The Olympic Games start Friday night, from Beijing.

While I'm not sure the Olympics mean quite so much as they did during the Bruce Jenner, Dorothy Hamill and Mark Spitz days, they still are world-class events.

And, this summer is a big one for Maine, with seven Mainers competing and, according to our sister paper, the Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram, many of them have a chance at a medal.

We already have started to promote our Sports coverage of the Olympics on A1 of the newspaper. As opening day arrives and the games progress, you will see us playing more stories and photos more prominently -- on A1 and definitely on the Sports cover.

You also can count on us using the work from Press Herald sports writer Mike Lowe, who's covering the games, and featuring it prominently.