THE WEEK July 27: Olympic special

Visit THE WEEK on Sinaweibo

Visit THE WEEK on Tencentweibo

Sex and the Olympics

What can we expect from athletes at the 2012 Olympic Games in London? Of course, the best collection of skills and highest level of competition the world can ever see - and apparently a lot of sex. Sparking the outbreak of stories was a book called "The Secret Olympian". The anonymous author said the 70,000 condoms provided in the 2000 Sydney Olympic Village were gone within a week. Then US women's soccer goaltender Hope Solo spoke publically of her sexual encounters in the Olympic Village. And so did boxing bronze medalist Ronda Rousey. And find out what the Brazilian men’s soccer team is doing to avoid such temptations.

Olympic trash talk

A number of athletes have been speaking out against their opponents. For example, British pole-vaulter Holly Bleasdale called defending world champion Yelena Isinbayeva a tramp. What's worse is that there are athletes talking smack about their own teammates. US Olympic swimmer Tyler Clary said Michael Phelps is "asking to lose".

Dressage: Basically horse ballet

You may not be familiar with the sport dressage. A fair guess would be that it's a sport for super rich people. Basically, a person directs the horse through a series of movements (that seem totally unnatural for a horse, which in my opinion should be galloping and trotting through an endless field). The only reason I don't hate the sport entirely is because it gives way to some great Internet videos.

This wacky world! Olympic edition

One woman has found a unique way to make money from the Olympics. She converted the shed in her backyard into a cozy little hotel room. And she lives right next to the Olympic Village.

When it came down to the final spot on Australia's Olympic shooting team, the two final competitors were boyfriend and girlfriend. The woman got the spot and said her boyfriend has no hard feelings. Yeah, right.

There's still talk of women's beach volleyball players not wearing the traditional bikini uniform. That would be such a tragedy. While female volleyball players have my full respect as hard-working, skilled athletes, you can't deny how sexy those uniforms are.