Best Olympic sites to bookmark now

Gearing up for the 2008 Olympic Games? Yeah - me too. It starts in just two days from now, so savvy Web users will start collecting the links now in preparation for the event as they start button mashing on their DVRs to set up recording schedules.

It's unfortunate that NBC is not streaming the events in real-time this year, since they certainly have the technology to make it happen. Still, there's hope...

For starters, check out TVTonic.com, a site that lets you subscribe to specific sports such as volleyball or gymnastics, and then download the video of the event. The catch is that you have to use Windows Media Center, but it's an Internet download and not just a widget that records NBC.

You'll also want to keep an eye on the 2008 Summer Olympics wiki, partly to get the general summary of the event, but also to keep tabs on any controversies that arise. Wikipedia has been doing a much better job of late citing sources, which means it has become a good news aggregator.

Of course, all of the official Olympic sites are worth bookmarking, since they will report on news of the day and provide the official schedules and results. The Chinese official site is Sohu.com, with the English language versions at http://www.ebeijing.gov.cn and http://en.beijing2008.cn. These sites have a bit more of a "being there" flavor, since they are offered by the host country.

Then there's the official IOC site at http://www.olympic.org/uk/games/beijing/index_uk.asp, which has a good medal count banner, and the NBC site at http://www.nbcolympics.com, which has the best athlete profiles and features. According to PC World, NBC will stream 2,200 hours of video snippets and reports during the Olympics.

Of course, you can also visit just about any sports site for Olympic coverage. I like the USA Today blogs and coverage, available at http://www.usatoday.com/sports/default.htm. If you find another really good site to track during the Games, post in comments.