World champion Maris Strombergs of Latvia won the men’s gold in BMX today. Just like in the women’s race, there were quite a few crashes (one big one). Mike Day of the US won the silver medal and Donny Robinson of the US won bronze in the men’s final.
All in all it was a fun race to watch. Now I am off to finish watching the Men’s beach volleyball finals….
I just finished watching the first ever Olympic gold medal race in BMX racing. It was for the women’s gold medal. Anne-Caroline Chausson of France won the gold medal, Laetitia Le Corguille won the the silver medal and Jill Kintner of the United States won the bronze medal.
It was quite fun to watch, it sure seems like a dangerous sport. A lot of crashes. In fact, right until the last minute world champion Shanaze Reade of Britain was in position to win the gold, but she crashed on the final turn. What a crazy race that was! I sure hope they keep BMX in the Olympics, because it is definitely fun to watch.
Shortly thereafter I watched the men’s race, which was just as crazy… more on that after I take a break…
You could pretty much start watching the Olympics at midnight and just watch it straight through tomorrow.
Your local NBC affiliate will be showing men’s volleyball overnight. Then, from 1-5 a.m., you can see a replay of tonight’s primetime. Tomorrow morning, you can see the U.S. basketball team against China. Also in the morning, rowing preliminaries, women’s cycling and men’s water polo. In the afternoon, check out men’s beach volleyball and more cycling. In the evening, cycling finishes up and there are swimming prelims. Primetime brings Michael Phelps going for a second gold in the men’s 4×100m free relay. There’s more swimming, with the women’s 400m free, men’s 100m breast, and the semifinal of the women’s 100m back stroke. The U.S. women’s Olympic gymnastics team starts their quest for gold, and the first diving gold medals of the Games will be awarded. Late night, you can check out women’s volleyball.
On MSNBC, you can watch men’s soccer: Italy vs. South Korea, women’s field hockey: USA vs. Argentina, and men’s handball: South Korea vs. Germany. In tennis, Roger Federer of Switzerland plays Dmitry Tursunov of Russia. Also, men’s volleyball, men’s water polo, badminton, men’s handball, and the men’s trap shooting gold-medal final.
CNBC will feature tennis and boxing.
USA is showing men’s basketball, women’s badminton, equestrian team eventing dressage, women’s tennis, men’s soccer, women’s archery team final, women’s weightlifting 53kg final, and the gold-medal final in men’s 56kg weightlifting.
Online, you can watch archery, badminton, basketball, cycling, equestrian, fencing, handball, field hockey, judo, rowing, sailing, shooting, soccer, tennis, water polo, and weightlifting.
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.
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.
