Maria Valentina Vezzali of Italy took home gold in Women’s Individual Foil

Maria Valentina Vezzali of Italy took home gold in Women’s Individual Foil, beating Nam Hyun-hee of the Republic of Korea. Margherita Granbassi, another Italian, landed with a bronze.

Spotlight on Anna Bessonova

Spotlight on Anna Bessonova
Athens Rhythmic Gymnastics bronze medalist Anna Bessonova (Photo credit: Getty Images)

Anna Bessonova (Photo credit: Getty Images)

Anna Bessonova (Photo credit: Getty Images)

Anna Bessonova (Photo credit: Getty Images)

(BEIJING, July 8) -- Many eyes will be on Athens Rhythmic Gymnastics bronze medalist Anna Bessonova as she prepares to compete in the Olympic Games in Beijing.

Bessanova was born into a family of sports on July 29, 1984, in Kiev, Ukraine. Her father, Vladimir Bessonov, played for Dynamo Kiev and made it to the FIFA World Cup Final in 1982, 1986 and 1990. Her mother, Viktoria, was a group rhythmic gymnast and won the World Championships twice. It was she who introduced the young Anna to the world of rhythmic gymnastics.

Anna began training when she was five years old. Instructed by Alina Deriugina and her daughter Irina Deriugina, a two time world champion, Anna benefited a lot from excellent coaching and showed great talent at a young age.

With years of hard training, Bessanova showed incredible flexibility and made her first international appearance at age 10.

In 1999, Anna competed in group gymnastics and finished third in the FIG World Championship in Osaka, Japan. Two years later, she clinched the bronze medal in the Individual All-round competition at the 2001 FIG World Championship in Madrid, Spain.

After winning more titles at the World and European Championships, the rising star went to Athens, where she performed impressively to earn the Olympic bronze medal with a total of 106.700 points.

She was finally awarded a long-waited gold medal in the 2007 FIG World Championship in Patras and most recently executed a gold-medal routine at LA Lights 2008.

As the Olympic Games draw near, enthusiastic fans eagerly anticipate Bessonova's graceful and breathtaking performance in Beijing.

Anna Bessonova (Photo credit: Getty Images)

Anna Bessonova (Photo credit: Getty Images)

Anna Bessonova (Photo credit: Getty Images)

Anna Bessonova (Photo credit: CFP)

Beijing sets up sex determination lab for Olympics

Beijing sets up sex determination lab for Olympics

BEIJING, July 27 (Xinhua) -- Beijing has set up a sex determination lab to test female Olympic athletes suspected to be males.

Suspected athletes will be evaluated from their external appearances by experts and undergo blood tests to examine their sex hormones, genes and chromosomes for sex determination, according to Prof. Tian Qinjie of Peking Union Medical College Hospital.

Initial test results would be available in three days, while an official result takes seven days, he said.

The test aims to maintain fairness of the Games, and to rule out inaccurate test results.

Experts say test results for about one in 500 to 600 athletes are abnormal.

The tests are to be conducted at the Peking Union Medical College Hospital.

Polish runner Ewar Kobukkowska, who won a gold medal in the women's 4 X 100 meter relay and the bronze in the women's 100 meter sprint at the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, was the first athlete to be caught in a gender test after she failed the early form of a chromosome test in 1967.

She was found to have a rare genetic condition which gave her no advantage over other athletes, but was nonetheless banned from competing in the Olympics and professional sports.

At the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, eight athletes failed the tests but were all cleared by subsequent examinations.

In another case, Indian middle distance runner Santhi Soundarajan who won the silver medal in the 800 meters track event at the 2006 Asian Games in Doha, Qatar, failed the sex determination test and was stripped of her medal.

For Olympics, China Ramps Up Copyright Infringement Campaign

June 16, 2008, 3:53 pm
For Olympics, China Ramps Up Copyright Infringement Campaign

By Flora Zhang
Olympics 2008: The Issues

When it comes to copyrights, China is perhaps better known for violations than for protection, as demonstrated by a steady flow of fake Harry Potter books in its market last year and a lawsuit filed by Gucci recently. For the Olympics, China is charting an active stance. Xinhua news agency reported that the country has started a campaign to crackdown on online intellectual copyright infringement of Olympic-related events and activities — particularly video-sharing.

“We will also mobilize online authors and the public to cooperate in this movement,” said Xu Chao, a senior official with the National Copyright Administration. “They can report alleged infringement cases via telephone hot line or the Internet.”

The hotline, 12312, will be in operation during the games to take in reports of infringement cases from citizens.

While the focus of the crackdown will be on video-sharing Web sites (see article in Chinese), it remains to be seen whether reining in Olympic-related materials will be an easy task.

On YouTube, a search for Olympic terms turns up plenty of hits that feature the official mascots or slogan, including the following animated Fuwa (福娃) video that serves as a promotional boon for China’s Olympic effort.
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