Wayne Collett, a silver medalist in the 400-meters at the 1972 Munich Olympics who starred in the hurdles, sprints and relays at UCLA, died Wednesday. He was 60.

He competed for UCLA from 1968-71, winning Pac-8 titles in the 440-yard intermediate hurdles and the 440-yard dash. He anchored three consecutive NCAA championship mile relay teams.

Henry Wittenberg, an amateur wrestler who went undefeated for more than 300 matches and won a gold medal at the 1948 London Olympics, has died. He was 91.

He retired as policeman in 1954 and went on to coach wrestling at Yeshiva University and City College and guided the U.S. Greco-Roman team at the 1968 Mexico City Games. He was inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in 1977.

A shame for Team USA, which outplayed expectations, beating Canada in the early rounds and arriving undefeated in the gold medal game.

It’s a rather odd tournament structure for an undefeated team to face a rematch in the championship game against a team it beat along the way and then play a single-elimination showdown. There’s not much incentive to win the first game if the two teams contend as equals in the finals.

Still, Canada had to fight their way to the game the hard way, beating the Russians along the way. It’s probable that the better team won. And they were at home, to boot.

Team USA fought back after being down 2-0, scoring the tying game with an empty net with just seconds to go. Stellar stuff and, certainly, nothing to be ashamed of against a favored team with more veteran talent playing in front of its home crowd. Let alone with the winning shot made by a man widely considered the best hockey player in the world.

Still, being 1-1 against Canada in the tourney and finishing in second place behind Canada is rather hollow. Obviously, you’d much rather have lost the first one and won the second.

Ah, well. Back to not caring about hockey for another four years.

A women’s figure skating performance that likely will be remembered as one of the best of all time.

The South Korean soared to the Olympic gold medal Thursday night, scoring 228.56 points and shattering her previous world record by more than 18 points. It is South Korea’s first medal at the Winter Olympics in a sport other than speedskating, and it’s sure to set off wild celebrations from Seoul to Pyeongchang.

Even Kim seemed to be dazzled by the show she put on, gasping when she saw the monstrous score. Coach Brian Orser gave a Rocky-like victory pump, shaking his clasped fists over each shoulder.

“I still can’t believe it,” Kim said. “I waited a long time for the Olympics, and it feels like a large weight has been lifted off.”

The 19-year-old grinned as she hopped up to the top spot on the podium, tugging at the bottom of her dress. When the gold medal was slipped over her head, she kissed both sides and held it up. Her lip quivered when the South Korean anthem began, and then came the tears.

She made a beeline for someone holding the South Korean flag as she set off on her victory lap, and carried it triumphantly as fans serenaded her with cheers and applause.

“Truly I still can’t believe that I did what I wanted to do at the Olympics,” she said.

Longtime rival Mao Asada of Japan won the silver medal, but it was no contest—even with Asada landing both her triple axels, one in combination with a double toe loop. Asada was more than 23 points behind Kim, a margin so big Kim could have done nothing but figure 8s for the last half of her program and still finished in front.

That is exaggerating just a tad. Asada is very talented but Kim’s juggernaut like run to the Gold medal was seen as inevitable by most knowledgeable people for at least two years. This blog rarely features posts about figure skating, but I also wrote about Kim beginning with this post. I learned about her in late 2008 and it gave me an idea for one of my online fiction stories.

The United States was locked out of the medals for the first time since 1964.(Which was a special case. The entire U.S. figure skating team was killed three years earlier in a plane crash) Again people who followed this sport the American skaters would need a miracle to just earn a bronze medal. It didn’t happen.

A big thank you to GI at ROK Drop. I used the links and photos from his post.

This isn’t how the Maple Leafs hoped Mikhail Grabovski would be spending his Olympic break.

The 26-year-old centre was arrested at 2:30 a.m. Saturday by Vancouver police and kept in jail overnight after allegedly being involved in a street altercation.

Grabovski was apparently released to his parents at about 9 a.m. Saturday.

Leafs GM Brian Burke said in a news release he was “aware” of the incident. “Since we are presently investigating this matter, the team will not provide any further comment at this time.”

The details of the incident are unclear, but apparently an argument on the street escalated into a situation in which punches might have been thrown, possibly at least one by Grabovski. No charges had been laid as of late Saturday evening.

The wrist injury took place on January 2nd. He was scheduled to play for Belarus in the Olympics.

IMHO Grabovski is an overpriced NHL player and just another example of why Toronto is one of the worst run teams in the NHL. They are paying nearly 3 million dollars for a player with 7 goals and 12 assists scored this year.

Former U.S. Olympic skier Jimmie Heuga, who won a bronze medal at the 1964 games and was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis six years later, died Monday. He was 66.

Heuga founded in 1983 the Jimmie Heuga Center for M.S. in Edwards, a nonprofit organization now called Can Do Multiple Sclerosis.

The ski resort that will host freestyle and snowboarding events at the Vancouver Games is closed because of rain and warm temperatures.

The closure renews concerns about the mild climate during next month’s Olympics.

Soft snow conditions bordering on dangerous forced the cancellation of a men’s and women’s World Cup parallel giant slalom last winter.

But Tim Gayda, vice president of sport for the Vancouver Olympic Games Organizing Committee, said both artificial and natural snow has been stockpiled.

It was so cold here in South Florida last Saturday night-Sunday morning, that if the clouds let loose, we may have seen snow flurries for the second time ever. It’s raining in Canada now, what is wrong with that picture?

The Canadian government is also spending 9 million dollars on weather forecasting equipment. We all know that no mistakes are made when forecasting the next day’s weather? NOT!

I do think the Olympics in Vancouver will be a success. Just call this some late morning snark.

1 Cleveland beats the LA Lakers for the NBA Championship
2 Indianapolis defeats Arizona in the Super Bowl
3 San Jose defeats Washington for the Stanley Cup
4 St. Louis beats the Los Angeles Angels in the World Series
5 Tiger Woods returns to golf, wins at least one tournament but no major championships. That is a risky prediction in light of the fact that Tiger has won majors on 3 of this year’s host courses.(Augusta National, Pebble Beach, St. Andrews)
6 Phil Mickelson wins the US Open
7 Michelle Wie wins at least two tournaments, one of which is a major championship
8 Ji Yai Shin is LPGA player of the year
9 A non-Korean golfer will be LPGA rookie of the year
10 Yu-Na Kim wins figure skating gold at the 2010 Olympics
11 The Miami Dolphins don’t make this year’s playoffs but have a winning 2010 season
12 The Miami Heat make the playoffs but lose in the 1st round
13 The Florida Marlins have a winning record but don’t make the playoffs
14 Urban Meyer doesn’t return as coach of the Florida Gators
15 Joe Paterno announces his retirement after the 2010 Penn State season is complete
16 The Florida Panthers don’t make the playoffs
17 The Florida Panthers trade Goalie Tomas Vokoun
18 Manny Pacquiao loses to Floyd Mayweather
19 Kansas defeats Purdue for the NCAA Basketball Championship
20 Texas defeats Alabama in the BCS Championship game
21 Army has a winning football season and gets a bowl invitation
22 Washington Redskins fire Coach Jim Zorn
23 Serena Williams wins at Wimbledon
24 Versus and Directv finally settle their dispute
25 A North American horse racing track closes its doors.
26 Sebastian Vettel wins the Formula World Drivers Championship
27 New York Rangers fire Coach John Tortorella
28 The New Jersey Nets don’t finish with the worst record in NBA history
29 Connecticut defeats Tennessee for the NCAA Women’s Basketball Championship
30 At least half these predictions are wrong

We’ll come back on December 31st 2010 and see how I did.

The Greek Olympic Committee has acknowledged it was wrong to allow a hurdler serving a doping ban to take part in the Vancouver flame relay.

Olympic Torch Relay Commission president Spyros Zannias says Fani Halkia was included in the relay after a proposal by the Greek Olympic medalists’ association.

Zannias said his commission “was wrong to accept the proposal,” but offered no apology.

The International Olympic Committee has criticized the inclusion of Halkia, who was expelled from the 2008 Beijing Games after testing positive for steroid use. Halkia, who was banned for two years and faces a trial for steroid use, has denied knowingly taking drugs.

She was banned from the games, and in my opinion it was wrong for Halkia to be a torchbearer. Greece must certainly have other talented athletes who aren’t tainted by drug use.

Hiroshima and Nagasaki – site of atomic bombings in World War II – are teaming up to make a bid for the 2020 Summer Olympics that will emphasize world peace.

Hiroshima Mayor Tadatoshi Akiba and Nagasaki Mayor Tomihisa Taue announced on Sunday that they will form a joint bid committee. The mayors are founding members of the Mayors for Peace 2020 Vision Campaign, which advocates for a global ban on nuclear arms.

“The Olympics symbolize the abolition of nuclear arms and world peace, and we want to work to realize our plan to host the games,” Akiba said.

No, the Olympics have nothing to do with nuclear disarmament. If the Nobel Prize committe is determining the site of future Olympics, Nagasaki and Hiroshima may well be chosen using this argument, otherwise it is a pipe dream.

Tokyo governor Shintaro Ishihara warned on Wednesday the 2016 Olympics could be the last Games, with global warming an immediate threat to mankind.

Tokyo is bidding to host the 2016 summer Olympics with Chicago, Rio de Janeiro and Madrid also in the running. The International Olympic Committee will elect the winning candidate during its session on Oct. 2 in the Danish capital.

“It could be that the 2016 Games are the last Olympics in the history of mankind,” Ishihara told reporters at a Tokyo 2016 press event ahead of the vote.

“Global warming is getting worse. We have to come up with measures without which Olympic Games could not last long.

To stave off the threat global warming poses to mankind, I propose the Tokyo Governor and other Japanese officials cancel the 2016 Olympics should Tokyo be picked as the site of the games. Think of all the resources that can be used to save mankind instead of being wasted on frivolous sporting activities. Anyone agree with me?

Hat tip- Doug at Below the Beltway

The International Boxing Association has reduced the number of men’s weight categories from 11 to 10 for the 2012 London Olympics.

The move was made Monday to accommodate women’s boxing at the games, which the IOC Executive Board unanimously agreed on last month. The IOC would not allow the AIBA to add to its total number of boxers.

At the 2008 Beijing Games, there were 286 boxers — all male. In London the total will remain the same but there will be 250 male boxers and 36 female boxers.

To decrease the number of men, the AIBA condensed its four lightest weight categories into three.

The new categories will apply to all AIBA events starting in September 2010.

Now could anyone fix the farcical Olympic scoring system for boxing.

Police say former Olympic shot putter Dave Laut has been shot to death outside his Southern California home.

Sgt. Ron Whitney said the 52-year-old was at home when he and his wife heard noises in the backyard and he went outside to investigate. Shots were fired moments later, and Laut died at the scene.

International Olympic leaders selected golf and rugby Thursday for proposed inclusion in the 2016 Summer Games, rejecting bids from baseball, softball and three other sports.

The International Olympic Committee executive board narrowed the field to two from a list of seven, which also included squash, karate and roller sports.

The board will submit golf and rugby sevens — a faster-paced version of the standard 15-a-side game — for ratification by the full 106-member IOC assembly in Copenhagen in October.

“In the end, the decision came down to which two would add the most value,” IOC President Jacques Rogge told reporters.

“Golf and rugby scored high on all 33 criteria,” Rogge said, adding this was still a proposal and it needed to be validated.

Anyone who visits this blog knows how much a fan I am of golf but Olympic golf just doesn’t interest me at this time.

Beijing Olympic organizers say they made a profit out of hosting last year’s Summer Games.

According to figures released Friday by the government audit bureau, $2.8 billion was spent on organizing and staging the Games, including the Paralympic Summer Games that followed.

That compares to income of $3 billion thus far, leaving a profit of $176 million, the bureau said. The biggest chunk, accounting for 40 percent, came from broadcast and marketing rights, along with sales of tickets, souvenirs, and commemorative coins and stamps.

The organizers claim a profit but did China as whole come out ahead on the games?

The expenditure figures cover only operating expenses, leaving out spending on venues and infrastructure such as airports, roads and subways for the sprawling city of 18 million people.

Ah! Now as the late Paul Harvey said, here is the rest of the story.

According to the bureau, construction and upgrading costs for 36 new Olympic venues and 66 training facilities totaled $2.8 billion. The showpiece “Bird’s Nest” Olympic stadium alone ran almost $73 million over budget due to design modifications and higher prices for construction materials, coming in at a final cost of $455 million.

Infrastructure costs were met largely by the city governments of Beijing, Shanghai and other cities that hosted events, who together contributed $1.2 billion, and the central government, which kicked in $514 million. Another $146 million came through contributions from Chinese overseas, while the Olympic organizing committee and Education Ministry paid close to $585 million each.

An unidentified auditor quoted in an interview posted on the bureau’s Web site said Beijing’s operating budget was lower, adjusted for inflation, than both the one for the 2004 Athens Summer Games and that forecast for the 2012 London Olympics.

As we know auditors never get anything wrong either deliberately or by accident. If you believe that, I have a story about hard working food inspectors in China to also tell you.

The cost of staging the Olympics is commonly a cause for debate among prospective host cities, but not for Beijing, where the games enjoyed strong support from government, the public and business.

Of course the lack of debate could have something to do with Chinese dissenters being afraid to say anything because they could go to jail for expressing a different opinion.