Summer Olympic Games - Beijing 2008

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Photos: Team Event Technical Routine

Updated: 2008-08-22 18:20:07
Chinese synchronized swimming team performs. (Photo credit: Chen Jianli/Xinhua)
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The Team Event Technical Routine of Synchronized Swimming event was held at the National Aquatics Center on day fourteen of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games on August 22, 2008 in Beijing, China.

Chinese synchronized swimming team performs. (Photo credit: Chen Jianli/Xinhua)

Egyptian synchronized swimming team performs. (Photo credit: Liu Yu/Xinhua)

Japanese synchronized swimming team competes. (Photo credit: Chen Jianli/Xinhua)

US synchronized swimming team competes. (Photo credit: Chen Jianli/Xinhua)

US synchronized swimming team competes. (Photo credit: Chen Jianli/Xinhua)

Russian synchronized swimming team competes. (Photo credit: Phil Walter/Getty Images)






Mountain bike star Chausson wins first BMX gold

Updated: 2008-08-22 12:40:55
Anne-Caroline Chausson poses on the podium. (Photo credit: Hou Deqiang/Xinhua)
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(BEIJING, August 21) -- Anne-Caroline Chausson of France won the gold medal while pre-race favorite Shanaze Reade of Great Britain crashed out to finish last in the Women's race as BMX made its Olympic debut on Friday, August 21.
Laetitia le Corguille of France avoided three pile-ups in the final to claim silver, while US athlete Jill Kintner edged Sarah Walker of New Zealand to score bronze.
Reade overcame a first-run crash in the semifinals to qualify for the gold medal round and roared into the decisive first corner in the front position on Friday.
Ex-mountain bike downhill world champion Chausson took a low, inside line to sneak past her British rival and surged into the lead as two others crashed in their wake.
Two-time defending world champion Reade fought to within a bike's length of Chausson going into the final corner and tried a risky, inside-line pass. She clipped Chausson's rear tire and crashed out of the medals.
Le Corguille, first in her qualifying heat, took advantage of the opening to dart past Reade to claim silver.
Kintner, a three-time Four-Cross world champion riding with injured knee ligaments, surged late to fend off Walker for the bronze.
Chausson, 30, has taken the first-ever Olympic gold medal in BMX after coming out of retirement in 2006 once BMX earned its Olympic-sport designation.
Chausson won 13 downhill, dual slalom and Four-Cross world titles in mountain biking, but the downhill discipline is not an Olympic medal sport.

Anne-Caroline Chausson (front) competes. (Photo credit: Zhang Duo/Xinhua)


Decathlete Bryan Clay's gold took far more time than Usain Bolt's


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Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times

Bryan Clay holds the American flag after winning the gold medal in the men's decathlon at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.


[COLOR=#333333 ! important]Clay brings the 'world's greatest athlete' title back to the U.S., after two grueling 11-hour days. Others in his fraternity of pain know it's a 'bit of a miracle' to win the decathlon.[/color]
[COLOR=#999999 ! important]By Philip Hersh, Special to The Times
August 23, 2008 [/color]
BEIJING -- U.S. decathlete Bryan Clay was walking slowly next to the Olympic Stadium track on a victory lap, and he reached the top of the homestretch just about the time Usain Bolt did while finishing the third leg of Jamaica's 400-meter relay Friday night.

The man who had just earned the title of world's greatest athlete saw the sprinter who has become the world's fastest man speeding to his third OIympic gold medal, each in world-record time. "It was unbelievable," Clay said.

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Photos: Bird's Nest florid at night Updated: 2008-08-06 10:26:55 From: Xinhuanet




Photos taken on Aug. 5, 2008 show the National Stadium, nicknamed the Bird's Nest, in the evening in Beijing, China. Beijing witnessed a fine weather on Tuesday.
(Photo credit: Guo Lei/Xinhua)






hotos: Bird's Nest florid at night

Updated: 2008-08-06 10:26:55 From: Xinhuanet

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Dibaba doubles distance triumph

Updated: 2008-08-22 21:25:45
Tirunesh Dibaba celebrates. (Photo credit: Xinhua)
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(BEIJING, August 22) -- Tirunesh Dibaba of Ethiopia lapped her competition to win the gold medal in the Women's 5000m at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games in a time of 15:41.40 minutes.
Dibaba fell short of her own world record time of 14:11.15 that she set in June this year.
Women's 10000m silver medalist Elvan Abeylegesse of Turkey once again took silver, in a time of 15:42.74, while Athens 2004 Olympic gold medalist Meseret Defer claimed bronze with a time of 15:44.12.
Reigning world champion Defar ran 14:12.88 earlier this year in response to Dibaba's world record of 14:11.55. Defar previously held the world record and is a double world indoor champion and former African champion.
On Friday, August 15, multiple world champion Dibaba ran the second fastest 10000m of all time at the Beijing 2008 Games.
Former world record holder Elvan Abeylegesse finished a close second to Dibaba in the 10000m and held the 5000m world record in 2004.

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No. 2 seeds crowned in Men's Beach Volleyball

Updated: 2008-08-22 13:05:39
Philip Dalhausser tries to block a shot. (Photo credit: Vladimir Rys/Bongarts/Getty Images)
(BEIJING, August 22) -- Philip Dalhausser and Todd Rogers of the United States won the gold medal by defeating Fabio Magalhaes and Marcio Araujo of Brazil 2-1 (23-21, 17-21, 15-4) on Friday in a thrilling final match in the Olympic Men's Beach Volleyball competition.
The Brazilian duo found form early in the first set, and Fabio's block gave the Brazilian side a 6-1 lead.
However, the US pair clawed back into the match, with Dalhausser showing why he has been named the best blocker in Beach Volleyball for the past two years. The 2.06m-tall American put in a pair of blocks that gave his team an 11-10 lead.
The set was evenly matched, but Fabio smashed the ball into the net and gave his opponents a narrow 23-21 win in the first set.
In the set second, Dalhausser blocked to earn his team a 9-8 lead, which was extended through a dink spike by Rogers. Dalhausser's heavy spike changed the score to 13-10.
Double blocks by Fabio helped his team establish a margin of three points. After the score was tied on 15-15, the Brazilian duo managed a 6-2 run which helped them beat the US pair 21-17 and force the match into a third set.
The deciding set was much less competitive than expected. After an early 6-1 lead, Dalhausser stole the show by exhibiting his amazing defensive abilities with three consecutive blocks. Fittingly, it was his block that ended Fabio's spike and wrapped up the third set 15-4.

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Canoe/Kayak Flatwater Day 5 Review: Breakthrough for Belarus

Updated: 2008-08-22 21:13:58
Kayak paddlers of Belarus (front) compete. (Photo credit: Xinhua)
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Andrei Bahdanovich and Aliaksandr Bahdanovich compete. (Photo credit: Jiang Enyu/Xinhua)
(BEIJING, August 22) -- Belarus and Germany each took two medals apiece in the six medal races in Canoe/Kayak Flatwater on Friday, August 22. While Germany is an old paddling powerhouse, Belarus managed to win its first two gold medals in this event in back-to-back finals.
Men's Kayak Single (K1) 1000m
Great Britain's Tim Brabants claimed gold, defending Olympic champion Eirik Veraas Larsen of Norway finished second and Australia's Ken Wallace won bronze.
Athens silver medalist Ben Fouhy of New Zealand came in fourth and K2 1000m champion in Athens, Sweden's Markus Oscarsson, finished sixth.
Men's Canoe Single (C1) 1000m
Hungary's Attila Sandor Vajda won gold, followed by Spain's David Cal in second place and Canada's Thomas Hall in third.
Germany's Andreas Dittmer, a three-time gold medal winner in Olympic canoe events, ranked eighth of the nine competitors.
Women's Kayak Four (K4) 500m
Defending champion team Germany successfully grabbed the title again under the effort of the four paddlers Fanny Fischer, Nicole Reinhardt, Katrin Wagner-Augustin and Conny Wassmuth. Athens silver claimer Hungary clinched second place, and members of the team are Katalin Kovacs, Gabriella Timea Szabo, Danuta Kozak and Natasa Janic. Australia's Lisa Oldenhof, Hannah Davis, Chantal Meek and Lyndsie Fogarty took the bronze.
Men's K2 1000m
German pair Martin Hollstein and Andreas Ihle won gold, followed by Denmark's Kim Wraae Knudsen and Rene Holten Poulsen and the bronze pair Italy's Andrea Facchin and Antonio M. Scaduto.
Men's C2 1000m
Defending Olympic champion Christian Gille and Tomasz Wylenzek of Germany failed to grab gold again. The honor instead was taken by the Belarus pair Andrei Bahdanovich and Aliaksandr Bahdanovich, who edged the German duo to second place. Bronze went to Hungary's Gyorgy Kozmann and Tamas Kiss.
Men's K4 1000m
Belarus' Raman Piatrushenka, Aliaksei Abalmasau, Artur Litvinchuk and Vadzim Makhneu claimed gold. Richard Riszdorfer, Michal Riszdorfer, Erik Vlcek and Jurai Tarr of Slovakia took silver. Two-time silver claimer Germany finished third, its team included Lutz Altepost, Norman Brockl, Torsten Eckbrett and Bjorn Goldschmidt.

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Day 13 Review: Ton-up Chen cheers China to seven heaven

Updated: 2008-08-22 02:27:06

Robles poses with his medal. (Photo credit:Xinhua)
Photo Gallery>> (BEIJING, August 21) -- There were damp skies over Beijing on Day Thirteen of Beijing 2008 and barely a dry eye on the house as China's Chen Roulin produced a last-gasp dive to clinch the host's seventh diving gold of the Games.

Chen Ruolin competes. (Photo credit: Xinhua) Elsewhere, the United States displayed the value of team work, by taking two team sport titles and a one, two, three on the track…just don't mention the words "baton" and "drop" to them though.
But where else can we start Day Thirteen's review than the National Aquatics Centre where 15 year-old Chen Roulin produced one of the stellar displays of Beijing 2008 by not just by winning the Women's 10m Platform gold medal to keep China's indomitable quest for eight gold medals on track, but by showing the true mark of a champion - by performing best when it mattered most – under pressure.
Chen may be World No. 1 with an Olympic Team gold medal safely tucked inside her kitbag, but when Emilie Heymans of Canada put in a remarkable fourth round dive worth 95.20, it was looking like as if Day Thirteen would prove unlucky for Chen and for China –this was the very same gold medal that evaded the country's clutches at Athens in 2004.
That is when Chen responded like a great. A dive of 89.10 left her behind, going into the final round behind Heymans, who couldn't quite repeat the magic of her previous effort. But it still looked good enough to win, that is, until Chen produced a near perfect dive with the last leap of the competition.
Despite the almost intolerable pressure mounted on such young shoulders, Chen's final dive earned an amazing 100.30 points – enough to take the title with ease.
Disappointed Haymens could only look on with frustration – she leaves with yet another silver medal while Chen's teammate Wang Xin took bronze…….so now it is China all down the Men's 10m platform on Saturday (August 23). Surely they won't miss out now, will they?
Another great story also happened in water today – this time, of human triumph over adversity - with a major surprise as Maarten van der Weijden of the Netherlands took the Men's 10km Marathon Swimming gold medal at a rainy Shunyi Olympic Rowing-Canoeing Park.
The Dutch swimmer, who returned to competitive swimming after beating a battle with leukaemia, diagnosed seven years ago, overtook medal favorites David Davies of Great Britain and Thomas Lurz of Germany to win in a time of 1:51:51.6. Davies, the Athens 2004 Olympic 1500m bronze medalist, held on for the silver medal in a time of 1:51:53.1 and Lurz finished strongly to win the bronze medal in a time of 1:51:53.6. Pre-race favorite Russia's Vladimir Dyatchin, world champion in 2007 and 2008, was disqualified.

Maarten van der Weijden swims. (Photo credit: Cameron Spencer/Getty Images) Also in the briney sea, the Beijing 2008 Sailing regatta came to a close at Qingdao with Great Britain collecting its third event gold medal thanks to Iain Percy and Andrew Simpson in the Star (Men's Keelboat) boat class. Robert Scheidt and Bruno Prada of Brazil earned silver with Fredrik Loof and Anders Ekstrom of Sweden, taking the bronze medal.
The Tornado (Multihull Mixed) race which was being staged for the final time, (it isn't being contested at London 2012), went to Spaniards Fernando Echavarri and Anton Paz, who finished ahead of World No. 1 Darren Bundock and Glenn Ashby of Australia, who took silver. The last podium place went to Santiago Lange and Carlos Espinola of Argentina .
Crawling up onto the sand, (well, Chaoyang Park in Beijing actually, but stick with the analogy), defending champions Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh of the United States retained the Olympic Women's Beach VolleyballTian Jia and Wang Jie of China in straight sets, 21-18, 21-18 in a final played in heavy rain. The bronze medal went to fellow Chinese duo Zhang Xi and Xue Chen, who beat Renata Ribeiro and Talita Rocha of Brazil in straight sets. title by beating
That was just one of four team sport finals contested by Team USA, or should it be, Teams USA?
The US women's Football team made it three tournament wins in four Olympic Games after a 1-0 win against Brazil in the Women's Football final after extra time. Carli Lloyd scored the all-important goal to give the US team back-to-back tournament victories. Germany beat Japan 2-0 to take the bronze medal with both goals scored by second-half substitute Fatmire Bajramaj.
The USA didn't do too badly in two of the day's women's team sports semifinals either…
As expected, Team USA are through to the Women's Basketball final, although their win against Russia by 67-52 wasn't quite the romp of their other matches at Beijing 2008. Australia crushed China 90-56 in the other semifinal.
The US will also contest the Women's Volleyball final after reversing its defeat to Cuba in the preliminary rounds. They will meet World No.1 Brazil who stormed into the final with a straight sets win against defending champions, China.
The Olympic Games bid Softball au revoir as Japan beat the United States 3-1 to win the last ever gold medal. Australia took bronze. Softball will not be on the Olympic roster at London 2012.
And not so good for the US Women's Water Polo team either. Four goals in the opening four minutes helped the Netherlands defeat them 9-8 to win the gold medal at the Yingdong Natatorium. Although the United States fought back, bringing the score to 4-2 after the first quarter and 5-5 at half time, the Netherlands took back their lead in the third, and held on to win. Australia took the bronze medal by beating Hungary 12-11 after double extra time and a penalty shoot-out.
Finally, to round off the team sports action, how about one for the lads? World champions Germany beat the Netherlands 2-1 (on penalty strokes) in the Men's Hockey semifinals, and will meet Spain in the final, which overturned a 2-0 deficit to defeat 2004 Athens gold medalists Australia, 3-2.
Elsewhere, the weather also put paid the day's planned two BMX CyclingEric Lamaze of Canada beat Rolf-Goran Bengtsson of Sweden in a jump-off to win gold in the Individual Jumping competition – the last Equestrian event of Beijing 2008. Show Jumping is also one of the disciplines in the five-event Modern Pentathlon too, where Andrey Moiseev of Russia succesfully defended his Men's crown ahead of Lithuanians Edvinas Krungolcas and Andrejus Zadneprovskis who took the silver and bronze medals. finals which have been rescheduled for Friday August 22;
Moving indoors, the Beijing 2008 Wrestling competition closed with three Men's Freestyle finals: at 84kg, Georgia's Revazi Mindorashvili clinched his country's second wrestling gold of the Games by beating Yusup Abdusalomov, who made Olympic history by winning Tajikistan's first ever Olympic silver medal; Shirvani Muradov won Russia's sixth wrestling gold of the Games at 96kg; and Artur Taymazov earned Uzbekistan's first gold medal at Beijing 2008 by defending his 120 kilogram crown.
Two more Taekwondo gold medals were handed out on the second day of four. Lim Su-jeong of the Republic of Korea beat Azize Tanrikulu of Turkey to claim the Women's Taekwondo under-57kg division and Son Tae-jin of the Republic of Korea took gold in the Men's -68kg division.
There was a shock in the Men's Table Tennis Singles third round, when Ko Lai-chak of Hong Kong China, ranked No. 32 in the world, beat the reigning Olympic champion Ryu Seung-min of the Republic of Korea, 4-2. In the Women's Singles quarterfinals all three Chinese contenders, Zhang Yining, Guo Yue and Wang Nan, got through but only after difficult duels with their respective opponents. The remaining semifinal spot went to Li Jiawei of Singapore
And so to the day's athletics action ….
Well, this was supposed to be Liu Xiang's night in the Men's 110 Hurdles final – but he was absent due to injury. Would he have prevented world record holder Dayron Robles of Cuba from winning Olympic gold? The simple answer is we'll never know – one thing is for sure, the 21 year-old Cuban was too good for his rivals as he won in a time of 12.93 seconds -- just 0.06 seconds off the world record he set in June this year.
The silver medal went to David Payne of the United States, whose teammate David Oliver took bronze.
LeShawn Merritt enjoyed an equally emphatic victory in the Men's 400m – leading the charge for a United States one, two, three with teammates Jeremy Wariner, the pre-race favorite, and David Neville, who literally threw himself at the line to take the bronze medal.
"Fear is not something I bring to the track," said defending champion Veronica Campbell-Brown of Jamaica after retaining her Women's 200m title. Once again, Athens silver medalist Allyson Felix of the United States trailed in Campbell-Brown's wake. Another Jamaican, Kerron Stewart, who tied for the silver in Sunday's 100m final, took bronze.
In the Men's Triple Jump Nelson Evora of Portugal produced a fourth round leap of 17.67m to take gold, with Great Britian's Phillips Idowu, the event favorite and early leader, unable to respond -- he couldn't better his third round effort of 17.62, which left him collecting the silver medal, with the bronze medal going to Leevan Sands of the Bahamas.
Barbora Spotakova of Czech Republic won the Women's Javelin Throw gold medal with a throw of 71.42 meters, while earlier in the day 23-year-old world champion Olga Kaniskina won Russia's first Women's 20km Walk gold medal in an Olympic best time of one hour 26.31 minutes. Norway's Kjersti Tysse Platzer came in second, holding off bronze medalist Elisa Rigaudo of Italy.
Athens silver medalist Bryan Clay of the United States leads the Men's Decathlon after day one with a total of 4521 points from the first five disciplines. Belarus's Andrei Krauchanka stands second with 4433 points and Trey Hardee also of the USA in third on 4428 points.
Not such good news for the United States in the qualifying round of the Men's and Women's 4 x 100m though. Bizarrely both their teams are out after dropping the baton, with an exchange between Darvis Patton and Tyson Gay leaving the Men's baton hurtling to the track, only for the fumble-fingered US women – Torri Edwards and Lauryn Williams the guilty parties - to do precisely the same.
In other heats, Kenya's Nancy Jebet Langat was the top qualifier in the Women's 1500m semifinals. Vadims Vasilevskis of Latvia was the top qualifier in the Men's Javelin Throw, while defending Olympic champion Elena Slesarenko of Russia and world champion Blanka Vlasic of Croatia are through to the Women's High Jump final.
Wow, what a day that was! Unlucky Day Thirteen for some (Heymans), one of dropped batons (for the USA) and a day when China just may just have found itself a new diving diva.

Veronica Campbell-Brown in jubilation (Photo credit: Guo Dayue/Xinhua)

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Photos: US swimmers train at Water Cube

Updated: 2008-08-05 10:54:10 From: Xinhuanet

Dara Torres jumps in for the warmup.
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US swimmers train at the National Aquatics Center, namely the Water Cube, in Beijing, China, Aug. 4, 2008.

(Photo credit: Xinhua)

Margaret Hoelzer

Peter Vanderkaay (R) and his teammate

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OYC members enjoy Beijing Happy Valley

Updated: 2008-08-14 21:19:44

OYC members watch a competition.
Photo Gallery>> (BEIJING, August 13) -- On August 13, 481 Beijing 2008 Olympic Youth Camp (OYC) members visited Beijing Happy Valley amusement park.
There, OYC members attended a warm welcome ceremony and watched the dance drama Golden Mask Dynasty in the afternoon. In front of the theater, a "One World One Dream" scroll was displayed, on which campers signed their names, wishing great success for the Olympic Games and the city of Beijing.

OYC members sign their names on a scroll. Before this trip to Beijing Happy Valley, OYC members participated in a series of cultural and recreational activities, which included being in the stands to watch the Opening Ceremony and various competitions, visiting the Olympic Village and Beijing 2008 Olympic Expo, learning to cook Chinese food and wearing Peking Opera costumes.

OYC members at the welcome ceremony at Beijing Happy Valley.

OYC members assemble at the gate to Beijing Happy Valley.

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Photos: Tourists keen on Olympic-related souvenirs

Updated: 2008-08-21 10:04:20
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Tourists select the Olympic-related souvenirs. (Photo credit: Wang Wen/Xinhua)
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Tourists select the Olympic-related souvenirs at an exclusive shop selling the licensed products of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games in the Olympic Green in Beijing, capital of China, Aug. 19, 2008. The Olympic-related souvenirs in the shop are sold well as the event is drawing to an end. (Photo credit: Wang Wen/Xinhua)

Tourists select the Olympic-related souvenirs. (Photo credit: Wang Wen/Xinhua)

A tourist shows a Fuwa. (Photo credit: Wang Wen/Xinhua)

A tourist selects T-shirts printed with Fuwa. (Photo credit: Wang Wen/Xinhua)

Hungarian Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany (L) selects "Beijing 2008" T-shirts for his son. (Photo credit: Zhang Guojun/Xinhua)

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