In the international, yet very insular Olympic community, news spreads quickly, bad news quicker than good. And the tragic spreads like wildfire. So it was with the news that the in-laws of U.S. men's volleyball coach Hugh McCutcheon had been the victims of a knife attack by a Chinese man at a famous Beijing tourist attraction. Todd Bachman, the coach's father-in-laws was killed and Bachman's wife Barbara  was seriously injured.

The news reached the coaches of the women's fencing team during Saturday's sabre event and they decided not to share it with their athletes and distress them mid-competition. The American women proceeded to pull off a stunning triumph, not only winning America's first gold of the Beijing Olympics, but its first silver and bronze as well.

Women's sabre has been the standout in the U.S. fencing program--the team netted gold and bronze in Athens four years ago--but nobody really anticipated a sweep of the medals. For Mariel Zagunis, it was her second straight Olympic gold medal, for Sada Jacobson a silver to go with her previous bronze, and for 18-year-old Olympic rookie Becca Ward, a heart-stopping bronze with a 15-14 victory over a Russian rival to complete the American romp. "It was awesome with all of us standing up there to hear the national anthem and see three American flags rising" said Zagunis, who dispatched her longtime teammate and close friend Jacobson surprisingly easily, 15-8, in the final match. "We leave it all on the strip," she added. "When you get in you're strictly competitors, when you get off strictly friends."

Jacobson echoed that notion of "friends and teammates", but, as the senior of the medalists at age 25, she was clearly wrestling with disappointment among a host of emotions. When she teared up after the competition, she was nonplussed to find herself accepting a handkerchief from former president George H. W. Bush. "I didn't anticipate that," she said.

It was a day in Beijing that certainly nobody could have anticipated. There is relatively little crime against foreigners in this city. And with the attacker having killed himself by leaping from the 13th century Drum Tower, explanations--as if any are really possible--may come slowly if at all. Nothing can mitigate the tragedy. But amid it, a scrappy band of Amerrican women fencers created a joyous and triumphant moment. Tragedy and triumph, sadly it is a combination the Olympics has experienced before.

The Emperor is a four-month-old, five-star luxury boutique hotel and the first in urban China for the high-end Design Hotels group. Alumni of Qinghua University, China’s “MIT,” formerly housed their club in the building, which sits along the Forbidden City’s east wall in some of Beijing’s most expensive and exclusive real estate. From the rooftop terrace, the panorama view shows outlines of the Great Hall of the People and Mao’s Mausoleum facingTiananmen Square, swooping crenelations along Forbidden City rooftops, and the White Dagoba stupa atop Beihai Park , near the Central Government seat of power, Zhongnanhai. With just a swivel of the head from left to right, a Yin Bar client can take in China’s power centers of today, yesterday and centuries ago, before ordering himself a Jack and Diet Coke where the country’s educational elite once relaxed.

All the guests with whom I spoke were under-whelmed by the Olympic opening night festivities: Beijing’s streets were mostly empty and everything was quiet. One cab driver said it reminded him of Spring Festival, when the entire city shuts down and everyone evacuates the city to visit family in their hometowns. Nicole Graham, a 30-something fromSwitzerland who lives in Beijing , found the city’s atmosphere anything but festive: “there are guards and security everywhere. The atmosphere…it’s like everyone is scared. Where is everyone?” Her friends, German nationals Kirsten Froelich and Caterina Barr who are visitingChina during the Olympics, had hoped for a party, for some “color” and “noise.” Two young British students, Paul Wilson and Matthew Burgess, are on vacation to see their see their friend Lucy Reeve, currently studying Chinese atBeijing’s Capital Normal University. They were “disappointed by this.” They explained, “now, we’re just in a bar. You can be in England at a bar, and it’s like any bar—we wanted something special, something local.”

The irony of seeking out a “real” or “local” party in such an elite location seemed lost on these guests.