Olympic Times - Sports Daily

Japan’s Fumie Suguri took the women’s lead Friday at the Cup of Russia with a short program that was confident and precise, if short on adventure.

Suguri, who took silver at Skate Canada, is in line for a slot in the Grand Prix final if she gains a gold or silver in Moscow, the fifth of six Grand Prix series competitions. With a score of 58.30 points, she edged Carolina Kostner of Italy, the world silver medalist, and American Rachael Flatt at Moscow’s Megasport Arena.

In a disappointing performance, 2006 world champion Kimmie Meissner was eighth.

Suguri nailed all her jumps, with the only flaw a bit of apparent hesitation before her triple flip. She took fewer risks than Kostner or Flatt, essaying only a triple-double combination and front-loading all her jumps into the start of her program to “Fanfan” by Nicolas Jorelle.

Kostner tried a triple-triple, but put a hand down on the second jump, then fell on a triple lutz. But her drama and elegance won her the highest artistic marks of all the women.

Flatt stepped out of the first part of her triple-triple and only doubled the toe loop jump when she tried to add it on to her ensuing triple lutz.

But she held back a double axel until more than two minutes into the program, and got the second-highest technical marks.

Read the rest of this entry…

A Japanese schoolgirl is making headlines across the world today as the first woman to play pro baseball in Japan.

A 16-year-old schoolgirl with a mean knuckleball has been selected as the first woman ever to play alongside the men in Japanese professional baseball.

Eri Yoshida was drafted for a new independent league that will launch in April, drawing attention for a side-armed knuckler that her future manager Yoshihiro Nakata said was a marvel.

“I never dreamed of getting drafted,” Yoshida told reporters Monday, a day after she was selected to play for the Kobe 9 Cruise.

“I have only just been picked by the team and have not achieved anything,” she said. “I want to play as a pro eventually in a higher league.“

Yoshida, 155 centimetres (five feet) tall and weighing 52 kilograms (114 pounds), says she wants to follow in the footsteps of the great Boston Red Sox knuckleballer Tim Wakefield.

A female professional baseball federation existed for a few years in the 1950s, but Yoshida will become Japan’s first-ever woman to play alongside professional male players.

(c) AFP

JAPAN stunned the United States 3-1 tonight to claim Olympic softball gold, denying America a fourth straight title.

Softnall is due to be dropped from the Games after Beijing.

It was the first time the US failed to win the gold since softball was introduced in 1996, and their first defeat in 22 Olympic matches - a stretch dating back to Sydney 2000.
Instead they settled for silver, with Australia taking bronze.

Japan, semi-final losers to the United States, had reached the gold medal game with a dramatic, second-chance 4-3 12-inning victory over Australia in a final-round play-off game.

In two games Thursday, Japanese pitcher Yukiko Ueno threw a total of 21 innings, but she showed no ill effects as she played seven innings and got the win for Japan.

“My strong belief to win,” was what carried her through the fatigue, Ueno said.

Eri Yamada homered in the fourth inning, giving Japan a 2-0 lead before a brief rain delay halted play.

Ayumi Karino’s base hit in the third had scored Masumi Mishina to put Japan ahead, and Japan added another run in the top of the seventh.

Crystl Bustos’s homer in the bottom of the fourth was the lone US run.

US dominance of the sport has been fingered as one reason softball has been dropped for London 2012, but backers of the game are still hoping it will be reinstated eventually.

Japanese coach Haruka Saito said the upset could add impetus to the “Back Softball” campaign to bring it back.

“It is a big encouragement and motivation for us to get softball back into the Olympic Games,” she said.

“We will promote it all over the world, every corner of the world.”

Yamada said the win, which came after an extra-innings loss to the United States in the semis and the win over Australia, showed softball was a worthy Olympic sport.

“The world needs to know softball is a really good game,” she said.

“Our winning is the first step to help Back Softball. We are very glad we made it.”

from: foxsports.com.au

Semi-finals and final races in the men’s and women’s BMX competition have been postponed until Friday due to rain, officials said.

Heavy rain from the early hours of Thursday soaked the dirt course and cycling officials determined that it would be too dangerous to run the competition.

“In consideration of the fairness of the competition, and after negotiation with the UCI (Union Cycliste Internationale) technical delegate, as well as Beijing Olympic Broadcasting, the competition schedule will now run from 9:00 until 11:00 on 22 August,” said a statement from Laoshan cycling officials.

The change means the men’s and women’s BMX and the women’s mountain biking finals will all be held on Thursday.

Riders said they were disappointed that they would have to wait for competition, after getting mentally and physically prepared to race.

But one rider — American Kyle Bennett — was thankful for the extra time, after dislocating his shoulder in a high-speed crash in the quarter-finals on Wednesday.

“I think a day off wouldn’t hurt,” said Bennett, who got back on his bicycle and rode off the course after a doctor popped his shoulder back in.

Bennett qualified for the semi-finals despite the crash because he had finished second and fourth in the first two of three quarter-final runs.

“It’s going to be tough to race,” he said in an interview. “The plan is to do everything I can do to prepare it for tomorrow.”

Bennett, a pre-race medal favorite along with his two team mates, said the rain made the asphalt curves and the steep, three-storey high starting ramp too dangerous to ride.

The American said he and the other riders will have a hard time sitting around waiting for another day to race.

“The anticipation kind of gets to you when you have to sit around,” Bennett said. “But who knows, sometimes it works out for the best.”

from: reuters.com

Maarten van der Weijden of the Netherlands won the Olympic gold medal in the men’s 10km swim on Thursday.

Britain’s David Davies won the silver and Germany’s Thomas Lurz the bronze.

from: reuters.com

Germany’s Jan Frodeno, who took up triathlon because a girl he fancied did it, won the Olympic gold medal on Tuesday in a dramatic sprint over the last few meters.

Close behind him, Sydney gold medalist Simon Whitfield of Canada won the silver in the baking hot Beijing swim-bike-run event, and New Zealand’s Bevan Docherty the bronze.

Frodeno, a former swimmer and surf-lifeguard who took up triathlon eight years ago while living in South Africa, battled

with Docherty and 2008 world champion Javier Gomez of Spain, both heavily tipped for gold, for front position in the last two laps.

But the lanky German, whose nickname is “Frodo”, strode ahead at the final bend, overtaking all of them and leaving a crushed-looking Gomez in fourth place, a full 20 seconds behind his finish time of one hour, 48 minutes and 53 seconds.

“It was a moment I had dreamed of so many times in my head. During the race I told myself: ‘Boy, be greedy — it’s champagne or fizzy water’,” an overwhelmed Frodeno said afterwards.

“I tried not to think that the others behind me were the fastest guys and the most famous triathletes,” he said, adding he had learned his lesson from losing a lot of sprints this year.

“I knew I had to be hard and bite and fight,” he said.

The all-round fitness event came down to a running race, as the best sprinters held back and then surged past the winners of the swim and bike sections in the four-lap final section.

Frodeno, whose gold medal surprise came a day after his 27th birthday, punched the air triumphantly after breaking through the ribbon at the Ming Tombs reservoir course north of Beijing.

He told reporters he lay awake tossing and turning on Monday night plotting how to beat Gomez, an 11-times world cup winner.

EXASPERATED RIVALS

Gomez has dominated his sport this year despite an abnormal heart valve that kept him out of competitions for several years.

The Spaniard, who prefers racing in cooler weather, said he tired himself out when he bolted ahead and ran the first two laps in a spectacular 14 mins 10 secs to make up for lagging badly coming out of the bike transition.

“I just had a not very good day on the run,” said Gomez, who is dating a German triathlete in Monday’s women’s race.

He said it had been hard to run fast in the 31 degree Celsius (88 degree Fahrenheit) heat and 84 percent humidity.

“I got tired. I did train well but today there were three athletes better than me,” he told Reuters.

Whitfield said Gomez’s exasperated rivals decided ahead of the Games that the way to beat him was to join forces and all run against him. “We all raced today watching him. Everywhere he went in the pack, we all knew where he was and paid attention.”

For Docherty, beating Gomez was not quite enough, however.

The mop-haired New Zealander has gained a tiresome reputation for always coming second or third.

“I’m super happy to get another medal. I’m slowly building up a collection. Unfortunately I’ll have to go to London to get the gold,” he said, dolefully.

from: reuters.com

Emma Snowsill and Emma Moffatt of Australia won gold and bronze medals in today’s Women’s Triathlon race. The silver medal went to Vanessa Fernandes of Portugal.
Snowsill won the gold with a time of one hour, 58 minutes and 27.66 seconds. Fernandes finished in a time of one hour, 59 minutes and 34.63 seconds, while Moffatt won the bronze medal with a time of one hour, 59 minutes and 55.84 seconds.
Laura Bennett of the United States led out of the water, followed closely by Magali di Marco of Switzerland and Sarah Haskins of the United States.
On the 40km bike course, two packs came together early to form a leading group of 24 triathletes. After three laps, the leading group was in front of the chasing group by one minute. The margin was widened to nearly two minutes after five laps.
As the women headed out onto the 10km running course, Snowsill and Fernandes immediately surged to the front and opened up a slight gap over the rest of the field, which they maintained till the end.

from: beijing2008.cn

World champion Canada has won the men’s eights gold at the Beijing Olympic rowing competition.

It was the first time in more than 30 years that the reigning world champions also won Olympic gold.

Australia’s rowers were not able to reproduce last night’s success, with six-time Olympian James Tomkins in the Australian boat which finished in last place.

Canada blasted out from the start and built up a lead of more than 2.50sec on Britain by the halfway mark.

The Brits started to come back but ran out of water and only held off the United States for silver by 0.23sec.

from:abc.net.au

Pre-race favorites Georgeta Andrunache and Viorica Susanu of Romania grabbed gold in Rowing Women’s Pair with a time of 7:20.60. Wu You of Gao Yulan of China finished with a time of 7:22.28, edging out Yuliya Bichyk and Natallia Helakh of Belarus by just 0.63 seconds to take silver.

“I’m very happy with the gold, it’s the third time that I’ve won a medal in this sport,” said an excited Andrunache after the race. “Now my boyfriend will understand (why) I didn’t spend so much time with him last year.”

China reached the three-quarter mark nearly three seconds behind Belarus, but clinched silver with a sprint in the final 500m. Belarus had progressed directly to the A-final after their heat win, while China qualified for the final by winning a four-second victory over Germany in the repechage

Women’s Pair, final standings:
1. Romania — Georgeta Andrunache and Viorica Susanu, 7:20.60
2. China — Wu You and Gao Yulan, 7:22.28
3. Belarus — Yuliya Bichyk and Natallia Helakh, 7:22.91
4. Germany — Lenka Wech and Maren Derlien, 7:25.73
5. New Zealand — Juliette Haigh and Nicola Coles, 7:28.80
6. Great Britain — Louisa Reeve and Olivia Whitlam, 7:33.61

from: beijing2008.cn

Spectators who attended the Greco-roman style wrestling competition at the Beijing Olympics became witnesses of an ugly incident when the Swedish wrestler Ara Abrahamian threw away his bronze medal.

The incident happened during the award ceremony for the Olympic medallists in the 84 kg wrestling category.

The Swedish wrester had been angry with the judge of his semi-final match with Andrea Minguzzi of Italy, who went on to the take gold, and had even refused to appear for the bronze final.

During the semi-final match Abrahamian had to be restrained by teammates as a row erupted with judges over their decision.

“I do not care about this medal; I wanted the goal,” stated the enraged wrestler.

After the award ceremony, Abrahamiyan publicly displayed his discontent and indignation by throwing his bronze medal on the ground, stepping from the podium and storming off.

The medal had been collected by a worker from the sports facility’s maintenance crew,

from: novinite.com

Number one seeds Croatia made it three wins from three in the men’s water polo competition with a 13-5 thrashing of Germany in the Yingdong Natatorium.
Damir Buric scored three goals and four others added two each as Croatia scored on every power play.

“Croatia is, at the moment, the favourite for the final,” said Germany coach Hagen Stamm.

Elsewhere, Canadian coach Dragan Jovanovic was ejected as his side lost 8-5 to Australia.

Jovanovic received a red card in the third quarter for arguing a call with the referees and was eventually escorted from the pool area.

He will not be allowed to coach in Saturday’s match against Greece.
“Honestly, I don’t care,” said Jovanovic, whose team have yet to record a win from their three games.

“I’m going to prepare the team the next couple of days for the game against Greece, but execution is coming from the players in the water.”

In other Group B matches, Italy claimed their first win of the tournament with a 19-7 victory over winless China.

Serbia defeated the United States 4-2 to join them on two wins.

The Americans had plenty of chances to pull off an upset but were only two from 27 on their shooting.

Montenegro remain top of Group A thanks to a 10-6 victory over Greece.

Hungary, the Olympic champions in 2000 and 2004, are also on five points after they beat Spain 8-5.

The winners of each group qualify for the semi-finals, with the teams finishing in second and third playing for place in the last four.

Chinese beach volleyball men’s duo Wu Penggen/Xu Linyin remained unbeaten Thursday to advance to the next round.

The host team beat Spanish pair Pablo Herrera/Raul Mesa in two straight sets 21-13, 21-15.

“From the very beginning we were ahead of them in points. Compared with the last match we were more relaxed,” commented the 1.98-meter Wu after the match.

“We had a good start, which put a lot of pressure on our opponents. We had very good rhythm, organization and momentum,” said Xu on their performance in the match.

Herrera said they could not resist the attacks of the Chinese in most of the time and the 2.02-meter Xu was the biggest headache for them. Mesa said the Chinese controlled the rhythm of match.

The Chinese team had 28 attack points, 5 blocks and 1 ace.

“They are very strong team. We tried our best to play to our best standard but we still lost,” Herrera said.

With three preliminary wins, the Chinese team will meet in the next round with one of the last-placed top 16 teams.

On their next match, Xu said, “We don’t think much about the points and medals. We will adjust ourselves according to the next opponent and be well prepared for the next match.”

Beijing Olympics beach volleyball tournament will wrap up its preliminaries Thursday and the last 16 will be decided. The draw for the composition of top 16 matches will be held later Thursday.

from: mathaba.net

Chiara Cainero of Italy has won the gold medal in women’s skeet shooting, beating Kim Rhode of the U.S. and Christine Brinker of Germany in a shoot-off.

The three finished tied at 93 targets Thursday, and Cainero hit the first two targets of the shoot-off. Rhode and Brinker each missed one. The shoot-off continued to determine second place. Rhode ended up winning the silver, and Brinker took the bronze.

Cainero led after qualifying with a score of 72, but she hit only 21 of 25 targets in the final round, enabling Rhode and Brinker to catch up.

Rhode won gold in double trap in 1996 and 2004, but that event was eliminated for women before the Beijing Games. Forced to focus on skeet, she added another medal to her collection.

from: ap.google.com

Salvatore Sanzo of Italy has won bronze in the Men’s Individual Foil at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games on August 13, holding off fourth place finisher Zhu Jun of China 15-14 in a two-round bout.

The gold and silver medals will be decided at the Fencing Hall tonight, August 13, when Athens 2004 ninth place finisher Ota Yuki of Japan contests Olympic newcomer Benjamin Philip Kleibrink from Germany.

from: beijing2008.cn

Ota Yuki of Japan and German fencer Benjamin Philip Kleibrink will duel over the Olympic gold medal in the Men’s Individual Foil competition at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games at 9 p.m. (UTC/GMT +8) on August 13.
Ota Yuki of Japan, ninth-place finisher at the Athens 2004 Olympics, defeated Athens 2004 silver medalist Salvatore Sanzoof from Italy 15-14 to advance to the final competition.
In another semifinal bout, Germany’s Benjamin Philip Kleibrink, gold medalist at the Venice, Italy World Cup 2007/08 defeated Zhu Jun of China 15-4 to enter the final.

Zhu will compete with Sanzo for the bronze medal at 8 p.m. (UTC/GMT +8).

source: beijing2008.cn