[Olympia, October 21. Image via Getty]

Actresses play priestesses on October 21, 2009 in ancient Olympia during a dress rehearsal for the October 22 torch-lighting ceremony for the Olympic flame for the 2010 Olympic Winter Games to be held in Vancouver. AFP PHOTO / ARIS MESSINIS (Photo credit should read ARIS MESSINIS/AFP/Getty Images)

[Rio de Janeiro, October 2. Image via Getty]

A cheerful crowd roars of joy in Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil as it is officially announced that their hometown will stage the 2016 Olympic Games, October 2, 2009. Rio de Janeiro's dream of bringing the Olympics to South America for the first time became reality here on Friday when they won the vote to host the 2016 edition. The Brazilian city saw off Madrid - by 66 votes to 32 - in the final round of voting after odds-on favourites Chicago, backed by a personal visit from President Barack Obama, had gone out in a first round sensation. AFP PHOTO/VANDRLEI ALMEIDA (Photo credit should read VANDERLEI ALMEIDA/AFP/Getty Images)

[Copenhagen, September 30. Image via The Official White House Photostream]

First Lady Michelle Obama greets gymnast Nadia Comaneci, her husband gymnast Bart Connor, left, Paralympic athlete Linda Mastandrea, center-right , and other former Olympians before the Chicago 2016 Dinner in Copenhagen, Denmark, Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2009. From left in the background; athletes Jackie Joyner-Kersee, Bob Berland, David Robinson, Dr. Edwin Moses and Mike Conley. (Official White House Photo by Chuck Kennedy)

This official White House photograph is being made available only for publication by news organizations and/or for personal use printing by the subject(s) of the photograph. The photograph may not be manipulated in any way and may not be used in commercial or political materials, advertisements, emails, products, or promotions that in any way suggests approval or endorsement of the President, the First Family, or the White House.

[Copenhagen, September 30. Image via AP]

U.S. first lady Michelle Obama alights her plane as she arrives at Copenhagen's Kastrup Airport, Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2009. Michelle Obama has joined the Chicago 2016 bid team who are competing with Tokyo, Madrid and Rio de Janeiro for the right to host the 2016 Summer Olympic Games. The IOC will choose the winning city in a vote on Friday Oct. 2 in Copenhagen. (AP Photo/Claus Bjoern Larsen, Polfoto)

It's believed that Suman suffers from a hormonal imbalance, but her family has been unable to afford to travel to Calcutta for expert medical treatment. WWKAD? What Would Katy Abram Do? • Margaret Bush Wilson, a civil-rights activist and head of the Missouri NAACP, has died in St. Louis at the age of 90. • Jose Garcia-Perlera, who tied up and gagged widows living alone in a series of attacks in 2007 and 2008 in Maryland, was sentenced today to life in prison without the possibility of parole. • The mom in North Dakota who was busted (heh) for breastfeeding while intoxicated can't stay out of trouble: She's been arrested twice since her sentencing. • Poor Tyler Barrick and Spencer Jones. They paid a Utah newspaper to run their wedding announcement, only to have it rejected. The same-sex couple were legally married in California in June and wanted the announcement to run in Jones' hometown before a family get-together next week. "After all, our marriage is just as real and legal and entitled to celebration as any of the others that are announced each week in the pages of The Spectrum," Jones wrote to publisher Donnie Welch. Welch replied: "This simply is not true. While that may be the case in some states it is not the case in the state of Utah. As our policy is to run marriage announcements recognized by Utah law, I have made the decision not to run the announcement." • Planned Parenthood of Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota has asked a judge to prevent the state from suspending its license to perform abortions in Sioux Falls. • A 35-year-old woman known only as Carole — a convert to Islam — was banned from her local pool in Paris for trying to go swimming in a "burquini." She bought the garment because: "it would allow me the pleasure of bathing without showing too much of myself, as Islam recommends." But officials claim the "burquini" is a possible public health risk. Daniel Guillaume, a regional official in charge of swimming pools, says: "These clothes are used in public, so they can contain molecules, viruses, et cetera, which will go in the water and could be transmitted to other bathers." • "Everybody used to say how radical I was. I just thought I was pragmatic." — Billie Jean King, who received the Presidential Medal of Freedom on Wednesday, the "the highest honor a civilian can receive in the U.S." • Scary, but not surprising: Pregnant women who underwent female genital cutting as girls are at increased risk of needing an emergency Cesarean section or suffering serious tears during childbirth. • Filament, a UK magazine for women featuring semi-naked men, is have problems pleasing its audience, which wants pictures of erect penises; its printers, which refuse and object to working with such content; and distributors which won't handle a women's magazine with a man on the cover. Writes Kristina Lloyd, "When set against the plethora of men's lifestyle and top-shelf magazines featuring scantily clad and open-legged women, the struggles faced by Filament highlight a deeply entrenched sexism: Men can look at women but women cannot look at men… The sexism is in the inequality. • Wow: Women's boxing will be added to the 2012 Olympic Games. Boxing was the last all-male Olympic sport.

• Researchers have taken on the conventional wisdom that many dogs resemble their owners, but the results are mixed. Some found that dogs do show similar facial expressions as their owners, but others say the entire idea is bull. • The Sudanese woman charged with indecency for wearing pants has been banned from leaving the country, she said Tuesday. Lubna Hussein faces 40 lashes for being caught in loose-fitting trousers. • A new study found that middle-aged men who idealize masculinity are 50% less likely than other men to seek health care. "This research strongly suggests that deep-seated masculinity beliefs are one core cause of men's poor health, inasmuch as they reduce compliance with recommended preventative health services," said researcher Kristen W. Springer. • Researchers have linked the use of food stamps to weight gain among women. They found no signs of a similar trend among men. • According to the Wall Street Journal, many young couples are experiencing the fatigue of constant companionship that usually comes with retirement. Unemployed or recently laid off lovers are bugging each other about minor things, and apparently, this is a downer. • Cool lady-director Katheryn Bigelow has announced her next project: An adventure movie titled "Triple Frontier," set on the border of Paraguay, Argentina, and Brazil. • Professor Catherine Lumby, an adviser to the Australian National Rugby League on women's issues says that intimate partner violence is an issue in the Australian Football League. "I hate to say (it) but it remains epidemic, sexual violence, physical violence," she said in an interview with ABC radio. • The International Olympic Committee is considering adding women's boxing to the lineup for the 2012 London Olympics. Also under consideration: Mixed doubles tennis and 50-meter sprints in swimming. • A researcher from the Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center found that only half the doctors in Texas are recommending the HPV vaccine to girls age 11-12. In 2006, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices recommended that all girls 11-12 should be vaccinated for HPV, but many doctors remain reluctant to discuss the vaccine. • A report released today by UNAIDS states that 50 million women in Asia are at risk for contracting HIV from their boyfriends or husbands. More than 90% of Asian women with HIV/AIDS were exposed to the virus by their long-term partners. • Amateur tennis champ Nancy Griffin is suing the city of Raleigh for discrimination and emotional damages after a men's league, sponsored by the city, banned her from playing. •

Adlington, a 5 foot 11 Olympic champ (video of one of her wins, here), tells the Daily Mail:

Do you know why I like shoes? They make me feel feminine. My shoulders stand out and people always say, "Aren't they broad?" And I think, "Thanks! You are really making me feel better about myself." I don't hate them, but I'd like to be more petite.

Without them, though, I know I wouldn't have the power I have – they are what makes me go so fast in the water – but out of the water, they definitely look better with a nice pair of shoes.

How heartbreaking is it, that in this era of "dainty" size 0 celebs, a strong, amazing woman — who is tapping into the potential of her (female) body — thinks of herself as unfeminine? What does "feminine" mean, anyway?

Here's the Merriam-Webster definition:

1: female
2: characteristic of or appropriate or unique to women {feminine beauty} {a feminine perspective}

But in our culture, it seems like "feminine" means dolled up, ruffled, manicured, wearing Louboutins. It doesn't mean getting dirty, or exerting yourself, or getting sweaty. Adlington says:

"I think there is a problem in that girls don't think it's cool to be sporty. I had that feeling when I used to trudge into school after training with my hair wet, smelling of chlorine, with no make-up on and thinking, 'Oh God, all the other girls look fantastic.' We need to change the view that you can't be a sportswoman and be feminine. I am certainly feminine outside the pool.'"

Of course, to prove that she is most certainly female, the paper shot Adlington by the pool in heels and a frilly dress. But she seems to have some sort of peer-induced ideal in her mind that she just can't shake: The reporter suggests she is bringing glamour to swimming, and Adlington responds, "Me? Bring glamour to the sport? I don't think so. I looked dreadful at the end of my 800 meters when I pulled my hat off and the wet hair was flopping in a face bare of make-up. Awful!" That is how she describes the moment in Beijing when she won the gold medal. Why?

Olympic Champion Rebecca Adlington: 'Girls Don't Think It's Cool To Be Sporty' [Daily Mail]

Earlier: British Swimmer Rebecca Adlington Has World Record, Good Friends

• A 31-year-old Iranian, blind from an acid attack by a spurned suitor, is demanding that the judge follow the ancient tradition of "eye for an eye" punishment and blind her attacker. • Bollywood-style dance classes, which mix traditional Indian folk dances with hip-hop moves, are a growing trend in fitness. • Virgin has instituted a "kissing ban" at one of their U.K. train stations because they believe that kissing couples were delaying trains. The introduction of a "kissing zone" outside the station really saps all the romance out of a goodbye kiss. • European medicine watchdogs have concluded that the HPV vaccine Gardasil did not cause seizures and loss of consciousness in two Spanish girls who had just been vaccinated. • New research indicates that physical activity improves the quality of life in postmenopausal women. The study found that women reported better mental health even if they did not lose weight. • This month's E-Poll indicates that women are most likely to make an effort to watch daytime dramas, but they would really miss Judge Judy if her show were to be canceled. • A Valentine's Day Craigslist ad in Texas has been revealed as a prank. The ad, which offered sexual favors to men, showed a photo of a woman named "Jennifer" and promised that she would "moan like Shamu." • UMen, a Middle Eastern men's magazine, recently ran a feature titled "Reasons Why Women Can't Drive." The list of "reasons" included: women have dogs in the front seat (??), and women "lack the driving gene." • Paula Oliveira, the Brazilian woman who was allegedly attacked by Swiss skinheads, has confessed that the entire story was an elaborate lie, complete with self-mutilation. • Doctors hope that a new device, implanted under the skin near the collar bone, will help sufferers of chronic obsessive compulsive disorder by sending pulses of electricity to the brain. • A 20-year-old Kansas City woman was explaining that she no longer loved her ex-boyfriend, only to be interrupted by gunshots. She was unharmed, but police later found the bullet, shot by her ex-boyfriend, tangled in her weave. • China's economic slump has lead many professional Chinese women to seek jobs as maids and nannies. • This Friday will mark the first time women are allowed to compete in ski jumping in the Nordic skiing World Championship. Athletes hope that the Olympic committee will also open the sport to women. •

• PETA has taken some time out from their busy schedule of objectifying women to call McDonald's out on their inhumane method of slaughtering chickens. • Doctors say that the chronic stress caused by the recession may lead to lower testosterone levels among men. • Although Showtime has its fair share of hookers, victims, and doormats, the network is leading the way to better roles for female actors with what CEO Matt Blank calls their "strong women's club:" "You're talking Edie Falco. You're talking Mary-Louise Parker, Elizabeth Perkins, Billy Piper, Toni Collette ... these women are some of the most exceptional talents on television right now." • Click here to watch the latest video from Jay Smooth about Rihanna, Chris Brown, and the greater issue of violence against women. • A woman who was allegedly set on fire by her husband embraced him while she was still burning, and held on until he was also in flames. The couple died in the hospital from their burns on Sunday. • Till-Death-Do-Us-Part.com is a new dating site that is set to be the e-harmony for the terminally ill. • Minister for the Olympics, Tessa Jowell, is pushing a rule change that would allow women to compete in every Olympic sport (currently, there are 40 medal events that are for men only). She also hopes to open synchronized swimming and rhythmic gymnastics to male athletes. • According to the National Pet Owners Survey, there are 88.3 million pet cats living in America, compared with 74.8 million dogs. While more families own dogs than cats, cat owners are more likely to own multiple felines, which has led to the discrepancy in numbers. • A 41-year-old woman has plead guilty to reckless homicide after dragging her 73-year-old husband around their pool, essentially "exercising" him to death. • Sunday's New York Times had this sad story about Romanian mothers leaving their children and homes for better paying jobs abroad. • The latest wave of "paparazzi" in Seoul aren't looking out looking to capture celebs and their spawn, but rather the small crimes of everyday people. Capturing even a minor crime on film- like lighting up near a non-smoking sign- can pay big. •

Sarah Blewden, a former model, had surgery to pump up her 32Bs to 32Cs in 2003. The ABAE believes that Blewden's implants put her at a greater health risk, and argue that in asking her not to compete they are only following international rules, which currently ban anyone from boxing who has undergone breast enhancement surgery. At first glance, the ABAE's actions seem pretty reasonable, but Blewden is not going to take this lying down. She has volunteered to pay for any corrective surgery required to repair the damage to her breasts, but she doesn't anticipate this being a problem: "My surgeon said they make me no more vulnerable than any other woman. They are not enormous ones - they are in proportion. They are gel implants and not liquid so they won't burst," she said. She also asked to wear a breast protector, but was told that it may not provide sufficient protection. Blewden has only been boxing for two years, but had so much natural talent that she had hoped to be among the first women to compete in boxing in the 2012 Olympics. [Telegraph & Mirror]

Isla confesses, "I always dreamed when I was a kid of coming on Letterman and showing my crotch." Clip at left.

After lifting 210 lbs and taking home the gold at the Commonwealth Youth Games in Pune, India, Smith has been voted "Athlete of the Year" in her sport by the British Olympic Association, an award usually reserved for Olympians. Smith used to be a gymnast, but started weightlifting at the age of 12 when she was asked to make up the numbers for the weightlifting team for the London Youth Games. Since turning 13, she has set 98 British records and plans to compete in the 2012 Olympics in London, her home city. [Daily Mail, Telegraph]

• Madeleine Pickens, wife of T. Boone, has announced she'll create a 1 million acre refuge for wild horses after the U.S. Bureau of Land Management said it will euthanize some of the animals in order to control the herds that roam over 10 Western states. • A retired librarian who died two years ago left more than $2 million to be split between the universities she attended: School of Information and Library Science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the Curry School of Education at the University of Virginia .• Three wrestlers claim that they were infected with herpes simplex 1 because York College coaches let team members wrestle with active lesions. • A recent survey in England found that 14 million people admit to reading on the toilet and up to 8 million say they like to talk on the phone or in person while on the loo. • The Australian Council of Trade Unions has warned Australia's Federal Government that paid maternity leave is "not negotiable" and should be delivered in next year's budget, leaving the US as the only developed country without a universal paid parental leave scheme. • A letter from Lewis Carrol to his child muse, Alice Liddell, is expected to fetch between £4,000 to £6,000 pounds at auction next week in England. • Ever wonder what happened to "the Bee Girl" in Blind Melon's classic "No Rain" music video? She is 25 and an aspiring actress. • Tennessee State University has blocked students' access to the anonymous and troll-y message board, Juicy Campus. • Japanese graphic designer Sachie Tani will appear in an upcoming episode of Animal Planet's Cat 101 with her cat Goma, a bona-fide internet celebrity. • A new study claims that obese women who get pregnant after bariatric surgery tend to be healthier and less likely to deliver a baby born with complications. • An AP photographer successfully reunited two girls with the family they were separated from during the war in Congo. • Boston Red Sox pitcher Tim Wakefield—the inspiration for Eri Yoshida, a 16-year-old Japanese girl who was drafted into a pro Japanese baseball team— says he hopes to see Yoshida pitch one day. • A new study reveals that the part of the brain that copes with stress flips to the opposite side of a woman's brain when she gets her period. • An Indiana Court of Appeals ruled this week that the state's policy of not charging motorists for special "In God We Trust" license plates was constitutional. • More than 80,000 people have signed an internet petition to Russian President Dmitri Medvedev, urging him to release a pregnant lawyer from a prison camp in Mordovia in a case against a former oil magnate. • The managers of Pascha, a brothel in Germany, say they would eliminate their $6 entry fee in exchange for customers getting the brothel's logo tattooed on their arm. • Ethel, a 4-year-old rabbit in England whose back legs became paralyzed last year, got a custom-made wheelchair to help her move around. • A study claims that Millennials are much more confident than previous generations of kids and many think they will be "very good" employees, mates and parents. • A 74-year-old grandmother in England has been banned from driving for 18 months after she drank and drove after an aerobics class earlier this month and attempted to drive up some stairs. • A flamingo that flew out of a zoo in Des Moines, Iowa on Tuesday has been recaptured and returned to zoo officials. • Suspected wife-murderer Drew Peterson met with divorce lawyers to discuss divorcing his wife Stacy who has been missing for over a year. •