Absence of Arab medalists in Beijing

Hady Amr, scholar at Brookings in Qatar, takes note in the Daily Star of the fact that, though Arabs make up 5% of the world's population, they took less than 1% of Olympic medals. (Of 958 awarded, only 9 went to citizens of Arab countries). In his words:

… Something is clearly wrong when countries as diverse as communist China, the capitalist US and poor Jamaica all do dramatically better at the Olympic Games than the entire Arab world.

His solution? Combine Gulf money with the talents of all, so that Arabs will enjoy success at the next Olympics, bringing pride to their region and nations.

At least he's clear about where the money comes from.