the leading role, and would be an absolutely inspired choice (he certainly has the height for it!). The film, if it is made, will undoubtedly be controversial; and it may be a huge success, if Spielberg can manage that magic touch of excitement he is always able to add to his historical epics.

So which of these films will you be rushing out to see? C'mon, you know you want to comment.

Today’s Special: Top 6 Stories of the Day & a steaming-hot side of Failure?

WELCOME to my new column! Every week I’ll be musing on whatever strikes me, tickles me, kills me, or even annoys me about life today in our global culture. And then I’ll write it out for you so you can tear it to shreds, back it up, or pick it apart however you’d like with your comments. I wish I was clairvoyant and could tell you if this blog has a chance in heaven’s great goodness (yeah, I said it) of lasting past next week. But since I’m not one to depend on the occult, or being struck by a freak bolt of lightning and having Tobey Maguire play me in the film version, I’m going to try to reason it out – using the six best news stories of the day. Each story covers one of my favorite topics, and hopefully it will whet your appetite for some pretty cool things to come.

1. Movies
Due to the radical notion that people might be tuning into the Olympics this year, the major studios pushed the release of this weekend's premiers up to today. Apparently the Beijing Olympic Planning Committee has spent 300 million dollars on the Opening Ceremony. I know I for one will be forgoing a movie Friday night to see what China has come up with, even as desperate as I am to Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 (there was a first one?).
Why this means disaster for my blog: How can I compete with 300 million dollars? I'd have to have some serious talent to keep the public's interest... Yikes.

2. Music
So people have been scalping tickets on eBay for U2 concerts that don't exist. Bono is telling people to check their website for any future concert dates. What amazes me is that people were searching eBay in the first place to find upcoming concerts. I guess you can be just enough of a fan that you'll buy tickets if you can get a bargain, but not enough of a fan that you'd think to check the band's own site to see if they're actually on tour. Or maybe eBay has turned us into such addicts that we'll buy anything - even nothing - if we can feel the rush of bidding for it.
Why this means success for my blog: I would never sell you bogus concert tickets. And don't we need a little more trust in the world?

3. Pop Culture
You have to watch this video. I know you're seeing it everywhere, but according to Eoin O'Carroll of the Christian Science Monitor, "apparently, she recited all this without cue cards." It would make my year if she kept this going all the way to November.
Why this means disaster for my blog: My first post, and already I'm talking about Paris Hilton. I should just quit now.

4. Sports
The story of Lopez Lomong is extraordinary. His escape from Sudan to Kenya, nothing short of miraculous. His journey to the United States, epic. And he will now be carrying the flag of the US, his home country, in the Olympic Games. Talk about the American dream. Nothing makes me feel more patriotic than that.
Why this means success for my blog: Seeing what Lopez has accomplished, you just realize that anything is possible. And perspective is very healthy for a writer.

5. Food
British TV chef Anthony Worrall Thompson inadvertently tried to poison legions of UK vegetarians when he told a reporter from Healthy & Organic Living magazine that one of the wild foods he enjoys using in salads is Henbane, which just so happens to be a deadly toxic plant. In his apology, the chef explained that he had misspoke and was referring to Fat Hen instead, a different herb that is indeed imbibed by some in the organic food world.
Why this means disaster for my blog: I, too, have been known to misspeak on occasion. Reading this blog may end up being hazardous to your health.

6. International Politics
To the great dismay of democrats around the world, the West African nation of Mauritania's weak democratic government was overthrown in a bloodless coup today, led by General Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, who promptly named himself President. The now former President Abdellahi, who as far as anyone can tell is being held under house arrest, had been seen as corrupt and ineffectual in dealing with the food shortage plaguing many poor countries in the world today. Abdellahi had been elected in Mauritania's first ever free and fair Presidential elections last year. We can only hope the new military regime has more of an interest in stability rather than greed, and democracy rather than power.
Why this means success for my blog: That's a really depressing story, but how many other people do you know that could pick out Mauritania on a map? Heck, even pronounce it? Sure, I don't have any street smarts, or any book smarts. What I do have is a little bit of useless cocktail party knowledge. Keep me around, and you can impress your friends with how smart you seem. Trust me, I've been fooling people for years!

So I've had my say. And that leaves it 3 to 3. Leave me a comment! I can't really make this a success without you.