Stratfor urged its members to notify authorities about any suspicious credit card activities
The activist hacker group Anonymous says it has stolen thousands of emails, passwords and credit card details from a US-based security think-tank.
The hackers claim they were able to obtain the information because the company, Stratfor, did not encrypt it.
They say Stratfor’s clients include the US defence department, law enforcement agencies and media organisations.
The Austin-based company says it has now suspended the operation on its servers and email.
An alleged member of Anonymous posted an online message, claiming that the group had used Stratfor clients’ credit card details to make “over a million dollars” in donations to different charities.
Stratfor later announced that it would keep its email and servers suspended for some time.
It also said the disclosure was “merely a list of some of the members that have purchased our publications and does not comprise a list of individuals or entities that have a relationship with Stratfor”.
Anonymous has previously claimed responsibility for cyber attacks on financial institutions seen as enemies of the whistleblowing website Wikileaks.
2011年12月25日星期日
2011年10月9日星期日
Program tries to give kids a leg up on tech
Jamaica schools seventh-grader Rylan Tate always liked math, particularly geometry. Still, he didn't know why it's important to understand things like lines, angles and shapes, other than to do well on tests.
He does now, thanks to the Gateway to Technology pre-engineering program, which Vermilion Advantage brought to his school this year.
"You can use math to design things and build things and make things better," Rylan said, as he and his classmates drew three-dimensional cubes on computers in their science class Tuesday. "It's fun."
Part of the national Project Lead the Way program, the Gateway to Technology curriculum introduces junior high and middle school students to engineering principles and technology. Students engage in hands-on, real-world activities that call on their critical-thinking, problem-solving, teamwork and communication skills.
"The goal is to get students excited about STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) careers," said Kim Kuchenbrod, Vermilion Advantage's workforce development consultant. "We want to plant that interest now, so that they'll take more advanced math and science classes in high school and go on to pursue careers in engineering, technology or health care. Hopefully, they'll come back and fill those types of jobs here in Vermilion County."
The program currently is available in 18 middle schools and junior high schools in Illinois, including North Ridge and South View middle schools in Danville. However, it's been difficult to establish in-house programs in rural school districts because of software, technology and training costs.
About a year ago, Vermilion Advantage officials began thinking of a way to deliver the program to rural schools and came up with their mobile engineering lab. It was funded by an Alcoa Foundation grant and other resources and is supported by the Vermilion Advantage Workforce Clusters.
Vermilion Advantage is piloting the nine-week program for more than 200 seventh-graders at three schools this year, first Jamaica and later Westville and Oakwood. Next year, officials want to expand it to include other schools, as well as eighth-graders.
"Our ultimate goal is to have a lab for the north county schools and one for the south county schools," Kuchenbrod said. "And we're hoping, based on the results, that the program could be used by other counties to reach students in the rural districts."
A few weeks ago, instructor Debbie Clow, a former Oakwood High School chemistry and physics teacher, introduced a unit on design and modeling to science teacher Miranda Simmon's seventh-graders. Plans call for introducing other units — automation and robotics, energy and environments, flight and space, the magic of electrons and the science of technology — which can be taught independently or in conjunction with each other.
So far, students have designed and built air racers out of heavy paper and furniture for Cabbage Patch dolls out of cardboard. They are learning to sketch two-dimensional and three-dimensional shapes on paper and on their laptops, and will soon create three-dimensional pegboards on the computer and different-shaped pegs that must fit into the right holes.
"They're learning math and science, just in a different way," Clow said, adding the hands-on projects show students the relevancy of what they're learning.
The program also includes guest speakers, local engineers and other professionals, and field trips.
"It's just a wonderful, top-notch program," Principal Mollie Pletch said, adding it enhances the school's curriculum with "hands-on, problem-solving challenges. Watching them work together, talk things through, share ideas, accept compromise and seeing their critical-thinking skills and creativity at work ... is great to see. We're so thankful to Vermilion Advantages and the area business and industry for making this opportunity possible."
Students said they like using computers and other technology that is second nature to them. They also like the project-based learning concept, which requires less lecturing by the teacher and more problem-solving by them.
"If something doesn't work right, you have to figure out why and fix it," Haven Richards said, adding students have to work as a team to do that.
"I think it's pretty awesome," Aleah Carder said, adding the program has opened up career possibilities. "I always thought I wanted to be a teacher. Now I'm considering becoming an engineer."
He does now, thanks to the Gateway to Technology pre-engineering program, which Vermilion Advantage brought to his school this year.
"You can use math to design things and build things and make things better," Rylan said, as he and his classmates drew three-dimensional cubes on computers in their science class Tuesday. "It's fun."
Part of the national Project Lead the Way program, the Gateway to Technology curriculum introduces junior high and middle school students to engineering principles and technology. Students engage in hands-on, real-world activities that call on their critical-thinking, problem-solving, teamwork and communication skills.
"The goal is to get students excited about STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) careers," said Kim Kuchenbrod, Vermilion Advantage's workforce development consultant. "We want to plant that interest now, so that they'll take more advanced math and science classes in high school and go on to pursue careers in engineering, technology or health care. Hopefully, they'll come back and fill those types of jobs here in Vermilion County."
The program currently is available in 18 middle schools and junior high schools in Illinois, including North Ridge and South View middle schools in Danville. However, it's been difficult to establish in-house programs in rural school districts because of software, technology and training costs.
About a year ago, Vermilion Advantage officials began thinking of a way to deliver the program to rural schools and came up with their mobile engineering lab. It was funded by an Alcoa Foundation grant and other resources and is supported by the Vermilion Advantage Workforce Clusters.
Vermilion Advantage is piloting the nine-week program for more than 200 seventh-graders at three schools this year, first Jamaica and later Westville and Oakwood. Next year, officials want to expand it to include other schools, as well as eighth-graders.
"Our ultimate goal is to have a lab for the north county schools and one for the south county schools," Kuchenbrod said. "And we're hoping, based on the results, that the program could be used by other counties to reach students in the rural districts."
A few weeks ago, instructor Debbie Clow, a former Oakwood High School chemistry and physics teacher, introduced a unit on design and modeling to science teacher Miranda Simmon's seventh-graders. Plans call for introducing other units — automation and robotics, energy and environments, flight and space, the magic of electrons and the science of technology — which can be taught independently or in conjunction with each other.
So far, students have designed and built air racers out of heavy paper and furniture for Cabbage Patch dolls out of cardboard. They are learning to sketch two-dimensional and three-dimensional shapes on paper and on their laptops, and will soon create three-dimensional pegboards on the computer and different-shaped pegs that must fit into the right holes.
"They're learning math and science, just in a different way," Clow said, adding the hands-on projects show students the relevancy of what they're learning.
The program also includes guest speakers, local engineers and other professionals, and field trips.
"It's just a wonderful, top-notch program," Principal Mollie Pletch said, adding it enhances the school's curriculum with "hands-on, problem-solving challenges. Watching them work together, talk things through, share ideas, accept compromise and seeing their critical-thinking skills and creativity at work ... is great to see. We're so thankful to Vermilion Advantages and the area business and industry for making this opportunity possible."
Students said they like using computers and other technology that is second nature to them. They also like the project-based learning concept, which requires less lecturing by the teacher and more problem-solving by them.
"If something doesn't work right, you have to figure out why and fix it," Haven Richards said, adding students have to work as a team to do that.
"I think it's pretty awesome," Aleah Carder said, adding the program has opened up career possibilities. "I always thought I wanted to be a teacher. Now I'm considering becoming an engineer."
2011年9月20日星期二
Combat clueless college courtship
If you don't know if you're on a date, it's hard to tell the difference between blinks and eyelash batting, thumb wars and handholding.
Whether or not you're on a date can depend on how you're asked, where the date is, and how the person sitting across from you is acting.
Once a new couple finally acknowledges they're on a date, all sorts of unspoken questions hang in the air, like who should pay and how each person should act.
Each date is different, and there's no magic formula making one successful. That being said, here are a few short lessons, drawn from my own personal experience research and interviews, on how to decode the mystery of the Chico State date.
Being asked out to junior prom via text message didn't sit well with me.
Call me corny, but I prefer the classy fellas that don't hide behind technology because of their fears of being rejected.
I text my friends to hang out all of the time, but that doesn't make it a date.
It's difficult to read between the lines of texts and emails to figure out the difference between "hanging out" and being on a date.
Asking someone out through a text message or the Internet is detached and shows insecurity. The date doesn't count unless the invitation is a little dated. If it's not important enough to ask someone out face to face, the relationship will show it.
Online dating sites such as eHarmony and PlentyOfFish claim to help people find love.
I have had a number of friends that had success on such websites, so I decided to see what all the hype was about - bad idea.
As I was browsing, I found it hard to believe that an 18-year-old male I found was really 18.
He looked 18 in the picture, but the bottom of the photo showed that it was taken in October 1976.
There can be anyone behind your computer screen, from fellas with conviction to convicted felons. Online dating starts with courtship, but if you're not careful, it could end with a court order.
Figuring out who pays during the dating period can get pretty fuzzy.
Paying during a date depends not only on the people in the relationship, but the occasion, said Angela Harter, a graduate student studying nutrition who has been in a relationship for three years.
For the first few dates it's appropriate for the male to pay, but on casual occasions, like grabbing a bite before catching a movie, the cost should be divided.
There is no right or wrong answer, Harter said.
But not everyone agrees.
The male should pay throughout the entire relationship, said Thomas Robie, an undeclared freshman.
"The whole time I always paid, really," Robie said. "I guess you could split it. It just seems weird."
Rather than conform to the heterosexual tradition of male pay, Jessica Arriga, a junior multicultural and gender studies major, said she and her date would take turns paying the bill.
"Sometimes we would split it if we were low on cash," Arriga said.
Due to cultural influences such as TV, books and movies, people in our society have a tendency to assume that in same sex relationships, one person adopts the more masculine role and the other the feminine role, Arriga said.
"I think people need to realize that, and I'm only speaking for women, that not every lesbian couple gives into that dynamic," she said. "They might both want to be feminine or even the one that dresses more feminine might feel like the more dominant masculine person that day."
Over the course of the relationship, who pays depends on the people, their situation and what feels appropriate.
I'm not saying there are specific guidelines to when the other person should start chipping in, but ladies, use some common sense and don't take advantage.
Whether or not you're on a date can depend on how you're asked, where the date is, and how the person sitting across from you is acting.
Once a new couple finally acknowledges they're on a date, all sorts of unspoken questions hang in the air, like who should pay and how each person should act.
Each date is different, and there's no magic formula making one successful. That being said, here are a few short lessons, drawn from my own personal experience research and interviews, on how to decode the mystery of the Chico State date.
Being asked out to junior prom via text message didn't sit well with me.
Call me corny, but I prefer the classy fellas that don't hide behind technology because of their fears of being rejected.
I text my friends to hang out all of the time, but that doesn't make it a date.
It's difficult to read between the lines of texts and emails to figure out the difference between "hanging out" and being on a date.
Asking someone out through a text message or the Internet is detached and shows insecurity. The date doesn't count unless the invitation is a little dated. If it's not important enough to ask someone out face to face, the relationship will show it.
Online dating sites such as eHarmony and PlentyOfFish claim to help people find love.
I have had a number of friends that had success on such websites, so I decided to see what all the hype was about - bad idea.
As I was browsing, I found it hard to believe that an 18-year-old male I found was really 18.
He looked 18 in the picture, but the bottom of the photo showed that it was taken in October 1976.
There can be anyone behind your computer screen, from fellas with conviction to convicted felons. Online dating starts with courtship, but if you're not careful, it could end with a court order.
Figuring out who pays during the dating period can get pretty fuzzy.
Paying during a date depends not only on the people in the relationship, but the occasion, said Angela Harter, a graduate student studying nutrition who has been in a relationship for three years.
For the first few dates it's appropriate for the male to pay, but on casual occasions, like grabbing a bite before catching a movie, the cost should be divided.
There is no right or wrong answer, Harter said.
But not everyone agrees.
The male should pay throughout the entire relationship, said Thomas Robie, an undeclared freshman.
"The whole time I always paid, really," Robie said. "I guess you could split it. It just seems weird."
Rather than conform to the heterosexual tradition of male pay, Jessica Arriga, a junior multicultural and gender studies major, said she and her date would take turns paying the bill.
"Sometimes we would split it if we were low on cash," Arriga said.
Due to cultural influences such as TV, books and movies, people in our society have a tendency to assume that in same sex relationships, one person adopts the more masculine role and the other the feminine role, Arriga said.
"I think people need to realize that, and I'm only speaking for women, that not every lesbian couple gives into that dynamic," she said. "They might both want to be feminine or even the one that dresses more feminine might feel like the more dominant masculine person that day."
Over the course of the relationship, who pays depends on the people, their situation and what feels appropriate.
I'm not saying there are specific guidelines to when the other person should start chipping in, but ladies, use some common sense and don't take advantage.
2011年9月5日星期一
Rubik's Cube Champion "Unblocks" Secrets
Ethan Crislip, 14, has a special talent. The high school freshman has been an expert "cuber" for the last two years. It has taken him around the country and soon the world.
"I went on YouTube and looked it up and it was pretty addicting. So I just stuck with it," Ethan said.
Solving a Rubik's cube is more systematic than you might think. Ethan follows a pattern; always the same colors on the same sides. And it takes him longer to explain it than it does to solve it.
"First I build a cross of four edges. Then I build two edges and corners together and you build the first two layers like that. The last layer is just two algorithms," he said.
So I sat down with Ethan to watch him work his magic. I scrambled a Rubik's Cube and then handed it off to Ethan. He always gets 15 seconds to look it over and then we watched him solve it.
In our time with him he got it down to under 9 seconds. He thought that was still too high, compared to his record 5 seconds. And even though he makes it look so easy, I learned it's really not.
But more than the prizes, Ethan most values his chances to travel and make friends.
"What a chance to do something so great, you know to travel like that," his mother, Annette Crislip, said.
"I've met foreign people already that have traveled to the U.S. for competitions and for the world championships. I'm really looking forward to meeting other cubers I've heard of but they're thousands of miles away," Ethan said.
He'll head to Bangkok, Thailand in October for the world championships.
"I went on YouTube and looked it up and it was pretty addicting. So I just stuck with it," Ethan said.
Solving a Rubik's cube is more systematic than you might think. Ethan follows a pattern; always the same colors on the same sides. And it takes him longer to explain it than it does to solve it.
"First I build a cross of four edges. Then I build two edges and corners together and you build the first two layers like that. The last layer is just two algorithms," he said.
So I sat down with Ethan to watch him work his magic. I scrambled a Rubik's Cube and then handed it off to Ethan. He always gets 15 seconds to look it over and then we watched him solve it.
In our time with him he got it down to under 9 seconds. He thought that was still too high, compared to his record 5 seconds. And even though he makes it look so easy, I learned it's really not.
But more than the prizes, Ethan most values his chances to travel and make friends.
"What a chance to do something so great, you know to travel like that," his mother, Annette Crislip, said.
"I've met foreign people already that have traveled to the U.S. for competitions and for the world championships. I'm really looking forward to meeting other cubers I've heard of but they're thousands of miles away," Ethan said.
He'll head to Bangkok, Thailand in October for the world championships.
2011年8月7日星期日
The Island's Olympic contenders
One year from today in the land of stiff upper lips, dreary skies and stout ales, more than 40 Island athletes will be among the Canadian team competing in the 2012 Summer Olympic Games from July 27 to Aug. 12 in London.
Top Island athletes are preparing to fulfil a lifetime of dreams.
The Island's contribution to the Canadian Summer Olympics team has historically, on a per-capita basis, been extraordinary. That's largely because the opportunity to train year-round in a mild climate has attracted elite athletes and made this a hub for national team training centres.
As a result, impressive numbers of home-grown Island athletes have in turn been inspired by what they see going on around them and have aspired to the Games themselves, with hundreds of Islanders making it over the years.
Support facilities, such as the Pacific Institute for Sport Excellence on the Camosun College Interurban campus, have sprung up as a result of all this top-level sporting activity in the region.
Qualification is on-going and the Canadian team is far from set, but one year-out, here are the Top-20 Island story-lines to look for on the road to the 2012 London Summer Games.
1 RYAN COCHRANE SWIMMING
After the bronze medal as a 19year-old in the 1,500-metre freestyle at the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics, followed by gold at the 2010 Delhi Commonwealth Games and silvers at the 2009 and 2011 world championships, expectations will be high on this Victorian's sinewy shoulders.
But standing in the way of a golden ending to the tale is world-record holder Sun Yang of China. The Yang-Cochrane duel will be among the most compelling in London.
2 DAVID CALDER, SCOTT FRANDSEN ROWING
This Victoria pair, silver medallists at Beijing in 2008, will also be under considerable pressure to take the next step to the top of the podium. They aren't shying from the challenge and have labelled their quest: "Turning Olympic silver to gold."
A confident pair, but hardly cocky, theirs will be a pursuit worth watching.
"It's a special situation and we're working and putting in the sweat hard every day to close that gap in London," said Calder, the father of two who has made a personal financial sacrifice by taking a two-year leave of absence from his job with the B.C. government to follow his dreams to London.
"We know we can go so much faster and are looking ahead to a great year of training."
The London Olympic trials for rowing are later this month in Bled, Slovenia.
3 LINDSAY JENNE RICH ROWING
Canada has notoriously had a bad rate of converting world championship gold to Summer Olympic gold. But this Claremont grad, who barely missed making the team for Beijing, is now defending world champion in lightweight and looks great for London.
4 SIMON WHITFIELD TRIATHLON
Can he possibly come through for a third Olympic medal at age 37? He was previously underestimated at both Sydney 2000 and Beijing 2008. There is something about the glaring spotlight of the Olympics that brings out the best in this legendary Victorian.
Is there anything left to draw from in that seemingly magic well? That question will be answered in London.
5 GEOFF KABUSH MAX PLAXTON MOUNTAIN BIKING
Not yet a golden oldie like Whitfield, the veteran and steady Kabush, a UVic mechanical engineering graduate from Courtenay, is looking to go out a medallist in his third Olympics.
Top Island athletes are preparing to fulfil a lifetime of dreams.
The Island's contribution to the Canadian Summer Olympics team has historically, on a per-capita basis, been extraordinary. That's largely because the opportunity to train year-round in a mild climate has attracted elite athletes and made this a hub for national team training centres.
As a result, impressive numbers of home-grown Island athletes have in turn been inspired by what they see going on around them and have aspired to the Games themselves, with hundreds of Islanders making it over the years.
Support facilities, such as the Pacific Institute for Sport Excellence on the Camosun College Interurban campus, have sprung up as a result of all this top-level sporting activity in the region.
Qualification is on-going and the Canadian team is far from set, but one year-out, here are the Top-20 Island story-lines to look for on the road to the 2012 London Summer Games.
1 RYAN COCHRANE SWIMMING
After the bronze medal as a 19year-old in the 1,500-metre freestyle at the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics, followed by gold at the 2010 Delhi Commonwealth Games and silvers at the 2009 and 2011 world championships, expectations will be high on this Victorian's sinewy shoulders.
But standing in the way of a golden ending to the tale is world-record holder Sun Yang of China. The Yang-Cochrane duel will be among the most compelling in London.
2 DAVID CALDER, SCOTT FRANDSEN ROWING
This Victoria pair, silver medallists at Beijing in 2008, will also be under considerable pressure to take the next step to the top of the podium. They aren't shying from the challenge and have labelled their quest: "Turning Olympic silver to gold."
A confident pair, but hardly cocky, theirs will be a pursuit worth watching.
"It's a special situation and we're working and putting in the sweat hard every day to close that gap in London," said Calder, the father of two who has made a personal financial sacrifice by taking a two-year leave of absence from his job with the B.C. government to follow his dreams to London.
"We know we can go so much faster and are looking ahead to a great year of training."
The London Olympic trials for rowing are later this month in Bled, Slovenia.
3 LINDSAY JENNE RICH ROWING
Canada has notoriously had a bad rate of converting world championship gold to Summer Olympic gold. But this Claremont grad, who barely missed making the team for Beijing, is now defending world champion in lightweight and looks great for London.
4 SIMON WHITFIELD TRIATHLON
Can he possibly come through for a third Olympic medal at age 37? He was previously underestimated at both Sydney 2000 and Beijing 2008. There is something about the glaring spotlight of the Olympics that brings out the best in this legendary Victorian.
Is there anything left to draw from in that seemingly magic well? That question will be answered in London.
5 GEOFF KABUSH MAX PLAXTON MOUNTAIN BIKING
Not yet a golden oldie like Whitfield, the veteran and steady Kabush, a UVic mechanical engineering graduate from Courtenay, is looking to go out a medallist in his third Olympics.
2011年3月15日星期二
London 2012: Oliver Holt recalls his personal favourite five Olympic moments
1. Cathy Freeman only ran in one event at the 2000 Sydney Olympics but she dominated those
Games as completely as if she had been competing every day.
The first aboriginal athlete ever to compete for Australia, Freeman became the conscience of
a nation during the Olympics, a symbol of the guilt many Australians still feel about the way
they treated the continent's original inhabitants.
Freeman lit the flame at the opening ceremony and when she lined up for the final of the
400m, the pressure on her to win was enormous.
The roar in the stadium that greeted the starting gun lasted the whole lap. Freeman, wearing
a hooded body suit, led from start to finish. At the end, in one of the iconic pictures of
those games, she sank to the track and sat down, her face a picture not of joy but of relief.
Usain Bolt of Jamaica celebrates winning the men's 100m final of the athletics competition in
the National Stadium at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games (Pic:Reuters)
2. I am not sure that I believe in Usain Bolt but sitting in the Bird's Nest in Beijing and
seeing him
obliterate the rest of the field in the 100m final still took my breath away.
I knew in those startling 9.69 seconds what it must have been like to have been in Seoul in
1988 to see Ben Johnson blow away rivals that included Carl Lewis and Linford Christie.
It was the nonchalance of Bolt that was the most shocking thing of all, the way that he eased
up with about ten metres to go, looked around and spread his arms out wide in triumph.
This was the 100m men's final and he was coasting. Despite the cursed lineage of the event,
the positive tests attached to previous champions like Justin Gatlin, Johnson and Christie,
there is still an incredible thrill about watching the fastest man in the world.
What Bolt did in Beijing, winning gold in the 200m too and breaking Michael Johnson's world
record, made him the star of the Games.
Steve Williams, James Cracknell, Ed Coode and Matthew Pinsent
3. Seeing Steve Redgrave win his fifth Olympic gold medal in Sydney was special but I enjoyed
seeing Britain's men's coxless four win in Athens more.
Advertisement - article continues below
Maybe it was because it was such an amazingly close race between the British and Canadian
boats, a contest so nerve-wracking that many did not know who had won when the boats crossed
the line.
There was great drama, too, in men like Sir Matthew Pinsent and James Cracknell, incredible
sportsmen in their own right, trying to win gold without Redgrave and knowing that silver
would be regarded as a desperate failure.
It was Pinsent's fourth gold and he wept like a child on the podium after the race. It was
sporting drama at its very best.
Olympic sailor Shirley Robertson (Pic:Reuters)
4. I have not included Shirley Robertson's victory in the Europe class of the sailing event
in Sydney in my top 5 because it was one of the outstanding sporting achievements of the
three Olympics I have covered although obviously it was a superb accomplishment by Robertson
that was justly celebrated.
I included it because the moment of her victory seemed to me to encapsulate much of the magic
that the Olympics can bring.
I spent the whole of that day in a small motor boat on Sydney Harbour, being buffeted by
waves and soaked in spray, trying to follow Robertson's exploits.
It was one of the most beautiful sporting scenes I have ever witnessed, a flotilla of boats
in one of the most beautiful harbours in the world on a gloriously sunny day.
And a sport which is rarely given the oxygen of publicity was suddenly centre stage, more
important for a few hours than the Premier League or an Ashes Test. It summed up much that is
best about the Olympics.
Games as completely as if she had been competing every day.
The first aboriginal athlete ever to compete for Australia, Freeman became the conscience of
a nation during the Olympics, a symbol of the guilt many Australians still feel about the way
they treated the continent's original inhabitants.
Freeman lit the flame at the opening ceremony and when she lined up for the final of the
400m, the pressure on her to win was enormous.
The roar in the stadium that greeted the starting gun lasted the whole lap. Freeman, wearing
a hooded body suit, led from start to finish. At the end, in one of the iconic pictures of
those games, she sank to the track and sat down, her face a picture not of joy but of relief.
Usain Bolt of Jamaica celebrates winning the men's 100m final of the athletics competition in
the National Stadium at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games (Pic:Reuters)
2. I am not sure that I believe in Usain Bolt but sitting in the Bird's Nest in Beijing and
seeing him
obliterate the rest of the field in the 100m final still took my breath away.
I knew in those startling 9.69 seconds what it must have been like to have been in Seoul in
1988 to see Ben Johnson blow away rivals that included Carl Lewis and Linford Christie.
It was the nonchalance of Bolt that was the most shocking thing of all, the way that he eased
up with about ten metres to go, looked around and spread his arms out wide in triumph.
This was the 100m men's final and he was coasting. Despite the cursed lineage of the event,
the positive tests attached to previous champions like Justin Gatlin, Johnson and Christie,
there is still an incredible thrill about watching the fastest man in the world.
What Bolt did in Beijing, winning gold in the 200m too and breaking Michael Johnson's world
record, made him the star of the Games.
Steve Williams, James Cracknell, Ed Coode and Matthew Pinsent
3. Seeing Steve Redgrave win his fifth Olympic gold medal in Sydney was special but I enjoyed
seeing Britain's men's coxless four win in Athens more.
Advertisement - article continues below
Maybe it was because it was such an amazingly close race between the British and Canadian
boats, a contest so nerve-wracking that many did not know who had won when the boats crossed
the line.
There was great drama, too, in men like Sir Matthew Pinsent and James Cracknell, incredible
sportsmen in their own right, trying to win gold without Redgrave and knowing that silver
would be regarded as a desperate failure.
It was Pinsent's fourth gold and he wept like a child on the podium after the race. It was
sporting drama at its very best.
Olympic sailor Shirley Robertson (Pic:Reuters)
4. I have not included Shirley Robertson's victory in the Europe class of the sailing event
in Sydney in my top 5 because it was one of the outstanding sporting achievements of the
three Olympics I have covered although obviously it was a superb accomplishment by Robertson
that was justly celebrated.
I included it because the moment of her victory seemed to me to encapsulate much of the magic
that the Olympics can bring.
I spent the whole of that day in a small motor boat on Sydney Harbour, being buffeted by
waves and soaked in spray, trying to follow Robertson's exploits.
It was one of the most beautiful sporting scenes I have ever witnessed, a flotilla of boats
in one of the most beautiful harbours in the world on a gloriously sunny day.
And a sport which is rarely given the oxygen of publicity was suddenly centre stage, more
important for a few hours than the Premier League or an Ashes Test. It summed up much that is
best about the Olympics.
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