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)
Monday, August 18, 2008
Day 10 - Snowsill Buries Demons
Major Highlight - Women's Triathlon
Australia's triathlon curse is over! Long dominant in the sport, Australia had failed to take Olympic gold in the event since its inception in Sydney. But that drought ended Monday when Emma Snowsill proved her world champion qualities with victory in the Women's triathlon. The win helped Snowsill bury her demons from the past. In 2002 her then boyfriend Luke Harrop, brother of Athens silver medallist Lorreta, was killed in training when he was hit by a car while riding. In 2004 Snowsill, then world champion, had to miss the Athens games when she missed the selection race with stress fractures. The event was a double celebration for Australia with Emma Moffatt taking bronze. World number 1 Vanessa Fernandes (Portugal) split the Aussies to take the bronze. A group of 20 or so riders had ended the bike leg together before Snowsill broke away from the field in the first kilometre of the 10km run. It turned to be the winning move as neither Fernandes nor Moffatt could catch her over the remaining 9 km's.
Gold - Emma Snowsill (Australia)
Silver - Vanessa Fernandes (Portugal)
Bronze - Emma Moffatt (Australia)
Sailing
Australia's charge up the medal tally continued after the Men's and Women's 470 class both took gold in their respective classes. Elise Rechichi and Tessa Parkinson cruised home in 9th in the last race which was more than enough to take the gold overall, while the Men's team of Nathan Wilmot and Malcom Page went out in style, winning their last race, which they did not even have to start. There lead from previous legs was so big that they would have won gold anyway!
Cycling
Track cycling has a new powerhouse - Great Britain! The Brits produced the greatest display of pursuiting ever seen, when their Men took the Team Pursuit gold by defeating Denmark. They smashed their own world record in the process to be the first team to break 3 minutes 54 seconds for the 4 kilometres. In the antipodean battle for the bronze New Zealand easily defeated Australia after another poor performance from Graeme Brown who barely lasted 2.5 kilometres of the event. In the day's other final, world champion and number 1 ranked road race Marianne Vos (Netherlands) took gold in the women's points race by being the only rider to take a lap. Australia's Katie Bates finished 6th. Australia's Anna Meares is into the medal rounds of the Women's sprint after she won her quarter-final 2 heats to 0.
Athletics
Australia has a second finalist in a track event! Sally Mclellan finished 4th in her semi-final to become the first Aussie woman to advance to the 100m hurdles final since Los Angeles (1984). She has qualified sixth fastest, but was only 8/100ths of a second off the second fastest time so a surprise medal is not out of the question. Australia's Youcef Abdi produced his best ever performance to finish 6th in the Men's 3000m steeplechase behind Kenyan Brimin Kiprop Kipruto. And in arguably the most predictable result of these games, Russian superstar Elena Isinbaeva took the gold in the Women's pole vault, breaking her own world record in the process. But perhaps the biggest shock of the day was when Chinese great hope Liu Xiang failed to even start his heat of the Men's 110m Hurdles, in the biggest last-minute withdrawal since Big Philou (or perhaps Wayne Carey?). Liu looked in severe discomfort throughout the warm up and when Marcel van der Westen (Netherlands) false started, he was unable to re-take his position on the blocks. He limped out of the stadium leaving a nation, and an Olympics in shock.
Hockey
The Hockeyroos have failed to make it to the medal rounds for a second straight Olympics after failing to get full points over host nation China. A 2-2 draw means that it is the hosts who will progress to the semi-finals and a shot at the medals.
Basketball
The Boomers have seemingly done the impossible. All but down and out after losing their first 2 group games, the Aussie's made it three wins in a row yesterday with a 106-75 thumping of Lithuania. The prize? A quarter-final match up with the redeem team from the United States. It will take an upset of miracle on ice type proportions to see them progress any further.
Water Polo
The Australian Men's Water Polo team will miss the medal rounds after a heart-breaking 5-5 draw with Montenegro in their last pool game. The Aussies were denied by a dying-second save from the Montenegrin keeper with the Aussies on the power play.
Medal Tally after Day 10:
1 - China - 39-14-14 (67)
2 - United States - 22-24-26 (72)
3 - Great Britain - 12-7-8 (27)
4 - Australia - 11-10-12 (33)
Australia's triathlon curse is over! Long dominant in the sport, Australia had failed to take Olympic gold in the event since its inception in Sydney. But that drought ended Monday when Emma Snowsill proved her world champion qualities with victory in the Women's triathlon. The win helped Snowsill bury her demons from the past. In 2002 her then boyfriend Luke Harrop, brother of Athens silver medallist Lorreta, was killed in training when he was hit by a car while riding. In 2004 Snowsill, then world champion, had to miss the Athens games when she missed the selection race with stress fractures. The event was a double celebration for Australia with Emma Moffatt taking bronze. World number 1 Vanessa Fernandes (Portugal) split the Aussies to take the bronze. A group of 20 or so riders had ended the bike leg together before Snowsill broke away from the field in the first kilometre of the 10km run. It turned to be the winning move as neither Fernandes nor Moffatt could catch her over the remaining 9 km's.
Gold - Emma Snowsill (Australia)
Silver - Vanessa Fernandes (Portugal)
Bronze - Emma Moffatt (Australia)
Sailing
Australia's charge up the medal tally continued after the Men's and Women's 470 class both took gold in their respective classes. Elise Rechichi and Tessa Parkinson cruised home in 9th in the last race which was more than enough to take the gold overall, while the Men's team of Nathan Wilmot and Malcom Page went out in style, winning their last race, which they did not even have to start. There lead from previous legs was so big that they would have won gold anyway!
Cycling
Track cycling has a new powerhouse - Great Britain! The Brits produced the greatest display of pursuiting ever seen, when their Men took the Team Pursuit gold by defeating Denmark. They smashed their own world record in the process to be the first team to break 3 minutes 54 seconds for the 4 kilometres. In the antipodean battle for the bronze New Zealand easily defeated Australia after another poor performance from Graeme Brown who barely lasted 2.5 kilometres of the event. In the day's other final, world champion and number 1 ranked road race Marianne Vos (Netherlands) took gold in the women's points race by being the only rider to take a lap. Australia's Katie Bates finished 6th. Australia's Anna Meares is into the medal rounds of the Women's sprint after she won her quarter-final 2 heats to 0.
Athletics
Australia has a second finalist in a track event! Sally Mclellan finished 4th in her semi-final to become the first Aussie woman to advance to the 100m hurdles final since Los Angeles (1984). She has qualified sixth fastest, but was only 8/100ths of a second off the second fastest time so a surprise medal is not out of the question. Australia's Youcef Abdi produced his best ever performance to finish 6th in the Men's 3000m steeplechase behind Kenyan Brimin Kiprop Kipruto. And in arguably the most predictable result of these games, Russian superstar Elena Isinbaeva took the gold in the Women's pole vault, breaking her own world record in the process. But perhaps the biggest shock of the day was when Chinese great hope Liu Xiang failed to even start his heat of the Men's 110m Hurdles, in the biggest last-minute withdrawal since Big Philou (or perhaps Wayne Carey?). Liu looked in severe discomfort throughout the warm up and when Marcel van der Westen (Netherlands) false started, he was unable to re-take his position on the blocks. He limped out of the stadium leaving a nation, and an Olympics in shock.
Hockey
The Hockeyroos have failed to make it to the medal rounds for a second straight Olympics after failing to get full points over host nation China. A 2-2 draw means that it is the hosts who will progress to the semi-finals and a shot at the medals.
Basketball
The Boomers have seemingly done the impossible. All but down and out after losing their first 2 group games, the Aussie's made it three wins in a row yesterday with a 106-75 thumping of Lithuania. The prize? A quarter-final match up with the redeem team from the United States. It will take an upset of miracle on ice type proportions to see them progress any further.
Water Polo
The Australian Men's Water Polo team will miss the medal rounds after a heart-breaking 5-5 draw with Montenegro in their last pool game. The Aussies were denied by a dying-second save from the Montenegrin keeper with the Aussies on the power play.
Medal Tally after Day 10:
1 - China - 39-14-14 (67)
2 - United States - 22-24-26 (72)
3 - Great Britain - 12-7-8 (27)
4 - Australia - 11-10-12 (33)
Sunday, August 17, 2008
Day 9 - Hackett, Tomkins Say Goodbye
Major Highlight - Men's 1500m Freestyle
Grant Hackett (Australia) was less than a second away from the impossible. Attempting to become the first man in history to win gold in the same event at three consecutive Olympics, Hackett finished a heart-breaking second to take silver behind surprise gold medallist Oussama Mellouli (Tunisia), going down by just 7/1oths of a second. The Aussie gave all he had and could barely walk back to the change rooms after exiting the pool. In one of the great 1500m races of all time, Hackett and Ryan Cochrane (Canada) set the pace (albeit slowly) early, before Mellouli, who had sat in the back half of the field for the first half of the race moved through to take the lead at the 1100m mark. With 100m to go Hackett trailed the Tunisian by over a second and a half. But the Aussie champion dug deep and accelerated over the last two laps. With 50m to go he still trailed by around a second. A late spurt with 25m to go, and a tiring Mellouli had the crowd roaring, but in the end the Tunisian held on to deny Hackett a place no man had ever been before. 19-year-old Cochrane held off fast finishing Yuriy Prilukov (Russia) for the bronze. Questions may (and should!) be asked about Mellouli's performance. He has already served a doping ban and improved his personal best by 9 seconds in the heat and then another 7 seconds in the final! It will be a shame if Grant is denied a place in history by a man who turns out not to be clean some time down the track. While Hackett seemed disappointed to get so close to an elusive third gold in the event, his courage and bravery to take the silver showed his champion qualities and elevated him to the same pedestal as Keiren Perkins as one of the great long-distance swimmers of all time.
Gold - Oussama Mellouli (Tunisia)
Silver - Grant Hackett (Australia)
Bronze - Ryan Cochrane (Canada)
Rowing
James Tomkins rowing career ended in disappointment as Australia's Men's Eight put in one of their worst performances of the season to finish 6th in the final. The Women fared no better with Australia also finishing 6th in the Women's Eight.
Athletics
Jamaica's golden run in the sprints continued as Shelly-Ann Fraser made it a Jamaican trifecta by taking gold in the Women's 100m, becoming the fastest woman on earth. Her countrywomen Sherone Simpson and Kerron Stewart tied for the silver. Kenenisa Bekele (Ethiopia) successfully defended his gold medal in the Men's 10,000m repeating the performance of his hero Haile Gebrselassie who finished 6th in his fourth try at the event.
Cycling
Defending champion Ryan Bayley (Australia) was eliminated in the repercharges of the Men's Sprint and has failed to get to the quarter-final stage. Australia also missed out on a chance for gold in the Men's Team Pursuit. After being on world record pace over the first 3km, losing Brad McGee, a complicated catch of the Dutch team, and a tiring Graeme Brown saw the Aussies finish out of the top 2 places. They will now ride off for bronze against their antipodean rivals from New Zealand.
Gymnastics
In an exciting first night of apparatus finals that saw both thrills and spills, China took two more gold medals. Zou Kai took gold in the Men's floor, although Japan's Kohei Uchimura seemed to be extremely harshly treated by the judges in finishing 5th. World champion Xiao Qin took gold in the Men's Pommel with Filip Ude (Croatia) and Louis Smith (Great Britain) winning their nation's first ever gymnastics medals with silver and bronze respectively.
Water Polo
Australia's women are into the medal rounds after an epic 12-11 win over China. The Austrailan's managed to overcome one of the most biased pro-home nation refereeing performances of all time to hang on for a deserved win, despite being subject to an horrific four double exclusions that gifted the Chinese 4 goals (usually there is no more than one of these a game at most!).
Hockey
The Kookaburra's kept their unbeaten run at this years Olympics intact with a come from behind 2-2 draw to previous silver medalists the Netherlands.
Basketball
The Opals remain undefeated at this years games after a powerful second half display saw them overrun Russia for a 75-55 victory.
Medal Tally after Day 9
1 - China - 35-13-13 (61)
2 - USA - 19-21-25 (65)
3 - Great Britain - 11-6-8 (25)
5 - Australia - 8-10-11 (29)
Channel 7 Bullshitmetre - With the Australian women in a do-or-die quarter final with China, Channel 7 could not resist taking an ad break with Australia cruising to a 3-0 lead early in the first quarter. Apparently, however, there wasn't actually a break in play, because when we returned China had magically managed to snatch two goals (god knows how!) to reduce the deficit to 3-2! The quarters go for 20 minutes (including stoppages) at most, so surely 7 can hang on that long between ad breaks, especially given they seem to throw in ads every five minutes in the prime-time evening session.
Grant Hackett (Australia) was less than a second away from the impossible. Attempting to become the first man in history to win gold in the same event at three consecutive Olympics, Hackett finished a heart-breaking second to take silver behind surprise gold medallist Oussama Mellouli (Tunisia), going down by just 7/1oths of a second. The Aussie gave all he had and could barely walk back to the change rooms after exiting the pool. In one of the great 1500m races of all time, Hackett and Ryan Cochrane (Canada) set the pace (albeit slowly) early, before Mellouli, who had sat in the back half of the field for the first half of the race moved through to take the lead at the 1100m mark. With 100m to go Hackett trailed the Tunisian by over a second and a half. But the Aussie champion dug deep and accelerated over the last two laps. With 50m to go he still trailed by around a second. A late spurt with 25m to go, and a tiring Mellouli had the crowd roaring, but in the end the Tunisian held on to deny Hackett a place no man had ever been before. 19-year-old Cochrane held off fast finishing Yuriy Prilukov (Russia) for the bronze. Questions may (and should!) be asked about Mellouli's performance. He has already served a doping ban and improved his personal best by 9 seconds in the heat and then another 7 seconds in the final! It will be a shame if Grant is denied a place in history by a man who turns out not to be clean some time down the track. While Hackett seemed disappointed to get so close to an elusive third gold in the event, his courage and bravery to take the silver showed his champion qualities and elevated him to the same pedestal as Keiren Perkins as one of the great long-distance swimmers of all time.
Gold - Oussama Mellouli (Tunisia)
Silver - Grant Hackett (Australia)
Bronze - Ryan Cochrane (Canada)
Rowing
James Tomkins rowing career ended in disappointment as Australia's Men's Eight put in one of their worst performances of the season to finish 6th in the final. The Women fared no better with Australia also finishing 6th in the Women's Eight.
Athletics
Jamaica's golden run in the sprints continued as Shelly-Ann Fraser made it a Jamaican trifecta by taking gold in the Women's 100m, becoming the fastest woman on earth. Her countrywomen Sherone Simpson and Kerron Stewart tied for the silver. Kenenisa Bekele (Ethiopia) successfully defended his gold medal in the Men's 10,000m repeating the performance of his hero Haile Gebrselassie who finished 6th in his fourth try at the event.
Cycling
Defending champion Ryan Bayley (Australia) was eliminated in the repercharges of the Men's Sprint and has failed to get to the quarter-final stage. Australia also missed out on a chance for gold in the Men's Team Pursuit. After being on world record pace over the first 3km, losing Brad McGee, a complicated catch of the Dutch team, and a tiring Graeme Brown saw the Aussies finish out of the top 2 places. They will now ride off for bronze against their antipodean rivals from New Zealand.
Gymnastics
In an exciting first night of apparatus finals that saw both thrills and spills, China took two more gold medals. Zou Kai took gold in the Men's floor, although Japan's Kohei Uchimura seemed to be extremely harshly treated by the judges in finishing 5th. World champion Xiao Qin took gold in the Men's Pommel with Filip Ude (Croatia) and Louis Smith (Great Britain) winning their nation's first ever gymnastics medals with silver and bronze respectively.
Water Polo
Australia's women are into the medal rounds after an epic 12-11 win over China. The Austrailan's managed to overcome one of the most biased pro-home nation refereeing performances of all time to hang on for a deserved win, despite being subject to an horrific four double exclusions that gifted the Chinese 4 goals (usually there is no more than one of these a game at most!).
Hockey
The Kookaburra's kept their unbeaten run at this years Olympics intact with a come from behind 2-2 draw to previous silver medalists the Netherlands.
Basketball
The Opals remain undefeated at this years games after a powerful second half display saw them overrun Russia for a 75-55 victory.
Medal Tally after Day 9
1 - China - 35-13-13 (61)
2 - USA - 19-21-25 (65)
3 - Great Britain - 11-6-8 (25)
5 - Australia - 8-10-11 (29)
Channel 7 Bullshitmetre - With the Australian women in a do-or-die quarter final with China, Channel 7 could not resist taking an ad break with Australia cruising to a 3-0 lead early in the first quarter. Apparently, however, there wasn't actually a break in play, because when we returned China had magically managed to snatch two goals (god knows how!) to reduce the deficit to 3-2! The quarters go for 20 minutes (including stoppages) at most, so surely 7 can hang on that long between ad breaks, especially given they seem to throw in ads every five minutes in the prime-time evening session.
Day 7 & Day 8 - Phelps Climbs Mount Spitz
Major Highlight - Men's 100m Buttefly
Michael Phelps (US) tied Mark Spitz record of eight gold medals Saturday with a heart-stopping last stroke win in the Men's 100m Butterfly. Phelps shot at the record looked all but hopeless when he turned in 7th after the first 50 metres of the final. But a great turn had him within striking distance of leader Milorad Cavic (Serbia) with 25 metres to go. Over the last 25 metres Phelps gradually hauled back Cavic inch by inch, but the task always seemed hopeless. However, with Cavic tiring, Phelps through himself at the wall in the final 5 metres. The crowd held its breath as the swimmers hit the wall, but as has been the case 6 times already this games the name Phelps appeared at the top of the leader board. The super-human American had his 7th gold medal, by the merest of margins, one 100th of a second. Phelps now equals Mark Spitz's record of 7 gold medals at a single Olympics. The was also great news for Australia in the event with Andrew Lauterstein finishing strongly for the Bronze.
Gold - Michael Phelps (US)
Silver - Milorad Cavic (Serbia)
Bronze - Andrew Lauterstein (Australia)
Swimming
In a disappointing couple of days in the pool a couple of Australian favourites had to settle for silver in their respective events. Libby Trickett almost pulled a Kieren Perkins from Lane 8 but collapsed over the last 25 metres to be touched out by Germany's Britta Steffen in the Women's 100m Freestyle. Liesel Jones showed her mental fragility still plagues her. Despite having the 9 fastest times going in to the final of the Women's 200m Breastroke, Jones (again!) left the gold on the table, and allowed Rebecca Soni (US) to take the race and her world record in the process. Michael Phelps (US) won his 6th gold on Friday, cruising to victory in the Men's 200m IM.
Athletics
The world has a new fastest man! Usain Bolt ran faster than any man had run before in taking the gold in the blue ribbon event, the Men's 100m. Bolt treated his rivals with contempt, and despite showboating and easing down in the last 10m he was still able to break his own world record, setting a new time of 9.69. Bolt will go for the sprint double in the 200m. Australia managed its first medal of the track and field program when Jared Tallent taking a bronze in the Men's 20km walk. Australia's Luke Adams finished 6th in the event.
Rowing
Drew Ginn and Duncan Free became Australia's first three-time gold medalists in rowing, taking gold in the Men's Pair. It was a double celebration for Australia with David Crawshay and Scott Brennan taking a surprise gold in the Men's Double Sculls. Australia also grabbed a silver medal in the Men's Four.
Basketball
The Boomers booked their place in the knockout phase of the Men's Basketball tournament with a brilliant with a 95-80 win over Russia. However, they will need to beat Lithuania in the last pool game to avoid a quarter-final match up with the US dream team.
Medal Tally after Day 7
1 - China - 25-9-6 (40)
2 - US - 14-12-18 (44)
3 - Germany - 8-2-4 (14)
7 - Australia - 5-7-8 (20)
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Day 6 - Rice Leads Aussie Girls To Relay Gold
Major Highlight - Women's 4 x 200m Freestyle RelayOn a morning that had been disappointing for the Aussie's in the pool, Australia's Women's 4 x 200m Freestyle Relay team produced a performance for the ages to hold off superpowers the US and China and take the gold medal in world record time. The Aussie team of Stephanie Rice, Bronte Barrat, Kylie Palmer, and Linda Mackenzie shaved over 5 seconds off the world mark to deliver Australia's 5th (and Rice's third!) gold at Beijing so far. Each girl produced a phenomenal splits, with Rice equalling the Australian 200m Freestyle record with her lead off leg. Barrat and Palmer managed to build up a three second lead heading into the last leg where Mackenzie was able to hold off the likes of world record holder Federica Pellegrini (Italy) and Katie Hoff (US) to take the race. The gold medal is redemption for Mackenzie who was part of the Australian relay team that were heartbreakingly robbed of a gold medal in this very race when they were disqualified for jumping into the pool before all participants had finished in the Fukuoka world championships in 2001.
Gold - Australia
Silver - China
Bronze - US
Swimming
Australia suffered a disappointing day in the pool outside the relay. World-record holder Eamon Sullivan was touched out by French rival Alain Bernard in the Men's 100m Freestyle final, while Jess Schipper went down to two remarkably improved Chinese swimmers in the final of the Women's 200m Butterfly. Both Chinese girls broke Schipper's previous world record mark in a performance that raises a lot of questions over the girls rapid improvement. On a brighter note, Brenton Rickard became the first Aussie to win a medal in the Men's 200m Breastroke since Los Angeles (1984), when he took silver behind superstar Kosuke Kitajima (Japan). The biggest shock of the day came from Libby Trickett (Australia), the world record holder in the Women's 100m Freestyle. Trickett had looked like missing the final after being only the 9th fastest qualifier from the semi-finals. But the fastest qualifier, China's Pang Jiayang was disqualified for a false start in the second-semi to allow Trickett to sneak into the field. Trickett will now be looking for a Keirien Perkins type performance to win from lane 8 in today's final.
Hockey
The Hockeyroo's continued their unbeaten run at this years games with a comprehensive 3-0 victory over South Africa.
Judo
Mongolia broke their long-awaited gold medal drought when Tuvshinbayar Naidan won the Men's 100kg class. Mongolia previously held the record for most minor medals (17) without having won a gold. That record now passes to the Philippines who have 9 minor medals (2 silver, 7 bronze) with no gold to their credit. Photo c/o http://www.olympics.com/
Basketball
The Boomers got their first win of this years games with a dominant 106-68 win over Iran.
Water Polo
The Australian men's team kept their hold on the fourth and final qualifying spot in their pool after a come from behind 8-5 victory over Canada.
Tennis
Lleyton Hewitt and Chris Guccione (Australia) have been knocked out of the Men's Doubles after going down 6-4 6-4 to the Bryan brothers of the US. Australia's participation in the tennis is over after the Women's doubles team also went down to Spain.
Medal Tally after day 6:
1 - China - 22-8-5 (35)
2 - USA - 10-9-15 (34)
3 - Germany - 7-2-3 (12)
6 - Australia 5-4-7 (16)
Channel 7 Bullshitmetre - As if we hadn't seen enough replays of the swimming finals, Channel 7 decided as an added feature we could all sit and watch poor Stephanie Rice watch her gold medal winning performances while being filmed by the Channel 7 cameras. Awkward! I think Rice summed it up perfectly with her comments at the start of the replay of the 400m IM. 'Are we going to watch the whole race?'
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Day 5 - Cancellara Banks Gold For Switzerland
Major Highlight - Men's Individual Time Trial
Swiss financiers will have a little bit more gold to add to their bullion stocks after Fabian Cancellara proved himself the most powerful man in road cycling with a much deserved win in the Men's Individual Time Trial. Over two laps of a demanding 23km circuit that had parts for the both the climbers and the strong men, Cancellara was able to make up enough time on the flat to peg back surprise Swede Gustav Larsson who had gotten away from him on the uphill parts of the course. In the end Cancellara, the two-time World Time Trial Champion, had over 30 seconds to spare over Larsson, with Levi Leipheimer (US) over a minute back to take the bronze. Leipheimer was visibly disappointed with his performance, smashing his handlebars as he crossed the line at the finish. The leading Australian performer was Cadel Evans who was fairly consistent throughout to finish 5th. Countryman Michael Rogers ensured there were two Australians in the top 10 with an 8th place finished. But it is Cancellara who must get all the plaudits, taking a much deserved gold after his bronze medal performance lit up the games on Day 1.
Gold - Fabian Cancellara (Switzerland)
Silver - Gustav Larsson (Sweden)
Bronze - Levi Leipheimer (US)
Swimming
Michael Phelps became the greatest Olympian of all time adding two more gold medals to his tally in the pool yesterday. Phelps won his 4th of these particular games with another world-record performance to take the Men's 200m Butterfly, and added his 5th, and his 11th of his career (the all time record) when the US Men's team smashed the world record to take gold in the Men's 4 x 200m Freestyle Relay. The Australian team managed to pick up the bronze thanks to a strong final leg from Nick Frost. Stepahnie Rice grabbed her second, and Australia's fourth, gold of the games with a barnstorming Freestyle leg to break her own world record in the Women's 200m IM, again pipping Kirsty Coventry (Zimbabwe) who took the silver. The male sprinters were on fire in the Semi-Finals of the Men's 100m Freestyle with Alain Bernard (France) and then Eamon Sullivan (Australia) breaking each other's world record in consecutive races. Today's final looks like a cracker, with the winner likely to be the first man under 47 seconds. Australia also has another gold medal favourite with world record holder Jess Schipper in the Women's 200m Butterfly.
Football
The Olyroos have been eliminated from the Football Tournament of the Olympic Games after a 1-0 defeat to Cote d'Ivoire saw them fail to get out of the group stage.
Rowing
Australian pair Drew Ginn and Duncan Free easily moved through to the final of the Men's Pair and are in a good position to take the gold medal on Saturday. David Crenshaw and Scott Brennan (Australia) are also through to the final of the Double Sculls after winning their semi. Australia's Men's Four and Women's Eight also qualified for their respective finals.
Basketball
The Opals continued their unbeaten run at this years games with a comprehensive 90-62 win over Korea.
Hockey
The Kookaburra's are now 2 and 0 at this years games after slaughtering South Africa 10-0 in their second pool game.
Water Polo
The Australian Women's team threw away a valuable two points conceding a last second goal to Hungary in their 7-7 draw in their second group game.
Tennis
Lleyton Hewitt (Australia) got some redemption over Rafael Nadal (Spain) by teaming up with Chris Guccione to defeat the Spaniards 6-2 7-6 in their Round 2 doubles encounter.
Gymnastics
The Australian women's team recorded their best ever performance to finish 6th in the Team final. The gold went to China who won the event for the first time.
Medal Tally after Day 5:
1 - China - 17-5-5 (27)
2 - USA - 10-8-11 (29)
3 - Korea - 6-6-1 (13)
6 - Australia - 4-2-6 (12)
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Day 4 - Phelps On Track For History
Major Highlight - Men's 200m Freestyle
Supporters of Darwinian evolution must have a smile on their face every time they watch Michael Phelps swim, because surely the American is an evolutionary step above the rest of us mere mortals. Phelps won his third gold of the XXIX Olympiad, and his eighth of his career with a totally dominant display in winning the Men's 200m Freestyle in world record time. Almost a body length in front after only 50 metres, Phelps rivals were no match for him as he powered away to win by almost 2 seconds from 400m Freestyle gold medallist Park Tahewan (Korea) and countrymen Peter Vanderkaay. Phelps shaved almost an entire second off his own world record to be the first man to swim under 1 minute 43 seconds. He now lies just one short of Carl Lewis's record 9 Olympic gold medals, and can better that today with opportunities to win his 9th and 10th gold medals respectively in the 200m Butterfly and Men's 4 x 200m Freestyle relay (the US B team having broken the Olympic record already in the heat!).
Swimming
As expected, Liesel Jones grabbed Australia's third gold of the games, and her first individual gold medal, with an easy victory in the Women's 100m Breastroke. She also cruised through to the semi's of the 200m Breastroke in her heat over night. World record holder Aaron Peirsol (US) became the first man to defend the 100m Backstroke title, setting a new world mark in the process. Australian's Hayden Stoeckel and Ashley Delaney just missed the medals finishing 4th and 5th respectively. Aussie golden girl Stephanie Rice, as well as countrywomen Alicia Coutts both qualified for today's final of the Women's 200m IM, with Rice looking to do the double after taking gold in the 400m IM.
Equestrian
Australia gained a silver in the team 3-day eventing competition, after a near faultless display of showjumping by the Germans allowed them to hold onto their lead following the cross-country, and take the gold.
Diving
The Australian pair of Briony Cole and 16-year old Melissa Wu won silver in the Women's Synchronised 10m Platform competition. The Chinese pair took the gold, making it a clean sweep for China in the 3 diving events contested at the games so far.
Canoe/Kayak - Slalom
Australian Robin Bell avenged his 4th place in Athens with a bronze medal in the Men's Canoe (C1) Slalom. In the Kayak division, Benjamin Boukpeti (Togo) became the first athlete from the tiny African nation to win an Olympic medal when he took bronze.
Rowing
Australia's Men's Eight, including flag-bearer James Tomkins, kept their medal hopes alive, finishing second in their repercharge to move through to the final.
Sailing
Both Australia's Men's and Women's boats in the 470 class lead their respective division after four races.
Water Polo
Australia's Men's Water Polo team slipped to 1-1 from their 2 pool games so far after a close 9-8 loss to Spain yesterday.
Basketball
The Boomers fell to 0-2 at this years Olympics after an 85-68 loss to defending gold-medalists Argentina. They will have to get wins on the board quickly if they are to get out of the group stage (they won't!).
Tennis
Australia's last remaining singles hope, Lleyton Hewitt, was comprehensively beaten by Rafael Nadal (Spain) 6-1, 6-2 in Round 2 of the Olympic Tennis tournament. Hewitt will face Nadal again in the second round of the Men's Doubles, when he teams up with Chris Guccione.
Medal Tally after Day 4:
1 - China - 13-3-4 (20)
2 - USA - 7-7-8 (22)
3 - Korea - 5-6-1 (12)
6 - Australia 3-2-5 (10)
Channel 7 Bullshitmetre - In Cole and Wu's post silver medal presentation interview with Channel 7, the interviewer suggested that Briony Cole must be especially appreciative of winning silver given the hardships she has gone through with injuries in recent years. Cole was quite shocked and replied that she had never really suffered from any serious injury. I guess that's the kind of journalism you get when you get stale old Channel 7 lackey's reporting rather than experts in the particular field.
Monday, August 11, 2008
Day 3 - Libby Lights Up The Pool
Major Highlight - Women's 100m Butterfly
Four years on from her disappointment in Athens, Libby Trickett won her first individual Olympic gold medal, and Australia's second gold of the games, with a dominant display in the Women's 100m Butterfly. Trickett recorded a personal best time, and just missed the world record, to hold off the fast finishing Christine Magnuson (US) to add gold to the bronze medal she won in the 4 x 100m Freestyle relay on Day 2. It was a double success for Australia with Jess Schipper taking the bronze. It was Trickett's dynamic speed off the blocks that won her the race. She gained an early lead and was ahead of world record pace for most of the race before fading slightly in the final 10m as her early effort told. The victory suggests Trickett is in great form, and will be hard to beat in the 100m Freestyle later in the meet.
Gold - Libby Tricket (Australia)
Silver - Christine Magnuson (US)
Bronze - Jess Schipper (Australia)
Swimming
Michael Phelps grabbed his second gold of the games by just 8/100ths of a second as the United States came from the clouds to win the Men's 4 x 100m Freestyle Relay in world record time. However, it was more a case of a massive choke in the final leg from world record holder Alain Bernard of France, who somehow managed to lose a body length lead in the final 50 metres. The Aussies took the bronze and actually broke the old world record mark themselves! A similar collapse from American Katie Hoff in the Women's 400m Freestyle allowed Rebecca Adlington (Great Britain) to take an unexpected gold medal. Kosuke Kitajima (Japan) became the first man to defend the Men's 100m Breastroke, taking the gold in world record time. Leisel Jones (Australia) cruised to victory in her Women's 100m Breastroke semi and would need to fall off the blocks to lose the gold in today's final. There was also a surprise for Australia in the Men's 100m Backstroke semi's with unheralded Hayden Stoeckel breaking the Olympic record to qualify fastest for today's final. In overnight heats both Stephanie Rice (Australia) and Alicia Coutts (Australia) qualified easily for today's semis in the Women's 200m IM.
Hockey
The Kookaburra's got their gold medal defence off to a flying start with a 6-1 demolition job over Canada in their first group game.
Basketball
The Opals are now 2 for 2 at this years Olympics after a comfortable 80-65 victory over Brazil.
Water Polo
Australia's women's water polo team (the stingers?! please!) got their Olympic campaign off to an excellent start with a 8-6 win over Greece.
Judo
Australia's Maria Pelki finished a heart-breaking 4th in the Women's 57kg class after losing her bronze medal match to Ketleyn Quadros (Brazil) in extra time.
Tennis
Lleyton Hewitt (Australia) is through to the second round of the Men's Tennis after defeating Jonas Bjorkman (Sweden) 7-5 7-6. He will meet Rafael Nadal in round 2 (Spain), and be eliminated, joining Alicia Molik (Australia) who crashed out in straight sets in the first round.
Equestrian
Australia lies in second place overall after the cross-country stage of the Team Equestrian. However, they trail Germany by only 4 penalty points which is the equivalent of dislodging 1 bar in the final show jumping round. The battle for the medals should go right down to the wire.
Medal Tally after Day 3:
1 - China - 9-3-2 (14)
2 - Korea - 4-4-0 (8)
3 - USA - 3-4-5 (12)
5 - Australia - 2-0-3 (5)
Channel 7 Bullshitmetre - Despite showing the Australian girls water polo opener against Greece delayed, Channel 7 had the bright idea of showing the last quarter and a half of a game they already new would finish 8-6 Australia's way. The score when they started their delayed coverage halfway through the third quarter...8-5!!!! Thirteen goals had been scored in the first 25 minutes yet the geniuses at 7 thought we'd like to see the last 15 minutes which involved 1 goal to Greece from a penalty.
Four years on from her disappointment in Athens, Libby Trickett won her first individual Olympic gold medal, and Australia's second gold of the games, with a dominant display in the Women's 100m Butterfly. Trickett recorded a personal best time, and just missed the world record, to hold off the fast finishing Christine Magnuson (US) to add gold to the bronze medal she won in the 4 x 100m Freestyle relay on Day 2. It was a double success for Australia with Jess Schipper taking the bronze. It was Trickett's dynamic speed off the blocks that won her the race. She gained an early lead and was ahead of world record pace for most of the race before fading slightly in the final 10m as her early effort told. The victory suggests Trickett is in great form, and will be hard to beat in the 100m Freestyle later in the meet.
Gold - Libby Tricket (Australia)
Silver - Christine Magnuson (US)
Bronze - Jess Schipper (Australia)
Swimming
Michael Phelps grabbed his second gold of the games by just 8/100ths of a second as the United States came from the clouds to win the Men's 4 x 100m Freestyle Relay in world record time. However, it was more a case of a massive choke in the final leg from world record holder Alain Bernard of France, who somehow managed to lose a body length lead in the final 50 metres. The Aussies took the bronze and actually broke the old world record mark themselves! A similar collapse from American Katie Hoff in the Women's 400m Freestyle allowed Rebecca Adlington (Great Britain) to take an unexpected gold medal. Kosuke Kitajima (Japan) became the first man to defend the Men's 100m Breastroke, taking the gold in world record time. Leisel Jones (Australia) cruised to victory in her Women's 100m Breastroke semi and would need to fall off the blocks to lose the gold in today's final. There was also a surprise for Australia in the Men's 100m Backstroke semi's with unheralded Hayden Stoeckel breaking the Olympic record to qualify fastest for today's final. In overnight heats both Stephanie Rice (Australia) and Alicia Coutts (Australia) qualified easily for today's semis in the Women's 200m IM.
Hockey
The Kookaburra's got their gold medal defence off to a flying start with a 6-1 demolition job over Canada in their first group game.
Basketball
The Opals are now 2 for 2 at this years Olympics after a comfortable 80-65 victory over Brazil.
Water Polo
Australia's women's water polo team (the stingers?! please!) got their Olympic campaign off to an excellent start with a 8-6 win over Greece.
Judo
Australia's Maria Pelki finished a heart-breaking 4th in the Women's 57kg class after losing her bronze medal match to Ketleyn Quadros (Brazil) in extra time.
Tennis
Lleyton Hewitt (Australia) is through to the second round of the Men's Tennis after defeating Jonas Bjorkman (Sweden) 7-5 7-6. He will meet Rafael Nadal in round 2 (Spain), and be eliminated, joining Alicia Molik (Australia) who crashed out in straight sets in the first round.
Equestrian
Australia lies in second place overall after the cross-country stage of the Team Equestrian. However, they trail Germany by only 4 penalty points which is the equivalent of dislodging 1 bar in the final show jumping round. The battle for the medals should go right down to the wire.
Medal Tally after Day 3:
1 - China - 9-3-2 (14)
2 - Korea - 4-4-0 (8)
3 - USA - 3-4-5 (12)
5 - Australia - 2-0-3 (5)
Channel 7 Bullshitmetre - Despite showing the Australian girls water polo opener against Greece delayed, Channel 7 had the bright idea of showing the last quarter and a half of a game they already new would finish 8-6 Australia's way. The score when they started their delayed coverage halfway through the third quarter...8-5!!!! Thirteen goals had been scored in the first 25 minutes yet the geniuses at 7 thought we'd like to see the last 15 minutes which involved 1 goal to Greece from a penalty.
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Day 2 - Rice Breaks Aussie Drought In The Pool
Major Highlight - Women's 400m IM
In the footsteps of Jodie Henry and Susie O'Neil before her, Stephanie Rice became the latest golden girl of Australian swimming with a stunning display to take Australia's first gold of the 2008 games with a dominant victory in the Women's 400m IM on Day 2. Rice took a commanding lead early in the race thanks to an impressive butterfly leg and was never headed from their on in. Her wire-to-wire performance came in a new record time of 4:29.45 as Rice became the first woman to break the 4:30 mark. Zimbabwean veteran Kirsty Coventry would have broken the old world record as well, but had to settle for silver given Rice's performance. Pre-race favourite and previous world record holder Katie Hoff (US) was disappointing, finishing almost 3 seconds outside her personal best and just holding off country women Elizabeth Beisel for the bronze.
Gold - Stephanie Rice (Australia)
Silver - Kirsty Coventry (Zimbabwe)
Bronze - Katie Hoff (US)
Swimming
Australia added to its medal tally with bronze in the Women's 4x100m Freestyle relay. The medal can be entirely put down to the final leg performance of Libby Trickett, as the Australian's came from near last halfway through the race to challenge for a medal. Trickett now looks in red hot form to take the 100m Freetsyle later in the meet. Michael Phelps opened his quest for a record 8 gold medals with an outstanding victory in the Men's 400 IM, smashing his own world record in the process. Grant Hackett finished a disappointing 6th in the Men's 400m Freestyle and will now look for a three-peat in the 1500m. Australia's next chance for gold in the pool looks set to come in today's Women's 100m Butterfly final with Libby Trickett and Jess Schipper cruising into the final in yesterday's semi's.
Rowing
Australia's Men's Quad Sculls were victorious in their heat to move through to the Semi-Final stage of the regatta.
Field Hockey
The Hockeyroo's got their Olympic campaign off to a remarkable start with a stunning come from behind victory over Korea. Trialling 4-1 at halftime the Australian girls reeled off 4 unanswered goals in the second half to take a 5-4 victory in the first pool game.
Basketball
The Boomers slim chance of a medal looks all but over after Day 2. The Aussie Man crashed to a disappointing 97-82 defeat to Croatia, a team ranked much lower than them in the world standings. With Baltic-powerhouse Lithuania and defending gold-medalists Argentina in their group, the Australian's will now be struggling to reach a place in the quarter-finals.
Artistic Gymnastics
Australia's Women's gymnastics team has qualified for the team final finishing 5th in the qualifying rounds.
Football
The Olyroos still have their destiny in their own hands despite a brave 1-0 loss to Argentina last night. With Cote d'Ivoire defeating Serbia in a 4-2 goal-fest, a win by Australia against the Ivorian's in their final group game should be enough to see them through to the quarter-finals.
Tennis
Sam Stosur won her first round match to move through to the second round. However, Chris Guccione was not so lucky going down in straight sets to American James Blake.
Medal Tally after Day 2:
1 - China - 6-2-0 (8)
2 - Korea - 3-2-0 (5)
3 - US - 2-2-4 (8)
7 - Australia - 1-0-1 (2)
Channel 7 Bullshitmetre - Channel 7's latest classic stunt was to cut their Day 2 Olympic coverage to show an AFL game between two sides destined for mid-table mediocrity. The Olympics is on once every four years for Christ's sake! There are 8 games of AFL a week. God knows what the poor souls in non-footballing states were thinking. I would like to know just who at Channel 7 thinks they provide even a semblance of coverage that could be considered decent. The board of directors must be filled with absolute morons. Although given that their share price has dropped 42 per cent in the last 10 months this is apparently the case.
In the footsteps of Jodie Henry and Susie O'Neil before her, Stephanie Rice became the latest golden girl of Australian swimming with a stunning display to take Australia's first gold of the 2008 games with a dominant victory in the Women's 400m IM on Day 2. Rice took a commanding lead early in the race thanks to an impressive butterfly leg and was never headed from their on in. Her wire-to-wire performance came in a new record time of 4:29.45 as Rice became the first woman to break the 4:30 mark. Zimbabwean veteran Kirsty Coventry would have broken the old world record as well, but had to settle for silver given Rice's performance. Pre-race favourite and previous world record holder Katie Hoff (US) was disappointing, finishing almost 3 seconds outside her personal best and just holding off country women Elizabeth Beisel for the bronze.
Gold - Stephanie Rice (Australia)
Silver - Kirsty Coventry (Zimbabwe)
Bronze - Katie Hoff (US)
Swimming
Australia added to its medal tally with bronze in the Women's 4x100m Freestyle relay. The medal can be entirely put down to the final leg performance of Libby Trickett, as the Australian's came from near last halfway through the race to challenge for a medal. Trickett now looks in red hot form to take the 100m Freetsyle later in the meet. Michael Phelps opened his quest for a record 8 gold medals with an outstanding victory in the Men's 400 IM, smashing his own world record in the process. Grant Hackett finished a disappointing 6th in the Men's 400m Freestyle and will now look for a three-peat in the 1500m. Australia's next chance for gold in the pool looks set to come in today's Women's 100m Butterfly final with Libby Trickett and Jess Schipper cruising into the final in yesterday's semi's.
Rowing
Australia's Men's Quad Sculls were victorious in their heat to move through to the Semi-Final stage of the regatta.
Field Hockey
The Hockeyroo's got their Olympic campaign off to a remarkable start with a stunning come from behind victory over Korea. Trialling 4-1 at halftime the Australian girls reeled off 4 unanswered goals in the second half to take a 5-4 victory in the first pool game.
Basketball
The Boomers slim chance of a medal looks all but over after Day 2. The Aussie Man crashed to a disappointing 97-82 defeat to Croatia, a team ranked much lower than them in the world standings. With Baltic-powerhouse Lithuania and defending gold-medalists Argentina in their group, the Australian's will now be struggling to reach a place in the quarter-finals.
Artistic Gymnastics
Australia's Women's gymnastics team has qualified for the team final finishing 5th in the qualifying rounds.
Football
The Olyroos still have their destiny in their own hands despite a brave 1-0 loss to Argentina last night. With Cote d'Ivoire defeating Serbia in a 4-2 goal-fest, a win by Australia against the Ivorian's in their final group game should be enough to see them through to the quarter-finals.
Tennis
Sam Stosur won her first round match to move through to the second round. However, Chris Guccione was not so lucky going down in straight sets to American James Blake.
Medal Tally after Day 2:
1 - China - 6-2-0 (8)
2 - Korea - 3-2-0 (5)
3 - US - 2-2-4 (8)
7 - Australia - 1-0-1 (2)
Channel 7 Bullshitmetre - Channel 7's latest classic stunt was to cut their Day 2 Olympic coverage to show an AFL game between two sides destined for mid-table mediocrity. The Olympics is on once every four years for Christ's sake! There are 8 games of AFL a week. God knows what the poor souls in non-footballing states were thinking. I would like to know just who at Channel 7 thinks they provide even a semblance of coverage that could be considered decent. The board of directors must be filled with absolute morons. Although given that their share price has dropped 42 per cent in the last 10 months this is apparently the case.
Saturday, August 9, 2008
Day 1 - Sanchez Rides To Gold For Spain
Major Highlight - Men's Road Race
The marquee event on the opening day of the Games was the Men's Road Race, an intense battle over 245km in opressive Beijing humidity. With the field already in the saddle for some 5 and a half hours the last hour of racing produced some of the most exciting cycling ever seen at an Olympic games. Andy Schleck (Luxembourg), Samuel Sanchez (Spain), and Davide Rebellin (Italy) seemed to have the medals between them when they broke clear of Michael Rogers (Australia) and Alexandr Kolobnev (Russia), but a an epic finishing burst from Fabian Cancellara (Switzerland), who appeared from nowhere in the final 5 km's, dragged the Aussie and the Russian back to the leaders. The result was a 6 man sprint at the finish, with Sanchez proving the most powerful to take the gold from birthday boy Rebellin. Cancellara's effort in the last kilometres told at the finish. He lacked his usual punch but managed to snare a deserved bronze right on the line:
Gold - Samuel Sanchez (Spain)
Silver - Davide Rebellin (Italy)
Bronze - Fabian Cancellara (Switzerland)
Swimming
A number of heats on day 1 but no finals thanks to the made-for-US scheduling of this years swimming. The Australian's were generally below par except for Jess Schipper in the 100m butterfly. Schipper and Libby Trickett (100m Butterfly), Grant Hackett (400m Freestyle), Stephanie Rice (400m IM), and the Women's 4 x 100 Freestyle Relay team look Australia's best chances for gold given their heat performances. Michael Phelps (US) who is aiming to win 8 gold medals in Beijing looked in cruise control to qualify fastest for the Men's 400 IM and should be unstoppable in the Day 2 final.
Basketball
The Opals defeated Belarus easily in their first pool game of the preliminary rounds.
Equestrian
Australia leads both the teams and individual standings, through Lucinda Fredericks, after Day 1 of the dressage.
Rowing
Australia's Men's coxless fours, double sculls and coxless pairs all won their heats to progress to the next stage of their respective events.
Medal Tally after Day 1:
1 - China - 2-0-0 (2)
2 - USA - 1-1-1 (3)
3 - Korea - 1-1-0 (2)
Australia - 0-0-0 (0)
The marquee event on the opening day of the Games was the Men's Road Race, an intense battle over 245km in opressive Beijing humidity. With the field already in the saddle for some 5 and a half hours the last hour of racing produced some of the most exciting cycling ever seen at an Olympic games. Andy Schleck (Luxembourg), Samuel Sanchez (Spain), and Davide Rebellin (Italy) seemed to have the medals between them when they broke clear of Michael Rogers (Australia) and Alexandr Kolobnev (Russia), but a an epic finishing burst from Fabian Cancellara (Switzerland), who appeared from nowhere in the final 5 km's, dragged the Aussie and the Russian back to the leaders. The result was a 6 man sprint at the finish, with Sanchez proving the most powerful to take the gold from birthday boy Rebellin. Cancellara's effort in the last kilometres told at the finish. He lacked his usual punch but managed to snare a deserved bronze right on the line:
Gold - Samuel Sanchez (Spain)
Silver - Davide Rebellin (Italy)
Bronze - Fabian Cancellara (Switzerland)
Swimming
A number of heats on day 1 but no finals thanks to the made-for-US scheduling of this years swimming. The Australian's were generally below par except for Jess Schipper in the 100m butterfly. Schipper and Libby Trickett (100m Butterfly), Grant Hackett (400m Freestyle), Stephanie Rice (400m IM), and the Women's 4 x 100 Freestyle Relay team look Australia's best chances for gold given their heat performances. Michael Phelps (US) who is aiming to win 8 gold medals in Beijing looked in cruise control to qualify fastest for the Men's 400 IM and should be unstoppable in the Day 2 final.
Basketball
The Opals defeated Belarus easily in their first pool game of the preliminary rounds.
Equestrian
Australia leads both the teams and individual standings, through Lucinda Fredericks, after Day 1 of the dressage.
Rowing
Australia's Men's coxless fours, double sculls and coxless pairs all won their heats to progress to the next stage of their respective events.
Medal Tally after Day 1:
1 - China - 2-0-0 (2)
2 - USA - 1-1-1 (3)
3 - Korea - 1-1-0 (2)
Australia - 0-0-0 (0)
Friday, August 8, 2008
Opening Ceremony Kicks Off Games
The 2008 Olympic games are underway. The games were officially opened by Chinese President Hu Jintao in a marathon 4 hour opening ceremony overnight that culminated in triple gold-medal winning gymnast Li Ning lighting the Olympic Cauldron in spectacular fashion. Li was propelled by a harness around the top of the Birdsnest Olympic stadium before lightning the flame that will burn over the next two weeks of competition.
The Australian team, with James Tomkins carrying the flag, was third-last of the 204 competing nations to enter the stadium in an endless parade of athletes and officials. As usual, their outfits left a lot to be desired compared to the far more understated and professional looking styles of some of the other competing nations.
Competition kicks off to day with the main feature the Men's Road Race. Australia is well represented by Tour de France heroes Cadel Evans, Simon Gerrans, Stuart O'Grady as well as Michael Rogers and national champion Matthew Lloyd. My tip however is Luxembourg's Andy Schleck. He seemed to be crusing in the last week of the Tour this year and if he has maintained his form he will be hard to beat.
Enjoy the two weeks of competition!!!
The Australian team, with James Tomkins carrying the flag, was third-last of the 204 competing nations to enter the stadium in an endless parade of athletes and officials. As usual, their outfits left a lot to be desired compared to the far more understated and professional looking styles of some of the other competing nations.
Competition kicks off to day with the main feature the Men's Road Race. Australia is well represented by Tour de France heroes Cadel Evans, Simon Gerrans, Stuart O'Grady as well as Michael Rogers and national champion Matthew Lloyd. My tip however is Luxembourg's Andy Schleck. He seemed to be crusing in the last week of the Tour this year and if he has maintained his form he will be hard to beat.
Enjoy the two weeks of competition!!!
Thursday, August 7, 2008
Red Star Over China - Olympics Set To Begin
Well after four years of waiting the games of the 29th Olympiad begin in a little under 7 hours with the opening ceremony in Beijing. As was widely expected 6-time Olympian James Tomkins will carry the flag for Australia at the opening ceremony. He seems a good choice, with perhaps his only rivals to the honour being cyclists Stuart O'Grady and Shane Kelly who will both appear in their 5th Olympics in Beijing.
Despite the games kicking off officially tonight, Australia's involvement has already begun, with the Olyroos taking on Serbia in their first group game of the Men's Football tournament overnight. After being under pressure for the majority of the game, the Olyroos managed to take a surprise lead in the 69th minute through Ruben Zadkovich. However, the goal was cancelled out by a late header from Serbia's Slobadan Rajkovic. The Serbs pressed for the last 10 minutes but could not find a winner, with the match ending 1-1. The result is unlikely to please either team with both, along with Cote d'Ivoire, likely competing for second spot in the group behind defending gold-medalists Argentina. In the other group game, a late strike from Lautaro Acosta helped Argentina steal all 3 points from the Ivorians with a 2-1 victory.
The disappointment of the night was the disgraceful decision by Channel 7 to delay telecast of the game by 2 hours. Apparently Australians would rather watch programs such as Home & Away and Search For A Supermodel than Australia's opening performance in arguably the biggest collective event (sporting or otherwise) on the globe. If that is true than Australian society has surely degenerated beyond all hope of a recovery. Instead, it is just more proof of how much of a disgrace Channel 7 is as a network - they are clearly the worst of the FTA networks and they will most likely continue to provide pathetic and ignorant coverage for the rest of the event. The sooner they lose the rights to the games the better. As usual, I expect SBS's coverage to be much more neutral, thorough, and professional.
But enough of the negativity, and on to the 2008 games in Beijing. My tip to light the Olympic flame? Liu Xiang, the 110m hurdler who won gold for China in Athens.
Despite the games kicking off officially tonight, Australia's involvement has already begun, with the Olyroos taking on Serbia in their first group game of the Men's Football tournament overnight. After being under pressure for the majority of the game, the Olyroos managed to take a surprise lead in the 69th minute through Ruben Zadkovich. However, the goal was cancelled out by a late header from Serbia's Slobadan Rajkovic. The Serbs pressed for the last 10 minutes but could not find a winner, with the match ending 1-1. The result is unlikely to please either team with both, along with Cote d'Ivoire, likely competing for second spot in the group behind defending gold-medalists Argentina. In the other group game, a late strike from Lautaro Acosta helped Argentina steal all 3 points from the Ivorians with a 2-1 victory.
The disappointment of the night was the disgraceful decision by Channel 7 to delay telecast of the game by 2 hours. Apparently Australians would rather watch programs such as Home & Away and Search For A Supermodel than Australia's opening performance in arguably the biggest collective event (sporting or otherwise) on the globe. If that is true than Australian society has surely degenerated beyond all hope of a recovery. Instead, it is just more proof of how much of a disgrace Channel 7 is as a network - they are clearly the worst of the FTA networks and they will most likely continue to provide pathetic and ignorant coverage for the rest of the event. The sooner they lose the rights to the games the better. As usual, I expect SBS's coverage to be much more neutral, thorough, and professional.
But enough of the negativity, and on to the 2008 games in Beijing. My tip to light the Olympic flame? Liu Xiang, the 110m hurdler who won gold for China in Athens.
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