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!

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.

Event updates

It's been about two weeks since my last blog, so I though I'd take this time to go through some of the recent developments with regards to the events that we'll be seeing in particular.

As many of you may know, the world record in the 100m dash was broken several days ago by Jamaican Usain Bolt, previously held by countryman Asafa Powell. It's not even his best event--so much so that he wasn't even sure if he'd be running it in Beijing! The American hopes most likely will rest on former Lafayette HS (Lexington, KY) and Arkansas standout Tyson Gay, who won gold at the 2007 World Championships in Osaka. The other American standout, Justin Gatlin, will be serving a four-year drug suspension in lieu of going to Beijing. We'll see if the Americans can retain the gold medal in Beijing.

As for rowing, I should point you to a recent article in the New York Times regarding China's newfound love of rowing. Rowing is a sport with a lot of medals available (14 events for a total of 42 medals), so the Chinese look to cash in on the gold there (they did not place in any rowing event in Athens). In 2004 the Americans won two medals: one gold and one silver. We will see the Men's eight--America's lone gold medal in Athens--and we will hope that the Americans can defend their title.

The Olympic Trials in swimming are June 29 to July 6 in Omaha, Nebraska. Coincidentally, Omaha is also the location of the College World Series just the week before (which we all hope produces a national championship for Rice). Superstar Michael Phelps looks to accomplish everything he left unaccomplished in Athens. That is, breaking Mark Spitz's record of seven gold medals at a single Olympics (apparently six golds and two bronzes were not enough for Mr. Phelps). In any case, we will (hopefully) see him in one of his preliminary events. America should return to Beijing with a strong team with the likes of Phelps, Natalie Coughlin, Brendan Hansen and Katie Hoff.

Finally, for triathlon, Julie Swail Ertel and Laura Bennett are slated to compete in the women's triathlon (with nods to Jarrod Schumacher and Matt Reed for the men). The final member of the each team will be determined at the Hy-Vee Triathlon on June 22. Unfortunately for the men's team, only one of the top two Americans, Andy Potts and Hunter Kemper, will be able to go to Beijing. In any case, we will see how the Americans do, and whether they can reach the medal stand.

In a little over a month, the Olympic teams will be complete, and we will know who will be competing for Olympic gold (and conversely, who will not be competing). As of writing, I will be leaving for Beijing in 69 and a half days (not that I'm counting or anything!).