What does Barack Obama's just-named Education Secretary Arne Duncan have in common with National Security Advisor Jim Jones, Attorney General Eric Holder, U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice, and Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner?

Professional accomplishment? Certainly.

Sound judgement? Possibly.

Most importantly, they're all great basketball players. Even 81-year-old economic advisor Paul Volcker used to play at Princeton.

Duncan has a good shot at being the team's MVP. He was co-captain of the Harvard basketball team and played professionally in Australia:

“I did not select Arne because he’s one of the best basketball players I know,” Mr Obama said yesterday. “Although I will say that I think we are putting together the best basketball-playing cabinet in American history.”

Forget engagement. Obama should just bet Iran's right to a nuclear program on a game of half-court with Ahmadinejad's cabinet.

Photo: Mark Wilson/Getty Images

France's sports minister, Roselyne Bachelot, is tired of seeing her country's national anthem dishonored. Fans booed the anthem, "La Marseillaise," during the French soccer team's win over Tunisia Tuesday in what was supposed to be a "friendly" match. An outraged President Nicolas Sarkozy called the fans' behavior "scandalous."

"Any match when our national anthem is whistled will be stopped immediately," warned Bachelot, and "government members will immediately leave the arena."

French Football Federation president Jean-Pierre Escalettes blamed "imbecilic" fans for the new policy, and another top government official suggested that maybe France ought not to play friendly matches with North African countries at all.

I imagine Americans would react with similar anger if the "Star Spangled Banner" were booed in the United States. But as a Le Monde editorial argues, perhaps a better idea would be to finally get serious about addressing the root causes here -- the alienation and social disintegration of North African communities in France.

Watch the video of the incident in question here:

I love this story about a wealthy Abu Dhabi investor who wanted to buy the Manchester United soccer club, butwas disappointed by the price he was offered:

The investor, an Abu Dhabi royal who had earned billions last year, was not interested in a bargain -- he was looking for a huge deal to make an impressive splash internationally. A multibillion-dollar price tag, easily within his group's means, would cause far more jaws to drop than anything in the millions.

"When he thought it was $4 billion, he was really excited," said Bhoyrul, who declined to name the individual. "When he found out it was $400 million, he was disappointed."

KAZUHIRO NOGI/AFP/Getty Images

The athletes on China's gold-winning 2008 women's Olympic gymnastics team were not underage, the International Gymnastics Federation has declared after an investigation. Female gymnasts must at least turn 16 in the year of competition to be eligible, and many people suspected that some of the gymnasts were underage due to inconsistent reporting of their ages. In reference to some of the gymnasts' childish body sizes, Bela Karolyi, who coached Mary Lou Retton and Nadia Comaneci, had gone so far to say that China was competing with "half-people."

Not everyone is in the clear, though. It turns out that two members of China's bronze-winning 2000 Sydney team might have been underage. Dong Fangxiao, who was a technical official at this year's games, got her Beijing credential with documents saying she was born Jan. 23, 1986, which would have made her too young to compete in Sydney, the Associated Press reports. Even her blog says she was born in the Year of the Ox (Feb. 20, 1985, to Feb. 8, 1986). Meanwhile, Sydney gymnast Yang Yun said in a June 2007 interview on China Central Television that she was 14 at the 2000 Games. Last week, she told the Associated Press that she had misspoken.

Shaun Botterill/Getty Images

Remember the logo adorning Manchester United's red jerseys? That's right: AIG. Sponsorship of the legendary British soccer team, these days worth about £67 million (down from £75 million last year, thanks again to the credit crunch), belongs to the beleaguered insurance company. That means it now, sort of, belongs to the United States' taxpayers?

Ever since Tony Blair was portrayed as George W. Bush's second coming during his support for the Iraq war, many Britons resented American influence on their country's politics. But this kind-of sponsorship of the flagship football team might just cross the line.

Apparently, Manchester supporters are pragmatists. Oh well! say most fans on RedCafe.net, a Manchester United forum where the topic was heatedly debated. Rather than sweat the details, they had far more fun imagining a new look for the team.

ERIC FEFERBERG/AFP/Getty Images

French President Nicolas Sarkozy (left) has brought his right-wing activity of "le jogging" to New York City today. He and wife Carla Bruni (center) are in the Big Apple so he can attend the annual meeting of the United Nations General Assembly. For unknown reasons, he is not wearing his favorite NYPD T-shirt.

Earlier this month, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, a champion judoka who has coauthored a book on judo, said he would be giving Sarkozy some lessons in the martial art. The next U.S. president had better watch out: It looks like some world leaders are training to go mano a mano.

There are many ways to count Olympic medals for country rankings, but by the two most common ways -- by total medals or just golds -- China is leaving the rest of the world in the dust when it comes to Paralympic medals.

The Paralympic Games close tomorrow (or today, if you're several time zones ahead of Passport), and the standings as of the timing of this post show that China has won 207 total medals, more than double No. 2 Britain's 102. When it comes to just golds, China has won 87, again more than double No. 2 Britain's 42.

As discussed on the Becker-Posner blog, a country's Olympic performance can be predicted by factors such as population, per capita income, presence of an authoritarian government, and whether a country is hosting the Olympics. My hunch is that these factors also predict Paralympic performance, but perhaps other factors include how many people in a country's population meet the Paralympics' eligibility criteria and how well a country supports those with disabilities.

China also dominated the Paralympics' medal count (by total medals and by golds) in the 2004 Athens Games. Australia had the most medals and golds at the 2000 Sydney Games, and by the same counts, the United States was on top at the 1996 Atlanta Games.

KIM JAE-HWAN/AFP/Getty Images

There's something your taekwando teacher never told you. Turns out the sport's global body, the International Taekwando Federation (ITF), was once infiltrated by North Korean spies and assassins.

For the last 34 years, Choi Jung-hwa, the son of ITF founder Choi Hung-hi, has lived abroad, guarding the family secret. The father fell out with the South Korean regime in the 1970s, fleeing to Canada. But it was his son who was recruited, along with other master fighters, to assasinate then South Korean President Chun Doo Hwan in 1982. Luckily, the plot was foiled Now, Choi Jung-hwa is back in South Korea for the first time in decades to recount the tale.

While he was away, a new World Taekwando Federation was founded and adopted as the Olympic standard. So even if Kim Jong Il is out on sick leave for now -- reports today suggest the leader might be quite ill indeed -- make sure that it's the WTF that you sign up for at the gym.

Photo by Guang Niu/Getty Images

The Olympic Games may have closed more than two weeks ago, but that doesn't mean the Water Cube and other venues are standing dormant. The Paralympics opened this weekend!

On Sunday, China competed against Britain in five-a-side soccer. For those not familiar with the game, each team has five players on the field -- all of whom are blind or visually impaired, with the exception of the goalkeeper, who may be sighted. All except the goalkeepers wear eyeshades to ensure fairness. The ball makes a noise when it moves, and each team has a guide behind the opponent's goal to direct players. The field is surrounded by walls, so there are no throw-ins.

Here, David Clarke of Britain (in white) and Chen Shanyong (#3, at right) fight for the ball. China ended up winning 3-0.

MARK RALSTON/AFP/Getty Images

We're still a year away from learning who will host the 2016 Summer Olympics. But, while Beijing is fresh in our minds, I thought it'd be high time to consider the lessons and legacies of the 2008 games with an eye on the future.

If we learned one thing from Beijing 2008, it's that the Olympics are a perfect pretext for a massive security crackdown. So why not award the 2016 games to a city that could actually use a massive security crackdown?  

The murder rate in the state of Rio de Janiero is down to 39 per 100,000, from a high of 64 per 100,000 people in the mid-1990s. That's still high, and one still encounters machine guns while browsing shopping stalls. Some think meditation may do the trick, but an Olympic effort to crack down on petty crime (not political opposition, mind you) could do wonders.

The other finalist host cities are Chicago, Tokyo, and Madrid. The United States recently hosted in 2002 and 1996, Japan in 2006, and Spain in 1992. South America has never hosted the Olympics. Considering Brazil's growing economic clout, the time seems to be about right to finally change that.

Plus, India is gearing up for a 2020 bid of its own. With Beijing 2008, Sochi 2014, Rio 2016, and New Delhi 2020, all of the BRICs would get the recognition they deserve as the 21st century's rising powers. 

Of course, it is important that Rio be truly ready. As my colleague Josh Keating argues in today's Web exclusive, hosting international sporting events can do more harm than good for a country's reputation. The 2010 World Cup in South Africa, for one, appears to be headed toward disaster. But Brazil insists that it successfully hosted the 2007 Pan America Games, and would have proper practice after hosting the 2014 World Cup. Here's hoping Rio gets a good look from the IOC next fall.

JUNG YEON-JE/AFP/Getty Images

Angel Valodia Matos (L-red) of Cuba lands a kick on the referee Chakir Chelbat (R) of Sweden after he lost his bronze medal contest in the men's +80 kg taekwondo competition against Arman Chilmanov of Kazakhstan during the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games on August 23, 2008.

Story here.

How should Olympic medals be counted for country rankings? Some people say countries should be listed by total medals won; others say gold medals should count more than silver and bronze. Still others have suggested counting medals on a per capita basis.

The International Olympic Committee stresses that the games are between athletes, not countries, and Rule 58 of the Olympic charter says, "The IOC and the OCOG shall not draw up any global ranking per country." (The IOC apparently reads the rule loosely, though. On its Web site, it lists countries by number of gold medals, tagging a disclaimer to the bottom of the list, reports the New York Times.)

A letter to the editor in yesterday's Washington Post offers a novel way to rank countries: weighing medals -- for example, 1.0 for gold, 0.9 for silver, and 0.8 for bronze -- to account for the extra prestige of winning a gold. Using this weighing system with the medal results as they stand at the moment of this post, the top five countries are:

1. United States (91.4 weighted total)
2. China (82.3)
3. Russia (50.8)
4. Britain (40.1)
5. Australia (37.4)

In comparison, the top five countries by total medals won are:

1. United States (102 total medals)
2. China (89)
3. Russia (57)
4. Britain (44)
5. Australia (42)

And the top five by gold medals -- where the rankings completely change -- are:

1. China (47 gold medals)
2. United States (31)
3. Britain (18)
4. Russia (17)
5. Germany (14)

Really, though, variations on how to rank countries can go on ad nauseum because countries are in various "weight classes" based on their populations, GDPs, GDPs per capita, etc. (For more on factors that affect Olympic success, check out the Becker-Posner Blog.) Of course, that didn't stop FP from selecting five countries as "the world's worst Olympians" -- factoring in GDP and how many Olympics they've participated in -- for one of its recent Lists.

Guang Niu/Getty Images

Last month, I blogged about the roundball diplomacy during the NBA's summer league in Utah, where Iran's national team was invited to participate as part of its preparations for the Olympics. The gesture was, by most accounts, a success, even though the squad subsequently went winless in Beijing.

Along the way, Iranian center Hamed Ehadadi piqued the interest of NBA scouts. The 7-2 Ehadadi averaged 16 points and 10 rebounds during the Olympics, capping the games with a 21-point, 16-rebound performance against a strong Argentina team, which faces the United States in the semifinals tomorrow.

Of course, as with all things Iran, there was a catch: The NBA informed its teams last week that it had "been advised that a federal statue prohibits a person or organization in the United States from engaging in business dealings with Iranian nationals." Ehadadi's NBA dreams had been dashed -- and it seemed like another missed opportunity for more roundball diplomacy.

Not so fast, however. The U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control has now offered its stamp of approval, and NBA teams are free to sign Ehadadi, pending final approval from the league and OFAC. Ehadadi expects to sign with the Memphis Grizzlies:

I will undoubtedly join Memphis Grizzlies by the end of next week. I met Memphis' officials yesterday to discuss joining the team… I received many offers from European teams but just playing in the NBA is my dream. Hopefully, I can join Memphis as soon as possible without any problem.

Ehadadi may not turn out to be a star in the NBA, but chalk up another victory for roundball diplomacy. David Stern is far from a perfect commissioner, but his emphasis on making basketball a global game appears to be paying off. Even if, in some cases, it works too well.

Disappointing attendance in the country that helped birth "ping-pong diplomacy" is driving home a point that traditional tennis learned a long time ago: sex sells.

In a sport where women often wear baggy shorts and shirts, table-tennis officals think more form-fitting attire may help draw fans:

We are trying to push the players to use skirts and also nicer shirts, not the shirts that are made for men, but ones with more curves," International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) vice president Claude Bergeret said.

While I do love a good game of ping pong, maybe the problem is most people see table tennis as a hobby and not an Olympic sport. Then again, maybe Bergeret should have simply found a way to get Serbia's Biba Golic (above) into the Olympics this year.

When people talk about China's threat to the West, I don't think this is what they mean:

THOMAS COEX/AFP/Getty Images

Misty May-Treanor (L-back to camera) of the US hugs China's Tian Jia (L-facing) as Kerri Walsh (2nd R) of the US hugs China's Tian Jia Wang Jie (R-facing) at the end of their women's final beach volleyball match at Beijing's Chaoyang Park Beach Volleyball Ground on August 21 during the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. The US team won 2-0 and took the gold medal.

Just asking. Because it's really annoying that nearly every time I hit the NYT homepage, the paper has an above-the-fold picture giving away that evening's big events. Would it kill the Gray Lady to tuck its Olympics coverage somewhere out of sight, so that people who actually want to enjoy the games can do so in peace?

FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP/Getty Images

Baseball may be on the way out as an Olympic sport, but observers anticipating the eventual clash of civilizations between the United States and China may have seen a sneak preview on the diamond Monday:

The U.S. beat China 9-1 in the Olympics Monday night, and it was awful. China’s pitchers hit five U.S. batters, sending one to the hospital. U.S. baserunners plowed over two China catchers, likely knocking one out of the Games.

While some reporters at the scene think "Our relations with China were nearly broken at the plate," I wouldn't go that far. After all, the manager of the Chinese team -- who was ejected from Monday's game -- is an American who has been helping establish the national pastime in China since 2003. Personally, I'm still more outraged about the Chinese gymnasts.

Remember way back when people were asking whether we should "politicize" the Olympics? Isn't it just supposed to be about sports and itty bitty gymnasts doing their best? I have to say, in China, that question is bizarre. The Olympics is politics: that is the point.

Take the case of Owen, a torch-bearer living in the youth camp of the Olympic village. He is not a star athlete, but he's certainly well-spoken and smart as a whip. When you ask him what it was like to run those 30 meters he ran with the torch, he begins his story this way:

There is a garden next to the youth camp. In 1860, warriors broke into it and killed everybody. And that was the start of a terrible part of Chinese history, but now, within 140 years, I, as a representative of the youth, stand on the same ground and hold the torch showing that China is ready to be one of the strongest countries in the world. It's completely new and it's completely meaningful. And all of this is seen by the grass and by the land, by the earth, so I kissed it."

After telling us more about the Olympic compound, which is a heavily fortified, expansive prep school surrounded by green walls with the slogan "the youth are the future" scribbled across them, Owen went on. (By the way, at the Olympic youth camp, the youth are provided with soccer fields, basketball courts, swimming pools, a variety of stores and post offices. It is not dissimilar to Oberlin, Ohio, where I went to college, except you can't get in and out of the Village without a pass or the Olympic torch.)

We have dreamed about having the Olympic games for about 100 years. And we've tried so many times, but we failed so many times. If you give the holding rights to a city, it means you have to say that the city is good. We want to hear that you are respecting our behavior, our hard work. Whenever you hold the Olympic games it is a chance for a country or for a city to improve. And that will eventually benefit each and every Chinese.

Years later, when you look at history, you will see, we have made great progress. After we've had so hard time, we've survived. All of the Chinese are strong. We can never be defeated! You can kill us with your gun. But we will never be defeated. We survive. That's what the Olympics can tell the world."

Olympics 2008: It's not just sports; it's not just politics. What it's about is China.

Editor's note: Zoe Chace is an independent public radio producer who is in China for the Olympics. She'll be filing periodic dispatches for Passport about what it's like to be in the middle of the world's biggest spectacle, the 2008 Olympic Games. Got any questions or thoughts on what she should report on? Post your thoughts in the comments below.

Previous posts:

• Olympic Diary, Day 5: Hating the Olympics
• Olympic Diary, Day 2: China's lonely chairman
• Olympic Diary, Day 1: Where is everyone?

Picking up on Katie's post: What happens when you give in to a massive lobbying effort, somehow believe bogus promises of improvement, wallow in corruption, and ultimately give the Olympics to a country that never deserved them? Just ask the International Olympic Committee:

IOC spokeswoman Giselle Davies said journalists should not be prevented from doing their jobs, a day after John Ray of London-based ITV News said he was wrestled to the ground and briefly held by police who apparently mistook him for a protester.

Asked repeatedly if IOC officials are embarrassed that China was not living up to its promises, Davies would only say they are happy with the way China is running the sporting events."

And, of course, the opening ceremony was lovely.