World Sports Fanatic

Canada Surpasses Medal Count from Athens

You can call me crazy or just say it's nationalistic pride, but when CBC's Olympic Primetime host Ian Hanomansing announced at midnight last Saturday that Canadians were up for three medals, I stayed up... til 2 am!

In the span of 45 minutes, Canadian athletes won three medals on day 8 of the Beijing Games. It was so worth it to see Carol Huynh win not only Canada's first medal of the Games but Canada's first gold medal in women's wrestling. David Calder and Scott Frandsen won silver in pairs rowing and Tonya Verbeek won the bronze in the 55kg of wrestling.

This was just the beginning...

Two Athletes Compete in the 2008 Olympics and Paralympics

It's hard to make the Olympic team for your country as an able-bodied athlete.  Imagine trying to accomplish that same feat but as a physically disabled athlete.   Disabled is a misleading word as these athletes portrayed below are very able.

Oscar Pistorius, a double amputee South African, made headlines in his attempts to qualify for the Beijing Olympics in the 400m track event.  While this was happening Natalie du Toit qualified for both the Olympic and Paralymic Games in marathon swimming and Natalia Partyka of Poland qualified in team table tennis.

Usain Bolt Runs to a World Record

Usain Bolt of Jamaica ran a world record 9.69 in the 100m to win Olympic Gold in Beijing.  Bolt stopped pumping his arms at about the 80m mark yet managed to better the world record in an event he just started competing in last year.

Bolt finished an astonishing two-tenths of a second ahead of silver medalist Richard Thompson of Trinidad and Tobago.  American Walter Dix won the bronze with a time of 9.91.  Six men ran under 10 seconds in the final.  I can only imagine what Bolt's time would have been had he kept his arms pumping for the full 100 meters.

Who could have predicted that Powell would finish 5th and that Gay would not even make the finals.   

Phelps and Torres Record Hauls

With a strong butterfly leg in the 4x100 medley relay, Michael Phelps gave his teammate Jason Lezak the lead going into the final leg.  The win gave Phelps a record 8 gold medals in one Olympics and seven World Records. Phelps also set an Olympic record in the 100m Fly.

Dara Torres, the 41-year old American swimming in her 5th Olympic Games, came 2nd in the 50m free by the slimmest of margins, 0.01 seconds.

After the medal presentation she was back on the deck for the final of the 4x100 medley relay.  Swimming the anchor leg she made inroads on the Aussie, world record 100m holder Lisbeth Trickett but could not catch her.  

Add her three silver medals from Beijing to the nine medals (4 gold, 1 silver and 4 bronze) Torres won in 4 previous Olympics for a total of 12 Olympic medals.  That's only 4 behind Phelp's medal haul of 16 from two Games - Athens and Beijing.  As a 15-year old Phelps also had a 5th place finish in the 200m butterfly in Sydney. 

Phelps Ties Spitz's Record of Seven Golds

Michael Phelps edged Serbian Milorad Cavic in the 100m fly by the slightest of margins to capture his seventh gold medal in Olympic record time.  It appeared as if Cavic had touched first but the electronic timing proved otherwise.  Phelps time of 50.58 was a mere 0.01 faster than Cavic.

Phelps has now tied the record of seven gold medals in one Olympics set by Mark Spitz in the 1972 Munich Olympics.  He has an opportunity to surpass it with a win in the 4x100m medley relay on the weekend.

The Serbian team protested the win but the result stays.