China's He Wenna has won the gold medal in women's trampoline, wowing the home crowd with her flips and twists. Karen Cockburn of Canada had to settle for a silver for a second straight Olympics.
Monday, August 18, 2008
Shawn Johnson gets 1 last chance at gold
She came to the Olympics favored to grab every gold medal in sight. Three events in, Shawn Johnson is still looking for something more than silver.
Friday, August 15, 2008
Flyin' Hawaiian cuts down Canada
Natasha Kai headed in an extra-time goal, giving the defending Olympic champion United States a spot in the Olympic women's soccer semifinal with a 2-1 victory over Canada.
Canada captures exciting win
A pair of rock-solid performances from the pitching circle. An inside-the-park home run. The Canada-China game had everything, and it was the Canadians who came away victorious, 1-0.
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Liukin grabs the gold
Nastia Liukin grabbed the gold medal in the women's individual all-around with stunning form and perfection. Shawn Johnson also had a great night but was unable to match Liukin's precision and wound up second.
Bolt, Powell, Gay coast through first 100m heats
Usain Bolt, Asafa Powell and Tyson Gay have advanced out of their first heats in the Olympic 100m dash.
Yang soaks up his moment in the spotlight
Yang Wei blew kisses to the crowd, then stretched out his arms and turned slowly as the roars of appreciation grew to a crescendo. Satisfied, he raised his hands above his head and clapped.
Another report on Chinese ages
Just nine months before the Beijing Olympics, the Chinese government's news agency, Xinhua, reported that gymnast He Kexin was 13, which would have made her ineligible to be on the team that won a gold medal this week.
Potential 100m party crashers
Usain Bolt, Tyson Gay and Asafa Powell have been presumed to have a stranglehold on the men's 100m medals in Beijing. But what happens if one should slip up? Here are eight runners looking to capitalize.
Extra Time: Forty ticks are all she took
Veteran U.S. midfielder Heather O'Reilly has scored her fair share of goals, but after setting the women's mark for the fastest goal ever scored at the Olympics - a 30-yarder that slammed into the net just 40 seconds after kick-off against New Zealand - she may have just now scored her best.
U.S. men's volleyball team stays undefeated
The U.S. men's volleyball team remains undefeated at the Beijing Olympics with a 3-1 victory over Bulgaria. Clay Stanley led Team USA with 18 spikes. The U.S. men are the only undefeated team in their pool. Bulgaria fell to 2-1.
Manaudou preparing 'long break' from swimming
BEIJING (AP) - Former French gold medalist Laure Manaudou is preparing to take a "long break" from swimming after the Olympics.
Regular rivals: U.S. women face Canada
The U.S. women's team shouldn't expect any surprises when it plays Canada in the quarterfinals of the Olympic soccer tournament on Friday.
Swedish wrestler tosses medal in disgust
Sweden's Ara Abrahamian threw down his bronze medal in protest on Thursday, responding to what he thought was poor officiating in the semifinal match that he lost.
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Who will take home the most medals?
Four full days into the Olympic Games, there is still a lot to be decided. After China held the lead in the medal standings for about 3 days, the USA has pulled ahead and now leads China by 2, with the USA having 22 and China having 20. Both nations are far ahead of 3rd place Korea with 12 medals.
There are a lot of medals yet to be decided, including events in which the USA usually dominates such as all Track and Field sports, and Basketball. China also has it's share of dominating sports left however, with several diving medals yet to be decided, many gymnastics events, table tennis and badminton.
So, will it be the USA? Or will China's home turf advantage carry them all the way? Or will another nation like Australia or Korea come through and surprise everyone? Vote on the poll to the right, and make any comments you would like.
Oh, and one more important note...where are the Russians? Will we see the Russia of old before these games are through?
Monday, August 11, 2008
USA Men's Swimming, NBC Announcers Sore Winners
We all know that France talked a little trash going into the Men's 4 X 100m freestyle swimming final yesterday. So the question is, what's the appropriate way to react to that sort of thing?While the swimmers, (especially Michael Phelps) seemed to be a little over excited after the victory, it could be said that, "hey! They're athletes! This is what they work their whole lives for!" The announcers on NBC however, took winning in poor taste to a whole new level.
At the end of the race, after the team from the USA had come from behind and beaten the favored French team by 0.08 seconds, the American announcers on NBC shouted out with joy "WHO'S TALKING NOW?" and "I think the French better check their definition of 'SMASH'".
So whatever happened to unbiased commentary? After all, isn't this the Olympic Games? Aren't these games supposed to be promoting sportsmanship in completion? World peace? International friendship? Ok, so you could say that the commentators were extra excited that an amazing upset had just been accomplished, and that the fact that the upset was provided by their home country just magnified that joy. Even still, is that a reason to taunt and mock the team that finished 0.08 seconds behind the gold medalists? Sure, the French were talking a little smack before the race, but that is the job of the athletes. Leave the trash talk on the field, (or in this case in the pool) and out of the press box.
Another interesting point, is that the same commentator who shouted "WHO'S TALKING NOW??" was constantly stating before and during the race that he just couldn't see how the Americans could beat the French in this race. And yet, at the end he was shouting it from the rooftops. This seems consistent with the characteristics of the kind of coward that hides behind his shell until he knows that it's safe to come out, rubbing it in everyone's face when it is.
In closing my point, I would like to just state the fact that a poor winner is even more disgraceful than a poor looser, and it takes a lot more courage and dignity to win with class than it does to loose with class. I hope that we see a lot more winning with class throughout the rest of these games.
Saturday, August 9, 2008
Canada - China Play to a Deadlock
Canada and China will remain tied atop the Group B standings in Women's Soccer...or Football if you prefer.Both teams came out of the gate a little on the defensive side, each not wanting to give up their share of first place in the group. Canada, with a run and gun power style of play, had the edge in the first three quarters of play having several corner kicks, and out shooting the Chinese by far.
China however, made one final push in the final minutes and had several scoring chances. It seemed at times as if Canada couldn't get passed half.
Scoring
Both goals came in the first half, within 2 minutes of each other. After a Chinese clearing error, Kara Lang flipped in a nice pass to Christine Sinclair, who then had a lot of open net to work with, and made no mistake.
Only seconds later, a Chinese attacker drew the Canadian keeper out of the net, allowing her to slide the ball into an open net. The ball came within an inch or two from being saved by a Canadian defender.
Players of the Game
It was a very even game, but since I'm Canadian I will focus on the Canadian team here. The 
most impressive striker throughout the first half had to have been Christine Sinclair(pictured on right). A veteran on the team, she always seemed to be a threat. Although, she did tire a little towards the end.
Of course, as always, our Canadian girls were HOT! Strong, sexy and powerful! Hottest of all however was UCLA Soccer star Kara Lang (pictured at top). Tall, dark and beautiful, with strong, sexy legs. Just as impressive was her play on the field. She threw a perfect pass into Christine Sinclair for Canada's goal, and nearly was the star of the game when she placed a header off of the post late in the game.
What's Next?
China and Canada are tied atop group B with 4 points. Canada's next match will be against Sweden, and China will challenge Argentina.
Friday, August 8, 2008
First Medals of the Games
And the first medals of the 2008 summer olympics have been awarded in the Women's 10m Air Rifle event. One that very few are probably following, but hey! It's the first medal of the games!The results are a bronze for Croatia's Snjezana Pejcic, a silver for Russia's Lyubov Galkina and the very first gold of the games goes to the Czech Republic, and Katerina Emmons. This also marks the first heartbrake moment for the home country, as the defending gold medalist, Du Li from China failed to medal.
Just a quick observation while watching the medal ceremony. There certainly are a lot of countries with red, white and blue as their colors aren't there?
A "Big" Welcome - The Opening Ceremonies
If the opening ceremonies of the 2008 Summer Games can be described as anything, it would be "big". A big country, a big audience, a big show!
2,008 Drummers for 2008
The ceremony began with 2,008 drummer putting on an incredibly rhythmic light and sound show. Haunting, exhilarating beats were accompanied by almost scary chants.
It's incredible to
get a peak into Chinese culture; something that we don't see a whole lot of in North America, with the exception of a lot of political criticisms from our leaders. We heard on NBC that these drummers were told to "smile" a little more, to take a little bit of the intimidation factor off of the presentation. It's a subtle reminder of just how huge and powerful China really is.
A 213 Foot Big Screen TV?
After the raising of the flag, it was incredible to see more modern dancers moving to a mellow tune, while simultaneously painting a picture atop of what we learned was a 213 foot long LED screen. An incredible contrast to the drummers, and an incredible display of the technology that many of us don't realize that Chine possesses.
Timing is Everything
In some of these presentations, it's almost as if you mind rejects things that you see. People can't really be creating that can they? Indeed they are. But you can bet it's not 
with months and months of practice. The timing that each of these performers has to adhere to is truly mind blowing.
Watching hundreds of performers simply moving long, rectangular blocks up and down doesn't sound that exciting. But when those movements are timed to the point where they are made to look like wind, and they great wall of China, it really is incredible. So incredible that those who thought that each one of those blocks was controlled by a machine, were incredibly shocked to see hundreds of happy Chinese nationals pop their heads out and wave afterwords.
Surround Sound...and Picture!
Yet another display of incredible technology at the opening ceremonies. During a dance revolving around sea travel of ancient Chinese, a motion picture of the ocean was displayed on screens encompassing the entire stadium, all the way round the top. Whether the images were projected there or if they were actual screens, I'm not sure. I would guess that they would be projected simply due to the cost. However, it does seem as though the ceremonies were given an unlimited budget, so you never know!
Modern China
As the LED screen on the floor of the stadium grew to over 300 feet, China symbolically advanced hundreds of years. With incredibly lit up costumes, 2,008 more performers created visually stunning images on the floor, while a 9 year old girl flew with a kite above them. This portion of the show represented China's move to a return to glory, as the country changed in the late 70s towards modernism.
The March of Nations
This is always my favorite part of the opening ceremonies. Seeing all the people who are going to make the magic happen throughout the next 2 and a half weeks.
As is custom in all Olympics, the Greeks, as the games' founders have the privileged of leading the march. It's interesting to note that in the 2004 Athens games, Grease filled both the role of the founding nation, (first) and the role of the host nation (last).
Canada
As the athletes from my home country marched onto the field, they NBC announcers brought up the fact that the 2010 winter games will be hosted in Vancouver. Something that I didn't know is that Canada has apparently never won a gold medal on home turf. In both the 1976 summer games in Montreal and the 1988 winter games in Calgary, no golds. Weird!
They also brought up the "own the podium" campaign, aimed at putting more of an emphasis on winning Olympic medals and offering financial incentives for doing so. I must say, it's about time! Canadian amateur sports have long been underfunded and ignored in Canada, which has translated to under performance in the games.
Team USA
Sometimes I forget just how many athletes the USA sends to the summer games. 647 has got to easily be the most out of any other country. Ok, so maybe China is pretty close. It seemed as if the lines of athletes just went on and on and on! Other than all of the NBA stars such as Kobe Bryant and Dwyane Wade, the biggest celebrities on the USA definitely seem to be Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh, the beach volleyball superstars who seem to win absolutely everything!!
Going for Gold!
I must admit, although I am super pumped that the Olympics are here--I am a touch disappointed about not being able to have Canadian coverage where we live. The Olympics just won't be the same without the good old CBC with Brian and Ron. So, any Canadian bloggers out there will need to keep us posted.
That being said, I can't wait for the gymnastics competition and the Beach Volleyball. They are my favorite events, but let's face it, Olympic coverage is like crack--very addicting, and I'll watch whatever is on, even if it is something obscure.
The opening ceremonies are being broadcast in just a few minutes! So hold tight and have fun--GO CANADA GO!
First Day!
Well, it's officially the first day of the 2008 Summer Olympic Games in Beijing China. I'm brimming with excitement to watch the Opening Ceremonies tonight on NBC, even though they have probably already concluded in reality.
It's been 4 years since the last summer games, and 2 and a half years since the last Olympics. Since the new format was instituted in the early 90s, 2 and a half years is now the longest that we ever wait for an Olympics.
I don't know what it is about the Olympics, but it definitely seems to bring some of the best out in the world. It's almost addicting in some respects, as I find myself endlessly glued to the TV watching sports that I would otherwise not care about in the least respect.
I'm very excited about the next couple of weeks!! Here's to a great Olympics!
It's been 4 years since the last summer games, and 2 and a half years since the last Olympics. Since the new format was instituted in the early 90s, 2 and a half years is now the longest that we ever wait for an Olympics.
I don't know what it is about the Olympics, but it definitely seems to bring some of the best out in the world. It's almost addicting in some respects, as I find myself endlessly glued to the TV watching sports that I would otherwise not care about in the least respect.
I'm very excited about the next couple of weeks!! Here's to a great Olympics!
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