Yep...there's another relay race. With Lezak, Piersol, and Phelps all representing the US, they'll be tough to beat. And great sportsmanship from Dara Torres in the 50m free semis. U.S. baseball is not so impressive thus far (though Nix's injury was scary).
Anyone else annoyed at NBC for going to commercial in the middle of the women's 800 meter freestyle race? I thought it was bad enough they decided to show yet another replay of Phelps barely beating Cavic during the race, but then they followed it up by a commercial break. They wouldn't have done that if Phelps was in the race. Seriously, I'm so sick of Michael Phelps. Well, not him, but the hype built around him. I'm going to be very happy when he's done with tomorrow's relay race.
We finally have a medal, though we don't know the colour yet. Carol Huynh has moved on to the Gold medal match in women's freestyle 48kg wrestling later today. It's about damn time!
When you win more gold medals than anyone in history, the hype is deserved. If you can't hype Phelps, no one is worthy of the hype.
I don't have a problem with hype, but I have a problem with overhype and I certainly think Phelps is overhyped. *shrug*
There is a protest happening with that. He swimming in the relay also. Agreed. Interesting, only 4 of his gold medals have come from "straight" events, as 4 from medleys and four from relays. Source Interesting, it would be interesting to see how he went, if did another freestyle event (either 100m or 400m), but probably would have to drop one of the medleys, as it would have been busier for him.
That protest has already been ruled on. Phelps is the winner. Is anyone else bugged by the fact that Phelps didn't compete in any of the heats or semis for that? He's just swimming in the final. Seems a bit lame to me. I would be a bit more impressed by Phelps if he had been in the 1500 meter freestyle.
^ Even if he did make it to that final, I think Grant Hackett will win. Will be interesting to see if Phelps can back up in 4 years time, and win in any of his individual events. It seems most of the top swimmers didn't swim the heats either in the relays.
I wish but no. Wasn't able to find a video either. I even looked for images and the closest one I could find was a NY Times pic that shows Phelps and Cavic just before they hit the wall I think. Doesn't show how close it was. .01 of a sec gives you an idea but I think a picture usually does better, especially for swimming.
Longevity is the key to a great athlete which is a large par of why I think all of this grandeur about Phelps being the greatest athlete ever is ludicrous. Get back to me in 12, 16 years and then we'll talk.
Finally found a pic. Trust the BBC to have the best shots. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/olympics/swimming/7564656.stm
I saw the race. Based on what I did see, Phelps did get in but it was really really close. I might have been happier if they had called a tie on that.
Only four of his gold medals have come from individual events? Only four of his gold medals have come from individual events. Now stop and think about that statement for a moment, and I think you'll come to the realization as to why I'm thinking the criticism of Phelps here isn't warranted. I wasn't aware that it was possible to win only four gold medals in an olympiad. Phelps isn't controlling the media. Phelps hasn't annointed himself the greatest athlete of all time. Phelps isn't pushing his way on to the relay squads. The best swimmer gets that honor. He's wanted on the relay teams. The man's getting the acclaim because he's done the work, not because his publicist put a $100 dollar bill in a few dozen journalists' pockets. He's trained in an ungodly number of events. He's displayed the skills. He won several gold four years ago and he's upped the ante four years later to become the the most decorated olympian of all times in terms of gold....but he's not great unless he does it again in 2012 and 2016? How come Phelps has to be great in four straight olympiads to deserve hype? Come on. Be fair.
First time I've used this, but QFT. I'm amazed at how much some people are knocking him down here. Geez, some people just can't be happy. As for wanting the race to be called a tie, high-speed video and the official Omega timing results show that Phelps touched first. That's a win, not a tie.
Well done Phelps, I just watched his race on the BBC, it was incredibly close. However, I have to say that as I Brit I much more enjoyed watching Rebecca Adlington's race on the BBC. Olympic Record in the heat, World Record in the final by 2.12 seconds and finishing 6 seconds ahead of the silver medallist. Fantastic achievement by her.
Australia win another gold medal, and first for the Australian males. And out of the pool and in the rowing. In the men's pair. Silver to Canada and Bronze for New Zealand.
And our first official medal is a silver in men's pairs rowing! We're finally getting into this thing.
^ Yeah, I watched the rowing. Congrats! We already have two medals so far (silver and bronze) and we definitely have a chance for a couple more. Not bad for such a small country (only 2 million people).
I'm apparently unable to find any concrete info about that, so maybe someone here knows the answer: What event does Mark Cavendish ride in in the Olympics? He was kind of Superman in this year's Tour, so I'm surprised he doesn't get more exposure in the British Olympics-team as someone who's coming from the track before getting into road racing.