The Beijing Olympics ended after a memorable 16 days of competition and world record-breaking. The opening was massive and lavish, focused on China's history, and the finale was another extravagant display of modern, fanciful performances and fireworks. The ceremony also marked as the hand-off to the 2012 Olympics in London, with Britain's prime minister Gordon Brown and London mayor Boris Johnson on hand. But it's unlikely that London will be able to match the $44......

It's been a day of highs and lows for American women at the Beijing Olympics. Kerri Walsh and Misty May-Treanor defended their gold medal in women's beach volleyball. Though it was raining, the players didn't seem to mind, with Walsh saying, "The rain made it better. I don't know why, but it made it better. The ball is really wet and slimy, and you have to take care of the ball. But it's not my......

The proposed expansion of the Jacob J. Javitz convention center is essentially dead in the water as government officials admitted that the amount of money it would cost to undertake the project would not be worth the marginal return on investment that additional tax revenues would provide. Empire State Development Corporation chairman Pat Foye testified that about half of the expansion plan's $1.6 billion budget would be consumed just making repairs to the existing Javits......

This is a dis on a grand scale (to NYC tourism, at least). Or it's a blessing in disguise. The U.S. Olympic Committee is not visiting New York City when it visits potential cities for the 2016 Summer Olympics. Cities the USOC is visiting: Houston, Philadelphia, Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco. One could say that the USOC already visited NYC before it selected it to be the 2012 US Olympic city bid, but, hey,......

Mayor Bloomberg was not very successful with the Summer Olympics, but his daughter Georgina hopes that she can ride her way into the games. Georgina, the younger of Mayor Bloomberg's two daughters, has her sights set on making the Olympic equestrian team for the 2008 Beijing Games. Riding since she was 4 (Gothamist was riding our little wooden horsey), Georgina was in her first competition at the age of 6 (we competed against our reflection......

After their first loss of the season, the Jets face their first rebound challenge of the year on Monday night, as they host the Miami Dolphins. It's much more intriguing than most matchups between a 5-1 team and a 1-6 squad, particularly after Miami's offense came alive for the first time this season to outgun St. Louis 31-14 last week. Maybe that's why Jets coach Herm Edwards felt he needed to unleash a rare verbal......

Ever since the Summer Olympics in Athens, Gothamist has been obsessing over Greek food and wine options in the city. And while we've spent the past couple of months indulging the obsession through a quick gyro here or a lingering bougatza and frappe there, the time had come for Gothamist to pull out the big guns. It was time to go to Molyvos. We'd heard over the years from various press sources that the theater-district-based......

Embattled Brooklyn apartment dwellers have taken their fight against the proposed site of the new arena for the "Brooklyn Nets" all the way to Athens. A group called Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn unveiled a banner on one of the endangered apartments which reads "Dr. Rogge and the International Olympic Committee, Please Don't Destroy Our Homes." If New York City is awarded the Olympic Games in 2012, the proposed basketball arena would be used to......

Reminders about this year's Summer Olympics will grace Greek coffee cups. The iconic and beloved blue, white and tan/gold cups (the design is called Anthora) will get NBC-Olympic-coverage branded, which is the first change to the design since 1963 according to the Daily News. New Yorkers are split on the new cup (the "We Are Happy To Serve You" will stay), with a Greek hot dog vendor, Demetres Petridis, telling the DN, "If it's only......

In the biggest youth election news since Rock the Vote, P. Diddy is getting into the voter-enfranchisement business by starting a non-profit to get young people to vote. Called Citizen Change, Diddy wants to emphasize that voting is important. At first blush, it seems like a really great idea: Focus on issues like education, health care and jobs and target black and Latino communities that might not be as active otherwise. Who knows how well......

Canada will be hosting the 2010 Winter Olympics, with the beautfiul western city of Vancouver beating Pyeongchang, Korea, and Salzburg, Austria. Canada's good news may mean that New York's chances of hosting the 2012 Summer Olympics are decreased, since the IOC probably wants to spread the wealth around the world. Gothamist would love for the city to benefit from the revenue and goodwill of the Olympics, but the idea of having the Olympics in New......

From the Gothamist Sports Desk, a new world record has been set in the one foot high kick at the Native Youth Olympics in Anchorage. Apparently this event "is to Native sports what the 100-meter dash is to the Summer Olympics. It's the most glamorous event, possibly the toughest, the one crowds want most to see because competitors rocket high off the ground in an explosion of power and grace." Sounds like fun to us,......