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6117. marjoribanks - 8/12/2008 6:26:03 AM Check out the front page that greeted me this morning.
My personal hope is that the extremely ballsy Saina Nehwal somehow manages to win a medal in badminton, as she continues her run of upsets. That will alleviate the Bindra ballyhoo a bit, besides being a far more significant athletic achievement.
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Wabbit, I've heard some noises about cricket being included as a trial event starting at the London Olympics - the host has some leeway with this. On the one hand, even one-day cricket seems to me to be highly unsuited to the Olympics, what with taking a full day, long recovery times, etc. On the other, I would definitely get a kick out of seeing the cricket guys at the games. In the long term, I don't see cricket as an Olympic sport, I'm afraid...
6118. wabbit - 8/12/2008 2:25:21 PM LOL, that is a great headline!! And best of luck to Saina — I saw some of the men's badminton a couple days ago, it is surprisingly fast.
You are right about cricket, the time factor will be a problem, but I'm hoping the IOC gives it a chance. Preliminary rounds could be held well in advance of the actual opening ceremony, that already happens with other sports. So what if it isn't big here in the US, it is huge elsewhere. It won't get much tv time, but neither do many other events. I have my fingers crossed for cricket. 6119. wabbit - 8/12/2008 2:43:56 PM  I wonder if the depth of the pool is really making a difference for the swimmers. Records are falling left, right and center. Natalie Coughlin of the United States won the Olympic 100-meter backstroke, becoming the first woman to ever defend her title in the event. Coughlin finished in 58.96 seconds, briefly going under world-record pace at the 50. World record-holder Kirsty Coventry of Zimbabwe earned the silver in 59.19. American Margaret Hoelzer took the bronze in 59.34. Six of the eight finalists swam under 1 minute.
In winning the 200-meter freestyle Tuesday, Michael Phelps ran his career Olympic total to nine golds and avenged his only individual loss in Athens four years ago, when a 19-year-old Phelps took on the 200 free just so he could compete with Ian Thorpe and Pieter van den Hoogenband. Phelps etched his name with Mark Spitz and Carl Lewis among the winningest Olympians ever with his third gold medal and third world record in as many days.
Aaron Peirsol won the men's Olympic 100-meter backstroke, defending his title with a world-record time and extending the United States' dominance of the event. Peirsol touched in 52.54 seconds, lowering his old mark of 52.89 set at last month's U.S. trials. Teammate Matt Grevers earned the silver in 53.11. Arkady Vyatchanin of Russia and Hayden Stoeckel of Australia tied for the bronze in 53.18.
6120. wabbit - 8/12/2008 2:46:43 PM  Even the bronze was improbable. Two alternates had to replace the US men's gymnastic team's superstar Hamm twins. Both Paul and Morgan had injuries that kept them from competing. Raj Bhavsar, an Olympic alternate in 2004, on the 2007 World team, and again this year, was named to replace Paul Hamm. A second alternate, Alexander Artemev, was named to fill in for Morgan. There was never a question of winning gold. That medal, as expected, went to a dominant Chinese team, which finished first in five of the six apparatuses and easily outdistanced the silver medalists, Japan, by 10.275 points -- an immense margin. Silver was actually a possibility for the Americans, who led the Japanese by 1.70 points after five rotations. Unfortunately, the one remaining rotation was the pommel horse, the weakest event for the U.S. The Japanese, the defending Olympic champions, were finishing on the high bar, and outscored the U.S. by 4.95 points in the final rotation to easily earn the silver. But the U.S. held on to third-place over Germany thanks to a brilliant pommel horse routine by Artemev, who scored 15.35 in his first and only event of the day...
The US rolls along in basketball and softball, as expected. Montenegro routed Canada 12-0 in men's water polo Tuesday, Spain beat Australia 9-8, and the United States upset Italy in preliminary play. There are so many things going on at once, it is impossible to keep up.
From SI:
Indian media were unstinting in their praise of shooter Abhinav Bindra on Tuesday after he earned the world's second most populous nation its first gold medal in 28 years. Bindra, who Monday became the first Indian to claim an individual gold medal at an Olympic Games when he won the 10-meter air rifle event at Beijing, was described as "India's Goldfinger'' on the front page headline of The Times of India national newspaper. India's previous eight gold medals came in men's field hockey, the last of which came in 1980...
Beijing Olympics
6121. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 8/15/2008 6:15:17 AM This is one phenomenal ball girl . . .
Video From TooShocking.com
6122. jexster - 8/15/2008 4:42:19 PM Nadal and the Servian animal Jokervich...shaping up like Federer at Wimbleton in the second set 6123. wabbit - 8/15/2008 7:40:30 PM The story behind the ballgirl clip - it was originally meant to be a Gatorade ad. 6124. wabbit - 8/15/2008 7:42:12 PM  Michael Phelps has already passed Matt Biondi. With Saturday's final of the 100 butterfly done, Phelps goes after Spitz's record of seven gold medals at the 1972 Munich Olympics. Teammate Ian Crocker and Serbia's Milorad Cavic have the best chance of derailing Phelps. Crocker and Phelps had combined for the 17 fastest times in history in the 100 butterfly heading into the Olympics.
Even some questionable scoring couldn't derail the American women from gold and silver in the gymnastic all-around final. For Nastia Liukin and Shawn Johnson it came down to not only the last event, but the last two competitors… Liukin up first, Johnson up last, the gold medal hanging in the balance. Johnson was the favorite, but it was Liukin who ended up golden.
James Blake could shrug off the three match points he failed to convert, and even the misfire on an easy forehand that would have given him a berth in the Olympic final. What stuck in his craw was the notion his opponent didn't play fair. Blake came up one shot short Friday, losing in the semifinal to Fernando Gonzalez of Chile 4-6, 7-5, 11-9. Afterward he accused Gonzalez of failing to fess up on a disputed point two games before the finish. "I've spoken all week about how much I've enjoyed the Olympic experience, how much I love the spirit of it," Blake said. "That's a disappointing way to exit the tournament, when you not only lose the match, but you lose a little faith in your fellow competitor." Or maybe you would have lost anyway, eh? Eighth-seeded Blake, a first-time Olympian at 28, will play for a bronze Saturday as the last hope for a U.S. medal in men's or women's singles. Gonzalez, seeded 12th, will lose Sunday's final to Rafael Nadal.
Beijing Olympics | Results for 8/14 - SI
6125. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 8/15/2008 10:17:32 PM Snookered again by mass media! Thanks wabb. 6126. marjoribanks - 8/16/2008 9:14:08 AM Wabbit's link didn't work for me. But I saw that (awesome) ballgirl clip and immediately suspected tampering because the batter's swing and contact indicated ground ball to shortstop, not lined fly ball to the corner.
I wonder if anyone else here remembers Bo Jackson running at full tilt up a wall as though he had suction cups on his shoes? 6127. wabbit - 8/16/2008 5:00:26 PM Bo Jackson, I was just thinking about him a few weeks ago, can't remember why. I couldn't remember who that game was with, but I found it: ...On July 11, 1990 against the Baltimore Orioles, Jackson performed his famous "wall run", when he caught a ball approximately 2-3 strides away from the wall. As he caught the ball at full tilt, Jackson looked up and noticed the wall and began to run up the wall, one leg reaching higher as he ascended. He ran along the wall almost parallel to the ground, and came down with the catch, to avoid impact and the risk of injury from the fence... I wish I could find video of that catch online. He made some great commercials, too.
6128. jexster - 8/16/2008 5:10:03 PM As far as I am concerned Olympic Sailors Can Blow or Row 6129. wonkers2 - 8/17/2008 4:54:41 AM Dream Cruise 6130. wabbit - 8/17/2008 5:21:35 PM  Can someone explain why runners don't run through the finish line? I was watching the men's 100 meter and Jamaican Usain Bolt set a world record in the 100 meters, but I wonder how fast he would have been had he actually run hard for those final ten meters. If it was a marathon, I could see it, but in 100 meter? I don't get it at all. It isn't like anyone is going to pay him millions per year to run, and even endorsement money isn't going to last long. All he has is his name in the record books. You would think he'd want that record to stand as long as possible. He might have had a time a tenth of a second faster — even a twentieth would have been worth it, imho. Impressive as his win was, I think he lost an opportunity. Well behind Bolt, Richard Thompson of Trinidad and Tobago took the silver medal in 9.89, and Walter Dix of the United States was third in 9.91.
Kenenisa Bekele has successfully defended his Olympic 10,000-meter title in a competition record time, leading teammate Sileshi Sihine in an Ethiopian 1-2 again. Bekele hit the front 450 meters from the finish Sunday and crossed in 27 minutes, 1.17 seconds to beat the record he set four years ago. Sihine, who was second at the Athens Olympics and at the last two world championships, took silver in 27:02.77. Micah Kogo of Kenya won bronze in 27:04.11.
You cannot beat the Chinese in diving. Guo Jingjing of China won the 3-meter springboard title Sunday at the Olympics, becoming the most decorated female diver with her sixth career medal. Guo totaled 415.35 points to defend her title from four years ago in Athens and make China 5-for-5 in diving at these games. Guo and partner Wu Minxia teamed to win the women's 3-meter synchronized title last weekend. Having another gold medal around her neck made Guo back away from the retirement talk that swirled around her before the games. "I like the feeling when I stand on the springboard," she said through a translator. "I just can't give it up." Guo surpassed countrywoman Fu Mingxia, who won five medals during her Olympic career. Guo teamed with Fu to finish second on synchronized springboard at the 2000 Sydney Games, then Guo and Wu won the title in Athens. Guo was the silver medalist on individual springboard in Sydney.
Beijing Olympics
6131. wabbit - 8/17/2008 5:22:46 PM  Talk about your class act. Dana Torres got her silver by the same slim margin that won Michael Phelps his seventh gold; 1/100th of a second, a fingertip. And as soon as she saw the times, she laughed, then she ducked under the barrier to congratulate Germany's Britta Steffen for winning the gold. Completing a race for all ages, 16-year-old Australian Cate Campbell claimed the bronze in 24.17. Torres finishes the Olympics with three silver medals. Not bad for an old broad.
Michael Phelps helped the Americans come from behind Sunday in a race they've never lost at the Olympics, cheering from the deck as Jason Lezak brought it home for a world record in the 400-meter medley relay. It was Phelps' history-making eighth gold medal of these games. Aaron Peirsol got the Americans off to the lead in the backstroke, but Brendan Hansen slowed them down with only the third-fastest breaststroke leg. Phelps caught the two guys ahead of him on the return lap and passed off to Lezak a lead of less than a second for the freestyle. The Australians countered with former world record-holder Eamon Sullivan as their anchor. Sullivan tried to chase down Lezak and appeared to be gaining as they came to the wall, but Lezak finished in 3 minutes, 29.34 seconds for Phelps' seventh world record. The Aussies took silver in 3:30.04, also under the old world record of 3:30.68 set by the U.S. in Athens four years ago, while Japan held on for the bronze.
It was another near miss for Shawn Johnson on Sunday, as she took home her third silver medal of the Games, this one in the floor exercise. Nastia Liukin, who became the all-around gold medalist two nights earlier, added a bronze in the floor to her growing collection, so she now has one medal of each color from these Games. Romania's Sandra Izbasa, 18, the only competitor who had a higher start value in floor (6.5 vs. 6.4) than Johnson, scored higher than Johnson in the floor in both the preliminaries and the individual all-around finals, stuck all her landings, and edged Johson by .15 of a point. It's all in the judging, just like it is with figure skating.
Beijing Olympics
6132. jexster - 8/17/2008 5:40:00 PM Cheaters. Mark Spitz didn't use performance enhancing supplements and your eyes DID NOT deceive you on that 7th gold medal either 6133. jexster - 8/18/2008 12:39:24 AM Faded Old Gorey
US No Longer King of the Track
We won skeet gold though!
USA! USA!
 6134. wabbit - 8/18/2008 5:49:11 PM  Finally, a judging controversy. Not that the gymnastics judging in Beijing has been beyond reproach — China's Cheng Fei won a bronze medal last night in the vault despite landing once on her knees — but Monday's uneven bars scoring, which kept Nastia Liukin from winning, or at least sharing, a second gold medal, finally brought attention to the peculiarities of a FIG judging system that is desperately in need of an overhaul. Here's what happened: China's diminutive He Kexin started the bars competition with a risk-filled, six-release routine that was scored 16.725. She had a small step upon landing, and the difficulty of her routine was judged to be 7.7. Her execution score was 9.025.
Next up was Liukin. Fresh off her all-around gold medal and her floor exercise bronze, she was brimming with confidence as she approached her favorite event. (The 16.90 she scored in bars in the women's team finals was the highest score awarded in these Games.) She, too, had a 7.7 start value, and executed five release moves, having a little trouble in one, her pac salto, in which she goes from the high to the low bar executing a flip. Her landing, though, was perfect -- the first time this entire season she's stuck it. Her score: 16.725. Her execution score: 9.025. Same as He's numbers.
Yet, when the tally was flashed on the scoreboard, He was placed first, Liukin second...
...He was one of the gymnasts suspected of being underage — in May she was identified in a Chinese newspaper as being just 13...
Beijing Olympics — Artistic Gymnastics
6135. wabbit - 8/18/2008 5:49:28 PM  Jake Arrieta struck out seven and Taylor Teagarden and Nate Schierholtz each hit two-run doubles as the U.S. beat China 9-1 Monday in an Olympic baseball game that turned ugly and featured three ejections. China's top player, catcher Wang Wei of the Seattle Mariners organization, was knocked out of the game with a left knee injury following a collision at the plate with Matt LaPorta in the fifth. After Schierholtz made a hard slide home against backup catcher Yang Yang on a sacrifice fly in the sixth -- and Yang had to be held back from Schierholtz by teammates -- China manager Jim Lefebvre was ejected for arguing about the rough play. Chinese reliever Chen Kun and pitching coach Steven Ontiveros were tossed soon after when Chen hit LaPorta in the head to start the seventh. That came after U.S. skipper Davey Johnson and Ontiveros were called out for a discussion about the situation with the umpiring crew...
Yelena Isinbayeva of Russia has broken her own world record in winning a second consecutive Olympic pole vault gold medal. Already assured of victory over rival Jenn Stuczynski of the United States, Isinbayeva set the record of 5.05 meters on her third and final attempt at that height Monday. After eclipsing her old world record by 1 centimeter, Isinbayeva did a somersault on the mat before jogging around the Bird's Nest track with a Russian flag. It was the third world record in athletics at the Beijing Olympics. Stuczynski's top height was 4.80, while bronze medalist Svetlana Feofanova of Russia, the 2003 world champion, topped out at 4.75.
Even the Serbs gave up disputing the Omega folks after seeing the photos.
Beijing Olympics
6136. jexster - 8/18/2008 5:52:55 PM Doctored photos.
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