Ana Ivanovic Pulls Out With a Bum Thumb

Unlike most favorites of the casual male fan in the realm of women's tennis, Ana Ivanovic is actually good, like #1-in-the-world good. As such, her Olympic withdrawal due to inflammation of the thumb (isn't that a video game injury? put Madden away, you're at the Olympics!) is doubly sore for fans: bloggers hedonists lose eye candy, the tournament loses its top competitor.

The tennis has been an abomination all around, actually. Rain couldn't stop beach volleyball, but I suppose tennis in a spritz is a bit dangerous. (Turn it into an X-Game competition!) Few of the top players even began their first matches this morning.

Speaking of international blog favorites, Australian swimmer Stephanie Rice won gold in the 400m individual medley on Saturday, claiming the world record and relegating heretofore dominant American Katie Hoff to the bronze. Olympic gold clearly does not discriminate against saucy Facebook pictures.

This post originally appeared on the Sporting Blog. For more, see The Sporting Blog Archives.