Nastia Liukin's Controversial Silver in Uneven Bars

Okay, so after all the hub bub about Nastia Liukin's controversial silver in the uneven bars, I finally had a chance to watch it on tv. From my untrained eye and regardless of the fact that He Kexin and Nastia Liukin scored the same, I thought He Kexin had a better routine. It was more exciting and had more release moves than Liukin's. That's my personal preference stuck landing or no.

I'll say it again, I've been very impressed by the composure of the Americans not rising to the bait of stupid reporter questions on how she feels of the fact that the Chinese gymnasts might be underaged. Liukin replied that He Kexin is a great athlete no matter what the age. That's class. And no worries Nastia. People will remember you as the all around champion with a lot of class even more than they will uneven bar champion. That would have been icing. You already have the cake.

Oh, and for those that say gymnastic has a stupid scoring system and what not. True, but these athletes knew what they were getting into. If it's a subjective event, you live by the sword, you die by the sword. Yeah, it would have been nice if Liukin and Kexin could have both been winners but, what can you do?

Olympic Mens and Womens Gymnastics Finals

We've had the mens and womens gymnastic team competition and all around competition and now is time for the specialist tricksters.

We start things off with the men's floor routines and you'd think that it would be cleaner than this but they were falling all over the place like bad figure skating. But who comes through in the end? Surprise, surprise. It's the Chinese. Here are your medalists.

Men's Floor Final

Zou Kai - China
Gervasio Deferr - Spain
Anton Golosutskov - Russia

Next up is the men's pommel horse. I don't understand all the intricacies of hand placements and travels and flairs but here are the winners in what is considered one of the hardest apparatus.

Men's Pommel Horse Final

Xiao Qin - China
Filip Ude - Croatia
Louis Smith - Great Britain

Women's Vault Event

This has got to be one of the most insane competitions I've seen. Alicia Sacramone was in the running for a medal. Good to see her bounce back after the team competition because let's face it, she pretty much screwed the U.S. chances... Another vaulter, Anna Pavlova would have probably gotten a medal but she went before the judges go-ahead. And to top it all off, a 33-year old German won a medal! What a story that is considering gymnastics is a sport that youth reigns supreme. A "mature" woman pretty much has no shot but Oksana Chusovitina, a mother no less, won silver! Favorite Cheng Fei who had all the expectations of the Chinese on her eked out a bronze after her a fall on her second vault. A North Korean won the vault final and it was nice to see... You hardly ever seen North Koreans since they are so isolated but good for her.

Hong Un Jong - North Korea
Oksana Chusovitina - Germany
Cheng Fei - China

Women's Floor Event Final

Surprisingly, you haven't heard much from Romania in this gymnastic competition. Usually they are so strong but I guess it comes in cycles and now it's U.S. and China's time to shine. But the Romanian gymnast, Sandra Izbasa put the smack down on everyone and made it known that the Romanians are still a factor by winning the Women's Floor Event final. Shawn Johnson came in second and Natsia Liukin added to the American medal count with a bronze. I must say, looking at people congratulating each other, I've very impressed with the camaraderie of all the gymnasts from different nations. Chinese, Romanians, Americans, etc. I would have thought there would be cat fights and all given the fierceness of competition and what's at stake. But I guess all the barriers are pretty much broken. You just see all these gymnasts so often at other meets as well. It's SO nice to see heartfelt hugs of congratulations. And I have to say, Shawn Johnson always looks so happy. We know why Natsia Liukin is happy because she got her all around gold, but Johnson still looks so happy with a silver. I'm very impressed with this young lady. She has a couple more events to go as I'm updating this so I hope she gets a gold.

Sandra Izbasa - Romania
Shawn Johnson - USA
Natsia Liukin - USA

Olympic Swimming - Michael Phelps Wins Eighth Gold!

Michael Phelps has made history by winning his 8th gold in the 4 x 100 individually medley relay. Phelps swam the butterfly leg for the U.S. team and they set another world record time at 3:28.24. Congratulations, Michael Phelps, if there was any doubt, you are the story of the Beijing Olympics.

It was a close race up as the Americans did not get the lead in the backstroke or the breaststroke. It was only until Phelps hit the water for the butterfly that he got the lead for the Jason Lezak to take it home for the freestyle holding off the Australians. Japan came in third.

So that ends the story for Michael Phelps swimming in Beijing, and what a story it was!

Usain Bolt Fastest Man Alive

The jewel of the Olympic Games is undoubtedly track and field's men's 100 m final. A new upstart in Jamaican's Usain Bolt won the gold at a world record time of 9.69.

Usain Bolt cruised through the preliminary rounds and semi finals just toying with his competitors. He was glancing left and right to stands and didn't run through the 100 meters but just cruised through. When someone runs with that much ease and still destroys the competition, that's got to be very intimidating. At the finals, he still didn't run through the 100 meters, shutting it down at 80 m when he knew he had it in the bag!

Usain Bolt is just genetically a genetically gifted specimen. He comes from the powerhouse running nation of Jamaica and his lanky 6'5 frame just unfurls itself out of the starting blocks. Usain Bolt is only 21 years old and it's just scary how much he can lower his time when he has all the techniques.

Olympic Swimming - Michael Phelps Wins Seventh Gold!

The 100 m butterfly could have been a speed bump in Michael Phelps quest for his 7th gold medal since he wasn't the world record holder. If it can be said, it's one of his weakest events. But what do you know, Michael Phelps did his personal best and won it at 50:58. He won by 1/100 of a second. It wasn't a world record but it was an Olympic record and he tied the great Mark Spitz for seven gold medals in an Olympic Games. All that's left is the relay and Olympic imortality.

Nastia Liukin Wins Women's All Around Gymnastics Gold!

Wow, what a competition in the women's all around artistic gymnastics. So much better than figure skating where the women just fall all over the place. Everyone performed amazing and I was just covering my eyes because I couldn't bear to look. But Nastia Liukin eked out the gold ahead of her teammate Shawn Johnson and Yang Yilin took home the bronze. It was really nice to see how gracious the women were congratulating each other too.

Nastia Liukin is a 19 year old and she was just amazing with her beauty and grace. She had the classic Russian lines and no wonder as she was born in Moscow but grew up in the States. Hard to believe that some had counted her out as too old. 19 is too old? But the heir apparent who came in second place is Shawn Johnson. She's one of those American fireplugs who is reminiscent of Mary-Lou Retton. She's 16 now so maybe she's got another Olympics in her. I keep on mentioning the gymnasts age because of course there was the controversy of underaged Chinese gymnasts. Seriously, the Americans look like beautiful young women but the Chinese look like downright adolescents. Yang Yilin's passport says she's 16 but she looks more like 14. Still before everyone throws stones, I don't think this is the first instance of coverup. I'm Canadian and of course I remember the U.S. Olympic Committee coverup of Carl Lewis' three positive drug tests before Seoul... Just saying...

In any case, good competition from the ladies tonight. I look forward to the event finals if it is going to be as exciting!

Olympic Swimming - Michael Phelps Wins Sixth Gold!

Another gold medal goes to Michael Phelps in the 200 IM. He took command from the start with his butterfly and it was never in doubt. The only question was whether or not he would break the world record and once again, he didn't disappoint with a clocking of 1:53.23. He's AMAZING. He has 6 GOLD medals. Cripes, just one individual has won more medals than Canada. We haven't even gotten off the schneid yet. Think about that. This guy produces more medals alone than countries! Of course, I read that Michael Phelp's body is freakishly weird. His arm span is actually greater than his height. He wears size 14 feet and his body is actually longer in the torso than his legs. All this helps with his swimming I guess. Also add to the fact that his chest is double jointed?! I never even knew such a thing exists. But again, that contributes to his swimming ability. Now if you think about it, a guy that is that misproportioned would be mocked in normal life (not that you can really tell) but just saying... But Michael Phelps actually found a sport in which he could excel and was in the right country with the right program. He has just been blessed.