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 Fourteen - Fumbling Relays; More Beach Gold for US

USA team members Todd Rogers, left, and Phil Dalhausser, second right, celebrate after recording match point during the men's beach volleyball gold medal match against Brazil at the Chaoyang Park Beach Volleyball Grounds. (Jerry Lai/US Presswire)

7:45 p.m. - What a shocker! A sprint between Jamaicans and Americans won by a Jamaican. Defending gold medalist Veronica Campbell-Brown beat American Allyson Felix in the women's 200-meters. 100-meter medalist Kerron Stewart won the bronze. Campbell-Brown missed the Jamaican 100-meter team by one place, but focused her energy brilliantly on the 200-meters running a personal best 21.74 to beat Felix by 0.19 seconds. Felix had dominated the rivalry since Campbell-Brown beat her in the 2004 Olympics, but Jamaican mojo in Beijing sprints along with Campbell-Brown's great start and powerful running style added another gold medal to their haul, mon.

Jamaican mojo had an indirect effect on the men's 400-meter relay as the US team dropped the baton on the final pass in the first semifinal. Darvis Patton couldn't deliver the stick to Tyson Gay. Jamaica runs in the second semi. Jamaica wins easily despite making some very conservative passes. Usain Bolt didn't run in the semi, but will run in the final in pursuit of his third gold medal.

US women in 400-meter relay. In 2004, US was DQ'd for passing out of the zone. Same outcome for US women -- dropped baton on last pass. Unbelievable! US had a nice lead until Tori Edwards and Lauren Williams messed up the exchange. Williams ascribes problem to "voodoo dolls." Belgium won the heat. Jamaica runs in the next semi.

Amazing team for Jamaican women. Three 100-meter medal winners plus Veronica Campbell-Brown. Two non-medal winners are Brooks and Bailey in second and third places for the semi. Won by 0.63 seconds.

Now women's 10-meter platform diving. US hope is Laura Wilkinson, but event is dominated by Chinese women. She gets 72 points. Canadian diver does high difficulty dive on first round. Scores 83 points. Goes into first. Wang of China gets 79.5. 15-year-old Chen is next. Started diving at age 4. Another amazing entry. 85.5 points. Takes over first. All 9s with a couple of tens.

Big splash on next Wilkinson drive. Entered water at 45 degrees. Medal-killer. 43 points. Very nice dive by Canadian Heymans 86 points. Holds second. Chen gets 85, but holds first. Chen and Heymans within one point overall. Chen has harder dives left with more scoring potential.

Another bad entry for Wilkinson. Messes up a dive that he scored 10 on in Olympic trials. Only 46 points.

Heymans next. 3.3 degree of difficulty. Very good dive. 84 points. Back to first, but Chen to follow. Wang now. Great dive. 86 points. 3.2 for Chen. Looked just like Wang--maybe better. 88 points. One mark of 10.0. Chen up by 4.5 points going into fourth dive of six.

95 points for Heymans on next dive. Highest of meet. Wang gets 89. Looking good for a medal. Chen gets 89, but trails Heymans by almost 2 points after four dives. Wang alone in third, 40 points ahead of fourth.

Wilkinson finishes her career strong with 87 points. Heymans nails a 3.2 dive for 88 points. Maybe not enough. Awesome dive by Wang. But not far enough from platform on the jump. 90 points. Wins bronze. Heymans guaranteed silver. Pressure dive on Chen. 3.4 dive. Has gotten 10s on this dive. Looks like gold medal dive. Gets 100 points. Four 10s. Rocks the dive. 15-years old. Amazing. Phelpsian!

Yikes, another track event. Men's 400-meter final. Jeremy Wariner is US hopeful. 2004 gold medalist. LaShawn Merritt is another American. David Neville is third American. No Jamaicans. No batons to pass. No hurdles to jump. False start on Rooney from GB. Merritt wins easily. Time of 43.75. Wariner well behind in second. Neville dives for bronze. Great time. Fifth fastest of all time. Wins by 0.99 second.

Oh no. Short race with hurdles. Could be in US jinx zone. 100-meter hurdles. Chinese superstar and reigning gold medalist Liu Xiang withdrew in prelims with an injured Achilles tendon. Cuban Dayron Robles holds world record. Probably the favorite. David Oliver is US hope. At least one Jamaican in the race. I'm betting on him. David Payne also from US.

Here we go. Robles rules. US second and third. 12.93. Wins by 0.24 over Payne. Close to world record. May have let up at end. Good performances by US runners.

"The Dragon of Dirt" is the course for BMX riders. Race is the supercross. This is women's final. Big crash at beginning. More crashes. Another wreck. France wins gold and silver. US bronze. Three riders out of eight crashed.

Men's BMX supercross next. Three out in one wreck. Latvia's Maris Strombergs wins gold! US silver and bronze. Big wreck made up for lost time. No wrecks until more than halfway through.

Sunny day for men's beach volleyball. US vs. Brazil. Rogers and Dalhausser vs Marcio and Fabio Luiz. Brazil won bronze with Ricardo and Emanuel. Bunt by Marcio for first point. 1-0, Brazil. Good rally. Brazil serve wide. 1-1. Dalhausser serves long. 2-1, Brazil. Stuff block by Brazil. 3-1. Error by Rogers. 4-1 Brazil. Dalhausser hits out. 5-1. Fabio blocks Rogers 6-1. Rogers wins pushing battle. 6-2. Kill by Brazil. 7-2. Finally a US kill 7-3. Kill by Fabio. 8-3. Bad return by US and Brazilian kill 9-3. Rogers kills 9-4. Fabio in net. 9-5. Change sides. Dalhausser stuff block. 9-6. Good bunt by Marcio. 10-6. Rogers kills 10-7. Four out of five for US. Great dig and kill by Rogers 10-8. Dalhausser stuff block. 10-9. Brazil calls time.

Another block by Dalhausser. 10-10. Dalhausser blocks out. 11-10, Brazil. Technical timeout. Rogers bunts. 11-11. Fabio kill 12-11. US thinks its a bad hit. Rogers kill 12-12. Fabio kills 13-12 Brazil. Good bunt by Rogers. 13-13. Fabio kills. 14-13. Brazil error 14-14. Marcio hits off top of block. 15-14. Great rescue by Fabio. Easy kill by Rogers 15-all. Big kill by Fabio. 16-15. Brazil hits long. 16-16. Maybe a touch by US. Delay of game warning against Brazil for arguing. Kill by Marcio. 17-16. Great game by Brazilians. Hanging in great. Drop shot by Rogers. 17-17. Dalhausser kills. His first. 18-17 US. First lead of match. Rogers serves wide. 18-all. Rogers over top. 19-18 US. Soft shot. Rogers outjumping Fabio despite 6" height disadvantage. Big hit by Fabio. 19-19. Rogers kill. Set point. 20-19. Fabio kills to tie at 20. Dalhausser kill. 21-20. Second US set point. Nice bunt by Fabio. 21-21. Rogers down the line 22-21. Fabio hits into net. US wins first set 23-21. Whew! One of few errors for Brazil.

Brazil leads 7-5 after ballhandling error by Rogers. Rescue by Brazil fails. 7-6. Great get by Rogers. Now 9-8 US. Serve long by Dalhausser. 9-9. Pretty placement by Rogers. 10-9. Dalhausser roofs Fabio. 11-9. Blocked with elbow. Kill off Dalhausser's head and OB. 11-10. Rogers kill bounces into stands. 12-10. Bad return by Brazil. Easy kill for Dalhausser. 13-10. Fabio kills off Dalhausser block. 13-11. Ace serve hits back line. 13-12. Another ace. 13-13. Both went for that one, but unsuccessfully. Good bunt by Marcio. Now up 14-13. Just when things looked bleak for Brazil, they run off four straight. Bad receive. Rescued and killed. 14-14. Kill by Brazil. Bounces off Rogers and OB. 14-15. Dalhausser just hits line. 15-15. Line is inbounds. Fabio kill. 16-15. 17th kill for Fabio. Fabio blocks Rogers. 17-15 Brazil. Dalhausser error. Spikes into net. 15-18. 8 of last 10 for Brazil. Rogers kills 16-18. Fabio kill off Dalhausser. 16-19. Marcio off Dalhausser. 16-20. Four set points for Brazil. Easy kill for Rogers. 20-17. Second set point for Brazil. Dalhausser nets serve. 21-17 Brazil. One set all.

Third set is to 15. First two points to US. 2-0. Dalhausser blocks. 3-0. Fabio cut shot. 3-1. Marcio hits lefty shot into net after hot rally. Great dig by Dalhausser. 4-1. Mishandle by Marcio. 5-1. Ball very sweaty. Dalhausser block. 6-1. Timeout.

US came back from this kind of deficit against Switzerland. Another Dalhausser block of Fabio. 7-1. Same play. 8-1. One more time. 9-1. Time for Brazil to try something different. Great dig by Rogers but couldn't quite finish. 9-2. Marcio serves into net. 10-2. Fabio hits long 11-2. Fabio kill. Dig OB. 11-3. Rogers bunts in front of Brazil. 12-3. Block OB by Dalhausser. 12-4. Serve out off net. 13-4. Fabio hits wide. 14-4. More match points than needed. Stuff block by Dalhausser wins gold medal for US. Amazing last set by Dalhausser. At least six points on blocks.

Just what I need. More late night volleyball. US and Russian men meet in a semifinal match. US wins first set; Russia leads second 20-18. Stuff block by US 20-19. Now 22-21 US after a kill. Russian timeout. US goes on to win second set 25-21. Russia had a 16-13 lead in that set.

Set three now tied at 6. Russian kill makes it 7-6. US kill ties game at 7. US uses push shot to go around the block. Service error. 8-7 Russia. Per analyst, Russia depends on big serves to get points. US plays more scrambling style.

Russia ruling third set. Now leads 19-15. US misses line with spike. 20-15. Biggest lead for Russia. US kill. 20-16. Russia has beaten US nine straight times leading up to this match. Russia kill. 21-16. US kill by Stanley, his ninth to go along with six aces. 21-17. Another kill high off block. 21-18. Russian kills bounces out of court. 22-18. US kill 22-19. Fabulous back set by Russia. 23-19. Blocked out. 23-20. Russia hits out. 23-21. Russia timeout.

Nervewracking for Russia. US needs serve in. Big kill by Russia. 24-21. Set point. Kill off Russia blocker and OB. 24-22. Set point two. Stuff block by US. 24-23. US making them work. Stanley stuff block. Tied at 24! Russian kill. 25-24. Fourth set point. Bunt to floor by US. 25-25. Russian kill off block. 26-25. Fifth set point. Russian stuff wins third set. 25-27.

US still up two sets to one. Russia up 4-2 in fourth game. Tricky kill by US. 3-4. Russian kill to floor. 3-5. Russia touches US spike on way out. 4-5. Now 5-5. Middle kill by US. 6-5. Kill from front middle. 6-6. Receiving error by US. 6-7. Russians run into each other. 7-7. Serve long by US. 7-8.

US serves out again. 9-10. US kill. 10-10. Russian kill off US block attempt. 10-11. Good push by Russia. 10-12. US kill 11-12. US serve into net. 11-13. Millar stuff block for US. 12-13. Russian kill. 12-14. US push. 13-14. Russia crushes a kill. 13-15. Good read by Russia. US ball out. 13-16. US error. Technical timeout.

Stanley kills. 14-16. US serve into net. 14-17. Too many service errors for US. Russia gives it back. 15-17. No touch per ref. 15-18. Replay shows otherwise. Millar kills. 16-18. Stanley serve out 16-19. Great set and kill by Millar. 17-19. Russian kill. 17-20. Serve into net. 18-20. Russian leftside kill by Russia. 18-21. Russia in net 19-21. Mikhalov kills for Russia. 19-22. He is tough. Serve way out. 20-22. Block just out. 20-23. US kill 21-23. Mikhalov too good. 21-24. Easy kill for Millar. 22-24. Two set points left. Russian kill takes set four. 25-22.

15 point tiebreaker next. 2-1 US. Millar breaks through. 3-1. Great point. Blocked out. 3-2. Mikhalov over line. 4-2. Stuff block. 5-2. Block out. 5-3. Can't stop Mikhalov. 27 kills by Mikhalov. Priddy kill 6-3. Volkov kill 6-4. Return bounces over net. Killed by Russia. 6-5. Timeout. Volkov serves long. 7-5. Priddy just misses wide. 7-6. Stuff block by Russia. 7-7. Salmon kills. 8-7. Change sides. Russia kill. 8-8. Salmon backline kill. 9-8. Stanley serves long. 9-9. Lucky point for US. Russians misplay. Hit into net. 10-9. Serve into net. 10-10. Russian ace. 10-11.

Lost some stuff there. US was down 11-12. David Lee had great stuff block. Russian setter seemed to throw a ball. No call. Lee kills for US. 14-13. Match point US. Timeout Russia. Priddy serves. Lee stuffs! US wins! 15-13. Great comeback in last few points. David Lee is team hero. First US gold medal game since 1988. Fabulous outcome for US team and coach, Hugh McCutcheon, whose father-in-law was killed in an attack just after the Olympics opening ceremony.

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 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."