Racism in the Olympics

Doesn't it seem odd that the world's most acclaimed sporting event for equality, brotherhood and sportsmanship has been the stage for high profile racism?

In this age of worldwide social media tools, there is nothing easier than to broadcast one's thoughts to a global audience.

Oh-lympic Basketball: US 98 vs France 71

For about one quarter, Team USA vs France was very much a basketball game. The French matched the intensity, fierceness and athleticism of the American to go down by only 1point, 22-21, in the first quarter. And then, the Americans turned it up another notch.

Kobe Bryant scored 5 straight points in the first 2mins of the second quarter as part of the 11-0 run by the Americans to put them up by 12points, which would be the closest France would get in the next 3quarters.

Oh-lympics:Basketball

Highlights of the exhibition match between Team USA and Spain.

Good news for the Americans: They won by 22.
Bad news for the Americans: They trailed by as much as 9 in the first quarter before Carmelo Anthony exploded for about 23 points off the bench in the first half. So they really needed an explosion just to pull away from the Spaniards.

 What's clear is that Team USA is still the best team in the world.

But this is also a team who barely held a 20 point lead against an old Argentina team and went down early to a big Spain team.

An upset is not out of the picture. Would it be Spain, Argentina, Brazil or even Lithuania delivering the shocker?

Oh-lympics: Swimming

There are, of course, several excellent swimmers competing in the London Games. None of them, however, are as recognizable as Michael Phelps, who holds the record of having the most gold medals in a single Olympic Games. He won 8 gold medals in the Beijing Olympics, besting the 7 gold medals Mark Spitz won in the 1972 Munich Games.

In the coming Games, Phelps will be hard pressed by competitors to keep his golden streak alive. He's basically competing in the same events he competed in during the Beijing Games but several opponents seem to have improved immensely in the last year to pose a realistic challenge to Phelps.

Let's go through some of those competitors.

Oh-lympics: Basketball

Highlights of the exhibition match between Argentina and Team USA.

Oh-lympics: Basketball

The team whom everyone expects to strike gold is, of course, Team USA.

But their path to Olympic gold has never been trickier than this year, even considering the 2004 debacle. That's because in 2004, no one really thought it was possible, until Argentina eliminated the Americans in the semifinal match.

This year, there are about 3 teams that have an actual shot at dethroning the Americans. Let's break them down in order of possibility.