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So where to begin -- the Water Cube or the Birds Nest?
Bearing in mind there is every chance that this time tomorrow we will be waxing lyrical about the mercurial talents of Michael Phelps (blimey, I've started already!) it has to be the Birds Nest where Jamaican Usain Bolt, who was calm, confident and even cocky before the race, sliced 0.03 seconds off his own world record to register a new best of 9.69. He even had the audacity to pose and celebrate before crossing the line -- a sign that this incredible sprinter can surely go much faster. Oh, and his favored event, the 200 meters, is yet to come.
Equally ecstatic silver medalist Richard Thompson of Trinidad and Tobago ran a personal best time of 9.89 seconds, as did Walter Dix of the United States, who ran 9.91 to take bronze.
The pre-race talk of the final being a showdown between Bolt, his compatriot Asafa Powell and US world champion Tyson Gay didn't materialize. Gay didn't reach the finals, and a tense looking Powell was never in the hund of the medals and finished in fifth place.
Other winners on the second day of Athletics were Valeriy Borchin of Russia, who won the Men's 20km Walk final in a time of 1 hour 19:01 minutes, ahead of Jefferson Perez of Ecuador who came in just 0.14 seconds later.
The Heptathlon went to Nataliia Dobrtnska of Ukraine, who was second-placed after day one but passed overnight leader Hyleas Fountain of the United States to win with a total of 6,733 points. Dobrtnska's teammate Lyudmila Blonska took silver with 6,700 points, and Fountain claimed bronze with 6,619 points.
New Zealand's Valerie Vili won the Women's Shot Put final with a throw of 20.56 meters. Elsewhere, all the favorites passed through the opening heats of the Women's 100m, while Janeth Jepkosgei Busienei of Kenya qualified fastest in the Women's 800m semifinals. Jakob Jarso of Ethiopia led a clutch of racers to cross the finish line first in the qualifying round of the Men's 3000m Steeplechase, setting a personal best of 8 minutes 16.88 seconds
Poland's Piotr Malachowski qualified first for the Men's Discus Throw final with a throw of 65.94m, and reigning Olympic champion Elena Isinbaeva of Russia cleared a height of 4.60 meters to top the Women's Pole Vault semifinals.
And so to the Water Cube and a certain Mr. Phelps. If anyone doubted Phelps' grit and determination, rather than just his outrageous talent, today was a day when his mettle was tested. With just a few meters to go, Phelps's quest to become the first Olympian to win eight gold medals at a single Games looked to be lying in ruin as unheralded Serbian Milorad Cavic looked to have stolen the Men's 100m Butterfly.
Having touched first at the 50m mark, Cavic was 0.09sec under the world record and maintained his lead until the very final reach for the wall, when Phelps strained every sinew to just about take the race by the narrowest of margins -- 0.01 seconds -- to register a new Olympic record of 50.58 seconds. Cavic took silver and Australia's Andrew Lauterstein won the bronze medal. World record holder Ian Crocker of the United States swam in fourth place at 51.13.
Just one final gold for Phelps to claim tomorrow for a perfect eight medals.
Elsewhere it was the usual record-breaking business in the pool. Another relative unknown, Brazilian Cesar Cielo Filho, won the Men's 50m Freestyle final in an Olympic record time of 21.30.
The two women's finals produced two new world records. After winning three silver medals at Beijing 2008, Kirsty Coventry of Zimbabwe finally struck gold in the Women's 200m Backstroke in a new world record time of 2:05.24.
In the Women's 800m Freestyle final, Rebecca Adlington of Great Britain broke the oldest world record left in swimming. Adlington touched in 8:14.10 to knock an incredible 2.12 off Janet Evans' (USA) 19-year-old world mark and claim the gold medal.
Adlington was one of four Britons to claim gold in an amazing day for the European country.
In Track Cycling, Men's 4000m Individual Pursuit three-time world champion Bradley Wiggins successfully defended his gold medal ahead of Hayden Roulston of New Zealand and Steven Burke, another Briton.
Then, fellow British reigning world champion Chris Hoy took the Men's Keirin final track gold ahead of compatriot Ross Edgar and Nagai Kiyofumi of Japan.
Spain's Joan Llaneras won the Men's Points Race final.
But the strains of the British anthem God Save the Queen could be heard in sunny Shunyi, where Great Britain won its third consecutive Men's Fours on a busy day of Rowing, which included seven finals, starting with a stunning 0.44-second victory for Bulgaria's Rumyana Neykova in the Women's Single Sculls.
After a slow start in the Men's Single Sculls, Olaf Tufte of Norway out-rowed the Czech Republic's Ondrej Synek and triple world champion and race favorite Mahe Drysdale of New Zealand for victory.
Romania's Georgeta Andrunache and Viorica Susanu took the Women's Pair gold medal -- both will row again in Sunday's Women's Eights final.
Australians Duncan Free and Drew Ginn emphatically took the Men's Pairs crown, and New Zealand twins Caroline and Georgina Evers-Swindell successfully defended their Women's Double Sculls Olympic title.
Australia won its second gold medal of the regatta with victory in the Men's Double Sculls for Scott Brennan and David Crawshay.
In fact, it might have been an even better day for the Brits if the day's Sailing competition hadn't once again been wiped out by the weather. The medal races of the Finn (Heavyweight Dinghy) and Yngling (Women's Keelboat) were canceled due to lack of wind at the Qingdao International Sailing Center. Both medal races have been rescheduled for Sunday, August 17.
Although hardly hitting the heights of the first week of Beijing 2008, China maintained its medal streak.
The first Badminton gold of the Games went to 33-year-old Zhang Ning, who beat teammate Xie Xingfang in the Women's Singles final. Indonesia's Maria Kristin Yulianti collected the bronze medal by beating China's Lu Lan 11-21, 21-13 and 21-15 to clinch third place.
Indonesian duo Hendra Setiawan and Markis Kido defeated Cai Yun and Fu Haifeng of China to reclaim the Badminton Men's Doubles gold medal after eight years.
In the Men's Team Table Tennis semi-finals, the Chinese trio of Ma Lin, Wang Hao and Wang Liqin claimed a clear 3-0 victory over the Republic of Korea, while Germany edged out Japan to take the other final spot.
China has also made it through the quarterfinals of Men's Basketball after defeating Germany 59-55 in an exciting group B clash. There were group B wins for Team USA, which defeated world champions Spain 119-82, and Greece, which beat Angola 102-61.
Defending gold medalists Argentina beat Iran 97-82 in group A, with Lithuania defeating Croatia 86-73 and Australia comfortably cruising past Russia 95-80.
Russia fared better in Fencing, claiming the gold medal in the final of the Women's Team Sabre competition with a 28-11 win against the United States.
In the last Shotgun event of the Games, 19-year-old US shooter Vincent Hancock won gold in the Men's Skeet by winning a shoot-off against Tore Brovold of Norway.
In the day's other Shooting event, Ukrainian Oleksandr Petriv's record-setting performance prevented Germany's Ralf Schumann from claiming a fourth Olympic gold in the Men's 25m Rapid Fire Pistol. Forty-six-year-old Schumann has now won medals at every Olympic Games since Seoul in 1988.
In Tennis, Roger Federer's quest for an elusive Olympic medal has come to an end after winning the Men's Doubles with Swiss compatriot Stanislas Wawrinka. The pair defeated Simon Aspelin and Thomas Johansson of Sweden 6-3, 6-4, 6-7(4), 6-3 to claim the gold medal.
No. 1 seeds Bob and Mike Bryan of the United States defeated Arnaud Clement and Michael Llodra of France 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 to capture the bronze
Elena Dementieva of Russia defeated teammate Vera Zvonareva 6-3, 7-6(3) in the Women's Singles semifinals and will now face her compatriot and No. 6 seed Dinara Safina, who beat China's Li Na 7-6(3), 7-5
Sydney 2000 gold medalists Serena Williams and Venus Williams of the United States defeated 2008 Australian Open champions Alona Bondarenko and Kateryna Bondarenko of Ukraine 4-6, 6-4, 6-1 to reach the Women's Doubles final, in which they will meet Anabel Medina Garrigues and Virginia Ruano Pascual of Spain
Jang Mi-ran of the Republic of Korea broke three world records en route to taking gold in the Women's Weightlifting over-75 kilogram weight class, while in Wrestling, Carol Huynh took Canada's first Beijing gold and forced Icho Chiharu of Japan to her second straight silver in the Women's Freestyle Wrestling 48 kilogram weight class final
In the Men's Football quarterfinals, Belgium surprisingly defeated Italy 3-2 to advance to the semifinals, while both Brazil and Argentina needed extra time to beat Cameroon and the Netherlands, respectively. Nigeria booked their place in the final four by defeating Côte d'Ivoire 2-0.
What a day. Those are just some of the highlights from an exciting, amazing and action-packed day from Beijing 2008.
By The Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad
Posted August 16th, 2008 by Armen Hareyan
