Brian Clay of the US won the gold medal in the 2008 Decathlon earning him the title of “the world’s greatest athlete”. Here is an interview with him on NBC’s Today show:
Brian Clay of the US won the gold medal in the 2008 Decathlon earning him the title of “the world’s greatest athlete”. Here is an interview with him on NBC’s Today show:
21 year old marathon runner, Samuel Wansiru, took the gold medal in the marathon today. He also was the first Kenyan to win an Olympic marathon. He also broke the world record! His record time was 2 hours, 6 minutes, 32 seconds.
I started to watch the beginning of the race, but quite frankly watching a marathon from start to finish is like watching paint dry (even if the marathon takes you through places like Tiananmen Square). So I fast forwarded through the race and started watching again when the runners were heading into the main stadium at Beijing. Anyway, congratulations to Samuel Wansiru for his gold medal, and to all of those who ran the race.
Usain Bolt won his third gold medal today in the 400-meter relay. Not only that but he and his fellow Jamaican teammates broke the world record by running the 400m relay in 37.10 seconds. Having already won gold medals in world record time in the 100m and 200m means that in his 3 races he has 3 Gold medals and 3 World records. That is almost as impressive as Michael Phelps performance, almost…
Usain Bolt did what everyone knew he would do and added a gold medal for the 200m to his Olympic treasure chest. He also broke a world record while doing it. However, Usain’s victory wasn’t really as interesting to me as the controversy at the end of the race…
At the end of the race, Usain Bolt had a gold, Churandy Martina of Netherlands Antilles had the Silver and Wallace Spearmon of the United States had the bronze. However, that didn’t last very long. First Wallace Spearmon of the United States was stripped of his bronze for stepping on the line. That means the fourth place finisher Shawn Crawford had the bronze, or so we thought. Right after showing us the footage of Spearmon stepping on the line several times during his run, NBC showed that Martina stepped on the line several times as well. The US filed a protest and won the protest, which meant that Shawn Crawford went home with a Silver medal and fifth place finisher, Walter Dix of the United States went home with a bronze. How crazy was that!
I found the whole disqualification fiasco much more entertaining than watching Usain Bolt blow by everyone in record speed. It’s what we all expected, but the disqualifications… now that was interesting….
Did you see Russian pole vaulter Yelena Isinbayeva break the world record in the pole vault?
It was kind of funny to me, because she won the gold WAY before attempting the Olympic record and then the World record. What was funnier was how bored she seemed with the opening rounds of the pole vault. She didn’t really start pole vaulting until it was at a decent height, so in the early rounds she took a nap!
She was really amazing. In fact, watching her pole vault was like watching Usain Bolt run the 100 meters… nobody even came close to beating her.
American pole vaulter Jenn Stuczynski got the silver.
I wrote the other night about watching Usain Bolt winning the 100m, looking like he wasn’t really trying. Today the commentators have been talking about the sportsmanship of not putting in your best effort at the Olympics and, even worse, mocking your fellow competitors by turning around to see what’s happened to them since they’re so far behind. I’m not sure I agree that shows poor sportsmanship or even that he is looking around to mock them. But he has been more subdued in the preliminaries he’s run since then. What do you think? Is it poor sportsmanship to start celebrating before you cross the finish line? Or is it okay as long as you can back it up?
Not only did he win the 100m in world record time but, seriously, he didn’t even run the last 15m. He threw his arms out to the side (not very aerodynamic) and started celebrating WELL before he crossed the finish line. So, it would be interesting to know— how fast COULD he run, if he had to?
Are you wondering what has happened to all of the track and field events in this year’s Olympics? Well, they’re coming! Preliminary races have started, with Tyson Gay qualifying for the 100m, despite concerns over the injury he sustained in the Olympic Trials.
So, if you’re a fan of speed on land, don’t worry. The next week will transition from racing in the water to racing on land.
Some of you had asked whether Lopez Lomong’s parents were going to be able to attend the Olympics to see him run. I just read this article, which says that they are on their way to Beijing to watch him compete.
This is a really great interview with the New York foster parents of Lopez Lomong.
Yesterday, I wrote a post about ten U.S. athletes to watch. One of those I mentioned was the Sudanese “lost boy” Lopez Lomong. Now the whole world will be watching Lopez, as he has been chosen by his fellow teammates to carry the U.S. flag at the Opening Ceremonies this Friday in Beijing. I’m very excited by this choice and can’t wait to see him lead in the U.S. team.
Here’s an interview with Lopez from the track and field Olympic Trials:
All Olympic athletes are special, but we all know some are more exciting than others (who else was on the Olympic gymnastics team with Mary Lou Retton?). So, here are ten U.S. Olympic athletes that you should definitely watch.
1. Michael Phelps— Could potentially be one of the biggest stories of the China Olympics. Will he break Mark Spitz’s record of seven gold medals in one Olympics? Will he tie his own record of eight medals (6 gold, 2 bronze) that he set at the Athens Olympics in 2004?
2. Shawn Johnson— She just might join the ranks of other women’s gymnastic greats Mary Lou Retton and Carly Patterson, who won all-around championships at the Olympics. At 16, she is the reigning world all-around champion.
3. Dara Torres— Dara hopes to increase the oldest age of the oldest gold medalist in swimming from 33 to 41 (she set the previous record at the Sydney Olympics). She also hopes to add to her current 9 Olympic medals.
4. The Lopez Family— Steven, Mark and Diana Lopez are siblings from Sugarland, Texas who will all be competing in TaeKwondo at the Summer Olympics. Even more amazing, they’re coached by older brother Jean. They are the first three siblings since 1904 to make an Olympic team. Since they won’t be competing against each other, they could conceivably bring home three gold medals.
5. Allyson Felix— The 22 year old track and field darling will be going for three gold medals. In the current climate of track and field, where the sport is reeling from recent performance-enhancing drug scandals, Felix has signed up for the enhanced testing program to prove that she is running clean.
6. Sheila Taormina— Sheila Taormina has already set a record before she even competes in Beijing. She’s the first woman to compete in four Olympics in three different sports. At this summer’s China Olympics, she’ll be competing in modern pentathlon. Previously, she has competed in swimming and triathlon. In 1996, she won a gold medal as part of the women’s 4×200 relay team. Taormina, age 39, will be joined on the U.S. Women’s Pentathlon team by teenage phenom Margaux Isaksen, who is only 16.
7. U.S. Women’s Softball Team— The U.S. Women’s Softball team, including several familiar faces from former Olympic teams, will be going for its fourth consecutive gold medal. Team member Laura Berg was on each of the previous winning teams and hopes to add to her collection of gold medals.
8. Lopez Lomong— You MUST visit his website. Lomong has an unbelievably inspiring story. A former “lost boy” of the Sudan, Lomong escaped from the Sudan and was relocated to the United States where he attended Northern Arizon University and began running track. Lomong will compete in the 1,500 m race in Beijing.
9. Laura Wilkinson— Laura Wilkinson is one of the United States’ best chances for gold in platform diving. After winning the gold in Sydney, Wilkinson was disappointed with a fifth place finish in Athens. However, she easily made the 2008 team and is looking really strong. Although she will be quite a bit older than many of the other competitors, she is working on some extremely complex dives and plans to go out with a bang at the Beijing Olympics. She will be retiring after the Games.
10. Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh— They’ll be seeking to win the first back-to-back gold medals in beach volleyball. They’re coming into the Olympics with a 101-match winning streak and have won 18 tournaments in a row.
If you just can’t wait for the Beijing Olympics, and you have a Wii, I highly recommend Mario and Sonic at the Olympics. We just picked up the game today. It was a “business expense” 
I played for a little while, and it was quite fun. It has Aquatics, Athletics, Gymnastics and more. I’m still fairly new to the Wii, so I found some of the controls a bit challenging, but I did get a silver medal in trampoline!
We only have one remote right now, but it would be even more fun if we had multiple remotes, since we could play against each other that way, as in this video:
So, if you’re looking for a fun prep for the Summer Olympics, go out and pick up Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games. If you don’t mind waiting a couple of days for it to come in, consider ordering it from Overstock. It’s $7 cheaper than what I paid at Best Buy, and shipping is only $3.
This couple is trading Olympic rings for wedding rings— hopefully after he brings home a medal to join hers. Ian Waltz will be competing in discus at the China Olympics this summer. Stacy Dragila missed going to the Olympics but has already won a gold. They got engaged in February.
On this blog, we cover a lot about American Olympics athletes, but sometimes the stories from other countries are so interesting I just have to share.
In the sad category, Cuban cyclist Pedro Pablo Perez is in a coma following a car accident on Monday. He will miss the Olympics. The Beijing Olympics would have been his second Olympics. Hopefully, he will have a full recovery and have an opportunity to compete again sometime in the future.
In the odd category, the only female Afghanistan athlete slated to compete at the Beijing Olympics disappeared from a training camp in Italy earlier this week. Because Mehboba Ahdyar, a 19-year-old runner who competes in the 800 meters and 1,500 meters, took her bags with her, she was thought to have left on her own. Most recent reports say she may be seeking asylum in Norway. Prior to disappearing, she had undergone harassment and threats from the Taliban.
German swimmer Vipa Bernhardt finished third in the 200-meter breaststroke and failed to qualify to compete in this summer’s Olympics, but she is protesting that the second place finisher competed for an American club. Both swimmers competed for American universities.
So, that’s the international headlines that stood out to me this week.
I read this really cool story on MSN the other day about an amputee trying to compete in the 2008 Summer Olympics.
A South African sprinter, Oscar Pistorius, won an appeal this past Friday that will allow him to try out for the Beijing Olympics, running along with athletes that don’t have any disabilities. This ruling overturns a ban by IAAF (International Association of Athletics Federations) that prevented him from competing in the Olympics.
I can kind of understand the reason for the original ban, because Oscar’s new legs look quite powerful and they aren’t his own legs. What’s to stop racers from being able to use robotic legs that are stronger and faster than normal human legs? On the other hand, I think it’s kind of cool…
What do you think?
Oscar Pistorius, a double-amputee dubbed the fastest man on no legs, will most likely be banned from pursuing his Olympic dreams. Tests conducted show that his prosthetic legs give him a competitive advantage. He plans to appeal the decision and request additional testing.
I understand the IAAF’s need to ban any items which give a technological advantage. However, it does seem that the fact that the man has no legs mitigates any advantage the prosthetics may give him. If ever there were a place for an exception, this would seem to be it. By the way, Pistorius is not exactly the bionic man. He has not yet run Olympic qualifying times and was simply seeking the opportunity to compete. He was not considered a high threat for qualifying, much less medaling at the Olympics.
