Michael Phelps Award for Best Performance By Athlete Not Named Michael Phelps - Athlete Kobe and Coach McCutcheon Both Honored

USA's Kobe Bryant, right, goes to the basket as Spain's Rudy Fernandez defends during the men's gold medal basketball game at the Beijing 2008 Olympics in Beijing, Sunday, Aug. 24, 2008. USA won 118-107. Associated Press © 2008


USA's head coach Hugh McCutcheon reacts as he leaves the court after his team defeated Brazil during their men's volleyball gold medal match at the Beijing 2008 Olympics in Beijing, Sunday, Aug. 24, 2008. USA won the gold and Brazil took silver. (AP Photo/Koji Sasahara)

Sunday, August 24 - Player Coach - In the last day of summer Olympic competition for four years, just a few Olympic competitions were held or televised on Sunday (US time) - men's basketball, men's water polo, and men's volleyball, so there are relatively few candidates for Sunday's final Michael Phelps Award of the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

From the basketball court, the nominee is reigning NBA MVP Kobe Bryant, who led the final US push to basketball gold in a scintillating win over Spain. He finished the game with 20 points and 6 assists. Bryant has achieved one-name fame throughout the world - not many wouldn't know who "Kobe" is. Honorable mention on the hardwood goes to teammate Dwyane Wade, who scored 27 points and made four steals in another performance that left opposing players and coaches puzzling on the question of how to stop him.

From the pool, the gold medal-winning Hungarian team gets the nomination as a group, given that I don't know enough to single out a nominee from their 14-10 win over the upstart US team in the gold medal game. The Hungarians defended their 2004 gold medal and won their ninth overall gold in men's water polo, which is the country's national sport. Did you know that water polo got its name from its original form in which the players rode on floating contraptions meant to play the horse part in the polo-like competition? I'd have to do some research to understand how water polo could become a country's "national sport."

My volleyball nominee stretches the award title by being a coach rather than a player. American men's volleyball coach Hugh McCutcheon began the experience of his life by having his father-in-law slain by a random assailant in Beijing on the day before competition started. His assistants coached the first three games before McCutcheon's wife told him to get back to courtside with his team. Perhaps inspired by their coach's courage, the US volleyballers overcame a succession of world class opponents, capped by a four-set victory over defending gold medalist Brazil in the gold medal game. McCutcheon is nominated for his courage, his team's performance, and to represent the efforts of thousands of coaches across the spectrum of Olympic competition.

With all due respect to Hungarian water polo, and in recognition of the deeply-held traditions associated with the Michael Phelps Award, Sunday's Michael Phelps Award is given in two parts - the athletic award to Kobe Bryant and a special coach's award to Hugh McCutcheon. Don't worry, whenever the award design is completed (I'm sorry to say that this process is still in the pre-conceptual phase as my award designer is currently dealing with 10th grade) and medallions are struck, each of Sunday's awardees will each get one of their own--none of this passing it back and forth, or a half-medallion each. They deserve it!

Saturday's Pantheon of Excellence - August 23 produced many Michael Phelps Award-worthy performances. Here are some photos. Please scroll to the bottom of this post to see who won.

Kenya's Sammy Wanjiru breaks the tape in the Olympic men's marathon at Beijing. (Anja Niedringhaus/Associated Press)

Matthew Mitcham of Australia celebrates his gold medal in men's 10-meter platform diving (Photo credit: Jamie Squire/Getty Images)

Kenenisa Bekele of Ethiopia wins the gold medal in the 5000 meters, and plans to win several more. By H. Darr Beiser, USA TODAY

USA players from left, Candace Parker, Lisa Leslie and DeLisha Milton-Jones pose with their medal after winning against Australia in women's basketball at the Beijing 2008 Olympics in Beijing, Saturday, Aug. 23, 2008. (AP Photo/Dusan Vranic)

The gold-medal exploits of Michael Phelps have received plenty of attention. Michael himself, who seems like a pretty regular guy, has found time in his "eat, sleep, swim" schedule (eating takes a lot of time given that he eats 12,000 calories a day), to have six (make that eight, of course) gold medals draped around his neck.

I started keeping track of what I thought was the best Olympic performance day-by-day by an athlete not named Michael Phelps. (Design of Michael Phelps Award medallion pending)

Here's my list (the days are when I watched the performance rather than when it actually happened in Beijing; and winners are limited to performances that I actually saw).

Saturday - Do They Even Have a Beach? The initial Michael Phelps Award goes to the Latvian beach volleyball team (Martins Plavins and Aleksandrs Samoilovs) that upset American gold medal favorites Rogers and Dalhausser. How many people around the world were scrambling to figure out where Latvia is, and whether it even has a beach? (It does--Latvia sits on the Baltic Sea; one of three new Baltic countries along with Lithuania and Estonia, created after the breakup of the Soviet Union). Congratulations, Martins and Alexsandrs, on Saturday's Michael Phelps Award.


Sunday - Age Before Mouthy - In a swimming performance that may be the best of the 2008 games when it's all over, US 4 x 100-meter relay anchor Jason Lezak swam down Frenchman Alain Bernard (the eventual 100-meter singles' gold medalist) from more than a second behind to win gold for the American team, which included leadoff man Phelps. Before the race, Bernard had brashly predicted that the French team would "crush" the Americans. At 33 years old, Lezak was an unlikely hero candidate, given the younger age of most top swimmers, but with 25 meters to go he thought about his age and how many more chances he would have to be in this situation (none) and decided to go for it. The French team stood motionless and speechless after Lezak outtouched Bernard by less than 0.1 second in the most exciting swimming race I've ever seen. As well as getting his own gold medal, Lezak saved the "eight gold medal" drama for both Michael Phelps and NBC, both of whom, I imagine, are extremely appreciative. A hearty "Magnifique!" and Sunday's Michael Phelps Award to Jason Lezak.

Monday - Sit and Swing - American gymnast Alexander "Sasha" Artemev should get a share of the bronze medals given to at least two of his teammates in the men's team gymnastics competition. Standing a shaky third over the Germans with the insidious pommel horse to go, Artemev's teammates Kevin Tan and Raj Bashrav (sp?) responded to the pressure by sitting on and stepping off the horse respectively. A similar self-destructive performance by Artemev would cost the US their hard-earned bronze medal. Artemev, with his own history of error-filled performances, swung his way through a dazzling performance that had the Chinese crowd oohing and ahing (however that goes in Chinese) like a circus act. The high mark lifted the American team to the bronze medal level of the award podium, and Alexander "Sasha" Artemev to Monday's Michael Phelps Award.

Tuesday - Go Togo! I was thrilled to see NBC covering men's kayaking. It's exciting to watch the paddlers battle their way through the manmade raging rapids of the Olympic course. Miss a gate and you're penalized 50 seconds, and you miss the medal stand. I didn't know enough about kayaking to know who were the favorites, but I had to root for giant Benjamin Boukpeti of tiny Togo, a coastal African nation with zero Olympic medals to its credit in the country's history. Leading going into the last round, Boukpeti thrashed his way through all the gates in the proper direction fast enough to earn a bronze medal. His Serbian competitor, a prerace favorite it seems, missed a gate and broke his paddle in disgust. Boukpeti broke his paddle in joy when his time and standing was posted. Imagine what he would have done had he known he'd won Tuesday's Michael Phelps Award. Go Togo!



Wednesday - Since Lazarus From the Dead - When I started watching the women's volleyball game between China and Cuba on Wednesday morning, China had won the first two games and were leading 15-11 in the third game of what appeared to be a routine three-game sweep by the defending Olympic champions. After an effective timeout, the Cubans roared back to win the third game and force a fourth. The Cubans' trials weren't nearly over as China rallied to gain seven match points during the fourth game. Cuba repelled every Chinese attempt to end the match and eventually won the fourth game 32-30 on their first game point. In the fifth set tiebreaker to 15 points, the Chinese led as late as 11-10, but eventually walked off the court in shock as Cuba prevailed by 15-13. Cuba remains the only undefeated team in its pool of the women's volleyball competition. As an aside, women's volleyball should put to rest for once and all the myth that women can't jump. Perhaps the victorious Cuban women's volleyballers can get better apartments; for sure they win Wednesday's Michael Phelps Award.


Thursday - Living Legacy - As thrilled as the American men's gymnastics team were with their bronze medal, the American women seemed disappointed in their silver behind the Chinese team. The opportunity for redemption came soon, however, in the women's all-around competition. America's two top gymnasts, Nastia Liukin and Shawn Johnson, would have a second chance to beat their young (some say too young) Chinese rivals. The competition was tight all evening. The nature of gymnastics scoring makes it hard to sense who's really ahead until the end. And NBC's broadcasters were convinced that the American girls were getting jobbed on their marks by the panel of international judges. The girls didn't pay any attention. They kept jumping, spinning, twisting and landing. Liukin and Johnson were the last two performers on floor exercise. Liukin, who looks just like her American mother, but performs with the soul of her Russian father (also an Olympic gymnast from the 1980s) gave an essentially flawless performance and earned a mark of 15.525, comfortably enough to beat the top Chinese opponent, Yang Yilin. Johnson, the quintessential American female gymnast - short, young, athletic, spunky - needed an almost unattainable mark of 16.125 to beat Liukin. She gave her own version of a nearly flawless performance, but her mark of 15.525 fell short overall. She settled for silver, and rightfully so, as Liukin was the better performer all night--her long legs sailing elegantly around and over every piece of gymnastics equipment, every move a thing of both artistic and athletic beauty. Oh well--getting a little carried away there, but Nastia Liukin richly deserved both her gold medal and Thursday's Michael Phelps Award.

Friday - The Reign of Spain - Rafael Nadal, reigning French Open and Wimbledon tennis champion, survived a strong upset bid by Serbian Novak Djokovic to advance to the final of the men's tennis competition. The match, which included Djokovic winning the second set by a dominating 6-1 score, ended after Nadal returned back-to-back overheads by Djokovic. Determined to avoid a third return, Djokovic pummeled a "sitter" overhead from just behind the net. Unfortunately he pummeled the ball out of bounds to lose the match. Not that he needs more recognition, Rafael Nadal still gets Friday's Michael Phelps Award for returning the first two smashes, leading Djokovic to think that he had to go for broke on the third chance. Nadal will face Chilean Fernando Gonzalez in the final. Honorable mention goes to Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt, who ran a 100-meter dash heat in 9.92 seconds while sightseeing the last 40 meters. And, if his name weren't Michael Phelps, Michael Phelps would have gotten serious consideration for an 0.01 margin victory in the men's 100-meter butterfly for his seventh gold medal of the games.


Saturday - The Man in the Middle - What are the most important parts of a 100-meter sprint? The start, of course, the race isn't long enough to recover from a poor start. And the finish--the ability to outlean the competition could spell the difference in a race often decided by hundredths of a second. New to the race, Jamaican Usain Bolt doesn't start particularly well. In Saturday's 100-meter final, he threw out his arms and started looking around 20 meters from the finish. In between, the aptly-nicknamed "Lightning" Bolt pulled so far ahead of the seven-next-fastest men in the world that he was able to celebrate victory before he crossed the finish line. The result of this three-quarter effort--nothing less than a new world record of 9.69 seconds, beating his own mark of 9.72. For a seemingly effortless gold-medal-winning, world-recordsetting race, Usain "Lightning" Bolt wins Saturday's Michael Phelps Award.

Here's a link to an NPR news report on Bolt's win Bolt Bolts to Victory



Sunday - No Tiebreaker - Four fine candidates emerged from Sunday's Olympic competition. The Phelps Award judges have spent all day trying to pick a single winner. Here are the finalists 1) Romanian gymnast Sandra Izbasa, whose won the gold medal in the women's floor exercise with a 15.65 score on the last performance of the competition. Even US cheerleader/analysts Tim Daggett and Bela Karolyi were impressed - well Karolyi anyway; 2) Ethiopian runner Kenenisa Bekele, who won the 10,000-meter run for the second consecutive Olympics; 3) German gymnast Oksana Chusovitina, a 33-year-old mother who took silver in the women's vault (she dedicated her medal to her once leukemia-stricken son, the reason for her emigration from Russia to Germany) and 4) Shelly-Ann Fraser, 21-year-old Jamaican winner of the women's 100-meter dash, making the small Caribbean country home to both the "World's Fastest Man" and "World's Fastest Woman" (Fraser as well may have been the World's Happiest Woman during her post-race interview, both her eyes and mouthful of braces shining, while the joyous words flowed non-stop from her mouth.) Izbasa gave the best performance; Chusovitina has the best story. I don't have a tiebreaking procedure, so for Sunday I'm awarding two Michael Phelps Awards - to Sandra Izbasa and Oksana Chusovitina, with honorable mention to both Bekele and Fraser.

He Wenna of China competes in the Women's Trampoline Qualification at the National Indoor Stadium on Day 8 of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games on August 16, 2008 in Beijing, China. (Photo by Phil Walter/Getty Images AsiaPac)

Monday - Jill In The Box - I wasn't that clear about the scoring system, but it was clear to me, the judges and all observers that He Wenna deserved the gold medal in women's trampoline. Her final performance demonstrated every element of excellence - consistent and high height, landings within the center square on the trampoline, and difficult tumbling with perfect form high above the trampoline. The crowd gasped like a small child playing with the world's greatest Jack-in-the-Box (or should I say Jill) as He bounced through her amazing performance. Both a gold medal and Monday's Michael Phelps Award to He Wenna. Honorable mention to Australian female triathlete Emma Snowsill for a dominating gold medal performance and to single-named Brazilian beach volleyballer Ricardo for knocking the second American team of Jake Gibb and Sean Rosenthal out of the tourney (not that I was rooting against them). I need to show Ricardo to my daughter, although at 6'7" and 240 lb, he might be a little too big for her tastes. Bronze, smooth and dark-tressed (a la Raffa Nadal), he'll surely rate as "pretty."

Matthias Steiner of Germany holds the gold medal he's dedicating to his late wife Susann, who died in a car accident in 2007, after winning the men's over 105 kg of the weightlifting competition at the Beijing 2008 Olympics in Beijing, Tuesday, Aug. 19, 2008. He dedicated his win to his wife Susann, who was killed in a car accident in 2007. (photo by AP)

Tuesday - Gentle Giant - Once an athletic powerhouse, particularly in the days of East Germany, Germany had had a quiet Olympics until Tuesday when Germans won two marquis events, the men's triathlon and the men's superheavyweight weightlifting. Known primarily as the training partner of countryman Dan Unger, Jan Frodeno surprised the triathlete field (and me) with a powerful 50-meter sprint after 1,500 meters of swimming, 4 -km of biking and 9,950 meters of running, perhaps the most overt display of physical fitness seen so far in these games, and enough for honorable mention for a Michael Phelps Award. Having gained almost 90 lb in the last year, superheavyweight weighlifter Matthius Steiner of Germany would never be mistaken for a fitness buff. But the extra weight helped carry him to a gold medal winning clean-and-jerk lift of 258 kg (almost 569 lb), just enough to beat his Russian challenger. When the "gut" (good) signal came from the judges, Steiner dropped the bar and came apart, his emotions spilling all over the lifting platform. At the medal ceremony we learned the reason, other than the thrill of winning gold. In 2007, Steiner's wife had been killed in a car accident. Devotion to lifting and pursuit of the gold medal kept him sane. On the medal stand Steiner displayed his gold medal in one hand and a photo of his wife in the other, and cried openly with both joy and sorrow. For a phenomenal performance and a touching story, Matthius Steiner wins Tuesday's Michael Phelps Award.

The United States team celebrates their win over Cuba in semifinals. (Photo by Jeff Gross/Getty Images)

Wednesday - Best of the Best - A busy day of medical appointments and two nice meals out with my wife limited my Olympic intake. In fact, the best performance I saw happened early Thursday morning, when NBC televised a women's volleyball game between the US and Cuba. In pool play the Cubans whipped the US in three straight sets. The US turned the tables 180 degrees in the semifinal game, winning three straight sets of their own against a progressively more confused and error-prone Cuban team. Particularly impressive in a stellar all-around US performance was veteran Logan Tom, who won points with jump serves, kills, blocks and digs. In fact, Tom has been the US team's high scorer throughout the Olympic tournament, more than 100 total points on service aces, kills and stuff blocks. For being the best of the best on this night, US volleyball star Logan Tom wins Wednesday's Michael Phelps Award.

China's Chen Ruolin won both the women's 10-meter platform diving gold medal and Thursday's Michael Phelps Award. (Photo copyright © 2008 AFP)

Thursday - Perfection Under Pressure - What a pressure-packed moment for a 15-year-old. More than a billion countrymen looked for a gold medal after two straight Olympic upsets in women's platform diving competition; veteran competitor Emilie Heymans of Canada ripped dive after dive to hold a slight lead going into the final dive--China's Chen Ruolin's backward two-and-a-half somersault with one-and-a-half twists--a dive that garnered four 10-point marks and 100.3 points, by far the highest-scoring dive of the competition and enough to win the gold medal by about 10 points. Aware of the historical backdrop and Heyman's performance, Chen admitted a little nervousness, but called on her training and competitive experience to nail the final dive. For being better than she had to be in the most pressure packed situation imaginable, Chen Ruolin wins Thursday's Michael Phelps Award.

US gold medal-winning decathlete Bryan Clay collapses on the track after the 1,500-meter run (photo by dadlak off NBC's television coverage)

Friday - I'm So Tired - American decathlete Bryan Clay put one foot in front of the other often enough in the 1,500-meter run to hang onto a huge lead and win the gold medal in the men's decathlon. Clay led after the Day One events and finished in the top three of every other Day Two event - winning the discus. Clay finished dead last in his decathlon heat, but knew he had enough points to win the gold and the title of "World's Greatest Athlete" when he laid out flat on the track in exhaustion. What Clay may not have known was that his performances were also good enough for Friday's Michael Phelps Award. Honorable mention goes to Argentinian forward Luis Scola, whose 28 points and 11 rebounds kept Redeem Team USA a little worried in their men's semifinal basketball game.

Saturday - Abundance of Excellence - Let's review the candidates.

American men's basketball icon Kobe Bryant, who both played and willed his teammates to a 118-107 win over Spain in last quarter of the gold medal basketball game. This game was really played on Sunday (even in Central Time). We'll hold Bryant for tomorrow.

Kenyan marathoner Samuel Wansiru who won Kenya's first-ever gold medal by running the 26.2 mile course in an Olympic-record 2 hours 6 minutes 32 seconds (4:49 per mile pace) and made it look easy.

Australian diver Matthew Mitcham (just one year out of a career hiatus), who shocked the diving world, especially the Chinese looking for a diving sweep, with an all-time record 112-point (four 10s out of six marks) final dive to take gold in the men's 10-meter platform diving.

Ethiopian distance runner Kenenisa Bekele who added a gold medal in the 5,000-meter run to one he'd already won in the 10,000-meter race. Bekele also set an Olympic record.

American women's basketball star Lisa Leslie, representing both herself and the American team, both of which won their fourth consecutive gold medal. Leslie played on teams that amassed a 32-0 record in four Olympics. Women's basketball couldn't have a better ambassador.

It's hard to ignore any of these, but the next-to-last Michael Phelps Award goes to (drum roll) Samuel Wanjiru for a dominating performance in the marathon, one of the Games' premier events, a new Olympic record by almost 3 minutes in less-than-ideal hot and muggy conditions, and his country's first-ever Olympic gold medal in a race that Kenyans dominate elsewhere throughout the world.

Distinguished honorable mention to the three other very deserving candidates. I've included pictures of all the finalists in the gallery at the top of this report.

Beijing Olympics - Day Eleven (And Tape from Day Ten)

Shelly-Ann Fraser of Jamaica won the women's 100-meter sprint, giving Jamaica a sweep of the men's and women's 100-meter races. Picture: Phil Hillyard

7:30 p.m. - Usain Bolt is back in a men's 200-meter quarterfinal. This was Michael Johnson's event--the runner that Bolt most reminds me of. Bolt cruises to 20.29 victory. World record is 19.32 by Johnson. Literally no sweat. USA's Shawn Crawford finished second and qualified for semifinals.

Thanks, readers! If you Google "phelps best olympic performance award", my post on the "Michael Phelps Award For Best Performance By An Athlete Not Named Michael Phelps" appears third on the front page out of 88,800 hits. Not surprisingly, the rest of the page is occupied by information about awards won by Phelps--most notably an ESPY for Best Olympic Performance (perhaps a nomination, this show was on TV shortly before the Olympics, or perhaps a special award that assumes that no one will win more than eight gold medals in Beijing.)

Walter Dix now in 200-meter quarterfinal. His sixth race (four 100-meters and second in 200-meters). Dix started strong. Finishes second. Winning time for Zimbabwean was 20.23.

Third US runner in next quarterfinal, Wallace Spearmon. Irishman wins. Spearman closes fast to finish second. Holds chain in his mouth for the entire trip.

Dadlak News Item - Anheuser-Busch is apparently working on having "This Is Budweiser" designated as the National Beer Anthem. Chevrolet failed in similar attempt to have John Mellencamp "This Is Our Country" designated as the National Car Anthem.

Women's pole vault is next. We're watching a feature about Russian superstar Elena Isinbaeva. She's taking a nap now while they move the bar up to a height that challenges her.

Stephanie Brown-Trafton of the US wins gold in the women's discus. Uncorked a big throw on her first try. 212' 5". No one could do better. First American winner of the event since 1932.

Can it be? More women's beach volleyball. Women's heroes Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh are featured in a semifinal match. Opponents are from Talita and Renata from Brazil. Winner advances to gold medal match. One-year anniversary of May/Walsh's last loss. "Phelpsian" Score is 1-1. Hot start for US 4-1. Great rescue by May. US leads 12-6. Great hustle by May and great teamwork. Stuff block by Walsh. 14-6. Total domination so far. 15-6 at time out. Now 18-9. Now 18-10. Block by Brazil. Brazil in net. 19-10. Good cut by Talita. 19-11. Walsh kills. 20-11. Many set points. Serve short by Walsh. 20-12. May kills. US wins game. Second set almost the same. US in finals.

Women's trampoline next. China's He Wenna does fabulous performance to take gold. Textbook work. High, straight, spins and twists. Canada second.

Men's still rings. Bulgarian Jordan Joechtel has two problems. Won't medal. Ukrainian Vorobiov does very fine routine. Gets 16.325. Lots of power behind him. Yang Wei next. Gets 16.425 despite looking a little shakier than Vorobiov. Rodrigues from France. Excellent work until dismount. Does back layout. 16.225. Third place. Danger spot with top Chinese gymnast still to come.

Women's uneven bars - Liukin is only US qualifier. Ms. Liukin is in the stands. He Kexin of China gets 16.725. Took step on landing. One other weak point per Daggett. Liukin next. Great landing. Small errors per Daggett. 16.725. Tiebreaker working on the problem. He placed first. Ukraine drops off top bar. 14.875. Nistor of Romania next. Good exercise. Bronze at best. 15.575. Koval from Ukraine. 16.375. Possible bronze medal. Yang Yilin. Fabulous exercise. Close to gold. We'll see. 16.65. Bronze medal. Two left, but unlikely to challenge. Tweddle from Great Britain. 16.625. Outside of medal. Semenova 16.325.



7:40 a.m. - Sanya Richards is lone US qualifier in women's 400-meter final race. Both US and Jamaica have three women in 100-meter final. Now back to men's gymnastics. Yang Wei gets 15.45 on pommel horse. Sasha Artemev is best US hope in this event. Xiao Qin gets 15.875. Now Artemev. Was going great. Then fell off. Back on the horse. Finishes beautifully, but no medal for Artemev. Gets 14.975. British gymnast Louis Simth goes last. Two leg deductions. Very hard dismount. 15.725 - silver medal likely. Ude from Croatia. Great routine. 15.725. Ties for silver. No medal for Yang Wei. Gold medal for Xiao Qin.

My family explained the Chevy crossover commercial to me. It features a guy with no shirt ironing clothes and scrubbing a toilet, with a cutaway to Chevy's new crossover in the middle. The ad is aimed at women, telling them that Chevy's vehicle is as great as having a hunky guy who likes to do housework.

Women's floor exercise next. Liukin and Johnson competing for US. Johnson starts. Great routine. No one lands like her. One extra step on a one landing. 15.50. Very close to her all-around score. Kramarenko from Russia - 15.025. Jiang Yuyuan of China next. Very strong - five tumbling runs. Chinese fans love her. 15.35. Good for second. Dos Santos from Brazil. Bounced out of bounds. Again. Too many trips OB to medal. 14.975. Now Pavlova from Russia. She got a "zero" in vault. Left too soon. Stumbled on one landing. A little short. Lands another on her knees. No medal for Pavlova. Cheng Fei next. Biggest threat left for gold. Stumbled out of pirouette. Bad fall on tumbling run. No gold it would appear. Chung Fei very upset. 14.55. No medal at all. Lowest score yet. Liukin next. Great routine. 15.425. Silver medal performance perhaps. But still one left. Izbasa from Romania. Got 15.55 in team competition. Fabulous exercise. No missteps. 15.65. Gold medalist. Johnson and Liukin take silver and bronze. No medal for China. No apologies by Izbasa. She was the best in this event and as Bela Karoyli said, the top three will be on the podium.

Jamaica vs. US in women's 100-meter dash. Kerron Stewart of Jamaica is the race favorite. No Jamaican woman has won a gold medal. Muna Lee of US is very thin. Sherone Simpson of Jamaica is more muscualr. Ferguson-McKenzie from Bahamas. Shelly-Ann Fraser of Jamaica, just 21-years-old. Torrie Edwards of US. Veteran of US team. Lauren Williams of US--great in big meets. Jeanette Kwayke of Great Britain in Lane 9. Fraser runs away with it. 10.78. Jamaica both second and third. Actually tied for second. 0.2 second margin of victory. First ever sweep in women's 100-meter by any country. Ms. Fraser is one happy woman. Can hardly talk through her smile.

Lopez Lomong competing in men's 1,500-meter run semifinal. Not a sure thing to make the final. In fact, he finishes 12th behind leggy winner Kiprop of Kenya and many others. Bernard Lagat of US (formerly of Kenya) runs in second semi. International field in this one. Seems like all continents are represented except South America and Australia. Lagat dropping back, but in better position on the track. Lagat making his move. Has to get to top four. Now in fifth. Lagat struggles in. Only 6th or 7th. Bahrain wins. Lagat thinks he will get in on time. Was not good enough. Misses by 0.02. No Americans in final.

Men's 110-meter hurdles next. Liu Xiang of China is favorite. Defending gold medalist - first ever track gold for China. Struggling with sore Achilles tendon. Withdraws after a false start. Now sitting with ice on Achilles.

Must be watching women's triathlon on USA. Didn't realize this was an Olympic sport. It looks like women's marathon, but I knew they already ran that race. 10-km run going on now. Bike already happened. Not sure about swimming. Kallie would really have a problem with this event - long swims and long runs. It appears that running is the last leg. Australian Emma Snowsill is leading by 15 seconds, but only one lap completed out of four.

11:50 a.m. Finally table tennis on MSNBC. Austria vs. South Korea in the men's team competition. Chen for Austria; Ryu for Korea. Ryu leads 9-8. Ryu gets bronze medal for South Korea if he wins. South Korea already up 2-1 in this team match. 10-9 for Ryu. 11-9, Game One for Ryu. Looks like best 3-of-5 to 11. I reached my athletic peak in this sport in college when I could compete with players who were much superior athletes to me otherwise. We used to play tennis sets - to six games at 21 points per game. Chen born in China. Austrian citizen since 2000. Chen up 3-2 in Game Two. Ryu won individual gold in Athens. Now 4-4. Ryu is offensive player with killer forehand. Chen playing defense. Hoping that Ryu will make errors. Now 5-5. Ryu just missed. Now 6-5 for Ryu. 7-5. They take a short break. Chen goes for a return and misses 8-5. 9-5 on big slam. 10-5. Game Ryu. 11-5. Leads two games to none. Outcome looks pretty inevitable.

Hope they show some of single's competition--expected to be among biggest draws on Chinese TV, along with women's volleyball and men's 110-meter hurdles. Audience for that one shrank when Chinese hero Liu Xiang dropped out.

Capitol One has one of the funniest commercials where superhero the Armadillo designs his new credit card. His wife surprises him and he rolls up into a ball, just like the real thing. His manservant delivers the surprising punchline, "Ooh, guacamole!" and digs into the snack that Armadillo's wife just brought.

Chen wins a long rally. Then Ryu whiffs. 2-2. Chen misses into net twice. 4-2 Ryu. Slam by Ryu. Return long, 5-2. Timeout by Austria. China and Germany will compete for team gold. Now 6-2. Forehand return long. Too much spin by Chen. Ryu hits long. Another winner. 7-3. Ryu plays many from side of the table. 8-4, Ryu. Chen gets a slam. 8-5. Chen misses long. 9-5. Rally scoring. Winner of point gets to serve. Ryu misses 9-6. Ryu misses serve. 9-7. Korean timeout. Big drive by Ryu, 10-7. Medal point for Korea. Chen whiffs. Ryu wins, 11-7. South Korea wins bronze in men's team table tennis.

Gold medal men's table tennis doubles between China and Germany. Best of five games. China leads 2-1. They already won two singles matches. One more game for China and they win gold. Wang/Wang for China. Boll/Suss for Germany. 2-1 for China. 3-2 China. Germany hits long 4-2. Long again. 5-2. Germany down two matches and two games. At the edge of the cliff. 6-2. China long 6-3. China slam. 7-3. China backhand winner 8-3. Germany gets one back. 8-4. Towel off. China long. Good hit by Suss. 8-5. Big forehand by China. 9-5. Two points. China long 9-6. Germany long. 10-6. Many gold medal points. China long. 10-7. China wins next point and gold medal.

More men's beach volleyball. Rosenthal and Gibb vs. Brazilian team of Emanuel and Ricardo--reigning gold medalists. Brazil leads 17-15. Ricardo is quite a physical speciment. 6'7" and 240 lb. Built like a tight end. Strongest offensive and defensive player for Brazil. Heard some chanting. Knew there had to be Brazilians in the crowd. Gibb blocks 17-16. Kill by Emanuel. 18-16. Brazilians have achieved one name status. Rosenthal off Ricardo block. 18-17. Easy kill by Ricardo. 19-17. Ricardo stuff block of Rosenthal. 20-17 Brazil. Serve out. 20-18. Ricardo pushes it over. 21-18. Brazil wins first game.

3-all in second game. Not sure the stakes in this match. Maybe a semifinal. Seems like they've been playing forever. But could be quarterfinal. Definitely not a medal game. Brazil prevails, 21-16. They advance to semis to play their countrymen, who also have just one name each.

Sorry for rolling through men's water polo between Australia and Montenegro without comment. Not sure who won. Do know that Montenegro has only been an independent nation for about two years (used to be part of Serbia; part of Yugoslavia before that).

Back to baseball. US vs. China. US winning. The mysterious John Gall flies to left to end an inning.

Beijing Olympics - Day Five; Summer Olympics 1980 thru 1996

7:00 p.m. - More swimming, gymnastics, beach volleyball and synchronized diving highlight tonight's program. Lots of smog on a Wednesday morning in Beijing. The women's gymnastics team competition takes center stage - with the U.S and China expected to take the top two spots. Bela Karoli's advice to the U.S. girls - "stay on the apparatus" - pretty basic stuff.

But we start with women's synchronized platform diving. Early dives are simple, so synchronization is almost perfect. China and US get TV attention as usual.

Commercial note - I'm enjoying the new United Airlines commercial featuring Gershwin music and artsy graphics. Sure beats "juicy chicken" and "Car Wars".

A Mexican team is in the top four. Chinese team is very young - just 15 and 16. Their second dive is almost perfect. They hold first place--even getting a score of 10 from one judge. Diving has maintained the 10 point scale, although this is split between technical competence and synchronization. After two dives, China is #1 followed by North Korea, Australia, Mexico and US. This is first mention I've seen of North Korea, though there dive wasn't shown.

Budweiser's commercial works hard to remind us about the American nature of their beer--baseball, Statue of Liberty--everything but apple pie and Chevrolet. Business followers know that Anheuser-Busch sold out recently to a Belgian conglomerate.

Architecture of the various venues is spectacular - the Bird's Nest outdoor stadium and Ice Cube natatorium being the most prominent.

US pair lose it on their third dive. Scores are low as one diver overrotated. Mexico does their third dive well. They move ahead of US. Chinese divers are essentially perfect again. Average score of 9--back in front. Australia also very good--almost no splash on forward 3-1/2 somersault--great synch. They move into second. North Korea drops back. US now 8th.

US 4th dive is better, but not good enough as one diver comes up short. Mexican start fourth dive in third place. Both overrotate--but they end up together. Lower marks for execution; high for synch. Keeps them in medal hunt. China tries inward 3-1/2. A little over, but very well synched. Back to first place. Aussies hold on to second. China is way ahead. Australia and Mexico fighting for silver and bronze on last dive.

US does better on last dive. Technical aspect better. More than 80 points. No mark lower than seven. Mexico next. Good dive. Probably medal worthy. 83 points. Medal almost assured. China next--maybe their best. 90 points. Gold medals ahead. Canada next. Way too much splash ("a tidal wave" says the analyst). Mexico gets a medal. Aussies are last. Beautiful dive. Should win silver. 87 points. Silver it is. China, Australia and Mexico in that order. US finishes fifth.

Back to Olympic memories - Carl Lewis must have won some medals in LA. He won gold in three Olympics...I forget which ones.

Moving onto 1988 in Seoul, I remember taping events on my VCR to watch later. For some reason, sculling sticks in my mind. I remember that basketball was a big disappointment. It may have been so in '84 as well. Georgetown coach John Thompson coached the team in one of those years and won only a bronze medal. After 1988 it was clear that the world had caught up to America's amateur players. The Dream Team of 1992 would be born of that realization.

From Seoul I also remember a story about local restauranteurs being asked to remove dog from their menus. Apparently dogs are meat rather than pets in Korea.

The 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, Spain are memorable for the amazing architecture of Gaudi in that city - NBC's producers just loved it. Otherwise the US basketball "Dream Team" still resonates most clearly. After the embarrasments of 1984 and 1988, the US sicced Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Michael Jordan and their friends on the world of international basketball. Their average margin of victory was about 40 points. But by 2004, the gap was closed again as the US took another embarrassing bronze.

Back to 2008 and men's beach volleyball. Tonite, Dalhausser and Rogers face Baracetti and Conde from Argentina. This pool is "wide open" after Latvia beat the top US team in the first match and Argentina beat Latvia. The Americans take an early 4-2 lead. Argentina gets some placement shots to pull within 5-6. Dalhausser and Rogers have lenses in the their sunglasses today. US now up 9-5.

I failed to mention a couple of fascinating events from the weekend - the men's and women's cycling road races. The men rode more than 200 km; the women about 100 km. The women's race was contested in a downpour that resulted in one rider falling into a very wet ditch. Even after 200 km, the men's race came down to a 50 meter sprint. NASCAR would have been proud.

Back to men's beach volleyball. US leads 11-8 after the commercial - play proceeds while we watch Car Wars. 12-9 at the 7-point break. Rogers has $10,000 worth of sand in his own backyard beach volleyball court. Surprisingly, the Argentinians aren't blocking Rogers' spikes. US now up 15-9.

My mom and dad went to the 1996 Atlanta games. My sharpest memories are of the explosion in Olympic Park and of Michael Johnson's blistering work as a double gold medal winner (200 meter and 400 meter) in track. In retrospect, I should have found a way to be there, but I was just taking a new job at the time. I lived just 500 miles away from Atlanta at the time.

Argentina continues to play passively. They trail 18-10. Unclear how the Latvians beat these guys. Another bunt wins a point for Argentina. Now 19-11. Dalhausser serves long. 19-12. Service error by Argentina. Game point. Dalhausser spikes the winner. Weak game for Argentina.

Score is 4-4. Had to go pick up daughter at the movies. Hope that Rogers and Dalhausser held on.

While I was gone, Michael Phelps (you've probably heard of him) won the men's 200-meter butterfly in world record time for fourth gold medal of these games and tenth overall. The latter figure is an all-time Olympic record for any athlete.

Women's team gymnastics will probably occupy the rest of the evening. The US is starting the vault, their first rotation. Bridget Sloan gets 15.2 for a very nice vault. Shawn Johnson's vault includes a crossover step on the landing. Not as elegant as Sloan's. China averaged 15.45 on vault. Johnson gets 16.0 despite the inelegant landing. Another clean vault by Alicia Sacramone 15.75. US averaged 15.625. Russia leads after one rotation. They did the uneven bars.

Memmel opens on bars with a solid routine. Her only performance. 15.70, I backcalculate. Johnson follows with her usual excellent performance. 15.35 for Shawn. Nastia Liukin is third. Her beautiful long legs show well as do her amazing moves. Great routine and dismount with only a small step. She fell off the bars on her qualifying routine. Was completely solid on this one. 16.9--highest score of any man or woman. Analyst thinks it's too low. US averages 15.99 on bars.

Zipping over to swimming--women's 200-meter individual medley. Aussie Stephanie Rice is the favorite. She won the 400-meter IM. Katie Hoff and Natalie Coughlin are US hopes. Kirsty Coventry is a big threat. Rice wins gold in photo finish over Coventry in WR 2:08.45. Coughlin gets the bronze.

More women's team gymnastics. China needs 16.17 on bars to take overall lead. China gets 15.975 from first gymnast. Yang Yi Lin is next. Great routine. We await the score.

Men's 4 x 200-meter freestyle relay. Phelps will leadoff for the American team. Americans are heavily favored. Phelps already a body length ahead before 100 meters. Phelps swims 1:46 and change. He swam less than an hour ago in the 200-meter butterfly. US is 2.5 seconds ahead of Russia. US is 3.4 seconds ahead of world record pace. Lakte swam 1:44. Ricky Behrens swimming now. Now 4 seconds under WR pace. US has won this race 14 times out of 22 contests over the years. Vanderkaay in now. A lonely swim for PVK. 7 minutes is the target. Will be very close. May hurt that no one is challenging him. Phelps cheerleading. PVK swims 1:44. 6:58.56; almost 5 seconds under previous WR. Second place goes to Russia, five seconds back. Phelps has five golds and five world records.

China took more than 1 point lead into balance beam. Their first gymnast Cheng Fei goes off the beam. Loses 0.8. Scores 15.15. Next girl also loses balance but stays on. Gets 15.925. Third girl has several balance checks, but nails the landing. Scored 16.05. Average 15.71.

US follows China on this event. Alicia misses the mount. 0.8 deduction. Maybe the end of US gold hopes. Another balance check. Good dismount. She gets 15.1. Liukin next. One balance check, otherwise perfect. Gets 15.975. Johnson anchors. Very solid routine. Makes it look like she couldn't do otherwise. 16.175. US now exactly 1.000 point behind.

Alicia opens on floor exercise. Finishes one tumbling run on her butt. Further damage to gold medal hopes. 14.125. Probably fatal damage. Liukin next. She goes OB. 0.1 deduction. Otherwise looks good. 15.20. Johnson next. Just OB for 0.1 deduction. Fabulous tumbling and energy. US all done.

Chinese women (girls) do their floor ex. Tiny #1 and playful #2 (performing to Ratatouille, according to Kallie) both score 15.1. Team leader Cheng Fei needs only 13.1 to claim gold medal. She gets 15.5, performing to music especially composed for the exercise. China wins gold by 2.375, more than Alicia's two errors were worth. Maybe she can feel a little better and get on to the all-around competition. Right now she doesn't look very comforted.


10 a.m. - We start with men's beach volleyball. The weather today is a lot better than at the last men's beach volleyball game, which was played in a downpour, complete with lightning. Gibb and Rosenthal dismantle the Germans, 21-15, 21-12.

Now they're showing the final heat of the women's 200-meter butterfly. The human interest story was about Polish swimmer Otylia Jedrzejczak, who auctioned her 2004 gold medal and gave $80,000 to a children's cancer hospital. Later she was at the wheel during a horrific car accident that killed her beloved brother. Now she's back at the Olympics and not swimming particularly well, missing the semifinals in her first two events. She swam well this time, finishing third in the heat and qualifying for the semifinals.

I found a video of the opening ceremony at http://www.nbcolympics.com/. It's not HD, but likely the best I can do.

In the next swimming race the US men's 4 x 200-meter relay team won their semifinal to advance to the final later today. The semifinal team included three swimmers who won't swim in the final. The US coach gets to pick the one who will join Michael Phelps and two established teammates.

Oh boy! Men's kayaking is next. It's sort of a wet version of alpine skiing. I remember coverage from an Olympics of years ago (Seoul or Barcelona) that I found very entertaining. The first two paddlers we see are from Togo and France. They get through unscathed. Number three is from Slovenia, Peter Kauzer. He looks good for awhile but his kayak goes astray near the end and he misses the final. He slams his paddle across the front of his kayak.

First we see in the finals is Grimm from Germany. The winner is based on total time. He makes it look easy and leads by 5 seconds. Frenchman Lefevre is next. He looks good too, but finishes 1.6 seconds behind in second. Australian Draper is next. He starts with a 1.2 second advantage. He won't catch Grimm. Benjamin Boukpeti (photo above by Reuters) from Togo is last. Going for Togo's first medal of any kind. He's the biggest guy in a kayak. Just barely ahead of Grimm partway down. Held on for the bronze. Broke his paddle in celebration. Go Togo!

Now it's US vs. Italy in men's water polo. US leads 10-8 with 5 minutes left. Pass to center. Shot and goal for Italy. 10-9. Bounced it off the goalie's head. Only took 30 seconds. Penalty on Italy. US calls timeout. Power play for US. High shot and score just as penalty expired. 11-9. 3:45 left. Offensive foul on Italy. Ball over to US. Pass to middle. Open shot and goal. 12-9. 3 minutes left. Italy scores again. 12-10 with 2 minutes left. Another timeout for US.

Nine different players have scored for US. US has ball. Power play. Shot swallowed by goalie. Shot and score for Italy. 12-11. Went under goalie's arm. 1 minute left. Shot blocked by goalie--goes OB. US retains possession. 0:45 left. Italy takes over with 24 seconds left! Power play with 15 seconds left. Pass goes long, no shot, clock expires. US wins 12-11.

NBC clears the air for its soap opera lineup at 1 p.m. I move to MSNBC for more Olympic men's tennis coverage. To my daughter's delight, we see Raffa Nadal "he's dreamy" against Aussie Lleyton Hewitt. Nadal won the first set, and leads the second set 1-0. Hewitt just won a great rally with a stretch volley that just touched the top of his racket. Break point for Hewitt. Nadal nets a forehand to even the set at 1-1. This is a round of 32 match. It seems like Hewitt might be a little higher seeded than 31st. Hewitt holds on to serve to lead 2-1 after Nadal tries a strange drop shot rather than rip a winner.

Back to Olympic memories. The 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles were a US lovefest, particularly after the Soviet Union and its allies followed through on their threat to boycott in retaliation for the US boycott of the Moscow Games in 1980. The US baseball team, led by future major leaguers Mark McGwire and Will Clark, was a big story, but the biggest was the US female gymnastics team, led by indomitable Mary Lou Retton, who did her final vault on an injured leg. The '84 games also ushered in the age of Olympic sponsorship. Marketing ace Peter Ueberroth organized the game and committed to running a profitable enterprise, unlike the 1976 games in Montreal, which ran up debt that Canadians paid on for decades.

Nadal breaks serve to take a 3-2 lead, then holds to get to 4-2. Hewitt has only won 6 of 29 points on his second serve. Nadal rips a forehand to break the next Hewitt serve. He leads 5-2 and will serve for the match. I try to root for underdog Hewitt. Kallie reminds me that my cause is lost--Nadal is too pretty to lose. Hewitt wins the first two points on Nadal's serve. Now love-40. Nadal has one more break to work with. Wins next point on a volley. 15-40. Drop volley good. 30-40. Another short volley gets the game back to deuce. Service winner puts Nadal at match point. Another service winner--Nadal wins 6-1, 6-2 to advance to round of 16.