Etc...

No, you go first

After 60 happy years together, Albert and Esther McDaniel of Greensburg, Ind., decided it was finally time to take the plunge. So, late last week, they did. But wait, you say, aren't they already married? Well, yes, and that's the whole point. The couple, who were wed in 1944, decided - as Albert puts it: "We're boring. We don't do anything exciting anymore." So, they contacted the Never Too Late Foundation, which tries to grant the wishes of elderly persons. And that's how, on Friday, their anniversary, the McDaniels were in a plane taking off from a local airfield for their first attempt at skydiving. With anxious relatives and friends watching from the ground, each jumped in tandem with an experienced parachutist. And? They landed safely. Esther was a bit "weak in the knees," but, said her husband: "I can't say that I was scared at all."

With the 2004 Olympics complete, athletes and fans can begin to anticipate the next Summer Games - in Beijing. Once a sleeping giant athletically, China's team won 63 medals in Athens - third behind the United States (102) and Russia (92) in the standings. The Chinese should be even more of a force in 2008, when they'll have the home-field advantage for the first time. But whether or not a team has competed on home soil, some consistently find a way to reach the medal stand. The highest-finishing nations in Athens that never have been host of the Summer Games, with medals won (in parentheses) and the place of each in the final standings:

1. Cuba (27) 11th
2. Ukraine (23) 12th
3. Romania (19) 14th
4. Hungary (17) 16th
5. Belarus (15) 18th
6. Bulgaria (12) 20th
7. *Turkey (10) 21st
8. Poland (10) 22nd
9. Brazil (9) 23rd
10. Thailand (8) 24th
* higher finish on the basis of silver medals won
- NBColympics.com