BEIJING (AP)—Cheering from the pool deck, Michael Phelps won his record eighth gold medal of the Beijing Games on Sunday to become the grandest of Olympic champions.
Jason Lezak held on to the lead Phelps gave him, anchoring the United States to a world record in the 400-meter medley relay against an Australian team that did its best to spoil history.
But Phelps, with a big hand from three teammates, would not be denied. He eclipsed Mark Spitz’s seven-gold performance at the 1972 Munich Games, an iconic performance that was surpassed by a swimmer fitting of this generation: a 23-year-old from Baltimore who loves hip-hop music and texting with his buddies.
I don’t even know what to feel right now,” Phelps said. “There’s so much emotions going through my head and so much excitement. I kind of just want to see my mom.”
Debbie Phelps was sitting in the stands at the Water Cube, tears streaming down her cheeks, her two daughters sitting with her.
Even though the Americans have never lost the medley relay at the Olympics, the latest gold was hardly a breeze. When Phelps dived into the water for the butterfly—the third of four legs—the Americans were third behind Japan and Australia.
But Phelps, swimming the same distance and stroke that he used to win his seventh gold a day earlier, powered back to the front on his return lap, passing off to Lezak with the Americans in front.
Australia’s Eamon Sullivan tried to chase Lezak down and appeared to be gaining as they came to the wall. But Lezak touched in 3 minutes, 29.34 seconds — Phelps’ seventh world record in his personal Great Haul of China.
The Aussies took silver in 3:30.04, also under the old world record, while Japan held on for the bronze.
“Nothing is impossible,” Phelps said. “With so many people saying it couldn’t be done, all it takes is an imagination, and that’s something I learned and something that helped me.”
Phelps patted breaststroker Brendan Hansen on the head and threw his arms in the air after Lezak finished, though the Americans still had to wait a couple of tantalizing minutes for the official results to be posted. Aaron Peirsol swam the leadoff leg for the Americans.
World record.
Gold medal No. 8
On deck, a beaming Phelps slapped hands with his teammates and thrust his arms toward the Water Cube roof. The winning swimmers locked arms as if they were in a football huddle about to break for a play.
Phelps, meanwhile, couldn’t stop smiling.
“Without the help of my teammates this isn’t possible,” said Phelps, who won five individual races and three relays in Beijing.
“I was able to be a part of three relays and we were able to put up a solid team effort and we came together as one unit,” he said. “For the three Olympics I’ve been a part of, this is by far the closest men’s team that we’ve ever had. I didn’t know everybody coming into this Olympics, but I feel going out I know every single person very well. The team that we had is the difference.”
Saturday, August 16, 2008
Torres wins a pair of silvers to cap her comeback
Friday, August 15, 2008
BEIJING (AP)—Poor Ian Crocker.
He desperately craves an Olympic gold medal of his own, about the only thing missing from his swimming career. This might be his last chance to get it, too. He turns 26 in a couple of weeks, and who knows if he’ll still be in the pool four years from now.
All he has to do is beat Michael Phelps—and become the villain of the Beijing Games.
Crocker, a soft-spoken native of Maine who loves strumming his guitar, writing thoughtful blogs and cruising around in vintage cars, appears to be the last major hurdle to Phelps’ bid to surpass Mark Spitz with eight gold medals.
They’ll face each other Saturday morning in the final of the 100-meter butterfly, Phelps’ last individual event of the Olympics and Crocker’s only one.
What must be going through this guy’s mind? He’s not about to apologize for wanting to win the first individual gold medal of his career. Then again, he surely knows that a whole world is cheering on Phelps, eager to see him do something no Olympian has done before.
“You can start by not worrying about what everybody else thinks,” Crocker said. “Nobody knows what I’ve really gone through in the last eight years and what has gotten me to this point, besides myself and a few people that I know well. So it’s my own personal deal at this point.”
Crocker is certainly a formidable foe, holding the world record in the 100 fly for more than three years. But Phelps won their most important showdown at the 2004 Athens Olympics. He also came out on top at last year’s world championships and last month’s U.S. Olympic trials.
After waiting around all week to race at the Water Cube, Crocker inexplicably wore a jammer—a suit that runs from the waist to just above the knees—and came shockingly close to getting bounced in the preliminaries.
Switching back to his regular legsuit for Friday’s semifinals, Crocker was much faster. He tied for the third-best time, trailing the top qualifier, Serbia’s Milorad Cavic, and Phelps.
Crocker returned in the evening to swim the butterfly leg in the prelims of the 400 medley relay, which could be the crowning race of Phelps’ monumental achievement.
“I feel like I’m at a swim meet now,” Crocker said. “I get sharper and sharper with each race I do, a little bit more confident about exactly what I’m doing at certain points in the race, how to build the race properly.”
Everyone on the U.S. team played it safe, no doubt remembering what happened to Crocker at last year’s worlds. Phelps had already won seven events and was resting up to swim in the final of the medley relay. He never got the chance— Crocker jumped in too quick on an exchange and the U.S. team was disqualified in the prelims.
“I don’t think we were going to leave China if anyone got us DQed,” quipped Matt Grevers, who swam the backstroke leg. “It’s such a historic event on the line with this relay. This relay might be what it all comes down to for the eight golds. You don’t want to be the one who screws that up.”
The blunder was certainly on Crocker’s mind when he climbed on the block to swim the butterfly leg.
“That’s kind of hard to forget,” he said. “After this week, with all Phelps has done, you don’t want to be the guy standing in the way of that.”
But that’s exactly what Crocker will be in the 100 fly.
The guy standing between Phelps and destiny.
The potential bad guy.
Getty Images - Aug 11, 1:25 am EDT
“People point at me, but Cavic is looking real good and a lot of other guys are looking really good,” Crocker said, trying to deflect as much attention as possible. “It’s going to be a tight race all across the board.”
Phelps agreed. He hopes to get off to a better start so he doesn’t have too much ground to make up on the return lap. If he’s close, it’s over—no one is a better closer.
“For me to be a player in that race, I have to be closer at the 50,” he said. “If I’m not, then it will be tough. I was over a body length behind at the 50 in the prelims and came up a bit short, so I have to be there.”
Friday was another big day for the Americans at the pool. In addition to Phelps, Ryan Lochte won his first individual gold medal by beating teammate Aaron Peirsol with a world record in the 200 backstroke, while Rebecca Soni claimed a record of her own to beat Australia’s Leisel Jones in the 200 breaststroke. Also, 41-year-old Dara Torres advanced to the semifinals of the 50 freestyle—her only individual event in Beijing.
With two days of swimming left, the powerful U.S. team has piled up 25 medals, including 10 golds. The Americans are on course to eclipse the 12 golds and 28 medals they won in Athens four years ago and possibly challenge their 14-gold, 33-medal haul at the 2000 Sydney Games.
Getty Images - Aug 11, 1:27 am EDT
Of course, it helps to have a swimmer like Phelps, virtually a country unto himself.
“I never thought I would see this type of swimming in my life,” Grevers said. “This is absolutely going to be something for the ages. A hundred years from now, people will probably remember this Olympics and what Team USA did, and especially what Michael did.”
Phelps has become a household name around the world, touted in headlines as everything from the “Barracuda from Baltimore” to the “God of Olympia.” Even in China, where the home team’s success is getting most of the attention, the official news agency dubbed Phelps the “American superfish.”
For those who believe Phelps might be using more illicit methods to produce these times, he shot down any speculation about doping.
“Anybody can say whatever they want, but I know I’m clean,” said Phelps, who took part in a special U.S. anti-doping program that subjected him to additional, more sophisticated testing. “People can question it all they want, but the facts are the facts. I have the results to prove it.”
On Friday, he won No. 6 with another world record—the sixth one of those, as well—in the 200 individual medley. He returned a half-hour later for the butterfly semifinals, so rushed after the medal ceremony that he had to stuff the latest gold in the pocket of his warmup jacket.
“There wasn’t much time,” Phelps said, “but I think there’s going to be a lot of time for me to rest over the next 18 hours or so, and I’ll be able to be ready.”
The 23-year-old hung on the lane rope in a familiar pose after winning the 200 IM, but showed little emotion other than raising his left arm when his time of 1 minute, 54.23 seconds flashed on the board—more than two seconds ahead of the next guy.
“The next two races are pretty important,” said Phelps, who erased his own mark of 1:54.80 at last month’s U.S. trials. “I have to conserve as much physical and emotional energy as I can.”
He’s already the winningest athlete in Olympic history with 12 golds—he also won two bronze medals in Athens—but his sights are on eight in Beijing.
Spitz won seven golds at the 1972 Munich Games. Phelps has two more events to remove any doubt he’s the greatest Olympian ever.
Lochte tried to pull off a daunting double, going against Phelps just 29 minutes after winning the 200 backstroke. He couldn’t keep up, though he did hold on for bronze. Laszlo Cseh of Hungary picked up his third silver of the games—all of them trailing Phelps.
“It’s not a shame,” Cseh said, “to be beaten by a better one.”
When the official times were posted, Phelps extended his right hand to Lochte in the next lane. The friends shook hands and patted each other on the head. Later, they yukked it up on the medal stand before Phelps hustled off to grab his racing gear.
“I switched from my dress sweats to my parka, shoes, threw my cap and goggles on and then they pushed us on out. No time,” he said.
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Beijing 2008 Games - Day 7
BEIJING – It’s time to hear another national anthem.
The Chinese anthem has been played three times in the National Indoor Stadium, as China’s men and women have dominated the gymnastics competition so far, winning both team finals and celebrating Yang Wei’s men’s all-around title. The hosts’ anthem is becoming so familiar that I think I could sing along with the Chinese.
Can another country get a different anthem played? On Friday, the Americans will get another chance in the women’s all-around finals – their greatest opportunity yet to win gold at the Beijing Games.
Shawn Johnson, the 2007 world champion, has shown that she is a solid performer and has the pedigree to win the Olympic all-around title. Teammate Nastia Liukin is equally talented, with an elegant style that all gymnastics enthusiasts can admire. She will give Johnson a challenge for the gold as well.
Now that the team competition is behind them, Johnson and Liukin must be selfish and go out and win. There will be fewer high fives and hugs and more emphasis on staying in your own head.
Johnson probably won’t even notice what’s going on around her. I don’t know if she will be sprinting back and forth as she did before her floor routine at the Olympic trials, but she will keep the intensity high, just as she does in her daily four-hour training sessions back home in Iowa.
“I feel a little pressure, but not too much,” Johnson said. “The whole USA is behind us, and they are our greatest fans.”
Liukin could upset Johnson if she focuses on her landings and somehow finds a way to clean up her highly difficult bar dismount. Her dominant events are by far the uneven bars, which she is hoping to win in the individual event finals, and the balance beam, in which she owns a world title. Each tenth of a point matters, and that mentality will allow Liukin to stay in the game against Johnson. Mistakes on her landing, steps out of bounds and shaky elements will only lessen Liukin’s chances of catching her.
I won’t be remiss and ignore the Chinese. Yang Yilin and Jiang Yuyuan were both crucial members of China’s gold-medal team and are strong competitors on the bars and beam. They have proven that they are not only physically ready to dominate the field but are also mentally tough to overcome any obstacle. Neither the overly excitable crowd nor the pressure of achieving individual Olympic success in front of their compatriots has shaken their focus.
The American women won’t count out Yang and Jiang. If they do, we all will be listening to the Chinese anthem for a fourth time.
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Phelps wins 10th and 11th golds
BEIJING—Four years ago, when Michael Phelps had completed the lifelong dream and was clutching his first gold medal, his mother and two sisters scoured a fence line dividing swimmers from spectators in Athens.
In the middle of hundreds of prying eyes, a hand reached through the fence during an intimate moment. Huddling close, Phelps’ mother Debbie and his sisters Hillary and Whitney locked their eyes on the glimmering medal hanging from a ribbon. They all cried. Even now, when one of them tells the story, they struggle to keep the tears back
“Michael stuck his medal through the fence and we were all there. It was so special,” Hillary said. “He stuck the medal through and was like, ‘Look what I did! I did it. I did it.’”
Four years later, on Wednesday in Beijing, Phelps repeated the feat for the 10th and 11th times, winning the 200-meter butterfly and swimming the opening leg of the 4x200 freestyle relay, giving him more gold medals than any Olympian in the history of the games. The former mark of nine golds was held by American icons Carl Lewis and Mark Spitz and Finnish distance runner Paavo Nurmi and Soviet gymnast Larissa Latynina.
Phelps set his fourth world record at these games in capturing the 200 fly, notching a time of 1 minute, 52.03 seconds, which is .06 seconds faster than the world record he set in the prelims one day earlier. And he was part of his fifth world record when the 4x200 free team finished in 6:58.56, gouging a ridiculous 4.64 seconds off the previous mark.
“It is very hard to be swimming the relay also on the same day (as the butterfly). I don’t know how he is doing this,” said Pawel Korzeniowski, who finished sixth behind Phelps in the fly. “Everybody is thinking ‘How can he do this and break world record?’”
Amazingly, Phelps won the 200 fly despite having issues with his goggles. Once getting to the blocks, he flung off his cap and goggles and vigorously rubbed his eyes.
“I couldn’t see anything for the last 100,” Phelps said. “My goggles filled up with water. It just kept getting worse and worse through the race and I was having trouble seeing the walls, to be honest.”
Even with the technical issues, Phelps’ wins smacked of every other individual race in these games, when Phelps was only shoulder-to-shoulder with his foes for a mere moment—standing on the starting blocks. After that, the world has been a witness to prolonged amazement, to the point where his races in Beijing have attracted the likes of U.S. President George W. Bush, LeBron James, Kobe Bryant and countless other individuals who are stars in their own right.
But to truly understand Phelps’ impact, you have to listen to his teammates, who have spent their lives training for this moment but are finding an extra bit of inspiration watching Phelps.
Swimmers like America’s Aaron Peirsol, who will go down as one of the best U.S. swimmers ever, having captured three gold medals in Athens and who is favored to leave Beijing with three more. One of Phelps’ more measured teammates, Peirsol has always been respectful of his touted teammate, while also repeatedly pointing out that the rest of American swimming is pretty good, too. His message has never been subtle: Phelps is great, but he’s still part of a team.
And yet, even Peirsol was among those most impressed on Tuesday, when Phelps had captured his third straight gold while setting a third world record.
“It may be once in a century we see something like this,” Peirsol said. “The rest of the world is catching up to the U.S., the way I look at it—quite a bit. For him to be doing what he’s doing at this moment in time, with the rest of the world coming up the way it is, I think that speaks volumes. And the way he’s attacking this meet, too—he’s not just winning, he’s absolutely destroying every race. It’s awesome to watch. It’s inspiring to me.”
“Every time I watch him swim, I’m more and more in awe of what he does,” said three-time gold medalist Natalie Coughlin. “… Being his teammate and being part of the team while he’s doing all this kind of gives us a different perspective. I think years and years down the road we’ll realize more and more how amazing and special he is.”
And yet, in a charming way, Phelps hardly seems to notice it—in a way that truly doesn’t smack of false modesty. When Phelps locked up his ninth gold, his coach, Bob Bowman, casually reminded him of the company he had entered: Lewis, Spitz, Nurmi and Latynina—four supremely talented athletes who, before Wednesday, had created the most elite Olympic fraternity.
“You’re tied,” Bowman told Phelps.
“Huh,” he replied. “That’s pretty cool.”
And maybe that nonchalance was part of how Phelps got to Wednesday, and how he will take the gold medal record and advance it to the stratosphere. Fourteen, sixteen, eighteen—there is no telling how many gold medals Phelps will have when he is through. And he rarely thinks about the big picture, anyway, which may be one of the defining traits of his greatness.
“He never tries to make a quantum leap,” Bowman said. “It’s always just one more step. When you’re kind of at the top of the mountain, the steps are pretty high. Even one more step takes you pretty far away from everyone else.”
Wednesday’s step is arguably more remarkable than any step in the games that came before it. From Athens to Beijing, Phelps has now gone where no Olympian before him has traveled.
Monday, August 11, 2008
Tennis Day 2 Review: Kuznetsova, Ferrer and Murray tumble
(BEIJING, August 12) -- Lleyton Hewitt and Chris Guccione of Australia made history on Monday night with their epic Men's Doubles victory, while some big names in the Men's Singles draw made surprise early exits on day two of the Tennis tournament at the Olympic Green Tennis Center.
Men's Singles First Round
The first big upsets of the Olympic Tennis tournament occurred when No. 5 seed David Ferrer of Spain fell to Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia 7-6(8), 6-2, and Lu Yen-hsun of Chinese Taipei upset No. 6 seed Andy Murray of Great Britain 7-6(5), 6-4 in the first Men's Singles round.
There was further bad news for the Spanish Men's team when No. 11 seed Nicolas Almagro and Tommy Robredo also lost in the opening round to Gael Monfils of France and Andreas Seppi of Italy, respectively.
In contrast, the French men were toasting to their success. Michael Llodra fought back from a 5-2 deficit in the second set tiebreak to oust Stepanek of the Czech Republic 4-6, 7-6 (5), 11-9 to join Gael Monfils, Gilles Simon and Paul-Henri Mathieu in the second round.
Top seed Roger Federer of Switzerland dismissed Dmitry Tursunov of Russia 6-4, 6-2; No. 3 seed Novak Djokovic of Serbia cruised past Robby Ginepri of the United States 6-4, 6-4.
No. 2 seed Rafael Nadal of Spain produced an error-strewn performance but dug deep to defeat Potito Starace of Italy 6-2, 3-6, 6-2.
Defending Olympic champion Nicolas Massu of Chile defeated Steve Darcis of Belgium 6-4, 7-5 to advance to the second round.
Women's Singles First Round
Chinese players Li Na and Zheng Jie produced surprise results in the Women's Singles competition. Li upset No. 3 seed Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia 7-6 (5), 6-4 on Centre Court, after Zheng battled back to defeat No. 11 seed Agnes Szavay of Hungary 4-6, 6-3, 7-5 on Court 2.
Serena Williams and Venus Williams of the United States both made smooth progress to the second round with straight-sets wins over Olga Govortsova of Belarus and Timea Bacsinszky of Switzerland, respectively.
Jelena Jankovic of Serbia celebrated becoming the World No. 1 on Monday with a comfortable victory against Doubles specialist Cara Black of Zimbabwe 6-3, 6-3.
The three other Russian women in action on Monday -- Elena Dementieva, Dinara Safina and Vera Zvonareva -- all advanced to the second round.
The No. 8 seed, Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland, who has won three titles this year, began her first Olympic campaign with a solid 6-1, 7-6(6) victory over Chan Yung-jan of Chinese Taipei.
Men's Doubles First Round
Hewitt and Guccione of Australia made history when they defeated Agustin Calleri and Juan Monaco of Argentina 4-6, 7-6(4), 18-16. The final set equaled the longest set ever played in either Men's Singles or Doubles at any Olympic Games and set a new record for the highest number of games (57) played in a Men's Olympic match.
Defending champions Fernando Gonzalez and Nicolas Massu of Chile fell to Dmitry Tursunov and Mikhail Youzhny of Russia 7-6(5), 6-4, but victories went to Federer and Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland and Nadal and Tommy Robredo of Spain.
Play will resume on Tuesday, August 12, for three unfinished matches interrupted by rain
Thursday, August 7, 2008
Athletics: Liu steals the limelight
7 August 2008
If the Olympic Games were being held anywhere other than China this year there would be no doubting which event would be top of the bill when it comes to the track and field programme. Surely there can be nothing to match a 100 metres race featuring three of the only four men to have run under 9.80sec?
But mention the name Liu Xiang, China’s first-ever male Olympic athletics champion, and strange things happen in the People’s Republic. He is quite possibly the most famous man in the country and the mere sight of him in public can cause a commotion. The Shanghai-born 25-year-old won the 110m hurdles in Athens in 2004, but he will be under pressure this time from Cuba’s Dayron Robles, who snatched the world record from Liu this summer.
Holy grail
Meanwhile Jamaica’s Usain Bolt and Asafa Powell and Tyson Gay of the United States will be seeking sprinting’s equivalent of the holy grail. Down the years the 100 metres title has been taken by some of the most legendary names in sport, including Jesse Owens in Berlin in 1936 and, in Mexico City in 1968, Jim Hines, the first man to break the 10-second barrier. More recently Carl Lewis won it twice on his way to his record-equalling nine gold medals.
Women’s focus of attention
Along with Croatia’s world high jump champion Blanka Vlasic, Kenya’s Pamela Jelimo will be the focus of attention on the women’s side after her astonishing 800 metres performances this season. The slightly built 18-year-old has run only a few 800m races, but her time of 1min 54.99sec is a long way ahead of anyone else this season and the fastest in the event for almost 11 years.
Faint-hearted anti-feminists
Jelimo’s time is more than 20 seconds faster than that of Lina Radke when the German won the gold medal in 1928, the first time women were part of the Olympic track and field programme. Unfortunately the sight of several women dropping to the ground in exhaustion after the race in Amsterdam convinced the faint-hearted anti-feminist movement that races of more than 200m were not suitable for the fairer sex, and the women’s 800m did not return to the Olympic arena until 1960 in Rome.
What is Olympic Express?
14 May 2008
Olympic Express is the first Olympic Games “e-journal” for young people from all over the world. It’s interactive, contains a wide range of animated features and provides all the information you need to be able to follow the planet’s biggest sporting event.
From a bi-weekly…From today until 8 August, you can learn all about the Olympic Games’ 35 different sporting disciplines. Olympic Express will come out twice a week. It will feature reports on individual stars, teams and technical details about specific sports; in fact, it will tell you everything you need to know to become an expert in any sport you like.
… to an e-dailyWhen the Beijing Games are actually underway, Olympic Express will become an e-daily, so that we can bring you news of all the competition’s events and sporting exploits, as well as stories, large and small, about the world’s greatest athletes.
Special editions
After the Games, on 25 August, we will publish a special edition featuring the best photos from the competition. Then, on 28 August, you will be able to read a special issue on the Paralympics, the Games for athletes with disabilities. The Paralympics generally take place just after the Olympic Games. This year they will be held in Beijing, starting on 6 September. Finally, on 1 September, our last issue will focus on the upcoming Youth Olympic Games. In 2010, young people will also be able to celebrate the Olympic spirit by taking part in their own Games.
