Adding to the intrigue is a pending upgrade from silver to gold in the 2000 Sydney 100m, now that American Marion Jones has turned her medal in for a drug violation. The IOC hasn't ruled on that, either.

The U.S. track and field body's chief executive is asking the rest of the USATF to "re-examine" and perhaps annul the 4x400m men's American record, also the world mark for the past decade. A time of 2:54.20 was compiled by Jerome Young, Antonio Pettigrew, Tyree Washington and Michael Johnson in 1998, but Pettigrew has been stripped of all his results for doping violations and Young was banned for life. The next-best mark is a U.S. run of 2:54.29 in 1993; Johnson was on that squad as well.

FENCING: A bad week for Italy. The No. 1 men's foil competitor in the world, Andrea Baldini, tested positive for a diuretic and was removed from his country's team. The 23-year-old is the world champion in his event from 2006 and 2007, but has never competed at the Olympics. Baldini's "B" sample has not yet been tested.

BASKETBALL: The United States men's team -- a product of some serious rethinking about American Olympic basketball -- has been tuning up in Macau, China. The NBA stars turned in two impressive performances in the past day or so. Yesterday, LeBron James and company pulled away from Turkey by 32 points. A few hours before this post, the "Redeem Team" destroyed Lithuania 120-84. Their next test will be China in the first game at the Olympics.

America offers dual citizenship, so WNBA star Becky Hammon joined up with Russia even though she grew up in a waving Stars and Stripes community in South Dakota and sustains a wholesome American image to her many jersey-wearing fans in the States. She plays for CSKA Moscow in the winters.

"This is basketball, it isn't the Cold War," she says. "I think a lot of things are often blurred with patriotism. (Playing in the Olympics) is more important than taking the heat (for the decision). I'm not immune to it, but I've learned to extend people grace."

ARCHERY: If you can get past the login screen, the New York Times has an excellent article about archers' secret fear... target panic. At least 90 percent of competitors mentally seize up at one point or another.

TENNIS: Maria Sharapova of Russia, who has won three tournaments in 2008, pulled out of the Games with a right shoulder injury. Torn tendons sound very painful.

And in China...

Chinese-South Korean relations, at least between "people on the street," are at an all-time low -- 40 percent of respondents to a recent Xinhua poll stated that they dislike South Korea most among all their bordering neighbors. This blog is guessing that a re-take would put those numbers in the 50's, after Korean SBS-TV leaked footage of the Opening Ceremony this week. Chinese netizens are outraged.

"Hundreds of international media come to Beijing to report on the Olympic Games, but the South Korean TV station is the only one who has behaved so unethically," one comment said.

Speaking of media, the Chinese government has unblocked some of the websites that journalists were unable to reach earlier in the week. Amnesty International is now reachable, as are Wikipedia and the Chinese-language version of the BBC. Still waiting to hear from contacts if Swifter, Higher is still coming up with a blank screen.

Final preparations for 08-08-08 are being made all across the country, not just in Beijing, as over 9,000 couples will be married on the supremely lucky day ("eight" sounds like "to get rich" in Mandarin Chinese)... double the one-day record for China. This will not be part of the Opening Ceremony.

And neither will this guy, the "human Olympic torch."

(Photo © Icon SMI; h/t Beijing Olympics Fan)