Vos laps field to win first Dutch gold on Cycling Track

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

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

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

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

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

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.

ROK blasts Austria to claim Team Table Tennis bronze

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

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

'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.

Ukraine's Dobrynska wins Heptathlon gold

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

Britain wins Rowing Men's Four gold

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

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

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

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.