From Beijing: Day 4

Well, another day in Beijing has come and gone. It's hard to believe that tomorrow is my last full day in Beijing, since it's been quite an experience.

This morning started with a trip to the television to watch Michael Phelps win gold medal number eight and complete one of the most dominating performances in sports history. In addition, the women's 4x100m medley relay captured the silver medal, earning Elaine a silver medal by swimming in the prelims Friday.

After watching Phelps and Co, we headed out to the rowing venue (it has an official name--but I can't pronounce it...like just about every other place here in Beijing), about 30km northeast of the Olympic Green near the airport. We were able to watch seven different finals, from double skulls to the marquee rowing event, the women's and men's eight. That would be eight rowers and a coxswain, each with one scull (for those familiar with rowing, forgive my ignorance). By the way, if you wish to be kept in suspense in hopes that NBC will air rowing delayed this afternoon (the 17th), I'd suggest you pause reading this until a bit later.

The one thing we had been unable to see in either swimming or track and field was an American gold medal. We wanted to see the American flag go up to the tune of the Star Spangled Banner, and while we saw several semifinal events that the Americans would go on to win, we had only heard Russian, Ethiopian, Japanese, French, etc. national anthems. Going into the final two events, we could add Dutch, British, Danish, Chinese, and Polish national anthems. Then came the final two events: men's and women's eight. The American women managed to start strong and hold onto first the entire way and win the gold medal. While the American men weren't able to make a sweep, they still captured the bronze medal behind the medal-deprived (at least in comparison to China and the United States) Canadians.

Speaking of the number of medals, it may be interesting to note that while in the United States we tally up the total number of medals and rank that way, you will never see that ranking in China. The United States is perpetually in second place, even though we outrank China in terms of the total number of medals, as China has more gold medals than we do. In fact, China hardly cares for the silver and bronze medals: it's the gold medals they really care about.

Anyway, my battery has dipped still farther, which, given that I am absent a working power cord, makes sense, but as I need this computer to work for three more days sans power cable, I'm signing off from Beijing. More to come tomorrow!

From Beijing: Day 3

So here's the big question. Was Tyson Gay able to fend off his Jamaican rivals, Asafa Powell and Usain Bolt? Was there a new world record in the 100m dash at National Stadium tonight? In other words, who won the 100 meter dash??? Well, read on if you want to know now. Otherwise, wait until tonight to watch it on NBC. In any case, you have fair warning about the "spoilers" coming. I guess that's the problem of having to air an event like the 100m dash during prime time in the US, when Beijing is 12 hours ahead of the East Coast.

Tonight should be an amazing night on television. Not only do you have the 100m dash, but Michael Phelps goes for gold medal number eight (and world record number seven) live. Also, Dara Torres will look to bring home gold in the 50m freestyle, and the women's 4x100m medley relay will look to take gold from the heavily favored Aussies.

If you live in a cave, you might want to know that swimmer Michael Phelps is completing one of the greatest feats in all of the history of sports. He's going for eight gold medals in a single Olympics, a feat never done before. What makes it more impressive is that he set world records in his first six events (and doubtless, the world record in the 4x100 medley relay will be broken too). He certainly has a knack for making it spectular, first with the 4x100m freestyle relay, which ended in a photo finish against the heavily-favored and smack-talking French, and second by outtouching Serbian Milorad Cavic by a single hundredth of a second in the 100m butterfly. The rest are simply new world records. He is quite possibly the greatest athlete we've ever seen. In any case, his 2008 Olympics end tomorrow morning in Beijing.

Now, what did happen in the 100m dash? Toward the beginning of the evening, they raced in the semifinals. Walter Dix easily made it through to the finals, as did all three Jamaicans (including world record holder Usain Bolt and former world record holder Asafa Powell). In the second heat, Tyson Gay came in fifth in his heat. Only the top four advance, and America's best hope in the 100m was dashed. After enduring shot put, javelin throwing, long jump qualifying rounds, and several preliminary races of varying lengths (including five heats of women's heptathlon 800m races), we came to the Olympics' marquee event, the 100m dash.

Usain Bolt started out fast--very fast, and was clearly in control of the entire race, and won easily. What made his victory so special was not how he won, but how fast he won: 9.69 seconds, a new world record. Richard Thompson of Trinidad and Tobago won second, and American Walter Dix kept the Americans on the podium for the third straight Olympics.

Seeing the Bird's Nest Stadium was truly spectacular, especially at night (I finally got a picture put up of the stadium at night). In fact, the entire Olympic Green lit up at night is quite specacular. Indeed, the design can only truly be appreciated when seen in person.

I'm watching my battery life slowly disinigrate, and as I have three more days in Beijing, I must sign off for now. Good night from Beijing!

Another Exciting Day at the Olympics

Close to a billion people watched the basketball game between the United States in China, a game that the United States ended up winning easily, 101-70. That makes it one of the most widely-watched basketball games of all time. For comparison, just under 20 million people watched this year's NCAA national championship game in the United States.

The United States broke the world record in the men's 4x100 freestyle relay--in the prelims. However, even though they replaced their three slowest swimmers with three of the world's fastest 100m freestylers, including Michael Phelps, the French team, seeded second in the finals, was the overwhelming favorite to win. And indeed, despite a fast start by the Australians (and Phelps setting the American record in the 100m freestyle to lead things off), the French opened a wide lead over the Americans. Jason Lezak dove in about a body length behind the world record holder, Alain Bernard. With 25 meters to go, it looked as if the French would win it. And then came Lezak: he started inching closer to Bernard, came up right next to him right at the wall, and outtouched him by 8 hundredths of a second for the gold medal. Phelps now is a part of two out of the three American gold medals.

More tomorrow: my last full day in the States!

Olympics: 100m butterfly semis

Well, first a brief recap of other action. Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh start off NBC's live prime time coverage as the defending gold medalists in the women's beach volleyball (I ought to reference my previous blog regarding my thoughts as to why NBC is airing beach volleyball on primetime). The Americans easily won in two sets.

Also, Michael Phelps kicked off the evening in the men's 400m IM against good friend Ryan Lochte. Phelps was dominant in what was said to possibly be his toughest individual event, winning the gold medal and breaking his own world record in the process. Lochte, though he was even with Phelps at the beginning of the breastroke, Phelps' weakest stroke, he fell to third and the bronze medal.

And finally, regarding Elaine Breeden. While being seeded sixth going into the semifinals, she was about a half second off her prelim time, and ended up tying for sixth in her heat. Unfortunately, that wouldn't be enough to make it to the finals. Fellow American Christine Magnuson managed to break the American record, and will have a solid shot at a medal tomorrow night in the finals.

Elaine's next race will be on Tuesday night, Beijing time in the prelims of the 200 fly.

The Olympic Trials in Review

So here's a list of my top 10 events that occurred at this year's Olympic Trials:

1. Michael Phelps and Katie Hoff: Each had five chances to make it to Beijing. Each succeeded in all 5. Phelps will go for 8 golds (including three relays), and leaves Omaha undefeated in all his races. Hoffwill compete for 6 golds, and is the "female Phelps".
   
2. Dara Torres: at 41, setting an American record and qualifying in 2 events as the oldest swimmer to make the US Olympic team
   
3. Tyson Gay (1): He ran the fastest (wind-aided) 100m dash in history at 9.68 seconds
4. Brendan Hansen: A month ago, Hansen was the world record in the 200m breastroke until Kosuke Kitajima took it away. Hansen wound up 4th in this event, and will have one shot at Olympic gold in the 100
   
5. Tyson Gay (2): Unfortunately, the world champion in the 200m dash isn't going to be competing for a medal in that event, since he fell during the quarterfinals of the 200m dash and strained his hamstring
   
6. Cullen Jones: is the first fully African-American to make the US Olympic Team in a long white-dominated sport. Perhaps we'll see the first African-American president this year too.
   
7. Aaron Piersol: The Texan backstroker set one world record and tied another in his two events to lock up those two events in Beijing. There's no doubt
   
8. Jeremy Wariner: Heavily favored to win, he placed second in the finals of the 400m dash. He will, however, make the Olympic team and look to break Michael Johnson's record in that race.
   
9. Gary Hall, Jr.: One of the most interesting swimming figures, missed the Olympics completely after not placing in the top two in the 5om freestyle.
   
10. Elaine Breeden: For me, this is easily the biggest event (and so a good one to end on), since she qualified in both the 100m and 200m butterfly

I'm biased, and lots of other great stuff happened. Both the Track and Field and the Swimming teams for the United States look very strong headed to Beijing, and despite a couple setbacks, we should do very well in the premier sports of the Games. It's going to be awesome!

Trials Update

Wow...lots of news to cover. First off, the finals are set for the 100m butterfly, and I couldn't be happier with the way it's turned out! In addition, two world records were set at the trials, both in the 400m IM. One was in the men's set by none other than Michael Phelps, and the other in the women's by 19-year-old Katie Hoff. Brendan Hansen blazed through the semifinals of the 100m breastroke, recording the second fastest time ever swum in that event. Kudos to him for that effort.

On the track and field side of things, there were several upsets at the trials, which may turn out to be detrimental to American medal chances. Jeremy Wariner easily won his quarterfinal event in the 400m dash (an event that is an American powerhouse, and perhaps the most likely event for the Americans to go 1-2-3, as they did in 2004. As an aside, I'd really like to see an event where the Americans sweep the medals, and watch as the three American flags rise with "The Star Spangled Banner" playing).

However, the news of the day was Lexington native Tyson Gay, who ran the 100m dash in 9.68 seconds. The 4.1 m/s tailwind denied him the world record (which is 9.72 seconds, set this year by Usain Bolt), but no man has ever run the 100m dash that fast, even with a tailwind. He will be heading to the Olympics as America's best hope to capture gold against the two Jamaicans, Usain Bolt and Asafa Powell.

Anyway, the finals for the 100m butterfly are on tomorrow night on USA, NBC's cable affiliate, from 8pm to 9pm live from Omaha. Brendan Hansen will also be competing to cement his spot on the Olympic team in the 100m breastroke, an event where he owns the world record. Michael Phelps does not have any finals tomorrow, but he does have two prelims and two semifinals (the 200 freestyle and the 100 back). The finals for those events will be on Tuesday.

I'll probably have daily updates on trials, and when we get past trials in the time right before the Olympics, I'll post a couple blogs on the Speedo LZR that's been in the news, a bit of Olympic history, and a preview of China and Beijing.