You might have read that United has re-upped with the US Olympic Committee as “official airline” during the 20012 games in London.

Nice publicity for the beleaguered airline (but what airline isn’t “beleaguered” these days?), and, after all, United did get all kinds of kudos for its China games commercials.

Just ask the New York Times, which called the ads “lovely to watch“. The writer went on to say that, “A spot featuring an orchestra of sea creatures was superb.” The writer then awarded the carrier — what else?

A gold medal.

Hey, and be sure to check out our own, shall we say, light-hearted “Olympic” coverage - over on our sister-blog, StandardUprightPosition.com.

Hundreds of supporters, many of them little girls, broke into a roar as the Russian born gymnast shouted, “I’m proud to be from Texas!”

“I thought it was just going to be a couple of girls from the gym” coming by to greet her, said the beaming 18 year old. Though clearly delighted with her performance in Beijing, her medals were nowhere in evidence - perhaps because she plans on collecting a few more.

When asked about the 2012 Olympics in London, Nastia said, “I’m taking it one step at a time, and enjoying the moment, but - it’s not out of the question.” More cheers.

Keep reading for what Nastia said about the controversy surrounding the Chinese gymnasts - and her meeting with servicemen and women, heading out to Afghanistan.

Apparently, the summer tourist season is not looking good in China — despite the Olympic Games.

According to an AP report (via MSNBC), a lot of Beijing’s 4-star hotels are just 44% booked; not good news for a country that’s just spent $40 billion on venues and infrastructure for the hordes of tourists they expected.

Why are the tourists staying away?

Disappointed businessmen and women there cite a host of reasons: tightened visa rules, pollution, and last month’s earthquake that killed tens of thousands of people.

And it’s not just Olympic fans staying away; a Chinese travel agency rep says, the regular tourists aren’t coming because hotel and transportation prices jumped in anticipation of — the Olympics.