The Week: Most Recent Sports:London Olympics

The 2012 Paralympics in pictures

The Week — Thu, 06 Sep 2012 18:30:00 -0400

Paralympians push their bodies to the limit competing for gold in sports like swimming, soccer, and fencing. But they do so without sight or a full range of motion or, in the case of British swimmer Charlotte Henshaw (pictured), legs. Before the games close on Sunday, Sept. 9, take a look at some of the most inspiring action shots from this year's Paralympic Games in London.

NBC's historic Olympic coverage: By the numbers

The Week — Wed, 15 Aug 2012 10:40:00 -0400

It's no secret that Americans took to tweeting en masse to bitch about NBC's failure to cover the London Olympics to the Twittersphere's liking, but that didn't stop far more Americans from watching NBC's efforts — tape delays, glaring jingoism, and Bob Costas' rumored facelift aside. According to Nielsen, a record-smashing 219.4 million Americans tuned in to watch Gabby and Michael and Usain compete, making the London Games the most-viewed event in U.S. television history. Here's a look at some numbers underpinning NBC's success:

219.4 million
Total number of U.S. viewers of NBC's London...

The summer games' next stop: Will Rio be ready for the 2016 Olympics?

The Week — Tue, 14 Aug 2012 12:27:00 -0400

Following Sunday's close of the London Olympics, the iconic Olympic flag was re-furled, repacked, and flown to its next stop — Rio de Janeiro which will host the games in 2016. The Brazilian city, the first South American city to do so, is already deep into preparations for what Rio Mayor Eduardo Paes has called an "important moment" for Brazil, but critics are warning that staging the games in the seaside metropolis will be a costly disaster. Can Rio equal London's achievement? Here, a brief guide:

How are Rio's preparations going so far?
The city will have to complete 230 construction projects...

The first Twitter Olympics: By the numbers

The Week — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 16:04:00 -0400

The London Games came to an end Sunday night with musical performances from British acts such as The Spice Girls, Jessie J, The Who, and One Direction. And though the closing ceremonies were much debated, one thing's for sure: People were stoked about The Spice Girls, tweeting about Posh, Baby, Ginger, Sporty, and Scary 116,000 times a minute, the record for the evening's most tweeted performance. The London Games, the first to occur since the active number of Twitter users exploded in the past few years, have been touted as the "First Twitter Olympics." (With more than 60 percent of Twitter users...

London's bizarre Olympics closing ceremonies: 5 talking points

The Week — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 12:23:00 -0400

After weeks of heartbreaking competition, breakout stars, and not-so-secret partying down in the Village, the 2012 London Olympics finally came to an end Sunday night. And London pulled out all the stops to ensure the Games went out with a bang, taking worldwide viewers on a hectic race through British pop music history, featuring cameos from some of the biggest stars throughout the decades. The much-criticized extravaganza was something of a "greatest hits" collection, says Mark Sappenfield at the Christian Science Monitor, like "the world's most expensive episode of Britain's Got Talent...

NBC's 'porny' Olympian body-appreciation video

The Week — Fri, 10 Aug 2012 15:51:00 -0400

The video: NBC's coverage of the London Olympics has been questionable to say the least. Now, adding fuel to the fire is a controversial video tribute showcasing the rock-hard bodies of some of the Games' finest athletes. The catch? They all just happen to be female. The eyebrow-raising reel is replete with slow-motion shots of women bouncing, bending over, stripping out of their warm-ups, and hugging female teammates over a porny soft-rock soundtrack. (Watch a version of the video below.) The network has already pulled the video, but the question remains: Was NBC's celebration of the...

2012 Olympics ads: Winners and losers

The Week — Fri, 10 Aug 2012 11:28:00 -0400

For better or worse, NBC has devoted an unprecedented amount of TV airtime and internet bandwidth to covering the 2012 Olympics in London — and that, of course, has meant an onslaught of "inspiring" commercials. Like the athletes themselves, not all ads are created equal. From the precision tear-jerkers to the poorly conceived head-scratchers, here are eight of the most and least successful TV ads from the 2012 London Games:

WINNERS
1. Procter & Gamble's homage to mom
The maker of Tide and Pampers essentially "dares you not to cry" with its spot, "Best Job," says UPI's Kate Stanton...

What winning looks like: A slideshow of Olympic celebrations

The Week — Thu, 09 Aug 2012 18:40:00 -0400

Most of us will never know what if feels like to win an Olympic medal. But looking at the athletes who do — whether they're slumped in relief or ecstatically jumping like U.S. beach volleyball players Missy May Treanor and Kerri Walsh Jennings (pictured after winning the gold Aug. 8) — it's easy to see the feeling is transporting. Click through for some of London's most impassioned moments of Olympic triumph.

Usain Bolt's prodigious speed: By the numbers

The Week — Thu, 09 Aug 2012 17:55:00 -0400

Just how fast is Usain Bolt? On Sunday, the 25-year-old Jamaican proved again why he's considered the fastest man alive and the greatest sprinter in history — demolishing the 100m final with a new Olympic record of 9.63 seconds, despite being hobbled by back injuries. He claimed gold again in Thursday's 200m dash, with a 2012 world-best time of 19.32 seconds, becoming the first runner ever to sweep both events in back-to-back games. Here's a look at Bolt's superhuman quickness, by the numbers:

9.63
Seconds in which Bolt ran the 100m in London, an Olympic record

1
Hours it would theoretically...

The Olympic Village: One giant sex den?

The Week — Thu, 09 Aug 2012 15:27:00 -0400

The London Games are wrapping up, and reportedly, plenty of hot-bodied athletes — freed from the pressures of competing — are spending their newfound downtime having high-performance sex with each other. "Anyone who wants to be naive and say they don't know what's going on in the Village are lying to themselves," one anonymous (and grammar-challenged) gold medal-winner tells CNN. Here, a concise guide to a side of the Olympics you won't see on NBC:

What kind of antics go on?
"I've seen people having sex right out in the open. On the grass, between buildings, people are getting...

The 7 most heartbreaking Olympic moments

The Week — Thu, 09 Aug 2012 07:46:00 -0400

If Olympic broadcasters have done their jobs right, you've probably cried — or will cry — at some point during the Olympics. They show us athletes who've trained for years, only to have their efforts undermined by an injury, a fall, or a dubious ruling. But even in such situations, these athletes often exhibit the spirit that got them to the Olympics in the first place. That's what Chinese hurdler Liu Xiang did on Tuesday, limping his way across the finish line after crashing into a hurdle and despite having no chance of winning. A look at seven of the most heartbreaking moments of...

12 eye-popping Olympic bodies: A slideshow

The Week — Wed, 08 Aug 2012 19:00:00 -0400

With a bulging thigh here and a sculpted shoulder there, Olympians' impossibly fit bodies are the eye candy of the Summer Games. Whether they're lifting 170 pounds or cheering on a teammate — as U.S. swimmers Conor Dwyer, Ryan Lochte, and Ricky Berens do here on July 31 — these athletes don't have a bad angle. With only a few days left for mortals to gawk, here's a look at some of the most jaw-dropping bods.

Olympian Lolo Jones' tearful Today interview: Has the media been unfair?

The Week — Wed, 08 Aug 2012 16:12:00 -0400

The video: On Tuesday, Olympian Lolo Jones placed a disappointing 4th in the women's 100m hurdles, capping off what had been a rough few days thanks to a scathing New York Times column published over the weekend. In the piece, "For Lolo Jones, Everything Is Image," sportswriter Jere Longman compared the American track star, 30, to Anna Kournikova, the tennis star more famous for her looks than her skills. Longman accused Jones of leveraging her image to earn endorsements, essentially framing her, says Mac McClelland at Reuters, as a "slutty, no-talent sellout." On Wednesday, Jones finally responded...

12 ridiculously costumed Olympic fans: A slideshow

The Week — Tue, 07 Aug 2012 18:40:00 -0400

While Olympians battle for medals on the ground, spectators go head-to-head in the stands for the title of Most Enthusiastic Fan. These extroverts are often decked out in full costumes, like this fervent young Captain America who showed up to encourage the U.S. women's soccer team in its game against Canada Aug. 6. Click through for more examples of ludicrously zealous attire.

Is pot an Olympic performance-enhancing drug?

The Week — Tue, 07 Aug 2012 18:12:00 -0400

American judo practitioner Nick Delpopolo was expelled from the London Games after testing positive for marijuana on Monday. (He claims he unknowingly ate food that had pot baked into it.) Weed is officially listed on the World Anti-Doping Agency's (WADA) list of banned substances, but scientists are calling its banning into question since pot doesn't offer athletes any noted physical advantages. Here, a brief guide to the controversy:

Can weed make you a better athlete?
The consensus: Not really. "I can't think of any sport in which [smoking pot] would be an advantage" in terms of enhancing a...

Are America's Olympic uniforms insufficiently patriotic?

The Week — Tue, 07 Aug 2012 16:29:00 -0400

The video: While the rest of the country was celebrating Gabby Douglas' gold medal in the individual all-round event in women's gymnastics, a grumpy Fox News was homing in on Team USA's sartorial choices. (Watch video below.) On "America Live," guest host Alisyn Camerota bemoaned the replacement of the "famous flag-styled outfits" of U.S. gymnastic teams of yore with Douglas' pink leotards and gray track suit — not the sort of outfits, it seems, that get crowds chanting "USA!" "What's wrong with showing some pride?" responded Camerota's guest, David Webb, a Tea Party-aligned radio host. ...