Jim Buzinski

Every day during the Games, we will search the Net for the best 12 (or more if we feel like!) Olympic photos. If you see any you like, send us the URL. Among today’s crop is Germany’s Fabian Hambuchen, a star gymnast and national celebrity in his homeland. It is easy to see why. Links […]

Latvia’s Martins Plavins (right) and Aleksandrs Samoilovs, ranked 21 of 24 men’s beach volleyball teams, beat U.S. team Phil Dalhausser and Todd Rogers (ranked No. 1) 21-19, 21-18. Longtime Outsports photographer Brent Mullins, who has shot Dalhausser and Rogers for years, had this insight: "If anyone was a lock for a gold, I thought it […]

Every day during the Games, we will search the Net for the best 12 (or more if we feel like!) Olympic photos. If you see any you like, send us the URL. Among today’s crop is this rower. Links after the jump. Every day during the Games, we will search the Net for the best […]

Why athletes talk trash before an event has always been one of sport's great mysteries. All it ever seems to do is fire up an opponent and offer motivation. France's Alain Bernard learned this lesson, embarrassing himself before a worldwide TV audience watching the men's 4×100 freestyle swimming event. Why athletes talk trash before an […]

China’s Olympic athletes know pressure like no athletes anywhere. The pressure to win medals is so huge that anything short of gold, silver or bronze is considered a failure. Some call it the “home field disadvantage.” From the Los Angeles Times: Air rifle athlete Du Li was considered a shoo-in to win China’s first gold […]

For anyone who wondered about American interest in the Beijing Games: For anyone who wondered about American interest in the Beijing Games:

Lochte is a threat to Michael Phelps’ quest for eight gold medals when they race in the 400 IM later tonight. Lochte, 24, and Phelps are good friends, but not in the pool. Lochte, 6-2 and 185 pounds, sounds like a surfer and has a laid-back vibe. In this photo courtesy of the USOC and […]

The Opening Ceremony of the Beijing Olympics was technically spectacular, not a surprise given that it cost at least $100 million (twice that of the Athens Games in 2004) and had the weight of an authoritarian government behind it. The gymnast who skywalked across the top of the stadium to light the torch performed a […]

Michael Phelps won his first gold medal in his first Olympics race, blowing away the field in the 400 IM and setting a world record in the process. Watching underwater video, it appears as if Phelps is half-fish the way his legs act like flippers. He is stunning to watch in the water and his […]

How dare NBC’s Olympics site encroach on Outsports’ turf! The site today has a cool feature where you have to guess which male swimmer has which abs. Wish I had thought of it myself. After a few seconds, the closeup dissolves to show the swimmer and his name. One more reason to watch swimming and […]

It would be hard to top the hotness of the discus thrower in this GE ad: httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULx0I0Pogo8 It would be hard to top the hotness of the discus thrower in this GE ad: httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULx0I0Pogo8

One of the possible breakout stars of these Games is British diver Tom Daley and for one simple reason — he’s 14 and the youngest Olympian. He is tailed by autograph-hunters, makes groups of girls collapse into red-faced giggles and has the world’s media hanging on his every word. He was even picked out by […]

The German magazine Stern has a great online gallery of 17 Olympians and the tattoos they are sporting for Beijing on various body parts. Among them is uber-hottie flatwater canoeist Tomasz Wylenzek (right), who won a gold for Germany in 2004. Check out the tattoo gallery. The German magazine Stern has a great online gallery […]

Outsports photog Brent Mullins was able to shoot the late July U.S. diving championships. Among the divers competing were Olympians Troy Dumais (right, click image for larger view) and the pairs team of David Boudia and Thomas Finchum. More shots after the jump. Outsports photog Brent Mullins was able to shoot the late July U.S. […]

Swimmer Mark Foster, 38, will carry the flag for Britain at the Opening Ceremony in Beijing. Yep, he is 38 (with an amazing body you can see in more detail after the jump) and swims in the 50-meter freestyle. Swimmer Mark Foster, 38, will carry the flag for Britain at the Opening Ceremony in Beijing. […]

A tragic story out of Boston, passed on to us by Benoit Denizet-Lewis: I just wanted to let you know that it has been an extraordinarily painful week in Boston’s gay sports community. Dave Hildebrandt, a beloved 29-year-old player in the Beantown Softball League (he also played for four years in the gay basketball league […]

Elsewhere on Outsports, I examine why the number of openly gay and lesbian Olympians in 2008 is only 10. The original article said five until a reader alerted me about U.S. soccer player Natasha Kai. In addition, we have now added four more lesbian Olympians, plus a bisexual softball player. Australian diver Matthew Mitcham, right, […]

Our long national nightmare is over — Brett Favre has been traded from the Green Bay Packers to the New York Jets. Maybe now ESPN can stop being All-Favre All-The-Time. In return for Favre, the Packers get the Jets’ fourth-round pick in 2009 that will escalate to a first-round pick if he meets certain performance […]

Number of gay and lesbian athletes at the 2008 Games is on par with 2004 but includes only one man. In addition, there is one bisexual softball player. By Jim Buzinski Outsports.com Of the 10,708 athletes who will march into Beijing’s Bird’s Nest Olympic stadium on Friday, Outsports is aware of only 10 who are […]

In Olympic beach volleyball T&A are OK, but pecs and abs are not. Most people would be surprised to know that the dress code for the sport in the Olympics mandates bikinis for babes but shirts on for the studs. Teammates in Olympic beach volleyball must wear uniforms of the same color. The women can […]