Beijing Olympics showcase world's best athletes

By Eric Lorenz
West Times Staff

The Games of the 29th Olympiad took place from Aug. 8-24 in Beijing, China. Amidst smog-filled air, crowded streets and controversy, the greatest athletes in the world came together to compete for the gold.

The story of the Olympics early on came in the pool as American swimmer Michael Phelps was nothing short of golden in the Water Cube, taking home a record eight gold medals. The eight golds were the most by any athlete in a single Olympics, breaking Mark Spitz’s previous record of seven set back in 1972.

Phelps’ chances suffered a scare early as it took a huge come-from-behind surge by Jason Lezak in the last leg of the men’s 4 x 100m freestyle relay to narrowly defeat the French team and keep his medal hopes alive. Phelps had yet another nail-biter in the men’s 100m butterfly as he defeated Serbia’s Milorad Cavic by just .01 seconds to claim his seventh gold.

Joining Phelps in winning swimming gold was Aaron Peirsol in the men’s 100m backstroke and Ryan Lochte in the men’s 200m backstroke.

For the women, Natalie Coughlin took home gold in the women’s 100m backstroke, Rebecca Soni won the women’s 200m breaststroke and 41-year-old Dara Torres took home three silver medals.

Out of the pool, the United States and China were the head of the class when it came to gymnastics. The U.S. women, led by Shawn Johnson, 16, and Nastia Liukin, 18, won silver in women’s team gymnastics despite several serious miscues by Alicia Sacramone.

Liukin and Johnson bounced back, however, to give great showings in the individual competitions. Liukin completed her Olympics by winning gold in the women’s individual all-around, silver in both women’s uneven bars and women’s beam, and bronze in women’s floor exercise. Johnson won gold in women’s beam, and silver in the women’s individual all-around and women’s floor exercise.

The men, missing both Paul and Morgan Hamm from the 2004 Olympic team, took home team bronze while Jonathan Horton took silver in men’s horizontal bar.

China, meanwhile, claimed nine gold medals, including gold in both the men’s and women’s team gymnastics.

China’s accomplishments were tainted, however, after the ages of several of its women gymnasts were called into question, but the International Olympic Committee did not find enough evidence to strip any of the gymnasts of their medals.

Gymnastics gave way to track and field and saw a new star in the sport emerge. Jamaica’s Usain Bolt set a world record of 9.69 seconds as he easily won gold in the men’s 100m. He followed that up with another world record run in the men’s 200m where he broke Michael Johnson’s record of 19.32 seconds with a time of 19.30. Bolt’s 4 x 100m relay team also won gold, giving the athlete nicknamed “Lightning” gold in every event he competed in.

The United States had a solid showing in track and field as well. The U.S. trio of LaShawn Merritt, Jeremy Wariner and David Neville won gold, silver and bronze in the men’s 400m respectively, and Angelo Taylor, Kerron Clement and Bershawn Jackson took the top three places respectively in men’s 400m hurdles.

Rounding out the golds for the U.S. in track and field were Dawn Harper (women’s 100m hurdles), Stephanie Brown Trafton (women’s discus throw), Bryan Clay (men’s decathlon) and the men’s and women’s 4 x 400m relay teams.

Moving to the courts, the men’s volleyball team took home gold after downing Brazil and the women’s team took the silver after falling to Brazil. On the beach it was all U.S. as the men’s duo of Todd Rogers and Phil Dalhausser defeated the Brazilian team for gold. And on the women’s side, it was Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh defeating the Chinese team to win back-to-back gold medals and extending their winning streak to 108 straight matches. The back-to-back golds are the first for any team in women’s beach volleyball.

Basketball saw both the U.S. men’s and women’s teams win gold. For the women, it came in the form of a 92-65 blowout of Australia. For the men, dubbed the Redeem Team, it was much closer than the 118-107 score over Spain indicated.

On the field, the U.S. soccer team defeated Brazil for gold, and in the sports’ Olympic farewells, the U.S. softball team lost to Japan in the gold medal match while the U.S. baseball team claimed the bronze.

The final medal count saw the United States win the most medals (110) but finish second to China in gold medals (51 to 36).