Beijing Olympics - Day Ten - Bekele Distance Champ

Winning feeling: Kenenisa Bekele of Ethiopia celebrates again in an event he has made his own Photo: Reuters

10:00 p.m. - Went out to dinner; watching DVD movie "The Kingdom" now in honor of stepson's birthday. Got to see a little of the individual gymnastics finals--women's vault. Taping the rest. North Korean won their only gold medal despite a bad landing. German Oksana (Soviet expatriate) Chusovitina won silver; China won bronze by a whisker over Alicia Sacramone. Kind of sad given that Alicia landed both vaults cleanly. Chinese girl landed one on her butt. Similar with gold and silver - North Korean had one great vault and landing out-of-bounds. Oksana was clean both times. Judging sometimes hard to understand.

This movie is about a fictional terrorist attack on Americans inside Saudi Arabia. All-star FBI team including Jamie Foxx (Ray), Chris Cooper (Adaptation and Seabiscuit), Jennifer Garner (Juno) and Jason Bateman (Michael Bluth in Arrested Development) has gone into investigate. Nathaniel Fisher from Six Feet Under is an intelligence biggie.

1:45 p.m. - I went to church early and missed all the morning events. Rowing was on when I got back, but I just watched while I ate lunch and cleaned the kitchen. As I remember, China, Denmark, Great Britain and Canada were among the rowing winners, with Canada capturing the coveted Eights gold. China spent a bunch of money developing a rowing program and it paid off with several medals. The US won their only rowing medal in the eights, a bronze.

Now it's women's volleyball, with the US and Poland in a tight match - not sure if we're still in pool play or in elimination. The match is one set all with Poland leading the third set 16-13. Now Poland leads 18-15. This is a pool game. US has already advanced to the medal round. Poland playing for their survival. Now 19-16 Poland. Kill for US. 19-17. Poland kill 20-17. Poland kill from left side. 21-17. US timeout. Set point for Poland, 24-18. First of six possible set points. Logan Tom bunts to keep America alive in set two. 24-19. Long kill by Poland wins second set. 25-19. They lead two sets to one.

Match in exciting third set. US up 12-11 despite starting 0-3. Last two US points on stuff blocks. Tom kills, 13-11. Polish kill. 13-12. Great serve by Poland. Tied at 13. Another block gives US a match point. Tom kills, US wins! 15-13. Second place in their group. Poland is out. US 4-1 in prelim round. Quarterfinal opponent will be Italy.

Men's 10,000-meter run is about halfway finished. It's more or less a replay of the African championship, as most of the top runners are from Kenya, Ethiopia, and Eritrea. There are two Americans in the lead pack and the pace is slow enough to put more runners in contention. There are a couple of runners from Qatar near the front. There are three Kenyans, three Ethiopians and two Eritreans in the top ten along with the two Qatarites (?) Now US runners have fallen into the second group. Only about 7 minutes to go. Bekele of Ethiopia has won this race before. He's in third. Portugese runner just lapped. Ugandan now in lead pack. Second place runner clipped heels of leader. There may be a Jamaican in the lead pack. Colors look right. Runners spread out all over the rack. More runners being lapped. Commercial.

Ethiopia goes 1-2; Kenenisa Bekele wins his second straight gold medal in the event. Kenya finishes third. An Ethiopian won the women's 10,000-meter race too. Sorry for the lack of late race coverage. Phone call from family.

Jim Lampley just conducted a nice interview with LeBron James and Kobe Bryant. They seem confident that the US "Redeem Team" can continue its excellent play and bring home the gold. Lampley asked a great question at the end--can this style of play be brought to the NBA to replace isolation and pick and rolls. They weren't so sure about that.

Women's beach volleyball at night - though probably not live. It's almost 5 a.m. in Beijing. This is Youngs/Branagh vs. Xue/Zhang from China. They're 4-0 against this American team. US hoping that tournament experience will help. Chinese women are in first Olympics. 19-year-old Xue kills. Youngs is the oldest player at 38. Xue is the youngest. Youngs won bronze in Athens. US recovered from 1-3 deficit to lead 12-9, but the Chinese roar back to win the first set 21-17. Several hitting errors hurt the US. Spikes OB or into the net.

May-Trainor and Walsh moved into the semifinals with a win over Brazil. Winner of this match will join them. Two service errors. Score tied at 1. Serve long. 2-1 China. Serve into net. 2-2. Cut shot. China 3-2. Youngs kill. 3-3. Zhang tap 4-3. Fabulous rescue by Zhang. 5-4. Youngs fans. 6-4. Youngs kill. 6-5. Good dig by US, but Zhang kills. 7-5. Youngs spikes long. 8-5, China. China rolling now before their home crowd. Up 13-8. US in big trouble. Zhang kills 14-9. Branagh kill. 14-10. Bunt by Xue. 15-10. Chinese don't look nervous. Ace by Xue. 16-10. Hugs after every point for China. Bunt for Youngs 16-11. Youngs to serve and follow. Zhang into net. 16-12. Kill by Xue 17-12. Time growing short. Block onto US side. 18-12. Three points from Chinese win. Ace for Zhang. 19-12. Right in the middle of the US pair. Zhang serves long. 19-13. Branagh serves into net. 20-13. Seven match points. Youngs bunts long. 21-13. China moves to medal round.

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.