from: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/more/03/05/olympic.village.expensive.ap/index.html

Olympic Village is Located about a 25-minute walk northwest of the two centerpiece venues for the games — the Bird’s Nest stadium and swimming’s Water Cube. The 163-acre complex will accommodate between 16,000-17,000 athletes and officials. Some bedrooms are spacious, but others are tight, with two beds nearly touching each other. All have toilet and bath facilities that can be used by Paralympic athletes.

The village also will contain a restaurant that can feed 5,000-6,000, a library, a clinic, swimming pools, tennis and basketball courts, jogging tracks, shopping areas and coffee shops. The Village also will have its own fire station.

About 7,000 Paralympic athletes and officials will move into the village just days after the Olympics close on Aug. 24.

After the Olympics and Paralympics, the apartments will be refitted for sale. It’s been widely reported the units have already sold out at prices in the area of $500,000 to $1 million.

from: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-03/09/content_7748374.htm

One of the best hurdles, Liu Xiang from China snatched the gold medal at the 12th World Indoor Championships in Valencia, Spain. Though he is the world champion and world record holder in the outdoor 110 meter hurdles, this is his first time to win such an event. And after this, he fufilled his dream to make a “slam dunk” in hurdling area.

Liu Xiang first finished the competition with 7.46 seconds. Allen Johnson from the United States came second with 7.55 seconds, while Russia’s Evgeniy Borisov and Latvia’s Stanislavs Olijars shared the bronze medal at the same speed of 7.60 seconds.

Liu’s toughest rival, Cuba’s Dayron Robles was disqualified in the heats. And so did another Chinese hurdler Shi Dongpeng.

from: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-03/02/content_7703119.htm

China claimed the men’s team title at the world team table tennis championships on March 2.It was the 16th Swaythling Cup, or the fourth in a row, that the star-studded Chinese table tennis team has lifted.

In the competition, Ma Lin, the world NO.2 overcame the Olympic championship Ryu Seung Min in a smart way and took the initiative for China. The newly crowned World Cupchampion Wang Hao followed Ma’s step and defeated his opponent to enlarge the advantage of China’s.

Wang Hao and Ma Lin were already qualified for the games, however the triple world champion Wan Liqing were not. So the head coach of China Liu Guoliang will accompany Wang to Hong Kong to prepare for the Olympic qualifier tournament. Wang said his dream is to win the Olympic singles’ gold medal in Beijing.

from: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/29/sports/othersports/29wrestler.html?_r=1&ref=sports&oref=slogin

Dustin Carter is an 18 years old high schoole senior and wrestler. Unlike the other wrestlers, Carter’s legs end at his hips, his right arm stops just after his elbow and the left arm is even shorter. Because of a blood inflection, he was extensively amputated when he was only 5.

It seemes that Carter is a stubborn guy. After he lost his arms and legs, he still thought that he can do anything all by himself, and then he refuse others’ kindness if he can complete the task only with himself. From his youth, he was being stubborn and strong-willed. So when he told his father he wants to start wrestling in eighth grade, his father knew that wouldn’t be any argument.

Carther has been training very hard, and this makes him find a way in wretling. In a word, everything must thank to the iron will. 

you can find his video of training in: http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_cb00XMTc3MjM4Njg=.html

from: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/28/sports/baseball/28hearing.html?_r=1&ref=sports&oref=slogin

There was a hearing, which summoned the chiefs from different sports to the Capitol Hill to dicuss the whether Congress should legislate drug testing in the major professional sports leagues.

The chiefs were: Bud Selig sat near Donald Fehr, and Stern was next to Billy Hunter. Then there was the N.F.L.’s Roger Goodell and Gene Upshaw, and the N.H.L.’s Gary Bettman and Paul Kelly. In the hearing, all of them are tried to convince the lawmakers that the drug use wasn’t exist in their leagues and they had already taken advatange of some method to stem drugs. Among them, the chief of NBA, David Stern was the most angry guy, he resisted the legistilation totally.

Although the chiefs all said with  a big conviction, the lawmakers still believe that drug use were not fully under control in the sports. And the officials wanted to solve the big problem right now instead of wasting of time to held a hearing every 2 to 3 years.

from: http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/sports/AP-BKN-Rockets-Yao.html?_r=1&ref=sports&oref=slogin

All-Star center Yao Ming of Houston Rockets is out for the season with a stress fracture in his left foot, he was having a terrific season, averaging 22 points and 10.8 rebounds per game. The loss of Yao is nearly unacceptable to the whole team, he is such an important part to the lineup.

Weither or not Yao takes the surgery, it will take him about four monthes to recover. Yao expects to represent his country to participate in the Olympic Games, and this great sports meeting will be held on August. As a result, Yao has to have a good rest to recover as soon as possible.

Rockets have a 12-game winning streak just before Yao’s injury and when the coach tell everyone Yao has to out for the season, they all fall into queitness. Yao’s leave is really a huge blow to the whole team. So after that, Yao takes T-mac aside and tells him that the team’s winning is all up to him.

Although Yao can not fight with his teammates for a long time, they still confident to the playoffs. This must be Yao’s hope.

from: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/26/sports/baseball/26clemens.html?ref=sports

Rodger Clemens was took a criminal investigation by the Justice Department because the committee considered that he  had committed perjury during testimony about performance-enhancing drugs.The accuser Brian McNamee was also considered included to this case.

This case is related to the political problem. And if the committee decide to accuse Clemens alone, which means the Democratic majority prevailed over any Republican reservations.

McNamee is cooperating with federal authorities and, under a proffer agreement, he will not be charged with any crimes if he tells the truth. In January, he gave some evidences to prove that he had injected Clemens with performance-enhancing drugs.The Justice Department can decide on its own to investigate a Congressional perjury case, and indeed, if the committee chooses to refer Clemens’s testimony and not McNamee’s, it is pretty clear to expain their views.

from: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-02/25/content_7662683.htm

The “Good Luck Beijing” FINA Diving World Cup has been finished this noon. Chinese National Diving team got a good grade,  China grabbed seven out of eight golds offered at the World Cup.

However, it was too early for the coaches of China to happy. Many high-level divers from the world did not appear in the competition and that means there will be a more competitive  challenge to the Chinese divers in the Olympic Games. 

As a result of that, China’s coaches just treat the World Cup as a training session to test the Chinese divers. How to choose, and who will be chose to the Olympics? The director of the Chinese national team said the they were going to choose the best players in their best forms and the divers’ performance decides the final lineup.

from:http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/24/sports/baseball/24koufax.html?ref=sports

Sandy Koufax is one of the greatest left-handed pitchers ever. Now he is already 72 years old, however he goes to Mets camp every spring, or close to it. Every time the kind man drives from his home and spends a few hours to the camp and then vanishes. His appearence is as secretly as his leave.

Koufax is enjoyed staying with his friends and teaching the pupils but it is hard to put him under the spotlight. He is very pleasure to help anyone to be better and he just do it if someone asks him. He is kind and reserved.

He used to be one of the best players, he possesses a lot of experience. As a result, many guys would like to consult for him. And he always explain clearly to them.

from: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-02/17/content_7618971.htm

In the afternoon 17th Feburary, Chinese National Football Team was defeated by South Korea again in the EAFC, and this the 30th year China didn’s taste the winning joy from South Korea.

This time, China wants to be a qulifier of the World Cup and it has already in preparation for the title . South Korea is aiming to take back their leading position in Asian football. Unfortunately to China the play-maker and captain Zheng Zhi didn’t come back from Charlton of England for this competition, that is really a big lost.

In the competition, the South Korea center forward Park Chu Young scored in the 43rd minute at first, and then the two team scored two goals each other. Finally, China lost the game in the 3-2 score.

To defeat South Korea has already be many Chinese football fans’ dream, however, they had to be dissapointed again. Personally, I am long to see all the Chinese football fans enjoy a big happiness from defeat S Korea in the future.