Copyright 2008 The New York Sun Wed, 18 Jun 2008 16:31:32 -0400 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Aimee Berg :: Stories from The New York Sun http://www.nysun.com/authors/Aimee+Berg istoll@nysun.com (Ira Stoll) webmaster@nysun.com en-us AIMEE BERG http://www.nysun.com/sports/wheels-come-off-for-american-star/899/ Thu, 26 Aug 2004 00:00:00 EST One of cycling's least predictable races, the Keirin, snuck up and bit America's best rider, Marty Nothstein, yesterday at the Athens velodrome. Competing in track cycling's most aggressive event, the brash 33-year-old from Allentown, Pa., failed to advance out of the early heats. Since the Keirin was his only race, it also meant he failed to become the first American to win a track cycling medal in three consecutive Games. Nothstein had won his previous medals in the match sprint (1996 silver... AIMEE BERG http://www.nysun.com/sports/weightlifting-strays-from-the-script/761/ Wed, 25 Aug 2004 00:00:00 EST Weightlifting concludes today with its final and most compelling act: the men's super-heavyweight division. Over the past 11 days, the sport delivered all the drama it promised, even though the endings often strayed from the script. Yesterday, an unsung Russian, Dmitry Berestov, right, lifted 935 lbs to win the 105kg division and capture his first major title. The runner-up, Ferenc Gyurkovics of Hungary, was even less well-known before the competition began, but managed to beat his personal... AIMEE BERG http://www.nysun.com/sports/sour-grapes-marring-games/752/ Tue, 24 Aug 2004 00:00:00 EST The Games of the XXVIII Olympiad are rapidly becoming the Games of the XXVIII Hissy Fits. It seems that bitterness is everywhere: historic gymnastics performances tainted by arguments over erroneous start values; record-breaking swims marred by accusations of illegal underwater kicks; down-to-the-wire fencing matches followed by questioning about who really stabbed whom first. Even the genteel sport of equestrian featured delegations squabbling over the number of times a horse crossed a start... AIMEE BERG http://www.nysun.com/sports/all-american-semifinal-hits-the-beach/658/ Mon, 23 Aug 2004 00:00:00 EST For the first time in history, American women will bring home a beach volleyball medal - perhaps even two. Two U.S. teams remain among the final four, and the most fiercely contested match of the Olympics may well be today's semifinal pitting world champions Kerri Walsh and Misty May against Holly Mc-Peak and Elaine Youngs. May and Walsh come in as the favorites, having won 16 of 19 matches against McPeak and Youngs. Two of their losses came in 2002, and a third was by forfeit in July 2004 as... AIMEE BERG http://www.nysun.com/sports/us-saber-team-settles-for-fourth-after-close-calls/617/ Fri, 20 Aug 2004 00:00:00 EST Olympic dreams are often crushed by hundredths of a second, thousands of a point, or millimeters. In team saber fencing yesterday, it all came down to an impaled opponent, a time out, and a close call that went the other way. And that was just the semifinal. In that contest, the U.S. team of Jason Rogers and Brooklynites Keeth Smart and Ivan Lee had been trailing France, 40-38, before Smart rallied to a 44-44 tie. With a single point to play - the first team to 45 points wins - Smart pierced... AIMEE BERG http://www.nysun.com/sports/american-rower-makes-transition-from-navy-ship/539/ Thu, 19 Aug 2004 00:00:00 EST In men's double sculls yesterday, three boats from each semifinal were expected to advance to Saturday's final. But a come-from-behind effort by the U.S. pair in the first race resulted in a third-place tie with Norway, setting up a rare seven-boat final. The rarity didn't end there. One half of the American team, Aquil Abdullah, is the first black man to make a U.S. Olympic rowing team; his partner, Henry Nuzum, is the first veteran of the current war in Iraq to compete in a U.S. Olympic... AIMEE BERG http://www.nysun.com/sports/late-addition-to-us-team-ends-100-year-fencing/466/ Wed, 18 Aug 2004 00:00:00 EST Albert Van Zo Post, move over. Mariel Zagunis ended the USA's 100-year gold-medal drought in fencing yesterday by winning the women's individual sabre event. She follows in the obscure footsteps of Van Zo Post, who won a pair of gold medals at the 1904 St. Louis Games in single sticks (which is no longer contested, much less understood) and in the team foil event (alongside a pair of Cubans). Zagunis was not only a long shot for a medal at Athens, she didn't even make the cut when the U.S. team... Aimee Berg http://www.nysun.com/sports/longshot-takes-aim/385/ Tue, 17 Aug 2004 00:00:00 EST Talk about a shot in the dark. High school senior Collyn Loper placed fourth in women's trap shooting yesterday, the best U.S. finish in shooting so far in Athens. Her performance was even more remarkable considering she is completely blind in her right eye. The 17-year-old Alabaman has been unable to see out of that side since birth. In a way, the situation sharpens her focus - many athletes cover one eye to avoid seeing a double target - but if Loper isn't looking intently for a target that... AIMEE BERG http://www.nysun.com/sports/greek-divers-win-unexpected-gold-as-favorites-flop/386/ Tue, 17 Aug 2004 00:00:00 EST Two gods were added to the Pantheon yesterday. Synchronized springboard divers Thomas Bimis and Nikolaos Siranidis gave Greece its first gold medal of the Athens Games, capping a series of bizarre events that saw the favorites committing unthinkable mistakes. It was Greece's first diving medal in 100 years of Olympic competition. Prior to the Greek heroics, China had dominated diving at Athens, capturing three gold medals in three events. The Chinese synchronized springboard duo of Wang Kenan... Aimee Berg http://www.nysun.com/sports/icon-ousted/336/ Mon, 16 Aug 2004 00:00:00 EST Danish badminton player Camilla Martin lost in the round of 16 yesterday in surprising fashion. Martin, the no.7 seed, had been upset at several major tournaments earlier in the year, but the shocker was that she lost to a fellow European, Tracey Hallam of Great Britain, 11-2, 5-11, 13-10. For the past decade, Martin had been the most dominant non-Asian woman among the badminton elite, and had said before the Olympics that it would be another decade before she foresaw a successor. Martin, the... AIMEE BERG http://www.nysun.com/sports/american-women-qualify-for-final-but-doubts-linger/338/ Mon, 16 Aug 2004 00:00:00 EST As expected, the U.S. women's gymnastics team will be among the eight squads vying for a medal in tomorrow's team event. But yesterday's qualifying round was not a complete confidence builder. Despite a few promising performances, the fact remains: The U.S. is shaky in its weakest event, vault. Although national all-around cochampions Carly Patterson and Courtney Kupets qualified for Thursday's all-around final, the day was marred by their teammates' mistakes. The miscues, if repeated 48 hours... AIMEE BERG http://www.nysun.com/sports/difficulty-meets-danger-us-women-go-for-gold/282/ Fri, 13 Aug 2004 00:00:00 EST Women's gymnastics is wildly popular in America. For teenagers, the appeal is obvious; it's the rare arena in which their peers are the best in the world. What motivates the rest of the population to watch athletes leap across a beam narrower than the diameter of a CD, or to watch young women slam their bodies in half while swinging from a pair of wooden bars? It can only be one thing: morbid fascination. Morbid because teenage girls are flirting with devastating failure; fascination because... AIMEE BERG http://www.nysun.com/sports/top-flight-badminton-serves-up-speed-drama/241/ Thu, 12 Aug 2004 00:00:00 EST Contrary to badminton's backyard image, the only thing soft about the sport is the 16 goose feathers in the shuttlecock. Olympic badminton is as dramatic as any sport in Athens: It features smashes reaching up to 200 miles an hour, festering drug scandals, allegations of match-throwing, and champions throwing tantrums. Badminton is wildly popular in Asia, where the paparazzi prey on the sport's one-named superstars. China won four of the five gold medals in Sydney and should again seize the...