UPDATE -  Looks like there might be a little Radiation leak caused by the Earthquake.

This quake was reported to be a 7.8 by major news agencies. What would happen if the Olympics were taking place and an earthquake of this magnitude hit?

There’s always possibilities for natural disasters to happen, but with the Summer Olympics only months away and China’s questionable dealings with the Human Rights fall out and protests, you’d think it couldn’t get any worse.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again…with the Olympics taking place in Beijing this summer, you are going to see every brand imaginable doing products with Chinese colors, Chinese celebrities, artists, etc. Above is adidas’ latest collaboration…they partnered with Chinese pianist Lang Lang to do his take on one of the best sneakers of all time, the Gazelle.  I have to say I personally think Lang Lang crushed these. The black and gold colorway, the design hit on the heel and using the Gazelle as the canvas comes off dope.  Apparently these are coming out in June and will cost around $85.

Source Hypebest

To commemorate the upcoming Olympics in Beijing Nike is releasing the Bejing 2008 Pack that consists of the Air Force 2 Low and and the Air Flight 89’s. Both come in the white, black and green colorway with added touches of gold. You can purchase these Nike’s here. Look out for lots of Olympic inspired releases coming out in thenext couple of months. In fact, keep an eye out for a limited edition Bumpy Pitch Olympic t-shirt that we are working with. These shirts will represent our men’s and women’s teams heading to Beijing and will be a collaboration with a couple well known people. More on that to come…

[Image via Hypebest]

Natasha Kai had two more goals and an assist (to Heather O’Reilly) to her name as the US Women qualified for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing by beating Costa Rica 3-nil in the Tournaments Semi-Final match.

The US will now face Canada (who beat Mexico 1-nil for their ticket to China) in the 2008 Olympic Qualifying Tournament Final on Saturday at 9:30 pm ET.

– GAME REPORT –

Match-up: USA vs. Costa Rica
Competition: 2008 CONCACAF Women’s Olympic Qualifying Semifinal
Venue: Estadio Olimpico Benito Juarez; Juarez, Mexico
Date: April 9, 2008; Kickoff – 5:00 p.m. MT
Attendance: 22,280 (Sell-Out)
Weather: Windy – 73 degrees

Scoring Summary: 1 2 F
USA 0 3 3
CRC 0 0 0

USA – Natasha Kai (Tobin Heath) 57th minute.
USA – Heather O’Reilly (Natasha Kai) 72.
USA – Natasha Kai (Angela Hucles) 89.

Lineups:
USA: 18-Hope Solo; 14-Stephanie Cox, 3-Christie Rampone – Capt., 4-Cat Whitehill, 17-Lori Chalupny; 9-Heather O’Reilly (16-Angela Hucles, 83), 7-Shannon Boxx, 11-Carli Lloyd, 5-Lindsay Tarpley (13-Tobin Heath, 46); 6-Natasha Kai, 20-Abby Wambach (19-Amy Rodriguez, 74).
Subs not used: 2-Rachel Buehler, 8-Lauren Cheney, 12-Leslie Osborne, 24-Nicole Barnhart.
Not Eligible: 10-Kacey White, 15-Kate Markgraf.
Head Coach: Pia Sundhage

Image via CNN

With the men’s team having recently qualified for this summer’s Olympics, it is time we turn our attention to our women’s team and support them as they begin their own qualifying campaign later this week. The women’s team has traveled to Ciudad Juarez in Mexico where they will battle, in a very difficult environment, to qualify for Beijing. Their first game is April 4th vs Jamaica at 7.30pm PST before taking on rivals Mexico on April 6th.  Good luck ladies!

With last night’s impressive win over our northern neighbors, the US team has clinched their spot at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. With 2 goals from Freddy Adu, and a third added by TOW contributor Sacha Kljestan (big ups kid!), the outcome of the game never looked in doubt. With loads of experience at the professional level, a deep squad and confidence in bundles, what do you think the US team can achieve this summer in Beijing? What three overage players do you think Peter Nowak is going to bring in? This will be a busy summer for some of our country’s brightest young stars. Here is to wishing them lots of luck and success!

Oh yeah, that beautiful stadium in the picture above will be hosting soccer matches this summer.