UPDATE: The 2008 Beijing Olympic Games Day 5 to 7

Is it just me or are you also wondering why, with over 1 billion people at their beck and call, China’s totalitarian leaders have not ensured that all venues are always packed with spectators?  Frankly, I find it more than a little difficult to reconcile all the Chinese hype about these Olympic Games being such a source of national pride – given all of the empty seats at so many sporting events.

Day 5 (August 13)

Diving

After winning gold in the Women’s Synchronized 3m Springboard, the Men’s and Women’s Synchronized 10m Platform, the Chinese continued their Phelpsian quest to win all eight gold medals in diving by winning the Men’s Synchronized 3m Springboard diving competition.   In fact, this Olympic quest might be an even surer bet than Michael Phelps’ quest to win eight gold medals in swimming.

Gymnastics

The Chinese women emulated their male compatriots by dominating the Women’s Team Competition from the first round.   This was especially noteworthy because it was the first time the women had won a gold medal in Olympic history.  And it was especially sweet because they defeated the Americans who were the reigning world champions.

Frankly, the only question going into the final rounds was whether the Americans would get over their qualifying-round jitters to perform up to expectations.  They did not.  In fact, only one of them, Nastia Liukin, performed like a champ.  Whereas the others, most notably Alicia Sacrimone, continued to fall and misstep so much that it’s a wonder the team ended up with the silver medal. The Russian team won bronze.

Swimming

Phelps continued his quest to win eight gold medals in one Olympic Games by winning the Men’s 200m Butterfly in world-record time. He then led the Men’s 4x200m Freestyle Relay team to another win, setting yet another world record. 

With these two additional gold medals, Phelps became the most-decorated Olympian of all-time: 5 down, 3 to go.

If you were wondering if Michael Phelps could do it with his eyes closed, the answer is apparently yes.

[NBC Anchor Bob Costas commenting on Phelps post-race revelation that he could barely see after his goggles became filled with water at the beginning of the 200m Butterfly]

But the far more exciting races of the day came from the women.  Specifically, Federica Pellegrini of Italy won the Women’s 200m Freestyle in world-record time, just out-touching swimmers from Slovakia  and China, respectively. Meanwhile, “the female Michael Phelps” Katie Hoff of the US continued her disappointing performances by coming in fourth. 

In another spectacular race, Stephanie Rice of Australia won the Women’s 200m Individual Medley by just a fingernail over Kristy Coventry of Zimbabwe. Meanwhile, continuing her disappointing, if not humiliating, Olympic saga, Katie Hoff not only did not win this race as expected, but was actually upstaged by teammate Natalie Coughlin who won bronze and relegated Hoff to fourth place in this event as well.

Beijing opening ceremony…fake?

It turns out that the Beijing Opening Ceremony was too good to be true.  First Chinese officials were forced to admit that much of the fireworks that wowed television audiences worldwide were fake. In fact, the most entertaining blasts were nothing more than computer-generated visual effects. 

Now they’ve been forced to admit that the little pretty girl (left) – whose stirring rendition of China ‘s flag song reportedly reduced hundreds of millions to tears – was actually lip-synching.  In fact, she was used, rather crudely, as a stage prop after politburo bosses decided that the actual singer – whose angelic voice the pretty girl was lip-synching – was too ugly to appear on TV.

So much for ancient Chinese secrets….

Day 6 (August 14)

Gymnastics

There was never any doubt that Chinese Yang Wei would win gold in the Men’s Individual All-Around competition. He did, and with relative ease.  What was more suspenseful, however, was whether or not any of the American competitors would vault beyond expectations to win silver or bronze.  None did, not even close.  

In fact, except for Yang, all of the others seemed to be competing to see who could get though their routines without falling.  In the end, a Japanese and Frenchman survived to place second and third, respectively.

Swimming

The Chinese continued their hoard of Olympic gold when Zige Liu won the Women’s 200m Butterfly in world-record time, giving China its first gold medal in swimming in Olympic history.  And, for good measure, her teammate won silver. 

Kosuke Kitajima of Japan defended his two titles from the 2004 Athens Games when he added to his earlier win in the Men’s 100m Breaststroke by winning the 200m Breaststroke.  

Frenchman Alain Bernard won some measure of redemption by winning the Men’s 100m Freestyle, especially since, this time, he managed to hold off a late charge by the American, Jason Lezak. 

After all, it was Lezak who swam Bernard down in dramatic fashion during the final leg of the Men’s 4x100m Relay to give the US an upset win over France.  This, after Bernard guaranteed that the French would “smash the Americans” in this event.

Unfortunately, as triumphant as the American men were in that 4x100m relay, the American women were disappointing in the 4x200m Relay. Because, even though heavily favored to win, the Americans placed a distant third behind the surprising Australians who won  and insurgent Chinese who placed second.

Water Polo

In what has to have been one of the most under-reported triumphs of these Games, the unsung Serbians defeated the celebrated Americans in a thrilling preliminary-round bout 4 to 2.

Day 7 (August 15)

Gymnastics

Some argue that the growing controversy surrounding the age of the Chinese girls affected their performances in the Women’s All-Around competition.  But I think the Americans simply out-performed them.

And nowhere was this more evident than during the final rotation, the floor exercise, where American Nastia Liukin – looking like a Gazelle –  turned in a near-perfect performance to seal her gold medal, while her teammate Shawn Johnson – looking like a bulldog – tumbled her way to silver.  Chinese Yilin Yang settled for bronze.

Perhaps, more important, this finally broke the Chinese stranglehold on gold in gymnastics at these Olympics Games.

As a side note, I thought the bear hugs Nastia’s father/coach gave her after every performance were a little too intimate, especially compared to the familiar embrace other coaches gave their gymnasts.  But when he practically French kissed her on the lips…? Well, something is not right there…. (Unlike CNN, I refuse to publish the offending photo of them kissing because that would be tantamount to peddling a plainly incestuous image.)

Swimming

One of the most titillating races of the day was the Women’s 200m Breaststroke, in which American Rebecca Soni dethroned world-record holder Leisel Jones of Australia to win gold in record time.  Incidentally, this was also a measure of payback for Soni who finished second to Jones in the 100m Breaststroke.

Meanwhile, but for any race involving Phelps, the long-awaited showdown in the Men’s 200m Backstroke – between Americans Aaron Peirsol and Jason Lochte(co-world record holders in this event) – would have been a feature race at these Games.  All the same, it was a bona fide thriller as Lochte won, setting a new world record.  Peirsol settled for the silver….

But it was clearly expecting too much for Lochte to return less than 30 minutes after that performance to take on Phelps in final of the Men’s 200m Individual Medley.  Not surprisingly, Phelps won, and he did it in another (ho, hum) world-record time. 6 down, 2 to go.

Finally, Britta Steffen of Germany won the Women’s 100m Freestyle. But the only thing noteworthy about this race was the fact it was one of the few that was not won in world-record time.

Tennis

It’s a measure of how gymnastics and swimming have dominated coverage of these Games to date that you’d be hard-pressed to see a report on the stunning upset of Roger Federer and the Williams sisters in the early rounds of play.  And what made defending Olympic champion Venus’ defeat so improbable (and sweet for the Chinese) is that she lost to unranked Li Na of China in straight sets

Day 7 Medal Count: USA 44, China 37, Australia 20

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UPDATE: 2008 Beijing Olympic Games Day 1 to 5