11:54 AM: Another huge day in Olympic history. Michael Phelps accomplished what no person has ever done before. And it's another huge day for Canada-4 medals, the highlight of course, the gold for the Men's Eight! Farewell on this Day 9!
11:12 AM: After 27 minutes of breathtaking running, Keneisa Bekele of Ethiopia wins the gold medal with an Olympic record time of 27.01. All 6 top finishers went under the previous OR time. Ethiopia also takes silver, but Kenya ruins the sweep with a tight bronze medal finish. Though it's excrutiatingly long, the 10 K is entertaining nonetheless!
10:52 AM: At half time in the women's basketball game between the US and New Zealand, the score is 50-24 in favour of the Americans. New Zealand scored just 3 baskets (6 points) in the second quarter, and the US went on a 21-0 run at one point.
10:43 AM: Settle in...here come the men running 10 000 M-25 laps around the 400 M track at the Bird's Nest. Halie Gebreselassie (35 years old), one of the greatest long distance runners of all time, won this event in 96 and 2000, and he's back after opting out of the marathon citing health reasons.
10:36 AM: A groundbreaking day for the Chinese, an incredible haul of 14 medals, 8 of those gold, 6 of them bronze.
10:26 AM: Jamaica SWEEPS the Women's 100 M Final. It's Jamaica's year in sprinting. Shelley-Ann Fraser matches the feat of Usain Bolt's 100 title last night!!! Still waiting for the official times, it was a tight grapple for silver and bronze!
10:05 AM: In tennis, Rafael Nadal now has an Olympic Gold to his credit!!! Serena and Venus Williams retake the gold in Beijing. Zheng Jie and Yan Zi won their bronze medal match, so the Chinese were not shutout in this tennis tournee. And the Russians sweep the women's singles tournament.
9:57 AM: Overnight, Canada won 3 more medals, all in rowing. Kok/Cameron were 3rd in a fierce photo finish in the Women's Lightweight Double Sculls. The Men's Lightweight Four also came home with a bronze medal and finally, the Men's Eight won GOLD!! No disappointment this time, the World Champions are also Olympic Champions.
9:49 AM: Guo JingJing has won the gold medal in the Women's 3 M Springboard!!!!!! Surprisingly, 1-2-3-4 are separated by very wide margins. Julia Pakalina finishes 2nd and Wu MinXia settles for bronze. Blythe Hartley of Canada, with a fantastic set of dives (by Canadian standards) was pushed out of the medals, but everybody knew what she was up against.
____________(Sleep)____________
12:41 AM: Okay, now that I've had a chance to catch my breath. Canada has 4 medals now with a potential bronze in wrestling later on as Martine Dugrenier bouts in the 63 KG class. And of course, in the wee hours of the night, Canada is in 4 rowing finals with Kok/Cameron in the Women's Lightweight Double Sculls, the Men's Lightweight Four and needless to say, the Women's 8 and Men's 8 will all be contending for gold. Potentially a huge day for Canada. I'll be back in the morning, lots of gymnastics, diving, tennis, sailing, rowing and cycling coming up. Enjoy the rest of this already historic night!!!!!
11:51 PM: Moments ago, Michael Phelps and the relay team got their gold medals!! And on top of that, Michael Phelps was given a special recognition award from the President of FINA. And look at that, Michael Phelps, a strong 23 year old man, is choking back tears on the podium-hearing the Star Spangled Banner for the 8th time in Beijing.
11:35 PM: Anybody interested in showing Phelps' medal ceremony?? ...please???
11:19 PM: There's just no words to describe this! Absolutely fantastic! And Michael Phelps has absolutely changed the face of swimming. 8-8, 17 swims in 8 days, drug tests, medal ceremonies, press conferences and 7 world records. How does this Superman do it??? Now with 14 gold medals in his career, Phelps is the greatest Olympian ever!!! There were 20 world records set at the Water Cube, 2 more than the last two Olympics combined!! What an awesome way to end the swimming competitions at the Water Cube!!
11:11 PM: THERE IT IS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 8 GOLD MEDALS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 8 GOLD MEDALS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 8 GOLD MEDALS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THIS IS SOMETHING THAT WILL BE REMEMBERED FOREVER. JASON LEZAK ABLE TO HOLD OF EAMON SULLIVAN. UNBELIEVABLE!!!!!!!!! WHAT A FEAT!!!!!!! WHAT A FEAT!!!!!!!!!!! MICHAEL PHELPS-ONE OF A KIND-LEAGUE OF HIS OWN-SURPASSES THE GREAT MARK SPITZ!!!!!!!!!!! 8 GOLD MEDALS AT A SINGLE OLYMPICS-NEVER DONE BEFORE AND UNLIKELY TO BE REPEATED AGAIN!!!!!! THIS IS INDESCRIBABLE!!!!! CONGRATULATIONS, MICHAEL PHELPS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
11:09 PM: Michael Phelps jumps into the pool for his final race. Butterfly leg belongs to him!!! He comes out like a freight train in the last 50!!!
11:04 PM: Out come the 4 by 100 Medley Relay teams!!!! MICHAEL PHELPS WILL BE GOING FOR HIS HISTORIC 8TH GOLD MEDAL!!!!!!! No one has ever done this before. This will be remembered for generations to come!!!
10:59 PM: Ryan Cochrane receives his bronze medal. The anthem of Tunisia's not bad, very marchy!!
10:51 PM: Dara Torres, giving her best in the 4 by 100 medley relay, couldn't make up the room American was trailing Australia. It's another silver for 41 year old Torres, but Libby Trinckett with a fantastic leg on the Fly wins the gold for the Aussies. China wins the bronze, and that's the 6th swimming medal for our nation!
10:46 PM: A little bit of tennis for you now. Elena Dementieva and Dinara Safina, both Russians will contend for the women's singles title at 2 AM. On the men's side, Rafael Nadal and Fernando Gonzalez face eachother in the gold medal match at 3:30 AM.
10:39 PM: Dara Torres receives her silver medal. Did you know the national anthem of Germany is by Josef Haydn??
10:30 PM: Mellouli of Tunisia wins the gold (quite surprisingly). Grant Hackett made a move in the last 200 M, leaving Ryan Cochrane. Ryan Cochrane had led for about 2/3 of the race, just could reach in there with enough energy in the end, but he does settle for bronze, just ahead of Russian Yuriy Prilokov.
10:27 PM: Less than 100 to go. Hackett, Cochrane are trying to chase up Mellouli of Tunisia, who's leading...
10:21 PM: Things are looking good for Ryan Cochrane through the first 750 metres of the 1500 Free. He's leading in lane 5, Hackett trails by about 3/10ths of a second.
10:12 PM: Here comes Ryan Cochrane, the Canadian 1500 M swimmer who broke the Olympic record in the semi finals!!! He will swim 30 laps-about 14 minutes and 45 seconds. Talk about endurance!! As well, Grant Hackett will try to win the gold medal in this event for the third time.
10:07 PM: Dara Torres is outtouched by 0.01 seconds!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Britta Steffen wins gold. Dara looked oh so good in the middle of the race, and once again, 1/100th of a second decides the race. Cate Campbell, who is just 16 years old, 25 years younger than Dara, wins the bronze. What a great race. What a great story for Dara Torres.
10:06 PM: Hello, I just got back from a party. Let's get right to the action. 37 gold medals on tap for today. The Women's Marathon has just finished with Romanian Constantina Tomescu claiming gold in about 2 hours 27 minutes. China bringing home a bronze. And now, Dara Torres, at 41 years young will try to sprint her way to victory in the 50 M Freestyle swim. LeBron James and Kobe Bryant are on hand to witness history as well!
-D
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