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:
I have obligations that prevent me from posting on Saturday, but I didn’t want to leave you hanging completely, so here’s what’s available for your viewing pleasure on Saturday.
During primetime Saturday night, you can watch men’s gymnastics qualifying rounds, Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh doubtless trouncing a Latvian beach volleyball team, and gold medal rounds in the men’s 400m free, the women’s 4×100m free relay and the men’s and women’s 400m IM. Michael Phelps and Katie Hoff will be Americans to keep an eye on in the swimming.
Online, you can watch women’s archery, badminton, men’s and women’s basketball, men’s cycling, equestrian, fencing, handball, field hockey, judo, rowing, sailing, shooting, women’s soccer, tennis, water polo and weightlifting.
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.
I read this interesting article today about how runners are preparing for dealing with the poor air quality at the Olympics in China. Precautions include everything from breathing gear to arriving at the last possible moment. Marathon world record holder Haile Gebrselassie, who is asthmatic, won’t even be running the marathon, although he will still be competing in a shorter race. Some athletes are more concerned about the heat and humidity than the pollution in Beijing.
So, what can be done about Beijing’s smog issues at this point? Not a whole lot. I do believe they’re taking every possible measure to clear the air in time for the Olympics. But it seems to be a day late and a dollar short. It’s unfortunate that world class athletes have to compete under such conditions, especially as this should have been a foreseeable problem.
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.
Citing concerns that his broken hand had not healed enough to allow him to defend his Olympic title, Paul Hamm announced that he was leaving the U.S. men’s Olympic gymnastics team. His twin, Morgan Hamm, will still compete. Paul Hamm will be replaced on the team by Raj Bhavsar.
When Kirsty Coventry brought home medals in swimming in the 2004 Summer Olympics, she became the first athlete from Zimbabwe to medal in 25 years. Kirsty will be competing in the 2008 Beijing Olympics, as well, and could well repeat her 2004 performance. However, no man from Zimbabwe has EVER won an Olympic medal. So, if you’re looking for an underdog in the Beijing Olympics to root for, root for someone from Zimbabwe, especially if they’re male.
As a homeschooling Mom, I’m always on the lookout for educational opportunities. The Olympics provides a lot of them. From teaching your kids about other countries (including geography, popular activities, etc.) to educating them on current events (the Olympics, Tibet, etc.), you could spend every day from now until the end of the Olympics and beyond studying subjects related to the summer Olympics.
Here are a few links to help you out if you need ideas:
Article with really good recommendations on using unusual sports to study other cultures
Lots of summer Olympics activities
Brief, kid-friendly summary of summer Olympic sports
Scholastic Olympic research tools
Feel free to share your favorite learning ideas or educational websites related to the Olympics in the comment section.
When you’re getting ready for your first Olympics, you would think that would be the most important thing going on in your life. But that’s not the case for U.S. Olympic Swimmer Eric Shanteau. A week before the Olympic Trials in Omaha, Nebraska, Eric got a call from his doctors telling him that a lump they thought might be a benign cyst was, in fact, testicular cancer.
Had he not made the Olympics, Eric would immediately have gone home and had surgery. But when he qualified for the Beijing Olympics in the 200-meter breaststroke, he faced a difficult decision. Fight on for his Olympic dreams or start the fight of his life. After doctors cleared him to compete as long as he is frequently checked to make sure the cancer hasn’t spread, Eric chose to continue his preparations for Beijing.
We wish Eric best wishes in his quest for the gold and with his health.
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.
