Icelandic news website MBL.is reports that the country’s Minister of Culture and Education spent 5 million ISK (USD 60,540) of public money visiting Beijing in support of the Icelandic handball team.

As minister for culture and education, Thorgerdur Katrin Gunnarsdottir counts sport among her responsibilities and thus decided to visit between the 5th and 14th August in support of all the Icelandic athletes at the Olympics.

Accompanying her on the trip were her husband and her undersecretary, with his partner.

When it was known that Iceland would be appearing in the handball final, it was decided that the Minister should return to Beijing to show her support. This time, the undersecretary’s partner did not attend.

The story appears on the Icelandic website purely as a piece of information; in the manner of something designed to inform the public that this money has been spent, and nothing else.

The article does not comment on whether the trips could have cost less or if it was money well-spent. The Icelanders did, however, return home with their first ever medal in a team event.

Iceland lost, 28 – 23, in a game against a very strong French team in the play-offs for gold. The small Viking nation never showed its face, both in defence and offence, and complained that the lack of shots taken by the Icelandic goal-keeper helped France to shape their victory and win the gold.

It was not until the last 10 – 15 minutes that Iceland mustered some of the spirit that they had showed throughout the Olympics.

But even though the Icelandic team lost, they can be proud of their achievement and will proudly accept the silver medal.

The staff at IceNews sends their best wishes to the team and all Icelanders at the Beijing Olympics.

Swedish wrestler Ara Abrahamian won the bronze medal in the men’s Greco-Roman wrestling event in Beijing but then threw the medal away in protest over his controversial loss in the semi-finals.

Abrahamian believed he had beaten Italian Andrea Minguzzi in the 84kg division, but the match was given to the Italian who went on to win gold.

The local newspaper writes that controversy had been swirling around the bronze medal event before it even started. Abrahamian’s coach Leo Myllari got into a furious argument with the judges an hour before the Swede’s match, accusing them of being corrupt because they had deducted a point against Abrahamian late in the previous match with the Italian that ended up costing him a spot it the final.

“My semi-final round loss today was totally unjustified. The controversial ruling shows that FILA (the sport’s governing body International Amateur Wrestling Federation) does not play fair,” Abrahamian claimed at the time. Italian Minguzzi had a different perspective, however, saying “in sports I think it is appropriate to show sportsmanship and respect the result.”

Both Abrahamian’s coach Myllari and the Swedish wrestling team feel the judges’ verdict was unfair. The argument heated up so much that Myllari told the newspaper Expressen that they were planning to take the matter to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). Abrahamian threatened to boycott the bronze medal match and walk out, but changed his mind and competed, defeating Frenchman Melonin Noumonvi and winning his medal.

Norway’s women’s football (soccer) team wasted no time with the US, scoring the two fastest goals ever in a women’s Olympic football match. The Norwegians then kept the pressure on their opponents to finish 2-0 winners.

Norway and the US played their Group G opening match at the Qinhuangdao Olympic Sports Centre Stadium. A communication blunder by the American defence allowed Leni Laursen Kaurin to slot one past the keeper after just two minutes. This goal set a new record for the fastest goal ever scored during a women’s Olympic game, beating the previous effort by Germany’s Pia Wunderlich, who scored after four minutes during the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta.

Things got worse for the Americans just two minutes later when a weak back pass was picked off by Norway’s Melissa Wiik. She curled a lovely shot past US keeper Hope Solo to make it 2-0. After these dramatic opening four minutes, the US regained their composure and began taking the game to the Norwegians.

The Americans had a couple of good efforts in the second half but were unable to find the back of the net. Norway looked the more dangerous going forward, however, and missed two excellent chances to put the game out of reach.

Sweden’s Olympic women’s football team managed to pull out an essential 1-0 victory over Argentina to keep their hopes of progressing to the next group stages alive, Yahoo! reports. The vital goal came from midfielder Milla Fischer in the 57th minute.

The game, which was played in Tianjin in extremely hot and humid conditions, put the players of both teams under pressure. Sweden controlled most of the match, rarely letting the Argentines progress past the midfield line. The first half was a relatively dull affair, with few chances by either side.

Sweden continued to control the game in the second half, despite temperatures reaching 33 degrees Celsius on the pitch. Players needed frequent water breaks, as they struggled to keep pace under the torpid conditions. Sweden’s big break came early in the second half when Fischer headed a spot kick past the keeper.

Sweden created a few more chances towards the end of the second half, and Argentina finally came to life with five minutes to go as striker Maria Potassa broke free in the box and beat the keeper only to chip the shot over the bar. Sweden lost their opener to China 2-1, so this win was a big confidence booster heading into the next match of Group E. Sweden will face Canada next.

Norwegian member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Geirhard Heiberg, says Chinese security guards are scaring visitors with their stony faces.

“They look like they have faces of stone. They’re scaring the visitors. Something needs to done,” Aftenposten reports Heiberg as saying.

Heiberg says the IOC is very satisfied with Beijing’s volunteer security guards and marshals: “They are helpful and smiling. The police and military, on the other hand, need to act differently. They have stony faces. They’re seriously scaring the foreigners in Beijing. Something has to done. The fact that they’re armed and look sinister, just makes things worse. That’s why I’ve talked to China’s political authorities and the Olympics organizers at our daily meetings. I’ve asked them to get people to smile more,” says Heiberg.

The Chinese games are costing more than the last three Olympics put together – a fact which is worrying the organisers of London 2012 and prospective hosts for the 2016 games. “We can’t have an Olympics on the cheap, but we have to keep costs at a level where other nations can afford to host the Games,” Heiberg says.

As the IOC’s Marketing Manager, Heiberg, 69 is currently starting his days with high level meetings, then having three or four lunches and a further three or four dinners before finally getting to bed around 3am. After Beijing the busy former athlete’s attention will turn straight to London.

Finland’s opposition, the Left Alliance, issued a party statement on Wednesday, clarifying their position on a possible boycott of the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in Beijing this year. According to STT, the Finnish News Agency, the Left Alliance party is encouraging the government of Finland not to attend the opening ceremony.

In addition to promoting the government’s absence from the opening ceremony, the Left Alliance is urging Finland to broach the issue of human rights violations with the Chine government.

A statement from the party read: “China’s repeated violations of minority rights cannot be accepted. The Finnish government has so far refrained from taking a clear position on China’s human rights violations.”

Finland’s Left Alliance strongly urged the Finnish government into concrete action on the issue, calling upon the government to demand an inquest from China into the recent violence in Tibet and to call on other members of the European Union for support on the matter.

Other human rights issues the Left Alliance would like to see the government of Finland take up with China include the lack of freedom of foreign press in the country and the lack of free speech in China.