While one can’t predict the behavior of a home crowd, there are those who believe that the 2008 Beijing crowd will resemble that of 1996 Atlanta, or 1999 Tianjin…especially because the Chinese are favored to win in the gymnastics events.

Hard to believe, but there are a few RUS and ROM fans who are still bitter about how the “overly” supportive USA crowd in Atlanta “distracted” their teams from doing a good job. You’d think they’d have been consoled by the fact that Lilia Podkopayeva (UKR) and three Romanians (Miloşovici, Amânar, Gogean) swept the all-around, or even the USA debacle in Sydney, and put it behind them. But nooooo…

Anyway, speaking of Atlanta, the Mag 7 will be on the Today Show on the 17th November. I shall be watching.