Beijing 2008

Hand over of Olympic flag

2008-08-25T03:09:00.000-07:00

The lowering of the Olympic flag

Jacques Rogge hands the Olympic flag to London Mayor

London Mayor Boris Johnson waves the Olympic flag

London 2012 preview performance

2008-08-25T03:00:00.001-07:00

London 2012 preview performance

a red double-decker bus during the eight-minute performance prepared by London, host city of the next summer Olympic Games in 2012

eight-minute performance prepared by London, host city of the next Summer Olympic Games in 2012

Fireworks light up night sky

2008-08-25T02:46:00.001-07:00

Fireworks go off

Fireworks illuminate the sky

Fireworks light up night sky

Fireworks illuminate the sky

Vos laps field to win first Dutch gold on Cycling Track

2008-08-18T05:51:00.001-07:00

Vos laps field to win first Dutch gold on Cycling Track

Marianne Vos of the Netherlands erased her disappointment of finishing sixth in the Cycling Road Race with a clear victory in the Women's Points Race at the Laoshan Velodrome on Monday.

Vos lapped the field and won the first of 10 sprints to lock up the gold medal in the 100-lap, 25-kilometre race featuring 10 point sprints. It is the first Olympic medal of her career.

Yoanka Gonzalez of Cuba won the second, eighth and 10th sprints to take the silver medal and Leire Olaberria of Spain took the bronze with 13 points. Gonzalez's silver was the first Olympic medal in Cycling Track for Cuba.

Olaberria tied Maria Luisa Calle of Colombia on points, but the tie-breaker was the position across the line in the final sprint. With second in the final sprint, the Spanish rider claimed the final spot on the podium.

Sarah Hammer of the United States, Wadami Satomi of Japan, Verena Jooss of Germany and Li Yan of China crashed just after the second sprint when riders touched wheels in the bunch. Only Li could continue.

Great Britain's Rebecca Romero, a day after winning the Women's Individual Pursuit gold medal, was active throughout the first half, chasing down breakaways, but every time she tried to pull away from the pack, someone marked her wheel.

Calle chased her down to pull to a tie with Vos after six sprints.

Vos went on to the attack to lap the field ahead of the seventh sprint to gain a decisive, 20-point bonus. Gonzalez surged into second with two sprints to go, leaving Calle and Olaberria to race for third.

Bekele wins Olympic Men's 10000m gold

2008-08-18T05:47:00.000-07:00

Bekele wins Olympic Men's 10000m gold

Ethiopia's Kenenisa Bekele clocked 27:01.17 to win the Olympic Men's 10000m run here on Sunday.

Great Britain sets world mark and wins gold in Team Pursuit

2008-08-18T05:43:00.000-07:00

Great Britain sets world mark and wins gold in Team Pursuit

Great Britain rewrote the history books with an Olympic and world record in winning the Men's Team Pursuit at the Laoshan Velodrome on Monday.

Great Britain nearly caught Denmark in the final lap to claim its first Men's Team Pursuit gold medal since the London 1908 Olympic Games and improved on the previous record it set Sunday (3:55.202), finishing in 3:53.314.

Denmark (4:00.040) was out-gunned from the beginning of the 4km, 16-lap test against the clock, taking their first Team Pursuit Olympic medal since a bronze in the Barcelona 1992 Olympic Games.

In the bronze medal round, New Zealand (3:57.776) scored an impressive victory ahead of defending Olympic champions Australia (3:59.006).

The race was nearly a dead heat at the midway point, but New Zealand slowly pulled away to win their first medal in Men's Team Pursuit competition in the Olympic Games.

Australia was hoping to win its sixth medal in seven Olympic Games, but failed.

Great Britain's Bradley Wiggins was the key motor for Great Britain and scores his second gold medal of Beijing 2008 after winning the Men's Individual Pursuit.

He will line up with partner Mark Cavendish in the Madison in Tuesday's final day of competition at the Laoshan Velodrome.

Chinese gymnast He Kexin wins Uneven Bars gold

2008-08-18T05:39:00.001-07:00

Chinese gymnast He Kexin wins Uneven Bars gold

Chinese gymnast He kexin claimed the Women's Uneven Bars title with 16.725 points at the Beijing Olympics on Monday.

Nastia Liukin from the United States, who also collected 16.725 points, had to stand second according to a tiebreak rule.

Yang Yilin from China got the bronze with 16.650 points.

(L-R) Nastia Liukin, He Kexin and Yang Yilin

IOC satisfied with Games-time operations

2008-08-18T05:36:00.000-07:00

IOC satisfied with Games-time operations

The eighth joint IOC/BOCOG press briefing was held on Monday at the Main Press Center (MPC) after two days break. According to Giselle Davies, IOC director of Communications, the next joint briefing will be held on August 23. The lower frequency of the meetings demonstrates that the IOC is satisfied with the smooth operation of the Games.

"In Athens, we had fewer coordination commissions that were run on a daily basis," reflecting that "the Games are going on very well and we can get out and enjoy the sports," said Davies.

The canceling of press briefings on August 16 and 17 was a joint decision made by IOC and BOCOG. Daily press conferences are not a convention of past Games. Since "transport is working smoothly, people are getting to the venues without any problems, and athletes have competition and give us very positive feedback," the officials remarked that they would rather provide more time for journalists to visit the venues and cover the important events than having them sit in press conferences with the IOC and BOCOG.

Australia's two Emmas seize gold and bronze in Women's Triathlon

2008-08-18T05:33:00.001-07:00

Australia's two Emmas seize gold and bronze in Women's Triathlon

Emma Snowsill and Emma Moffatt of Australia won gold and bronze medals in today's Women's Triathlon race. The silver medal went to Vanessa Fernandes of Portugal.

Snowsill won the gold with a time of one hour, 58 minutes and 27.66 seconds. Fernandes finished in a time of one hour, 59 minutes and 34.63 seconds, while Moffatt won the bronze medal with a time of one hour, 59 minutes and 55.84 seconds.

Laura Bennett of the United States led out of the water, followed closely by Magali di Marco of Switzerland and Sarah Haskins of the United States.

On the 40km bike course, two packs came together early to form a leading group of 24 triathletes. After three laps, the leading group was in front of the chasing group by one minute. The margin was widened to nearly two minutes after five laps.

As the women headed out onto the 10km running course, Snowsill and Fernandes immediately surged to the front and opened up a slight gap over the rest of the field, which they maintained till the end.

London 2012 insists have yet to be upstaged

2008-08-18T05:30:00.000-07:00

London 2012 insists have yet to be upstaged

After watching the spectacular fireworks and dazzling choreography of the 2008 Beijing Olympics Opening Ceremony, many are wondering whether or not it will be possible for future Olympic committees to recreate an equivalently breathtaking show. But 2012 Olympic host London believes they are ready to take on the challenge.

In an interview with the British newspaper The Daily Telegraph released Saturday, chairman of the London Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games (LOCOG) Sebastian Coe said London is prepared to match the spectacle and charm of the Beijing Opening Ceremony.

Coe and fellow organizers "weren't cowed at all" after watching the Beijing ceremony, he insisted. At one point in the interview Coe even went as far to say that the London Games can "go further on so many fronts."

But that does not mean the London committee was not duly awed in Beijing; they were impressed. Speaking for his colleagues Coe stressed, "They were more pumped up because it was so good. I think they were quite excited by the challenge." He continued, "But we can do something as good, set in a different context" -- a British one.

Coe kept mentioning two words -- creativity and fun. Both, he claimed, are representations of Britain's unique culture. Creativity, he insisted, is "Britishness in the very best sense of the word."

As far as the fun part goes, London knows how to throw a good party, and that is what they plan to do, Coe beamed. "We're actually quite good at partying," he said. "Let's turn it into a giant party."

Citing the famous string of British pop music and West End stars that are part of the planning team, Coe seemed quite certain that the organizing committee will be able to put on a great super-fun show.

ROK blasts Austria to claim Team Table Tennis bronze

2008-08-18T05:28:00.001-07:00

ROK blasts Austria to claim Team Table Tennis bronze

The Republic of Korea steamrolled Austria 3-1 to capture the Men's Team bronze medal at the Table Tennis tournament at the Beijing Olympic Games Monday.

Chen reclaims Rings gold for China

2008-08-18T05:25:00.000-07:00

Chen reclaims Rings gold for China

Chen Yibing won China's first gold medal in the Men's Rings since the legendary Li Ning shared gold with Japan's Gushiken Koji at Los Angeles 1984. Chen scored 16.600 to win the gold medal.

The silver medal was won by China's Yang Wei, who scored 16.425. The bronze medal was won by Ukraine's Oleksandr Vorobiov, who scored 16.325.

Chen, 23, was the favorite going into the event and did not disappoint his home crowd. The seventh out of eight gymnasts to perform, Chen thrilled the crowd with his near-perfect execution. The gold medal is Chen's second gold medal of the Games, along with his gold medal in the Team event.

Yang performed the most difficult routine, which was enough for him to snare the silver medal. The silver medal is Yang's third medal of the Games, along with his gold medals in the Team and All-Around events.

Bronze medalist Vorobiov combined a fairly difficult routine with excellent execution, which allowed him to receive a slightly better score than Italy's Andrea Coppolino and France's Danny Pinheiro Rodrigues who both received a score of 16.225.

'Super Dan' lives up to his World No. 1 rank

2008-08-18T05:20:00.000-07:00

'Super Dan' lives up to his World No. 1 rank

Men's Singles World No. 1 Lin Dan of China thrashed Malaysia's World No. 2 Lee Chong-wei 21-12, 21-8 to win the gold in the Beijing Olympic Badminton tournament on Sunday, August 17.

The anticipated heart-pounding dream final turned out to be a frustrating exit for Lee, who was bidding for Malaysia's first Olympic gold.

"I suffered a lot of pressure tonight but I do not want to use it as an excuse for my defeat," he said.

Maybe it was the pressure that made a normally sharp Lee lose his edge on court and essentially provide no match for Super Dan's quickly-adapted strategies and crosscourt smashes.

In the first game Lin raced into a 7-1 lead. Eager to close the gap, Lee made too many unforced errors, enabling the World No. 1 to stretch his winning margin to 16-8 before closing out the game 21-12.

Lin continued to attack Lee in the second game, opening up an 8-0 lead and forcing his opponent to chase shuttles to all four corners of the court before killing rallies off with his smash. As the game progressed, Lee simply had no answers to Lin's speed and the Chinese left-hander closed out the match in just 41 minutes.

"I have tried my best but Lin Dan played perfectly tonight," said Malaysian sport icon Lee. "I couldn't match his shuttle speed. He was much stronger than me and controlled the whole match."

"At the end of the match it is not who is playing at a higher level, it is all about who is mentally stronger," Lee commented on his loss.

"I felt a lot of pressure playing in front of my home crowd," said an exhilarated Lin. "I thought it would be difficult to play the match and the pressure of the crowd might even be to my disadvantage, but I played well.

Liu Xiang withdraws from Men's 110m Hurdles

2008-08-18T05:09:00.000-07:00

Liu Xiang withdraws from Men's 110m Hurdles

The first round competition of Men's 110m Hurdles took place at the National Stadium, also known as the Bird's Nest, during the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China, on August 18, 2008. Defending Olympic champion Liu Xiang of China dropped out after getting injured.

Liu Xiang takes off his jersey prior to the first round.

Ukraine's Dobrynska wins Heptathlon gold

2008-08-17T02:01:00.001-07:00

Ukraine's Dobrynska wins Heptathlon gold

Nataliia Dorbynska of Ukraine won the Olympic Heptathlon gold medal here on Saturday. Lyudmila Blonska of Ukraine claimed silver and Hyleas Fountain of the United States took bronze

Nataliia Dobrynska finishes Women's Heptathlon 800m final.

Australia breaks WR to win Women's 4 x 100m Medley Relay

2008-08-17T01:52:00.000-07:00

Australia breaks WR to win Women's 4 x 100m Medley Relay

The final of the Women's 4 x 100m Medley Relay of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games was held in the National Aquatics Center, also known as the Water Cube, in Beijing, China, on August 17, 2008.

The Australian team won the gold medal in a new world record time, 3

Australian swimmers celebrate

Britain wins Sailing Yngling gold

2008-08-17T01:38:00.000-07:00

Britain wins Sailing Yngling gold

British Yngling trio Sarah Ayton, Sarah Webb and Pippa Wilson snatched the first gold medal at Olympic Sailing Regatta here on Sunday.

The Netherlands took the silver and Greece got the bronze.

(L-R) Sarah Ayton, Sarah Webb and Pippa Wilson celebrate.

Romanian wins Women's Marathon gold

2008-08-17T01:33:00.000-07:00

Romanian wins Women's Marathon gold

Romanian marathoner Tomescu Constantina added a gold to her country's Olympic medal count at the Beijing Games on Sunday morning.

38-year-old Tomescu led the pack from the 25km mark, and finished in 2 hours 26 minutes 44 seconds.

World record holder Paula Radcliffe of Britain lagged far behind.

Federer and Wawrinka win in Men's Doubles

2008-08-17T01:27:00.000-07:00

Federer and Wawrinka win in Men's Doubles

Roger Federer and Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland defeated Simon Aspelin and Thomas Johansson of Sweden to get the gold medal in the Men's Doubles Tennis at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games on August 16.

Thomas Johansson (left) and Simon Aspelin

Men's 1500m Freestyle: Mellouli gold shatters Hackett dream

2008-08-17T01:21:00.000-07:00

Men's 1500m Freestyle: Mellouli gold shatters Hackett dream

Australian Grant Hackett's bid for a record third consecutive Olympic title in the Men's 1500m Freestyle fell apart as Tunisian Oussama Mellouli proved faster than the Australian on Sunday, at the National Aquatics Center.

Mellouli's time for the gold medal of 14:40.84 was an African record.

(L-R) Hackett, Mellouli and Cochrane pose with their medals

Against the expectations of many, he stuck with the two fastest qualifiers, Hackett and Canadian Ryan Cochrane, throughout the race and began to pull away with 200m left.

The lead three swimmers Hackett, Cochrane and Mellouli were never near to threatening the world record at any stage of the race with Cochrane turning in first place, at the 800m mark, in 7:51.06.

It was at the 1100m mark that Mellouli made his move on the leader Hackett. He increased the pace to see if the Australian veteran and world record holder could go with him but Hackett was found wanting.

From that point on Mellouli pulled away and swam the last 50m in a 28.45 split to ensure Hackett couldn't mount a comeback.

Hackett tried hard to close the gap in the last 100m with a last 50m split of 27.9 but it was not enough and he had to settle for the silver medal in 14:41.53.

Hackett's recent form suggested he could have been able to respond to the challenge from Mellouli but he was unable go with the Tunisian when it was needed.

Cochrane qualified second-fastest for the final in an Americas record 14:40.84 and was with the leaders throughout the race, finishing with the bronze medal in 14:42.69.

Yuriy Prilukov of Russia, who qualified third for the final in a European record 14:41.13, finished fourth.

Men's 4 x 100m Medley Relay: Phelps wins record eighth gold

2008-08-17T01:16:00.000-07:00

Men's 4 x 100m Medley Relay: Phelps wins record eighth gold

Michael Phelps won his record eighth gold medal in the Men's 4 x 100m Medley Relay final on Sunday but this time needed some help from his friends.

The US team of Aaron Peirsol, Brendan Hansen, Jason Lezak and Phelps won at the National Aquatics Center in a time of 3:29.34 and in doing so broke the world record by 1.34 seconds.

The defending Olympic champions and world record holders led from start to finish.

(L-R) Hansen, Phelps, Peirsol and Lezak hold the American flag

Peirsol gave them a great start with a 53.16sec split. Hansen increased the lead on the world record split taking it 0.39 seconds under at the race's halfway mark. Brenton Rickard swam his breaststroke leg in 58.56, faster than Hansen, to bring the Australians into second place.

Phelps fought off the Australian challenge in the Butterfly leg before Lezak kept Eamon Sullivan on his shoulder until the wall.

The Australian team of Hayden Stoeckel, Andrew Lauterstein, Rickard and Sullivan finished 0.70 seconds behind the US to win silver in an Oceania record 3:30.04, also under the old world record.

Australia went into the race as world champions but only as beneficiaries of a US disqualification at the 2007 world championships.

Japan's team of Miyashita Junichi, Kitajima Kosuke, Fujii Takuro and Sato Hisayoshi took bronze in an Asian record 3:31.18.

Russia finished fourth in a European record 3:31.92.

Emmons repeats Athens tragedy

2008-08-17T00:56:00.000-07:00

Emmons repeats Athens tragedy

Despite not shooting the wrong target this time, the 4.4 that the United States' Matthew Emmons scored on his last shot was no better than the zero from his last shot in the same event final four years ago.

After nine shots in the final of the Men's 50m Rifle Three Positions, Emmons was leading by 3.3 points over Ukraine's Jury Sukhorukov. Qiu Jian of China was in third place with one tenth of a point less.

After that, history repeated itself. Emmons shot an amateurish 4.4 points on his last shot. Qiu Jian shot 10.0 to win the gold medal with a tenth of a point more than Sukhorukov, who scored 9.8 on his last shot. Four years ago in Athens, China's Jia Zhanbo was lifted from second to win gold when Emmons hit his neighboring target and earned zero on his last shot.

Rajmond Debevec of Slovenia, the current world and Olympic record holder was the highest-ranked shooter after qualification with a score of 1176, which was one point short of the Olympic record that he set at Sydney 2000. Due to Emmons' mistake, Debevec was lifted into third position and won the bronze medal.

Reigning champion Jia Zhanbo failed to make it to the final, finishing a disappointing 24th after qualification.

Japan's Yoshida wins Women's Freestyle 55kg Wrestling gold

2008-08-16T05:58:00.001-07:00

Japan's Yoshida wins Women's Freestyle 55kg Wrestling gold

Japan's Yoshida Saori beat China's Xu Li to win the Women's Freestlye 55kg Wrestling gold at the Beijing Olympic Games on Saturday.

Xu took the silver while Canada's Tonya Verbeek and Colombia's Jackeline Renteria took the two bronze medals.

Yoshida Saori of Japan (2nd, L), Xu Li of China (1st, L), Tonya Verbeek (2nd, R) and Jackeline Renteria

Rafael Nadal enters Men's Tennis final

2008-08-16T05:56:00.001-07:00

Rafael Nadal enters Men's Tennis final

Rafael Nadal of Spain defeated Novak Djokovic of Serbia in the Men's semifinal Tennis Match at the Olympic Green Tennis Center on Day 7 of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games on August 15, 2008 in Beijing, China.

Swimming Day 8 Review: Phelps equals Spitz's gold medal record, despite scare

2008-08-16T05:53:00.000-07:00

Swimming Day 8 Review: Phelps equals Spitz's gold medal record, despite scare

American Michael Phelps won his seventh gold on Saturday in the Men's 100m Butterfly final at the National Aquatics Center, to equal Mark Spitz (USA) as the only person ever to have won seven gold medals at a summer Olympic Games.

But Phelps had to survive a big scare from unheralded Serbian Milorad Cavic to do it.

Phelps won in an Olympic record time of 50.58, to take his gold medal tally to seven, but by the slimmest of margins - 0.01 seconds. He had a huge battle on his hands after Cavic touched first on the 50m mark at 0.09sec under the world record.

Phelps and Cavic battled it out in the last 50m. A monumental upset looked to be approaching - until Phelps dug deep and out-touched Cavic on the wall.

Cavic finished with the silver medal in a time of 50.59.

Australia's Andrew Lauterstein won the bronze medal in 51.12. World record holder Ian Crocker of the United States swam in fourth place at 51.13.

After winning three silver medals at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, Kirsty Coventry of Zimbabwe finally won gold in the Women's 200m Backstroke and she smashed the world record in a time of 2:05.24.

World record holder Margaret Hoelzer of the United States was unable to reel in Coventry and finished with the silver in 2:06.23. Nakamura Reiko of Japan won the bronze medal in an Asian record time of 2:07.13, at 1.89 behind the gold medal winner.

In the Women's 800m Freestyle final, Rebecca Adlington of Great Britain broke the oldest world record left in the swimming pool.

Adlington touched in 8:14.10 to knock an incredible 2.12 off Janet Evans' (USA) 19-year-old old world mark and claim the gold medal.

Italian Alessia Filippi, third fastest into the final, won the silver in 8:20.23 and Lotte Friis of Denmark took bronze in 8:23.03.

Unheralded Brazilian Cesar Cielo Filho won the Men's 50m Freestyle final in a major upset to win the Men's 50m Freestyle final, emerging in an Olympic record time of 21.30.

Frenchman Amaury Leveaux took the silver in 21.45 and Thursday's 100m Freestyle champion Alain Bernard of France could only manage the bronze in 21.49. World record holder Eamon Sullivan of Australia finished the final as sixth fastest in 21.65.

In the Women's 50m Freestyle semifianl, 41-year-old Dara Torres of the United States showed her semifinal competitors that age is no issue in the Women's 50m Freestyle by clocking the fastest time into the final.

Torres stopped the clock at 24.27. Cate Campbell of Australia, who was not even born when Torres made her third Olympic team, was the second fastest qualifier in 24.42.

Friday's 100m Freestyle gold medalist Britta Steffen of Germany qualified third fastest for the final in 24.43 and world record holder Lisbeth Trickett of Australia qualified fifth fastest - but will need to find extra speed if she does not want to miss out on both Olympic sprint freestyle titles.

Britain wins Rowing Men's Four gold

2008-08-16T05:50:00.000-07:00

Britain wins Rowing Men's Four gold

Britain claimed the Rowing Men's Four title at the Beijing Olympics on Saturday, finishing the 2,000-meter final race in six minutes and 6.57 seconds.

Australia took the silver in 6:07.85, while France got the bronze in 6:09.31.

Tom James, Steve Williams, Pete Reed and Andrew Triggs Hodge celebrate.

American Vincent Hancock wins Men's Skeet gold

2008-08-16T05:49:00.001-07:00

American Vincent Hancock wins Men's Skeet gold

Vincent Hancock of the United States took gold in the Men's Skeet at the Beijing Olympic Games with a total of 145 hits. Hancock had to battle off Tore Brovold of Norway in a shoot-off for the title. Anthony Terras of France took the bronze medal, also after a shoot-off.

Tore Brovold, Vincent Hancock and Anthony Terras

Petriv comes back to grab another shooting gold for Ukraine

2008-08-16T05:46:00.001-07:00

Petriv comes back to grab another shooting gold for Ukraine

Oleksandr Petriv of Ukraine was ranked fourth after the qualification round of the Men's 25m Rapid Fire Pistol, only above German shooters Ralf Schumann and Christian Reitz. However, the three shooters with the lowest qualification scores were the ones who won the medals today.

Petriv won the gold medal with a total score of 780.2 (including 200.2 from the final), a new Olympic record for the final score. Schumann, who was tied with compatriot Reitz after the qualification stages on 579 points, beat Reitz by two-tenths of a point and secured the silver medal with a final score of 779.5. The bronze medal was left to Reitz who scored a final score of 779.3.

Keith Sanderson of the United States, who shot an Olympic record 583 in the qualification stages, performed poorly in the final, scoring only 193.6 to finish fifth with a final score of 776.6. Leonid Ekimov of Russia and Roman Bondaruk of Ukraine also shot poorly in the final after finishing second and third after the qualification stages. Ekimov (778.2) finished fourth and Bondaruk (774.7) finished sixth.

Petriv's victory must come as a surprise to both Schumann and Reitz. Schumann was searching for his fourth Olympic gold medal in the event, while Reitz is the world record holder.

Petriv's compatriot Artur Ayvazian won the gold medal in the Men's 50m Rifle Prone yesterday.

Djokovic captures Tennis bronze medal

2008-08-16T05:43:00.000-07:00

Djokovic captures Tennis bronze medal

No. 3 seed Novak Djokovic of Serbia, the Australian Open champion, defeated No. 8 seed James Blake of the United States 6-3, 7-6(4) to claim the bronze medal in the Men's Singles Tennis at the Olympic Green Tennis Center on August 16.

Australia wins Rowing Men's Double Sculls gold

2008-08-16T05:41:00.001-07:00

Australia wins Rowing Men's Double Sculls gold

Australian rowers David Crawshay and Scott Brennan claimed the Men's Double Sculls title at the Beijing Olympics on Saturday, clocking six minutes and 27.77 seconds in the final.

Tonu Endrekson and Juri Jaanson from Estonia took the silver in 6:29.05, while Matthew Wells and Stephen Rowbotham from Britain got the bronze in 6:29.10.

David Crawshay and Scott Brennan compete

Tonu Endrekson and Juri Jaanson compete

Australia wins Rowing Men's Pair gold

2008-08-16T05:39:00.000-07:00

Australia wins Rowing Men's Pair gold

Australian rowers Drew Ginn and Duncan Free claimed the Men's Pair title at the Beijing Olympics on Saturday, clocking six minutes and 37.44 seconds in the final.

David Calder/Scott Frandsen from Canada took the sliver in 6:39.55, while Nathan Twaddle/George Bridgewater from New Zealand got the bronze in 6:44.19.

Drew Ginn and Duncan Free celebrate their victory

Chinese men lead Trampoline qualifications

2008-08-16T05:37:00.000-07:00

Chinese men lead Trampoline qualifications

Chinese duo Lu Chunlong and Dong Dong dominated qualifications and earned the top two spots for the final, raising hopes for a first Men's medal for China in the Trampoline. The qualification event was held at the National Indoor Stadium on day eight of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games on August 16, 2008 in Beijing, China.

Ben Wilden of Australia competes.

Joan Llaneras of Spain wins Cycling Track Men's Points Race gold

2008-08-16T05:34:00.000-07:00

Joan Llaneras of Spain wins Cycling Track Men's Points Race gold

Spain's Joan LLaneras won the Cycling Track Men's Points Race gold medal with 60 points at the Olympic Games on Saturday.

Germany's Roger Kluge took the silver with 58 points and Britain's Chris Newton got the bronze with 56.

Joan Llaneras (R) and Roger Kluge celebrate.

(L-R) Roger Kluge, Juan Llaneras and Chris Newton

Britain beats France to win Cycling Team Sprint gold

2008-08-16T05:32:00.000-07:00

Britain beats France to win Cycling Team Sprint gold

The Men's Team Sprint finals of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Cycling-Track event took place at Laoshan Velodrome in Beijing, China, on Aug. 15, 2008. The British team beat France in the match with a total time of 43.128 seconds to win gold

The British team competes

(L-R) Jamie Staff, Chris Hoy, and Jason Kenny of Great Britain

Canoe/Kayak Slalom Day 5 Review: After rain delay, sun shines on Slovakia

2008-08-16T05:30:00.001-07:00

Canoe/Kayak Slalom Day 5 Review: After rain delay, sun shines on Slovakia

After getting rained out the previous day, six pairs of paddlers finally were able to compete in the finals of the Men's Slalom Canoe Double (C2), while rescheduled competition also commenced in the semifinal and final of the Women's Slalom Kayak Single (K1) on Friday, August 15.

Men's Slalom C2

The Olympic champions in 2000 and 2004, Slovakian twins Peter and Pavol Hochschorner, placed second in the previous day's semifinal but were at their best at Friday's final run, winning with a time of 190.82 seconds.
Jaroslav Volf and Ondřej Štěpánek from the Czech Republic, who incurred no penalties in either the semifinal or final, delivered a solid performance and their 192.89 seconds won them the Silver medal. Russians Mikhail Kuznetsovk and Dmitry Larionov took Bronze in 197.37 seconds.

Despite being the fastest crew in the final, French pair Martin Braud and Cedric Forgit could only manage fourth overall after making uncharacteristic mistakes and incurring penalties in their semifinal run.

Germans Felix Michel and Sebastian Piersig, leaders after the first run, produced a disappointing performance and finished last in the final.

Women's Slalom K1

Slovakia also claimed a gold in the Women's K1 from defending champion Elena Kaliska, who came in first in both the semi and the final. Her total time was 192.64 seconds.

Australia's Jacqueline Lawrence grabbed silver with a total of 206.94 seconds, 14.30 behind Kaliska. She ranked fourth in the semi and second in the final.

Bronze went to Austria's Violetta Oblinger Peters, who only clinched seventh place in the semi but came in third in the final.

French kayaker Emilie Fer was second in the semifinal with a time of 98.50 seconds, but after having 54 penalty seconds added to her final time, she dropped down to seventh in the ranking.

Slovakia's Kaliska wins women's Kayak (K1) gold

2008-08-16T05:27:00.000-07:00

Slovakia's Kaliska wins women's Kayak (K1) gold

Slovakia's Elena Kaliska won the women's Kayak gold at the Beijing Olympic Games here on Friday. Australia's Jacqueline Lawrence took the silver and Austria's Violetta Oblinger Peters won the bronze.

Elena Kaliska competes.

Stephanie Lawrence, Elena Kaliska and Violetta Oblinger Peters

Canada's first Women's Wrestling gold, second silver for Icho

2008-08-16T05:23:00.001-07:00

Canada's first Women's Wrestling gold, second silver for Icho

Wrestler Carol Huynh took Canada's first Beijing gold, and forced Icho Chiharu of Japan to her second straight silver, in the Women's Freestyle Wrestling 48 kilogram weight class final on August 16.

Huynh won the first period 4-0 with a three-point takedown. Icho tried her best in the second period but still lost 2-1.

Huynh became the first Canadian female wrestler to win an Olympic gold medal. This is also Canada's first gold medal of these Games.

Icho took the 48kg silver medal in Athens. After that, the 26-year-old almost won all major international events, including two World Cups, two World Championships and the 2006 Asian Games. She came to the final with all the odds in her favor, but instead took another second place finish.

On the other hand, this is the best senior result for 27-year-old Huynh, who only won two senior championships before this tournament: the 2006 Golden Grand Prix and the 2007 Pan-American Games.

Ethiopian Tirunesh Dibaba Kenene wins Women's 10000m gold

2008-08-16T05:20:00.001-07:00

Ethiopian Tirunesh Dibaba Kenene wins Women's 10000m gold

Ethiopian Tirunesh Dibaba Kenene clocked an Olympic record to win the Women's 10000m gold medal at the Olympic Games on Friday

(R-L) Elvan Abeylegesse of Turkey trails Tirunesh Dibaba Kenene.

Tirunesh Dibaba Kenene celebrates after crossing the line.

Ukraine's Ruban wins Men's Individual Archery gold

2008-08-16T05:16:00.001-07:00

Ukraine's Ruban wins Men's Individual Archery gold

Ukraine's Viktor Ruban scored 113 points to win the men's individual archery gold medal at the Olympic Games here on Friday.
The losing finalist, Park Kyung-Mo of the Republic of Korea took the silver medal with 112 points.
Russia's Bair Badenov took the bronze medal by beating Mexico's Juan Rene Serrano 115-110.

Viktor Ruban of Ukraine releases.

(L-R) Park Kyung-mo, Viktor Ruban and Bair Badenov

Georgia's Tsirekidze wins Men's 90kg Judo Olympic gold

2008-08-13T10:58:00.001-07:00

Georgia's Tsirekidze wins Men's 90kg Judo Olympic gold

Irakli Tsirekidze of Georgia defeated Algerian Amar Benikhlef to take the Men's 90kg Judo gold medal at the Beijing Olympic Games here on Wednesday.

The bronze medal was shared by Egyptian Hesham Mesbah and Swiss Sergei Aschwanden.

Irakli Tsirekidze competes against Amar Benikhlef.

(L-R)Amar Benikhlef, Irakli Tsirekidze and Hesham Mesbah and Sergei Aschwanden

Germany's Benjamin Kleibrink wins Men's Individual Foil gold

2008-08-13T10:44:00.000-07:00

Germany's Benjamin Kleibrink wins Men's Individual Foil gold

Benjamin Philip Kleibrink of Germany took gold in the Men's Individual Foil at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games on August 13, while the silver medal went to Ota Yuki of Japan in a 15-9 bout.

The bronze medal went to Italy's Salvatore Sanzo.

Benjamin Philip Kleibrink (L) competes.

Benjamin Philip Kleibrink celebrates

Benjamin Kleibrink poses with the gold medal.

Germany's Heidemann wins Olympic Women's Individual Epee gold

2008-08-13T07:51:00.000-07:00

German woman matches Men's Fencing gold

Germany's Britta Heidemann won the Olympic gold medal in the Women's Individual Epee event here on Wednesday:

Heidemann defeated Ana Maria Branza of Romania 15-11 in the final.

Hungarian Ildiko Dr Mincza-Nebald edged out China's Li Na 15-11 to grab the bronze medal.

Olympic Games a boost for jobs

2008-08-13T06:01:00.000-07:00

Olympic Games a boost for jobs

Beijing 2008: focus on the Olympic Games and employment

As the Games of the XXIX Olympiad finally got under way last Friday with the spectacular Opening Ceremony in Beijing, an expected global audience of hundred of millions of TV viewers will watch competitors strive for Olympic glory over the next 12 days. They will see a city transformed by the Games – and not only in the showpiece competition venues. The "Olympic Factor" is more than just skin-deep cosmetics; it has resulted in a huge boost to the city's economy.

Beijing residents benefiting from Olympic Games

Experts estimate the Games will have brought an extra 105.5 billion yuan (USD 13.4 billion) to Beijing's GDP between 2004 and 2008. The city's economy grew at an annual rate of 12.2 per cent between 2001, when Beijing was awarded the Games, and 2006. Over the same period, Beijing's per capita GDP more than doubled to USD 6,300, while the average annual wage for Beijing city workers rose from 20,962 yuan (about USD 3,050) in 2001 to 40,117 yuan (about USD 5,840) in 2006 – an increase of almost 110 per cent, and an annual rise of 15.7 per cent in real terms after inflation is factored in.

Nearly two million news jobs created

A wide cross-section of Beijing's commercial sectors has benefited from the Olympic Games, none more so than the construction industry. Major building projects have resulted in the creation of an extra 430,000 jobs in the sector between 2004 and 2008, while the retail and wholesale industries will have gained 130,000 new jobs. Other sectors to have gained include finance and insurance, the IT industry and communications. Cumulatively, the Games will have resulted in the creation of 1.8 million new jobs across all sectors, more than 370,000 of them this year.

Growing service sector will counteract post-Olympic lull

The Olympic factor is also boosting Beijing's service sector and that of China as a whole. In the past, Beijing's tertiary sector has lagged behind that of cities in developed countries, which are typically around 80 per cent. But it has been growing strongly and is forecast to reach 70 per cent in 2008. That growth will help to offset any post-Olympic slowdown in China's economy, something every host city and nation goes through in the immediate aftermath.

Beijing Games help lift the international language barrier

One side effect of hosting the Games has been the take-up of foreign languages by Beijing residents – a boon for their future career prospects as China integrates even more closely with the rest of the world. A city-wide campaign over the past five years has encouraged inhabitants to learn and speak English and other languages. More than one million people have taken lessons and training courses, while the city has also encouraged taxi and bus drivers, shop assistants and post office workers to improve their language skills. Officials say nearly five million Beijing residents can now speak English to some degree, representing about 35 per cent of the population. With an estimated 30 million people overseas learning Chinese, the Beijing Games have served to break down international barriers.

Germany and Romania clash for Epee gold

2008-08-13T05:57:00.000-07:00

Germany and Romania clash for Epee gold

Heidemann celebrates her victory.

Britta Heidemann from Germany defeated China Li Na 15-13 in the Women's Individual Epee semifinals to secure her place in the Olympic Women's Individual Epee final.

World No. 3 Li took a 6-3 lead at the onset, but World No. 1 Heidemann recovered to level at 6-6, 7-7, and 8-8, and gained one more touch to end the bout after the score reached 14-13 in her favor.

In the other semifinal event, Romanian fencer Ana Maria Branza defeated Ildiko Mincza-Nebald of Hungary 15-14 to clinch her place in the top two.

The bout was so tight that the score tied at every point from 2 to 14. In the end, Branza made the final touch first to advance.

The Women's Individual Epee final match will start at 9:30 p.m. (UTC/GMT +8) on August 13 at the Fencing Hall of the National Convention Center in Beijing.

Canoe/Kayak Slalom Day 4 Preview: Men's C2 and Women's K1 get their medals

2008-08-13T05:49:00.000-07:00

Canoe/Kayak Slalom Day 4 Preview: Men's C2 and Women's K1 get their medals

Paddlers will compete for medals in the Men's Slalom Canoe Double (C2) and Women's Slalom Kayak Single (K1) on Thursday, August 14.

Men's Slalom C2

Ten pairs are starting in Thursday's semifinal competition. The World No. 1 pair, Peter Hochschorner and his twin brother Pavol Hochschorner from Slovakia, ranked first with 196.73 seconds after Wednesday's heats, and they remain the biggest favorite for gold.

Peter Hochschorner and Pavol Hochschorner from Slovakia

Second place entering the semifinal is the French pair Cedric Forgit and Martin Braud, who finished 1.83 seconds behind the Hochschorner brothers on Wednesday.

The third finisher from the heats is the World No. 4 duo China's Hu Minghai and Shu Junrong.

Women's Slalom K1

Fifteen paddlers will race on Thursday in the semifinal. Defending world champion Elena Kaliska of Slovakia ranked first in Wednesday's competition with 186.19 seconds.

Elena Kaliska

World No. 4 Li Jingjing of China finished second, 1.37 seconds behind Kaliska.

Stepanka Hilgertova of the Czech Republic came in third at 189.56 seconds.

Soni breaks OR in Women's 200m Breaststroke

2008-08-13T05:43:00.000-07:00

Soni breaks OR in Women's 200m Breaststroke

Rebecca Soni of the United States broke the Olympic record in the Women's 200m Breaststroke with a time of 2:22.17 at the National Aquatics Center on Wednesday, August 13. The former Olympic record of 2:23.37 was set by Amanda Beard of the United States at the 2004 Athens Games.

Ainslie gains on American Railey in Finn sailing

2008-08-13T05:39:00.000-07:00

Ainslie gains on American Railey in Finn sailing

British star Ben Ainslie took second in Wednesday Finn class Olympic sailing to gain a six point overall lead on American challenger Zach Railey. The day had such light winds that some sailors spent hours languishing in the heat as they waited out race delays and postponements on their boats.

"It was a long wait for one race and the conditions were very light," Ainslie said after the second Finn race planned for Wednesday was postponed, probably until Thursday or Friday due to lack of wind. American favorite Anna Tunnicliffe stayed at the top of the Laser Radial class after six races, with a sixth place finish, while teammate Andrew Campbell took his first win in the men's Laser class, and the U.S. boat beat Britain in the three-woman Yngling class.

The U.S. duo of Tim Wadlow and Chris Rast scored two firsts and a 10th in racing by the fast 49er dinghies, but Australia's Nathan Outteridge and Ben Austin maintained their first overall, one point ahead of Denmark and 11 points ahead of Italy. Despite the sailing venue of Qingdao, about 500 kilometers (300 miles) south of Beijing, being notorious among sailors for light summer breezes, Wednesday was the first time all the races could not go ahead as planned because of lack of wind.

The day's second races were also postponed for the Laser, Laser Radial and Yngling classes, while the 470s and 470s dinghies competed their schedule for the day. Ainslie, who has two gold and one silver Olympic sailing medals, is the undisputed favorite in the Finn class, but has faced an unexpectedly tough challenge from world No.

11 Railey. The 31-year-old Briton climbed back from seventh place after the first leg, to trail Croatia's Ivan Kljakovic-Gaspic the rest of the way to the Croat's first win in the games.

Ainsley finished 2 minutes, 6 seconds behind, with Sweden's Daniel Birgmark in third, 2:17 behind. "In those conditions anything could have happened, so I'm pretty relieved to have come away with a good result," Ainslie said.

American challenger Railey, 21, also gained after being down as far as 14th or 15th place in the 26-boat fleet. "I was really fortunate to get seventh in that race.

I was sixth of seventh at the first windward mark, and just had a disastrous downwind .

at the bottom mark I was 15 or something like that.

It all went wrong," said Railey. Railey, who tries to sail conservatively, did something that is usually not part of his strategy: Taking a chance.

"I just had to calm myself down on the second upwind, and went out to the right of the fleet and I got some (wind) pressure and was able to get back. .

I had to do something to get back into the race," he said. After seven of the series' 11 races, Ainslie leads with 19 points, six points ahead of Railey with 25, and 11 ahead of Guillaume Florent of France, who was fourth on Wednesday.

"Six points is really nothing," said Ainslie. "There are three more races, probably, and the medal race, which counts double.

So I have to keep trying hard." In the women's Laser Radial, Tunnicliffe stayed in the lead with 15 points after three races, with Croatia' Mateja Petronijevic second overall with 22 points after a fifth place, and Gintare Volungeviciute of Lithuania third with 24 points, after an eighth.

Britain's Penny Clark won Race Three, 10 seconds ahead of New Zealand's Jo Aleh, and 33 seconds ahead of Israel's Nufar Edelman in third. The Laser, Laser Radial and Finn starts were delayed by nearly four hours.

"We were prepared to sit around a lot here, it was just all part of the plan," said Tunnicliffe. "We tried to stay cool and then really focused in when the time came.

" The U.S. Yngling crew of Sally Barkow, Carrie Howe and Deborah Capozzi took their first win of the games, for third overall with 33 points. But they remained well behind leaders Sarah Ayton, Sarah Webb and Pippa Wilson of Britain, who have 17 points, and the Dutch crew of Mandy Mulder, Annemieke Bes and Merel Witteveen who have 22.

In other classes, Australia was leading the double-handed 470 dingies for men, ahead in overall points of France and Britain, while the Dutch women took over the lead in the women's 470s, ahead of Australia and Spain. Racing continues Thursday for the 49ers, RS:X windsurfers, Laser, Laser Radial, Finn and Yngling classes.

Hybrid Tibetan-Peking opera set for Olympics finale

2008-08-13T05:35:00.000-07:00

Hybrid Tibetan-Peking opera set for Olympics finale

The story of Princess Wencheng, daughter of Emperor Li Shimin of the prosperous Tang Dynasty (618-907 A.D.), will be dramatized in a mix of Tibetan and Peking operas later this month.

Liu Can, spokeswoman with the Meilanfang Grand Theater, said that 'Princess Wencheng' would be jointly staged by the National Peking Opera Theater and the Tibetan Opera Troupe from Aug. 21 to 23 as one of the key cultural performances during the Beijing Olympic Games.

The hybrid drama, which revolves around the princess involved in a political marriage between Tibetan and Han nationalities 1,300 years ago, combined the two opera styles' most notable aspects in music, song, costume and other aspects, reports Xinhua.

"Instruments like drums and cymbals of Tibetan opera will be merged into the orchestra of Peking opera. There will also be duet and harmonic vocals featuring both singing styles," Liu said.

"We will carry on the luxurious visual styles of both operas. Dragon robes and brocades from Peking opera will be presented along with the loose-bodied, luminous Tibetan clothes," Liu added.

Princess Wencheng, who got married to Tibetan King Songtsan Gambo when she was 16, travelled 3,000 kilometers to her new home along with dowry numerous treasures, books, golden furniture and medical equipment.

She lived in Tibet for about 40 years and was said to be widely respected for her love of the people.

After the royal marriage and various meetings, the Tibetans and Hans had formed close economic and cultural relations, laying the groundwork for the ultimate unified nation.

The Tibetan roles, including Songtsan Gambo, will be portrayed by professional Tibetan opera actors in its native language, with the Han ethnic roles by Peking opera peers in Mandarin.

Japan's Ueno wins Women's 70kg Judo Olympic gold

2008-08-13T05:30:00.001-07:00

Japan's Ueno wins Women's 70kg Judo Olympic gold

Ueno Masae of Japan beat Cuban Anaysi Hernandez by ippon to take the Women's 70kg Judo gold medal at the Beijing Olympic Games here on Wednesday. The bronze medal was shared by Ronda Rousey of the United States and Edith Bosch of the Netherlands.

Ueno Masae competes against Anaysi Hernandez.

Ueno Masae of Japan celebrates victory.

A Wrestling gold for France after 84 years

2008-08-13T05:22:00.000-07:00

A Wrestling gold for France after 84 years

Steeve Guénot became the new Olympic champion of the Men's Greco-Roman 66 kilogram Wrestling weight class after defeating Kanatbek Begaliev of Kyrgyzstan on August 13. He is also the first French Olympic Wrestling champion in 84 years.

The 22-year-old started the bout well, taking the first period 3-0. His opponent gained one point in the first par terre of the second period, but Guénot came back in the second par terre to take the period 3-1.

This is Guénot's best senior achievement by far. His older brother Christophe Guénot will compete in the 74kg weight class bronze bout.

The silver medalist, twenty-four-year-old Begaliev, placed 11th in Athens four years ago. He was also the silver medalist at the 2006 World Championships.

Steeve Guenot (blue) grapples with Kanatbek Begaliev.

Steeve Guenot celebrates.

L-R) Kanatbek Begaliev, Steeve Guenot and Armen Vardanyan

Kvirkvelia takes the first gold for Georgia

2008-08-13T05:17:00.000-07:00

Kvirkvelia takes the first gold for Georgia

Manuchar Kvirkvelia of Georgia won the Men's Greco-Roman 74 kilogram Wrestling final by defeating Chang Yongxiang of China on August 13.

Kvirkvelia won the first period 6-0 with a throw of grand amplitude, and went on to take the second period 3-0.

Kvirkvelia won Georgia's first gold medal at the Beijing Olympics. Though defeated, Chang still grabbed the first ever Men's Wrestling Olympic medal for China.

Manuchar Kvirkelia celebrates

(L-R) Chang Yongxiang, Manuchar Kvirkelia, Yavor Yanakiev and Christophe Guenot

China's Chen catches up to win gold in the Women's 25m Pistol

2008-08-13T05:14:00.001-07:00

China's Chen catches up to win gold in the Women's 25m Pistol

Despite being five points behind Mongolia's Gundegmaa Otryad after qualification, China's Chen Ying today won the gold medal in the Women's 25m Pistol, with her final score of 590 points equaling the Olympic record.

Chen's first round of five rapid shots in the final scored 52.5 points, which cut the deficit down to 3.6 after Otryad shot 51.1. Otryad's lead was further decreased to 1.6 after the second round of five shots when Chen scored 53.1 and Otryad scored two full points less.

Drama ensued when Otryad's pistol locked up after she scored a disappointing 9.0 on the 11th shot. Oblivious to Otryad's problems, Chen marched past the Mongolian shooter on the leader board with 52.5 points from the third round of five shots (including 10.8 and 10.7 on the last two shots), and never looked back. After fixing her pistol, Otryad scored only 49 in the third round of five shots, trailing behind Chen by 1.9 points.

Chen scored 50.3 on her last five shots, with her final score of 793.4 breaking the Olympic record. Otryad scored 51.0 and held onto second place with 792.2. Dorjsuren Munkhbayar of Germany, who won a bronze medal in the same event shooting for Mongolia at Barcelona 1992, finished third with 789.2.

Bulgarian Maria Grozdeva, two-time Olympic gold medalist in the event at Sydney 2000 and Athens 2004, came fifth with 786.6 following China's Fei Fengji who finished fourth with 787.9.

Liu Chunhong breaks all records

2008-08-13T05:07:00.000-07:00

Liu Chunhong breaks all records

Defending champion Liu Chunhong broke all the world records in the Women's 69 kilogram Weightlifting category on Wednesday, August 13, by lifting 128kg in the Snatch, 158kg in the Clean and Jerk and 286kg in total weight.

Liu Chunhong in the final

In the Snatch, 2007 World Championship bronze medalist Natalya Davydova of the Ukraine succeeded in all of her three attempts and lifted 115kg. Russia's Oxana Slivenko, the world record holder of the Snatch and the Clean and Jerk in this weight class, lifted the same amount but wasted her second attempt.

However, their efforts were futile in the presence of Liu, who lifted 120kg on her very first try. With two more chances to improve upon her first attempt, Liu asked for a world-record-breaking weight of 125kg and succeeded without any trouble. In front of an enthusiastic crowd, Liu went on to set another world record with 128kg in her last attempt.

By establishing a 13kg advantage, Liu had only the world records to beat for the rest of the final.

In the Clean and Jerk, Slivenko lifted 140kg, followed by Davydova's 135kg. Liu locked the gold with her successful first attempt on 145kg, but she didn't stop there and quickly lifted 149kg with her second attempt, breaking the world record for total weight. Her next successful attempt jumped a full 9kg to 158kg, which not only broke the world record for total weight again, but also set a new record in the Clean and Jerk.

After succeeding in six of six attempts, Liu's gold medal is China's sixth Weightlifting gold in this tournament. China has now won a gold medal in every Weightlifting weight class they have competed in at the Beijing Games.

Cancellara of Switzerland wins Men's Cycling Time Trial gold

2008-08-13T04:58:00.000-07:00

Cancellara of Switzerland wins Men's Cycling Time Trial gold

Switzerland's Fabian Cancellara timed 1:02:11.43 to win the Men's Cycling Time Trial gold medal at the Olympic Games on Wednesday.

Gustav Larsson of Sweden clinched silver with a time of 1:02:44.79 and the bronze went to American Levi Leipheimer in 1:03:21.11.

Fabian Cancellara at the finish line.

(M) Fabian Cancellara, (L) Gustav Larsson and (R) Levi Leipheimer

Fabian Cancellara celebrates.

Olympic hockey: Australia thrash S. Africa 10-0

2008-08-13T00:39:00.000-07:00

Olympic hockey: Australia thrash S. Africa 10-0

World number one Australia pulverised hapless South Africa 10-0 on Wednesday to continue their impressive march towards retaining the Olympic men's field hockey gold medal.

Eli Matheson slammed a hat-trick and Jamie Dwyer and David Guest scored two goals each as the Kookaburras recorded their second successive win in Pool B at the Olympic Green Hockey stadium.

Meanwhile, Asian Games champions South Korea were given a scare by Games debutantes China before romping to a 5-2 win in Pool A with Jang Jong-Hyun scoring three penalty corner goals.

China snatched a 2-0 lead by the eighth minute before the Koreans hit back to follow up their 3-1 win over the same rivals in the Asian Games final in Qatar two years ago.

Australia, who had routed Canada 6-1 in their first game, displayed their awesome strike power with five goals in each half as the 13th-ranked South Africans wilted under the onslaught.

Dwyer, whose golden goal against the Netherlands won Australia their maiden Olympic men's title in Athens four years ago, opened the floodgates with a second-minute goal.

Grant Schubert, Fergus Kavanagh and Des Abbott were the other scorers for Australia, who clash with Pakistan in their next game on Friday.

South Africa, who finished tenth in Athens, next play Britain on Friday. The Koreans were stunned by the two early Chinese goals from Na Yubo in the sixth minute and Song Yi in the eighth, but drew level by half-time through Seo Jong-Ho and Jang.

Jang slammed in two more penalty corners soon after resumption before Kang Seong-Jung completed the tally for the Koreans.

Cancer-stricken swimmer Shanteau fails to advance

2008-08-13T00:33:00.000-07:00

Cancer-stricken swimmer Shanteau fails to advance

Eric Shanteau's Olympic swimming competition is over. Now, he's ready for a much bigger fight.

Cancer. The American swam a personal-best time in Wednesday's semifinals of the 200-meter breaststroke his only event in Beijing but it wasn't fast enough to advance to Thursday's final.

Shanteau touched in 2 minutes, 10.10 seconds, placing him 10th. He was 0.13 seconds out of the eighth and last qualifying spot for the four-lap race.

"It's my best time, so I'm happy about that, but obviously it's frustrating that I'm not going to be in the final," he said. "I'm not going to let it weigh me down too much because I've got a much bigger battle to take care of in about two weeks.

" That's when the 24-year-old swimmer will return to Atlanta for surgery on the testicular cancer he was diagnosed with a few weeks before last month's U.S. trials. Defying conventional medical opinions, Shanteau decided to put off surgery to compete in the Olympics, but only after being checked repeatedly to make sure the cancer wasn't spreading and threatening his chances of a full recovery.

"It was absolutely worth it," he said. "I am so happy I came here and did this.

It's been an amazing experience, it's everything I hoped it would be. Now I've got to take care of my life.

" Since going public with his diagnosis, Shanteau has heard from cancer survivors around the world who are rooting him on. The disease had already hit home for Shanteau, whose father Rick is battling stage 4 lung cancer.

The elder Shanteau's cancer has slowed, although he has been put back on chemotherapy after stopping for a few months. "Eric has a better understanding of what I have been through in the last year," Rick Shanteau said in an e-mail.

The father and his youngest son bonded further when Eric called home with his own devastating news. "I need to talk to you about a health issue," Eric told his father before pausing for several seconds.

He then told his dad the diagnosis. "Are you sure?" Rick Shanteau said.

His son confirmed the news, explaining that he had already spoken to several experts. "I told him you can look at it one of two ways," Rick said.

"You have cancer or cancer has you." Clearly, Shanteau took a proactive approach, choosing to pursue his longtime goal of competing in the Olympics.

At the 2004 trials, he finished third in both the 200 freestyle and 400 individual medley. Only the top two make the team.

"He's always had a focus," his father said. "He didn't want a repeat of that.

" Shanteau plans to spend another few days at the games, then return to his training base in Austin, Texas, before heading home to "get this crap out of me." "Now I've got a much bigger battle and I know I'm going to win that one," he said.

Shanteau will apply the laser-like focus he's had on swimming the last four years to his upcoming surgery and recovery. "That thing stands no chance," he said.

"It's going to get out of me, I'm going to beat it. I'm going to attack it the same way I did swimming.

Phelps wins Olympic Men's 200m Butterfly gold in world record time

2008-08-13T00:24:00.000-07:00

Phelps wins Olympic Men's 200m Butterfly gold in world record time

Michael Phelps won his tenth Olympic gold medal, setting a world record for the most number of Olympic golds won by a single athlete when he stormed to victory in the Men's 200m Butterfly final on Wednesday. In the process, he also set a new world record for the event at 1:52.03.

Hungary's Laszlo Cesh took silver in 1:52.70, and the bronze went to Japanese Takeshi Matsuda in 1:52.97.

Michael Phelps swims during the final.

Michael Phelps swims during the final.

Michael Phelps reacts after his win.

Cycling - High-tech Armstrong wins time trial

2008-08-13T00:18:00.001-07:00

Cycling - High-tech Armstrong wins time trial

Armstrong holds up the gold medal.

Kristin Armstrong of the United States carved the winning difference on a long downhill section to claim the gold medal in the Women's Individual Time Trial on Wednesday.

Emma Pooley of Great Britain set an early fast time, but was knocked down to the silver medal by Armstrong's powerful performance in the second half of the one-lap, 23.5km course up and down a steep climb along the Badaling section of the Great Wall.

Karin Thurig of Switzerland took bronze less than two seconds ahead of cycling legend Jeannie Longo-Ciprelli of France.

Armstrong was four seconds slower than Pooley at the top of the main climbing section, but the 2006 world Time Trial champion powered over the second half of the course to win in 34:51.72 (40.445kph).

Armstrong competes.

The gold is Armstrong's first in Olympic competition and the first by the USA Cycling team in the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.

Pooley, who had never previously won a medal in international competition and only began racing in 2005, was almost the surprise winner in 35:16.01. The trained engineer calculated it well enough to settle for silver at 24.29 seconds slower.

Thurig scored a second consecutive Olympic bronze medal by also riding well in the second half of the course to finish with 35:50.99 at 59.27 seconds off the winning time. The two-time world Time Trial champion also won bronze in the Time Trial in the 2004 Athens Olympic Games.

Longo-Ciprelli, 49, narrowly missed a career fifth Olympic medal by stopping the clock in fourth place in 35:52.62, nearly one second off the podium. The French veteran is racing in her seventh consecutive Olympic Games.

Cooler weather, light winds and cloudy skies welcomed 25 starters who raced one at a time in a race against the clock, but there was none of the heavy rainfall that drenched the Women's Cycling Road Race on Sunday.

Armstrong (C), Pooley (L) and Thurig

Women's 200m Individual Medley: Rice crowned best all-rounder

2008-08-13T00:05:00.000-07:00

Women's 200m Individual Medley: Rice crowned best all-rounder

Stephanie Rice of Australia underlined her dominance in the Medley events when she broke her own world record to win the Olympic Women's 200m Individual Medley gold medal in a new mark of 2:08.45.

Zimbabwe's Kirsty Coventry took silver and American Natalie Coughlin the bronze.

Stephanie Rice competes.

Rice was challenged early as Coughlin led out after the backstroke leg. Then it was Coventry's turn to lead the race after the backstroke and breaststroke legs, dipping under the world record split by 0.97 seconds.

Rice moved on Coventry in the freestyle leg and eased her way past in the last 30m to touch the wall first, 0.47 seconds under the world record she set in Sydney in March.

(L-R) Kirsty Coventry, Stephanie Rice and Natalie Coughlin

Rice went into the final as the second fastest qualifier and she has now firmly established herself as the woman to catch in the Individual Medley having won the 400m version on Sunday.

As the fastest qualifier from the heats, Coventry swam a gallant race and great middle 100m to win the silver medal in 2:08.59.

Coughlin dropped off after a great first backstroke leg but was good enough to keep teammate Katie Hoff (USA) at bay and win the bronze medal in 2:10.34.

Hoff was fourth in 2:10.68.

United States wins Men's 4 x 200m Freestyle Relay gold with world record

2008-08-12T23:23:00.001-07:00

United States wins Men's 4 x 200m Freestyle Relay gold with world record

The United States won the Men's 4 x 200m Freestyle Relay with a new world record at the Beijing Olympic Games on Wednesday.

The American quartet clocked a stunning world record of 6:58.56 to beat the previous mark of 7:03.24.

Russia won the silver and Australia finished third.

Michael Phelps shouts encouragement to his teammates.

(L-R) Ricky Berens, Ryan Lochte and Michael Phelps shout encouragement to Peter Vanderkaay.

(L-R) Ricky Berens, Peter Vanderkaay, Ryan Lochte and Michael Phelps celebrate finishing first

(L-R) Michael Phelps, Ryan Lochte, Ricky Berens and Peter Vanderkaay.

China makes history by winning its first Team gold in Women's Gymnastics

2008-08-12T23:16:00.000-07:00

China makes history by winning its first Team gold in Women's Gymnastics

China team gains the highest place on the podium.

China made history today by winning its first Olympic gold medal in the Team event of Women's Gymnastics. China won the gold medal with a total of 188.900 points.

The United States won the silver medal with a total of 186.525 points and Romania won the bronze with a total of 181.525 points.

China entered the Team final as favorites, but it was pushed all the way by a determined United States. The two sides' first rotation was the Vault, with the United States taking a slender lead.

The second rotation for China and the United States was the Uneven Bars, which is regarded as China's specialty. China did not disappoint, gaining the lead with a dominant display on the apparatus.

He Kexin and Yang Yilin were outstanding in the Uneven Bars, scoring 16.850 and 16.800 respectively. Despite the best efforts of the United States' Nastia Liukin, who scored 16.900, the United States could not overcome China's dominance of the apparatus.

The United States gained slightly more points than China in the Balance Beam, a rotation that was marked by the mistakes of the United States' Alicia Sacramone and China's Cheng Fei. Sacramone was clearly affected by her mistake and also performed poorly in the next rotation, the Floor Exercise.

US team on the podium.

The United States could not afford to make any mistakes against a disciplined Chinese side. China's Li Shanshan improved her country's chances of winning the gold medal by scoring 16.050 in the Balance Beam. This was an individual score that even the elegant Liukin could not match.

China's most experienced campaigner Cheng Fei sealed the victory with a solid performance in the Floor exercise.

Romania surprised Russia by winning the bronze medal. Romania performed well in the Floor Exercise, with only China receiving a higher score. Russia scored poorly in the Balance Beam and finished with a total score of 180.625.

The fifth to eighth places in the Team final were taken by Japan, Australia, France and Brazil.

Women's Volleyball Day 3 Preview: Two giants finally meet

2008-08-12T09:57:00.002-07:00

Women's Volleyball Day 3 Preview: Two giants finally meet

The Cuban women won three consecutive Olympic gold medals (Barcelona 1992, Atlanta 1996 and Sydney 2000), and even collected a bronze medal at Athens 2004, but China will make every effort to hold on to their Olympic title when the two traditionally strong teams meet on day three of the Women's Volleyball tournament at the Beijing Institute of Technology Gymnasium on August 13.

The two teams have four points apiece at present, but China leads pool A with a 1.365 ratio.

World No. 2 Italy, who finished third at this year's FIVB World Grand Prix and qualified for the Olympics by claiming gold at the 2007 World Cup, will be battling Algeria in pool B at 10:00 a.m. (UTC/GMT +8) in the first match of the day.

Venezuela and Poland will compete with the United States and Japan, respectively. The US team, who ranks No. 4 in the world and finished fourth at the 2008 FIVB World Grand Prix, now sits in fourth place in pool A with three points. Japan sits in third place with three points and Venezuela sits last with two points.

Japan and Venezuela lost their respective first matches, but since Japan took a straight-sets victory over Venezuela, Venezuela might have some difficulty making the quarterfinals.

In pool B, traditional powerhouse Russia will meet Kazakhstan, and World No. 1 Brazil will meet Serbia, who finished second in the 2007 European Championships. Brazil leads pool B with four points, and Serbia follows just behind. Coming off a seventh FIVB World Grand Prix title, Brazil is in prime position to claim their first Olympic gold.

Flawless Nadal leaves Hewitt reeling

2008-08-12T09:49:00.001-07:00

Flawless Nadal leaves Hewitt reeling

Rafael Nadal crushed former world number one Lleyton Hewitt 6-1 6-2 at the Olympic Tennis Centre on Tuesday before Roger Federer gave El Salvador's Rafael Arevalo a tennis lesson he will never forget.

Dogged Australian Hewitt tried everything he knew to contain Spanish powerhouse Nadal but he proved no match for the 22-year-old who is looking to add Olympic gold to the French Open and Wimbledon crowns he has won this year.

While Nadal faced a familiar foe, Federer had probably never heard of Arevalo who arrived on Centre Court with a ranking of 447. The Swiss duly won 6-2 6-4 but Arevalo played a full part in an entertaining tussle played in a crackling atmosphere.

Chilean Nicolas Massu's hopes of emulating his incredible run to the singles title in Athens four years died at the hands of Argentine David Nalbandian, who won 7-6 6-1.

Nikolay Davydenko became the highest-ranked men's casualty so far when he fell to 7-5 6-3 to Paul-Henri Mathieu, one of three Frenchman into the third round.

Novak Djokovic of Serbia made no mistake when he saw off Germany's Rainer Schuettler 6-4 6-2.

American sisters Serena and Venus Williams rolled on towards a likely gold medal showdown with easy second-round wins in the women's singles.

Serena needed just 44 minutes to blow away Australian Samantha Stosur 6-2 6-0 and shortly afterwards on Centre Court Venus beat Czech Iveta Benesova 6-1 6-4.

Nadal had never beaten Hewitt on hardcourts and trailed the Australian 4-3 in career meetings.

Statistics counted for nothing, however, as Nadal sent Hewitt scuttling to all corners of the court a display of spin, power and deadly precision.

"I felt like he played flawless tennis out there tonight," Hewitt told reporters before contemplating another clash with the Spaniard in doubles on Wednesday.

China's Zheng Jie and Li Na raised the decibel levels when partisan crowds roared them into the third round. Zheng outlasted Spain's Nuria Llagostera Vives 6-7 6-1 6-4 before Li beat Japan's Ayumi Morita 6-2 7-5.

After Russian third favourite Svetlana Kuznetsova's demise on Monday, two more women's seeds fell. Slovak Daniela Hantuchova, seeded 10, was beaten by Denmark's Caroline Wozniacki 6-1 6-3 and Polish hope Agnieszka Radwanska lost to Italian Francesca Schiavone 6-3 7-6.

New world number one Jelena Jankovic showed no signs of a calf strain when she opened the evening session with a a 7-5 6-1 defeat of Ukraine's Alona Bondarenko.

Equestrian Day 5 Preview: Dutch rider aims for third consecutive Olympic gold

2008-08-12T09:44:00.000-07:00

Equestrian Day 5 Preview: Dutch rider aims for third consecutive Olympic gold

A record-high 22 countries will be participating in Dressage on August 13 in Hong Kong after the completion of the Eventing competitions on August 12. Anky van Grunsven from the Netherlands is favored to earn her third straight Olympic gold, though she'll face a tough challenge from six-time German Dressage Champion Isabell Werth.

Grunsven is a Dutch Dressage champion who earned her first Olympic medal in Barcelona in 1992, when she won silver in Team Dressage. In 1996 she took silver in the Individual event and in 2000 she ascended to the top of the podium, a spot she successfully defended in 2004. The Dutch rider has been named World Cup Dressage champion eight times and in Beijing will again be atop Salinero, the Hanoverian on whom Grunsven won gold in Athens.

Grunsven's biggest rival is Isabell Werth of Germany. Werth won Individual gold in Atlanta in 1996 after helping Germany win Team gold in Barcelona and dominated the German Dressage scene in the 1990s with six national titles. Werth relinquished the top Olympic spot to Grunsven in Sydney but has remained at the highest level in the sport throughout the last eight years. In 2007 she took first place in Individual Dressage at the FEI World Cup and the Grand Prix Special at the European Championships.

Grunsven and Werth will be accompanied by strong riders from their respective companies, giving them a legitimate chance at a gold medal sweep in both Individual and Team Dressage. Imke Schellekens-Bartels of the Netherlands is ranked No. 5 in the world; Hans Peter Minderhoud rounds out the team.

Nadine Capellmann was a member of the German team that took Team gold in Sydney and is essential to Germany's effort to claim Team gold again. Capellmann was the gold medal winner at the 2002 Dressage World Championship.

Though expectations will be high for the German and Dutch riders, expect enthusiastic support for Hoketsu Hiroshi, the 67-year-old rider from Japan who will be making his Olympic comeback 44 years after his first participation in Tokyo in 1964. Previously a competitor in Jumping, Hoketsu, a retired pharmaceutical company director, now trains and competes in Dressage. The Japanese rider won five national championships between 1988 and 1992 and qualified for the Olympics in Seoul before having to drop out when his horse failed the quarantine exam. A source of inspiration for retirees (and anyone who is young at heart), Hoketsu will have to look to London and beyond if he wants to pass the record for oldest Olympian -- Oscar Swahn competed in the 1920 Olympics in Belgium at the age of 72.

Phelps wins again to join elite Olympic group

2008-08-12T09:39:00.000-07:00

Phelps wins again to join elite Olympic group

Michael Phelps carved his name among the Olympic greats on Tuesday, smashing another world record in the pool to join Mark Spitz and Carl Lewis in an elite group on a record nine career golds.

An imperious victory in the 200 metres freestyle also gave the 23-year-old American his third gold in Beijing as he seeks to overtake Spitz's other record, seven golds at a single Games.

"The ball's rolling," he said in his usual laid-back style, after chopping almost a full second off his own world record. "We just need to keep that ball rolling."

Togo won their first Olympic medal, in kayaking, and North Korea won a rare gold, but the record books will remember Phelps on Tuesday for another powerful performance at the Water Cube.

Phelps could overtake compatriots Lewis and Spitz, "Flying Finn" runner Paavo Nurmi and Soviet gymnast Larysa Latynina, all on nine golds, when he swims two more finals on Wednesday.

"To be tied for the most Olympic golds of all time, with those names ... is a pretty amazing accomplishment," he said.

Phelps led an American fightback against Chinese dominance of the medal table on day four, the U.S. team winning three out of four golds on offer in the pool.

They picked up another when a Texan hunter, Walton Eller, beat an Italian policeman in the men's double trap shooting.

China struck back with gold in the men's team gymnastics, an elegant victory in the women's 10m synchronised platform diving, its first fencing gold in over two decades and another weightlifting title. Near the end of day four, China led the Americans 13 golds to seven.

The hosts have spared no expense in staging the Games and preparing their athletes. Nothing would be sweeter than toppling the Americans off the top of the final medals table, after coming second in Athens.

They have dominated the weightlifting, won all three diving golds so far and picked up victories in shooting and judo.

The gymnastics victory was among the sweetest.

Gold medallists in Sydney, the Chinese failed to win a medal in Athens. This time they stormed to victory in front of an ecstatic crowd, led by double world all-round champion Yang Wei.

Little has been left to chance by organisers desperate to make a good impression, with cheerleaders filling vacant seats.

Organisers also admitted some of the opening ceremony fireworks were pre-recorded to enhance the televised event.

Authorities may be nervous after the father-in-law of the American volleyball coach was killed in Beijing on Saturday, and security has been tightened. An armoured personnel carrier now guards the press centre and armed soldiers man barricades.

There have also been three attacks by suspected Muslim separatists in the country's far northwest in the last week, the latest on Tuesday when three security guards were stabbed.

TOGOLESE SAYS TIME TO VISIT

Back in the sporting arena, Germany won gold in team three-day eventing, compensation for disqualification in 2004.

There were celebrations for North Korea, the reclusive communist state winning its first gold since 1996 in the women's 63 kg weightlifting.

"This gold medal is the best present for the president and for the people of the country," Pak Hyon-Suk said, saying she was delighted to win for "our dear homeland".

There was no hint of politics, though, when South Korea's Jin Jong-oh beat the North's Kim Jong-su in the men's 50m air pistol. "We two are very close and happy we both got medals," said Jin.

There was unlikely glory for Togo with its first ever Olympic medal, bronze in kayaking for Benjamin Boukpeti.

Born to a Togolese father, Boukpeti chose to compete for the West African nation when it became clear he was too old for France. He has only been there once, as a baby, but said he now had "a very good reason to go".

Inside the polygonal bubble-wrap of the Water Cube, Phelps' win was one of three for American swimmers in 20 minutes.

World champion Natalie Coughlin "cried like a baby" on the podium after forcing Zimbabwean Kirsty Coventry to settle for silver in the women's 100 backstroke, her relief all the greater after Coventry had set a world record in the semi-final.

American Aaron Peirsol smashed his own world record to maintain his dominance of the men's event, but it was the turn of an Australian in the women's 100 breaststroke.

World champion Leisel Jones ended eight years of gut-wrenching defeats by winning her first individual gold.

"It has been a long journey, a long eight years," she said. "I've gone from a naive 14-year-old to an under-pressure 18-year-old in Athens and now, a relieved 22-year-old."

American swimming success has helped draw huge audiences for the Olympics back home, where broadcaster NBC recorded the best ratings for any Games held outside the United States since 1976.

Chen Ruolin and Wang Xin made it three out of three victories for China in diving, winning the women's synchronised 10m platform. The youthful Chen, just 15, and Wang, who turned 16 on Monday, dived with adult composure to dominate the contest.

China's money market traders are now betting the host country will win 40 to 42 golds in the Games, up from 32 in 2004.

China's Liao Hui wins Olympic Men's 69kg Weightlifting gold

2008-08-12T09:33:00.001-07:00

China's Liao Hui wins Olympic Men's 69kg Weightlifting gold

The Men's 69kg Weightlifting event was held at the Beijing University of Aeronautics & Astronautics Gymnasium on day four of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games on August 12, 2008, in Beijing, China. China's Liao Hui won the Olympic gold medal.

Liao Hui of China takes a snatch lift

Liao Hui celebrates his gold medal.

Germany wins Eventing Team Jumping gold

2008-08-12T09:27:00.001-07:00

Germany wins Eventing Team Jumping gold

Germany won the Eventing Team Jumping gold medal at the Olympic Games on Tuesday.

Australia took silver and Britain got bronze.

Hinrich Romeike and Marius jump.

Andreas Dibowski and Butts Leon jump.

Peter Thomsen and his horse the Ghost of Hamish jump

German Bischof wins Men's 81kg Judo Olympic gold

2008-08-12T09:20:00.000-07:00

German Bischof wins Men's 81kg Judo Olympic gold

The Men's 81kg Judo bout was held at the Beijing Science and Technology University Gymnasium on day four of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games on August 12, 2008, in Beijing, China. German Ole Bischof beat Kim Jae-bum of Republic of Korea to take the gold medal.

Ole Bischof competes against Kim Jae-bum.

Ole Bischof celebrates winning the gold medal.

Olympic marathon champ Noguchi pulls out injured

2008-08-12T09:05:00.000-07:00

Olympic marathon champ Noguchi pulls out injured

Defending Olympic champion Mizuki Noguchi pulled out of Sunday's marathon because of injuries to her left thigh and groin. Japanese coach Susumu Takano said Noguchi informed the federation on Tuesday that she was withdrawing.

Noguchi, the 2003 world championship silver medalist, had hoped to become the first woman to repeat as Olympic marathon champion. "It is a great shame," said Lamine Diack, president of the International Assocation of Athletics Federations.

She had been bothered by the injury for some time and underwent a series of tests in Japan after returning from her training in St. Moritz, Switzerland.

Noguchi, who turned 30 last month, pulled out of last year's world championships because she doesn't like running in the heat. "A fit athlete is so close to being an injured athlete.

A tiny thing, and they are not fit at all," Diack said. However, she survived sweltering conditions to win the event at the 2004 Athens Olympics, beating favored Catherine Ndereba of Kenya by 12 seconds.

She won the Tokyo Marathon last November. Paula Radcliffe, the world record holder from Britain, was a major disappointment in that race, collapsing because of dehydration after leading much of it.

The 34-year-old Radcliffe told the BBC on Tuesday that she would race in the marathon in Beijing. She too has been bothered by a thigh injury.

"Of course, I could do with a bit more time, but I'll just go in and give it a go," Radcliffe said. Noguchi has been plagued by injuries since her Olympic triumph.

Her lone race in three years came last November when she won the Tokyo Marathon. Two months ago, she spoke confidently of her prospects and talked about wearing ultra-light shoes partly made of rice husks.

"The shoes are easy to run in," Noguchi said at the time. "The Beijing course is hard on the feet and legs.

It's flat and the surface of the roads is very hard." She also spoke of trying to become the first repeat winner in the women's marathon, which was added to the Olympic program in 1984.

"I don't really feel pressure," she said. "To the contrary, it makes me happy that I'm getting this much attention.

" In April, Noguchi had carried the Olympic torch through Nagano, site of the 1998 Winter Games, protected by riot police from anti-China protests. "As I ran, I wished for the success of the Beijing Olympics and peace," Noguchi said.

China proves itself as Fencing power

2008-08-12T06:46:00.000-07:00

China proves itself as Fencing power

Zhong (R) and Lopez competing in the Men's Individual Sabre gold medal match

China's Zhong Man claimed the gold medal in a 15-9 two-round bout in the final of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games Men's Individual Sabre on August 12 at the Fencing Hall. Nicholas Lopez of France took home the silver.
In so doing, Zhong became the first Chinese fencer in Olympic history to win this event.

"I feel as though I'm dreaming and now I'm more confident about the Team event. I want to dedicate this gold medal to my coach, Christian Bauer ," lauded Zhong.

Mihai Covaliu won the bronze medal final with a score of 15-11 against fourth place finisher Julien Pillet of France in a bout that only lasted two rounds.

"I did everything I could but Covaliu is a little bit stronger than I am and I was just really tired," Pillet said after losing his bout.

Some big names in the event were knocked out early in the day, with Athens 2004 silver medalist Zsolt Nemcsik of Hungary and Russian Stanislav Pozdnyakov failing to reach the quarterfinals.

American Coughlin wins Women's 100m Backstroke gold

2008-08-12T06:43:00.001-07:00

American Coughlin wins Women's 100m Backstroke gold

The Women's 100m Backstroke final was held at the National Aquatics Center on day four of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games on August 12, 2008 in Beijing, China. Natalie Coughlin of the United States took gold in the event with a time of 58.96, beating world record holder Kirsty Coventry of Zimbabwe (59.19) and compatriot Margaret Hoelzer (59.34), who came in second and third place.

Natalie Coughlin of the United States competes.

(L-R) Kirsty Coventry, Natalie Coughlin and Margaret Hoelzer

Phelps wins gold in Men's 200m Freestyle with new world record time

2008-08-12T06:35:00.000-07:00

Phelps wins gold in Men's 200m Freestyle with new world record time

The Men's 200m Freestyle final was held at the National Aquatics Center on day four of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games on August 12, 2008 in Beijing, China. Michael Phelps of the United States finished the race in first place in a time of 1:42.96 to win the gold medal, setting a new world record in the process. Park Tae-hwan of Republic of Korea won the silver medal. The bronze medal went to American Peter Vanderkaay.

Michael Phelps competes.

(L-R) Park Taehwan, Michael Phelps and Peter Vanderkaay

Michael Phelps waves to the spectators.

North Korea wins 1st weightlifting gold

2008-08-12T06:31:00.000-07:00

North Korea wins 1st weightlifting gold

Pak Hyon Suk won North Korea's first gold medal in Beijing on Tuesday, taking the women's 63-kilogram weightlifting division on the last lift of the competition that equaled the Olympic record. It was North Korea's first women's weightlifting gold since Olympic competition began for women in 2000.

Pak risked being eliminated after dropping two clean and jerks at 135 kg (297.6 pounds), but nailed her final attempt to clinch the gold. Barely cracking a smile, the 23-year-old Pak seemed more relieved than happy after winning North Korth Korea's first gold in a competition where her countrymen had not lived up to expectations in other categories.

"I am overjoyed by the fact that I have brought joy to our dear general," a stone-faced Pak said through a translator, referring to North Korea's leader Kim Jong-il. Pak had lifted 106 kg in the snatch and finished with a total of 241 kg (531.3 pounds), just 1 kg (2.2 pounds) ahead of silver medalist Irina Nekrassova of Kazakhstan.

Lu Ying-chi of Taiwan took the bronze with 231 kg (509.3 pounds). World champion and world record-holder Liu Haixia of China was not competing because the Olympic host chose to prioritize other weight categories.

Teams can compete with a maximum of four women in Olympic weightlifting. Svetlana Tsarukaeva of Russia was the favorite to win the event, but crashed out with three failed attempts to lift 107 kg (235.9 pounds) in the snatch.

Visibly shaken, she accidentally bumped her head into the wall as she left the platform in tears. That left Nekrassova in the lead after clearing 110 kg (242.5 pounds) in the snatch and Pak under pressure to catch up in the clean and jerk.

The North Korean boldly started the clean and jerk at the Olympic-record level of 135 kg (297.6 pounds), but the gamble almost resulted in her elimination. She failed her first two attempts, struggling to lock her arms with the bar overhead.

Weightlifters need to have at least one good attempt in both the snatch and the clean and jerk to get a total score. Pak coped with the pressure in her final attempt, wobbling slightly but firming up to lock her arms as the judges approved the lift.

"I failed the first and second attempt. However, when I was about to do my third attempt, I kept in my head the thought that my dear general's eyes will be upon me," Pak said.

"And that thought by itself was great encouragement, and that's how I managed to lift the last weight." Nekrassova was stunned by Pak's final lift and was still wiping away tears 20 minutes after the competition.

Asked if she had expected to win the gold, she said: "Absolutely." Pak's triumph broke North Korea's bad spell in the weightlifting competition.

O Jong Ae won the bronze in the women's 53-kg division on Monday but said she had underperformed and apologized for letting down the people of her nation. A day earlier, world champion Cha Kum Kol of North Korea managed only fifth place in the men's 56-kilogram category.

His teammate Ri Kyong Sok was eliminated after three failed attempts in the snatch.

Lanky Texan wins gold and breaks Olympic records in the Men's Double Trap

2008-08-12T06:28:00.001-07:00

Lanky Texan wins gold and breaks Olympic records in the Men's Double Trap

Eller celebrates his victory.

US shooter Walton Eller's first Olympic medal is golden.

"It felt awesome. I've been working at this for God knows how long now. The last two times I finished 17th and 12th, so I'm glad I finally made a final," said the 26-year-old Texan.

All his hard work could be witnessed in the qualification rounds, when he hit 145 targets out of a maximum 150, a new Olympic qualification record. Italian Francesco D Aniello finished the qualification rounds in second place, four points less than Eller. The other four shooters who qualified for the final were US shooter Jeffrey Holguin (140), China's Hu Binyuan (138), Sydney 2000 gold medal winner Richard Faulds of Great Britain (137) and Atlanta 1996 gold medal winner Russell Mark of Australia (136).

The final round saw Eller miss five targets, equal to the amount of targets he missed in the three qualification rounds. After Eller missed the first two targets, his opponents had some hope of victory, but the lanky American recovered and hit a total of 45 targets in the final, a good enough score to set a new Olympic record for the final score. Eller's 190 overtook the 189 targets hit by Ahmed Almaktoum of the United Arab Emirates at Athens 2004.

D Aniello and Hu both hit 46 targets in the final, earning the silver and bronze medals respectively with finals scores of 187 and 184.

Holguin (182), Mark (181) and Faulds (180) finished in the last three places. Mark's path to the final was tumultuous as he needed to win a shoot-off against three other shooters. All four shooters had hit 136 targets in the qualification rounds.

Mark needed to hit six targets in the shoot-off, eventually beating Athens 2004 gold medalist Almaktoum.

Russian Albiev wins Men's Greco-Roman 60kg Wrestling gold

2008-08-12T06:23:00.000-07:00

Russian Albiev wins Men's Greco-Roman 60kg Wrestling gold

Russian Islam-Beka Albiev won the Men's Greco-Roman 60kg Wrestling gold at the Beijing Olympics on Tuesday, beating Vitaliy Rahimov from Azerbaijan in the final.

The bronze medals went to Ruslan Tiumenbaev from Kyrgyzstan and Nurbakyt Tengizbayev from Kazakhstan.

Islam-Beka Albiev competes against Vitaliy Rahimov.

(L-R) Vitaliy Rahimov, Islam-Beka Albiev, Ruslan Tiumenbaev and Nurbakyt Tengizbayev

Russian Mankiev wins Men's Greco-Roman Wrestling 55kg gold

2008-08-12T06:17:00.000-07:00

Russian Mankiev wins Men's Greco-Roman Wrestling 55kg gold

The Men's Greco-Roman Wrestling 55kg final on day four of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games was held at the China Agriculture University Gymnasium on August 12, 2008 in Beijing, China. Russian Nazyr Mankiev beat Rovshan Bayramov of Azerbaijan to take the gold medal.

Nazyr Mankiev (blue) competes with Rovshan Bayramov.

(L-R) Rovshan Bayramov, Nazyr Mankiev, Roman Amoyan and Park Eun-chul

German Grimm wins Kayak K1 Men's gold

2008-08-12T06:13:00.000-07:00

German Grimm wins Kayak K1 Men's gold

Germany's Alexander Grimm won the Olympic Kayak K1 Men's gold medal in 171.70 here on Tuesday. France's Fabien Lefevre took silver in 173.30 and Togo's Benjamin Boukpeti got bronze in 176.91.

Alexander Grimm competes.

(L-R) Fabien Lefevre, Alexander Grimm and Benjamin Boukpeti

Japan's Tanimoto wins Women's 63kg Judo Olympic gold

2008-08-12T06:08:00.000-07:00

Japan's Tanimoto wins Women's 63kg Judo Olympic gold

The Women's 63kg Judo bout was held at the Beijing Science and Technology University Gymnasium on day four of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games on August 12, 2008, in Beijing, China. Tanimoto Ayumi of Japan won over Frenchwoman Lucie Decosse by ippon to take the gold medal. The bronze medal was shared by Elisabeth Willeboordse of the Netherlands and Im Won-ok of DPRK.

Tanimoto Ayumi throws Lucie Decosse.

(L-R) Lucie Decosse, Ayumi Tanimoto, Elisabeth Willeboordse and Im Won Ok

Chinese Wang Xin/Chen Ruolin win Women's Synchronized Platform gold

2008-08-12T06:03:00.000-07:00

Chinese Wang Xin/Chen Ruolin win Women's Synchronized Platform gold

The Women's Synchronised 10m Platform final was held at the National Aquatics Center on day four of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games on August 12, 2008 in Beijing, China. Chinese Chen Ruolin and Wang Xin won the gold medal in the event with 363.54 points. Australia's Briony Cole/Melissa Wu claimed the silver with 335.16 points and Mexico's Paola Espinosa and Tatiana Ortiz got the bronze with 330.06 points.

Wang Xin and Chen Ruolin compete.

(L-R) Melissa Wu and Briony Cole, Wang Xin and Chen Ruolin and Tatiana Ortiz and Paola Espinosa

Black marketers make a killing in Beijing

2008-08-12T05:58:00.000-07:00

Black marketers make a killing in Beijing

Despite boasts that all 6.8 million tickets have been sold for the Beijing Olympics, organisers have been forced to acknowledge thousands of empty seats with games volunteers being used to fill the void.

Meanwhile, ticket scalpers hover outside venues offering black-market tickets at prices that exceed the monthly income of many Beijingers.

Wang Wei, executive vice president of the Olympic organising committee, estimated today that most venues were 70 per cent to 80 per cent full. However, the numbers seem to vary widely. Popular sports like basketball are well attended, but judo sessions -- particularly preliminary rounds - are nearly empty.

Venues outside Beijing hosting football have been half full despite matches by Brazil's men, Germany's World Cup champion women and host China.

The empty seats shown on television are embarrassing to organisers, who have been calling the games -- among other things -- "the people's Olympics" and touting the widespread enthusiasm for an event that's supposed to showcase sparkling venues and China's rising economic and political power.

"We are concerned about these not-full stadiums," Wang said. "I think it is due to the weather conditions, the hot, humid weather and rain. ... I think from today there will be more spectators in the stadiums. The tickets are sold out, that's correct."

Wang said people may be using their tickets, but staying for only one session. In many events, a single ticket includes several sessions or games.

Wang acknowledged some rows of empty seats are being filled by volunteers -- 70,000 are being used for the Olympics -- who can be sent in to make attendance look better. Some unused tickets may have been given away by sponsors. And preliminary-round events may not attract many Chinese, particularly if China isn't involved.

Scalpers also appear to have purchased large blocks of tickets and can be seen openly hawking them outside venues for 20-30 times their face value.

Scenes at the west entrance of the 91,000-seat National Stadium -- known as the Bird's Nest -- were typical on Tuesday. An Associated Press reporter watched as one scalper sold a 50 yuan ticket to fencing for 1,000 yuan (USD 145). Another scalper sold tickets to the swimming final for 2,500 yuan (USD 365) per ticket. A few steps away, tennis tickets were being offered for 2,000 yuan (USD 295).

In this case, one potential customer refused. "What do you know about tennis," the scalper replied. "In Shanghai tennis tickets would sell for 20,000." Ticket scalping is illegal in China, but three policemen in the area ignored the dozens of scalpers moving among hundreds of potential customers.

Police did stop Zhao Chun, who said he was a student from Beijing, from holding up a sign that read: "I need a ticket for track and field. I've been doing this for three days," Zhao said. "Many scalpers came to me but I couldn't afford the price. ... For that price I'd rather stay at home and watch TV." Feng Chaogang faced similar frustration trying to get tickets for Monday's women's basketball showdown between the United States and China.

"From the TV broadcasts we can see lots of seats are empty," Feng said. He said he turned down chances to buy tickets being offered in the range of 2,000-3,000 yuan (USD 295-440). We can't afford that and people like us who really want to see the games can't get in."

Police officials have told Chinese media that ticket scalpers can be detained for 10 to 15 days, but also raised the threat of re-education camps, where Chinese can be sentenced to manual labour without trial.

Asked if he were aware that tickets were being scalped, Wang, the Beijing organising official replied: "Not really." "Scalping is prohibited by Chinese law and we'll look into this to see whether it is true or not," he added. "From the test events until now we have implemented measures to prevent the scalping of tickets. That's all I can say.

Slovakia's Michal Martikan wins Men's Slalom Canoe Single gold

2008-08-12T05:53:00.000-07:00

Slovakia's Michal Martikan wins Men's Slalom Canoe Single gold

Slovakia's Michal Martikan won the Men's Slalom Canoe Single gold medal in 176.65 at the Beijing Games on Tuesday.

Britain's David Florence took the silver in 178.61 and Australian Robin Bell got the bronze in 180.59.

Michal Martikan of Slovakia competes.

(L-R) David Florence, Michal Martikan and Robin Bell

China''s `mission impossible'' to ready `Bird''''s Nest'''' for Olympic track events

2008-08-12T05:51:00.000-07:00

China''s `mission impossible'' to ready `Bird''''s Nest'''' for Olympic track events

A team of 650 construction workers are working over time to get the Beijing National Stadium, better known as the Bird's Nest, for the athletics events that commence from August 15.

The workers have been given only 84 hours to complete the changeover for track and field competitions, a soccer match and the closing ceremony, China View reported.

Officials from the International Track and Field Federation and the Beijing Organizing Committee of the Olympic Games (BOCOG) will review the arrangement today.

It would normally take at least two weeks to complete the huge changeover. This involved removing all the fantastic stage props from the opening performance, such as the big "scroll," and installing equipment for the closing ceremony in the pit, and smoothing the field for the athletics.

"Every detail has been carefully planned to get the 'mission impossible' done," said Yan Cheng, deputy head of the logistics team for the opening and closing ceremonies.

About 11,000 tons of cargo needed to be loaded and unloaded in the 84 hours, including more than 4,600 tons of turf. Only 24 hours were scheduled for laying the turf, while the same amount of work took 66 hours at the 2004 Athens Games.

Yan said they had even arranged mobile gas-filling vehicles into the stadium to save trips to the gas station.

"We are confident of getting the stadium ready for Wednesday noon, according to the current progress," said Yu Jianping, chief engineering officer of the opening and closing ceremonies.

He added more than 4,000 engineers, workers and soldiers had participated in the changeover.

Australia's Leisel Jones wins Women's 100m Breaststroke gold

2008-08-12T05:42:00.001-07:00

Australia's Leisel Jones wins Women's 100m Breaststroke gold

The Women's 100m Breaststroke final was held at the National Aquatics Center on day four of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games on August 12, 2008 in Beijing, China. Leisel Jones of Australia finished the race in first place in a time of 1.05.17 to win the gold medal, setting a new Olympic record in the process. American Rebecca Soni (1:06.73) won the silver medal and Mirna Jukic of Austria took the bronze at 1:07.34.

Leisel Jones of Australia competes.

(L-R) Rebecca Soni, Leisel Jones and Mirna Jukic

Boxers says judges favoring China

2008-08-12T04:25:00.000-07:00

Boxers says judges favoring China

A British boxer accused Olympic judges of favoring his Chinese opponent Tuesday, a few hours after the Ukrainian team lost its protest of a decision in its fighter's loss to another Chinese boxer. British bantamweight Joe Murray left the ring incensed after his 17-7 opening-round loss to China's Gu Yu.

Murray beat Gu at the world championships in Chicago last fall, but fell behind early and never caught up at Workers' Gymnasium. "I thought it should have been a lot closer after the first round," said Murray, who trailed 4-0 after the first two minutes.

"I think the score was bad. I think they were giving him a score for anything, and I had to work to get all of my points.

I knew going in that the only way I could win this fight is don't let him hit me." British coach Terry Edwards echoed his fighter's complaints, calling the scores "absolutely stupid.

" "The judges took it away from him," Edwards said of the early rounds, when the score deficit forced Murray to change his style. "I'm not saying he won, but when you're chasing the bout, you do things you're not comfortable with.

.

I'm not grouching here.

We lost fair and square, but you saw it for yourselves." AIBA spokesman Richard Baker confirmed the Ukrainian team filed a protest over lightweight Oleksandr Klyuchko's 10-8 loss to Hu Qing on Monday night.

The protest was reviewed and denied, Baker said. "I thought the Chinese opponent was not very good," said Klyuchko, who beat Hu 26-13 at last year's world championships.

"I'm very sad. I thought I would be the winner.

I already beat him once before." Judging controversy is as synonymous with amateur boxing as headgear.

The sport's points-based punch scoring lends itself to wide interpretation, and Olympic history is full of loud protests over boxing results both before and after the sport switched to a computer scoring system in 1992 to make the results more transparent. But the new complaints at the sport's biggest event could cast doubt on its progress over the last 18 months, when a slate of remarkable reforms in the international boxing association (AIBA) seemed to begin a cleanup of the sport.

Computer scoring was introduced at the Olympics four years after American Roy Jones Jr. lost the championship bout in Seoul to South Korea's Park Si-hun, a decision still considered one of the great travesties in Olympic history.

Park even apologized to Jones, and one judge eventually acknowledged his decision was a mistake.

Men's 100m Backstroke: Peirsol (USA) grabs gold and world record

2008-08-12T04:12:00.000-07:00

Men's 100m Backstroke: Peirsol (USA) grabs gold and world record

Peirsol celebrates his win.

Aaron Peirsol of the United States came back from a lackluster semifinal swim to win the gold medal in the Men's 100m Backstroke final at the National Aquatics Center on Tuesday, August 12.

Peirsol, the defending champion and world record holder, qualified fifth fastest in 53.56 for the final but showed his class in swimming down Liam Tancock of Great Britain who turned in front at the 50m 0.49 seconds under the world record mark.

Peirsol surged ahead to win comfortably in 52.54 to beat the world record of 52.89 he set in July.

After qualifying second fastest for the final, Peirsol's USA teammate Matt Grevers finished with the silver medal in 53.11.

Hayden Stoeckel of Australia, who qualified fastest for the final in an Olympic record 52.97, deadheated with Russia's Arkady Vyatchanin for the bronze medal in 53.18.

Tancock faded badly in the final 50m to finish sixth.

Peirsol has confirmed his dominance of this event in emphatic fashion despite slow heat and semifinal swims. His form will be a shot in the arm for the US Men's 4 x 100m Medley Relay team with Phelps also in such irresistible form and they must go into the event as unbackable favorites.

China one gold closer to dream of Diving sweep

2008-08-12T04:04:00.000-07:00

China one gold closer to dream of Diving sweep

Chen Ruolin and Wang Xin compete in Synchronized Women's 10m Platform

Chen Ruolin and Wang Xin won gold in Synchronized Women's 10m Platform with 363.54 points at National Aquatics Center to give China its third Diving gold in three days. Briony Cole and Melissa Wu of Australia finished second, while Paola Espinosa and Tatiana Ortiz won Mexico's first medal of the Beijing Olympic Games by placing third.

The Chinese teenagers were the highest ranked pair in each of the five dives, building a nearly insurmountable 25.32 point lead after the fourth dive. Their superb 90.78 point final dive widened their winning margin to 28.38 over second place Australia. The reigning world champions were competing in the Olympics for the first time.

Cole and Wu of Australia started the competition in a tie for third but pulled into second place after the third dive. A bad entry on the fourth dive gave Mexico an opening to steal silver, but the Australian pair recovered on their final dive with a 87.72-point score that clinched their second-place finish. Cole and Wu also finished second behind their Chinese opponents at the 2007 World Championships.

Paola Espinosa and Tatiana Ortiz have the honor of winning Mexico's first medal of the 2008 Olympics and the 10th diving medal in the nation's Olympic history. Espinosa finished fifth in Athens in Synchronized 3m Springboard and Synchronized 10m Platform. She also competed in Sydney, finishing 12th in the two Individual Women's events.

Chen and Wang will also take part in the Individual Women's 10m Platform competition, in which they are ranked World No. 1 and 2. The event is scheduled to start on August 19 and end on August 21.

Synchronized Women's 10m Platform, final standings:

1. China -- Wang Xin and Chen Ruolin, 363.54 points

2. Australia -- Briony Cole and Melissa Wu, 335.16

3. Mexico -- Paola Espinosa and Tatiana Ortiz, 330.06

4. Germany -- Annett Gamm and Nora Subschinski, 310.29

5. The United States -- Marybeth Dunnichay and Ishimatsu Haley, 309.12

6. Democratic People's Republic of Korea -- Kum Hui Choe and Un Hyang Kim, 308.10

7. Canada -- Meaghan Benfeito and Roseline Filion, 305.91

8. Great Britain -- Tonia Couch and Stacie Powell, 303.48

The ROK's Jin wins gold in the Men's 50m Pistol

2008-08-12T03:46:00.000-07:00

The ROK's Jin wins gold in the Men's 50m Pistol

The ROK'S Jin Jong-oh scored 660.4 points to win the gold medal in the Men's 50m Pistol at Beijing 2008 on Tuesday.

The DPRK's Kim Jong-su took the silver medal with 660.2 points and China's Tan Zongliang won the bronze medal

Jin Jong-oh competes.

(L-R) Kim Jong-su, Jin Jong-oh and Tan Zongliang.

Team gold goes to China in Men's Gymnastics

2008-08-12T03:17:00.000-07:00

Team gold goes to China in Men's Gymnastics

Chen Yibing holds up his fist after his performance.

China dominated Men's Gymnastics today, winning the Team Gold with a total of 286.125 points. Japan won the silver medal with 278.875 points and the United States won the bronze medal with 275.850 points.

China performed modestly on its first two apparatuses, the Floor Exercise and Pommel, but blew the field away with a masterful display in both the Rings and Vault.

A relaxed and smiling Chinese team was led by its veterans, Huang Xu, Yang Wei and Li Xiaopeng.

Huang performed well in the Rings, scoring 16.000. However, his performance was just a taste of things to come because Yang and Chen Yibing scored 16.300 and 16.575 in the Rings respectively, helping China be the top-ranking team on the apparatus.

All-Around specialist Yang continued his good form by scoring a high 16.600 in the Vault. Li then ensured that China would also be the highest-scoring team in the Vault by scoring 16.775, taking China's score in the Vault to 49.325.

China practically secured its gold medal by the end of the fifth rotation, dominating the Parallel Bars. All three Chinese gymnasts, Huang, Yang and Li, scored over 16 points on the apparatus.

China still managed to be the best-performed team in the Horizontal Bar, despite the apparatus being seen as one of the team's weak links. Youngster Zou Kai finished off China's gold-medal-winning performance by scoring 15.975 – the best individual performance in the Horizontal Bar.

Prior to the Team final, Japan was seen as China's main rival for the gold medal. However, Japan rarely threatened China and was only able to trump China in the Floor Exercise.

Japan's attempt to win the gold medal came totally unstuck in the Vault – it performed very poorly and was the lowest ranking team on the apparatus with only 46.750 points.

The United States looked as though it was going to challenge Japan for the silver medal, but its performance in the last two rotations was poor. The United States' Joey Hagerty performed poorly in the Floor Exercise and Kevin Tan was the worst performed individual in the Pommel.

The gold medal is a glorious success for China, who failed to win a medal in the Men's Team event at Athens 2004 after winning the gold medal at Sydney 2000. Three members of today's team, Yang, Li and Huang were all part of the gold-medal-winning team in Sydney

Pak takes Women's Weightlifting 63kg title

2008-08-12T02:53:00.000-07:00

Pak takes Women's Weightlifting 63kg title

The Women's Weightlifting 63kg final was held at the Beijing University of Aeronautics & Astronautics Gymnasium on day four of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games on August 12, 2008 in Beijing, China. Pak Hyon-suk of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) won the gold medal in this event with a total of 241 kilos. Irina Nekrassova from Kazakhstan took the silver with a total result of 240kg, while Lu Ying-chi from Chinese Taipei got the bronze with 231kg.

Pak Hyon-suk competes.

Pak Hyon-suk (C), Irina Nekrassova (L) and Lu Ying-chi

Day 3 Review: Records fall, champions to the fore

2008-08-11T11:22:00.000-07:00

Day 3 Review: Records fall, champions to the fore

No rain in Beijing today – just a shower of records, a sprinkling of surprises and cascading gold as Day 3 athletes surpassed the amazing feats of the previous days of Beijing 2008.

The Cube was the place to be if you like to see records go a-tumbling. Count them: five swimming world records were feverishly scribbled into the notebooks of stat-freaks alongside a liberal smattering of Olympic, continental, national records and a generous dose of personal bests. Oh, and there was plenty of gold on the horizon too.

That Michael Phelps fellah was in the thick of it as expected, notching up his second gold medal of the Games in (yep, you've guessed) a new world record time, with his American colleagues in the Men's 4 x 100m Freestyle Relay, keeping his quest to crack Mark Spitz's record of seven gold medals in one Games (Munich 1972) on track.

Australian lead-off man, Eamon Sullivan, set a world record in the opening leg of the event – however his Aussie comrades were soon left trailing in the wake of Phelps, Garret Weber-Gale, Cullen Jones and Jason Lezak, who audaciously slashed almost four seconds off the previous world record the team had only set the day before. The French team, which briefly led in the third leg, held onto silver, ahead of Australia, which claimed the bronze.

The other world records came from Kitajima Kosuke of Japan, who defended his Men's 100m Breaststroke Olympic title by fracturing his own world record in the event by clocking 58.91 seconds.

In heats, Zimbabwean Kristy Coventry cracked her own World Record (again, set yesterday) in the Women's 100m Backstroke, while Federica Pellegrini of Italy established a new world best of 1:55.45 in the Women's 200m Freestyle prelims.

Phelps broke his own Olympic record in the Men's 200m Butterfly prelims, clocking 1:53.70, while the Olympic Men's 100m Backstroke record was lowered three times in Monday's semifinals -- in heat one by Arkady Vyatchanin of Russia, and then by Australian Hayden Stoeckel and Mark Grevers of the USA.

Medal-wise, Lisbeth Trickett of Australia recorded an Oceana record to strike gold in the Women's 100m Butterfly. Christine Magnuson of the United States took silver. Jessicah Schipper of Australia won the bronze.

However the biggest surprise in the pool came in the Women's 400m Freestyle with Rebecca Adlington of Great Britain taking gold with a time of 4:03.22, pushing Katie Hoff of the United States to the silver spot. The 800m short course world champion outreached Hoff on the line. Another Briton, Joanne Jackson, won bronze.

What did you do during your school holidays, kids? Well, 14-year-old British diver, Tom Daley will surely have a better answer for his teachers than his school pals. "I competed in an Olympic diving final."

Sadly, young Mr. Daley and his Men's Synchronized 10m Platform partner, Blake Aldridge, came last as China's divers kept on course to scoop all eight diving gold medals.

Reigning world champions Lin Yue and Huo Liang took gold with 468.18 points. Sascha Klein and Patrick Hausding of Germany won silver, while Dmitriy Dobroskok and Gleb Galperin of Russia earned bronze.

Surpassing the Chinese diving dynasty isn't easy – but hats off to the Republic of Korea's men's archers who claimed the Men's Team gold medal for the third Games in a row (not as good as their women's team, which yesterday claimed their sixth title in a row, but never mind lads, I'm sure you can catch up.)

The ROK team of Im Dong-Hyun, Lee Chang-Hwan and Park Kyung-Mo outscored Italy by two points in a thrilling final, while China took third place after a closely fought victory over Ukraine in the bronze medal match.

Maria Valentina Vezzali of Italy became a triple Olympic gold medalist after her third consecutive Women's Individual Foil Fencing title. The World No.1 beat Nam Hyun-hee of the Republic of Korea, who took silver, in a 6-5 bout.

On the Judo mat, another World No. 1 Elnur Mammadli of Azerbaijan needed just 13 seconds to defeat Wang Ki-chun from the Republic of Korea with an ippon to claim gold in the Men's -73kg category. Giulia Quintavalle of Italy claimed gold in the Women's -57kg class on her Olympic debut by defeating Deborah Gravenstijn from the Netherlands with a yuko.

Indian hot-shot Abhinav Bindra won the gold medal in the Shooting Men's 10m Air Rifle final with an incredible total score of 700.5 points. China's Zhu Qinan, gold medalist at Athens 2004, won the silver medal with 699.7. Bronze went to Finland's Henri Hakkinen, who led after the qualification round.

Satu Makela-Nummela of Finland took the Women's Trap title despite missing four targets in the final round. Slovakia's Zuzana Stefecekova, who had tied with Makela-Nummela after the qualification round, took silver. Corey Cogdell of the United States, won a four-way shoot-off between the other finalists to take bronze.

It was Chen and Zhang to the double as China hoisted the gold medals in the day's two weightlifting finals. Chen Yanqing set a new Olympic record to retain her Women's 58 kilogram crown by lifting a total weight of 244kg. Then Zhang Xiangxiang won his first Olympic gold medal by lifting 319kg in the Men's 62 kilogram final.

Away from the medals there was a smattering of surprises.

The biggest shocks came in the tennis tournament with home favorite Li Na of China defeating Women's No. 3 seed Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia, while in the Men's Singles, Great Britain's Andy Murray, seeded No. 6 and fresh from victory in the Cincinnati Masters, lost 7-6(5), 6-4 to World No. 77 Lu Yen-hsun of Chinese Taipei.

All the other seeds progressed in the Men's and Women's singles. Although, soon-to-be crowned Men's World No.1, Rafael Nadal of Spain, dropped a set against Potito Starace of Italy, before winning by 6-2, 3-6, 6-2.

In the Badminton qualification rounds, the shocks were positively seismic. In the Women's Doubles quarterfinals, World No. 8 pair Maeda Miyuki and Suetsuna Satoko of Japan stunned World No. 1 duo, Yang Wei and Zhang Jiewen of China 8-21, 23-21, 21-14, while in the Men's Singles round of 32, World No. 10 Lee Hyun-il of the Republic of Korea knocked out World No. 6 Kenneth Jonassen of Denmark. In the Women's Singles round of 16, World No. 15 Saina Nehwal of India beat sixth seed Wang Chen of Hong Kong, and Maria Kristin Yulianti of Indonesia, ranked World No. 21, ousted fourth seed Tine Rasmussen of Denmark.

There were eyebrows raised in Rowing too, which featured re-scheduled Men's and Women's Eights heats. The US Women's crew justified their status as pre-regatta favorites with an emphatic win to put them into Sunday's (August 17) final, where they will meet three-time consecutive defending champions Romania.

However, Great Britain delivered an upset to the Men's US team by beating them, while the Canadians were untroubled in advancing into Sunday's final.

Germany leads the Equestrian Eventing competition by a slender margin ahead of early leaders Australia after Monday's Cross-Country phase. The German team, for who Hinrich Romeike heads the Individual rankings, has an overall lead of 158.10 points, with Australia less than one jumping penalty behind on 162. Great Britain is third on 173.70, Italy fourth on 127.40 and Sweden in fifth position at 200.50.

The competition concludes tomorrow with the Jumping event and Team and Individual medals on the line/at stake.

The Olympic Women's Basketball tournament continued with World No. 3 Russia pulling away from Asian champion Republic of Korea in the last minute for a 77-72 win in their preliminary round, the group A match. Belarus and Australia also recorded convincing wins.

In group B, the US demolished China 108-63 (to show anything their men's team could do the evening before, the girls could do even better). And there were more comfortable wins for the Czech Republic and Spain.

In the Women's Volleyball tournament, Cuba cruised to a 25-15, 26-24, 25-17 straight sets win over an uninspiring USA side and is now in top spot in pool A.

Brazil are on top in pool B after gaining revenge for their defeat against Russia in Athens 2004 by beating their old rivals 25-14, 25-14, 25-16. Serbia, second and Italy, third, enjoyed easy straight-sets wins over Algeria and Kazakhstan and now have two victories each. Kazakhstan, Russia and Algeria are winless and will vie for the fourth quarterfinal spot in the pool.

Favorites in the Women's Water Polo tournament, the United States, beat Olympic newcomers China in a 12-11 nail-biter in the group A preliminary round opening game. Italy achieved a narrow one-goal win over Russia, 9-8, in the other group A game. In group B, Australia beat Greece 8-6, and Hungary defeated the Netherlands 11-9.

Those are the highlights of a record breaking, legend making, Day 3 of Beijing 2008.

ROK men set Olympic record en route to fourth Team gold

2008-08-11T11:09:00.000-07:00

ROK men set Olympic record en route to fourth Team gold

(L-R) Park Kyung-mo, Lee Chang-hwan and Im Dong-hyun

The Republic of Korea men beat Italy and set a 24-arrow Olympic record of 227 en route to their fourth Olympic Team gold medal. The Men's semifinal and medal matches provided an incredible afternoon filled with nail-biting matches that came down to the very last arrow at the Olympic Green Archery Field on Monday, August 11.

In the gold medal match, the ROK and Italy were tied going into the last three arrows when Mauro Nespoli (ITA) shot a seven, handing the gold medal to the ROK (227-225). For Ilario Di Buo' (ITA), the loss was a flashback to the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games when the ROK defeated Italy in the gold medal match. Di Buo' is the only remaining archer from either team.

Im Dong-hyun celebrates winning the gold medal.

In the bronze medal match, Ukraine was unable to defend the Team bronze medal they won in 2004. Ukraine climbed back from a six point deficit at the halfway point, only to lose to the crowd favorite, China, on the last arrow, 222-219.

The ROK beat China in an energy-filled semifinal. Halfway through the match, China was tied with the ROK, but the pressure eventually caught up with China and they were unable to deny the ROK's a fourth shot at team Olympic gold, losing the match (221-218).

In the semifinals, Italy assured itself a Men's Team medal by beating Ukraine, 223-221. To advance to the gold medal final, Italy needed to shoot a nine on the last arrow and it was Nespoli, the newcomer to the Italian team, who calmly nailed a 10 to the delight of the crowd.

En route to the semifinals, the ROK had a bye in the 1/8 Elimination Round and beat Poland in the 1/4 Elimination Round. Italy beat Canada in the 1/8 Elimination Round and Malaysia in the 1/4 Elimination Round. China beat Russia in the 1/4 Elimination round and Great Britain in the 1/8 Elimination Round. Ukraine had a bye in the 1/8 Elimination Round and then beat Chinese Taipei in the 1/4 Elimination Round.

The US lost to Chinese Taipei in the 1/8 Elimination Round.

India shines at last, Phelps's dream still on

2008-08-11T08:40:00.001-07:00

India shines at last, Phelps's dream still on

India celebrated their first individual Olympic gold medal on Monday and American swimmers kept Michael Phelps's dream alive by a finger-tip.

The usually cool Phelps screamed and pumped the air with joy as his U.S. team mates helped maintain his charge for an unprecedented eight golds in the pool, pipping France in the 4x100 metres freestyle relay.

Indians banged drums and danced in the streets after the world's second most populous nation won their first individual Olympic title with Abhinav Bindra's gold in the men's 10m air rifle.

"Now I have lots of work ahead as he is the country's most eligible bachelor," joked his mother Babli Bindra, speaking to Reuters from the family home in Chandigarh.

Like many winners in Beijing on Monday, Bindra needed a remarkable comeback, shooting a near perfect hit at the end.

"It's the thrill of my life," he said after a win that left China's defending champion Zhu Qinan sobbing with only silver.

A familiar shadow fell over the Games when a Spanish cyclist became the first competitor to fail a drugs test in China.

Maria Isabel Moreno was caught taking the endurance-boosting EPO drug, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) said.

The IOC tested the entire Spanish cycling team three times before competition began, getting tough after a series of past scandals have marred the reputation of the sport and country.

"It's time that Spanish authorities start to do some concretely," the president of the International Cycling Union, Pat McQuaid, told Reuters. "For years they have not been tough enough on doping and this is the result of their leniency."

Phelps is counting off the golds in world records as he bids to surpass Mark Spitz's record of seven golds in 1972.

Again watched by U.S. President George Bush in the Water Cube, he left the Americans second after the first leg, trailing to a French team who had vowed to "smash" them.

With just a lap to go, France's former record holder Alain Bernard led by half a body length, but an astonishing comeback from Jason Lezak took the gold by a finger-tip.

"Jason finished that race better than we could even ask for," Phelps said. "I was so fired up."

The Americans took nearly four seconds off the world record, a big margin in swimming. In all, five relay teams beat it, while Eamon Sullivan claimed the individual world record from Bernard when he led the Australian team off on the first lap.

SHIMMERING POOL

The event left Phelps with two golds, after he destroyed his own world record on Sunday to win the 400 individual medley.

Having won six in Athens, Phelps needs only two more to have the most golds of any Olympian.

Also bringing the crowd to their feet in the shimmering pool venue, the most decorated Asian swimmer of all time, Japan's Kosuke Kitajima, justified his pre-race hype by shaving 0.22 seconds off the world record to win the 100 breaststroke.

Women swimmers were not to be outdone.

Rebecca Adlington won Britain's first Olympic women's swimming title in nearly half a century with a last-gasp victory in the 400 freestyle after being fourth at the final turn.

Australia's Libby Trickett had gone into the 2004 Games as world record holder for 100 freestyle but burst into tears the first time she saw the pool and failed to make the final.

This time she overcame another attack of nerves to claim gold in the women's 100 butterfly.

"Before the race I felt as if I was going to vomit I was that nervous," she said.

Zimbabwe's Kirsty Coventry had vowed to show her nation in a positive light in China despite its economic and political crisis. She did just that by shaving 0.20 seconds off the world record for the 100 backstroke during her semi-final.

The tennis tournament got into full swing after rain delays, Spain's Rafael Nadal surviving a scare to defeat Italian Potito Starace 6-2 3-6 6-2. Switzerland's Roger Federer shook off recent wobbles to cruise through in straight sets, while Serena Williams also recorded a comfortable win in the women's first round.

The pressure of expectations may be getting to China's shooters, another gold hopeful failing in the women's trap to add to a string of disappointments.

But it was a happier story for the hosts in the diving competition, with a second gold in two days thanks to a near-perfect performance by world champions Lin Yue and Huo Liang in the men's synchronised 10m platform diving.

Chen Yanqing won another weightlifting gold for China in the women's 58kg. The daughter of poor peasants, she defended her title to become the first woman to win two weightlifting golds.

Georgian and Russian shooters have embraced warmly despite their nations' fighting in South Ossetia and there was no animosity when Cuba met the United States in women's volleyball.

Cuba crushed the Americans in straight sets, then wished them best of luck for the rest of the tournament. By early evening on Monday, China led the medal table with eight gold, to four for South Korea and the U.S. on three.

The hosts hope to knock the U.S. off their perch at the top of the final medals table, to underline China's growing political and economic might.

Michael Phelps swims new OR in Men's 200m Butterfly

2008-08-11T08:35:00.000-07:00

Michael Phelps swims new OR in Men's 200m Butterfly

American swimming superstar Michael Phelps, after taking two relay gold in Beijing, broke his own Olympic record in Men's 200m Butterfly prelims at the National Aquatics Center, clocking 1:53.70, over one second quicker than second finisher Laszlo Cseh from Hungary who swam a time of 1:54.48. Kaio Almeida from Brazil finished third in 1:54.65.

Sixteen qualifiers will be in the pool for the semifinal to be held on August 12 at the National Aquatics Center.

Italy's Pellegrini breaks Women's 200m Freestyle world record

2008-08-11T08:24:00.000-07:00

Italy's Pellegrini breaks Women's 200m Freestyle world record

Italian swimmer Federica Pellegrini broke the world record for the Women's 200m Freestyle in the heats here on Sunday.

Pellegrini was in fourth place after the first 50 meters but managed a sprint finish to touch home at 1:55.45, 0.07 seconds faster than the previous record held by French veteran Laure Manaudou.

Federica Pellegrini celebrates after finishing the race.

Zhang lifts China to four Weightlifting golds

2008-08-11T08:17:00.001-07:00

Zhang lifts China to four Weightlifting golds

Zhang Xiangxiang won his first Olympic gold medal after lifting 319kg in the Men's 62 kilogram Weightlifting final on August 11. This was the second weightlifting gold medal won by China on that day, as well as their fourth Weightlifting gold medal in the tournament.

Twenty-five-year old Sydney bronze medalist Zhang had the best start by lifting 139kg in the Snatch. Although he failed to lift 143kg with his second attempt, he finally succeeded and topped the other finalists in this round. Ji Hun-min of the Republic of Korea also did well with a 142kg lift after three attempts. Diego Salazar of Colombia and Im Yong-su of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea tied at 138kg.

Zhang's chance of winning the gold was settled even before stepping onto the floor in the Clean and Jerk. First the ROK's Ji surprisingly failed all three attempts trying to lift 161kg and left the competition with no medal. Then the DPRK's Im also stumbled under the pressure, spending all his attempts at 169kg to no avail. Salazar took his chance and succeeded in lifting 167kg after three attempts for the silver medal. Zhang then lifted 169kg and then 176kg to seal his first gold, China's fourth of the Weightlifting competition.

Zhang also tried to break the world record with a final attempt of 184kg. Though he failed, his 319kg total weight fulfilled his dream of winning an Olympic gold medal. He kissed the weight discs and took time to enjoy the crowd's cheers before waving farewell.

Italian Quintavalle wins Women's 57kg Judo gold

2008-08-11T08:05:00.000-07:00

Italian Quintavalle wins Women's 57kg Judo gold

Giulia Quintavalle outpowered Deborah Gravenstijn of the Netherlands to take the Women's 57kg Judo gold medal at the Beijing Olympic Games here on Monday.

The bronze medal was shared by Brazilian Ketieyn Quadros and Chinese Xu Yan.

Giulia Quintavalle celebrates after winning the gold medals.

Giulia Quintavalle celebrates after winning the final.

Mammadli of Azerbaijan wins Men's 73kg Judo gold

2008-08-11T07:45:00.001-07:00

Mammadli of Azerbaijan wins Men's 73kg Judo gold

World number 1 Elnur Mammadli, from Azerbaijan beat Wang Ki-chun from Korea with an ippon in just 13 seconds, to win the gold in men’s judo - 73kg division

The Men's 73kg Judo event was held at the University of Science and Technology Beijing Gymnasium on day three of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games on August 11, 2008, in Beijing, China. Elnur Mammadli of Azerbaijan beat Wang Kichun of the Republic of Korea by ippon to take the gold medal. The bronze medal was shared by Rasul Boqiev of Tajikistan and Leandro Guilheiro of Brazil.

Elnur Mammadli celebrates after defeating Wang Kichun.

Elnur Mammadli celebrates winning the gold medal.

(L-R) Kichun Wang, Elnur Mammadli, Rasul Boqiev and Leandro Guilheiro

Photos: Italian Vezzali wins Women's Individual Foil Olympic gold

2008-08-11T07:38:00.001-07:00

Photos: Italian Vezzali wins Women's Individual Foil Olympic gold

The Women's Fencing Individual Foil gold medal match was held at the Fencing Hall of the National Convention Center in Beijing, China, on August 11, 2008. Italian Maria Valentina Vezzali won the gold medal, while Nam Hyun-hee of the Republic of Korea won silver.

Maria Valentina Vezzali (R) and Nam Hyun-hee compete.

Maria Valentina Vezzali and her coach, Andrea Magro, celebrate.

Maria Valentina Vezzali waves to the spectators.

Interpreter leaves Federer sheepish

2008-08-11T07:27:00.000-07:00

Interpreter leaves Federer sheepish

Roger Federer's timing was a little off Monday at the Olympics. He easily won, but at a postmatch news conference he kept stepping on the interpreter translating questions and answers into Chinese.

Federer milked the situation for laughs, belying his image as a stoic Swiss. Following the first question, Federer and the interpreter began talking at the same time.

Then, he again tried to answer before she was done translating the question. When she finally finished he smiled and said, "She answered for me.

" Federer stepped on the interpreter again after the second and third questions. "Excuse me," he said sheepishly.

Following the fourth question, he finally had the routine down, and gestured grandly toward the interpreter as she began to translate. After another question, Federer leaned into the mike and feigned speaking as the interpreter began.

And after the translation of one question, he let several seconds pass in silence, then looked at the interpreter with a grin. "Just giving you time," he said.

Despite being lost in translation, Federer was in a good mood because he successfully began a bid for his first Olympic medal by beating Dmitry Tursunov 6-4, 6-2.

Nadal, Serena win Olympic singles debuts

2008-08-11T02:39:00.000-07:00

Nadal, Serena win Olympic singles debuts

Rafael Nadal made a successful debut in Olympic singles on Monday, overcoming numerous missed chances by sweeping the final four games to beat Potito Starace of Italy 6-2, 3-6, 6-2.

Top-seeded Roger Federer had an easier time. He began a bid for his first Olympic medal by beating Dmitry Tursunov 6-4, 6-2.

Regardless of the outcome in Beijing, the No 2-seeded Nadal will supplant Federer atop the rankings next week. No 4-seeded Serena Williams won all four games when her match resumed after an overnight wait to complete a rain-interrupted victory over Olga Govortsova of Belarus, 6-3, 6-1.

Like Nadal, Williams was playing her first singles match at the Olympics. She won a gold medal in doubles in 2000 with her sister Venus.

No 6 Dinara Safina of Russia won her 11th match in a row by beating Mara Santangelo of Italy 6-3, 7-6 (1). Safina has won her past two tournaments.

Nicolas Massu of Chile opened his bid to repeat as Olympic champion by beating Steve Darcis of Belgium 6-4, 7-5. Massu won the gold at Athens in both singles and doubles.

No 7 David Nalbandian of Argentina defeated Zeng Shaoxuan of China 6-2, 6-1. Chinese men finished the tournament 0-3.

Playing the morning match on centre court, Nadal struggled on the backhand side and shook his head or rolled his eyes when usually reliable strokes misfired.

Nadal failed to convert seven consecutive break-point opportunities before he broke for a 4-2 lead in the final set.

He erased a 15-40 deficit on his serve in the next game, then broke again for the victory.

A highlight-reel shot got him going early in the third set. Nadal sprinted into the alley near the net in pursuit of a ball and scooped a forehand winner cross-court as he braked to avoid running into the post, then fell to his back. He rose and threw a jubilant fist, leaving behind a spot in the concrete damp with his sweat.

Nadal is seeking his eighth tournament title this year. He beat Federer in the finals at the French Open and Wimbledon.

The latter result sent Federer into a slump that will cost him the top ranking. The stylish Swiss has won only two tournaments in 2008, and an Olympic gold medal would help him salvage the year after he was shut out of the medal chase at Sydney in 2000 and at Athens in 2004.