Olympic swimmer Matt Grevers really needed to come in first at the Missouri Grand Prix on Saturday night. If not, it would have put a damper on his plans. Proposing to your girlfriend from the medal stand is certainly original enough, but a gesture like that would be lacking a bit if not done from the highest point possible. Fortunately, Grevers won his race with a time of 53.57 seconds. He then popped the question to his girlfriend, Olympic hopeful Annie Chandler. She said yes.

"I asked her father for permission back at the end of November. And we needed to talk a little more until I really got it," Grevers said while smiling according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. "But I got it, and I've just been searching for a unique way to try to pop the question."

In order to get her to the medal stand with Grevers, a meet coordinator told Chandler that they wanted her to present the award to the winner of the men's 100-backstroke. Since she had come in fifth place the previous day, Annie was surprised they would ask her. "You realize I got fifth ... yesterday?" she recalled thinking. "I don't really have any impressive credentials right now. I don't know you if you want me to do this." It didn't take her long to understand.

Nicely done, Grevers. You're as smooth as your aerodynamically shaven legs.

H/T to Outside the Boxscore for the video

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The web-oriented focus worldwide will lead more people to experience the Olympics online than ever before. Some officials in London are worried that the surge in web use around the city could cause internet outages.

The Cabinet Office sent a notice to several government departments about preparing businesses for the upcoming Summer Games. According to The Guardian, the document says:

"It is possible that internet services may be slower during the Games or, in very severe cases, there may be dropouts due to an increased number of people accessing the internet."

The document says that internet service providers "may introduce data caps during peak times to try to spread the loading and give a more equal service to their entire customer base", leading to concerns that major corporations or those in areas of high usage could experience problems.

Businesses are advised to cycle work shifts to ease congestion. It looks like many IT workers are going to be putting in overtime during the Olympics while other employees may be getting extra days off.

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American skier Langely McNeal (pictured) was disqualified from the finals of the skicross event at the X Games Sunday for wearing an armband honoring Sarah Burke. A disappointed McNeal wrote about the incident on her Facebook page shortly after the disqualification.

"The French team just protested my Sarah Burke band around my thigh and a hair tie around my boot. They disqualified me for the finals. To say I'm heart broken is an understatement...trying to be graceful about the whole thing but it is a hard one to swallow," she wrote.

McNeal indicated that she tried to protest the protest, but her efforts were turned down.

McNeal confirmed to The Denver Post that the French team complained about the band worn around her thigh. She was officially disqualified for having clothing too tight, and the disqualification allowed French racer Marielle Berge to fill her spot in the finals.

"Was pretty pumped to ski in an X Games Final and to have it taken away for a clothing infraction involving a Sarah Burke band and a hair tie around my boot left me in shock," said a message on McNeal's fan page. "Wish it could have been handled differently but I guess that is sports at this level. Thank you everyone for the support and the kind words....I was skiing for you!"

Langely had finished second in her semifinal heat and was planning on celebrating her 28th birthday after the race before receiving the disappointing news.

Burke died two weeks ago and was honored with a tribute video at the X Games on Friday night. Maybe that was all they could handle.

We've seen athletes penalized for tributes in the past and thought it was unnecessary. This seems to be every bit as unjust as all the other ones we've come across.

H/T Deadspin

Sarah Burke was honored with a torchlight parade at the X Games in Aspen (Colo.) Thursday night. Burke was a Canadian freeskier who died last week, nine days after crashing at the bottom of a superpipe during a training run. 

A number of the world's best skiers and snowboarders gathered in the same superpipe where Burke won four X Games gold medals to honor her memory. Several friends carried glow sticks down the pipe and embraced Burke's parents and husband at the bottom.

A video tribute (seen above) was played in Burke's memory, showcasing her talents and personality.

"I just ski because I really like it. I'm not going out there to win the most money or to make a huge difference. I just really love it," Burke says. "To be recognized as one of those most influential ... it feels great."

Earlier Thursday, Kaya Turski won her third straight gold medal in skier slopestyle and immediately paid tribute to her friend. 

"It means everything to me," Turski said. "This goes out to Sarah. Before every run, I said to myself, 'Let's do this, Sarah.' She was there for me and she led me all the way."

Burke won four X Games gold medals in superpipe. She was was the first woman to ever spin a 720, 900, and 1080 in competition. She also helped get superpipe added to the Winter Olympics.

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Olympic runner Nick Symmonds is offering people the chance to advertise their Twitter handles on his body through a temporary tattoo. Symmonds was a member of the 2008 U.S. Track and Field team and is currently ranked first in the country in the 800 meters. He's looking for sponsors and using eBay to auction advertising space on his body.

As part of the agreement, Symmonds will wear a temporary tattoo on his left shoulder of the winning bidder's Twitter name during every event in which he participates. He's also offering to tweet a monthly message of support for the auction winner. The only catch is that the winning bidder's Twitter name cannot conflict with existing Olympics team sponsors.

Symmonds' schedule has eight events, including the Olympic Games in London. There have already been over 44 bids placed, and the price is over $1,500.

Symmonds is not the first Olympian to auction advertising space on his body. Let's just hope the winning bid doesn't end up being a dud like this one.

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What can you trust in this world if you can’t even trust eBay? British sprinter James Ellington recently came up with a brilliant idea to raise money for a shot at the upcoming Olympics. He auctioned himself off, offering to wear the highest bidder’s brand when he ran. When someone offered to pay 32,000 Euros — 2,500 Euros more than his reserve price — it appeared Ellington’s plan had worked to perfection. Not exactly.

The bidder never came forward. The auction closed on Dec. 17 and representatives from eBay have not been able to get a hold of the person, who obviously was pulling some sort of prank.

“There seem to be a few sad people out there,” Ellington said according to The Telegraph. “For me personally, I wouldn’t be missing about with someone’s career but there are certain people out there who like to mess things up.”

The people at eBay have been trying to contact some of the next-highest bidders but have not been having any luck. At this point it is unclear whether any of the bidders were actually serious about sponsoring Ellington.

“Throughout my life I’ve had so many let-downs that I never count my chickens before they hatch,” he explained. “I was just optimistic and thought to myself, ‘If I get the money then I get the money. If I don’t, I won’t even focus on it.’ I’m just trying to get on with things and focus on my training. If you get too engrossed in everything it can just eat you up, so I’m just trying to keep my head down, keep training and focus on my goal. Hopefully, something will come through and I’ll get some sponsorship.”

Perhaps the unfortunate story will help Ellington gain some publicity and inspire a sponsor to come forward. The fact that someone would place a fake bid on something like this reminds us that there are plenty of selfish morons in the world.

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Hockey star Peter Forsberg reportedly says that his Swedish team tanked a game at the 2006 Winter Olympics before going on to win the gold medal.

In a documentary set to air on Swedish TV, the former Avalanche star reportedly says his team took it easy in their pool play game against Slovakia to set up an easier path to the gold medal game.

A translation of the Swedish article says the players went against their coach's wishes by not trying as hard against Slovakia and lost 3-0.

By losing the game, the Swedes avoided a quarterfinal or semifinal match against Canada or Russia -- two teams they deemed to be tough competition. Instead, they faced Switzerland in the quarterfinals and won 6-2. Canada and Russia faced each other in the other half of the draw, with the Russians winning the quarterfinal game 2-0.

Slovakia was knocked out in the quarters by the Czech Republic, whom Sweden beat 7-3 in the semifinals. The Swedes then beat Finland 3-2 for the gold medal.

Canucks star Henrik Sedin, who was a member of the gold medal team, denies there was talk of tanking before the game. He says it may have come up during the game.

“It wasn't on our radar to go out and lose, no, no,” Henrik insisted. “I don't think we thought about that before the game. Maybe when there were a few minutes left in the game it came up but not during the game. Slovakia had a great team and, if you looked at how they played in the tournament, they could beat anyone. The result wasn't a big upset for us, or anyone.

“You have to remember, too, that we were already in the quarter-finals," added Henrik. "It wasn't a big game for us, so to speak. So that might have been part of it.”

The Swedish article says Forsberg believes his team was just taking advantage of the system. If that's how Forsberg felt, he wouldn't be the first person to encourage tanking to help his team. Plus, Sweden still had to win three straight games to win the gold medal like any other team, and they did. They earned the gold medal no matter how you look at it.

Stick tap to All Things Avs, H/T Nick Zaccardi

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The timing of Lindsey Vonn's divorce, combined with a few other events, has led to a few rumors that she and Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow were dating. Vonn denied that is the case, saying she is single, and that she is friends with the Tebow family.

"I am single. I’m not with anyone,” Vonn said in response to the rumors. “I’ve heard a lot of rumors and a lot of reports.”

Vonn contributed to the rumors when she went "Tebowing" after winning a race last week. She said that was just a sign of respect for Tim.

“He’s proving them all wrong,” Vonn said of Tebow's critics. “In a way, that’s what I’m trying to do as well — to be able to compete under any circumstance and keep fighting and doing my best every day. Just because I `Tebow,’ doesn’t mean I’m dating him. I said that if I won in Colorado, I would `Tebow’ because I admire what he’s doing."

The Olympics skier watched the Broncos game Sunday from the Tebow family box. She wrote a column for The Denver Post about the experience, and explained her relationship with the family.

Vonn says she met Tim at the ESPY Awards three or four years ago. She says she spent time with him at a golf tournament, and this year at the same awards show. Vonn explains that she invited Tim to ski with her at vail, and that Tim's brother, Robby, invited her to a Broncos game.

She says she knows their whole family now, and describes them as "great people."

We could have told you that nothing was going on between Lindsey and Tim. Everyone already knows that Vonn is already taken by this young man.

Chest bump to Off the Bench.

Photo Credit: Alessandro Trovati/AP

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Legendary Soviet weightlifter Vasily Alekseyev reportedly has died at the age of 69. Alekseyev won two Olympic and eight world super heavyweight titles in the 1970s. Considered the "World's Strongest Man," Alekseyev was featured prominently in the TV show Wide World of Sports. You can see him in the show's intro around the :20 mark:

Olympic gold medalist Lindsey Vonn made one young boy's dream come true when she said yes after being asked to go to his homecoming dance Thursday.

Parker McDonald is a sophomore at the Vail Ski and Snowboard Academy in Colorado. He did not have a date for his school's homecoming dance Friday, so he decided to ask Vonn, who was visiting the school, to be his date.

“I thought, ‘I need a date and there's Lindsey Vonn. I'll ask her!'” McDonald said. “She walked by my lunch table and I whipped out the question.”

Vonn recounted the tale on her Facebook page Friday.

"Yesterday I visited the Vail Ski and Snowboard Academy and while I was eating lunch with all the students a 15 year old boy named Parker asked me if I would be his date for their homecoming dance which is tonight. When Parker asked me he was cute, nervous and very polite so of course I said YES!

"All through school growing up I never got the chance to go to a school dance so I'm excited for tonight!"

Vonn was in town to train with the U.S. Ski Team. Why not mix in a little fun while she's doing some work? Hopefully her husband didn't mind sharing her for a night.

Vonn has been a swimsuit model and made Maxim's Hot 100 list. She also made Parker the coolest kid in school, and a national hero.

On behalf of every guy who was too afraid to ask the hot girl to the dance, we salute you Parker.

H/T Diehard Sport, Fourth-Place Medal

Photo via Doug Haney

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