Olympic Links

The guy pictured to the right is Ricardo "Ric" or "R.J." Blas Jr., an Olympian representing Guam in judo. I’m not kidding. Seriously, they really do have judo in Guam! According to Bob Costas during the opening ceremonies where he (Ric, not Bob) was the flag-bearer for Guam, Ric may be the heaviest athlete in Olympics history. Unlike Nadia Comaneci, the Romanian gymnast who won five gold medals, Ric has a MySpace page, which includes many pictures of Ric in action (judo and otherwise). If there’s one person I want to do well in Beijing, it’s Ric, particularly since he could pummel me if I get on his bad side. Here’s a little more about Blas from Guam’s Pacific Daily News (as opposed to Guam’s Atlantic Daily News).

Update 8/14: There's more coverage about Blas on this blog here and here.


Bat-El Gaterer, competing in Taekwondo, is the only religious member of the Israeli delegation. Besides answering some questions about whether or not she would compete on Shabbat, this may be my favorite portion of the interview:

Q: But isn’t [practicing with boys] problematic for you in terms of "negiah" (banned physical contact with the opposite sex)?

A: "No. It’s a kicking match. I don’t see it as problematic."


Tuvalu, the fourth smallest country in the world (larger than only the Vatican City, Monaco and Nauru) at 10 square miles and less than 12,000 people, consists of nine islands located approximately half-way between Hawaii and Australia. Tuvalu is also one of the three countries that are participating in the Olympics for the first time. I was hoping to find some fun article about this fact, but according to The Guardian, apparently, "rising sea levels are causing [the] tiny island nations to sink and maybe one day disappear." At least they are selling Olympic stamps!