Well after 16 days of intense competition we have seen many memorable moments. Here are my top highs (and lows!) of the Games of the 29th Olympiad in Beijing.
Top 5 highlights
1 - Michael Phelps - Obviously a toss up between Phelps and Bolt, Phelps gets the nod for becoming the greatest Olympian of all time. Mark Spitz's record of 7 gold medals at one games went out the window, as did Carl Lewis's 9 all time Gold. Phelps now sits at the top of the mountain with 8 and 13 respectively. His come from behind win to take gold in the 100m Butterfly and tie Spitz at 7 was the moment of the games!
2 - Usain Bolt - The greatest sprinting performance in any Olympic games. Ran 9.69 pulling up to arrogantly win the 100m, then put it all on the line to break the seemingly untouchable world record of Michael Johnson in the 200m. Capped it all off by leading his beloved Jamaica to yet another world record in the Men's 4 x 100m relay.
3 - Stephen Hooker - Hooker became Australia's first field gold medallist in 60 years with a heart-stopping performance to win the Men's Pole Vault. At 5.80, 5.85, and 5.90 he cleared the bar at his third attempt to snatch the gold. Breaking the Olympic record at 5.96 to end the competition was the icing on the cake.
4 - Matthew Mitcham - Mitcham produced the greatest dive in Olympic history, scoring a whopping 112 points to steal the last gold medal of the diving programme from the Chinese. It was one of the upsets of the games and was Australia's first male gold medal in diving since 1928. 5 - Matthias Steiner - In the final lift of the entire weightlifting program, Steiner lifted 10kg more than he ever had before to win the gold medal, just over a year after he had lost his wife in a tragic accident. If ever there was an Olympic moment ordained from the heavens this was it.
Honourable mentions - Fabian Cancellara, Grant Hackett, Stephanie Rice, the Aussie Men's Coxless Pairs, and Ken Wallace
The Lowlights
1 - Channel 7's TV Coverage - Disgraceful! Coverage was woeful from start to finish with probably less than 10 per cent of sports shown live. Took ad-breaks halfway through the action and had an appalling set of commentators outside Bruce McAverny and Phil Ligget.
2 - Kookaburrua's - The most heartless bunch of men to pull on the green and gold. Looked invincible in their pool games and after taking a 2-0 lead halfway through their semi-final capitulated like a deck of cards. Should have been a lock for the gold but instead choked their way to bronze.
3 - Liesel Jones - Bruce called her arguably the greatest breastroker of all time but she is arguably the most overrated swimmer of all time. One individual gold medal now from 6 attempts. Even managed to lose an event in which she held the 9 fastest swims all time in because she 'forgot to breath'. Pathetic!
4 - Liu Xiang - was broken mentally and possibly physically before even taking the blocks. And after 1 false start from his rival he was off to the depths of the birds nest leaving a nations dreams shattered. On the morning of Day 10, China joined the world becoming the latest of many nations to live, breath, and in this case die...sport.
5 - Men's 1500m Freestyle - An all time great in Grant Hackett was beaten into silver by a Tunisian who had been outed for drugs already in his career and produced a collective 16 seconds worth of personal best in the heat and the final to steal the gold. If he later turns out to test positive, the Olympics will have been robbed of one of its all time great moments.
See you in London in four years!
Sunday, August 24, 2008
Day 16 - Games Draw To A Close As London Awaits
Major Highlight - Men's Basketball Gold Medal Match
The United States redeem team achieved their dream on the final day of competition, taking the gold medal and avenging their bronze in Athens with a 118-107 victory over Spain in a highly entertaining final. Although they led reasonably comfortably at every change, that doesn't do credit to the competitive game Spain put up. Halfway through the last quarter the margin was down to just 4, but some late magic and clutch shooting from Kobe Bryant saw the US get over the line in the end. Dwyane Wade (United States) led the scoring with a game high 27 points, most of them in the first half. While Rudy Fernandez was sensational for the Spaniards scoring 22 points, including 5 buckets from down-town. But the credit must go to the US and coach Mike Krzyzewski, who picked a team that seemingly played for the name on the front of the jersey rather than the one on their back, and enabled the US to return to the top of Olympic basketball after their Men's and Women's teams ensured a clean sweep of the gold in Beijing.
Gold - United States
Silver - Spain
Bronze - Argentina
Athletics
Samuel Kamau Wansiru (Kenya) produced the greatest marathon performance in Olympic history to take gold in the final track and field event in Beijing. Wansiru set a blistering pace for the entirety of the event to win in an Olympic record time of 2:06:32. Jaouad Gharib (Morocco) took the silver, while Tsegay Kebede (Ethiopia) took the bronze.
Water Polo
Hungary became the first nation to win three consecutive Men's Water Polo gold medals by defeating the United States 14-10 in the gold medal game.
Boxing
Ulaan Baatar will be in party mode again after Badar-Uugan Enkhbat doubled Mongolia's all time gold medal tally after taking Gold in the Men's Bantamweight (54kg) division. Both of Mongolia's 2 Olympic gold medals have been won at these games.
Taekwondo
In one of the most remarkable scenes at the games of the 29th Olympiad, Angel Valodia Matos (Cuba) was disqualified from his bronze medal match after kicking the referee in the face and attempting to strike another official. He has been banned from the sport for life.
Final Medal Tally:
1 - China - 51-21-28 (100)
2 - United States - 36-38-36 (110)
3 - Russian - 23-21-28 (72)
6 - Australia - 14-15-17 (46)
Channel 7 Bullshitmetre - Channel 7 completed their disgraceful coverage of the 2008 games by cutting off the last 8 minutes of the gold medal game in the Men's basketball, clearly the most entertaining match of the entire tournament. Instead we got to see Channel 7 news in all its brilliance, which mostly involved scenes of Australian athletes partying in night clubs. We then returned to see selected highlights of the last 8 minutes. What a way to go out!
The United States redeem team achieved their dream on the final day of competition, taking the gold medal and avenging their bronze in Athens with a 118-107 victory over Spain in a highly entertaining final. Although they led reasonably comfortably at every change, that doesn't do credit to the competitive game Spain put up. Halfway through the last quarter the margin was down to just 4, but some late magic and clutch shooting from Kobe Bryant saw the US get over the line in the end. Dwyane Wade (United States) led the scoring with a game high 27 points, most of them in the first half. While Rudy Fernandez was sensational for the Spaniards scoring 22 points, including 5 buckets from down-town. But the credit must go to the US and coach Mike Krzyzewski, who picked a team that seemingly played for the name on the front of the jersey rather than the one on their back, and enabled the US to return to the top of Olympic basketball after their Men's and Women's teams ensured a clean sweep of the gold in Beijing.
Gold - United States
Silver - Spain
Bronze - Argentina
Athletics
Samuel Kamau Wansiru (Kenya) produced the greatest marathon performance in Olympic history to take gold in the final track and field event in Beijing. Wansiru set a blistering pace for the entirety of the event to win in an Olympic record time of 2:06:32. Jaouad Gharib (Morocco) took the silver, while Tsegay Kebede (Ethiopia) took the bronze.
Water Polo
Hungary became the first nation to win three consecutive Men's Water Polo gold medals by defeating the United States 14-10 in the gold medal game.
Boxing
Ulaan Baatar will be in party mode again after Badar-Uugan Enkhbat doubled Mongolia's all time gold medal tally after taking Gold in the Men's Bantamweight (54kg) division. Both of Mongolia's 2 Olympic gold medals have been won at these games.
Taekwondo
In one of the most remarkable scenes at the games of the 29th Olympiad, Angel Valodia Matos (Cuba) was disqualified from his bronze medal match after kicking the referee in the face and attempting to strike another official. He has been banned from the sport for life.
Final Medal Tally:
1 - China - 51-21-28 (100)
2 - United States - 36-38-36 (110)
3 - Russian - 23-21-28 (72)
6 - Australia - 14-15-17 (46)
Channel 7 Bullshitmetre - Channel 7 completed their disgraceful coverage of the 2008 games by cutting off the last 8 minutes of the gold medal game in the Men's basketball, clearly the most entertaining match of the entire tournament. Instead we got to see Channel 7 news in all its brilliance, which mostly involved scenes of Australian athletes partying in night clubs. We then returned to see selected highlights of the last 8 minutes. What a way to go out!
Day 15 - Mitcham A Perfect 10
Major Highlight - Men's 10m Platform
Matthew Mitcham (Australia) produced the greatest dive in Olympic history, and prevented the Chinese from completing an unheralded clean sweep of the diving, to take gold in the Men's 10m Platform. Mitcham trailed China's Zhou Luxin by almost 40 points heading into the final round, and after Zhou performed a reasonable dive with his final effort Mitcham required a mammoth 108 points to take the gold. Performing the dive that scored him 106 points in the semi-final, Mitcham produced arguably the most perfect dive seen in Olympic competition, earning four perfect 10's for a grand total of 112 points. It was more than enough to take the gold and left the pro-Chinese home crowd in stunned silence. Mitcham had all but given the game away two years ago, but proved him self Australia's leading diver by winning all the events at the most recent national titles. Fellow Aussie, Matthew Helm, who took silver in the event in Athens, had a strong back-end to the final to finish in 6th spot.
Gold - Matthew Mitcham (Australia)
Silver - Zhou Luxin (China)
Third - Gleb Galperin (Russia)
Kayaking
In memories of Clint Robinson in Barcelona, Ken Wallace (Australia) produced a finish faster then Bernborough to take Gold in the Men's K1 500m. Wallace, who took the bronze in the Men's K1 1000m on Day 14, defeated Canadian flag-bearer Adam van Koeverden who had not lost a single race in over 4 years.
Hockey
The Kookaburra's grabbed a consolation bronze for their efforts in Beijing when they defeated the Netherlands 6-2 in the Bronze Medal game. Still, the result can only be seen as a disappointment for a team that were hot favourites to take the gold, and should have done so.
Basketball
The Opals had to settle for their third consecutive silver medal after again losing the gold medal game to the United States, this time a humiliating 92-65 defeat.
Athletics
In the footsteps of Jan Zelezny, Norway's Andreas Thorkildsen won back-to-back gold medals in the Men's Javelin with an Olympic Record throw of 90.57. The United States continued their dominance in the longer relays with both their men's and women's teams taking the gold in the 4 x 400m. Kenenisa Bekele completed the classic distance double by adding the 5000m title to his 10000m gold. He is only the third athlete to have completed the double as well as winning multiple 10000m gold medals.
Channel 7 Bullshitmetre - More classic directing from Channel 7. After the Kookaburra's took a 1-0 lead in the Bronze Medal match against the Netherlands, Channel 7 cut to an ad, but not before we heard a roar from the crowd and stifled excitement from the match commentator. It turns out the Australian's had scored almost right from the re-start, and by the time we returned from the break we'd add another to take what would be an unassailable 3-0 lead. Gee the ad's must have been important!
Matthew Mitcham (Australia) produced the greatest dive in Olympic history, and prevented the Chinese from completing an unheralded clean sweep of the diving, to take gold in the Men's 10m Platform. Mitcham trailed China's Zhou Luxin by almost 40 points heading into the final round, and after Zhou performed a reasonable dive with his final effort Mitcham required a mammoth 108 points to take the gold. Performing the dive that scored him 106 points in the semi-final, Mitcham produced arguably the most perfect dive seen in Olympic competition, earning four perfect 10's for a grand total of 112 points. It was more than enough to take the gold and left the pro-Chinese home crowd in stunned silence. Mitcham had all but given the game away two years ago, but proved him self Australia's leading diver by winning all the events at the most recent national titles. Fellow Aussie, Matthew Helm, who took silver in the event in Athens, had a strong back-end to the final to finish in 6th spot.
Gold - Matthew Mitcham (Australia)
Silver - Zhou Luxin (China)
Third - Gleb Galperin (Russia)
Kayaking
In memories of Clint Robinson in Barcelona, Ken Wallace (Australia) produced a finish faster then Bernborough to take Gold in the Men's K1 500m. Wallace, who took the bronze in the Men's K1 1000m on Day 14, defeated Canadian flag-bearer Adam van Koeverden who had not lost a single race in over 4 years.
Hockey
The Kookaburra's grabbed a consolation bronze for their efforts in Beijing when they defeated the Netherlands 6-2 in the Bronze Medal game. Still, the result can only be seen as a disappointment for a team that were hot favourites to take the gold, and should have done so.
Basketball
The Opals had to settle for their third consecutive silver medal after again losing the gold medal game to the United States, this time a humiliating 92-65 defeat.
Athletics
In the footsteps of Jan Zelezny, Norway's Andreas Thorkildsen won back-to-back gold medals in the Men's Javelin with an Olympic Record throw of 90.57. The United States continued their dominance in the longer relays with both their men's and women's teams taking the gold in the 4 x 400m. Kenenisa Bekele completed the classic distance double by adding the 5000m title to his 10000m gold. He is only the third athlete to have completed the double as well as winning multiple 10000m gold medals.
Channel 7 Bullshitmetre - More classic directing from Channel 7. After the Kookaburra's took a 1-0 lead in the Bronze Medal match against the Netherlands, Channel 7 cut to an ad, but not before we heard a roar from the crowd and stifled excitement from the match commentator. It turns out the Australian's had scored almost right from the re-start, and by the time we returned from the break we'd add another to take what would be an unassailable 3-0 lead. Gee the ad's must have been important!
Saturday, August 23, 2008
Day 14 - Hooker Reaches For The Stars
Major Highlight - Men's Pole Vault
In one of the upsets of the games of the 29th Olympiad Steve Hooker won Australia's first gold medal in the field in 60 years with a heart-stopping victory in the Men's Pole Vault. In a jump for jump battle with Russian Evgeny Lukyanenko, who took the silver, Hooker left it to his third and final jump at heights of 5.80 and 5.85 to tie the Russian and send the jumpers to a height of 5.90. Neither jumper cleared the height at their first two attempts. At his third try Lukyanenko only just brushed the bar with his chest on the way down - but the pole bobbled in its holdings before falling to the ground. That gave Hooker the chance to steal the gold with his final attempt - and after switching to a longer pole he did just that with a magnificent jump that sent the crowd into raptures. Hooker hugged his coach on the track and celebrated in front of the rest of the Aussie team before returning to the runway - his new target, an Olympic record of 5.96. Again he missed with his first two attempts but produced another miracle to take the record and end the competition on a high.
Gold - Steve Hooker (Australia)
Silver - Evgeny Lukyanenko (Russia)
Bronze - Denys Yurchenko (Ukraine)
Athletics
Usain Bolt capped arguably the greatest track performance at a games since Jesse Owens at Berlin (1936) when he helped the Jamaican Men break the long standing world record of the United States in taking gold in the Men's 4 x 100m relay. The Women could not make it a double for the Caribbean nation after stuffing up a baton change. That left the Russian women to take the gold in the 4 x 100 for the first time in their history. Australia's Jared Tallent became the first Aussie male to win two medals at the one Olympics for over 80 years after taking silver in the Men's 50k walk, to go with his bronze in the 20k walk.
Kayaking
Australia added two bronze to their medal tally on the first day of finals at the flat water Kayaking. Ken Wallace came from 8th with 250m to go in the Men's K1 1000 to storm home for Bronze, while the Aussie women also took bronze in the K4 500.
BMX
Both Aussie's missed the medals in the inaugural BMX finals after crashing out in the Men's and Women's one-off finals respectively.
Medal Tally after Day 14:
1 - China - 47-17-25 (89)
2 - United States - 31-36-35 (102)
3 - Great Britain - 18-13-13 (44)
6 - Australia - 12-14-16 (42)
In one of the upsets of the games of the 29th Olympiad Steve Hooker won Australia's first gold medal in the field in 60 years with a heart-stopping victory in the Men's Pole Vault. In a jump for jump battle with Russian Evgeny Lukyanenko, who took the silver, Hooker left it to his third and final jump at heights of 5.80 and 5.85 to tie the Russian and send the jumpers to a height of 5.90. Neither jumper cleared the height at their first two attempts. At his third try Lukyanenko only just brushed the bar with his chest on the way down - but the pole bobbled in its holdings before falling to the ground. That gave Hooker the chance to steal the gold with his final attempt - and after switching to a longer pole he did just that with a magnificent jump that sent the crowd into raptures. Hooker hugged his coach on the track and celebrated in front of the rest of the Aussie team before returning to the runway - his new target, an Olympic record of 5.96. Again he missed with his first two attempts but produced another miracle to take the record and end the competition on a high.
Gold - Steve Hooker (Australia)
Silver - Evgeny Lukyanenko (Russia)
Bronze - Denys Yurchenko (Ukraine)
Athletics
Usain Bolt capped arguably the greatest track performance at a games since Jesse Owens at Berlin (1936) when he helped the Jamaican Men break the long standing world record of the United States in taking gold in the Men's 4 x 100m relay. The Women could not make it a double for the Caribbean nation after stuffing up a baton change. That left the Russian women to take the gold in the 4 x 100 for the first time in their history. Australia's Jared Tallent became the first Aussie male to win two medals at the one Olympics for over 80 years after taking silver in the Men's 50k walk, to go with his bronze in the 20k walk.
Kayaking
Australia added two bronze to their medal tally on the first day of finals at the flat water Kayaking. Ken Wallace came from 8th with 250m to go in the Men's K1 1000 to storm home for Bronze, while the Aussie women also took bronze in the K4 500.
BMX
Both Aussie's missed the medals in the inaugural BMX finals after crashing out in the Men's and Women's one-off finals respectively.
Medal Tally after Day 14:
1 - China - 47-17-25 (89)
2 - United States - 31-36-35 (102)
3 - Great Britain - 18-13-13 (44)
6 - Australia - 12-14-16 (42)
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Day 13 - The Curse Returns
Major Highlight - Men's Hockey Semi-Final - Australia v Spain
One of sport's great curses has been reborn! After apparently burying their seemingly endless years of disappointment and torment in Athens by taking gold the Kookaburra's have once again somehow managed to snatch a minor medal (at best!) from the jaws of gold. Ranked number 1 in the world, the Aussie men have been relegated to the bronze medal match after a last minute 3-2 loss to Spain, who will go on to play Germany in the final, after they defeated the Dutch in the corresponding semi. The plight of the Kookaburra's must be up there with sport's all time great curses such as those faced by the Boston Red Sox, Chicago Cubs, and of course the choke jobs of Australia's own Greg Norman and Cadel Evans. The Aussies looked to be cruising into the final, scoring in the first 30 seconds and holding that 1-0 lead into the half time break. Two minutes into the second half they doubled that lead and looked home and hosed. Just 7 minutes later it was 2-2 and the ghosts of Olympics past were beginning to surface. The capitulation was complete when, with just two minutes left on the clock, the Spaniards took advantage of a penalty corner to slam home the winner.
Gold Medal Match - Spain v Germany
Bronze Medal Match - Australia v Netherlands
Athletics
Veronica Cambell-Brown (Jamaica) wrote her name into the Olympic history books by defending her title in the Women's 200m. Jeremy Warriner (United States) could not repeat the same feat in the Men's 400m going down to team-mate LaShawn Merrit. There was also a shock result in the Men's 800m with defending champion Yuriy Borzakovskiy (Russia) missing the final along with Sudan's Abubaker Kaki, who had previously been undefeated in the event this season.
Basketball
The Opals will playoff against the United States for gold after easily accounting for home-nation China 90-56 in their semi-final.
Sailing
Australia snared their third sailing medal of the games with Darren Bundock and Glenn Ashby taking silver in the Men's Tornado class.
Water Polo
Australia's Women's water polo avenged their fourth place in Athens by defeating Hungary in a heart-stopping penalty shoot-out in the Bronze Medal game. Scores were locked at 7-7 after full time, and with each team scoring a pair of goals in the extra period the teams went to a shoot-out at 9-9. Australia prevalied 3-2 in the shootout to take the medal and spark wild celebrations amongst the team and coaching staff.
Diving
Australia's 16 year old diving star Mellissa Wu finished a brave 6th in the final of the Women's 10m springboard.
Medal Tally after Day 13:
1 - China - 46-15-22 (83)
2 - USA - 29-34-32 (95)
3 - Great Britain - 17-12-11 (40)
5 - Australia - 11-13-14 (38)
One of sport's great curses has been reborn! After apparently burying their seemingly endless years of disappointment and torment in Athens by taking gold the Kookaburra's have once again somehow managed to snatch a minor medal (at best!) from the jaws of gold. Ranked number 1 in the world, the Aussie men have been relegated to the bronze medal match after a last minute 3-2 loss to Spain, who will go on to play Germany in the final, after they defeated the Dutch in the corresponding semi. The plight of the Kookaburra's must be up there with sport's all time great curses such as those faced by the Boston Red Sox, Chicago Cubs, and of course the choke jobs of Australia's own Greg Norman and Cadel Evans. The Aussies looked to be cruising into the final, scoring in the first 30 seconds and holding that 1-0 lead into the half time break. Two minutes into the second half they doubled that lead and looked home and hosed. Just 7 minutes later it was 2-2 and the ghosts of Olympics past were beginning to surface. The capitulation was complete when, with just two minutes left on the clock, the Spaniards took advantage of a penalty corner to slam home the winner.
Gold Medal Match - Spain v Germany
Bronze Medal Match - Australia v Netherlands
Athletics
Veronica Cambell-Brown (Jamaica) wrote her name into the Olympic history books by defending her title in the Women's 200m. Jeremy Warriner (United States) could not repeat the same feat in the Men's 400m going down to team-mate LaShawn Merrit. There was also a shock result in the Men's 800m with defending champion Yuriy Borzakovskiy (Russia) missing the final along with Sudan's Abubaker Kaki, who had previously been undefeated in the event this season.
Basketball
The Opals will playoff against the United States for gold after easily accounting for home-nation China 90-56 in their semi-final.
Sailing
Australia snared their third sailing medal of the games with Darren Bundock and Glenn Ashby taking silver in the Men's Tornado class.
Water Polo
Australia's Women's water polo avenged their fourth place in Athens by defeating Hungary in a heart-stopping penalty shoot-out in the Bronze Medal game. Scores were locked at 7-7 after full time, and with each team scoring a pair of goals in the extra period the teams went to a shoot-out at 9-9. Australia prevalied 3-2 in the shootout to take the medal and spark wild celebrations amongst the team and coaching staff.
Diving
Australia's 16 year old diving star Mellissa Wu finished a brave 6th in the final of the Women's 10m springboard.
Medal Tally after Day 13:
1 - China - 46-15-22 (83)
2 - USA - 29-34-32 (95)
3 - Great Britain - 17-12-11 (40)
5 - Australia - 11-13-14 (38)
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Day 12 - Lightning Bolt Strikes Again
Major Highlight - Men's 200m
Usain Bolt (Jamaica) confirmed his standing as the fastest man the world has ever seen by breaking Michael Johnson's world record last night in taking gold in the Men's 200m. In doing so, Bolt became the first man since Carl Lewis in Los Angeles (1984) to take the 100m-200m sprint double at the Olympics. Despite destroying the field by almost 10 metres, there was no showboating at the finish from Bolt, who needed to run out the entire distance in order to break Johnson's herculean world record that had stood since Atlanta (1996). The race was not without controversy with Churandy Martina (Netherlands Antilles) and American Wallace Spearman both disqualified for running outside their respective lanes. This allowed American pair Shawn Crawford, the defending champion from Athens, and Walter Dix to take silver and bronze respectively, although they were no match for the explosive Bolt. Bolt will now look to continue his golden run by anchoring the Jamaican men's 4 x 100m relay team later in the meet.
Gold - Usain Bolt (Jamaica)
Silver - Shawn Crawford (United States)
Bronze - Walter Dix (United States)
Athletics
Craig Mottram will be a shock omission from the Men's 5000m final after failing to qualify when he finished 5th in his heat. It is the first time Mottram, bronze-medallist at the 2005 world championships, has missed a major 5000m final since 2003. His preparation must surely be questioned, having only competed in two 5000m races in the lead up to the games.
Softball
The Australian women's softball team will collect the Bronze medal after losing a marathon preliminary-final game to Japan. The Aussies managed to send the game into extra-innings with a home run when they were down to their last out in the 7th. They took the lead in the 10th but were tied by Japan when a blooper evaded the outstretched glove of the short-stop. Japan rapped the game up in the 11th with a walk-off hit to centre field, and will go on and meet the United States for the Gold.
BMX
Australia has four qualifiers through to the semi-final stage of the inaugural BMX Olympic event. Nicole Callisto and Tanya Bailey will compete in the women's semi's while Jared Graves and the moronically named Kamakazi will compete in the men's semi's.
Basketball
The Boomers were eliminated from medal contention at this years Olympics, after going down to the redeem team from the United States 116-85.
Medal Tally after Day 12:
1 - China - 45-14-20 (79)
2 - United States - 26-28-28 (82)
3 - Great Britain - 16-10-11 (37)
5 - Australia 11-12-13 (36)
Usain Bolt (Jamaica) confirmed his standing as the fastest man the world has ever seen by breaking Michael Johnson's world record last night in taking gold in the Men's 200m. In doing so, Bolt became the first man since Carl Lewis in Los Angeles (1984) to take the 100m-200m sprint double at the Olympics. Despite destroying the field by almost 10 metres, there was no showboating at the finish from Bolt, who needed to run out the entire distance in order to break Johnson's herculean world record that had stood since Atlanta (1996). The race was not without controversy with Churandy Martina (Netherlands Antilles) and American Wallace Spearman both disqualified for running outside their respective lanes. This allowed American pair Shawn Crawford, the defending champion from Athens, and Walter Dix to take silver and bronze respectively, although they were no match for the explosive Bolt. Bolt will now look to continue his golden run by anchoring the Jamaican men's 4 x 100m relay team later in the meet.
Gold - Usain Bolt (Jamaica)
Silver - Shawn Crawford (United States)
Bronze - Walter Dix (United States)
Athletics
Craig Mottram will be a shock omission from the Men's 5000m final after failing to qualify when he finished 5th in his heat. It is the first time Mottram, bronze-medallist at the 2005 world championships, has missed a major 5000m final since 2003. His preparation must surely be questioned, having only competed in two 5000m races in the lead up to the games.
Softball
The Australian women's softball team will collect the Bronze medal after losing a marathon preliminary-final game to Japan. The Aussies managed to send the game into extra-innings with a home run when they were down to their last out in the 7th. They took the lead in the 10th but were tied by Japan when a blooper evaded the outstretched glove of the short-stop. Japan rapped the game up in the 11th with a walk-off hit to centre field, and will go on and meet the United States for the Gold.
BMX
Australia has four qualifiers through to the semi-final stage of the inaugural BMX Olympic event. Nicole Callisto and Tanya Bailey will compete in the women's semi's while Jared Graves and the moronically named Kamakazi will compete in the men's semi's.
Basketball
The Boomers were eliminated from medal contention at this years Olympics, after going down to the redeem team from the United States 116-85.
Medal Tally after Day 12:
1 - China - 45-14-20 (79)
2 - United States - 26-28-28 (82)
3 - Great Britain - 16-10-11 (37)
5 - Australia 11-12-13 (36)
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Day 11 - Magical McLellan Takes Siver
Major Highlight - Women's 100m Hurdles
In a desperately close finish, Sarah McLellan became Australia's latest track star, when she held on to take the silver medal in the Women's 100m hurdles. While the winner Dawn Harper (United States) cleared out from the rest of the field over the final hurdles to take gold by a tenth of a second, the following 5 runners were separated by just 2/100th's of a second. McLellan had clearly had the best of the start and led over the first few hurdles before being swamped by the field approaching the line. By the time the photo had been developed, McLellan had held on for the silver, just pipping Canadian Priscilla Lopes-Schliep who took the bronze. Both fourth and fifth were only a further hundredth of a second back, while sixth was only a further hundredth behind them. McLellan's silver is the first individual track medal for Australia since Cathy Freeman took gold in the Women's 400m back in Sydney (2000). The race turned out perfectly for the young Australian, with a blanket finish giving every girl in the event a shot at a medal - luckily Sally was able to take hers!
Gold - Dawn Harper (United States)
Silver - Sally McLellan (Australia)
Bronze - Priscilla Lopes-Schliep (Canada)
Athletics
Usain Bolt (Jamaica) kept his quest for the golden sprint double intact by qualifying fastest for tonight's' final of the Men's 200m.
Cycling
Anna Meares won Australia's first, and only medal at this year's track cycling with a silver in the Women's sprint. Meares got through to the gold medal match by defeating China's Guo Shuang in an eventful semi-final. Guo took the first race, before Meares took the second. The third match was re-run after Guo initially crashed with a lap and a half remaining. The re-run was just as exciting. Guo looked to have held off the Aussie by inches on the line, but was relegated for bumping Meares on the final lap, with Meares doing well to stay on the bike. The Aussie was no match for world champion Victoria Pendleton (Great Britain) in the final, going down in straight sets. It was a double-gold for Britain on the night with Chris Hoy taking the Men's sprint, while Argentina were surprise gold medallists in the Men's Madison.
Basketball
The Opals are through to the medal rounds after a barnstorming 79-46 win over the Czech Republic. However, what looked like a tournament-ending injury to Penny Taylor will be of concern heading into their semi-final.
Water Polo
The Australian Women's Water Polo team will fight for bronze after going down 9-8 to the United States in a heartbreaking semi-final.
Hockey
The Kookaburrua's closed out their pool with a surprise 3-3 draw with Great Britain, but still did enough to finish second and advance to the medal rounds where they will face Spain in the semi-final.
Medal Tally after Day 11:
1 - China - 43-14-19 (76)
2 - USA - 26-26-27 (79)
3 - Great Britain - 16-9-8 (33)
4 - Australia - 11-12-12 (35)
In a desperately close finish, Sarah McLellan became Australia's latest track star, when she held on to take the silver medal in the Women's 100m hurdles. While the winner Dawn Harper (United States) cleared out from the rest of the field over the final hurdles to take gold by a tenth of a second, the following 5 runners were separated by just 2/100th's of a second. McLellan had clearly had the best of the start and led over the first few hurdles before being swamped by the field approaching the line. By the time the photo had been developed, McLellan had held on for the silver, just pipping Canadian Priscilla Lopes-Schliep who took the bronze. Both fourth and fifth were only a further hundredth of a second back, while sixth was only a further hundredth behind them. McLellan's silver is the first individual track medal for Australia since Cathy Freeman took gold in the Women's 400m back in Sydney (2000). The race turned out perfectly for the young Australian, with a blanket finish giving every girl in the event a shot at a medal - luckily Sally was able to take hers!
Gold - Dawn Harper (United States)
Silver - Sally McLellan (Australia)
Bronze - Priscilla Lopes-Schliep (Canada)
Athletics
Usain Bolt (Jamaica) kept his quest for the golden sprint double intact by qualifying fastest for tonight's' final of the Men's 200m.
Cycling
Anna Meares won Australia's first, and only medal at this year's track cycling with a silver in the Women's sprint. Meares got through to the gold medal match by defeating China's Guo Shuang in an eventful semi-final. Guo took the first race, before Meares took the second. The third match was re-run after Guo initially crashed with a lap and a half remaining. The re-run was just as exciting. Guo looked to have held off the Aussie by inches on the line, but was relegated for bumping Meares on the final lap, with Meares doing well to stay on the bike. The Aussie was no match for world champion Victoria Pendleton (Great Britain) in the final, going down in straight sets. It was a double-gold for Britain on the night with Chris Hoy taking the Men's sprint, while Argentina were surprise gold medallists in the Men's Madison.
Basketball
The Opals are through to the medal rounds after a barnstorming 79-46 win over the Czech Republic. However, what looked like a tournament-ending injury to Penny Taylor will be of concern heading into their semi-final.
Water Polo
The Australian Women's Water Polo team will fight for bronze after going down 9-8 to the United States in a heartbreaking semi-final.
Hockey
The Kookaburrua's closed out their pool with a surprise 3-3 draw with Great Britain, but still did enough to finish second and advance to the medal rounds where they will face Spain in the semi-final.
Medal Tally after Day 11:
1 - China - 43-14-19 (76)
2 - USA - 26-26-27 (79)
3 - Great Britain - 16-9-8 (33)
4 - Australia - 11-12-12 (35)
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