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 Nine - The Year of Eights - "That Guy Can Run"

9:15 a.m. - I got up just in time for the USA-Spain men's basketball game. Good timing. Game tied at 11 after five-plus minutes of play. As always, LeBron James has been the US's best player. Kobe Bryant picked up two early fouls. Coach K sends in Dwayne Wade as a replacement. Nice option to have. James made two free throws and a three. Score now 16-13. Paul and Williams in the backcourt. Wade playing small forward. Steal and dunk by Wade. Sixth turnover for Spain. James and Bosh are the big men. Another steal by Wade. Spain's featured players are Pao Gasol of the Lakers and Jose Calderon of the Raptors. Paul at foul line. Makes two. US leads by seven. Ricky Rubio at line for Spain. 17-years-old. Makes two. Anthony answers with a three. 23-15. Rubio has been likened to Pete Maravich. Has shaggy haircut. Rubio makes one free throw. Turned pro at age 14. Some Spaniards have first name on shirt; others have last name. Paul makes two free throws. 25-16. Two fouls on Gasol. Paul feeds Anthony for dunk. Paul length of court to Wade. Reverse layup. 29-16. Fabulous start for US. Led by defense, but supported by better 3-point shooting. Two free throws for Marc Gasol, brother of Pao. That's why his first name is on his jersey. Marc G. hits 29-20. Bad pass by Williams. Spain playing zone defense for first time. Berni Rodriguez makes a layup. Scramble at both ends. Wade grabs it and goes in for the dunk. 31-20. Ten turnovers for Spain. Another great quarter for Wade.

Prior to US-Spain, China nipped Germany by four to reach medal round. Prince drains open three. 34-24. Prince alley oop pass to James for one-hand dunk. 36-24. Juan Carlos Navarro scores from the lane - played for Memphis last year. Gasol blocks Prince's shot. Prince gets it back. Foul on Spain. Offensive foul on Howard. Push off. Steal and Kobe dunk. 38-26. Good passing leads to open shot for Gasol. 38-28. Technical foul on Spain. Bryant misses first free throw. Makes second. 39-28. Good passing, but Bosh can't finish. Good inside move by Gasol. Makes shot and will shoot free throw. 39-30. Makes free throw. 39-31. James hits three. 42-31. US 5 for 8 from outside. Bryant hits three. 45-31. Biggest lead of game. Kobe fouls Marc Gasol. His third foul. Tough matchup. Gasol much bigger. Steal by James. Wade misses layup. Gasol dunks. 45-33. Spain shooting 65%, but have too many turnovers - 13. Anthony makes. 47-33. Anthony fouls Marc Gasol. Two free throws. Marc G. is a big man. His nickname is "The Tank". Will play with Memphis next year. Was traded for his brother. Another foul by Anthony. His third. 47-36. Three free throws altogether. Foul on Spain. James to Wade for dunk. Three seconds on Spain. 49-36. Williams hits three. 52-36. Williams layup. 54-36. Steal by James then turnover. Travel on Spain. Defended by James. 15th turnover, at least. Timeout. 3 minutes left in half. Foul on Marc Gasol. Paul makes a free throw. And another. 56-36. Garbajosa makes three for Spain. 56-39. 16 turnovers for Spain. Timeout.

Williams misses layup. Steal by Wade. Offensive foul on Wade. Prince fouls Rubio. Makes both. 56-41. Wade to Prince. Prince fouled in the act. Short with first. Makes second. 57-41. Great pass from Rubio to Rudy Fernandez for dunk. 57-43. Paul turnover. Paul rebounds Rubio miss. Paul races past defense. Fouled on drive. Boozer on for Prince. Paul makes two. 59-43. James rebounds a miss. Misses three. Less than 1 minute left in first half. Spain goes to line. Makes two. Boozer misses. Fernandez misses. Boozer scores on second rebound just before buzzer. 61-45. Spain shot too early; allowed extra time for US to score. Halftime. Shower time.

Great half by James. 14 points, 4 steals, 3 assists. Too many fouls and turnovers for US. Second half starts with a US flurry. Lead balloons to 72-48. Last bucket is layup by Jason Kidd, heretofore scoreless and without a shot in the tournament. Talk is that Spain will "experiment" for the rest of this game. Marc Gasol makes 72-52. Bryant misses three. Dishwasher empty. Kitchen clean. Back to the ballgame. Score is 86-63 after Bosh dunk from James. End of third quarter.

Paul hits jumper. 88-63. Turnover by Spain. Wade dunks. 90-63. Wade follows own miss. 92-66. Turnover by Wade. He takes a seat. Prince steals. Kobe misses. Howard misses layup. Lob to Gasol. 92-68. Williams misses layup. 3 for Spain. 92-71. Timeout US. Howard makes and gets fouled. Makes free throw. 98-71. Rebound and outlet pass. Redd makes and gets fouled. 100-71. Misses free throw. Turnover for Spain. US still playing defense. Williams deflects pass OB. Paul lobs to Howard. 102-71. 4 minutes left. Boozer in for Howard. Williams drives and scores on reverse. 104-71. Bleak second half for Spain. 12-0 run for US after they already had 21 point lead. Ten 3-pointers for US today. US-Germany on Monday. Last game of pool play. Pao dunks. Great pass to Williams for layup. Steal, Paul to Williams 108-73. Three for Spain. Lookaway pass from Paul to Redd for dunk. No D from Spain. 110-76. All US players have scored. Prince three. 113-76. Spain putback. 113-78. Boozer fouled on shot. US women's team in attendance. Boozer makes one. 114-78. Bad game for Calderon. He makes two free throws. 114-80. James to Boozer for layup. 116-80. Eight assists for James. Spain layup. Paul to Prince for three. 119-82. Prince misses three. Spain misses last three. Game over. Yikes. 58% shooting from field. 28 Spain turnovers.

Men's indoor cycling (pursuit) is next. NBC shows nice human interest story about US rider Taylor Phinney, whose father (a former Olympic cyclin medalist) is recovering from Parkinson's Disease. Unfortunately, Phinney loses his semifinal race to New Zealander Hayden Roulston, who apparently was not shown the video segment. Roulston, dressed in villainous black, has a medical condition all his own, some lengthy syndrome that means shortness of breath--very unfortunate for a competitive bicyclist. Roulston's opponent in the final is Brit Bradley Wiggins. I'm guessing he'll show no mercy for Roulston's medical condition. Of course, Wiggins has his own medical condition story (now healed). He was sick during the British qualifying for the Olympics. Wiggins leads slightly about halfway thru the race. Wiggins now 0.2 seconds ahead. Now 0.7. Now 1.2. Now 2.0. Looks like Wiggins will win. 2.4. Lap by lap, his lead grows. Again 2.4. Just one lap to go. Wiggins wins by 2.7 second. Gold medal for Bradley Wiggins. Repeats his 2004 triumph.

Now women's badminton. Both players from China. One set each. Zhang leads Xie 13-6. Announcer Jim C. has highlight. Describes shuttlecock as "landing like a butterfly with sore feet." He had to think that one up in advance. Xie coming back. 13-9. Just long 13-10. Great rally, Zhang's shot hits net and comes back. 31 shots on that rally. Commercial.

Back from commercial. Xie bunts into net. 20-17 Zhang. Gold medal point #1. Zhang won in Athens. Xie saves it. 20-18. Gold medal point #2. Xie was #1 seed. Xie hits into next. Zhang wins gold. Shots low and close to net are most dangerous.

Women's single sculls next. Favorites are from Bulgaria, Belarus and China. Spectators cycle alongside the course. Maybe those are the coaches. Czech Republic leads. Announcers nightmare - Czech, Bulgaria, Belarus--though Karsten is pretty easy to say, compared to Knapkova. Great event for a blimp shot. Bulgaria leads over Czech. Now Belarus second. I can't keep up with the history, but one competitor beat another by 0.01 seconds in 2000. American Guerrette in second. Very surprising. Bulgarian Neykova gets gold. Guerrette gets silver. Belarus Karsten gets bronze.

I missed men's single sculls. Now showing men's double sculls. We are rooting for American team, the Winklevosses - great name, but they are well behind. Canada and Australia lead the race. Aussies lead. Winklevosses about 20 seconds back. But they're OK; got a big settlement from Facebook in a legal case. They finished 30 seconds behind the leaders and 18 seconds behind fifth place South Africa. Australia wins gold; Canada silver; New Zealand gets bronze. One of their rowers is named Twaddle. Kallie notes that both Winklevoss and Twaddle sound like names out of a Harry Potter book.

Now women's double sculls. New Zealand and China are favorites. US in finals, but not favored. Each paddler has two oars, unlike the men's race. Not sure what that's about. Kallie thinks its sculling vs. rowing. China and Germany in front. New Zealand and Great Britain next. Now Germany leads. New Zealand inching into second. Germany about half-boat ahead of New Zealand. Great Britain in third. Best closers. Kiwis now very close to Germans. New Zealand wins gold by 0.01 second, on last stroke. Germany second. Great Britain third.

I missed a men's fours rowing race while making lunch. Men's water polo on now. US vs. Croatia. Probably a pool game (well, obviously that) rather than medal round. Croatia is world's top-ranked team and defending gold medalist, but US leads 6-4 with 4 minutes left. US just scored after Croatia cut the margin to one goal. 3:30 left. Upset of "epic"proportions in store. "Epic" is favorite word of this Olympics, led by Phelps' seven gold medal. Now 3 minutes to go. US could advance to medal round. Last won Olympic medal in 1988. "Titanic" upset. Penalty on US. Croatia scores. 6-5. Four of five Croatia goals on power play. 2 minutes left. No goal; foul on Croatia. Power play for US. Needs a goal here. Into center and a goal! 7-5, US. Beautiful pass. Croatian defender unhappy. 1:30 left. Offensive foul on Croatia. 70 seconds left. Offensive foul on US. 50 seconds. Croatia timeout. 41 seconds left. Power play for Croatia. US steals. They'll win! Final score, 7-5 USA.

Women's trampoline next. This optional round takes 16 competitors down to 8. Jumping inside the box is important. American Erin Blanchard didn't do it very well and probably won't qualify for final round.

What did we do before Car Wars and the breakfast chicken sandwich at McDonalds?

Great work by Chinese performer until she fell. Not sure what happened. Only 59 points total, not in top eight.

Romanian trampolinist (?) next. She stays suspended in air while HD transmission is interrupted. She'll be off the air before coverage returns. She's Canadian when NBC comes back. Nice score for her. Places fourth. Guarantees her the medal round.

Men's trampoline next. Fabulous performance by China's Dong Dong - 71 points overall. Difficulty of 16.2. Looked like a demo tape of how to score high on trampoline.

Ukraine next. He ends up with almost 71 points. Lost a little height during his 10 skills. Will qualify for finals.

Lu Chunlong of China next. Everything dead center. Again lost a little height from beginning to end, but that doesn't seem too important. He finishes first; teammate second. US competitor didn't make the finals

Great story from reporter Jimmy Roberts about ping pong diplomacy in the early '70s. A chance meeting between US player Jimmy Cowan and the then Chinese world champion sparked a change in Chinese foreign policy, which for 21 years had cut the country off entirely from the US. Later the US table tennis team was invited to China as honored guests to play a match. Shortly thereafter President Nixon visited China, perhaps the high point of his presidency. Thiry-six years later a modernized China hosts the world in the Beijing Olympics.

Ever more men's beach volleyball. Gibb and Rosenthal play a Spanish team. The Spaniards lead 17-16 in first set. Now tied at 17. Now tied at 19. Americans save a set point. Then Spain saves one. 21-21. Gibb kills. 22-21. Rosenthal bunts wide. Surprising he didn't kill to open court. Kills next one. Now 23-22. Kill by Spain. Gibb kills. 24-23. Gibb's middle name is Spiker (mom's maiden name). Mesa kills for Spain. 24-all. Service error by Spain. 5th set point for US. Gibb wins joust. Ball falls on Spain side. 26-24. Great dig by Rosenthal.

This is a knockout round. 16 teams started the round. Second set tied at 4. Nice bunt by Mesa. 5-4 Spain. Gibb kills. 5-5. Rosenthal digs one Mesa spike. Next one lands clean. 6-5 Spain. Rosenthal kills 6-6. Now tied at 7. Commercial.

Took a nap there. Live blogging the Olympics can be tiring. Will look up who won the beach volleyball match.

7:50 p.m. - Been watching women's marathon for awhile. Now NBC is showing the men's 100-meter semifinals on tape. Dix and Bolt are featured runners. Dix is 5-time NCAA champ. Bolt runs 9.85 into a slight headwind. Again looking around, as he did in 9.92 second prelim yesterday. He's a 200-meter specialist, but he figured out 100-meter pretty quickly. Analyst is upset - Bolt just jogged 0.01 better than his personal best.

Back to live coverage of women's marathon. Romanian is running about 50 meters ahead about an hour from the finish. There's a large pack of about 30 runners behind her.

Second men's 100-meter semifinal. American Tyson Gay in this one. Nursing sore hamstring. Asafa Powell also in this heat. Powell was former world recordholder. Powell wins and Gay finishes fifth, out of the final. Gay says he was 100%, but "not his day." Dix and Patton will represent US in final.

Constanina Tomescu Dita (had to look up that spelling) of Romania is 34 seconds ahead in the women's marathon. Now by 50 seconds. Stadium is almost full just to see finish of marathon in about 50 minutes. Only event of morning track session. Ran her last mile in 5:16. Will see if she crashes and burns near the end. Has had trouble finishing long races. Still eight miles to go. 55 seconds ahead. Tomescu Dita is 38 years old. Now 57 seconds ahead. Seems to be struggling a little more. Chase pack has spread out a little. Just five runners in lead group. Now eight in second pack. Includes two runners from China.

Tomescu Dita not looking to see how far the other runners are behind. Runners are coached not too look back. Good analysis about how she might get a clue about her lead - a quick look on a turn; listening for crowd reaction--though the crowd is well off the race course--on the other side of the wide boulevard with a median in between.

Tomescu Dita still leads by almost one minute. Less than six miles to go. 52 seconds. Analysts say that chase pack needs to work more together. Hazy cool morning in Beijing. Sight of Birdsnest will give leader a shot of adrenalin. Race now 2:06 hours old.

Now 2:10. Took a peek at 2:09. Now 1 minute ahead. 2:14. To commercial for Olympics soundtrack. Now AT&T - almost as familiar as McDonalds and Car Wars. The merger commercial is cute.

Just one mile to go. 2:17. Tomescu Dita still 1 minute ahead. Sure gold barring total collapse. Two China and two Kenya are in contention for silver and bronze. Less than one mile. Tomescu makes hairpin turn on way to Birdsnest entrance. Kenya and China battling for silver. Kenya leads. Tomescu Dita wins gold in 2:26.44. Kenya and China in a sprint for silver. Kenya's Ndereba gets silver. China's Zhou gets bronze. About 30 seconds behind. Tomescu taking victory lap. Oldest ever winner of women's marathon. World recordholder Paula Radcliffe is struggling to finish. In obvious pain.

Back to pool. Former British PM Tony Blair in attendance. Women's 50-meter freestyle. All eyes on US's Dara Torres. 41-years-old. Already oldest women to win Olympic gold at 33 in 2000. Aussies Cate Campbell and Libby Trickett are threats. Campbell is 16. Britta Steffen of Germany outtouches Torres by 0.01 for gold. Campbell third. Winning time 24.06. Steffen wins both 100-meter an 50-meter sprints. Like Phelps last race, Steffen won with her last stroke. Was behind the whole way. I thought that race was between Torres and Campbell, which Torres won.

Men's 1500-meter freestyle next. Australian Grant Hackett going for third consecutive Olympic gold in this event. Larsen Jensen is lone America. Ous Mellouli from Tunisia in Lane 7. Our favorite name. Hackett hasn't lost this race in 11 years. Ous, Hackett and Cochran are right together. Ous about a body ahead with 350-meters left. Still Mellouli at 300-meters. Mellouli still ahead at 200-meters. Now more than a body length. Hackett second. Mellouli still ahead 1.4 seconds with 100 meters to go. Hackett thrashing. Now 0.7 ahead. Hackett pulling hard. First-ever swimming medal for Tunisia, gold won by Ous Mellouli. 14:48. Hackett second for silver. Canada's Cochran wins bronze. Last individual gold of 2008 Olympic swim meet.

Men's 4 x 100 - medley relay with Phelps will end all Olympic swimming for this year. Women will race 4 x 100 medley relay first. Lezak should have lead going into the men's freestyle leg. Torres will swim anchor leg for US women in the relay. Torres goes straight from her medal ceremony to the ready room for the relay.

Women's 4 x 100 medley relay next. Australia heavily favored - Seebohm, Jones, Schipper, Trickett. US sends Coughlin, Soni, Magnuson and Torres, all medal winners. Coughlin and Soni are US best. Several contenders for bronze. Coughlin with lead after 50. Stretching it out. Soni in pool. Very close for first. Jones catching up. Russia leading. Jones staying with the Russian. Soni very close. All ahead of world record pace. Schipper and Magnuson in fly leg. Schipper ahead by about a body. Two-team race. Maybe one. Trickett vs. Torres at end. Torres making up ground. Half body length left. Now falling back. Australia wins gold in WR time of 3:52.69. Silver for US in 3:53.30, an American record. Great swimming but Australia just too good. Jones won this race for Australia. 1:04 for the breaststroke. Sweden DQ'd for false start. Australia wins gold. China wins bronze. Coughlin medalled in all six events. Great interview by Andrea Kramer with American women. They were pleased with their performance and gracious about the faster Australians.

Men's 400-meter medley is next. Chance for Michael Phelps to get his eighth gold medal. US favored, but total best times are close. Likely that freestyle anchor Jason Lezak will have to hold off Aussie Eamon Sullivan for the gold.

US team is Peirsol, Hansen, Phelps and Lezak. Aussies counter with Stoeckel, Rickard, Lautersetin and Sullivan. Rest of field will swim for bronze.

Stoeckel trying to stay close to Peirsol. Peirsol wins backstroke. 53.16. Hansen hanging on in breaststroke. Japan moving up, but should fall back. Phelps in pool now. Lauterstein going stroke for stroke with Phelps. Now Phelps ahead. Japan second. Lezak has a body length. Phelps 50.1. Lezak holds on for gold. 3:29.34. New world record. Australia wins silver. Eighth gold medal and seventh world record for Phelps. Japan wins bronze.
US has never lost this race in the Olympics. Lezak says he was inspired by LeBron and Kobe in the stands and couldn't let them down. A "Phelpsian feat." per Aaron Peirsol.

Ravens' fans go wild watching Phelps swim on big screen. They were in Ravens Stadium for an exhibition football game. Costas points out that eight gold medals fits with 8.8.08 0800 starting time for these games.

Men's 100-meter final next on tape. Jamaicans Usain "Lightning" Bolt and Asafa Powell are favored. Bolt broke world record for 100 meters in his second try. Powell and Bolt have seven of top ten times at 100 meters.

Runners on track. Ms. Bolt is jamming in the stands. Walter Dix is US Olympian in 100-meter and 200-meter. Third Jamaican in Lane 2; Doc Patten of US in Lane 3; Bolt in Lane 4; Thompson from Trinidad & Tobago in Lane 5; Dix in Lane 6; Powell in Lane 7 - only repeat performer from 2004 Olympics; Burns from T&T in Lane 8; Martina from Netherland Antilles in Lane 9.

Bolt wins in new world record 9.69 seconds. Spread wings for the last 20 meters when he realized that no one would challenge him. How fast would he have run if pressed? Ms. Bolt hugging every one in sight. Bolt poses with Jamaican flag and gold shoes. Thompson second and Dix third. Thompson is VERY HAPPY! Laying on the track. Powell very glum. Another non-medal run. After Honorable Mention yesterday, Bolt wins Michael Phelps Award for Saturday.

Bolt happy with the victory, not worried about time. Dix has understatement of the night about Bolt, "That guy can run."

Beijing Olympics - Day Eight - Phelpsian Phinish!

The final stroke from Michael Phelps, right, allowed him to edge out Serbia's Milorad Cavic at the finish of the men's 100-meter butterfly final at the Water Cube in Beijing. "It's almost too close to see," Phelps admitted of his winning margin of one-hundredth of a second. By Greg Baker, AP

7:00 p.m. - Back to NBC after the exciting midday tennis action. I had a rare Olympics-free late afternoon--I figured they'd show the Blake-Gonzalez tennis match. I already knew its disappointing outcome.

First event of the evening is prelim of the 400-meter medley relay. Phelps isn't swimming, but will swim in the final. Big pressure on replacement swimmers to avoid a disqualifying false start, which they have done. Ian Crocker is swimming Phelps' butterfly leg. US trailing Russia in this heat. Now US ahead. American anchor Weber-Gale just blew past the Russian in the last 15 meters. US will swim in Lane 4 of the final next to Australia. Phelps, Crocker and Serbian Cavic will swim in tonite's premier event, the 100-meter butterfly. Cavic has been extremely fast in the prelims. After the freestyle relay, this seems like the most dangerous race for Phelps, who does better the longer the race is, up to a point.

NBC reruns most of Liukin and Johnson's performances to lead into an interview with Bob Costas. Nice to see the performances again. Liukin is no less beautiful in replay.

Now they replay "Belavision" - it was all Bela Karolyi could to keep from kissing Bob Costas. I wonder if this was a planned feature, or something that was developed on the fly.

Shawn is so short - her legs don't reach the floor from the NBC couch. Now she sits forward so they do.

Both girls are still focused on the event finals rather than speculating about the future, though Shawn implies that she'll be in London in 2012 if her body holds up.

When this interview happened live, Shawn hadn't talked to her parents. She appeared with them on the Today Show this morning.

The studio crew gives a round of applause.

Over to the Birdsnest for track - a heat of the 1,500-meters. Reiging world champ is Bernard Lagat, a former Kenyan, now an American citizen. Kenyans would love to deny him the gold medal. Lagat won bronze in Sydney and silver in Athens. Top five advance. Lagat near back of pack. He finishes fourth. Had to work a little too hard. Got boxed in a couple of times.

Next heat includes Lopez Lomong - was a Lost Boy abducted from Sudan. In a Kenyan refugee camp he was inspired by watching Michael Johnson in Sydney Olympics. Lomong at back of pack. Moves outside. Lomong now six wide. Now in third. Finishes in fifth. Faster heat. Times in 3:36 range. Previous heat was 3:42.

Beach volleyball next. Back to Rogers and Dalhausser. The Prez likes these guys so I guess we should too. The opponents prove that you don't need a beach to play beach volleyball. They are from Switzerland. Were 20th seeded. This is a round of 16 match--loser is eliminated. Winner goes to quarterfinals.

US wins first set easily, 21-16. Swiss have set point in second set. Dalhausser kills. 20-20. Lanciga finds open court. 21-20 Swiss. Second set point. Rogers kills. 21-21. Schnider kills thru Dalhausser. Ace wins second set for Switzerland. One set each.

Swiss race out to 6-1 lead in third set. This set only to 15. Now 6-2. Timeout Switzerland. Schnider bunts out 6-3. Block by Dalhausser. 6-4. Another Dalhausser block 6-5. 7-5. Well placed by Rogers. 7-6. Dalhausse blocks. 7-7. Laciga upset about set. Big kill by Schnider 8-7. Kill by Dalhausser 8-8. Laciga to open spot. 9-8. Dalhausser kill 9-9.

Away to women's 200-meter backstroke final. Kirsty Coventry (ZIM) and Margaret Hoelzer (US) are favorites. They were roommates at Auburn. In that order at 100-meter. Coventry has nice lead. On world record pace. Coventry wins and sets world record. 2:05.24. Her seventh Olympic medal.

Back to volleyball. US has match point at 14-13. Rogers bunts onto sideline to win 15-13. Whew! Back to swimming.

Men's 100-meter butterfly final. Phelps going for 7th gold medal. Ian Crocker holds world record, but hasn't beaten Phelps since 2005. Cavic in Lane 4; Phelps in 5; Crocker in 6. Phelps won on last stroke. Wins by 0.01 second! Cavic stretched for wall. Phelps took one more stroke. 50.58 is Olympic record. Was behind until last inch--maybe part of an inch. Will do the calculation. Crocker finishes fourth. At a pace of 200-meters in 50.58 seconds, the swimmers travelled about 1-1/2" in 0.01 second. I think the clock rounded the margin up. The physical difference looked like the length of a fingernail. Ms. Phelps had to sit on the floor in surprise. She had two fingers up for 2nd.

Women's 800-meter freestyle final is next. No Americans in the final. Favorite is Rebecca Addlington from Great Britain. She's cruising with a big lead well ahead of the world record. Unbroken since 1989. Broke WR by 2+ seconds. Other swimmers well behind. Previous record held by American Janet Evans.

Next feature race is women's 50-meter freestyle. 41-year-old Dara Torres is the sentimental favorite, if not the race favorite--she might even be that. This is a semifinal.

But first comes the men's "splash and dash" - the 50-meter freestyle. Bernard and Sullivan are the favorites. Wildman-Tobriner of US is in lane 8. Brazilian Cesar Cielo Filho gets the gold. Bernard gets silver. You can't see the swimmers for the splash. Tears of joy. Sullivan finished 6th. No breaths in this race.

Cavic's coach is filing a protest on the finish of the 200-meter. In the meantime Cavic accepts the silver medal. Phelps was seventh at the turn. Scary and amazing. Officials accept the original result. As winner, Phelps qualifies for last relay race.

Now women's 50-meter freestyle semifinal. Libby Trickett of Australia is a favorite along with Brigit Steffen of Germany. Torres in the next semi. Lanes 3-5 finish 1,2,3. 24.45. "Nothing special" per Rowdy Gaines.

Dara Torres next. 41-years-old. Five-time Olympian and missed two others (96 and 04). Swedish girl in Lane 2 broke her suit. Back with new suit. Torres pointed this out. Torres wins easily 24.27. Best time of any qualifier. Final is tomorrow. Torres has ten Olympic medals--none are individual gold.

Now replay of men's 100-meter dash heats. Saw some of these today, but didn't take notes. Kay remembers that American sprinter Tyson Gay was the subject of a rewritten Internet article where the word "gay" was changed to "homosexual"--it was hilarious. Focus on the Family, or some such anti-gay organization, routinely reprints article with the substitution made. Gay finishes second, saves hamstring for the next round.

Jamaican Usain Bolt wins the next heat in style - runs 9.92 while looking left and right over the last 40 meters. No telling how fast he can go while trying. Usafa Powell is next Jamaican. He gets a great start and cruises to 10.02 win. Let up at the end.

US-China in men's volleyball while NBC sets up interview with both Mark Spitz and Michael Phelps. US won first two sets. Lead 11-9 in the third. US serve long 11-10. Serve long the other way. 12-10. Now 14-10. Timeout. Coach's father-in-law was killed by assailant on first day of the games. Remarkably, the team is undefeated. China kill 14-11. US answers with kill 15-11. Another kill, 16-11. Commercial. Looks like US will win in three sets. Now up 23-15. 24-16. Eight match points. Serve wide. 24-17. China blocks 24-18. US kill ends it 25-18. First game back for Coach McCutcheon.

Costas' interview with Spitz and Phelps is very gracious. Spitz showed no bitterness about Phelps' accomplishments. Call them "epic" and said that he knew that Phelps could do it even four years ago.


10:30 a.m. - Now watching Nadal and Djokovic in men's tennis semifinal. Nadal won first set. Djokovic took second set easily, 6-1. Sad result to other semifinal between Blake and Gonzalez. With Blake up 9-8 in the deciding third set, he hit a ball that appeared to glance off Gonzalez racket on the way out of bounds. The referees missed the deflection and Gonzalez didn't self-report. Gonzalez went on to win the game and eventually the match. In a post-match interview, Blake expressed disappointment with his opponent's sportsmanship. I didn't see the match, but felt bad for Blake who is such a classy player--self-effacing and erudite in his interviews. I'll root for whoever wins Nadal and Djokovic in the final. The loser will play Blake for the bronze medal--a very tough matchup for Blake.

Fabulous tennis by Djokovic and Nadal in the third set--slugging it out. Nadal leads 2-1, but match is on serve. Djokovic double faults by 15 feet. Follows with an ace. 40-15. Nadal nets a backhand. 2-2 in third set. No tiebreaker in third set. Nadal serves and volleys to hold serve for 3-2. Most aggressive play of set by Nadal. Djokovic holds his serve. 3-all. Great match. Djokovic wins first two points of next game. Then great serve by Nadal. 15-30. Blake dropped triple match point before the controversial call. 40-30 Nadal. Another good serve. Serve wide, hit long by Djokovic, 4-3 Nadal. Love game for Djokovic evens match at 4. Djokovic hits long. Nadal leads 5-4. Djokovic needs next game to stay in match.

Nadal gets Djokovic's drop shot then wins point with one of his own. 15-all. Djokovic nets a forehand. Unforced error. 15-30. Nadal two points from the match. Nadal mishits second serve. 30-30. Overspun by Nadal. Djokovic nets forehand. Match point Nadal. Monster forehand by Djokovic puts game at deuce. Let serve. Forehand groundstroke and backhand volley wins for Djokovic. His ad. Going for 5-all. Sensational passing shot by Nadal wins point. Great return of 2nd serve by Nadal. Second match point for Nadal. Djokovic hits sitter overhead wide. Nadal wins! Great rescues by Nadal to give Djokovic a chance to make a mistake. Nadal advances to final against Fernando Gonzalez of Chile.

Kudos to Jimmy Arias for outstanding analysis of this match--the best I've heard in any Olympic sport so far. He pointed out that the match was Djokovic's to lose--he would have to make some mistakes for Nadal to win. In the last game, Djokovic made two forehand errors as well as the game-losing botched overhead. Arias also picked up on a serve to the body that Nadal was using effectively in the third set. Arias didn't root for either player; as with many analysts he "oohed" over the great shots, but he also took the extra step of finding and communicating the key strategic elements of the match. Admittedly, I'm too ignorant of the technical aspects of swimming, water polo and volleyball to really appreciate the analysis (the volleyball analyst was doing a pretty good job with this, but I just had too far to go). I've watched a lot more tennis, and therefore was able to keep up with what Arias was saying. Still, a job well done--in keeping with the excellent tennis on the court.

Women's kayaking was won by Slovakian Eneda Kaliska by 14 seconds. An Aussie was delighted to take the silver. Other key competitors from France and Czech Republic missed gates in the final run and fell out of contention.

US beats Russia 12-7 in women's water polo. Should be able to advance to semifinal. Disappointing Olympics for mother Russia, who also lost to the tiny Chinese girls.

Time for a break after mopping floors during the lulls in the action. Back later, perhaps with a couple of new features. (Please see http://dadlak.blogspot.com/2008/08/michael-phelps-award-for-best.html) for the daily Michael Phelps Award For Best Performance By Athlete Not Named Michael Phelps.

8:15 a.m. - Opening with women's volleyball today. Match between US and China. Games are one all. China leads third game 21-14. Great blocking by China. Their tenth "stuff". Knuckleball serve for a US ace. 22-17 China. Spike error by China, now 22-19. Spike into antenna. 22-20. A US kill. 22-21. Finally a Chinese kill. 23-21. US needs this point. US stuff. 23-22, China. China kill. Set point at 24-22. Blocked to sideline. 24-23. Great kill by China wins the set. 25-23. Two sets to one for China. Good comeback by US falls a little short.

Bathroom break. 8-7 US in 3rd set. US and China exchange kills. 9-8. US over the net. 9-9. Good kill by Willoughby. 10-9. US stuff 11-9. Outside Chinese kill 11-10. Chinese stuff 11-11. Poor set. Chinese block OB 12-11 US. Back row spike. 13-12 US. Now 14-13 US. China blocks for 14-14. US coach Long Ping is most famous female Chinese athlete of all time. Great kill by Kim Glass. 16-14 US. Lots of volleyball left. Rest of this set and perhaps a fifth. Technical time out.

More play during the commercial. China takes lead 17-16. US wins next point after great rally. 17-all. Sitter killed by US. 18-17, US. China timeout. Chinese fans chanting. No love for US in this one. Chinese kill off the block. 18-18. Angled kill by Scott for US. 19-18 US. Chinese spike into net. 20-18. Spike out of bounds. 21-18 US. Getting close now. Spike into antenna. 22-18. Six of last seven for US. Outside kill by China. 22-19. Second kill attempt by Scott. 23-19. Scott is hot. 35-years-old. Outside kill by China 23-20. Kill by Logan Tom. 24-20. Four set points. Four hits by China. Two sets all. Fifth set tiebreak to 15 next.

President of PRC is in the stands. China stuffs first US spike. 1-0. Scott kills. 1-1. She is four-time Olympian. Spike long 3-1 US. US stuff. 4-1. Best match so far by US. Kill by Logan Tom. 13 for her. 5-1. Hit long by China 6-1. China timeout. China gets next two 6-3. Stuff by US. 8-3. Change sides.

Next two for China. 8-5. US timeout. Serve long by China. 9-5. Lift on China 10-5. US kill, 11-5. Monster kill by China 11-6. Logan Tom kills. 12-6. Her 15th. Two going for same ball--should have put it over. 12-7. Chinese kill off bad pass. 12-8. Chinese stuff. 12-9. Timeout US. Big kill by Glass. 13-9. US hits out 13-10. Scott kills. 14-10. Four match points. China gets kill 14-11. Scott stuffs. US wins 15-11! Second heartbreaker for China. They blew two sets to none lead to Cuba.

Beijing Olympics - Day Six - Who Is John Gall?

8:50 p.m. - Back from choir practice. Missed men's synchronized diving, but got back in time to watch May-Trainor/Walsh complete dismantlement of a Norwegian team in women's beach volleyball.

Replay of Phelps' IM heat from last night. Phelps in second after 3 legs, but wins in 1:58.65. Semifinal happens tonight, along with other medal races for other swimmers.

Men's 200-meter breaststroke medal race. Kitajima from Japan is right on world record. 2:07.64 for gold medal, just 0.13 off his own world record.

A semifinal race. Maybe women's 100-meter freestyle. Coughlin wins. Libby Trickett of Australia on the bubble to make the finals. Great heat. Five beat Trickett, but Pang from China is DQ'd for false start. Trickett sneaks into final as 8th seed.

Men's 100-meter backstroke semifinal next. Aaron Peirsol in first race; Ryan Lochte in second. Race for gold appears to be between these two. Peirsol on 100-meter and 200-meter backstroke gold in 2004. Won 100-meter backstroke in Beijing. Peirsol wins in 1:55.26. He's happy with the race. Lochte in second semifinal. Rogan of Austria his main rival. Lochte wins in 1:55.40. Will swim next to Peirsol in final.

Women's 200-meter butterfly breaststroke is next. Schipper of Australia is the favorite. Two Chinese girls in the field. Schipper leads after one length. Liu of China takes lead after 3 lengths. China goes one/two, both break world record--Liu then Jiao. Highlight of Olympic swimming for the host country. US was 7th and 8th. Schipper gets the bronze.

Men's 100-meter freestyle final next. Lezak, Bernard (FRA) and Sullivan (AUS) are featured swimmers. Sullivan is world record holder. Lezak of course anchored US relay. Van den Hoogenband is from Netherlands. Bernard nips Sullivan for gold. Lezak ties Brazilian for bronze. Nice moments for Bernard and Lezak. Redemption for Bernard. First-ever individual medal for Lezak. Time just over WR at 47.21.

Men's all-around gymnastics final is next. Should be tense, though Chinese men will be tough. Jonathan Horton of US could be a threat. Yang Wei of China is man to beat - has the most difficulty points. Artemev will compete for US. Pretty good routine--solid. Uchimura of Japan has great floor ex routine. 15.825.

200-meter IM semifinal next. Phelps in this one. Hasn't lost this race since he started swimming it. Scary. Cseh from Hungary is strongest competitor. Phelps reaches the front during breaststroke. He wins in 1:57.70. Cseh second.

Ryan Lochte in next 200-IM semi. Lochte leads after three legs. Wins in 1:57.69. He'll swim in Lane 4 of final. Phelps in Lane 5.

Back to men's gymnastics all-around. German scores 15.825 on floor. Yang Wei on floor. One bobble, but a good finish. 15.25. Horton starts on pommel horse. Makes mistake early. Gets 13.675.

Back to swimming. Relay race - women's 4 x 200 meter freestyle. Australia first during first leg. Australia still in lead on second leg. Australia still leads in third leg, but race is tightening. Australia way ahead of gold medal pace. Leading big. China second. US third. China closing a little, but Australia looks safe. Maybe not. China fighting with US for silver. Australia, China, US in that order. France out of medals. Aussie girls going nuts. World record by a lot--more than 5 seconds.

Lots of gymnastics yet. Horton did better on vault. Improved to 14th place. Yang Wei still looks like favorite. Haven't seen overall standings. Japanese Tomito lost handle on one ring just before dismount--free fell to ground with sideways spin. Only got 13.85.

Korean Yang-Tei Yung in first. Yang Wei in second. Artemev 12th. Korean finished second in 2004, but did poorly in team competition.

Horton did OK on parallel bars, but missed the landing a bit. 15.275. Good vault for Tomito. 15.7. Good vault for Uchimura. Korean guy does sprint after vault landing. Still gets 15.625. Great bar routine for Artemev. Super landing. 15.075. Nice job by Yang-Tei on high bar. 14.75.

Horton on high bar. He's 12th; Artemev 14th. Great routine. Step on landing. Yang Wei on p-bars. Big step on landing. He's still cruising toward gold. Will finish on high bar. 15.35 for Horton on horizontal bar--no medal for Horton. Yang Wei gets 16.1.

Overall this competition has been anticlimactic. Too many mistakes. No drama about Yang Wei winning the gold medal. He's 2.5 ahead going into last rotation.

Great horse routine by Artemev. Should have a chance to medal in event final. 15.525--great score. One of US's best tonite.

Yang-Tei from Korea is next. Trying to hold onto silver medal. One big error--sat on horse. Has 0.6 to play with. Uchimura on high bar. Three release moves. Sticks the landing. Gets 15.4. Yang-Tei got 13.7. Horton sticks dismount on floor, but is too far back. Hambuchen of Germany flies off bar on release move. Great landing, but way too many mistakes. Yang Wei next. Coronation ahead. Needs 12.2. OK, but not great. Certainly good enough for gold. Uchimura silver and Frenchman Benoit Caranobe bronze.

9:00 a.m. - I got up early this morning and found women's volleyball on MSNBC. What a match between China and Cuba. China won the first two games (sets) easily. Cuba trailed 15-11 in the third game, but rallied to win by two. The fourth game was a battle royal with Cuba holding off seven match points before winning 32-30. The fifth game to fifteen points is tied at eight. Now tied at 9-9. Top spikers for Cuba are Calderon and Ruiz with kills from the left size. Cuban block sails OB. China leads 10-9. Service error by China. 10-all. Great kill by China. 11-10. Weak defense by China. Tied at 11. Block off face of Zhang. 12-11 Cuba. Chinese kill ties the match at 12. Kill by Calderon gives Cuba 13-12 lead. She can jump to the sky and hit to the openings. Chinese kill ties game at 13. 24th kill for that player. Serve way long. Cuba has match point, leading 14-13. Middle set and kill for Cuba. They win 15-13 and take the match. Stunning loss for China.

Greco-Roman wrestling is next. I may channel surf. USA Network is showing soccer highlights. I'll see what they have next. US women's basketball. I'll hang around for that. US plays Mali. Should be a mismatch. Mali lost to Czech Republic by 40; Czechs lost to US by 40. US gets first five points. US starters are Taurasi, Byrd, Leslie, Smith and Thompson. No defense by Mali yet. Recent LSU stars Sylvia Fowles and Seimone Augustus on the US roster. Fowles was a big contributor in their two wins.

Mali guard launches a 3-point heave. It goes in! 7-3. US turnover. Mali jumper from lane. 7-5. Mali turnover. Mali sinks another three to take the lead, 8-7! US calls timeout. US scores to retake lead. Foul on Mali. Leslie to shoot two. Misses first. Makes second. 10-8, US. Mali steps OB. Taurasi drives and scores; gets fouled. 12-8. Three-point play the old-fashioned way. 13-8. Six straight for US. Mali answers 13-10. US turnover. Candace Parker in game for US. Heckuva substitute. Another US turnover. Mali gives it back. Their seventh turnover in first quarter. Catchings scores for US 15-10. Long miss by Mali. Leslie scores. 17-10. Foul on Parker. Fowles and Augustus check in. Free throws for Mali. 17-11. 17-12. Augustus scores. 19-12. Parker can't hold on to a steal. Mali features colored hair - blue and orange. Fowles scores, but foul precedes shot. Misses free throw. Makes second. Scoring 17 per game in 17 minutes. Long pass to Fowles. Layup. 22-12. Major heave short by Mali. Lawson hits jumper. 24-12. Lawson just misses. First quarter ends. 24-12, US.

US continues momentum in second quarter. Up 34-15. Backdoor pass gets bucket for Mali. Now 38-17. Byrd makes another. 40-17. Now 44-19 after next Mali basket. Now 46-19. Mali's first-ever Olympics. Mali sinks three. Byrd answers. 49-22. Mali banked three. 49-25. Another long lefty three. 49-28. Pondexter gets two. Long three at buzzer just misses. 51-28 at halftime.

US men's soccer was eliminated by Nigeria. US women's softball won a second straight no-hitter.

More of same in second half of women's basketball, without the Mali threes. Now 68-31, US. Fowles in a tie-up under the basket. Ball goes to Mali. Turnover. Parker fouled. Will shoot two. Augustus back in. Makes both. 70-31. Turnover and Parker basket 72-31. Hard to call off the dogs. US has super talent down to the last player on the bench. Parker fouls Mali shooter. Nice upper body on Dwight Howard. He's in stands in a sleeveless T-shirt. Like a giant gymnast. Both free throws missed. Seimone gets a layup. 74-31. Next Mali shot short. Rebound tipped OB. 23-3 in 3rd quarter. Mali makes two free throws. 76-33 after three quarters. Defensive problems solved as Mali scores only five in that quarter.

Will check over on NBC. Night women's beach volleyball with Walsh and May-Treanor. Other than Phelps, they appear to be the American darlings of the games so far. Shawn Johnson will compete for this title if she wins gymnastics all-around. Not Walsh/May in this one. Second US team of Branagh and Youngs is playing a Cuban team. The US team won the first game.

Back to women's basketball. Mali gets behind the US defense. Gets a layup. 81-37. Mali rebounds a missed free throw, but misses the shot. Pondexter makes three. 84-38. Augustus and Fowles on the floor. Sylvia gets a rebound. Mali scores on a driving layup. 84-40. Carrying turnover on Mali. Lawson drains a three. 87-40. Another Mali turnover. Four minutes to go. Seimone rips a jumper. 89-40. Another Seimone jumper. 91-40. Three minutes to go. Pondexter gets a layup. Foul on three point shot. Three free throws for Mali. Makes one of three. 91-41. Pondexter scores again. 95-41. Seimone this time. 97-41. 29 turnovers for Mali. Mali dribbles out the clock. Fewest points ever scored against USA women in Olympic play. 28th straight Olympic win for US.

Branagh/Youngs beat the Cuban team in women's beach volleyball 15-12 in 3rd game. Cubans won the second game handily, but couldn't win the match.

We're watching a men's 200-meter backstroke heat. Favorite is American Aaron Peirsol. Piersol has best time 1:56.25. Still three more heats and semifinals to go. Ryan Lochte is in next heat. Announcers say he is best US swimmer behind Phelps and Peirsol. Most versatile. Lochte posts best time so far. Later this evening he'll have 25 minutes between races if he qualifies for both finals in 200-meter backstroke and 200-meter IM, facing Peirsol and Phelps in the respective races. US is #1 and #2 going into semifinals of 200-meter backstroke.

Rebecca Soni of US now swimming in women's 200-meter breaststroke heat. Sets new Olympic record of 2:22.17, also new individual record and American record. Wins heat by 2+ seconds. Could give Leisel Jones a run for the gold. Jones in next heat. Norwegian even with Jones after 50 meters. Now Jones ahead. Jones leads after 100-meter. Best interim time. Jones off world record time, but easily into semifinal. 2:23.81, a little behind Soni. Amanda Beard of US doesn't qualify for semifinals. She was 2004 gold medalist in this event.

Men's 200-IM heats now. Interesting story about Phelps in 200-meter butterfly. His goggles leaked as soon as he got in the pool, impairing his vision throughout the race.

There was some more swimming while I worked on fixing my camera. Now it's US-Italy women's water polo. Score tied at 4. Go girls! I'm going to fix lunch. Game ended in a 9-9 tie. Moral victory for underdog Italians, particularly since they trailed with just 24 seconds to play.

NBC finishes for the morning. Over to MSNBC for baseball. US vs. Korea. Korea leads 6-4 in top of 6th. US team composed almost entirely of minor leaguers, given that games occurred in middle of major league season. Home run for US in this inning, but they still trail. Strikeout ends the inning. The US didn't compete in 2004.

Great play by US shortstop Jayson Nix retires first Korean batter in the 6th. This is the first game of the tournament for the U.S. Strikeout ends the Korea 6th. Nine pitches. Nothing happening live at this point; it's 3 a.m. in Beijing.

Interesting note on gold medals in Olympic baseball. Became a medal sport in 1992. My memory of 1984 must have been of a demonstration sport. Cuba has won most of the gold medals.

US batter Gall gets a break on a check swing call. Looked like strike three. Strikes out again on next pitch. US batters not picking up ball out of sidearm delivery. Another K. Five in a row.

Things looking up for US in the 9th. Korean closer gives up homer, single, double to first three US hitters, numbers seven thru nine in the order. Runners on second and third and no outs with US still down by 5-6. Catcher Teagarden is on third. We'll see if US manager Davey Johnson inserts a pinch runner. He does.

Who is John Gall? He's the US leadoff man. Batting now. Two quick strikes. A ball. 1-2. Next pitch inside. 2 and 2. Good cut. Fouled back. Nix and Tiffee to follow. Swing and miss at high fastball. One down. Streaks of wins in Olympic openers and in games vs. Korea are at risk. Nix needs to put ball in play. Runner will probably break from third on contact. Oh and two. Some risk of line drive double play. Pop up in infield. Caught by second baseman. Two outs. DH Tiffee is next. Lefty hitter. Righty on deck. Hits in last two ABs. Will pitch very carefully to Tiffee. Way outside. 2 and 0. Again wide. Three and oh. Ball four. Intentional walk in all but name. Matt Brown is next. 1 for 4 with an RBI. Back to the slider. Gets strike one. Swing and miss at low outside slider. Two strikes. Just fouled off a slider. Got one up. Fouled into right field stands. Hangs a slider. Brown fouls it back. Third slider lashed over shortstop for two-run single! US leads 7-6. Great swing by Brown. Pitch was on outer half but he was looking for it. Tiffee takes third. Schierholz batting. Count is two and two. Fly to right. Third out.

Leadoff batter for Korea doubles into the left field corner. No bunt from Korea. Count is 0-2 to next batter. Fouls off a couple. Foul tip gets away from catcher. Another foul. Still oh and two. Grounder to second. Out at first. Runner advances to third with one out. Squeeze bunt popped foul out of reach. Mid-at-bat pinch hitter. First guy got one chance to lay down squeeze bunt. He's gone. Pitch inside. 1 and 1. Slider outside. Two and one. Fastball fouled off. 2 and 2. Now full count. Grounder to second. Throw a little toward first. Runners slides in safe. Batter reaches first on fielder's choice. Head first slide by Korean runner. Game tied 7-7. Pickoff throw gets away. Runner zips to third. Another run wins game for Koreans. Count is two and one. Infield in. High fastball. Swing and miss. Two and two. Fly ball to center. Throw comes in, but runner scores. Korea wins 8-7. Exciting finish. Hideous error by US to put game-winning runner at third.

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.