In 1972 Russian Olga Korbut won the gold medal and the hearts of the world with her full rotation back flip on the balance beam. She was 17 years old, she wore pony tails, and she was the youngest, cutest competitor in a sport where the average competitor was usually in her low-to-mid twenties. With her spectacular performance, she ushered in the age of the pixie gymnasts: young, prepubescent girls who are able to use their tiny frames to perform flips and feats that their elders would never have dared.   More  

When over 10,000 athletes from around the world file into the Olympic Stadium before 110,000 spectators to celebrate the opening ceremonies of the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games, American sports fans will be watching the event on NBC, CNBC or MSNBC. The same will remain true for each event and the closing ceremonies on September 15, as the network has purchased all broadcasting rights for the U.S. television audience from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for $705 million. Over the next two weeks, NBC will be recording thousands of hours of Olympic events and then broadcasting condensed, tape-delayed segments in the evening. This is due to the time difference between Australia and the U.S. — New York is 15 hours behind Sydney — and NBC's intention is to attract the largest number of TV viewers during the prime-time market.   More  

Just as the games' governing body, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) thought things were settled down, they fired back up again the week before the start of the Sydney Olympics. The government of Indonesia sharply criticized the body for lobbying for the release of IOC member Mohamad Hasan so he could attend the summer games. Hasan, a track and field official, is an associate of former Indonesian President Suharto and is in jail awaiting trial on charges that he embezzled $87 million in state funds. In addition to leaning on the Indonesian government for the release of a Suharto crony, two IOC members were denied entry into Australia for their alleged ties with organized crime.   More  

In a scathing report released just weeks before the start of the 2000 Summer Games in Sydney, the White House Office of Drug Policy criticized the International Olympic Committee's drug testing program. The report, based on a two-year, $1 million study conducted by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University, concludes that that the financial windfall available to medal-winning athletes motivates many competitors to use performance-enhancing substances. The report also highlights the IOC's conflict of interest in conducting drug testing: while the organization claims to want drug-free competition, the image of the Games, and their ability to attract lucrative corporate sponsors, would be damaged if star athletes were eliminated from competition by positive drug tests. The body responsible for overseeing drug testing at the Games, the World Anti-Doping Agency, is a part of the IOC. A new worldwide anti-doping agency, independent of the IOC, should be established to ensure fair and effective testing of athletes, the report concludes.   More