Olympic Newsdesk: Reno-Tahoe Winter Games Evaluates Strategy

Reno-Tahoe Keeps to Patient Olympics Strategy

(ATR)The head of the Reno-Tahoe Winter Games Coalition says his group will keep its low-key strategy until the U.S. Olympic Committee decides the time is right for a U.S. bid for the Winter Olympics Games.

“We are not going away,” coalition executive director Jon Killoran tells Around the Rings.

“We are going to work at attracting events to the Reno-Tahoe region help us prepare for an Olympic bid – at some time in the future,” says Killoran.

While 2022 would be the next opportunity for a U.S. bid, Killoran says the coalition has not pushed the USOC on considering a bid so soon after the demise of the Chicago bid for 2016.

Killoran says commemorations will soon be launched for the 50th of anniversary of the 1960 Winter Games of Squaw Valley, the California resort near Reno/Tahoe. He says that will include an exhibit at the Reno airport.

Judging Scandal at China National Games

IOC President Jacques Rogge watched China open up the 11the China National Games in Jinan on Friday amid a judging scandal that captured attention earlier in the week. IOC President Jacques Rogge with Chinese Premier Hu Jin Tao at the open of the China National Games. (Getty Images)

The opening ceremony took place in the 60,000-seat Jinan Olympic Centre in Shandong Province. More than 15,000 athletes from 46 teams will compete in 362 events in 33 sports. The quadrennial games is known as China's mini-Olympics.

Overshadowing the grandeur of the opening ceremonies were allegations of result-rigging in diving. Prior to the main session that runs from Friday through the Oct. 28, Olympic gold medalist Guo Jingjing won a gold medal for Hebei provincel. One of the judges is accusing another of deciding the results before the competition.

Deputy sports minister Xiao Tian denied the accusations at a press Thursday conference. He did address the fact that a pair of divers had smaller splashes than Jinghjing .

"You can't say it had been f*ing fixed, it's f*ing fake, just because you lost," Xiao said at news conference.

"How can you only judge a routine by the size of splash? Even a f*ing amateur can make very little splash if only turns over once. Can you give him gold medal?" he added.

Games organizers are trying to avoid any controversy. On Friday, the Games informed China's Center for Disease Control that it had returned all money from tobacco companies including $2.93 million from the Shangdong Tobacco Company.

Vancouver 2010 Web Site Gets Upgrade

The Vancouver 2010 Web site will get an upgrade starting on Sunday with added features in anticipation of 60-million unique visitors.

The fully bilingual French and English website will launch many added features. Fans can follow the Olympic Torch 45,000 kilometers across journey Canada starting Oct. 30 on the site. Also it will include more content including sport results, transportation, schedule changes, Cultural Olympiad events, tickets and merchandise.

"It's anticipated that www.Vancouver.2010 will be one of the busiest websites in the world in February 2010," said Ward Chapin, VANOC's chief information officer. "Providing an exceptional experience for our Internet audience is one of our top priorities."

One of more user-friendly changes could be the new horizontal navigation bar at the top of the page that features individual icons for all the Olympic and Paralympic sports.

The Website will also integrate social networking tools such as Facebook, Connect, YouTube, Digg, and Twitter.

World Championships Wrapping Up

The world taekwondo and gymnastics championships will conclude on Sunday at their respective sites. Britain's Kristian Thomas performs in the parallel bars event during the men's individual all-around final on Thursday. (Gymnastics)

The Aristic World Gymnastics Championships are giving the O2 Arena in London a test run for the 2012 Olympics. The championships started on Tuesday and received a plethora of coverage from British media.

In Copenhagen, the Taekwondo World Championships are taking place at the 1500-seat Ballerup Super Arena. So far, no Danes have captured a title on their home soil.

Briefs

…Swedish born lugar Bengt Walden will become an American citizen next week at a naturalization ceremony at Boston's Faneuil Hall. He is married to American luger Ashley Hayden Walden and is in his third year with the U.S. national luge team.

Written by Ed Hula and Sam Steinberg

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