The Five-ring Circus: A kiss for a moose

Canadian javelin athlete Liz Gleadle has tweeted a photo of herself planting a kiss on the big red schnozz of the huge moose that stands guard outside Canada’s building in the athletes’ village. Look carefully and you’ll see a cable lock around the beast’s right legs, lest anyone try to make off with him. I asked Gleadle about that in a Twitter exchange. Her reply:

“There’s some pretty strong people here; some might think it would be a solid prank to relocate a giant red moose.”

Gleadle, who begins competition here on Tuesday with javelin qualifying, quickly added she would not be the one trying to make off with the popular attraction.

“Although he’d be a great addition to my living room, I’ll have to do with the cute & cuddly Canada stuffed animals! #moose&goose”

And That’s For Not Making Your Bed:

Whitewater kayaker Mike Dawson of New Zealand was given a two-second penalty by a judge for illegally touching a gate. But Dawson wasn’t going to squawk too much, because the judge happened to be his mother, Kay.

The athlete joked that he could complain “about that particular judge,” but added, “that would have had all sorts of ramifications after the Olympics.”

Some Monk Chanted Evening:

Pimsiri Sirikaew of Thailand won a silver medal in women’s 58-kg weightlifting, the event watched in her hometown by huge crowds on large outdoor screens. The win so thrilled Pimsiri’s mother, Amornat, that Mom says she will now enter a Buddhist monastery, as she’d vowed to do had her daughter won a medal. Amornat will make good on her word on Friday, the start of Buddhist Lent. Pimsiri, her mother said, had a dream before the Olympics of meeting three boys named Gold, Silver and Bronze. Only Silver apparently ran to her side.

Great Business Cards Of Our Time:

Does anyone else feel a little uneasy about the synchronized-diving title “execution judge?”

Sweet Treat: The five horses ridden to silver medals by Great Britain equestrians in team eventing were to be rewarded with bonus helpings of carrots and peppermints.

Imagine What He Could Have Done If Healthy:

Iranian 105-plus-kg weightlifter Behdad Salimikordasiabi won the 2010 Asian Games no matter that he was suffering from swine flu, so stricken that he collapsed during the clean-and-jerk event.

Salimikordasiabi is the wise-money choice to win the superheavyweight class here on Aug. 7, following in the oversized T-shirt of his legendary countryman, 2000 and 2004 Olympic champion Hossein Rezazadeh — affectionately known to many — OK, to us — as the Mighty Rez.

About That 50-Metre Rifle ...

As you read a preview of the women’s 25-metre pistol event, don’t you think that’s an awfully long gun to hold?