Word: augustness
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...August 24, the extravaganza for which China had been grooming itself for so long ended with a 30 ton steel centerpiece called the Memory Tower, reaching five stories that came alive with acrobats dancing along its girders representing a huge human flame. The Olympic flame may be extinguished, but the Tower, the organizers explain, represents the "holy flame which will burn and never be extinguished in people's hearts...
...atmosphere was far different from the giddy expectation of August 8, when the Olympics kicked off. Then, there was a sense of anxiety among the Chinese of how they would be judged by the world. During the Opening Ceremony's one-hour cultural program, the hosts eagerly gave viewers around the world a Cliffs Notes history lesson. Dear exalted foreign guests, they seemed to say, did you know we Chinese have 5,000 years of history and that we invented paper and movable type and gunpowder? Pretty cool, don't you think...
...noted. Now, the FIG is asking the Chinese Gymnastics Association for further proof of the athletes' ages. The United States Olympic Committee also sent a letter to the IOC on Friday asking that the issue be resolved. The U.S. women finished second to Chinese in the team event on August 13. "USA Gymnastics has always believed this issue needed to be addressed by the FIG and IOC," said Steve Penny, president of USA Gymnastics in a statement. "An investigation would help bring closure to the issue and remove any cloud of speculation from this competition...
...Gadd's crisscrossing of Asia started on August 19 when Vietnamese authorities deported him from Ho Chi Minh City after he served 27 months in prison for sexually abusing two girls, aged 10 and 11. But Gadd didn't want to go home to Britain. He refused to board a connecting flight in Bangkok, where Thai immigration authorities rejected his request to remain in the country, even after he claimed to have a heart attack in the departure lounge. Gadd then hopped a flight to Hong Kong, where officials once again denied him entry, sending him instead back to Thailand...
...synchronized swimming duet final on August 20, a pair of Chinese twins (Jiang Tingting and Jiang Wenwen), who came in fourth overall, performed a four-minute routine entitled "Little Birds Jumping and Flying Happily." During their turn, the Canadians blew water from their mouths, as if they were comely fountains spouting water. The Russians, who took the gold with straight 10s for technical merit, wore swimsuits with such variegated sequins that I failed to take note of what the two Anastasias (Ermakova and Davydova) were actually doing. I know immense physicality and endurance is involved in each routine, and that...