Charitable Gift Giving

For the last few weeks, we’ve been highlighting great Olympics souvenirs where proceeds go to support the athletes of the US Olympic Team.

For the next 10 days, we’ll highlight one new product each evening from the US Olympic Shop.

I can’t remember the last time I sat on the edge of my seat so much watching the Olympics. A few nights ago it was the men’s swimming team. Tonight, Nastia Liukin and Shawn Johnson were the ones responsible for me, as well as our whole country, having to catch our collective breath.

Both women did our country proud by winning the gold and silver medal in the Women’s All-Around, the first time ever that American women have placed first and second in this event. It went down to the very last event, the floor exercise. Both executed it flawlessly when they needed to.

Admittedly, after China ran away with the men’s and women’s team competition, I started to wonder if USA Gymnastics was going the way of other once-great programs like the Russian and Romanian programs. But after watching Liukin and Johnson, I’m comforted to know that Team USA is alive and well.

Here’s a picture from tonight of Liukin and Johnson on the medal stand, with Chinese Yang Yilin:

One thing I admire about all the USA Athletes is that, while governments in other countries sometimes heavily subsidize their Olympic programs and start molding athletes from the time they’re babies, largely for the purposes of propoganda, the young men and women in the US work hard solely because they’re pursuing their dream and the passion for their sport. Not to say that other athletes in other countries don’t do that, but without the shadow of a government machine, something about it just seems more authentic.

Celebrate the moment and show your support for the dream with these Team USA Gymnastic duds!

Cheer on Team USA and check back here each day to track their progress on this official medal count widget.

For the last few weeks, we’ve been highlighting great Olympics souvenirs where proceeds go to support the athletes of the US Olympic Team.

For the next 11 days, we’ll highlight one new product each evening from the US Olympic Shop.

These are three souvenir balls from the 2008 Beijing Olympics, specifically a souvenir basketball, souvenir soccer ball, and a souvenir volleyball.

They’re all regulation-sized, so you can use them for playing these three sports. But they also make great souvenirs from the Games, as they also come with the official 2008 Summer Olympics logo, the words “Beijing 2008”, and the Olympic Rings on them, as well as the official mascots BeiBei, JingJing, HuanHuan, YingYing, and NiNi. You can read all about the meaning of the logo and the story behind the mascots here.

Cheer on Team USA and check back here each day to track their progress on this official medal count widget.

For the last few weeks, we’ve been highlighting great Olympics souvenirs where proceeds go to support the athletes of the US Olympic Team.

For the next 12 days, we’ll highlight one new product each evening from the US Olympic Shop. Today, we’re going to talk about the history of Olympic Pins and Olympic Pin Trading.

Olympics Pin Trading has been around since the first modern Olympics in 1896. The first “pins” were originally cardboard discs that were designed to identify athletes by their countries, officials, and the press. Some Olympians that year started to trade their own badges with others as gestures of goodwill, and a tradition was started. To the right, you see an image of a judge’s pin from the 1900 Olympics in Paris.

In the next few decades, more official pins were created to identify different groups, from the International Olympic Committee to members of the media. The pins started to become more stylized and resemble jewelry and eventually were produced for sale to spectators as well as participants. By the time of the 1924 Summer Games in Paris, the concept of the Olympic Village began, and so participants in the Olympics started to exchange their countries’ pins in earnest.

From 1933 to 1936, more than 1 million pins were sold to the public to help underwrite the games in Germany. To the right, you see the very rare pin from the 1936 Berlin Games. In 1940, even though the Olympics were cancelled during the war, pins were still produced.

In 1968’s games in Mexico City, the pin with a clitch to fasten the pin to clothing, which has become the norm today, was introduced. Pin collecting and pin trading took off in a big way in the Lake Placid Winter Games in 1980 and the Los Angeles Summer Games in 1984. Since then, it’s become an international event in itself.

Here are some pins from this year’s Olympics in Beijing, for sale from the official shop of the US Olympic Team. These all have the official Beijing 2008 logo. Unlike with other pin shops, you can be sure these proceeds will go directly to support our athletes. Just click on any pin, and you’ll be brought to the Olympic Store to buy it.

Cheer on Team USA and check back here each day to track their progress on this official medal count widget.

For the last few weeks, we’ve been highlighting great Olympics souvenirs where proceeds go to support the athletes of the US Olympic Team.

For the next 13 days, we’ll highlight one new product each evening from the US Olympic Shop.

On Monday morning at 11:30 AM (11:30 PM Sunday night), the USA Men’s Swim team of ichael Phelps, Garrett Weber-Gale, Cullen Jones, and Jason Lezak (who crushed the record for the leg time) turned in the first “wow” moment of the games for me. After an drought of two Olympics, they brought the gold medal back to the 4×100 relay in dramatic fashion. The US won over the French team by all of .06 seconds, breaking their world record and the Olympic record.

Making the victory extra sweet was that the French team was heavily favored–and had been talking trash against the US team. But in good old fashioned Team USA style, the team said all they needed to say through their actions. And of course, the victory is going to helps Phelps become the most decorated Olympian in history.

Here’s a picture of them on the medal stand receiving their gold medals:

Celebrate their victory with the same jackets they wore on the medal stand!

Or if you prefer, get an official Team USA Swimming T-Shirt or Hoody!

Cheer on Team USA and check back here each day to track their progress on this official medal count widget.

For the last few weeks, we’ve been highlighting great Olympics souvenirs where proceeds go to support the athletes of the US Olympic Team.

For the next 14 days, we’ll highlight one new product each evening from the US Olympic Shop.

On Sunday evening Beijing time (Sunday morning US time), Team USA and the Chinese National Team faced off in what they’re calling the most-watched basketball game in history, watched by over 500,000 people.

It was a surprisingly competitive game in the beginning. The team from China, playing with an enthusiastic home field crowd, sharp three-point shooting, and the hopes of 1.3 billion people on their shoulders, put up a valiant fight, keeping the score close well into the second quarter. But then Team USA kicked it up a notch and put the game away.

You can recreate the event yourself by getting replicas of the jerseys that were worn in the game. For the China team, you can get a red Yi Jianlian jersey with yellow trim with the word CHINA written in block letters. For the US team, you can get the Kobe Bryant Olympics jersey and Lebron James Olympics jersey which are white with blue trim, as worn in the game.

You can also get the official Beijing 2008 China team jacket
and 2008 Team USA Team Jacket

Of course, the real winner is Nike, whose “swoosh” appears on every one of these!

Cheer on Team USA by wearing their official apparel, and check back here each day to track their progress on this official medal count widget.

For the last few weeks, we’ve been highlighting great Olympics souvenirs where proceeds go to support the athletes of the US Olympic Team.

For the next 15 days, we’ll highlight one new product each evening from the US Olympic Shop.

If you saw the opening ceremonies last night, you witnessed an amazing spectacle. From the display of two thousand drummers to the amazing surprise feat of human-powered animated blocks to the image of the torch carrier running across the ceiling to light the Olympic flame, some of the special effects still have me scratching my head in amazement.

You may have noticed some of the volunteers that evening wearing some nice-looking red jackets which read “Beijing 2008” on the back. This jacket is on sale from the US Olympics Shop.

Cheer on Team USA by wearing their official apparel, and check back here each day to track their progress on this official medal count widget.

The Summer Olympics start today!

For the last few weeks, we’ve been highlighting great Olympics souvenirs where proceeds go to support the athletes of the US Olympic Team.

For the next 16 days, we’ll highlight one new product each evening from the US Olympic Shop.

The opening ceremonies took place in Beijing today. The US team came in wearing some very stylish blazers designed by Ralph Lauren himself, whose company Polo Ralph Lauren is an official sponsor of the team. The left side of the blazer had the official USA Olympics insignia, while the right side had a nice polo horsey. The athletes were also unified wearing some very stylish berets.

The US Olympic Shop has a number of great-looking official products from Polo, many which you’ll see on the athletes for the next sixteen days. While you can’t get the blazer on their site, you can get the cool beret! (Technically, it’s a “Driving Cap”). Like the blazer, it has the official US emblem to the left, and the polo horsey to the right.

Here’s a picture of the US Taekwando team greeting the President tonight:

 Cheer on Team USA by wearing their official apparel, and check back here each day to track their progress on this official medal count widget.