Turn Style - Female Saudi Olympians Debut

For the first time in modern history, Saudi Arabia has allowed women to represent their nation at the Olympic Games.

Sarah Attar ran the 800 meter race in track and field, and Wojdan Shaherkani represented the Saudi kingdom in women's judo competition.

The 19 year-old Attar, who ran her race completely clad from head to toe, finished last, but received a standing ovation as she crossed the finish line.

Photo: Daniel Ocho De Olza / AP

Shaherkani, who is just 16 years old, only lasted 82 seconds in her judo match, but she proudly made history, nonetheless. 

Photo: Chang W. Lee / New York Times

Reflecting on the praiseworthy accomplishments of these two women stirs up contradictory emotions. It is gratifying to see that a nation as fundamentalist as Saudi Arabia is at least beginning to move in the direction of women's rights, but it is simultaneously horrifying to imagine a place where half the human population still lacks the right to vote or even drive a car.

Imagine living in a land where religious traditionalists can deny even the most basic of human rights to a particular sect of the population, simply because of who they were born to be? Which reminds me, anyone visited Chick-Fil-A lately?

Turn Style - Andy Murray's Dogs Wear Olympic Silver and Gold Medals

In Sunday's surprising straight sets beatdown of world #1 Roger Federer, Scotsman Andy Murray won the Olympic gold medal in tennis in front of a "hometown" London crowd. A couple of hours later, he won the silver medal for Britain in mixed doubles with his partner Laura Robson.

Sometime after that, Murray's pet border terriers sported his Olympic booty for the camera, and the pair looked pretty damn adorable doing so. The picture below was posted online by Maggie May, one of the terriers who apparently has her own Twitter handle and more than 10,000 followers.

If this doesn't soften Andy's sometimes crusty and curmudgeonly image in the tennis world, I'm not sure what else he can do.

Murray's pups - Rusty (silver) and Maggie May (gold).

Andy with medals and the Union Jack.

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My Olympic Brush With Broadcasting Greatness

One of the enjoyable things these days about epic worldwide media events (think Oscars, Olympics, and apparently Justin Bieber haircuts) is the opportunity to share in the excitement of the affair with the entire Twitterverse.

Twitter enables real-time interaction with thousands of others who are participating in or watching an event, and periodically, you even get a celebrity response.

To that end, I bring you my Twitter exchange today with ESPN's Chris Fowler, regarding Chinese Olympic trampoline gold medalist - Dong Dong.

Don't worry. I don't think I actually offended Chris. This was at least his second tongue-in-cheek tweet about Dong. Besides, however shameful my comment was, I'm pretty sure this Yahoo Sports headline is worse.

Discover Your Olympic Athlete Body Match

If you haven't already played with the interactive body-match gadget shared by the BBC, it's fun.

Just be sure to change your statistics to feet/inches and pounds to get an accurate match for your body type.

I failed to adjust my metrics the first time, and my match was a 7' tall Chinese basketball player.

Canadian wrestler Khetag Pliev

Once I got it right, my correct body double was Canadian wrestler Khetag Pliev.

You can see the similarities, right?

We both have broad muscular shoulders, tight pecs, and massive guns, right?

Click here to enter your stats and find your Olympic athlete body match.

(Hat tip to Kyle Sheridan for sharing this with me!)

Turn Style - 10 Top Photos of Olympic Triumph, Defeat, and Originality

With five days under our collective Olympic belt, we've already been treated to an abundance of jubilantly triumphant moments, as well as several instances of crushing defeat.

Here are a few photos that best capture the joy, the anguish, and sometimes just the most unique moments of the 2012 Olympics.

The Triumphant

Chad le Clos, South African Gold Medalist
Photo: Toby Melville / Reuters

South Korean Choi Byungchul - Fencing
Photo: Fabrizio Bensch / Reuters

Michael Phelps and team win 4x100 Relay
Photo: David Gray / Reuters

More photos of herculean athletic efforts here.

The Defeated

Colombian weightlifter Lina Rivas
Photo: Stefano Rellandini / Reuters

New Zealand's Chris Wood tumbles on the pitch
Photo: Alessandro Garofalo / Reuters

Ksenila Afanseva - Russian gymnast
Photo: Michael Blake / Reuters

More Olympic blunders here.

The Original

Opening Ceremony
Photo: Marko Djurica / Reuters

First female Saudi Arabian Olympian ever
Photo: Suzanne Plunkett / Reuters

South Korean archer (and secret superhero?) Lee Sung Jin
Photo: Suhaib Salem / Reuters

Venus Williams - sporting the USA hairdo
Photo: Suzanne Plunkett / Reuters

Other interesting images from the 2012 Olympic Games here.

Turn Style - London's Mayor Stuck On Zip Line

Go Team GB!
Photo: Rebecca Denton / Twitter

London's mayor Boris Johnson found himself stranded on a zip line during an Olympic celebration Wednesday at an East London park.

The equipment issue left the mayor hanging in midair for five minutes, during which he reportedly remained plucky and cheerful (full story and video here).

The cause of the malfunction was not immediately identified, but my money is on Romney sabotage.


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A Short Guide to 2012 Olympic Tennis

2012 Olympic Tennis at Wimbledon

The 2012 London Olympics are underway and the tennis competition begins on Saturday, July 28 at Wimbledon.

Here are five essential facts and a few corresponding links to help you make the most out of the time you spend watching Olympic tennis.

(1) Who's playing? All the top-ranked men and women are playing, with the exception of Rafael Nadal who was forced to withdraw due to injury. Fresh from their Wimbledon wins, Roger Federer and Serena Williams are of course the favorites. Complete draws for the men's and women's tennis competitions were announced on Thursday. You can find draws for singles and doubles here, and you can see all the players listed by country here.

(2) Where and when can you watch Olympic tennis? The complete TV coverage schedule for the U.S. is here. In a nutshell, starting Saturday July 28 Bravo will broadcast 56 hours of tennis coverage from the first round through to the semi-final matches on Friday. Finals matches the weekend of August 4-5 move to various other NBC networks.

(3) Which tennis players will be flag bearers for their countries? In 2012, a total of eight tennis players have been chosen to carry their nation's flag during Friday night's opening ceremony (by contrast, in 2008 only Federer - Switzerland and Fernando Gonzalez - Chile were flag bearers). Here are the eight tennis players who will proudly carry flags in London.

1. Marcos Baghdatis - Cyprus (CYP)
2. Novak Djokovic - Serbia (SRB)
3. Max Mirnyi - Belarus (BLR)
4. Agnieszka Radwanska - Poland (POL)
5. Maria Sharapova - Russia (RUS)
6. Horia Tecau - Romania (ROM)
7. Stephanie Vogt - Liechtenstein (LIE)
8. Stanislas Wawrinka - Switzerland (SUI)

Bonus Trivia - Why isn't Federer carrying the flag again for Switzerland? Federer carried the Swiss flag at the Olympics in 2004 (Athens) and 2008 (Beijing). He was offered the opportunity again this year, but declined so that his doubles partner Stan Wawrinka could have the honor.

(4) Who were the 2008 medal winners in tennis?

• Rafael Nadal won the men's singles gold medal and Elena Dementieva won the women's singles gold.
• Federer/Wawrinka won men's doubles and the Williams sisters won women's doubles. 

The complete list of 2008 tennis medalists is here.

(5) Of the six players who earned Gold/Silver/Bronze medals in singles in 2008, how many are playing in 2012? Novak Djokovic (2008-Silver) and Vera Zvonareva (2008-Bronze) are the only 2008 singles medalists returning to the Olympics this year. The other four players are either injured (Rafael Nadal), retired (Elena Dementieva, Fernando Gonzalez), or didn't qualify (Dinara Safina).

You can find lots more info including live/daily scores, photos, and a link to the ITF Olympic Tennis Mobile App here.

Enjoy the 2012 Olympic Games! 

Turn of Phrase - Brits Respond to Romney's Olympic Insult

Romney and Cameron
Photo: Charles Dharapak / AP

"We are holding an Olympic Games in one of the busiest, most active, bustling cities anywhere in the world. Of course it's easier if you hold an Olympic Games in the middle of nowhere."

- British P.M. David Cameron, gently reminding Mitt Romney that hosting the Olympics in London is a far more complex venture than hosting in Salt Lake City.

Cameron, and for that matter the rest of the British, were appropriately pissed when Romney, who is visiting Great Britain this week, attempted to show off his Olympics executive "expertise," telling NBC's Brian Williams that he had seen "a few things that were disconcerting" with regard to London's preparedness. 

We all know how challenging it can be navigating the treacherous and uncertain waters of American-British foreign policy. If Mitt handles a long-term ally like the U.K. with this much aplomb, I can only imagine how well he would manage relations with China or Russia.

Channel 4's Ad for the 2012 Paralympic Games

Passion, guts, penultimate excellence - check out this amazing ad from Britain's Channel 4 for the 2012 Summer Paralympic Games.

Channel 4 Paralympic Games - Meet The Superhuman from BasketUSA

(Hat tip to my friend Doug Gonterman for sharing this ad on Twitter.)

Turn of Phrase - Neil Patrick Harris Outs Clint Eastwood on Colbert

Neil Patrick Harris appearing
on The Colbert Report

"Colbert: Who else in Hollywood is gay?

NPH: There's a couple. There's a few of 'em. Do you want names?

Colbert: Eastwood? Clint Eastwood?

NPH: Clint Eastwood, super gay. Super duper gay."

- From Neil Patrick Harris, in a recent appearance on The Colbert Report. NPH was promoting the upcoming telecast of the Tony Awards.

Other interview topics include making theater an Olympic sport and juggling your children. NPH and Colbert go together like gay peanut butter and straight jelly. Watch the clip below and just try not to love both these guys.