Asia Reaches Olympian Heights

	RECENT COVERAGE Built For Speed Michael Phelps wants his gold rush to last Acropolis Now An inside look at Athens
	PHOTO ESSAYS The Olympians Past champions and fresh faces Athens to Athens LIFE Olympic photographs Stroke By Stroke How Michael Phelps turbocharged his repertoire Olympic Preview The road to Athens
	PARTNERS SI.com Complete coverage of the 2004 Games

Traditionalists will tell you that the Olympic Games are not a contest between nations, that the Olympic spirit dwells in the hearts of countless athletes who dedicate themselves to their sports and dream of nothing more than doing the very best they can on the world's greatest stage. But traditionalists lost that argument decades ago. Every four years, readers and viewers turn to the daily medal tables to see how each nation has done. And as the Athens games got under way, the tables told how the world has changed. In the first week of competition, South Korea had won...