Day 11 (August 19)
Gymnastics
The Chinese returned to their dominant form by winning both the Men’s Parallel Bars and Men’s Horizontal Bar. In fact, the only thing noteworthy about these last two events in men’s gymnastics is that Jonathan Horton of the US ended his team’s shutout in the individual event finals by winning a silver medal on the Horizontal Bar.
By contrast, the Chinese women proved incapable of emulating the performance of their male teammates. For on the Women’s Beam, the final event in women’s gymnastics, Shawn Johnson and Nastia Liukin of the US won gold and silver, respectively.
Of course, given the way she was hyped as the next Mary Lou Retton going into these Olympic Games, Johnson’s first gold in this last event must have provided glory and relief in equal measure.
Diving
The Chinese continued their Phelpsian quest to go eight for eight in diving by winning the Men’s 3m Springboard competition: 6 down, 2 to go.
Track and Field
Easily the highlight of the day was the drama that unfolded in the Women’s 110 Hurdles. Because with just two hurdles to go, it seemed that Lolo Jones of the US, the prohibitive favorite, was living out her dream of winning gold. But then she clipped that second-to-last hurdle and the race became a living nightmare, in which she stumbled from the lead into seventh place in the blink of an eye.
Teammate Dawn Harper, who barely made the team in this event, led the others hurdling by to win gold. Not surprisingly, she was as shocked and thrilled by her victory as Jones was shocked and agonized by her defeat.
I felt the gold around me…. I usually hit a hurdle twice a year. It just sucks that it was on the most important race of my life.
[Lolo Jones]
However, Jones’ disappointment must pale in comparison to that which American Sanya Richards had to have felt after fading down the stretch to finish third in the Women’s 400m final.
After all, the television build up to her seemingly inevitable win included a segment featuring the comparison of the size of Richards’ engagement ring to the Super Bowl ring of her fiancée, New York Giants cornerback Aaron Ross.
Frankly, the whole pre-race hype made it seem like the Olympic gold medal would just be the icing on the cake of her charmed life; ah well….
Christine Ohuruogu of Great Britain spoiled her coronation by winning the gold, and Shericka Williams of Jamaica relegated her to second-string bridesmaids by winning silver.
In another final of note, Moroccan-born Rashid Ramzi won the first ever Olympic medal for Bahrain by winning gold in the Men’s 1500m. A Kenyan took silver; whereas, America’s naturalized hope in this event, Kenyan-born Bernard Lagat, did not even make the final.
Day 12
Track and Field
Usain Bolt struck gold again in the Men’s 200m. Of course, given the way he dominated and teased the field on the way to a new world record in the Men’s 100m, his victory was never in doubt. The only question was whether, instead of his now trademark showboating, he would stay focused long enough to break American Michael Johnson’s 12-year-old world record of 19.32 seconds.
Indeed, perhaps it was just wishful thinking but Johnson, in his capacity as an analyst for the BBC, previewed the race by observing that, although he had the natural ability. Bolt lacked the mental focus to break this record.
Well, so much for Johnson’s expert analysis; because Bolt crossed the finish line in 19.30 seconds – with the largest margin of victory in Olympic history.
You’re back there giving it everything you’ve got — it’s brutal. He’s doing it and making it look so simple. Michael Johnson did it, and it didn’t look that easy.
[Kim Collins of St Kitts and Nevis who finished sixth]
Now that he has become the first sprinter since Carl Lewis in 1984 to complete the elusive double of winning gold in the 100 and 200 at one Olympics, Bolt comes as close as any athlete will to challenging American Michael Phelps as the star of the Beijing Games.
No doubt, for many of my fellow Caribbean natives, Bolt has already soared way beyond Phelps. But this swimming phenom gets my vote for becoming the most decorated Olympian of all time by winning eight gold medals (seven of them in world-record time).
Nevertheless, the surprisingly dominant Jamaican team had even more to celebrate. Because less than an hour after Bolt’s amazing feat, his teammate Melaine Walker won the Women’s 400m Hurdles.
Indeed, who would’ve thought this tiny island nation would outperform the mighty United States in the premier events of these Olympic Games?
Yet Jamaica has done just that by winning gold now in the Men’s 100m, gold, silver and bronze in the Women’s 100m, gold in the Men’s 200m and is poised to win at least silver in the Women’s 200m, which features its defending Olympic champion Veronica Campbell-Brown….
Congratulations Jamaica … You’ve made all Caribbean nations exceedingly proud!
Medal Count Day 12: USA 82, China 80, Russia 45
NOTE: Many sports commentators immediately proclaimed Bolt’s performance the “best in Olympic history”. But I disagree. Instead, I believe that honor goes to Florence Griffith-Joyner who set world records in the Women’s 100m and 200m at the Seoul Games that have yet to be broken. And, in both cases, she won by even greater margins than Bolt did in his races.
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2008 Beijing Olympic Games Day 1 to 10
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