Olympic girl seen but not heard - CNN.com

BEIJING, China (CNN) — A little girl and her song captivated millions of viewers during the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics. But what they saw was not what they heard.

Games organizers confirm that Lin Miaoke [above right], who performed “Ode to the Motherland” as China’s flag was paraded Friday into Beijing’s National Stadium, was not singing at all.

Lin was lip-syncing to the sound of another girl, 7-year-old Yang Peiyi [above left], who was heard but not seen, apparently because she was deemed not cute enough.

“The reason was for the national interest,” said Chen Qigang, the ceremony’s musical director, in a state radio interview. “The child on camera should be flawless in image, internal feeling and expression. … Lin Miaoke is excellent in those aspects.”

From the Opening Ceremony, where one little girl was put on display, while another provided the voice behind the scenes, to the women’s gymnastics team, where the “16 year-old” gymnasts still have their baby teeth (despite what their passports indicate), the Chinese propaganda machine is out in full force.

But what do you expect when their stated purpose is to beat the American teams in the medal count. The Chinese are certainly outdistancing the United States in gold medals, but thus far, the overall medal count is fairly close.

Despite the lofty ideals, cheating always happens at the Olympics … but I would never have suspected it on such a grand scale … falsifying documents, lip-syncing … you have to wonder if there will be any doping controversies popping up for either the Chinese or for the Americans. If any Americans are busted for doping, you know that the American propaganda machine will also turn out to try to show that the American Olympians are somehow being framed by the Chinese.

Like many, I am an Olympics junkie … but I’m starting to get jaded by the politics. It’s almost as bad as cycling’s brouhaha between the UCI and Amaury Sports Organisation (the organizers of the Tour de France).

This crossed my email inbox today:

CONTENDER BICYCLES TO HOST IN-STORE SIGNING WITH CYCLING STARS TYLER HAMILTON AND FREDDIE RODRIGUEZ OF ROCK RACING

Contender Bicycles will be hosting an in-store signing with Tyler Hamilton and Fred Rodriguez of Rock Racing on Saturday, August 16 from 5:30 to 6:30 pm. This is a great opportunity to meet and receive autographs from two of the most famous names in cycling today. There will also be official Rock Racing apparel for sale.

Founded by Rock & Republic fashion mogul Michael Ball in 2007, Rock Racing has made a name for themselves both from incredible success on the bike and from their flamboyant flair. The team has rapidly become a fan favorite after signing some of the sport’s most established names including 2004 Olympic gold time trial medalist and Tour de France stage winner Tyler Hamilton and three-time USPRO road race champion and Giro d’Italia stage winner Freddie Rodriguez. Rock Racing has redefined the look of the pro cycling team uniform and in April 2008, the squad was voted the most popular team in professional cycling in an on-line poll by Bicycling Magazine.

WHEN:

Saturday, August 16 from 5:30 to 6:30 pm.

WHERE:

Contender Bicycles
875 East 900 South
Salt Lake City, UT 84105
801.364.0344

Come meet the riders, check out the cars and experience the flair!

1. It’s an event at a bike shop, during the Tour of Utah. Why the fuck would I want to “check out the cars?”
2. Shouldn’t Tyler and Freddie be resting up to prepare for the next day’s time trial, instead of schmoozing a bunch of fanboys?
3. What does it do for Contender’s image to associate themselves with a team that seems to have a lax (or at least very forgiving) view on doping?
4. Flair? Do they have all 15 pieces?

VeloNews | Drug maker cooperated with WADA

The World Anti-Doping Agency said Wednesday Italian rider Riccardo Riccò tested positive at the Tour de France after a secret molecule was planted in the blood booster EPO during its manufacture.

Riccò, 24, upset the big names of the sport to win two stages of this year’s Tour before he was kicked off after testing positive for EPO (erythropoietin).

Revealing the now high-tech nature of the fight against drugs in sport, WADA chief John Fahey said his organization worked with drugs giant Roche on the newest version of EPO (erythropoietin).

He said Roche had included a molecule in the third generation of EPO, called Continuous Erythropoiesis Receptor Activator (CERA) that acted as a marker in drug tests.

“In the development of that particular substance, close cooperation occurred between WADA and the pharmaceutical company Roche Pharmaceuticals so that there was a molecule placed in the substance well in advance that was always going to be able to be detected once a test was taken,” Fahey told public radio in his native Australia.

Until this year’s Tour, CERA, which is released into the body more slowly than its predecessors, had been thought to be undetectable by drug testers.

Followers of sport have been calling for markers to be placed into certain performance-enhancing drugs for years, and it appears as though it’s finally happening.

In the United States, it would be nearly impossible to insert a marker into a drug after the fact, as it would have to go through the entire testing and approval process from the FDA all over again, which is why Epogen^® and Aranesp^® (Amgen’s EPO drugs) have taken so long to become detectable; they weren’t designed with the markers already built in, so the drug-testers had to devise another way.

But Mircera^® (the brand-name for CERA) was developed with the marker already built in; a fact that surely would have been disclosed to the approvers, and obviously to WADA, but not widely spread, especially to the athletes. And what better way to catch the cheaters than to not tell them HOW you’re going to catch them.

This is the right way to catch drug cheats; not witch hunts.

Yeah, Floyd Landis likely doped. He still got screwed by a system which admits no wrong … and the system still has a lot of other problems. Now that Dick Pound is no longer pounding his dick at WADA, their organizational issues should get better. It’s too bad he’s now a part of the Court of Arbitration for Sport, but one step at a time … and we’ll clean up both the sport and the governing bodies.

Ah, l’Alpe d’Huez … books have been written about this mountain.

I cannot think of a more beautiful stage of any Tour de France than those that finish atop l’Alpe.

From Fausto Coppi’s win on the maiden stage in 1952, to Greg LeMond’s battle with Bernard Hinault in 1986, to Andy Hampsten’s solo excursion in 1992, to Pantani’s devastating attacks in 1995 and 1997, to “The Look” Lance Armstrong gave to Jan Ullrich in 2001, before attacking to win the stage and take the yellow jersey.

In all but 5 of the Tours de France during which a stage has concluded on l’Alpe d’Huez, the person who wore the maillot jaune at the end of the stage went on to take the final yellow jersey in Paris as the winner of that year’s race.

It’s no wonder that this mountain has the reputation as the most difficult climb in the Tour.

Sure, there are longer climbs and steeper climbs, but no mountaintop finish carries as much prestige as the Alpe … and there have been no unworthy winners of the stage.

In this year’s Tour, the only active rider to have won atop the Alpe d’Huez is Frank Schleck, who won the stage in 2006, during Floyd Landis’s ill-fated Tour de France win. Frank is wearing the yellow jersey today.

Will he still be wearing it at day’s end? Will he be able to get away, and win the stage again (and the Tour, for the first time)?

Oh, I wish I didn’t have to work today. I can’t wait to watch the DVR coverage this evening when I get home.

VeloNews | Riccardo Ricco tests positive.

The French anti-doping agency (AFLD) confirmed Thursday that Italian climbing sensation Ricardo Ricco (Saunier Duval) has tested positive for new variant of the blood booster erythropoietin (EPO).

Ricco, winner of two mountain stages and ninth in the overall standings, provided a urine sample which contained the banned substance CERA (Continuous Erythropoiesis Receptor Activator).

Ricco was questioned by gendarmes before the start of Thursday’s 12th stage between Lavlanet and Narbonne. He was then driven away by them in a Saunier Duval team car.

Ricco was one of the riders particularly targeted by the AFLD during the race and had been tested at least four times, including his victories on stages six and nine.

Like synthetic erythropoietin (rEPO), CERA was developed to as a treatment for the anemia that results from chronic kidney disease. Unlike single injections of rEPO, CERA interacts with erythropoietin receptors and has a longer-lasting effect.

The often brash and outspoken Ricco finished second in this year’s Giro d’Italia and has won stages six and nine at this year’s Tour de France. He finished Wednesday’s stage 2:29 behind Australian Cadel Evans in the overall standings, putting him in ninth place.

Ricco becomes the third rider to fail a doping test in this year’s race after Spanish riders Moises Duenas (Barloworld) and Manuel Beltran (Liquigas) both tested positive for rEPO.

Much was made of the fact that Ricardo Ricco worshiped Marco Pantani, and he certain climbed like the now dead Italian. Now it appears that Ricco’s legs were not entirely natural talent …

Now, while I’m not sure about ASO and AFLD’s tactic of testing a rider over and over and over again, as it comes across as a witchhunt … sometimes, when what you’re seeing seems too good to be true, it probably is. If this sport is to survive, we need to get rid of the dopers, but it has to be done in a way that protects the rights of the riders.

More news from around the net:

• BBC
• The (London) Times
• The Guardian

I don’t know what it is, but part of me really wants to see just about anyone besides Cadel Evans take the yellow jersey in Paris this year.

I’ve never been able to figure out what it is, but something about Evans rubs me the wrong way; and I just don’t want him to win.

Looking at the other riders currently in the top-10, however, I’m not sure who quite has the legs to take it away from him. Frank Schleck (currently just 1 second behind Evans) would be a great candidate, as would Christian Vandevelde.

Alejandro Valverde, who was my pre-race favourite, lost a good junk of time yesterday, but with more mountain stages, he might be able to pull back some time, especially if Evans has a bad day somewhere along the line.

Today is the rest day … time to get caught up on all the articles being written on all the various websites covering the Tour; and then the transitional stages (including a couple of pancake flat stages) until the Tour is back in the mountains in full force next Sunday.

I hope Jens Voigt can get into one of his patented long breaks.

… it’s 19:10 MDT, and I still have no idea what happened in today’s Tour de France stage … watching now. So stoked, because it’s almost like live.