Olympic Spirit

Mike Wise's column on two-time Olympic and two-time World Champion fencer Mariel Zagunis missed the point [" How to lose the Olympic spirit in eight short years ," Sports, Aug. 2]. The tone of Wise's criticism was perplexing. Why would a sportswriter tell an athlete who just took a hard loss to smile and laugh more? Why criticize a fencer — a combat athlete — for being "hyperfocused"? Zagunis exemplifies the Olympic spirit. She promotes fencing to the public through countless appearances, through her foundation and in the media.

Donald Rumsfeld served as secretary of defense under Presidents Gerald Ford and George W. Bush. He is the author of "Known and Unknown: A Memoir" and of the forthcoming "Rumsfeld's Rules. " The International Olympic Committee issued a surprise decision on Tuesday to exclude wrestling from the 2020 Olympic Games. For a number of years, the committee has drawn fire for its lack of transparency. With its secret vote to remove one of the original Olympic sports — one that dates back 2 1 ...

LONDON — Adam Thompson had just won five pounds on a British tennis player named Laura Robson and was eager to reinvest his winnings. He scrolled through the upcoming Olympic matches on his iPhone, noticed that another Brit was about to begin play and went back to the betting counter. "There's no football on, is there? So what else am I going to do?" the 27-year old retail worker said Monday, spending his lunch break at a King's Cross betting parlor. Thompson had no plans to attend any events but figured this...

Mike Wise's column on two-time Olympic and two-time World Champion fencer Mariel Zagunis missed the point [" How to lose the Olympic spirit in eight short years ," Sports, Aug. 2]. The tone of Wise's criticism was perplexing. Why would a sportswriter tell an athlete who just took a hard loss to smile and laugh more? Why criticize a fencer — a combat athlete — for being "hyperfocused"? Zagunis exemplifies the Olympic spirit. She promotes fencing to the public through countless appearances, through her foundation and in the media.

LONDON — There goes the emotional sitdown with Costas. The brainless chit-chat in the morning with Matt Lauer and a cereal-box cover are also off the table. Say buh-bye, America. Mariel Zagunis 's Q-rating just left the building. Thanks for carrying the Stars and Stripes into the Opening Ceremonies, Miss Flag Bearer. Now pack your swords and go home for four years. We'll call you before we get to Rio. This isn't meant to be unnecessarily mean to Zagunis, who Wednesday night failed to medal...

If You Go "American Heroes of the Olympic Spirit" When: Through Oct. 12. Where: Smithsonian Institution Building (the Castle), 1000 Jefferson Dr. SW (on the Mall). When: Open daily 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Cost: Free. "Discover Greatness: An Illustrated History of Negro Baseball Leagues" When: Through Oct. 5. Where: Historical Society of Washington, D.C., 801 K St. NW. When: Tuesdays through Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Cost: Free.

Donald Rumsfeld served as secretary of defense under Presidents Gerald Ford and George W. Bush. He is the author of "Known and Unknown: A Memoir" and of the forthcoming "Rumsfeld's Rules. " The International Olympic Committee issued a surprise decision on Tuesday to exclude wrestling from the 2020 Olympic Games. For a number of years, the committee has drawn fire for its lack of transparency. With its secret vote to remove one of the original Olympic sports — one that dates back 2 1 ...

WE HAVE tried hard, since the Olympic Games began 14 days ago, to maintain a positive Olympic spirit. We understand how important the Games are to many Chinese, and we've been rooting for the Games' success. We didn't dwell on the Chinese decision, made "in the national interest," to keep a little girl off camera and have her dub a singing performance for the opening ceremony while another girl lip-synced because the singer was deemed not cute enough to be presented. We didn't really care about the phony fireworks, and we passed over China's...

They were delivered about a month ago, hidden in a secret storage area, handled with white gloves, mounted behind thick glass and protected by an alarm. After all that security, 49 Olympic medals and four Olympic torches will be displayed starting today. The "American Heroes of the Olympic Spirit" exhibit is set to open today in Schermer Hall at the Smithsonian Castle. The medal display consists of five cases: one each for the Summer Games, Winter Games, Paralympic Games, U.S.-hosted Games and Olympic torches.

"THE PRACTICE of sport is a human right. " So proudly affirms the International Olympic Committee in Principle 4 of the "Fundamental Principles of Olympism. " "Every individual must have the possibility of practising sport, without discrimination of any kind and in the Olympic spirit. " And Principle 5 makes explicit that discrimination based on gender "is incompatible with belonging to the Olympic Movement. " So what is an all-male Saudi team doing in Beijing? " It's not as if there are no women from majority-Muslim countries competing in the Beijing...

LONDON — Dwight Howard might have been here, but he hurt his back, and his role as the center on the U.S. men's basketball team for the Olympics was ceded to others. But from thousands of miles away, Howard managed to hijack this tournament Friday, at least for a day, even as his would-be teammates spent time advancing to the gold medal game. "It's gonna be good," Kobe Bryant said. He was not speaking of the Americans' 109-83 victory over Argentina , a game blown open...

At the outset of his recent foreign trip, Mitt Romney committed a gaffe. In answer to a question about the Olympics , he expressed skepticism about London's preparations. The response confounded and exasperated Romney supporters because it was such an unforced error. The question invited a simple paean to Olympic spirit and British grit, not the critical analysis of a former Olympic organizer. Soon that initial stumble was transmuted into a metaphor for everything that followed.

LONDON — There goes the emotional sitdown with Costas. The brainless chit-chat in the morning with Matt Lauer and a cereal-box cover are also off the table. Say buh-bye, America. Mariel Zagunis 's Q-rating just left the building. Thanks for carrying the Stars and Stripes into the Opening Ceremonies, Miss Flag Bearer. Now pack your swords and go home for four years. We'll call you before we get to Rio. This isn't meant to be unnecessarily mean to Zagunis, who Wednesday...

LONDON — Adam Thompson had just won five pounds on a British tennis player named Laura Robson and was eager to reinvest his winnings. He scrolled through the upcoming Olympic matches on his iPhone, noticed that another Brit was about to begin play and went back to the betting counter. "There's no football on, is there? So what else am I going to do?" the 27-year old retail worker said Monday, spending his lunch break at a King's Cross betting parlor. Thompson had no plans to attend any events but...

"Let us now praise famous men and our fathers that begat us. All these men were honored in their time and were a glory of their days. " — Opening Scene from "Chariots of Fire" LONDON — Three weeks before the Olympic Games began, the Best Picture of 1981 was re-released here. Crowds of Londoners filled theaters as the lads in white churned the beach in St. Andrews again, a Vangelis synthesizer pulsing through their legs. With Usain Bolt and Michael Phelps ...

HONG KONG -- As soon as legislator Leung Kwok-hung joined the handful of demonstrators milling outside the Hong Kong Jockey Club on a recent day, their protest sprang to life. Instantly recognizable by his waist-length ponytail, Leung grabbed a bullhorn and began to harangue the Sichuan provincial government officials gathered inside. The club, once a bastion of British colonial rule, was hosting a VIP luncheon to thank racing fans for their contributions to earthquake relief. "Release Huang Qi!"

BEIJING, March 7 -- Liu Guijin, China's special envoy for Sudan, was fielding yet another question Friday on Darfur and the Olympics. Politics have no place in the Olympics, he told reporters, and it violates the Olympic spirit to claim that China has a duty to do more in the embattled western Sudanese region because Beijing is hosting the 2008 Games. But this time, Liu had a new argument in his briefcase: President Bush agrees with China on this point. So does British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, he said, not to mention French...

The world's biggest sports event, the Summer Olympics, begins next week. More than 10,000 athletes from almost every country in the world will gather in Beijing, China, to compete in more than 300 events. To get pumped for the Summer Games, you can go to a special exhibit at the Smithsonian Institution Building (better known as the Castle) on the Mall. "American Heroes of the Olympic Spirit" displays almost 50 medals from the Summer and Winter Olympics, medals from the Paralympics and four Olympic torches.

WE HAVE tried hard, since the Olympic Games began 14 days ago, to maintain a positive Olympic spirit. We understand how important the Games are to many Chinese, and we've been rooting for the Games' success. We didn't dwell on the Chinese decision, made "in the national interest," to keep a little girl off camera and have her dub a singing performance for the opening ceremony while another girl lip-synced because the singer was deemed not cute enough to be presented. We didn't really care about the phony fireworks, and we passed over China's decision to have...

"THE PRACTICE of sport is a human right. " So proudly affirms the International Olympic Committee in Principle 4 of the "Fundamental Principles of Olympism. " "Every individual must have the possibility of practising sport, without discrimination of any kind and in the Olympic spirit. " And Principle 5 makes explicit that discrimination based on gender "is incompatible with belonging to the Olympic Movement. " So what is an all-male Saudi team doing in Beijing? " It's not as if there are no women from majority-Muslim countries competing in the Beijing...