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The makers of this week's map want to remind visitors to Beijing of the violent history lurking behind the glitz and glamor of the Olympic Games. Freedom House's Ellen Bork along with the Weekly Standard's design director Philip Chalk and Tiananmen survivor Tian Jian have created this map for Beijing tourists interested in visiting the sites of the June 4, 1989 massacre of the Tiananmen Square protestors. Each number shows the place where where one of the 176 victims were killed or the hospitals to which their bodies were taken.

You can find information on the victims here and read Bork's explanation of the map at the New York Sun's site.

FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP/Getty Images

Baseball may be on the way out as an Olympic sport, but observers anticipating the eventual clash of civilizations between the United States and China may have seen a sneak preview on the diamond Monday:

The U.S. beat China 9-1 in the Olympics Monday night, and it was awful. China’s pitchers hit five U.S. batters, sending one to the hospital. U.S. baserunners plowed over two China catchers, likely knocking one out of the Games.

While some reporters at the scene think "Our relations with China were nearly broken at the plate," I wouldn't go that far. After all, the manager of the Chinese team -- who was ejected from Monday's game -- is an American who has been helping establish the national pastime in China since 2003. Personally, I'm still more outraged about the Chinese gymnasts.

Remember way back when people were asking whether we should "politicize" the Olympics? Isn't it just supposed to be about sports and itty bitty gymnasts doing their best? I have to say, in China, that question is bizarre. The Olympics is politics: that is the point.

Take the case of Owen, a torch-bearer living in the youth camp of the Olympic village. He is not a star athlete, but he's certainly well-spoken and smart as a whip. When you ask him what it was like to run those 30 meters he ran with the torch, he begins his story this way:

There is a garden next to the youth camp. In 1860, warriors broke into it and killed everybody. And that was the start of a terrible part of Chinese history, but now, within 140 years, I, as a representative of the youth, stand on the same ground and hold the torch showing that China is ready to be one of the strongest countries in the world. It's completely new and it's completely meaningful. And all of this is seen by the grass and by the land, by the earth, so I kissed it."

After telling us more about the Olympic compound, which is a heavily fortified, expansive prep school surrounded by green walls with the slogan "the youth are the future" scribbled across them, Owen went on. (By the way, at the Olympic youth camp, the youth are provided with soccer fields, basketball courts, swimming pools, a variety of stores and post offices. It is not dissimilar to Oberlin, Ohio, where I went to college, except you can't get in and out of the Village without a pass or the Olympic torch.)

We have dreamed about having the Olympic games for about 100 years. And we've tried so many times, but we failed so many times. If you give the holding rights to a city, it means you have to say that the city is good. We want to hear that you are respecting our behavior, our hard work. Whenever you hold the Olympic games it is a chance for a country or for a city to improve. And that will eventually benefit each and every Chinese.

Years later, when you look at history, you will see, we have made great progress. After we've had so hard time, we've survived. All of the Chinese are strong. We can never be defeated! You can kill us with your gun. But we will never be defeated. We survive. That's what the Olympics can tell the world."

Olympics 2008: It's not just sports; it's not just politics. What it's about is China.

Editor's note: Zoe Chace is an independent public radio producer who is in China for the Olympics. She'll be filing periodic dispatches for Passport about what it's like to be in the middle of the world's biggest spectacle, the 2008 Olympic Games. Got any questions or thoughts on what she should report on? Post your thoughts in the comments below.

Previous posts:

• Olympic Diary, Day 5: Hating the Olympics
• Olympic Diary, Day 2: China's lonely chairman
• Olympic Diary, Day 1: Where is everyone?

NICOLAS ASFOURI/AFP/Getty Images

The Telegraph's indefatigable Richard Spencer reports on yet another bit of fakery at the opening ceremonies in Beijing:

[T]he children supposedly representing the country's 56 ethnic groups were in fact all from the same one, the majority Han Chinese race. [...]

They were dressed in costumes associated with the country's ethnic minorities, including those from troubled areas such as Tibet and the muslim province of Xinjiang. Such displays of "national unity" are a compulsory part of any major state occasion.

But the children were all from the Han Chinese majority, which makes up more than 90 per cent of the population and is culturally and politically dominant, according to an official with the cultural troupe from which they were selected.

Asked about this, a Beijing Olympics spokesman was nonplussed, telling reporters, "I think you are being very meticulous... I would argue it is normal for dancers, performers, to be dressed in other races' clothes."

Picking up on Katie's post: What happens when you give in to a massive lobbying effort, somehow believe bogus promises of improvement, wallow in corruption, and ultimately give the Olympics to a country that never deserved them? Just ask the International Olympic Committee:

IOC spokeswoman Giselle Davies said journalists should not be prevented from doing their jobs, a day after John Ray of London-based ITV News said he was wrestled to the ground and briefly held by police who apparently mistook him for a protester.

Asked repeatedly if IOC officials are embarrassed that China was not living up to its promises, Davies would only say they are happy with the way China is running the sporting events."

And, of course, the opening ceremony was lovely.

FILE; Feng Li/Getty Images

Protesters just can't win in China these days. Now, even those who have requested official permission to protest in Beijing are being arrested, including a handful of citizens upset about having their homes destroyed in preparation for the big games. One would-be demonstrator, Zhang Wei, was even given a sentence of 30 days after repeatedly applying to protest about her forced home eviction.

Given the nature of the protest application process, it's not surprising that the three city parks "designated" as protest zones (and patrolled daily by police) have remained pretty quiet. Two, in fact -- Shije "World" Park (shown above in June) and Ritan Park -- have reportedly remained 100 percent protest-free since the opening ceremonies.

It all makes the words of Wang Wei, the Beijing Olympic Committee's executive vice president, sound pretty empty. Here are his comments from today's press conference in Beijing on press freedom:

[T]he Olympic Games coming to China will help China to open up further and to reform."

Tell it to Zhang Wei.

World Toilet Expo 2007; Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images

This spring, Beijing Olympic organizers went to extraordinary lengths to ensure athletes had the most comfortable sanitation facilities. When foreign athletes at test events complained about the squat-style toilets at key venues, such as the Bird's Nest and Water Cube, officials initiated "toilet alteration projects" (as an organizer described it to Reuters) to replace as many as possible with sit-down commodes.

If only others around the world were so lucky -- to have hygienic toilet facilities of any type.

In this International Year of Sanitation, some 2.5 billion people don't have access to improved sanitation, according to a recent progress report (big pdf). So, in this week's FP List, "The Hardest Places in the World to Find a Bathroom," we highlight five countries, by geographic region, where safe sanitation is in short supply. Yes, there's a "yuck" factor, but sanitation is crucial for public health and is likely one of the most important health advances ever.

Mike Hewitt/Getty Images

Top Story

Beijing's opening ceremonies lifted off without a hitch Friday, bringing awe to spectators in China and around the world -- or so it seemed. The squeaky-clean ceremonies, however, were too good to be true in some respects, as reports emerged of lip-syncing and computer-generated fake fireworks.

Violence, too, interrupted the first few days of competition. Attacks continued in the western region of Xinjiang, while a Chinese man attacked an American couple with a knife at a popular tourist destination on Saturday, killing the man and wounding his wife before killing himself. The couple was related to an American Olympic volleyball coach.

More Olympics

China’s strategy for focusing on events that award more medals appears to paying off. As of 3:30 pm Wednesday afternoon, China led the gold medal count with 17, while the United States had the most medals overall at 29. Check out Google's nifty map for updates.

Seats at the Olympics are surprisingly empty.

Less surprisingly, so are the "protest pens."

A British journalist was detained Wednesday, covering a protest led by eight U.S. pro-Tibet activists.

The first U.S. president to attend an Olympics on foreign soil, President Bush used his presidential-record fourth visit to prod China on religious freedom, inaugurate a new U.S. embassy in Beijing, and cheer on America's athletes.

Politics

Religous leaders describe a government crackdown. One religious dissident, detained on his way to visit a service with President Bush, has escaped, however.

The Dalai Lama is in France, but will not meet with French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

Economy

Thanks to a rapidly weakening U.S. economy, China is set to become the world's largest manufacturer, four years earlier than predicted.

China's trade surplus grew in July to $25.3 billion, its highest level in eight months and a 4 percent increase from July 2007.

Wholesale prices, however, rose even more, up 10 percent from July 2007.

Overall, inflation is down and growth is "set to stabilize."

Environment

Is China's Olympic cleanup actually bad for global warming?

Taiwan

Taiwan plans to seek "participation," but not a "return" or membership, in the United Nations this fall.

Taiwan's coast guard is holding a former Chinese soldier who swam eight hours across the Taiwan Strait to defect.

When you have been watching too much CCTV -- "The opening ceremony was a success! We truly are one world, one dream!" -- and running into too many volunteers -- "Welcome to Beijing!" -- and smacking into enormous banners where whole neighborhoods used to be -- "Together we will build a new Beijing!" -- it is hard not to just. Hate. The. Olympics. Straight up.

If every taxi driver in New York had to get a makeover* because of a few weeks of athletic competion, and people were constantly dissing my city's air that I had been breathing for decades, I would seriously be over it.

I did find one treat to sweeten the sour, though.

At Jing Shan school, which is a model school founded for Deng Xiaoping, every kid in the school is roped into the Olympic games. While the adolescents stand outside and scratch their backs with Olympics flags, the little girls inside are performing this dance:

Is it over the top or is it... awesome?

The girls were really excited, but ask the parents what the kids are rehearsing for, and they don't know. "The Olympics," they said, shrugging.

It turns out they were performing with the actual singer of "Beijing Beijing, Wo Ai Beijing," Wang Zheng Zheng, who has taken Chris Brown's place in my life!

Censorship note: I cannot get access to the China Digital Times -- a fantastic blog to get your China on. Maybe this is why:

Olympic Secret: Most Firework-footprints Faked in Broadcast

Translated by CDT from the Beijing Times, via qq.com: In yesterday's Opening Ceremony, a step-by-step series of fireworks-sequenced footprints that "walked" from Yongdingmen along the central axis to the Bird's Nest pushed the whole night into its climax. Many viewers, via live TV broadcast, were amazed by the spectacular Beijing nightscape. ...

*: The cabbies dress really well in Beijing. Every taxi driver I have met, which is a lot at this point, is wearing a pressed linen shirt.

Editor's note: Zoe Chace is an independent public radio producer who is in Beijing for the Olympics. She is traveling with her friend and advisor Lizzy Berryman, who is fluent in Mandarin and lived in China four years ago. She'll be filing periodic dispatches for Passport about what it's like to be in the middle of the world's biggest spectacle, the 2008 Olympic Games. Got any questions or thoughts on what she should report on? Post your thoughts in the comments below.

Previous posts:

• Olympic Diary, Day 2: China's lonely chairman
• Olympic Diary, Day 1: Where is everyone?

JEAN-PIERRE MULLER/AFP/Getty Images

Remember Jean-Marie Le Pen, the ultra-nationalist French politician who shocked the world by reaching the second round of France's 2002 presidential election? The leader of the anti-immigrant, anti-semitic, anti-everything Front National is more or less a Ku Klux Klan member who was born on the wrong continent.

That's why it's so beautifully ironic that, faced with millions of Euros worth of debt after voters apparently didn't respond so well to his "Keep France for the French" motto in the 2007 legislative elections, Le Pen's party is selling its lavish Paris headquarters to a Chinese university. Perhaps the Front had trouble finding a pure-blooded French buyer willing to be associated with them.

The Guardian writes that the well-known building next to the Seine was "a symbol of the upward mobility of the party when it was purchased 18 years ago." I guess the sale is a symbol of the party's future drowning in the neighboring river.

These are tough times for Le Pen. He already had to sell his bulletproof car on eBay to try to pay off debts. Hopefully the dear leader of French neo-Fascism will be able to keep his white hood and robe.

NOGI KAZUHIRO/AFP/Getty Images

Bela Karolyi, the NBC sports analyst who was coach of some of the world's greatest gymnasts, including Mary Lou Retton and Nadia Comaneci, is incensed. He is convinced that China has included underage girls -- the age requirement is 16 -- on its women's gymnastics team by forging the girls' birth dates on official documents.

Yesterday, in reference to the Chinese gymnasts' childish body sizes (the team average is 4 feet, 9 inches, and 77 pounds), he unleased some verbal venom to the Associated Press:

They are using half-people. One of the biggest frustrations is, what arrogance. These people think we are stupid.

Gymnastics is famous for its small women -- or rather, girls -- but the Chinese gymnasts look awfully tiny and juvenile. In comparison, Japan's team average is 4 feet, 10 inches, and 83 pounds, while the Americans are an average of 5 feet and 107 pounds. Granted, size isn't always an indicator of age, but the New York Times recently pointed to other evidence of age falsification -- inconsistent reporting of some gymnasts' ages in official documents, media reports, and government Web sites.

The Chinese gymnasts certainly aren't half-people, but it sounds like the Chinese government might be telling some half-truths.

Here's one of the delicacies on offer this week in Beijing. Yum:

OMAR TORRES/AFP/Getty Images

MARK RALSTON/AFP/Getty Images

China Vitae

Many of us in the media have spilled a lot of ink about the Beijing Olympics, and a great deal of it has been critical. But what is the Chinese view?

I spoke Thursday morning with Amb. Wu Jianmin, a longtime Chinese diplomat who served as China's ambassador to the United Nations until 1998. Since 2003, he has been president of China Foreign Affairs University, where his mission is training the next generation of Chinese diplomats. Check it out.

China Vitae

Many of us in the media have spilled a lot of ink about the Beijing Olympics, and a great deal of it has been critical. But what is the Chinese view?

I spoke Thursday morning with Amb. Wu Jianmin, a longtime Chinese diplomat who served as China's ambassador to the United Nations until 1998. Since 2003, he has been president of China Foreign Affairs University, where his mission is training the next generation of Chinese diplomats.

Foreign Policy: We’ve seen a lot of analysis in the Western press about China’s hopes for these games. As a Chinese diplomat, what’s your view? How does China want the world to see the Olympics?

Wu Jianmin: Two things. First, we want the world to get this message: The Olympics belong to the whole world. The first Olympic Games were held in 1896, and most Olympics were held in developed countries. It wasn’t until Mexico in 1968 that the Olympic Games were held a developing country. Today, they will be held in the largest developing country: China. It’s great. We hope in the future that the Olympics will move further into the developing world.

Second, we hope that visitors who come to China will go away with the impression that China is a peaceful, civilized, and progressive nation.

FP: When the decision was announced in 2001, a lot of people said that China wouldn’t be able to do it -- whether it was because of political issues, international criticism, infrastructure, or pollution. Now that the games are about to start, what do you think Chinese officials are most worried about going wrong during the games themselves?

WJ: All Olympic Games in the past have had problems of one kind or another. So for us, we are quite prepared to deal with all kinds of problems. The number one problem is terrorists, and apart from that there might be some other issues that might come up. But we are quite sure that the Olympic Games will be a success. That success is not only Chinese, but will be the success of the whole world. At the beginning of 2001, people outside of China had a whole lot of worries, but today the facts are there to show that China has kept her promises. We did our best to meet the challenges, to meet the requests, of the International Olympic Committee.

FP: Amnesty International, you may have seen, issued a report saying that Chinese officials have “broken their promise to improve the country’s human rights situation and betrayed the core values of the Olympics.” Do you think that this is a fair charge, and how would you respond to that?

WJ: No, it’s not fair. This is just one opinion. But you know, the world is so large and there are many other opinions. I think in China, everybody can see that we did our utmost to fulfill our promises.

FP: Experts tell us that China has done pretty much everything it can possibly do to bring air pollution levels down in Beijing, and now it’s up to the weather. But China has a lot of environmental problems outside of its capital city, especially with water quality in rural areas, and those aren’t getting the same kind of Olympic effort. What do you think its going to take to bring the “Olympic spirit” outside of Beijing?

WJ: I think the Olympic spirit will spread throughout China. For instance, you mentioned the quality of water. This is a very serious issue. Our surveys show that about 320 Chinese million peasants do not have access to clean drinking water. It’s a very serious problem and the target is to solve it within a few years, because we Chinese are bound to stay here. We can’t move to other places in the world. When our environment is degraded, everyone suffers, so we are serious about that.

FP: I’m sure that you’re going to be watching the games closely. Are you going to any events?

WJ: Yes, I am going to go to the opening ceremonies. I am very excited about it. It’s the first time in China!

FP: Do you think that China is going to beat the United States in the medal count?

WJ: Even though the team leader of the U.S. says that, I am not sure. Maybe that is his strategy: Keep a low profile and raise expectations about China. Maybe the Chinese team will actually feel more pressure because of that.

FP: If China does win the most medals, how do you think the world will react? Do you think the world will see China as a threat, as some people have speculated?

WJ: No. The Olympics is a sporting event. You may have many medals this time and the next time you don’t have as many medals. Don’t exaggerate! Sports is sports. “If you get a lot of medals, you are a threat. If you get fewer medals, no more threat.” It sounds ridiculous!

FP: Who is your favorite Chinese athlete?

WJ: I think our table tennis players are pretty good. They are very smart; they are also working very hard at training. They do whatever they can to improve their performance. I admire their courage and their persistence.

FP: What do you think is the biggest misperception that Westerners have about China, and what are your hopes for the Olympics changing that perception?

WJ: Some Western people perceive China as a threat, because in the past, when countries were rising, it was always detrimental to others. We all remember what happened with the rise of the colonial powers. They believe that China will behave in that way, but that’s wrong because of two things. First, peace and harmony are important parts of Chinese culture. Culture determines people’s mentality, and people’s mentality determines people’s actions and behavior.

I don’t know if you’re familiar with Zheng He’s expeditions in the 15th century. Eighty years before Christopher Columbus discovered the new continent, He had the largest fleet in the world, with more than 60 vessels. And each vessel’s capacity was about 1,000 seamen. We had the most advanced ship technology, but we did not use this advantage to invade other countries. That was decided by Chinese culture. Today, that Chinese culture is still there.

The second thing they overlook is Chinese policy. We stick to the peaceful development path. That means no expansion, no hegemony, no alliances. We put “win-win” at the center of international strategy because we believe that in a globalized world, only with win-win and a two-way street will our cooperation with the outside world be lasting. With a one-way street -- should China seek unilateral benefits -- our cooperation would not last. That may be good for China for just a few moments, but it would not last. We don’t want that. We want to have sustainable, lasting cooperation with the outside world.

We want the outside world to see this -- that when they go away from Olympics, they believe that China is a peaceful, civilized, and progressive nation.

By my count, there are more Gucci stores in Beijing than there are barbeque stands. Thus far, Gucci: BBQ = 3:1.

And it's not just for the foreigners. It is because the people in Beijing are changing: Even the back-pocket-sized map of Olympic highlights refers unabashedly to the "rapidly disappearing hutongs" (densly packed, traditional Beijing neighborhoods). Stretches of Hugo Boss, Coach and Porche -- literally rows of new cars on the sidewalk -- line up in their place.

There are some changes just for foreigners, such as this "nonrecyclable" sign:

Who exactly do they think they're fooling here? The sign on the left says "recycle" and the one on the right says "trash" in Chinese, but both go to the same bin. In today's China, modernization only goes so deep.

But on this day -- 08 08 08 -- when China is supposed to throw its doors open to the world, the Forbidden City lives up to its name. Full tour groups, Chinese waving Chinese flags, and everyone in between were cleared out of Tiananmen Square today by soldiers. The middle of the city stood completely empty as if no one had thought to visit Beijing's main tourist attraction on the city's biggest day. If Chinese officials are waiting for a blue skies to open the Forbidden City to the public, we'll be waiting a long time.

Guess Mao will be watching the fireworks all by himself tonight.

Editor's note: Zoe Chace is an independent public radio producer who is in Beijing for the Olympics. She is traveling with her friend and advisor Lizzy Berryman, who is fluent in Mandarin and lived in China four years ago. She'll be filing periodic dispatches for Passport about what it's like to be in the middle of the world's biggest spectacle, the 2008 Olympic Games. Got any questions or thoughts on what she should report on? Post your thoughts in the comments below.

Previous posts:

• Olympic Diary, Day 1: Where is everyone?

Just a brief note this morning. I'm watching Morning Joe on MSNBC right now, and they've been periodically showing shots of China's famous "Bird's Nest" stadium, trying to build excitement for tonight's broadcast of the opening ceremonies.

They're probably not allowed to say it, so I will: Beijing's skies look horrible right now. There was even a moment when host Joe Scarborough said, speaking over top of an image of gray mush, that the city was "showing its Olympic colors." Awkward.

As James Fallows put it earlier, "This is a disaster." It looks like Beijing must have fallen afoul of the weather gods.

Tim Johnson has more.

Here at FP, we love Caijing. We named its fearless managing editor, Hu Shuli, to our list of the world's top 100 public intellectuals. And this is how John Pomfret, the Washington Post's Outlook section editor, described the publication earlier this year in a fascinating review for Foreign Policy:

An amalgam of Forbes, Fortune, and BusinessWeek, with a muckraking edge that makes it hard to categorize, Caijing is China's leading financial magazine. With a circulation of about 100,000, Caijing focuses most of its energy on battling the crony capitalism widespread in China's business world. Occasionally, it takes even bigger risks by tackling Chinese government officials themselves, such as with the magazine's in-depth and influential coverage of the SARS epidemic in 2002.

That said, this is a pretty unfortunate truncation boo-boo:

The real headline is below:

Andy Lyons/Getty Images

In a pointed gesture, the U.S. Olympic team has voted Lopez Lomong, a member of the track team who gained American citizenship in 2007 after fleeing Sudan and spending a decade in a Kenyan refugee camp, as its flag bearer for the opening ceremony in Beijing.

Lomong was abducted at age six by militiamen looking to recruit child soliders. He managed to escape with two other boys and was grabbed by Kenyan authorities after he unknowingly crossed the border. Lomong was one of the 4,000 "lost boys" of Sudan who were resettled in foster homes throughout the United States in 2001. Lomong is also currently a member of the Team Darfur activist group whose cofounder -- American speedskater and Turin gold medalist Joey Cheek -- had his visa revoked by Chinese authorities two days ago.

Lomong's selection is certainly a touching gesture from his fellow athletes, and the Sudanese-American runner is ecstatic, saying that Friday will be "the happiest day" of his life. What effect it will have on U.S.-China relations is uncertain, but it is becoming increasingly obvious that China will not be able to hide from its Darfur policy simply by putting on the world's biggest fireworks show and wowing foreign dignitaries.

I would be absolutely shocked if the Olympics pass without some sort of dramatic protest or political statement from an athlete or group of athletes, on a podium or elsewhere. One English basketball player, formerly with the Cleveland Cavaliers and Orlando Magic, has said that Olympians have an obligation to speak out against China.

It may not be 1968, but that doesn't mean the gloves won't come off.

Guang Niu/Getty Images

Editor's note: Zoe Chace is an independent public radio producer who is in Beijing for the Olympics. She is traveling with her friend and advisor Lizzy Berryman, who is fluent in Mandarin and lived in China four years ago. She'll be filing periodic dispatches for Passport about what it's like to be in the middle of the world's biggest spectacle, the 2008 Olympic Games. Got any questions or thoughts on what she should report on? Post your thoughts in the comments below.

We got into the Beijing airport at 8 p.m. last night and all was quiet. It was a staggeringly large and beautiful place that felt like a banquet hall, which made it all the more obvious how empty it was.

There were more Olympics volunteers than there were passengers -- and they summarily ignored us all. The airport doesn't feel all the way finished, maybe because there were two stops on the shuttle: TC-D and TC-3. TC-3 is the baggage claim, but I think TC-D is made up. On the two-stop shuttle map, TC-D is listed as "sorry this stop is temporarily unavailable."

There are majestic rows of just-planted trees lining the whole highway from the airport; there are buses shiny as new bars of soap waiting outside to pick you up, and the brand-new taxis all have Olympic magazines hanging from the back of the chairs. The magazine will point out to you which restaurants are more "homely" than others.

When we turned on the TV at our apartment, there were interviews with select volunteers who had remained behind their desks in the airport. The volunteers all spoke in one chorus: "Even though we work 24 hours a day, it is such an honor to serve China and be a part of the Olympics."

One thing that isn't new: hot pot. The hot pot place is open all night and you can order the ingredients by picture. They bring out a bubbly broth and you can make your own soup. You will, however, be alone in the restaurant!

FRANCK FIFE/AFP/Getty Images

Whatever considerable flaws China may have as Olympic hosts, you can't accuse them of not sweating the details. Just ask Brazilian triple jumper Jadel Gregorio:

His Chinese hosts, who are wowing foreign guests with their organizational feats, had already figured out Gregorio's 2.03 meter (6 ft 8 in) frame would overhang the Olympic Village beds and had tacked on a special half-meter extension.

They had also raised his shower head -- to as high as they could without lifting the ceiling. "These people think of every little thing," Gregorio told Reuters as he finished a high-carb pasta lunch in the Olympic Village, his impossibly long legs somehow folded under the table.

At 6-foot-8, Gregorio barely reaches Yao Ming's chin. I imagine his room must be something else.