Murmurs had been growing louder over the past decade or so that the
mystique of the Olympic Games had lost its luster. Widespread drug
busts of such champions as Marion Jones had supposedly disillusioned us. Young people couldn't connect. They'd rather be watching the X-Games. The average age of the Olympic viewer rose almost ten years, to the
upper 40's, from the 1992 Barcelona Games to Athens four years ago. But
three forces combined in Beijing to catapult the Games once again high into widespread public consciousness...
