A country often criticized for a long history of shunning people with a disability put on a dramatic show Saturday designed to demonstrate the idea that all life should be valued.
In the packed 91,000-seat National Stadium, on a muggy, sweat-inducing night, the opening ceremonies of the Beijing Paralympic Games began with a thunderous fireworks display over the open air roof of the stadium, which is more commonly known as the Bird’s Nest for its massive steel lattice exterior.
The 50-minute performance included the impeccably co-ordinated dance and theatrical movements that have become such a traditional part of opening ceremonies. But it also included a blind singer, a blind pianist playing his own composition, 300 white-dress-clad deaf girls doing a sign language dance, and 12-year-old ballet student Li Yue, who lost her left leg in the Sichuan earthquake earlier this year, but who “never gives up her pursuit of dreams.”
In a moving scene, the young girl – wearing a white ballet dress and seated on a wheelchair surrounded by several kneeling dancers – slipped a red ballet shoe onto her right foot and did an extended arm dance. At the end of the performance, a male ballet dancer put her on his shoulder for a brief twirl then held her by her hips as she stood on her one leg on the seat of her chair.
Liu Qi, president of the Beijing organizing committee, told the crowd that the Games “educate people to the power of love, and encourage people to devote more understanding, respect and support to people with a disability.”
Eleven days of competition in 20 sports – from traditional able-bodied ones like swimming, track and cycling to Paralympic-specific disciplines such as goalball, wheelchair rugby and boccia – begin on Sunday. Nearly all the events take place at the same venues used for the Olympics.
Unlike the Olympic opening ceremonies, where the athletes parade comes at the end of the show, the 4,000 Paralympians from 148 countries and regions came into the stadium shortly after the pyrotechnics had ended.
It was also a 90-minute parade that had a much different look than the Olympic one. While some of the athletes walked in, others rolled in on wheelchairs – some under their own arm power, others with team officials or volunteers pushing from behind. Some athletes used prosthesis or crutches, while many of the visually impaired were assisted in by team officials, parents, friends or guide dogs.
Canada’s red-and-white clad, 144-strong contingent was led by flag-bearer Donovan Tildesley, a charismatic blind swimmer from Vancouver.
The three-time Paralympian was decked out in HBC-designed wear, including a red vest with a big maple leaf on the back, and had his father, Hugh, at his side.
Several of the beaming Canadians, many of them holding up video recorders, were waving small maple leaf flags and gesturing animatedly to family and other Canadian supporters in the crowd.
China, with one-armed swimmer Wang Xiao Fu as its flag-bearer, had the biggest contingent, with a record 322 athletes. The blue jacket-clad athletes drew raucous cheers from the crowd when they entered the stadium as the final country.
After the athletes from each country paraded in, they were seated in the lower front rows of the stands and on the stadium floor to watch the three-hour program that ended with six Chinese Paralympians doing a torch run around the stadium before it was handed to athletics gold medallist Hou Bin.
With the torch attached to his wheelchair, which was linked to a cable, Hou pulled himself hand over hand at least 100 metres to the top of the stadium to light the Games cauldron.
While several seating areas were set aside in the stands for spectators in wheelchairs, China hasn’t always been so accommodating of its estimated 83 million people with a disability. Observers who had been to Beijing earlier in the year noted that the disabled beggars seen on the street back then had since disappeared, apparently told to go to – or escorted back to – their villages.
Over the last two weeks in places like Suzhou, just northwest of Shanghai, and in the old capital of Xi’an, several hundred kilometres from Beijing, beggars who literally dragged themselves along sidewalks with sticks could be seen rattling cups looking for change.
“In terms of tolerance and understanding, not everybody understands the need of people with disabilities,” Wang Wei, executive vice-president and secretary general of the Beijing organizing committee, told a news conference on Friday. “It is a process. China is a developing country.”
In the media briefing notes for the opening ceremony, the performance was described as an elaborate interpretation of the idea that “all life has value, all life has dignity, all life has dream.”
Executive artistic director Zhang Jigang said he often remembers a blind man playing a bowed string instrument on a small street in his hometown.
“(He) has never seen this world, but he lighted up the coziness and beauty of a city with his music,” said Zhang. “Maybe this is the value and dignity of life. Tonight, we also open a door, light a lamp and brighten a road for everyone to transcend space and time and pursue more brilliant dreams.”

from: canada.com

Paralympics

China is following its successful hosting of the Olympics with a lower-key opening ceremony for the Paralympics, an international sporting event for handicapped athletes, that runs until September 17. Stephanie Ho reports from Beijing.

Chinese President Hu Jintao officially declared that the Paralympic games had begun.
The opening ceremony for the Beijing Olympics involved a lavish and elaborate performance that presented thousands of years of Chinese history.
In contrast, the opening ceremony for the Paralympics was mostly about the athletes.
Four thousand physically-disabled athletes from around the world entered the Bird’s Nest stadium, either on foot or in a wheelchair.
Chinese women in bright pink frilly dresses led each of the 146 national delegations. Groups of young Chinese dancers, dressed in blue shorts and white baseball caps, danced to the music and waved red flags.
The president of the International Paralympic Committee, Philip Craven, praised these games as a Paralympic milestone.
“These games will have more athletes, more competing nations and more sporting events than ever before,” he said.
Earlier in the day, President Hu hosted visiting dignitaries for lunch in the Great Hall of the People.
President Hu says the Beijing Paralympic games are an opportunity for China to further promote a humanitarian spirit and safeguard the rights of disabled people.
One notable name on the guest list was Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who shook hands and posed for pictures with the Chinese president.
In Beijing Saturday, residents watched the Paralympic torch make its way through the city to the stadium.
Chinese state television showed excited spectators waving flags and cheering for the torch.
One spectator told CCTV that just as the Olympics have improved China’s position in the world, he is hopeful the Paralympics will enhance China’s position as a powerful sports country too.
There are 20 sports under competition during the Summer Paralympics. These include swimming, sailing and judo, as well as things like wheelchair basketball, wheelchair tennis and wheelchair rugby.
The first day of competition is Sunday, and athletes will use many of the same venues that were featured in the Olympics.

source: voanews.com

Just like the Olympic Games pageantry last month, the festivities in the Bird’s Nest stadium established new standards for dazzling extravagance.
The organisers had promised an opening gala of “equal splendour” to the show that ushered in the Olympics and they did not disappoint, creating a glittering theatrical feast with a 6,000-strong cast that included hundreds of disabled performers.
It featured a sign-language dance by a troupe of 320 deaf girls, music and singing by blind musicians and a barrage of fireworks. However, the most memorable moment came when earthquake survivor Li Yue took centre stage in a wheelchair, dressed in a pink tutu, to perform a “hand ballet” to Ravel’s Bolero.
The gala ended with a lighting of the cauldron that was rich in symbolism as one-legged Chinese high-jumper Hou Bin used his own strength to haul himself and his wheelchair up to the roof of the stadium on a pully before igniting the flame to a thunderous roar from the 91,000 crowd.
Pointedly, however, the organisers chose to give wheelchair fencer Jin Jing the honour of bringing the Paralympic torch into the stadium. It was Jin who became known in China as the “angel in the wheelchair” after she stubbornly clung on to the torch in Paris in April as pro-Tibet protesters tried to wrestle it from her grasp.
The ceremony marked the beginning of 11 days of competition for more than 4,000 disabled athletes from 148 countries, including 206 from Britain. They were led into the stadium during the athletes’ parade by flag-bearer Danny Crates, a middle-distance runner who lost his right arm in a car accident 14 years ago.
The British team, who have finished second in the medals table at the last two Paralympics, are hoping to continue the success of Britain’s Olympic athletes in Beijing but have little chance of matching the might of the host nation, which dominated the Athens Games four years ago by winning 63 gold medals and is expected to win many more on home soil.
The 20 sports at the 13th Paralympics, which ends on September 17, include athletics, swimming, powerlifting, wheelchair fencing and two versions of football – five-a-side and seven-a-side – as well as the lesser-known goalball and boccia.
While another Chinese triumph is a foregone conclusion, what is less certain is the impact the Games will have on Chinese attitudes to disability.
China has 83 million disabled people, according to official figures, but many face prejudice and discrimination in a society were disability is still regarded as a source of shame.
Disabled rights campaigners hope the positive images of the Paralympics, starting with yesterday’s spectacular celebrations, will be a catalyst for change.

source: telegraph.co.uk

A shot for Olympic gold can be an opportunity of a lifetime for athletes. But for companies that spent heavily on advertising and marketing at the Olympics, the Beijing Games offered a different kind of golden opportunity: the chance to advertise their goods to a worldwide audience and for more exposure to consumer-rich China.
“Until China, never before has the market potential of the host country on its own been viewed as possibly worth the significant investment,” says Julius Roberge of branding company Siegel + Gale.
Twelve companies from a variety of industries acted as worldwide Olympic sponsors for the 2008 Games, while others sponsored individual teams or athletes.
Of the represented industries, three stood out as successes — sportswear, media and food and beverage — in their bids to seize worldwide recognition for their brands to boost sales and profit potential.
Every men’s swimming event was won by an athlete donning the Speedo LZR Racer suit, with 94 percent of all gold medals going to swimmers who wore one.
Speedo International is a unit of privately held Pentland Group, based in London.
Chinese sportswear brand Li Ning also got a boost after its founder lit the flame in the opening ceremony. Shares jumped as much as 13 percent during the Olympic Games.
“Li Ning might well have been the official sponsor for the games, in our opinion,” says Stifel Nicolaus analyst Thomas Shaw.
Audiences returned to watching broadcast TV to view their favorite events, even as Internet downloads of the competition surged.
General Electric (GE), the parent company of NBC, had the exclusive broadcast rights for the 17-day games. The network averaged 27.7 million viewers a night for its prime-time coverage, which was higher than the averages for both the 2004 and 2000 Olympics.
Food and beverage companies, meanwhile, were awarded with strong advertising and marketing relationships, including a Kellogg (K) deal with gold-medalist swimmer Michael Phelps and Coca-Cola’s (KO) unity-themed marketing campaign featuring Chinese basketball star Yao Ming.

source: seattletimes.nwsource.com

Michael Phelps wants more in 2012

LOOK out London, Michael Phelps is coming to the 2012 Olympics and he’s thinking about adding even more events to his repertoire.

The Beijing Olympics and Phelps’s eight gold medals are still making headlines, but the good news for his rivals is that the London games will be his last .

And the bad news? He could be taking part in even more events.

“I am looking forward to trying some new events — some events that I’ve never really had the opportunity to swim since my schedule is always so crowded,” Phelps said, adding he’s never competed in a backstroke event at a major international meet or in the 100m freestyle.

Only a few swimmers are likely to breathe a sigh of relief after Phelps confirmed his future plans.

“No breaststroke, no distance swimming, no open-water swimming,” Phelps said. “At least those guys will still be my friends.”

The only other swimmers likely to be pleased by the 23-year-old American’s comments are those young enough to compete in 2016.

“I’ve never wanted to go beyond 30,” Phelps said. “I might go a few years beyond the Olympics.

“I said to my coach: ‘Don’t get any ideas because I don’t want to compete beyond 30,’ and he said: ‘That’s good because I don’t want to coach you past the age of 30’.”

Phelps has said basketball player Michael Jordan and golfer Tiger Woods are the two superstars he’d most like to meet following his exploits in China, and he could be learning lessons from one of them already.

Woods took time at the pinnacle of his career to remodel his swing to renew his dominance. Phelps is speaking of switching the training programme he has followed for the past decade.

source: thetimes.co.za

The United States and China lead the medal count thus far in the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, according to reports on Thursday.
The U.S. is second to China with 29 gold medals. The U.S. has also earned 34 silver medals and 32 bronze medals to bring their medal count to 82 overall, the highest of all nations.
The U.S. women’s soccer team won the gold medal against Brazil, while the U.S. women’s softball won silver after losing to Japan. Kerri Walsh and Misty May-Treanor defended their gold medal in women’s beach volleyball.
The U.S. swept the men’s 400m in track and field as LaShawn Merritt outlasted rival Jeremy Wariner to win the gold.
On Sunday, Michael Phelps set the all-time Olympic record for eight gold medals in a single Olympics, breaking Mark Spitz’s record from the 1972 Olympics. Phelps extended his all-time record for most Olympic gold medals to 14.
Phelps set Olympic records in each event, but set seven, not eight, world records. Phelps missed the world record in the 100-meter freestyle (50.58), but set an Olympic record in the event.
Phelps set a world and Olympic record in the 200-meter individual medley (1:54.23), the 200-meter freestyle (1:42.96), 200-meter butterfly (1:52.03), 4×200 freestyle relay (6:58.56), the 4×100 medley relay (3:29.34), the 400m individual medley (4:03.84) and 4×100 freestyle relay (3:08.24).
Phelps won the exhilarating 4×100 freestyle relay, along with Cullen Jones, Garrett Weber-Gale and anchor Jason Lesak on last Sunday.
Nastia Luikin won the individual all-around final in women’s gymnastics as she totaled four medals during the Olympics. Shawn Johnson won the gold medal for the balance beam to add to her two silver medals. The women’s team won silver in the team final, while the men’s team won bronze.

Venus and Serena Williams won the gold medal in the women’s doubles final in tennis. In track and field, Angelo Taylor won the 400m hurdles, Dawn Harper won the 110m hurdles and Stephanie Brown Trafton won the women’s discus throw.

China leads all nations with 46 gold medals, winning 15 silver medals and 22 bronze medals to give them a medal count of 79 thus far.

Wei Yang continued China’s dominance in gymnastics by winning the gold in the men’s individual all-around final on Wednesday. He Kexin won the gold for the women’s uneven bars, while Zou Kai (floor exercise, horizontal bars), Li Xiaopeng (parallel bars), Xiao Qin (pommel horse) and Chen Yibing (rings) won gold medals for the men. The men’s and women’s team swept the team final in gymnastics.

Zhang Juan Juan won the gold for women’s individual archery and Liu Zige set a world and Olympic record as she won the gold in the women’s 200-meter butterfly in swimming.

China won five gold medals in synchronized diving: Tian Liang and Jinghui Yang (women’s 10m platform); Guo Jingjing and Wu Minxia (women’s 3m springboard); Lin Yue and Huo Liang (men’s 10m platform); and Feng Wang and Qin Kai (men’s 3m springboard)

The host nation won nine weightlifting gold medals: Long Qingquan (men’s 56kg), Zhang Xiangxiang (men’s 62kg), Chen Xiexia (women’s 48kg), Chen Yanqing (women’s 58kg), Liao Hui (men’s 69kg), Lu Yong (men’s 85kg), Cao Lei (women’s 78kg), Liu Chunhong (women’s 69kg) and Wang Jiao (women’s freestyle 72kg).

China also won three gold medals in women’s judo (Xian Dongmei, 52kg; Tong Wen, +78kg; Yang Xiuli, 78kg) and four in shooting: Pang Wei (men’s 10m air pistol), Guo Wenjun (women’s 10m air pistol), Chen Ying (women’s 25m pistol), and du Li (women’s 50m rifle 3 position).

Guo Wenjun, Liu Chunhong, Cao Lei, Chen Xiexia, Chen Yanqing and Liu Chunhong all set Olympic records. On Monday, Zhong Man won the fencing gold medal for China in the men’s individual saber.

China swept the trampoline event as Lu Chunlong won the men’s trampoline and He Wenna won the women’s trampoline.

Great Britain is third behind China and the U.S. in total number of gold medals with 17, while Australia and Germany have 11. Russia is third in total medals with 51 (16 gold), while Great Britain is fourth with 40.

Although Jamaica has just five gold medals and nine altogether, all of their medals have come in track and field. Usain Bolt became the first runner since Carl Lewis in 1984 to win the gold medal in the 100m and 200m, setting world and Olympic records in both. Bolt ran a 9.69 in the 100m and 19.30 in 200m.

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from: transworldnews.com

United States suffered a gold medal wipe-out on Wednesday after suffering another dismal track and field performance which virtually conceded Olympic Games supremacy to China.
The US only managed two silver medals in the women’s 400m hurdles through Sheena Tosta and in the men’s 200m from defending champion Shawn Crawford.
Walter Dix picked up a bronze behind Crawford.
But even those two medals came by default with Crawford and Dix being promoted after original second and third place men, Churandy Martina of Dutch Antilles and American compatriot Wallace Spearmon, were disqualified.
By the end of the day, China still topped the medals table with 45 gold out of a total of 79 while the US had 26 golds out of 82.
Jamaica piled on the misery for the United States on the track at the Bird’s Nest.
First Melaine Walker took the hurdles gold before Usain Bolt stole the show with a record breaking performance in the men’s 200m which delivered him the double sprint gold as well as a second world record.
Crawford could only marvel at Bolt, who reminded him of US eight-gold swim superman Michael Phelps.
“The guy came out and made the best Olympics of my lifetime,” Crawford said. “To me, Bolt is like what Michael Phelps is to swimming.”
America’s night ended on another low note when world polevault champion Brad Walker was eliminated in qualifying after failing three times to clear 5.65m.
American pride was restored by their teams with its NBA superstars cruising past Australia 116-85 in men’s basketball and the baseball team making sure of their place in the last four with 4-2 victory over Japan to set up a semi-final date with old rivals Cuba.
Team USA will face defending champions Argentina on Friday for a place in the basketball finals.
Los Angeles Laker Kobe Bryant scored 11 of his game high 25 points during a 14-0 run to start the second half, extending a 55-43 lead at the break to 89-61 at the start of the final period.
“At the start of second half we wanted to come out and we had a particular set we wanted to run. I had a lot of good looks and knocked them down,” Bryant said.
LeBron James finished the game with 16 points, many coming as he attacked the rim for hard fought points in the first half. Carmelo Anthony also chipped in 15 for the winners, while centre Chris Bosh and Deron Williams both had 10.
Meanwhile, a dominant United States ensured their place in the last Olympic softball final ahead of the sport being dumped from the Games by beating Japan 4-1.
Yukiko Ueno and Monica Abbott kept each other’s team scoreless through the first seven innings of regulation play and the first extra period.
But then the Americans scored four runs off the previously untouchable Ueno in the ninth inning for victory.

from: afp.google.com

Ilchenko, who was often seen sitting behind the leaders and making a move in the last kilometer in world championships, repeated the “trick” at the Olympics and successfully took the gold away from British swimmers Cassandra Patten and Keri-Anne Payne.

The two British swimmers led the race shoulder to shoulder during most part of the race with Ilchenko following behind. But the Ilchenko speeded up in the last 400 meter and surpassed the two British to finish the race first in one hour 59 minutes and 27.7 seconds.

Payne finished second in 1:59.29.2 and world championships silver medalist Patten came third in 1:59:31.0.

Ilchenko has dominated open water swimming since 2004, winning five consecutive 5km world championships and three consecutive 10km races. She is known for her ability to win in all water conditions and temperatures.

“It was a tough race. I was trying to convince myself that it was a training test. It took a lot of willpower to convince myself. But I did it,” Ilchenko said after the race.

Questioned whether her tactic of coming behind is unfair to other swimmers, Ilchenko said “it doesn’t bother me in the least.”

“It’s a competition after all and the best athlete wins. How can I just stop and let somebody else win? How can I let other girls take my medal?” said she. “I actually worked as hard as anybody else and I don’t think it’s a question at all.”

British Payne was apparently elated with a silver medal. She was stung in the mouth by a jellyfish while leading the 10km open water event at the 2007 World Championships in Melbourne, Australia. She was forced to stop for a gel drink and eventually finished 11th.

“It has not sunk in at all, but I’m so pleased to have a silver medal. I might have a little cry later,” she Payne.

But her teammate Patten was in tears when facing the media one hour after the race, seemingly still angry at the confrontation with Germany’s Angela Maurer at the conclusion of the race.

“Some things do happen in races and I think a lot of it is unsportsmanlike. But after races emotions can run high. That’s all I want to say about it. I don’t want to sit and slag anybody else off. At the end of the day I have the medal,” she said.

The open-water event is slated to the 2008 Olympic Games for the first time. It is also referred to as a “wrestling match in water” due to the aggressive techniques employed in competing in the sport. Competitors often knock into each other as they fight for position around the marker buoys and at the feeding stations.

“Ten kilometers is a long distance and there are a lot of girls in quite a short distance and in a short space. At the start, you have clashes on and when you are swimming you knock on each other. That does happen, that is the hard part of the race,” Patten said.

Ilchenko also complained about the clashes in the race. “It’s difficult. I myself had to clash on numerous occasions, especially with the swimmers from Brazil. The last stretch was particularly difficult. I had to via away all the time.”

Ilchenko was given a yellow card warning during the race. But she said she didn’t know it. “I didn’t see I was given a yellow card. Perhaps at the time when I was trying to break away from the two Brazilian swimmers who were quite aggressive, sometimes bordering on being unsportsmanlike. This is swimming after all, not boxing.”

The combative and aggressive nature of the open water event has failed quite some superfish in the pool. Australia’s “long distance king” Grant Hackett was disqualified when trying to get a berth in the race in Beijing at the 2008 World Championships.

“Even if you are a super star, it doesn’t mean anything when it comes to open water,” Ilchenko said.

South Africa’s Natalie du Toit, the first amputee qualified to swim the 10km open water race at the Olympics, ranked 16th.

“For me this is dream come true. I think I’m a bit upset as I wanted to come in the top five. But I even couldn’t get out of the water at the finish, so I’ve done everything I possible could. I’m glad it’s over,” she said.

“Hopefully I’ll be back for 2012 (London Olympics), where I’ll be hoping for a top five place,” she said.

source: mathaba.net

His phenomenal swimming performance was in the books, and not even Michael Phelps himself was interested in watching the rest of the Olympic Games.
Asked if he would stay in Beijing for the Closing Ceremony, a week after his final race, Phelps said, “I have some other things . . . obligations that I’ve got to do.”
So while Phelps attends to sponsor promotions, the Games organizers and NBC Sports are committed to playing out the schedule through Sunday. It’s just that without him, the 2008 Olympics are limping toward the finish.
That’s more than an expression, in China’s case. Track hurdler Liu Xiang, a defending Olympic champion and a Yao Ming-sized star in this country, pulled out of his 110-meter heat Monday because of a foot injury. He walked slowly away from the starting blocks and off the track, taking the hopes and years-long anticipation of China with him into the tunnel of the “Bird’s Nest” stadium.
The Chinese still have Yao and his basketball team, which qualified for the quarterfinals, but Liu’s absence causes “major trauma,” said Jamie Metzl, an executive of the New York-based Asia Society.
“It is impossible to overstate the impact of Liu Xiang to the people of China,” said Metzl, a former State Department official. He had predicted if Liu lost his final race, “you would feel the air going out of the stomachs of 1.3 billion people.”
That may describe how NBC executives felt when Phelps climbed out of the pool for the last time. The network was enjoying a record pace for Olympic ratings, averaging some 30 million viewers nightly as Phelps was shown live (or close to it) in U.S. markets, winning a record eight gold medals while competing in the mornings in Beijing.
The American women’s gymnasts also helped boost the ratings, and they’re down to one event: All-around champion Nastia Liukin and Shawn Johnson will compete Tuesday on the balance beam.
So what’s left after that? Not much. There’s still some drama in the gold medal count, being led by China, but few high-profile contests will spice the competition. Track and basketball usually drive the second week of the Summer Games. With Liu out, the biggest track event is Wednesday’s 200 meters, with Jamaica’s Usain Bolt attempting to duplicate his world-record performance in winning the 100 last weekend.
For Utahns, there’s intrigue in Wednesday’s quarterfinal basketball game, featuring former University of Utah center Andrew Bogut of Australia against the U.S. team with Jazz players Deron Williams and Carlos Boozer. But the Americans have played so well, in contrast to 2004, that little mystery remains in the tournament. What’s more, Sunday’s gold medal game begins at 12:30 a.m. Utah time.
At this point, NBC’s best strategy might be to superimpose an image of Phelps swimming alongside sailing vessels or canoe paddlers, or just show a lot of beach volleyball.

from: sltrib.com

Japan’s double Olympic gold medallist Kosuke Kitajima is hoping Michael Phelps will steer clear of breaststroke when he takes up new events.

“Phelps in breaststroke? That would be the last thing I’d like to see,” said Kitajima, who won the breaststroke “double-double” in winning the 100 and 200 event for a second successive Olympics.

“I really hope not to see that happening,” he added.

After winning a record eight gold medals last week in freestyle, butterfly, individual medley and relays, the American said he planned to take up new events.

Breaststroke, however, is his weakest discipline and he is pondering taking up backstroke events and the 100 freestyle.

Kitajima, who is considering retiring from the sport, said he was in awe of what Phelps had done in Beijing.

“His achievements are just beyond description, and the whole world recognises his ability,” added Kitajima, who also won a bronze medal in the 4×100 medley relay.

“I have great respect for him. We are both athletes, but I’m also a fan of his.

“Being able to stand on the same podium as Phelps …was indeed a great joy for me.”

from: reuters.com

Britain’s Rebecca Romero made Olympic history here Sunday when she became just the second woman to claim medals in two different sports at the summer Games.

England’s Romero dominated an all-British track cycling individual pursuit final to leave Wendy Houvenaghel of Northern Ireland with the silver medal after posting a winning time of three minutes 28.32 seconds for the three-kilometre event.

Lesya Kalitovska of the Ukraine defeated New Zealand’s Alison Shanks to win the bronze medal.

Romero’s was the first Olympic gold medal for Britain in the event, and came a day after Bradley Wiggins successfully defended his individual pursuit crown in the men’s four-kilometre race.

Romero’s win, five months after her maiden world title, meant Britain had now claimed an impressive four gold medals from five of what will utlimately be a total of 10 finals.

British riders have also now won eight of the 15 medals up for grabs so far.

Romero, who won an Olympic rowing silver four years ago in the women’s quadruple sculls, follows in the footsteps of Roswitha Krause of the former East Germany.

Krause won a swimming silver at the 1968 Games in Mexico from the women’s 4x100m relay, then won silver in the women’s handball final at the 1976 Games in Montreal and handball bronze at Moscow in 1980.

The 28-year-old Romero admitted there was no way she was settling for silver this time.

“I’d have been absolutely crushed if I got the silver,” said Romero, who only took up cycling seriously in 2006 after giving up rowing due to a recurring back problem.

“It’s taken for me to come into cycling to realise my full athletic potential,” she added.

Houvenaghel only took up cycling six years ago, but won world championship bronze in the individual pursuit and gold in the non-Olympic team event at Manchester in March.

Formerly an amateur cross0country runner, she discovered a talent for time-trialling in 2002 not long after she had run the London Marathon for the first time in April of that year.

Although being pushed into road time-trialling by her cycling enthusiast husband, she was inspired to take up track cycling after she saw Scotland’s Chris Hoy win gold in the kilometre at Athens in 2004.

Romero set out to make up for her “disappointing” silver rowing medal from Athens in defiant fashion.

Although Houvenaghel led over the first couple of laps of the 250-metre track, the Northern Irishwoman was soon playing catch-up.

Romero led after the first kilometre, and held her pace over the next four laps to virtually seal the gold. Houvenaghel raced a faster third lap but by then it was too late.

The 33-year-old Houvenaghel finished just over two seconds behind and, even as Romero screamed out in joy as she brandished a Union Jack flag, still had a huge smile on her face.

from: afp.google.com

Michael Phelps said rest was the first thing on his agenda in the wake of his epic Olympic performance in Beijing, before he and coach Bob Bowman chart a new course for London 2012.
Despite his remarkable achievement – an unprecedented eight gold medals in nine days to take his career total to a record 14 Olympic titles – Phelps says there is plenty left to do to achieve his goal of changing the sport of swimming in the United States.
“There are some things I still want to do to raise the bar a bit more in the world of swimming,” Phelps said. “For me, it’s still work in progress.”
But Phelps, whose Beijing programme matched his schedule in Athens, will spring something new on the world of swimming in London.
He hadn’t even dried off after winning the 400m individual medley here when he said he was through with that event – although coach Bob Bowman may have other plans.
“I would say I would like to go down and start sprinting, but Bob isn’t so keen on that,” said Phelps, who showed in Beijing just how dangerous he could come to be in swimming’s shorter races.
Phelps swam the lead-off leg of the 4x100m freestyle relay in 47.51sec, making him the third-fastest performer in history in the prestige event behind current world record-holder Eamon Sullivan and former world record-holder Alain Bernard of France.
Phelps was also the second-ranked swimmer in the world in the 100m and 200m backstroke in 2007 – one of the top performers all time in each event although neither was on his Beijing programme.
“We’ll see how keen he is on going to the sprints,” Bowman said. “There is more and different training. He’s more naturally suited to longer events.”
Phelps said he and Bowman would experiment a little, as they did at the 2005 world championships in Montreal in the wake of his impressive Athens Games.
“I think over the next four years, I would like to try new events and see what happens.
“Bob has said he wants to start fresh and do things he hasn’t done before, new training methods and stuff like that.”
After moving from his hometown of Baltimore, following Bowman to a coaching job in Michigan, both are planning a return to Maryland.
“We are going to look at some different events, mix up the training programme a little bit and do some experimenting,” Bowman said. “We have plenty of time and we will look at reinventing ourselves.
“We have accomplished this set of goals and I would dare to venture to say we are not going to do it again, at least not like this.
“We will start coming up with some goals that excite him and start working towards them.”
But first, Phelps said a little vacation was in order.
“It’s something I haven’t done for a long time,” he said. “I am looking forward to seeing friends, hanging out and sitting down. Not moving.
“Bob has a saying about putting money in the bank and this week was about making withdrawals. I guess I’ve gotten through every penny. Now it’s time to start making redeposits.”
But Phelps won’t rest too long, especially since his over-arching aim is to raise the profile of swimming in his home country so that it can garner headlines outside of Olympic years.
“I don’t want this sport to be an every four year sport,” he said. “We get lots of attention every four years, but for the rest of that time there is really not a lot of attention.
“We swim every single day, there is never really an off-season. I just want more people to get involved in the sport and I think it will happen in the next four years.”
Besides, Phelps can’t take too much time off, since he has to book a spot in the 2009 World Championships in Rome.
“My mom has told me I have to make the (US) team so she can go to Rome,” Phelps said. – AFP

from: nst.com.my

Michael Phelps on Sunday broke the record for the most number of gold medals at an individual Olympic Games as he helped the US team win the 4x100m medley relay.

Phelps broke the record previously held by American swimmer Mark Spitz, who won seven gold medals in 1972.

The US won in a world record time of 3:29.34, beating their own world record from 2004 by 1.34 seconds.

Silver went to Australia in 3:30.04, who were also under the old best mark, while Japan took bronze in 3:31.18.

It was the 25th world record broken in the Beijing Water Cube at the Olympics and came in the final swim of the swimming competition.

Phelps finally cracked on Sunday when he was presented with a certificate to show that he had won an unprecedented eight gold medals at the Beijing Olympics.

Phelps started crying and sheepishly looked towards he team-mates when the president of the sport’s controlling body FINA, Mustapha Larfaoui, gave the 23-year-old the certificate during the medal celebration for the men’s 4x100m individual medley, which the US team won in world record time.

The rousing applause he received from the 11,000 spectators in the Beijing Water Cube brought more tears to his eyes and it was only when the US flag was raised and the national anthem played that Phelps composed himself and broke into a broad smile.

from: bangkokpost.com

Organizers say events are sold out despite appearances. One possible explanation is that Chinese bought cheap tickets but aren’t using them.

Tickets were in such short supply for Friday night’s field hockey match between Australia and Pakistan that some relatives of players couldn’t get any, and those who did had to fork over as much as $130 apiece. At the box office, clerks told disappointed ticket seekers that the game was “sold out.”
But inside the 17,000-seat Olympic Green Hockey Stadium, the stands were a sea of blue — the color of the rows and rows of empty plastic seats. When the game began, only a quarter of the seats were filled, leaving an incredulous Donna Dancer, wife of Australian hockey coach Barry Dancer, to ask, “Where have all the tickets gone?”

It’s one of the great mysteries of the Beijing Olympics: In what is reportedly the first sold-out Games in Olympic history, many venues are far from full, with the expanses of empty seats giving events a somewhat forlorn appearance.

“Everyone I know wanted tickets; we Chinese love to see sports,” said Mike Ma, 34, a Beijing office worker who scored a field hockey ticket through a German friend because he was unable to buy one in China. “It’s a pity there are so many empty seats. We would like to know who is responsible.”
And how it happened.

Demand for the 6.8 million tickets has been crushing. When tickets first went on sale, online ticketing sites around the world crashed because so many people were trying to buy. When the final batch of tickets was offered in July, Chinese fans waited in 90-degree heat for as long as two days to buy them, with near riots breaking out at many locations.

“This is our fourth Olympics, but getting tickets to this one really has been a nightmare,” said Stacey Watson, a 44-year-old Australian, as she watched her country beat Pakistan, 3-1. “Then you get inside and you wonder who got all the tickets, because there is nobody there.”

Dancer, wife of the Australian coach, knows how tough it was to scrape together tickets for the players’ families. She and others spent long nights trying to get through to jammed Internet sites. They called dodgy ticket agencies, scalpers and people they barely knew begging for tickets. About 300 of them finally got tickets, scattered around the stadium.

Not every venue is empty. There have been full houses for swimming and gymnastics finals. The 91,000-seat National Stadium, known as the Bird’s Nest, was packed Saturday for track and field. But at most other events, even table tennis and archery in which the Chinese are strong, the lack of fans is glaringly obvious, especially on TV.

Beijing Olympic organizers initially explained away the empty seats by citing the humid and rainy weather on the first days of the Games. But with the skies clearing, they have begun complaining about tickets that have been purchased but gone unused.

“All the tickets have been sold out; we will be encouraging all the ticket holders to watch the matches themselves,” Wang Wei, executive vice president of the organizing committee, said Friday at a news conference. “If they don’t want to go, they should give the tickets to those who do,”

Empty seats are a chronic problem at the Olympics, where large blocks of the best seats are set aside for sponsors, VIPs and media members who may not use them. The 2004 Athens Games were marked by vast swaths of empty seats.

But Athens was not sold out, and people could buy tickets at the on-site box office. Not so in Beijing. With no same-day tickets available, hundreds of people mill about outside the wire fences that separate the Olympic Green from the street, looking for tickets. Scalpers slink through the crowd, muttering their prices and avoiding police.

On Saturday morning, the cheapest price to see U.S. swimmer Michael Phelps in the 100-meter butterfly race was $570, for tickets with a face value of $21.

One reason for the shortage is that organizers wanted to make the Games accessible to China’s 1.3 billion people, so they sold more tickets domestically and at lower prices than usual, some for as little as $4. The low prices encouraged people to snap up whatever they could.

But it turns out there weren’t that many people truly prepared to spend their Monday morning watching Mali play New Zealand in women’s basketball.

Also, the custom in Communist China is to attend sporting or cultural events as part of official work outings. Large blocks of empty seats in the cheaper nosebleed sections of the stadiums may have been allocated to state companies that ended up not using them.

From the looks of the stands, the empty seats do not appear to be tickets that were sold in the United States, Australia or Europe, said Mark Lewis, president of Jet Set Sports, the affiliate of CoSport, which was the official sales agent. In the cases where foreigners decided not to go to China, their tickets were returned and resold.

“I know where our seats are. . . . The people who bought our tickets are attending,” Lewis said.

So many foreigners have complained that the Chinese have been busing in rent-a-crowds to lend the stands a festive atmosphere.

“It’s better. Nobody likes an empty stadium,” said Dave Andrews, 27, of Perth, Australia. “But you can tell they’ve just been brought in here to fill the seats. They know nothing about hockey. They cheer at all the wrong times.”

from: latimes.com

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

Harry Potter has helped a Norwegian swimmer earn a bronze medal at the Olympic Games in Beijing.
Sara Nordenstam puts her bronze medal in the women’s 200 breaststroke down to J.K. Rowling’s books about a teenage wizard which helped her to relax before her big moment.

“I was very nervous and needed something to calm me down and I listen to the Harry Potter books because your mind goes off to a magical world and it’s great because I was able to keep my nerves in control,” she is reported as telling the media.

“I have read them all, I have seen all the movies and I have listened to the audio books as well. It worked really well today,” she said.

from: pendletoday.co.uk

FRESH from grabbing his second bronze medal of the Olympics, Australia’s Andrew Lauterstein has told of his desire to crush Michael Phelps’ dream of a record eighth gold medal in tomorrow’s 4x100m medley relay. Phelps’ moment of truth will be revealed tomorrow when he shoots for his final gold medal in the medley relay, with Australia, according to Lauterstein, desperate to wreck his party.

The Australian team is likely to feature Lauterstein, Eamon Sullivan, Brenton Rickard and Hayden Stoeckel, all medallists in invididual events this week.

“All four swimmers have broken the Australian record, all are Olympic medallists so hopefully we can walk away with a medal,” Lauterstein said.

“We’re going to give the Americans a good shake, hopefully stop Phelpsy from getting his eighth gold.

“That’s the plan.”

Phelps is concern ed about the Australian team and heard Lauterstein’s warning.

The American said today: ”The Australians are our biggest opponents.”

Lauterstein was buzzing after claiming his second bronze of the week in today’s 100m butterfly final.

Earlier in the week he was part of Australia’s 4x100m freestyle relay team which finished third behind the US and France.

The 21-year-old was well beaten by Phelps who touched out Serbia’s Milorad Cavic by .01sec in the closest of finishes.

Phelps’ victory meant he equalled Mark Spitz’s record of seven Olympic gold medals at the one Games, winning the event in Olympic record time of 50.58secs.

Phelps never looked like winning after turning in seventh place but he finished like Bernborough to pip the Serbian, who later fired in a protest thinking the touch pads were faulty, but it was dismissed quickly.

Lauterstein claimed a big scalp in the race when world record holder Ian Crocker of the US finished fourth.

“It was just a great race to be a part of, it was an absolute spectacle,” Lauterstein said.

“I said it yesterday, when you hear Michael Phelps do his arm slaps it get’s your heart rate racing.

“So to handle the pressure again and come out and do another PB, that’s three PB’s in three swims, is pretty special.”

Lauterstein said he was oblivious to the amazing performance of Phelps.

“I had no idea…I knew that I wasn’t winning,” Lauterstein said.

“I could see the guy next to me out ahead of me and I could feel the Kenyan right next to me but apart from that I had no idea.”

An emotional Lauterstein also told how he savoured the moment of his first individual Olympic medal.

“I made Michael laugh on the way out to the medal ceremony by telling him to ‘really enjoy it mate”’, Lauterstein said.

“I couldn’t believe I was about to cry when I heard the American national anthem.

“I don’t a have a very good memory, so I just tried to take everything in.”

from: news.com.au

Even Michael Phelps couldn’t believe his eyes. He said he had to take off his goggles to make sure it was his name, and not Milorad Cavic, next to the No. 1 after a thrilling finish in the Olympic 100-meter butterfly.

Phelps, who was in seventh place at the turn, surged in the final few meters and somehow managed to out-touch the Serbian-American Cavic by a hundredth of a second. To the naked eye, it was nearly impossible to tell who won. And from some camera angles, it appeared Cavic had the gold. But the Omega electronic clock read: Phelps 50.58. Cavic 50.59.

The Serbian team was disputing the result, but FINA officials met with team leaders after the race and reviewed the video footage. The Serbians accepted the result after seeing the tape.

Cavic was gracious in defeat and said he was “honored” to be the guy who almost beat Phelps.

It was Phelps’ seventh gold medal at these Olympics, which ties Mark Spitz’s 36-year-old record from Munich. He will attempt to break the record Sunday morning in the 4×100 medley relay.

Phelps was humbled to be on the same seven-gold pedestal as Spitz.

“The biggest thing is when someone says you can’t do things, when people say it’s impossible to tie or break these records, I proved anything’s possible,” he said. “If you put in the hard work and put your mind to it, anything’s possible.”

This time, there was no world record, as there had been for Phelps’ previous six golds. Instead, the Baltimore phenom proved he can win in the tightest of races. Phelps made up ground in the final 50, and took an extra half-stroke at the finish, which would seem to have hurt him as Cavic’s hands were already underwater gliding to the wall. But Phelps’ extra kick surged him forward with force at the touchpad.

“When I saw the replay, when I saw I took that extra half stroke, I thought I lost the race,” Phelps said. “But I guess that’s exactly what I needed. I’m at a loss for words. I’m excited and relieved. It wasn’t until I saw the No. 1 next to my name that I let out my roar.”

The lucky seventh gold also meant a $1 million bonus from Speedo, one of his many sponsors.

All the talk heading into the Olympics was that fellow-American and world-record holder Ian Crocker could spoil Phelps’ pool party in this event, but around the pool deck the past few days, the buzz was about Cavic. The Anaheim, Calif., native and Cal-Berkeley student set an Olympic record in the preliminary heats in 50.76 seconds, and swam the fastest semifinal time (50.92).

Cavic’s times were particularly impressive considering that Phelps and Crocker held the top 17 times in the event heading into the Olympics. Cavic, who is 6-foot-6, said after the semifinals that he was hoping to derail Phelps so that one day people would say, “Phelps had a chance to win eight and lost to some guy.” Cavic desperately wanted to be that guy.

Instead, he has to settle for the silver. Andrew Lauterstein of Australia won the bronze. Crocker finished fourth.

Cavic said the difference between he and Phelps was as tiny as “shaving your fingers.” Swimming results can be so close, he said, that his coach cleaned up the hairs on the back of Cavic’s neck with clippers just before the race. “Those are the differences in swimming. Everything counts. You can’t even show one one-hundredth of a second on TV. It’s that close.”

Cavic was not surprised Phelps made his move at the end. In fact, he expected it.

“I knew I was leading the race. I usually swim a faster first 50 and Phelps is a back-half swimmer, so I knew he’d be chasing me at the end. I saw a shadow in the side of my goggles, so the final eight meters I just put my head down, didn’t breathe, and hoped for the best.”

When a Serbian reporter asked Cavic, “How does it feel to be the one man who beat Phelps?” Cavic smiled and replied: “I didn’t beat Phelps. Maybe I’m the only guy who had a real shot of beating Phelps. This is all completely new to me. I felt so much pressure, and I’m very proud I was able to control my emotions and get so close. It was an honor for me to race Michael Phelps with all eyes on me. If we got to do it again, I’d win it.”

Crocker, the quiet, unassuming rival from Portland, Maine, also wanted to be “that guy” who ruined Phelps’ day. So much so, in fact, that he put all his efforts into the 100-meter butterfly rather than race in multiple events. Crocker beat Phelps to win the world titles in 2003 and 2005, and set the world record (50.40) in 2005.

But Phelps beat Crocker in the 2004 Olympics by .04 seconds and edged him again in the 2007 world championships by .05 seconds.

Crocker : “Sports is all about one person trying to derail the other person’s dreams.”

As usual, Phelps’ quest for history overshadowed the other events at The Water Cube on Saturday.

Brazil’s Cesar Cielo Filho set an Olympic record and won gold in the 50-meter freestyle, beating a pair of Frenchmen – Amaury Leveaux and Alain Bernard. He is Brazil’s first Olympic swimming gold medalist. Filho won the race in 21.30 seconds, lowering the mark of 21.34 he set in the semifinals.

It was Filho’s second medal of the Games. He tied U.S. swimmer Jason Lezak for the bronze in the 100-meter freestyle. Filho, 21, is a student at Auburn University.

Kirsty Coventry of Zimbabwe set a world record in the women’s 200-meter backstroke in 2:05.24. Margaret Hoelzer of the United States won silver.

And in the women’s 800, Great Britain’s Rebecca Adlington set a world record en route to a gold medal.

from: macon.com