Intrigue at the Olympics

It's a week into the Beijing Olympics and the United States and China are running away with the medal count.

As of the time I am writing this, China has 35 total medals (22 gold), the U.S.A. has 34 and Germany is in a distant third with 12.

Prior to the games, analysts predicted the two countries would battle it out for medal supremacy, and it is coming true.

Swimming has been America's forte so far, with the team gathering 20 of the 34 medals in the pool, backed by Michael Phelps, who is, well, dominating.

Phelps has five gold medals so far, all of them coming with a world record attached.

The men's basketball and women's beach volleyball teams are rolling and the women's gymnastics team lost a heartbreaker to China.

Also, controversy has once again plagued the games.

The ages of the women's gymnastics team for China has been highly disputed, which I can understand why.

Almost in a reverse Danny Almonte situation, the girls are claimed to be at least 16 years old, but just by looking at them, they look much younger. They may very well be old enough to perform in the Olympics, but something doesn't add up.

At the other end of the spectrum, advertisements in Spanish newspapers have the games all a flutter.

The ads show both the Spanish men's and women's basketball teams are shown apparently slanting their eyes.

It has brought about questions of perceived racism, which the men's team claims it was supposed to be a funny gesture and that the press is blowing it out of proportion.

"We felt it was something appropriate, and that it would be interpreted as an affectionate gesture," Calderon, who plays for NBA's Toronto Raptors, wrote on his ElMundo.es blog. "Without a doubt, some ... press didn't see it that way."

I am curious as to what logically minded person would consider an act like that as an "affectionate gesture."

There are times where situations are made bigger than what they are, but I do not think this is one of them.

They may not have intended it as a racist act, but it sure shows shades of it.

There are still nine days left, and with all of the exciting action and interesting stories coming from the first week, it will certainly make the remainder of the games exciting to watch.