Two months before the sporting world turns its attention toward Beijing, the “crisis” that threatened the Summer Games is over, the International Olympic Committee president said Friday.   “We are in a totally different situation,” Jacques Rogge said in closing three days of IOC executive board meetings in Athens, Greece. “I am very, very optimistic in the quality of the Games, and I believe these will be very good Games.”   The previous time the 15-person IOC executive board met, in April in Beijing, tensions were flaring over the Olympic torch relay because of China’s human rights record and its stance on Darfur and Tibet, and there was talk of an international boycott.   Normally reserved in criticism of the Olympics, Rogge said, “It is a crisis. There is no doubt about that.”   Not much has been done to improve the situations in Darfur and Tibet, but protests have calmed since the torch relay hit China last month. And the chance of a boycott similar to ones that soured three Summer Games from 1976 to 1984 seems slim.   Rogge points to a renewed sense of unity in China almost a month after an earthquake killed more than 69,000 people, comparing it to U.S. rallying for the 2002 Salt Lake City Games following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.   “These Games will mostly be the first moment of joy of Chinese people,” Rogge said, adding the IOC will remember the earthquake victims in a ceremony before the Olympics start Aug. 8. “These Games can be considered as something to rejoice.”  

Grace Droog stands inside her home Wednesday in Sioux Center, Iowa. In this part of the country, separating religion from politics is folly. Photo by THE ASSOCIATED PRESS