Olympic Notes: U.S. May Warn Business Execs About Hackers
The WALL STREET JOURNAL's Siobhan Gorman reported a "debate is brewing in the U.S. government over whether to publicly warn businesspeople and other travelers heading to the Beijing Olympics about the dangers posed by Chinese computer hackers." Government officials said that U.S. intelligence agencies "are worried about the potential threat to U.S. laptops and cellphones" (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 7/17).
PERMANENT HOST: USA TODAY's Tim Wendel wrote, "Let's reconsider an idea that surfaced a quarter-century ago: Create permanent host sites in order to inject stability into the Games." What would "such a change accomplish? For starters, the insane bidding wars to host the Games would end." By "pooling TV, signage and advertising revenue, permanent sites could become a reality." Wendel: "So where should the permanent sites be? Ask the athletes. A board of former and current Olympians would know the top existing venues or how to build the best ones" (USA TODAY, 7/17).
RED FLAG: BOCOG officials Friday said that Tibetan flags will be "banned from all Olympic equestrian events in Hong Kong under rules aimed at heading off political propaganda and protests inside competition venues." BOCOG officials said that violators will be "kicked out" (AP, 7/18).
ANTI-DOPING PLAN: The GLOBE & MAIL's Rod Mickleburgh reported organizers of the 2010 Vancouver Olympics "announced plans for a state-of-the-art, multimillion dollar anti-doping laboratory to be built at one of the Games' own venues, the signature speed-skating oval in" Richmond, B.C. The 2010 anti-doping program will be headed by Doping Control Dir Dr. Christiane Ayotte. Ayotte said that "unprecedented measures will be in place to catch wayward Olympians, with four times more blood and urine tests conducted on athletes than at the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics" in '02. Ayotte added that "plans are afoot to compile biological passports of individual athletes for the first time" (GLOBE & MAIL, 7/17).
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