Spanning the Globe

↵The reigning World’s Fastest Man is going to miss two months on the track after pulling a muscle in his chest while weightlifting. Jamaican sprinter Asafa Powell, who set the current world record in the 100 meters last September (see video), says that his injury will not keep him from competing at the Olympics in Beijing, where his showdown with American sprinter Tyson Gay figures to be one of the most exciting stories of the Games. One can’t help but imagine, however, that Asafa, who has a history of poor showings at the Olympics, now has himself a built-in excuse for another collapse in Beijing. Injured his pecs on the bench now innit? ↵

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↵The Royal and Ancient Club, organizers of golf’s British Open, have announced that they are scrapping plans to make the 2008 Open the first golf major to feature mandatory drug testing. And though I’m saddened that golf is delaying for another year confronting the ugly truth about its Steroid Era, I have to think that Trevor Immelman is breathing a mighty sigh of relief today. Because to my eyes Immelman is quite obviously wacked out on the roids, not to mention goofballs.↵
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↵The Olympic torch finished its protest-marred international tour today in Vietnam, and though there were a smattering of the anti-China demonstrations that have become par for its winding course, the biggest problem faced by the torch today was quite a problem indeed for a torch it went out.↵