Olympic Games 2008

Matt Reed was 1,500 meters into the last segment of the triathlon when he found himself gasping for oxygen. His legs were still pounding away at the pavement, his body pumped up after cruising through the swimming and cycling contests, but his lungs were shutting down. The 32-year-old triathlete from Boulder, Colo., blames air pollution for triggering his asthma attack during the September track meet. If he returns to Beijing for the Olympics, he says, he will wear a mask except while competing.

A day after the U.S. tied Cuba, Mexico did the same with Canada. The Canadians managed a 1-1 tie with favored Mexico in the opening round of qualifying for the Beijing Olympics on Thursday. Fans of Mexico, who accounted for the majority of the 9,949 in attendance, voiced their displeasure by chanting "Lavolpe, Lavolpe" -- in reference to former national team coach Ricardo Lavolpe -- in the final seconds of the match at the Home Depot Center.

It wasn't supposed to be this way. When China seven years ago won the right to hold this summer's Olympics, the nation erupted in joy, confident it would finally receive the accolades it deserved as an emerging global power after a century of isolation and humiliation.

The Olympic torch made its way under heavy police guard through 31 miles of raucous protests across London on Sunday, amid mounting calls for European leaders to boycott the opening ceremonies in Beijing to protest China's human rights record. With shouts of "Free Tibet!" and "Shame on China!" from the crowds, the torch occasionally had to be sheltered on a bus, while police scuffled with demonstrators who leaped in to try to halt the parade.

Nobel Peace Prize laureate Desmond Tutu said Tuesday he supported international protests surrounding the Olympic torch and urged world leaders to boycott the games' opening ceremony in Beijing over China's human rights record. The retired Anglican archbishop from South Africa also called on China to negotiate with the Dalai Lama, the Tibetan spiritual leader and fellow Nobel Peace Prize winner, who is seeking autonomy for Tibet.

Masahisa Tsujitani is getting a lot of attention these days for a man who has spent much of the last 40 years bent over a lathe in a garage workshop, where amid the sharp smell of burnt oil and iron he grinds out some of the finest 16-pound shots ever tossed by Olympic athletes. But Tsujitani's cheerful face is showing up on Japanese television and in newspapers not because of what he does, but because of what he is refusing to do.

The Chinese government said Thursday that it had busted an Islamic terrorist ring that intended to stage suicide bombings and kidnap athletes, tourists and journalists to sabotage the 2008 Summer Olympics. The Public Security Ministry said 45 people from two terrorism cells in and around Urumqi, capital of the Xinjiang region, were arrested in January and last week. Ministry officials said authorities had seized explosives, poisons, detonators and literature calling for a jihad, or holy war.

The protest-plagued Olympic torch relay proceeded smoothly Friday on its only stop in Latin America amid extremely tight security and relatively few demonstrators. Several layers of police and other guards flanked torch-bearing runners as they carried the flame symbolizing the summer Beijing Games for more than two hours on an eight-mile course through the heart of the Argentine capital.

BEIJING -- A week of embarrassing global protests along the international Olympic torch relay has fanned Chinese nationalism at home and turned a 27-year-old disabled woman into a national hero. Jin Jing is a one-legged Chinese torchbearer who was attacked by protesters on the streets of Paris. Images of her in her wheelchair protecting the flame with her tiny body catapulted her to overnight fame in China as a symbol of the nation's effort to defend its place in the world.

On the outskirts of this western city, in a field of bright yellow flowers, Wang Xi stood on a wrestling mat and eyed her opponent, a brawny man with short-cropped hair fresh from the army. After a quick bow, she lunged at his legs, flipped him over and, within seconds, pinned him to the ground. Yang Shengli, a career military man turned entrepreneur, watched from behind his sunglasses with satisfaction.