When I wanted to post something about the remarkable US comeback in the 4x100 freestyle relay, I looked all over for the appropriate thread. There were threads about the beauty and spectacle of the Opening Ceremonies, Chinese politics, sexy Olympians, and even about how US athletes should learn Chinese, but couldn't find anything about the sports themselves. Jim mentioned the race in his blog, but that thread seems to have veered off the topic of sports as well (internet censorship and male swimsuits).

So maybe we discuss the actual sports here, and leave other topics to the half-dozen other threads in the "Olympics" category. Sooooo ... about that race!! OMG, that was F*CKIN' AWESOME!!! I can't believe that Lesak managed to beat out the French anchor swimmer despite starting about a body-length behind. Apparently Lesak has been the subject of much criticism for past performances, and he was hell-bent on redeeming himself. When asked how he came back from so far behind (aside from the French swimmer tightening up), Lesak said that he was tired of losing. So tired of losing that he turned in the fastest 100m leg ever. His performance in that anchor leg was nothing short of heroic. I had no idea who Jason Lezak was before today, but I will remember his name long after these Games end.

I remember Jason Lezak, in his younger days, always racing the 50m free. He usually came second or third to Gary Hall, Jr. and I think he was part of the relays teams that lost to Australia in 2000 and South Africa in 2004. The relay race in Sydney was nearly as close but we came out on the silver end of it.

I had no idea the French relay team had become so prominent. They won at last year's world championship. On a side note, that's what sucks about sports on TV in the US. If it isn't one of the big 3 sports, then we don't hear about it unless you have some crazy cable subscription. Anyway, the French said they were going to smash the US. I'm glad Lezak got to beat them and also help Phelps with his goal of 8 gold medals. The French anchor Bernard was totally spent, he was breathing really hard. The race was so fast that the top 5 teams were faster than the old world record.

Did you see the semifinals yesterday morning? It was made up of 4 guys and only one of them was going to going to race the finals with Phelps, Lezak, and Gale. It think they set a world record in the semis too. Cullen Jones was picked from the four. I thought the guy who swam the anchor leg would have been picked. He's like 6'8" with a 7' armspan. One big boy!

I've heard at least 2 Canadian commentators (incl. Mark Tewksbury) talk about the error of the French anchor in swimming close to the lane marker as Lezak also swam next to the same lane marker, allowing him to "drag" off of him. Can this actually happen? Can a swimmer "drag" off another, like a cyclist "drafts?"

I was up till after 12:30am last night watching the men's team gymnastics. Terrific performance by China, also by the relative no-name American team. Japan really underperformed.

Enjoyed watching the men's 10m platform synchro diving, won by Lin/Huo of China.

Noticed how impressive Michael Phelps is underwater... his ability to do the dolphin kick underwater at the start and turns that really gives him an advantage over others who are coming up much sooner. Seemed like he was barely breathing hard after the 100m butterfly.

Just saw the finish of the Spain-China men's basketball, where China lost to Spain in OT. They say Ricky Rubio is a guy to watch, and from my brief glimpse he does look like an exciting young player.

On the weekend I was watching some equestrian--dressage and the eventing cross-country, which I don't think I'd ever seen before. A real workout for the horse--4 1/2 mile course with 39 jumps, runing up and down hills, through water, and in the heat and humidity of Hong Kong.

Also watched some women's softball last night (Canda over Taiwan), rowing (Canada's men's 8 qualifies for the final after Australia bizarrely veered into their lane because of a rudder malfunction) and women's beach volleyball (USA over Cuba) last night.

Just saw Brent Hayden win his heat in the 100m freestyle. Now, off to work...

Congrats to Alexander Artemev and the US team for their team bronze. It was looking kinda dicey there, after the first two pommel routines scored a scary-low 12.775 and 13.750. A 3rd weak routine would have allowed the Germans to steal away the bronze, but Artemev turned in a brilliant and beautiful routine to save the day. The Japanese men were disappointing, but they kicked a$$ in the final rotation to take the silver by a comfortable margin.

I never would have thought it possible to "drag" off another swimmer like car and bicycle racers can draft off each other, but apparently that's the case. Drag, draft, or whatever he did, I'm still awed by Lezak's performance.

Still can't believe that relay race. Lescak was unreal. They're repeatedly showing the last 10 meters or so....but I want to see from the turn....how far back he was....and how he just walked him down (to use a track term). Wow....he's actually pulling closer....the French guy is world record holder, so getting closer is good....man...he's even closer......wait......he can't possibly catch him....not enough pool left.....look at that.....no way....no way.....YES!

I woke up my neighbors when I saw that. Especially cuz the French were so mouthy beforehand. And because the network had to give someone other than Phelps props. Phelps has been great...but they had to talk about Lescak doing the deed. Great for him...and for the team.

He talks about drafting....guess if they're close enough to be ahead of the wave in the water.

Was very impressed with the US men's gymnastics team. Without their leaders and experienced members....going out determined to win, rather than being afraid to lose. Earned that medal. The Chinese...unreal performance level. Glad for them they did it at home with all that pressure.

Liesel the Diesel from Down Under.....perserverence to be admired. Finally got the gold, after 8 years and 3 Olympics.

Platform diving....no, I don't want to fall from 3 stories, thank you very much. Let alone doing twists and spins (the intentional kind...always picture myself like a cartoon character, running to stay up in the air, but like the Coyote finally being pulled down), and then in sync with a partner. Love the Olympics for having things we don't normally get to see, let alone choose to watch.

The 2008 Beijing Olympics thread is supposed to be for discussion of the Olympics, including the sports. I think your comments should've been posted there even if others were posting on other things. The political discussion was placed in the separate "Shame of the Beijing Olympics" thread so as to not intrude upon the other discussion.

But what does it say about the Olympics, or people, when all these sports are going on and almost no one seems to be discussing them? Ratings are apparently high but is that misleading somehow? I, personally, have watched very little of it. I just can't get interested in the events themselves. I read the stories in my daily paper, I look at the Outsports Olympic blog (though I haven't posted to it), but when it comes to TV viewing, I'm still watching baseball games like any other night.

That 4 x 100M swimming race, was the best in swimming EVER. What a thrill. My question, how did the French lose it? Well, OK, the anchor tightened, Lezak drafted. But all the same, how did they lose it? Contrats to the US Team!

TRL

Watching the 100m free tonight I noticed that that French guy (Alain Bernard) does like to swim close to the lane marker. And, when he came to the end he turned his head (as if to look at the scoreboard) before he touched the wall. Sure, he got a world record (which was then beaten in the next semi by Aussi Eamon Sullivan), but when the difference between gold and silver is hundredths of a second, you can't make mistakes like that. What a boob.

Three Classic teary-eye moments:

-Jason Lezak's WR 46.06 seconds split

-Sasha Artemev clinching the pommel horse in competition under pressure

-Men's gymnasts copping a bronze when few believed they'd medal at all: WOOF, WOOF, WOOF, WOOF!!!!

I've been watching the Olympics every night for hours. It's wearing on me since they don't end until after midnight.

Michael Phelps. Amazing. He has now won more gold medals than any other Olympian.

I just do not believe those Chinese girls are 16. Team USA put up a good fight for men & women considering the injuries. It is sad to see how far the Russians have fallen.

The biggest surprise for me is how well the South Korean team is doing.

I really enjoyed watching men's synchronized diving. Team America was pinging off the charts. I just wished they showed more of Team Germany's Sascha Klein.

I also love watching volleyball, both beach & court.

It's late and Mr. Phelps has just won Gold Medal #5 . I'm too tired to watch the Americans falter in gymnastics so it's time for bed, but at least they got the silver. I thought both the men & women gymnastics team competition was rather lackluster this Olympics.

The American women were considerable underdogs to the Chinese toddler team (shouldn't there be a sign that says, "You have to be THIS tall to compete for this gold medal"?), and couldn't pull it off. I felt so bad for Alicia Sacramone (a Brown University student, unlike the Chinese third-graders), falling twice, but even with perfect routines from her, the Americans probably would have fallen short. Get the impression I'm not buying that those Chinese prepubescents are 16?? And doesn't it strike anybody as odd that all the Chinese toddlers are ever so conveniently born in Olympic years so that they're eligible to compete? Every single one of those toddlers claims to be 16, except for the veteran of the team who is supposedly 20!! In other words, they lied about her age in the last Olympics, so now they have to maintain the ruse. And I love their argument, that their passports say they're 16. Of course, it would be outside of power of the Chinese government, who tells you how many children to have and made Google censor the Internet, to forge a birth certificate and passport!!

OK, taking a breath ... this thread is supposed to be about just sports, right? Besides the fall of the Russian men, don't forget the Romanian women. With all the billionaires in Russia, maybe they'll eventually develop a corporate-sponsored Olympic program similar to programs in other capitalist countries. I hope so, because the Russian gents used to be f*ckin' amazing gymnasts.

Michael Phelps made his victory today look ridiculously routine.

I've been watching some every night, and I expect I'll watch quite a bit this weekend. Michael Phelps is amazing to watch. He makes it seem so effortless, and he always says the right thing afterwards.

I find watching the female gymnasts painful. So many of them seem waif-like. The men, on the other hand.....

And I really wish there was more primetime coverage of court volleyball. It's a great game - fast, and easy to understand. But all the air time goes to the silly beach version, which I find contrived and predictable.

Tim Daggett is such a jingoistic homer for Team USA gymnastics. When the Chinese girls had troubles, he'd scream, "NOW THAT'S A HUGE ERROR. DISASTER. WHAT A TREMENDOUS MISTAKE," and then he'd make negative comments regarding even the slightest wobble on the balance beam. Then when the Team USA girls screwed up worse, he'd say, "What a remarkable comeback and finish for the Americans after some struggles." During one particularly bad USA gymnast's routine, he stopped talking about her entirely and changed the subject to someone else during the final 30 seconds while she was on the beam.

Yes. Second that emotion. Fortunately, tonight they showed the US men for a nice stretch. The play is fierce with those powerful spikes. Yet the defense against them can be spectacular. For both the men and women's court vball. Nice play during the points and contact between the points.

Nastia Luikin was absolutely amazing in her run to the gold medal ... WOW!! I was the classic Olympic fan, i.e., a guy who hasn't watched gymnastics in four years who suddenly becomes the world's biggest and most spastic gymnastics fan ever. I don't think I managed a single breath during her balance beam routine, maybe all of one breath during the uneven bars, and was a bigger spaz than Bela Karolyi during her floor exercise.

I've traditionally rooted for the Russians in both figure skating and gymnastics and always felt a mite unpatriotic because of it. But the Russians in both sports (usually) have a balletic grace that athletes from other countries tend to lack. No one exemplifies this better than Nastia. While a number of the other girls do Nastia's signature move on the balance beam (a forward somersault landing on one foot then stretching into an arabesque), nobody does it with the same grace or beautiful lines. It's great to be able to root for an American gymnast with Russian style.

NBC showed a feature about how Michael Phelps has pretty much the genetically perfect body for swimming. Could any gymnast be blessed with better genetics than Nastia? She gets her acrobatic skills from her father, a two-time gold medalist, and her grace from her mother, a world champion rhythmic gymnast. It doesn't hurt that her dad was also International Coach of the Year in 2000 and 2004. Dad's gymnastics academy should be flooded with applications now.

I know this thread is suppose to be just about the sports. But sports are played by people and people have brains, emotions and even, some of us believe, that indescribable something that no one can define but is often called the soul.

All of these will come into play when Michael Phelps faces fellow USA butterflier Ian Crocker in his Olympic pursuit of history tonight (or tomorrow morning in Beijing?).

Though I am not party to the conspiracy theories that some are pushing for entertainment, there is certainly a different chemistry and body language between Crocker and Phelps than say that between close buddies Phelps and Lochte.

The video documentary Unfiltered: Michael Phelps and Ian Crocker gives a pretty good indication of how different they are.

In this trailer Phelps is portrayed as the uni-focused competitor that one would have to be to do what he has done in any sport. But now his fate is more dependent on the motivations and will of someone else even more than in medleys.

Does anyone else find it weird that Georgia's beach volleyball team is made up of two Brazilian Women who don't speak the language and have only been to Georgia twice in their life - which was only to gain citizenship so they could participate in the Olympics.

Just saw Usain Bolt's 9.92 performance in round 2 of the men's 100m. It looked like he was out for a jog in the park, looking around, no strain at all on his face. Asafa Powell also eased up and finished at 10.02. Tyson Gay was less impressive in his heat, finishing second, at 10.09. I'm putting my money on Bolt.

Tirunesh Dibaba of Ethiopia was very impressive in her gold medal-winning 10,000m run.

================

Now THAT was a spectacular finish. Cavic's hands were INCHES away from the wall and Phelps's hands were FEET away... and yet Phelps won. Cavic got caught between strokes. And rather than take an extra half stroke, he glided (slowly). Phelps took the extra half stroke... and won... by 1/100th of a second. Stunning.

I watched the replays over and over again, even slow-mo'ing the slow-mo's, and I still can't tell who won the race. I think the Serbians filed that protest just to be absolutely certain of the result. If I were Cavic, I'd sleep better at night knowing for sure. It was probably a split-nanosecond decision in both swimmers' minds, whether to take another stroke or glide the rest of the way. Even if Cavic made the wrong choice, I still can't believe Phelps made up all that ground (or water). If Michael Phelps does end up winning a record eighth gold, this race and Lezak's anchor leg will be the stuff of legend.

Unbelieveable race. Usain Bolt was so relaxed pre-race. Motors ahead of the pack, looks around, drops his arms, thumps his chest... well before the end of the race... and still sets a world record (9.69 sec.). Amazing.

Also, surprising and impressive performances by Richard Thompson of Trinidad & Tobago (9.89 sec.) and Walter Dix of the USA (9.91 sec.), silver and bronze, both in personal best times.

(I see NBC is showing the USA-Spain basketball game. Did they break for the 100m race live?)

Official results. Race pics.

I've looked at all those replays and especially from the underwater angle, it appears to me that Cavic won the Gold rather than Phelps... but appearances are just that... to borrow a rule from football, unless there's enough physical evidence to over-rule the initial decision...

"THE RULING IN THE POOL STANDS... Michael Phelps wins the Gold, and Serbia will be charged with a timeout"

Wouldn't be surprised to see Bolt be the first to go under 9.5. At 21 he could get scary. The way he picks ups speed as he runs suggests the 200m is going to be another world record.

No way I could see from the camera angles that Phelps touched first. But I agree that the electronic touchpads have to take precedence. Just incredible. Must have been that full moon, even though it was here on the opposite side of the planet.

Watching rowing is making me giddy. Events eschments, those preppy guys are gorgeous.

First of all, CONGRATULATIONS to Michael Phelps for an incredible achievement. No one has won 8 golds in a single Olympics before, and I doubt it will ever happen again. Swimming seems to be the one sport where there are enough different events such that it's possible, and even in swimming, apparently they're going to tighten up the schedule, making it impossible in the 2012 Games. As much as I wanted to see Michael win his 8th gold, however, I was rooting for the medley relay team really because I wanted to see Jason Lezak to win another medal. His effort in the 4x100 free was so heroic I thought he deserved two medals for it!

Yes because of NBC coverage we all, (including me), get caught in that sport, (swimming). But so many other sports we think nothing about.
Watching the table tennis now. These atheletes are fierce. Holding nothing back.
Everyone, do yourself a great favor. Watch these lesser known sports NBC covers only in the wee hours of the morning. They also can be as dramatic as Phelps in swimmings. (personally, I think that was all computer generated). WINK, WINK. My poor attempt at humor.
So check out the Table Tennis and Field Hockey, Etc. There is still great drama in these and other lesser covered sports.
As we all know, I'm a huge fan of the Olympics and the Olympic Spirit.
In fact, my own personal belief that goes beyond the political bounderies. It goes beyond the Olympic spirit and enters into, what I like to call, the "human spritit." That the olympic experience during the medal ceremony falls short to the actual human experience.
So keep watching for all the lesser events. You will never know what will come out at the end to show gold, silver, bronze. It will both suprise and amaze you, no matter who wins and loses.
And in the tradition of Olympic spirit: Mutilate those Communist Bastards, America!!!
Us 300 million capitalist pigs won't be outdone by 1.3 billion communist terds.
NAIL THEM TO THEIR GREAT WALL AMERICA!!!!!!!!!!

nice to put my 2 cents worth in
go usa.

I agree that some of those lesser-known sports can be quite exciting to watch. I saw the highlights of the men's doubles badminton between China and Indonesia (which Indonesia won) which was very exciting, and the Chinese crowd were really pumped up (as they are with table tennis, too).

The Jamaican sprint machine steamrolls the competition in the women's 100m, winning all 2(!) medals. Shelly-Ann Fraser wins gold (10.78 sec.) and Kerron Stewart and Sherone Simpson tie for silver (10.98 sec.).

In the final event of the day, Kenenisa Bekele wins the men's 10,000m handily.

At 33, Oksana Chusovitina is probably older than most of the Chinese girls' mothers. Amazing that a woman of her age won a silver medal (in the vault). Rock on, momma!! Nice to know that the Romanians haven't disappeared altogether. Izbasa won gold in the floor exercise, sticking every single one of her tumbling pass landings. I was rather surprised to see a North Korean gymnast take gold in the vault. Listed at 5'1" and 97 pounds, Un Jong Hong is probably the most well-fed woman in all of North Korea.

What a weekend of events. Marquee ones of swimming, track, and gymnastics, of course. Phelps=phenomenal (I'll take the electronic eye in the swimming with much greater confidence than the camera angle eye)....The American women setting a US record in the medley for silver....the Aussie women doing them better and earning that goal with authority.......Lightning did strike, and then just eased on down the road (said to a reggae beat)....with the girls sweeping up. Can't believe those were Jamaica's first 100 m golds in either men's or women's. They always have top sprinters. Congrats to that small country, with the double gold.

The rowing is mesmorizing. Especially the camera shot from the dock looking down the water toward the finish line. When the boat is out there, and they're rowing, and the view's far enough away not to see the grunting and straining...it's almost poetic.

Just watched the US men's volleyball team against Japan, getting ready for the medal round. Nice to see more of the court game. That Loy Ball is a man's man.

My heart goes out to Lolo Jones in the Women's 100m Hurdles. Seems she's had a hard life and for her Olympic dream to end the way it did. Just breaks my heart.

Oh my god I felt so bad for her. You train so hard and prepare all those years for that one shot and bam...taken away like that. She went from first to no medal at all. I have so much respect for the dedication these athletes have. Its just heartbreaking when it ends like that.

I was also cheering for Oksana Chusovitina. Glad she placed and received a medal. What a great story. Talk about the Olympic Spirit.

An amazing Men's Volleyball semifinal match between the US and Russia. I was so glad I stayed up to watch that game.

Congrats to all the American team sports.