The China Daily reported that the sweaty shoe badminton gold medalist Lin “Super” Dan (a Chinese superstar) chucked into the crowd after his win could be worth more than $70,000.

Following up on Finneye’s post on sex at the Olympics, I noticed this interesting observation from the writer, Matthew Syed, himself a former Olympian: When it comes to sex, women want the winners and men want the hotties.

Bob Ballard is covering diving for the BBC. He wrote for Outsports about Matthew Mitcham’s dives in the 10-meter platform prelims.

By Bob Ballard

Remember that ill-at-ease, almost petrified looking Aussie I was telling you about who competed in the 3-meter diving competition the other day, and looked out of his depth? What a difference a few days make.

20 year old Matt Mitcham appeared a completely different man on the Platform, or Tower as the Australians like to call it.

Former Olympic athlete Lauren Meece, who competed in Judo in 2000, is angry about some perceived push by gays to get Olympic athletes to come out, and she wants gays to shut up. She wrote a column for the Express Gay News:

The GLBT community should let gay athletes deal with gay issues off of the podium. In the name of the Olympic spirit and humanity… shut up and let gay athletes focus on the endeavors that they have worked so hard to reach.

There is a busy weekend ahead in the Olympic Village. Matthew Syed, a columnist for TimesOnLine and a former international table tennis player who has represented Britain in two Olympic Games is sharing his views on athletes’ sexual behavior during the Games. As a former Olympic athlete he is frequently asked whether the Olympic Village is the sex-fest it is cracked up to be. His only answer, based on his personal experience, is: too right it is!

... once we were eliminated from our respective competitions, we lunged at each other like suicidal fencers. There may have been a fair amount of gay sex going on, too - but given the notorious homophobia in sport it was rather more covert.

Out Australian diver Matthew Mitcham has qualified for the semifinals in men’s 10m platform diving, finishing second in the preliminary round, missing the top seed by just over 30 points. Both American divers, Thomas Fincham (7th) and David Boudia (6th), have also qualified. Whereas Mitcham barely made the semifinals of the 3m springboard and failed to make the finals, he has set himself up for a serious run at a medal with his prelim performance. NBC will surely show his dives tonight in primetime; and it will be interesting, with their commentators often talking about athletes’ girlfriends, husbands and personal lives, if they’ll mention that he’s the only openly gay male athlete in Beijing.

Just got done watching live the U.S. men’s thrilling, five-set (25-22, 25-21, 25-27, 22-25, 15-13) win over Russia in the indoor volleyball semifinals. It is the first time the U.S. men will play for gold since 1988. U.S. coach Hugh McCutcheon continues to deal with the emotional fallout from the murder Aug. 9 of his father-in-law and serious wounding of his mother-in-law by an assailant in Beijing. He has said that he is trying to compartmentalize his emotions during the Games and that the arena offers a sort of sanctuary. I am not sure how he does it.

Clay, an American, won the decathlon gold after two grueling days and 10 events, making him symbolically the “World’s Greatest Athlete.” Finneye shot Clay at a meet last year. Photos below.

I featured Danish rower Morten Joergensen as a “hot jock” after his lightweight fours rowing team won the gold.

Finneye has sent me this terrific gallery of the team from a Danish newspaper, that includes the most homoerotic shot of the Games (right), with Joergensen in the arms of teammate Thomas Ebert. I don’t know anything about Joergensen, but he certainly likes to camp it up.

The Games may be winding down, but the photos are not. Thanks to Finneye for this batch from a multitude of sports, including this victorious wrestler. Links after the jump.

Natasha Kai of the U.S. was not the only out woman to stand on a soccer victory podium.  German lesbian midfielder Linda Bresonik stood with her victorious teammates after Germany beat Japan 2-0 for the bronze.  At home, she plays with the SG Essen-Schoenbeck as well as the national team.  

In the softball finals, the U.S.  team went down to Japan 3-1 in a huge upset.  But hey, we did get a silver, not a poke in the eye with a sharp stick.  Which meant that hitter/second baseman Vicky Galindo (who is bi) and out lesbian catcher Lauren Lappin were showing off their medals with their teammates. 

Symmonds ran the 800 meters but missed out on a chance to reach the finals. That didn’t stop NBC from spending about five minutes covering him, including two interviews. He’s the kind of guy who doesn’t take a bad photo.

Nick Symmond’s website
More Symmonds photos

U.S. swimmer Amanda Beard totally dissed Michael Phelps when asked if the two were dating: “Eww, that’s nasty … Come on, I have really good taste. He’s really not my type.”

“I have never, ever hooked up with Michael Phelps,” Beard said via telephone from Beijing on the “Johnjay and Rich Show,” which is broadcast on Kiss FM 104.7 in Phoenix.

Today the CBC Sports headline read, “Eric Lamaze takes home gold in Olympic individual show jumping.”  I watched the event on NBCOlympics.com, as the story of an athlete’s comeback from drug problems raced to its heart-stopping conclusion.  Lamaze and his horse Hickstead were locked in a timed jump-off with Sweden’s Rolf-Goran Bengtsson and Ninja. The course was shortened, with tight turns and trappy combinations. The Swede and his horse ended the speed run with 4 faults. But Lamaze and Hickstead were having one of those once-in-a-lifetime moments — clearing the fences with air to spare, taking the last one at a risky angle to shave off a micro-second of time.  Afterwards Lamaze and his panting horse were the center of a backstage frenzy of applause and congratulations.

It was fitting that Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt eclipsed Michael Johnson’s twelve-year old world record on his way to gold in the 200m dash Wednesday. A torch, it seems, has been passed to Jamaica for these Olympics. Jamaica won just three individual Track & Field medals in Athens four years ago. Already they’ve won 9 medals (5 gold, 4 silver) in Beijing, and they are a country of only 2.8 million people. By contrast, the US (population 305 million) appears barely on track to equal their achievements in Athens, where they won a total of 25 Track & Field medals (8 gold).

It’s tough enough running a 200m race against the best sprinters in the world, and it’s hard enough to do it in 85-degree weather. But to have to wear a full body suit when everyone else is in shorts and tanktops: borderline cruel. That’s what Bahrain sprinter Roqaya Al-Gassra faced these Olympics, holding to Islamic law and covering all of her body but her face and hands as she ran through to the semifinals and missed the finals by 0.11 seconds.

Out lesbian Natasha Kai is an Olympic gold medalist after the US beat Brazil in the soccer’s gold medal match today. Kai came into the game in extra time to help hold off Brazil, shortly after the USA took a 1-0 lead. Kai has had an excellent tournament: her final minute header gave the USA the win that got them to the semi-final match last weekend.

Out Aussie diver Matthew Mitcham faces the final diving event of the Beijing Games, the 10m platform, beginning with the preliminaries at 7pm Beijing time (7am EST) Friday. Mitcham failed to qualify for the 3m springboard final earlier this week. The 10m platform is thought to be his better event. Americans David Boudia and Thomas Finchum will also compete. China is 7-for-7 in diving gold medals at these Olympics. Can anyone spoil their quest for a sweep?

Today’s batch, courtesy of Finneye, has our homoerotic shot of the day, a little soccer affection, track and field and this windsurfer (right) tossed into the water after winning a gold. Links after the jump.

Usain Bolt has done what no other man ever has, winning the 100m and 200m races at the Olympics both in world record time. His time of 19.30 in the 200m was absolutely shocking. Many felt that Michael Johnson’s record of 19.32 would last for decades; instead, it lasted just 12 years. I have the feeling that Bolt’s time won’t even last four years. I am loving watching this 21-year-old Jamaican dance his way to Olympic history, and I’m so glad we get to see Bolt one more time in the 4X100m race; what he’s doing is changing the face of the 2008 Olympics.

I enjoyed this item, courtesy of Juliet Pyles, on some the nicknames the Chinese have given to high-profile Olympians.

In watching the Olympic diving competition, two out-of-pool things stick out: Why do they all take a shower immediately after and what’s up with those shammies they wipe themselves off with?

I’ve struggled mightily to understand why NBC prefers to tape events and repackage them for a delayed broadcast as if the sports themselves are not inherently interesting to watch. NBCOlympics.com, like every other site in the world, reports major Olympic headlines and live results, but then turns around 12-15 hours later and pretends in their primetime broadcast that the audience is clueless. Suddenly it occurred to me: we are.

This Dutch gymnast caught our eye during the men’s high bar final, where he did a daring routine but finished seventh after he slipped off the bar. More Epke after the jump.

After watching the first few days of track and field I’ve come to a conclusion: Male sprinters are preening, egotistical jerks, while the women are full of joy and even the losers capture the Olympic spirit.