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If you’re a boxing fan, the Olympics just got a little less exciting for you. U.S. bantamweight boxer Gary Russell Jr. is out. Russell was one of our best contenders and one of the most exciting to watch.

The hot and humid weather in Beijing, pressure to drop 6 pounds for weigh in, and a lack of proper hydration all contributed to Russell’s collapse. His teammates found him unconscious in his hotel room during the middle of the night and while he was successfully revived, he missed the weigh in and will not be competing in the Olympics.

“Gary, he was pushing to make weight,” said U.S. Olympic boxing coach Dan Campbell. “At some point in the middle of the night we found him unconscious.”

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The 2008 Summer Olympic Games have officially begun!

The opening ceremony in Beijing was reportedly magnificent, with fireworks, acrobats, drummers, and more wowing the crowd of 90,000+ people. After all the negative attention Beijing has been getting since the host city was announced, China was eager to impress the world with dazzling light displays and music. But, behind all that glitter and gold, lies the real heart of the Olympics - the athletes… the dreamers and hopefuls who’ve worked so hard to get where they are today.

Take Lopez Lomong, or the “Lost Boy,” for instance. He’s overcome insurmountable odds to become a U.S. Olympic middle-distance runner. And his teammates have now chosen him to carry the American flag during today’s 2008 opening ceremony. Lomong comes from war-torn Sudan and was one of 3,800 Sudanese refugees who were relocated in the United States. He runs for Team Darfur - a team dedicated to promoting awareness of the atrocities/genocide happening in Darfur.

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It’s rare that siblings are all good at the same thing - usually one shines where another doesn’t and vice versa. But not in the Lopez family - three of them are on the U.S. Taekwondo Olympic team and their fourth brother is the coach.

The Lopezes - Diana, Mark, Steven, and Jean (the coach) are set to compete in Beijing and hope to bring home three gold medals in their respective categories. Diana and Mark will compete in women’s and men’s featherweight, while Steven will compete in men’s welterweight. Jean, eldest sibling and coach of the team, retired from competition in 1998, but holds many medals and was named U.S. Taekwondo Male Athlete of the Year in 1994.

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You’ve heard of solar power and wind power. But have you heard of wave power?
Japanese sailor Kenichi Horie sure has - he just sailed across the Pacific in a boat powered solely by ocean waves.

Horie, already famous for being the first person to sail across the Pacific back in 1962, took the environmentally friendly, 110 mile journey this spring. He completed his mission on July 4th and secured another first in the sailing world at the age of 69.

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If there was ever an inspirational athlete, it’s Dara Torres. At 41 years of age, Torres has qualified for her fifth Olympics… after giving birth just two years ago and undergoing surgeries on both her knee and shoulder in the past eight months.

While there’s little doubt Torres was born to be an athlete, she’s had to work hard to compete at an Olympic level where most of the competition is half her age. This article on CNN claims that she certainly has the right “protoplasm” and genetic make-up to be an elite swimmer, but that she also has something else…

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