As you all know, gay diver Matthew Mitcham won a gold medal in Beijing this weekend.

While it's customary to cheer for your home (nation) team, many of you may have found yourselves cheering for Mitcham simply because he's of the homo persuasion.

This leads us to two questions: One, did you cheer for Mitcham simply because he's gay? Two, is it fair to prefer someone simply because they're gay?

Australian diver Matthew Mitcham sure had a weekend to remember. After retiring in his teens, the 20-year old emerged victoriously at the Olympic games in Beijing, where he took the gold for the 10 meter platform dive.

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Jeanne Moos, the funniest newswoman on television, recently took to the streets to compare Olympic idol Michael Phelps' to the previous American swimming champ Marc Spitz. The results are pure journalistic gold.

Michael Phelps done did it. The American Olympics swimmer cinched his eighth gold medal in Beijing yesterday, giving him a grand total of eleven such wins, which beats out Marc Spitz's previous record of ten.

Having completed his mission, the ever humble Phelps said, "I wanted to do something nobody ever did." He also said he wanted to hug his mom. Awww.

Meanwhile, did anyone see the American basketball team whoop Spain 119-82 yesterday? Could they be better than the Dream Team?

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China loves a man with a flame:

A handsome but anonymous guardian of the Olympics torch on its troubled world tour has won legions of Chinese female fans — and plenty of marriage proposals.

Known only as "Second Brother on the Right" because of his customary position by the flame, the young man with boyish looks and cropped hair is an Internet sensation and nationalist hero.
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"We love him not only because he is so handsome but because he represents the pride of China," one female blogger wrote.

North Korean premiere Kim Jong-il is said to be insanely jealous.

These shots are for a new Olympic advertising campaign in the U.K. from Powerade, the sports drink owned by the Coca-Cola Company.

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The Chinese government will begin a "gender determination" process for female athletes to make sure they're not too manly:

Experts at the lab, located at the Peking Union Medical College Hospital, will evaluate cases based on their external appearance and take blood samples to test hormones, genes and chromosomes…
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The concept has drawn criticism over the years, largely because certain chromosomal abnormalities may cause a woman to fail a test, even though it gives her no competitive advantage. Also, if a female athlete fails a test she must have a physiological examination, which many consider invasive and a privacy violation.
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At the 1996 Atlanta Games, eight athletes failed the tests but were all cleared by subsequent examinations. Santhi Soundarajan, a middle-distance runner from India, was stripped of an Asian Games silver medal in 2006 after failing a gender verification test.

We wonder where a post-op male-to-female would stand…

The new Men's Journal photo spread of Olympic swimmers Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte inspired more embarrassing tales of the heart from our Lance Bass-loving colleague, Whitney Little: "During my sophomore year in college I had a teensy weensy crush Phelps that drove me to spend over $100 on all the MP paraphernalia I could find on eBay… I finally moved on, but I have a bad feeling my problem may creep back now that it’s Olympic season yet again and Men’s Journal is putting out pictures like these."

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Gay former b-baller John Amaechi's on a new mission.

The Briton will travel to China this summer as Amnesty International's sports ambassador. And, knowing that many people oppose China's questionable human rights policies, or lack thereof, Amaechi's instructing athletes to join the debate:

People who have issues with the policies and behavior of the Chinese authorities should speak out.

I would encourage athletes not to distract themselves by burying themselves in the facts and figures and legislation of China but simply to acknowledge that being an ambassador for human rights in China is the most Olympian thing to do. Anything less than that is not being a true Olympian no matter the color of the medal that you hold up.

To those of you who don't win medals - feel free to keep a lid on it.

There are many ways to say “Boycott the Beijing Olympics,” but which is the most effective?

Perhaps it’s all those clever plays on the Olympics logo – HANDCUFFS! SKULLS! – that tickle our fancy and, based on our television viewing experience, get the most attention during local TV spots coverage protests at various Olympics ceremonies and torch runnings.

So what do all these Olympics boycott images look like?

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There may be more reason to protest the Beijing-hosted Olympic games. Former government official and gay activist Dr. Wan Yanhai claims the government has launched a homophobic crackdown ahead of the athletic festivities. And he's not the only one:

In his email about the new anti-gay crackdown, Wan detailed several of the police raids. They began on March 9 when police invaded Destination, Beijing's most popular gay nightspot.
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A foreigner residing in Beijing who had spoken to a number of Chinese gays said by telephone, "The authorities have begun this so-called clean-up to signal to Chinese gays that they better be really discreet and invisible during the Beijing Olympics. The government is very suspicious of anyone or anything that they do not consider normal or in keeping with official standards for correct conduct…"

The move would be especially queer considering the government's recent push to incorporate men who have sex with men into their HIV/AIDS campaigns.