Chinese Olympians auctioned off everything from swimsuits to ping-pong paddles in Beijing last night in a benefit for Sichuan province, amid calls to turn the nation’s attention back to the quake-stricken region after the distraction of the Games.

Auction proceeds from the memorabilia offered by 23 Chinese athletes raised about four million yuan, or roughly $600,000, while the fundraising event raised 19 million yuan overall, according to the Chinese Athletes Fund, one of the organizers of the auction. About 80% of the money will be used to build youth sports facilities and infrastructure in Sichuan, the fund said, while the rest will be used provide training courses for retired athletes and coaches in fields including language skills, sports management and entrepreneurship education.

Guo Jingjing and her blue swimsuit

Female table tennis champion Zhang Yining’s ping pong paddle fetched 400,000 yuan, the highest price for an individual item. One sought-after item was the blue swimsuit worn by gold medal diver Guo Jingjing, which was sold for 300,000 yuan.

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KAWASAKI: Athens Olympic gold medallist Koji Murofushi of Japan won the hammer throw with his last attempt at the Kawasaki track and field meet on Tuesday.

Murofushi, who finished fifth at the Beijing Olympics in August, threw 81.02 metres to beat Krisztian Pars of Hungary. Beijing Olympic champion Primoz Kozmus of Slovenia was a disappointing third with 78.59 metres.

“It was a very good throw. I’m really glad that I was able to mark such a good record with my last throw in my last competition of the season,” said Murofushi. “I couldn’t practise well because of a cold so I think this is the result I achieved with my technique. It was a good competition and I’m looking forward to the next season.” Meanwhile, Nobuharu Asahara, who anchored the Japanese team to win the 4x100m relay bronze in Beijing, put an end to his career with a third-place finish in 10.37 secs. The 100 metre race was won by Harry Aikines-Aryeetey of Britain in 10.19, followed by Michael Rodgers of the United States in 10.26.

“I competed for more than 20 years. A great part of my life was to run. It’s great to finish my career by receiving a medal as a present at the end,” said Asahara, now aged 36.

Other Beijing Olympic champions duly won their events, with Tomasz Majewski of Poland winning the men’s shot put with 19.63m and Tatiana Lebedeva of Russia winning the women’s long jump with 6.81m. In the women’s 100m, Chisato Fukushima brought the title home for the first time for Japan by clocking 11.70 secs, beating American Candice Davis into second. The 2005 world champion Bershawn Jackson of the United States coasted to an easy victory in the men’s 400m hurdles in 49.33 secs, while 2007 world champion Donald Thomas of Bahamas won the men’s high jump with 2.24m.

from: dailytimes.com.pk

Asafa Powell cruised to victory in the 100 meters and Olympic champion LaShawn Merritt won the 400 Saturday at the World Athletics Final, which included a world record in the women’s javelin.

With Usain Bolt home in Jamaica celebrating his three Olympic titles and world records, Powell won in 9.87 seconds, far off Bolt’s record of 9.69.

Merritt nipped Jeremy Wariner at the finish to win the 400 in 44.50, repeating his victory over his fellow American at the Beijing Olympics. Wariner finished 0.01 behind.

Barbora Spotakova of the Czech Republic set a world record in the javelin with a throw of 237 feet, 2 inches (72.28 meters). She collected a bonus of $100,000 for the record and took home $30,000 for winning the event.

“I never expected the record, I did not feel very good in the morning,” said Spotakova, the reigning world and Olympic champion.

She set the record in her first throw, breaking the previous mark of 235-3 (71.70) set by Osleidys Menendez of Cuba at the 2005 world championships in Helsinki, Finland.

Jamaicans swept the top three spots in the 100, with Nesta Carter finishing second in 10.07 and Michael Frater next in 10.10.

In the 100 hurdles, Josephine Onyia of Spain upset American LoLo Jones, winning in 12.54. Jones trailed by 0.02 seconds.

Jones lost the Olympic final after stumbling into the penultimate hurdle and finished seventh, although she had the fastest time in the world this year.

In the 400, Merritt hurled himself forward at the line and fell hard on the ground, clutching his right thigh. He later said he was “all right.”

Merritt said his goal for 2009 is to “start off where I left off this year.”

“Another aim will be to get my time down,” he said. “It is not so much about how often I beat Jeremy Wariner or not.”

In the 400 hurdles, Olympic silver medalist Kerron Clement of the United States caught Danny McFarlane of Jamaica at the final hurdle and won in 48.96. Olympic champion Angelo Taylor of the United States opted to run the 400 and finished fourth.

Bernard Lagat broke from the pack with near the end to win the 3,000 for another U.S. victory.

Olympic pole vault champion and world record holder Yelena Isinbayeva pulled out of the competition because of a cold.

“My body simply said ‘No,’” the Russian said as the two-day competition got under way in damp, cool conditions.

Stefan Holm of Sweden ended his illustrious high jump career by finishing second at 7-feet, 7 3/4 inches. The 2004 Athens Olympic champion was beaten by the Beijing champion, Andrey Silnov of Russia, who cleared 7-8 1/2.

source:ap.google.com

Olympic champion and world record holder Usain Bolt takes on world champion Tyson Gay and Jamaican compatriot Asafa Powell in a mouth-watering, first-ever 100m clash in Brussels on Friday.
Bolt, who stunned the Beijing Olympics with gold medals and world records in the 100m, 200m and 4x100m relay, faces his two rivals who have plenty to prove at the Golden League meeting.
America’s Gay, struggling with a hamstring injury, never made the 100m final in China while Powell, the former world record holder, was a disappointing fifth in Beijing.
However, he illustrated he was still a sprinting force by running 9.72sec at Lausanne on Tuesday, just 0.03sec outside the world mark that Bolt set at the Games on August 16.
“It’s not a problem for me, it will make the race more exciting. I can only say I will do my best on Friday,” said Bolt as he reflected on Powell’s blistering time in Switzerland.
“After Brussels I want to go back home. I haven’t been back to Jamaica since the Games and I’m in a hurry.”
Since Beijing, Bolt has shown no sign of slackening, running 9.83sec in Zurich and 19.63sec for the 200m in Lausanne.
Gay said he is “looking forward to it (Friday’s race)” but “I’m not at 100 per cent yet”.
The American, who picked up his injury in the 200m at the US Olympic trials in June, had a victorious outing on Sunday at 200m, winning in a rainy Gateshead in 20.26sec.
Bolt has only ever once met Gay over 100m, the Jamaican beginning his current period of ascendancy with a 9.72sec world record in New York in May, ahead of Gay, who ran 9.85sec.
At 200m, the balance remains in Gay’s favour, the world champion having headed the Beijing winner in six of their eight meetings at the longer sprint.
Bolt, a newcomer to the 100m this season, has met the former world record holder Powell on just three occasions in their careers.
He has a 2-1 record, with Powell having taken a narrow victory in Stockholm just prior to Beijing.
Powell leads Gay over 100m by 5-1.

from: theage.com.au

Asafa Powell rebounded from another disappointing Olympics by winning the 100 meters in 9.87 seconds at the British Grand Prix in Gateshead, England, on Sunday.
Powell, the former world record holder in the 100 who finished fifth at the Beijing Games, extended his lead all the way and won by 3 meters.
“It would have been different in the Olympics if I had run like this,” Powell said.
Bernard Lagat of Tucson won the 1,000 meters in a personal-best time of 2:16.18.
Lagat, who competed at the Olympics as an American for the first time, struggled in Beijing. He failed to qualify for the 1,500 final and finished ninth in the 5,000.
Tyson Gay won the 200 in 20.26, showing no signs of the hamstring problems that bothered him at the U.S. Trials and left him out of the Olympic 100 final. Wallace Spearmon, who was disqualified in Beijing for leaving his lane, was second.
Lauryn Williams of the U.S. won the women’s 100 in 11.24, beating Olympic champion Shelly-Ann Fraser of Jamaica by five-hundredths of a second.

source: azcentral.com

- Jamaica confirmed their new-found status as the greatest sprinting nation in the world, smashing the world record to win gold in the Men’s 4 x 100m Relay at the National Stadium on Friday, August 22.

Their victory was never in question, as anchor Asafa Powell crossed the finish line in 37.10 seconds, slicing three tenths of a second off the 15-year-old world record previously held by the United States.

Nesta Carter led off the Jamaican quartet, passing to Michael Frater who stormed up the back straight. With a significant lead already in their grasp, world 100m and 200m record holder Usain Bolt sailed around the final bend further extending the gap, before handing the baton to Powell who completed the seamless performance by the Jamaicans.

Beijing 2008 Men’s 100m silver medalist Richard Thompson anchored Trinidad & Tobago home to the silver medal in 38.06, with Japan taking the bronze in 38.15.

It was Bolt’s third gold medal and third world record of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.

It was also Jamaica’s first Men’s 4 x 100m Relay gold in Olympic history, bringing Jamaica’s medal tally in Athletics to six gold, three silver and one bronze.

from: beijing2008.cn

Alex Schwazer timed three hours, 37 minutes and 09 seconds to finish the walking marathon in a new Olympic record. The former record of 3:38:29 was held by Ivanenko Vyacheslav of Soviet Union at Seoul 20 years ago.

“It’s the best, it’s the highest level. I’m delighted,” said Schwazer, “Last year, I messed up. This year was perfect for me, everything went well, it’s been a great year. I’m truly happy.”

“I wanted to win so badly I had to stop myself from running. I didn’t want to mess up. I wanted to show what I could do,” he added.

Australian Jared Tallent, who already won a bronze medal at men’s 20km walk six days ago, moved a step forward to take the silver medal on Friday with 3:39:27.

He becomes the first Australian to win an Olympic medal in the 50km walk, and the first Australian man in 102 years to win more than one track and field medal.

“This is what you do it for. Just warming up this morning and thinking of all the years of hard work that come down to this. I can’t believe it – two medals at the Olympics,” said Tallent, noting that walking in 50km event was not a comfortable job.

“It is very painful, I’m sore now. My hamstrings are hurting, but it’s all worth it in the end for a silver medal.”

Denis Nizhegorodov of Russia, the silver medalist at the Athens Games and world record holder, finished third at 3:40:14.

The 24-year-old Schwazer, finished third at last two world championships, took an early lead from the start and never lost contention in the leading group of four. He launched a decisive break inside the final 5km, pulled away from Tallent and Nizhegorov and rallied to cross the line without any resistance.

“I didn’t want anything but the gold. Last year, I was disappointed because I was told to calm my expectations down and only go for the bronze when I should go for the Gold,” said Schwazer, who fell on his knees and wept after he won the title.

China’s Li Jianbo, who remained in the leading group until the 30km checks, was far behind in the final sprint and place 14th with 3:52:20.

from: mathaba.net

Jamaica’s yam-powered Usain “Lightning” Bolt hopes to become the first man since Carl Lewis in 1984 to win an Olympic sprint double on Wednesday.
The man whose father says owes his speed to the local vegetable has already won the showpiece 100 meters final in swashbuckling style, thumping his chest before the finish.
If he also carries off his preferred 200m in Beijing’s Bird’s Nest at 10.30 p.m. (1430 GMT) — and nobody looks capable of beating him — Bolt will not only equal the illustrious American.
He would also establish himself as the undisputed poster boy of the Beijing Games along with American swimmer Michael Phelps who won an unprecedented eight gold medals.
“I like to enjoy what I do,” said the lanky Bolt, who breezed through his 200m semi-final late on Tuesday, playing up to TV cameras and taking a look round at competitors during the race.
“You can’t be too serious in your job.”
Bolt, who runs the 200m final the day before his 22nd birthday, faces a tough challenge though to beat Michael Johnson’s 12-year-old world record of 19.32 seconds.
The Jamaican’s best is 19.67.
Bolt’s exploits have lit up his Caribbean homeland in the same way that Phelps’s eight golds in Beijing, passing Mark Spitz’s 1972 Munich record, have thrilled Americans.
While theirs have been the standout individual performances, it is team China’s overall record that is wowing the world.
The hosts, who came second to the United States in Athens 2004, go into Day 12 of the Olympics with a commanding lead of 43 golds on top of the medal table.
China now look impossible to catch, even by traditional Olympics powerhouse the United States, who have won 26 golds in Beijing so far. China’s Communist authorities are reaping the benefits of massive investment in a Soviet-style sports system.
“There is basically no worry about top spot,” state news agency Xinhua said, the confident tone contrasting with official caution over China’s prospects before the August 8-24 Games.

BRITISH SUCCESS
The Olympics have so far been a stunning success for China’s leaders, pollution and political concerns fading into the background once the sporting action began.
A few small pro-free Tibet protests by foreigners have barely troubled police, and Beijing authorities have declared the city’s much-decried air was the cleanest in a decade during August.
The only discordant note for the hosts, really, has been the injury to national idol and 110 meters hurdles Olympic champion Liu Xiang, who had been China’s main hope for a track gold.
Britain lie a better-than-expected third in the medals table thanks, experts say, to major investment in sport that has enabled athletes to train full time and improved facilities.
The latest success came from Christine Ohuruogu, who won the women’s 400 meters on Tuesday night for Britain’s first athletics win in China. She only made it to Beijing after winning an appeal against an lifetime Olympics ban for missing three drugs tests.
Britain’s 16 golds are its best showing since 1908 and the perfect way to fire up enthusiasm for the London 2012 Olympics.
“We have all seen what the Chinese have done. It has been fantastic,” London mayor Boris Johnson said, contemplating how the global credit crunch might affect Britain’s Games.
“But I am not intimidated by that. We can have a show that is equally as fantastic without wasting money.”
As well as Bolt, Jamaicans are also looking to Melaine Walker to boost their gold medal tally in the women’s 400 meters hurdles final on Wednesday in the Bird’s Nest.
The 25-year-old has the fastest time of the year of 53.48 but she will have to watch out for American Sheena Tosta.

from: reuters.com

Usain Bolt, the world’s fastest man, qualified for the 200-meter finals on Tuesday in the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.
Bolt, who set the world and Olympic record in the 100-meters on Saturday, could become the first track and field runner to win the 100-meters and 200-meters in the same Olympic Games since Carl Lewis in 1984.
Bolt, the Jamaica native, won the gold medal for the 100m in historic fashion, running a time of 9.69 seconds while pounding his chest with 15-20 meters left in the race.
Bolt had the fastest qualifying time of all of the 200-meter heats, running in 20.09 seconds. USA’s Shawn Crawford (20.12), Wallace Spearmon (20.14) and 100-meter bronze medalist Walter Dix (20.19) also qualified. Crawford won the gold medal in the 2004 Athens Olympics for the 200m.
Bolt’s personal best is 19.67, the fifth-fastest time in history, just behind Spearmon’s time of 19.65. The world and Olympic record for the 200-meters was set by Michael Johnson, who ran a 19.32 in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.
The men’s 200m final will take place on Wednesday at 10:20 a.m., according to the Olympic track schedule.

from: transworldnews.com

The latest edition of the Jamaica v U.S. sprint duel kicked off in the women’s 200 meters first round on Tuesday with American Muna Lee leading the qualifiers on another hot and clear morning.

Jamaica have taken both 100 meters titles, including a clean sweep in the women’s event, and Usain Bolt is a strong favorite to complete the men’s double.

The last Games in which the U.S. competed and failed to win any of the four sprints was 1976.

Defending champion Veronica Campbell-Brown, fresh after missing selection for the 100 and fastest in the world this year, cruised through with fellow Jamaicans Sherone Simpson and Kerron Stewart, who shared the 100 silver.

Allyson Felix, runner-up to Campbell-Brown in Athens but who turned the tables in last year’s world championships, is again expected to be her chief rival.

She went through smoothly along with Marshevet Hooker and Lee, who led the way with 22.71 seconds.

“It’s great, I’ve been sitting around watching everyone else so it’s nice to get going,” Felix said.

“I was happy with my turn, finally. I just came out with the least amount of effort possible.”

The second round is later on Tuesday with the semi-finals on Wednesday and the final Thursday.

There was an upset in the long jump when indoor world champion Naide Gomes of Portugal, whose 7.12 meters is the longest jump of the season, managed only 6.29m after two fouls to miss out on Friday’s final.

“I lacked confidence and felt a lot of pressure,” she said.

Brittney Reese of the U.S. led qualification with 6.87m.

Carolina Kluft, who missed out on the triple jump final after opting not to defend her heptathlon title, also progressed safely.

“I didn’t get the speed over the board that I wanted but it was a safety jump,” said the Swede.

“I the final I hope to break my pb of 6.97 and see how far that takes me.”

All the major players in the women’s javelin went through to Thursday’s final, headed by Czech Barbora Spotakova.

Tuesday night’s action is highlighted by the men’s 1,500 meters, where Asbel Kiprop and Augustine Kiprono Choge could lead a Kenyan 1-2.

There are also golds up for grabs in the women’s 400 and 100m hurdles and the men’s discus and high jump.

Bolt, bidding to become the first man to complete the sprint double since Carl Lewis in 1984, returns to the track in the 200 semi-finals before Wednesday’s final.

reuters.com

Yelena Isinbayeva made sure the Olympic athletics program ended a lot better than it started Monday at the Bird’s Nest.
The Russian pole vaulter broke her own world record in winning a second consecutive Olympic gold medal. Already assured of victory over rival Jenn Stuczynski of the United States, Isinbayeva set a mark of 5.05 metres on her third and final attempt at that height.
After eclipsing her old world record by one centimetre, Isinbayeva did a somersault on the mat before jogging around the stadium with a Russian flag as the crowd wildly applauded.
It was anything but a celebration about 10 hours earlier when defending 110-metre hurdles champion Liu Xiang, one of the most recognizable faces in China and even more popular than basketball player Yao Ming, walked away from the blocks after pulling up during a false start in qualifying, his Olympics over.
“We worked hard every day, but the result was as you see and it’s really hard to take,” said Liu’s coach, Sun Haiping.
While Liu clutched his right leg in pain, an elderly woman in the stands wiped tears from her eyes, providing the most poignant example of what the 25-year-old hurdler, who had been affected by the injury for several months, means to many in his home country as it hosts the games for the first time.
Usain Bolt, the 100-metre gold winner and world record-holder, easily qualified for the 200 semifinals. Bolt never pushed himself to win his quarter-final heat ahead of Olympic gold medallist Shawn Crawford, with the Jamaican mock-wiping sweat off his brow after the race.
The semifinals are set for Tuesday, with Crawford among the few believed to have a chance at stopping Bolt’s quest for a 100-200 double, a feat last achieved by Carl Lewis at the 1988 Seoul Games.
The United States leads all countries through Monday with 72 medals, with China second at 67 and Russia thrid at 36. China has the most gold medals with 39, followed by the U.S. at 22 and Great Britain at 12.
Canada has nine medals, including two gold.
Angelo Taylor won the men’s 400 hurdles, finishing in 47.25 seconds to lead a U.S. sweep in the event. Kerron Clement finished second and Bershawn Jackson finished third, the first sweep since the United States did it in 1960.
Taylor, the 2000 Olympic champion, won his second gold by running a personal-best time of 47.25 seconds. He won the U.S. team’s second gold medal of the meet, joining Stephanie Brown Trafton, who won the discus throw in an upset earlier Monday.
Pamela Jelimo led world champion Janeth Jepkosgei in a Kenyan 1-2 finish in the women’s 800 metres.
The 18-year-old Jelimo, a heavy favourite despite only switching to the 800 in April, won in 1:54.87.
Three-time world champion and Sydney 2000 Olympic gold medallist Maria Mutola finished fifth in 1:57.68 in her fourth and last Olympics.
Irving Saladino won the men’s long jump, giving Panama its first Olympic gold medal. The 2007 world champion won with a best jump of 8.34 metres. Brimin Kipruto of Kenya won the gold medal in the men’s 3,000-metre steeplechase.
Emma Snowsill, a three-time world champion from Australia, took the triathlon gold in the 1.5-kilometre swim, 40-kilometre bicycle ride and 10-kilometre run in 1:58:27. Vanessa Fernandes of Portugal was second, a minute behind, and another Australian, Emma Moffatt, took the bronze.
“Coming down on the last lap I had to throw whatever I had left,” Snowsill said. “There’s nothing like running scared.”
Chen Yibing extended China’s unbeaten run of gold – five in five events – in men’s gymnastics by winning the rings. The two-time world champion was perfectly still on nearly every move in registering 16.600 points that blew away the field of eight.
He Kexin of China won a tiebreaker over all-around champion Nastia Liukin of the United States for the uneven bars gold medal.
Britain won the men’s team pursuit at the Laoshan velodrome, knocking nearly two seconds off the world record it set a day earlier. The team of Ed Clancy, Paul Manning, Geraint Thomas and individual pursuit gold medallist Bradley Wiggins finished the 4,000 metres in 3:53.314, almost overtaking the silver medal-winning Denmark in the final.
World champion Marianne Vos of the Netherlands won the women’s points race.
Andrei Aramnau of Belarus broke three heavyweight world records to win his country’s first Olympic gold in weightlifting. Aramnau lifted a total of 436 kilograms in the 105-kg category and also set world marks in the snatch and clean and jerk.
“I came here to win and break records,” Aramnau said. “It’s not just empty talk. I did it.”
He Wenna of China won gold in women’s trampolining, over Canada’s Karen Cockburn, China took the men’s team title in table tennis and the United States won the team show jumping event in equestrian in a jumpoff over Canada.
The United States beat Germany 106-57 in men’s basketball, advancing to the medal round against Australia. Dwight Howard scored 22 points and LeBron James had 18, 16 in the first half, as the United States completed an undefeated 5-0 march through pool play.

Francoise Mbango Etone successfully defended her Olympic triple jump title with a new Games record leap.

An effort of 15.39 metres on her second attempt secured victory at Beijing’s Bird’s Nest stadium on Sunday.

Russian Tatyana Lebedeva (15.32m) won silver, and Greece’s Hrysopiyi Devetzi (15.23m), the 2004 Olympic silver medallist, took bronze.
Mbango Etone, 32, became Cameroon’s first individual Olympic gold medallist when she won in Athens four years ago.
She came back this season after spending most of 2006 and 2007 off the circuit for a combination of reasons, including injuries, studies and becoming a mother.

source: bbc.co.uk

Jamaica’s Usain Bolt won the men’s Olympic 100 meters in stunning style on Saturday, obliterating his own world record to win in 9.69 seconds.

He took the most coveted athletic crown with ease, soaring across the line meters clear of Trinidadian Richard Thompson in silver in 9.89 seconds. American Walter Dix won bronze in 9.91 but Bolt’s blistering speed made his rivals look like sluggards.

The tall Jamaican raised his arms in triumph well before he crossed the line, thumped his chest and raced to salute supporters in the crowd who roared approval of a spectacular run.

His victory was beyond doubt within meters of the starting block and was over within a heartbeat. With 30 meters to go, Bolt glanced sideways and smiled in realization that he would win the showcase race of the Olympics.

After scorching across the line, Bolt draped himself in a Jamaican flag, took off his golden running shoes and kissed them.

“I came here just to win, that was my aim,” said Bolt. “I didn’t even know I’d won the record till I did my victory lap.”

His performance sealed a remarkable transition from 200 meter specialist to winner of the showcase race of the Olympics.

Bolt only began racing the 100m in the last year, putting his fellow sprinters in the shade with his performances. He first really showed his threat in May, when he set a world record time of 9.72 in New York.

Much of Jamaica was expected to have clustered around televisions to watch the extraordinary run and will have jumped for joy at the run by the man dubbed “Lightning” by the media.

Despite a tradition of producing world class sprinters, the Caribbean island had never before won a men’s 100m gold at the Olympics.

Bolt can now set his sights on becoming the first man to win the 100m and 200m Olympic double since Carl Lewis in 1984. He will be full of confidence ahead of Wednesday’s 200m final.

“I am just focusing on the 200 meters now,” said Bolt. “I came here prepared and I’m going to do it.”

The much-touted finals run-off between Bolt, former world record holder and fellow Jamaican Asafa Powell and world champion Tyson Gay never happened.

Gay, suffering from a hamstring injury, was too slow in his semi-final to qualify for the late evening race in front of a roaring 90,000-strong crowd in Beijing’s magnificent Bird’s Nest stadium.

Powell, 25, who has never won a global sprint title, finished in fifth place.

“I messed up big time,” said Powell. “My legs died on me. Usain ran an awesome race. I’m very happy for him.”

PHELPS PHENOMENEN

The day’s other highlight was Michael Phelps equaling fellow American swimmer Mark Spitz’s 1972 record of seven golds in one Olympics.

Trailing Serbia’s Milorad Cavic in the 100 meters butterfly, Phelps lunged forward on his final stroke to touch a hundredth of a second ahead, the smallest margin possible.

The sporting phenomenon of the Beijing 2008 Games punched the air and screamed with joy as a capacity crowd in the Water Cube rose to hail him.

“It’s pretty cool, that’s all I can say,” said Phelps, who thought halfway he had blown it. “I am in a sort of dream world.”

On Sunday, Phelps can go one better than Spitz if he wins an eighth Beijing gold in the 100 medley relay.

“He can be called the best Olympian of all time,” Spitz told America’s NBC television, “not because he has more gold medals than anybody but in the way he’s handled himself and in the way he’s actually won under a tremendous amount of pressure.”

Phelps now has 13 career golds, four more than anyone else in the 112-year history of the modern Games.

Phelps’s success is down to total focus and the perfect swimmer’s physique of large torso and huge reach on short legs. His arm span is 3 inches more than his 6ft 4 height.

MEDALS FOR OTHERS

The only surprise was that Phelps did not win in world record time, unlike his other six title-winning swims in Beijing.

The women, though, were in record breaking form.

Zimbabwe’s Kirsty Coventry, who had won three silvers already in Beijing, finally struck gold in the women’s 200 backstroke, bringing some rare cheer to her troubled homeland.

She shaved 0.85 seconds off the previous world best.

Britain’s Rebecca Adlington also smashed a 19-year-old world record to take gold in the women’s 800 freestyle.

She had won Britain’s first Olympic women’s swimming title in nearly half a century in the 400 freestyle on Monday.

But the Games have had some low moments as well.

Sweden’s greco-roman wrestler Ara Abrahamian was stripped of his 84kg-category bronze medal after he dropped it in disgust to protest a refereeing decision. Olympic organizers also threw him out of the Games for his medal ceremony protest.

Australia picked up two gold rowing medals but lost to Britain in a thrilling sprint for the line in the men’s four. Two more medals came Britain’s way in the cycling.

China’s gold medal charge paused on Saturday, with only one badminton gold coming the way of the host nation as attention switched to sports where the Asian nation does less well.

China came second to the United States in the medal table in Athens and would dearly like to win this year to showcase a sporting superpower status to mirror a growing economic clout.

from: reuters.com

recensioni blog

World champion Tyson Gay failed to qualify for the 100 meters final at the Beijing Olympics on Saturday.
The 26-year-old American finished fifth in the second semi-final in 10.05 seconds while his Jamaican rivals, world record holder Usain Bolt and Asafa Powell, cruised through to the final as heat winners.
“I don’t have any excuses, I’m pretty upset,” Gay told reporters, adding that felt himself “tightening” during the race.
Tyson Gay suffered a hamstring injury at the U.S. trials last month and missed out on a place in the 200m, depriving him of a chance to repeat the sprint double he achieved at last year’s world championships.
The final had long been expected to be a showdown between the three fastest men of all time, Bolt, Powell and Gay, but the two Jamaicans will now go head to head later on Saturday.

from: reuters.com

Few athletes dominate any event like Blanka Vlasic does the high jump. The current European Athlete of the year bagged 18 of the 19 outdoor events in 2007, and for Beijing she’ll be red hot favourite.

“I’m very much aware that somebody can come out and beat me no matter how big a favourite I am at the Olympics,” Vlasic said prior to the games.”So I will be preparing by concentrating on the worst possible scenario – needing to jump 2.10 and beat the world record in order to win the gold medal.”

Still 24, this will be her third Olympic games after she competed in 2000 as a 16-year-old and in 2004 – when she failed to win a podium position.

Vlasic is the daughter of Josko Vlasic – a decathlete who retains the Croatian high jump record. Standing at 6ft 3, the peppy and attractive 24-year-old sure has reasons to be grateful for her genes

Her opponents are very aware of the challenge that awaits them.

“I am ready to beat all my opponents, including the unbeatable Vlasic” said Italian Antonietta Di Martino, arguably her closest rival.

After successful jumps, Vlasic likes to thank the audience with a little dance and finishes it off by striking an imposing pose. With gold practically demanded, the question is – does she have what it takes to surpass her own jumps by the 3cms required to set a new world record?

source:yellmalta.com

World record holder in the men’s 100-meter race Usain Bolt got his coach’s nod to compete in both 100m and 200m sprints in the Beijing Olympics, clearing his way to win the greatly coveted Olympic triple sprint golds.

Glen Mills, coach for the 21-year-old Jamaican who just arrived in Beijing on Saturday, said Sunday morning (Beijing Time) on the IAAF website that Bolt will take the double in the coming Olympics, from Aug. 8 to 24.

The Olympic information system, Info2008, also showed Sunday that Bolt, who refreshed his countryman Asafa Powell’s former world record by two hundredths of a second to 9.72 seconds in May, would participate in the 100m, 200m and 4x100m relay in the Olympic athletics.

After his low-profile arrival in Beijing, neither Bolt nor Powell showed up Sunday in the training camp located in Beijing’s east suburbs. Jamaican Olympic delegation members said that at least Powell and two other relay teammates will train in an unspecified camp in Tianjin, an Olympic co-host 120 kilometers southeast of Beijing.

Bolt ran the year’s best two in the 100 meters dash, including his record-breaking performance two months ago in London. The lanky runner also finished the best two in the 200 meters race, which made him a dominant runner in the half-lap competition.

Double dash golds are something the most aspired by any elite sprinters. The last one who got the unusual glory during the Olympics was Carl Lewis of the United States who won the both in 1984 in Los Angeles.

The triple world champion (100m, 200m and 4x100m relay), American Tyson Gay lost his chance to line up with Bolt in the men’s 200 meters after he was disqualified in June for a berth of the U.S. team for the competition due to leg cramps.

Powell, who outperformed Bolt over a week ago in Stockholm, Sweden, by a slight advantage, will not be in the 200 meters competition too. Compared to his top performance in the 100 meters dash, his personal best in the half-lap race was unimpressive.

However, the Jamaican men’s 4×100 meters relay team is formidable enough to any of their competitors. Besides Bolt and Powell, the rest two members of the relay team, Michael Frater and Nesta Carter, both clocked sub-10 seconds in the 100 meters.

Track and field is the biggest gold hope for the Jamaican Olympic delegation to Beijing.

from: xinhuanet.com

Croatian high jumper Blanka Vlasic is aiming for her first Olympic honor at the peak of her powers.
The 24-year-old world champion is hot favorite in the Chinese capital after 33 consecutive victories and she has jumped 3 cms higher than anyone else this season.
Vlasic, whose father and former coach Josko was a former decathlete, won her first senior gold medal at last year’s world championships when she set a personal best of 2.07 meters.
She won the high jump at the World Athletics Final in Stuttgart in September and the world indoor championships in Valencia this year.
Her father’s 1984 decathlon record still stands, a rare example of father and daughter simultaneously holding national records.
Vlasic was born in Split, Croatia’s main Adriatic artery. Her father named her after the Moroccan city of Casablanca where he took part in the 1983 Mediterranean Games shortly before her birth.
She made the headlines in the early stages of her career with a series of semi-nude photos.
Vlasic won the bronze medal at the 2004 world indoor championships in Budapest but ended the season on a low after finishing 11th at the Olympics in Athens.
Vlasic captured the silver at the 2006 world indoors in Moscow before she took world athletics by storm last year.
She registered 18 wins in 19 outdoor competitions after finishing fifth at the European indoors in Birmingham in March 2007.
The only second-place finish, at the Bislett Games in Oslo, cost Vlasic a chance to earn a share of last year’s $1 million Golden League jackpot won by U.S. sprinter Sanya Richards and Russian pole vaulter Yelena Isinbayeva.
In October, she became the first Croatian to be named the European women’s Athlete of the Year. This year she remains in contention for the Golden League jackpot.
Known for striking a pose when she clears the bar, Vlasic will certainly be one of the most eye-catching athletes in Beijing. If she hits top form, her other ambition of breaking the world record of 2.09 meters.

(writing by Zoran Milosavljevic, editing by Robert Woodward)
source: reuters.com

Dayron Robles of Cuba posted a time of 12.88 seconds in the Men’s 110m Hurdles at the Meeting Gaz de France Paris Saint-Denis on Friday,which is just 1/100th second slower than the world record time he posted at the IAAF Grand Prix on June 12.

This is the second time Robles has clocked below 12.90 seconds, making the Cuban the only one who has reached the mark twice.

The 21-year-old hurdler won at the Golden Gala in Rome in 13.08 seconds last Friday. The repeat victory in Paris confirms once again that he is in good shape heading into the Summer Games in Beijing.

Robles’ time in Paris matched the previous world record, which China’s Liu Xiang, Olympic champion in Athens 2004, set on July 11, 2006, in Lausanne, Switzerland. The two will meet in Beijing in August in one of the most anticipated showdowns of the Olympic Games.

from: beijing2008.cn