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Explainer's Olympics RoundupYour questions about the Games, with answers from our archives.

By Derek ThompsonPosted Wednesday, Aug. 13, 2008, at 6:57 AM ET

Check out Slate's complete coverage of the Beijing Games.

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Air-pollution concerns dominated the pre-Olympic news cycle. Now the Games are under way, and the attention has turned to Michael Phelps and the indoor swimming and gymnastics competitions. How will air pollution affect athletic performance during the outdoor games?

We don't know for sure, but it certainly won't help. Athletes in competition breathe more than 20 times the amount of air inhaled by a normal person at rest. In Beijing, that could mean a supersized dose of ozone and fine particulates, which can reduce the amount of oxygen that gets to the muscles. But with Beijing's air quality yo-yoing from white-out haze to blue skies in a matter of days, it's difficult to predict what conditions Olympians competing outdoors will face. (For more on pollution and athletic performance, read this Explainer from 2007.)

The head of the World Anti-Doping Agency has warned that drug scandals in Beijing—like the medal-stripping of world-class sprinters Ben Johnson, Marion Jones, and Tim Montgomery—could drive away a generation of viewers from the Olympics. How do you make an athlete give his medals back?

You ask for them. When the Court of Arbitration for Sport ruled that Montgomery had cheated, the International Association of Athletics Federations sent him a request for the medals. Revoked Olympic medals can be reused. When the IOC strips an athlete of her gold, it can send that same medal to the woman who had received the silver. It's even easier to take back a medal while the Games are still going on. A Canadian official took the gold medal from Johnson during a late-night visit to his hotel room in Seoul. (For more on how to take a medal from an athlete, read this Explainer from 2005.)

For many viewers, watching the U.S. women's gymnastics team compete Tuesday night brought to mind memories of Kerri Strug's impressive one-ankle landing after her vault in 1996. But at least one thing isn't the same in Beijing: the shape of the vault. Why the new equipment?

In part to facilitate more impressive acrobatic feats, and in part to reduce injuries. The larger surface area has also made it easier for vaulters to perform difficult maneuvers that require handsprings on the approach. The front edge slopes downward and is thickly padded, so an accidental run-in hopefully won't cause broken bones. The table made its international debut at the 2001 world championships in Ghent, Belgium. (For more on the newish vault, read this Explainer from 2004.)

During the parade of nations at the Beijing opening ceremony, you might have caught the Hong Kong team walking under its national flag, even though it's been a territory of China for about a decade. Puerto Rico has its own team, too, and its residents are all U.S. citizens. How can territories like Puerto Rico field their own teams?

The International Olympic Committee, the governing body that makes all decisions about the administration and operation of the games, recognizes their National Olympic Committees. The Olympic Charter explains that "the expression 'country' means an independent State recognized by the international community," and the IOC recognized Puerto Rico as such an entity in 1948. The committee also recognized the U.S. Virgin Islands in 1967, Guam in 1986, and American Samoa in 1987. (For more on how a nonsovereign territory can field its own Olympic team, read this Explainer from 2004.)