Eight Olympic badminton players were disqualified for throwing matches Tuesday evening. What does this mean for the 'Olympic Spirit'? Should we hold athletes at home to the same ethical standards?

The International Olympics Committee’s "Rule 40" prevents athletes from promoting brands other than the official Olympic sponsors during the days before and during the Games. But some athletes say the new guidelines could hurt their ability to fund their Olympic careers and training.

As the U.S. swim team continues to bring home Olympic medals, we’ve been looking at the more realistic side of swimming in America. After we spoke to Dr. Carol Irwin, author of a study that found 70 percent of African American children are unable to swim, we asked for your stories about the challenge of learning to swim.

For the many millions in London this summer, today is perhaps the first real test for the Olympic organizers. How do you move millions around an already busy, old and crowded city on a Monday morning, getting millions to their place of work and ferrying players and spectators to their various venues?

We asked you: What should the Olympic theme song be for your favorite event?

The U.S. Ambassador to the U.K. Louis Susman talks about the mood in London, if the Games are a worthwhile investment, and the arrival of the First Lady and Mitt Romney in the city.

Oscar Pistorius, the lightning-fast South African sprinter, isn't the only blade runner in the Olympics. Journalist and torch bearer Stuart Hughes, who lost his right leg, carried the Olympic torch through West London wearing his carbon fiber blade prosthesis.

The London Olympics Opening Ceremonies is called 'Isles of Wonder' and draws inspiration from Shakespeare's The Tempest and is expected to be watched by a global audience of one billion.

John discusses preparations in London, the building excitement, reactions to Mitt Romney's "gaffe," Boris Johnson and more with Paddy O'Connell, host of BBC's Broadcasting House.

For this week's Follow Friday, we look back on this week's news and cultural stories, including the response to the theater shooting in Aurora, Mitt Romney's foreign policy, President Obama in New Orleans and the beginning of the Olympics.

The summer Olympics are often characterized as a celebration of unity. But what happens when fierce rivals must work together to advance national team interests?

In the global television era, the Olympics opening ceremonies have evolved into a genre like no other: Part opera, part Disney, part Superbowl halftime show, part air show, and part fashion show.

The Olympic Games has always meant more than just athletic battles of the world's greatest and strongest. The Games often become a forum for political protest, for social change. Is that too much to ask of the Games?

Bob Costas won’t tell you, but watching the Olympics on NBC this year cost the network more than a billion dollars, a price tag that nearly covers the security bill for the 2012 Games. With a projected cost of around $17 billion, is hosting the Olympics worth it?

With only 11 days until the Olympic Games opens in London, thousands of athletes and officials are pouring into the British capital. But there are some serious concerns about security preparations for the Games.

Although most of us are not going to win a medal in the 2012 London Olympics, we're all going to be watching as the U.S. competes against the world's greatest. In partnership with our friends at The World at WGBH in Boston, we asked our listeners for suggestions for songs to be added to an Olympic playlist.

London has had plenty of reasons to celebrate lately. Last April was the Royal Wedding, and just a few weeks ago thousands commemorated the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee. But behind these posh events, and the billions of dollars in taxes they require, is a struggling citizenry that has been plagued by terrorism, and more recently, widespread rioting.

Forty years ago today, Congress passed Title IX. The landmark civil rights law barred gender discrimination in the country’s schools and colleges, but it is perhaps best known for its impact on female participation on women’s high school and college sports.

The Olympic Games are intended to be a celebration of athletics with politics set aside. But over the years, the Olympics have served as a political forum as much as they’ve served as an athletic arena. And this year, at least one person is calling on the London Games to continue in this tradition and go political: Mark Stephens calls for the 2012 Olympics to serve as a forum for the promotion of LGBT rights.

Organizers are starting to talk about something that's never happened before - a sellout for the Paralympic Games. With 100 days to go before the start of the Paralympics in London, the public has a chance to see more than 4,000 elite athletes when the last remaining tickets go on sale today. Eleven-time gold medalist Dame Tanni Grey Thompson has broken over 30 wheelchair world records in track and field. Now retired, she's looking forward to the Paralympics which she insists will leap over a high bar.