Apparently the US military-industrial complex forged an alliance with the Chinese officials to deny the Brazilians gold. It was done to ensure the Brazilians didn't move ahead of the Norwegians on the medal tally, as China and the US are planning a joint oil exploration mission to part of the Arctic ocean controlled by Norway. So this was the pay off to ensure Norwegian co-operation.

OK, it is conceivable that I made this up, but I figure everyone else on this site has their own half-arsed conspiracy theory about the Olympics and I didn't want to feel left out.