Thursday, August 21, 2008

Bolt breaks 200m world record against headwind

Usain Bolt of Jamaica jubilates after the men's 200m final at the National Stadium, also known as the Bird's Nest, during Beijing 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China, Aug. 20, 2008. Usain Bolt of Jamaica won the title with 19.30 seconds and set a new world record.
The Olympic men's 100 meters gold medalist Usain Bolt of Jamaica broke the men's 200m world record in19.30 seconds en route to his golden double at the Beijing Olympic Games on Wednesday, even into a headwind of 0.9 meters per second.

The previous record of 19.32 seconds was set by American Michael Johnson in the 1996 Olympic Games. The 21-year-old had already broken the 100m world mark in the Games when he became the fastest man in the world in 9.69 seconds.

Churandy Martina of the Dutch Antilles got the silver in 19.82 seconds and Shawn Crawford of the United States won the bronze in 19.96 seconds.


Usain Bolt of Jamaica poses by the results board with his new world record after the men's 200m final at the National Stadium, also known as the Bird's Nest, during Beijing 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China, Aug. 20, 2008. Usain Bolt of Jamaica won the title with 19.30 seconds and set a new world record.
Source:Xinhua

Jamaican Walker wins women's 400m hurdles gold

Melaine Walker of Jamaica competes during the women's 400m hurdles final at the National Stadium, also known as the Bird's Nest, during Beijing 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China, Aug. 20, 2008. Melaine Walker won the title with 52.64 seconds and set a new Olympic record.
-- Jamaica's Melaine Walker clocked 52.62 seconds to win the women's 400m hurdles at the Olympic Games in Beijing on Wednesday.

American Melaine Walker took the silver and Tasha Danvers of Britain got the bronze.


Melaine Walker of Jamaica competes during the women's 400m hurdles final at the National Stadium, also known as the Bird's Nest, during Beijing 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China, Aug. 20, 2008. Melaine Walker won the title with 52.64 seconds and set a new Olympic record.
Source:Xinhua

China's Xue/Zhang beat Brazil to got women's beach volleyball bornze

Xue Chen and Zhang Xi of China celebrate victory after the women's bronze medal match against Renata Ribeiro and Talita Rocha of Brazil of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games beach volleyball event in Beijing, China, Aug. 21, 2008. Xue Chen and Zhang Xi won the match 2-0 and got the bornze medal.


Xue Chen and Zhang Xi of China sign their names on the ball during the women's bronze medal match against Renata Ribeiro and Talita Rocha of Brazil of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games beach volleyball event in Beijing, China, Aug. 21, 2008.
China's Zhang Xi and Xue Chen captured the beach volleyball bronze medal at the Beijing Olympics on Thursday, defeating Brazilian pair Talita Antunes/Renata Ribeiro in straight sets.

They made history for China, whose previous best Olympic finish was ninth place by Tian Jia and her then partner Wang Fei at the Athens Games.

Zhang and Xue defeated the Brazilian duo 21-19, 21-17.

"I can't believe we earned the bronze medal," said Zhang, who, along with her partner Xue, is for the first time to compete at the Olympics.

"We readjusted our strategies when we once trail in the first set and we won the set," she said of a decisive turning point in the match.

The two sides traded scores in the first set but the hosts reached the match point at first and ended the set 21-19.

The second set was much easier for Zhang/Xue. They played more relaxed and scored frequently through serves, blocks and spikes. The Chinese once led the Brazilians six points in the second set and claimed the set 21-17 to net in the bronze medal.

In the past years, the Chinese pair has won four FIVB World Tour gold medals and was also 2006 Asian Games champions.

"Our techniques are not worse than them but we made a lot of mistakes," said Renato after the match.

"But we are very proud of our performance at the Olympics," said Renata, who, along with her partner, was making debut at the Olympics.

Antunes and Ribeiro, placing sixth on the Olympic qualification standing, had also been considered medal contenders. The pair is winner of five FIVB World Tour gold medals.

Source:Xinhua

American May-Treanor/Walsh claim beach volleyball gold

Kerri Walsh and Misty May-Treanor of U.S. kiss their gold medals on the podium during the victory ceremony of women's gold medal match of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games beach volleyball event in Beijing, China, Aug. 21, 2008.
Defending champions Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh of the United States captured the Beijing Olympic beach volleyball gold medal on Thursday.

The American pair defeated China's Tian Jia and Wang Jie 21-17 and 21-18 in the final. The Chinese duo got the silver medal.

The two sides traded points in the first set to 17-17 before the U.S. duo reap four points in a row to win the first set 21-17.


Kerri Walsh and Misty May-Treanor of the U.S. celebrate after they won the women's gold medal match of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games beach volleyball event in Beijing, China, Aug. 21, 2008.
In the second set, the Americans led at the beginning while the Chinese came from behind and traded points for a tit-for-tat battle. After the visitors reach the match point 20-18, a dink spike by the U.S. duo finished the gold medal match.

"It was such a tough match, their serves were so strong. But we wanted to win and we won the match," said Walsh after the match.

Without losing a single set, Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh of the United States, dubbed as "queens of the beach," breezed into the beach volleyball final at the Beijing Olympics. And the American duo have not been defeated in a single match since last August.

The three-time Olympian May-Treanor said before the Olympics that experiences are their advantage and they will use them to gain the upper hand over their rivals in Beijing. "Experience in beach volleyball comes into play in those big matches where fatigue sets in." said May-Treanor.

The combination of the pair is another factor which has contributed to their outstanding results. Men's beach volleyball legend and three-time Olympic champion of the United States Karch Kiraly also prized the partnership of May-Treanor and Walsh "the best ever".

Strong psychology is another significant weapon for the U.S. duo to perform well. "I will pretend that the crowd was cheering for us," May-Treanor said of the audience's support in the final for the Chinese team before the match began.

"I'm excited to win the silver medal. We did our best in the match, and I think we played very well. I'm proud to present such a wonderful match in front of the large audience," said Wang.

"I hope beach volleyball will have a faster development in China through our success at the Beijing Games." she added.


Silver medalists Tian Jia and Wang Jie of China stand on the podium during the victory ceremony of women's beach volleyball medal matches of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China, Aug. 21, 2008.
Tian and Wang said before the match began that their rivals were "very strong" both in experiences and techniques and they just wanted to do their best in the final match.

In an earlier match, China's Zhang Xi and Xue Chen captured the bronze medal, defeating Brazilian pair Talita Antunes/Renata Ribeiro in straight sets.

Source:Xinhua

Historic match of Beach Volleyball on rainy day

As the city's air quality had all reached the standards to host the Olympics in all 18 days of August before Tuesday, the Chinese capital was making strides in fulfilling its commitment on good air quality for the Games, a Beijing official said.

"In the 18 days between Aug. 1 and Aug. 18, Beijing's air quality was within the standards to host the Olympics. Of the 18 days, Beijing reported Grade I air quality in nine days, and in the other nine days, the city's air quality was Grade II," deputy director of the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Environmental Protection Du Shaozhong told a press conference.

In the Chinese system to report the air quality, Grade I means the air quality is excellent with the Air Pollution Index showing a reading between 1 and 50. Grade II means the air quality is fairly good, with an API reading between 51 and 100.

In the past 18 days this month, the daily API reading was 56 on average, much lower than last year's figure of 81 in the same period, he said. Beijing's air quality so far this month was the best ever recorded in the last 10 years.

"These figures prove that our measures to improve air quality for the Beijing Games, particularly those temporary measures to cut emissions, have been playing a positive role. We are earnestly fulfilling our commitment to ensuring good air quality during the Olympics," he said.

Source: Xinhua

Tearful Chinese synchro swimming twins fail to dance to podium

The 21-year-old twins share everything: snacks, laughs, gruesome training, and also tears.

Jiang Wenwen and Jiang Tingting, two of China's best synchronized swimmers, failed to take home a highly-anticipated medal in Wednesday's duet competition, won by the Athens champion Anastasia Davydova and Anastasia Ermakova of Russia.


Jiang Tingting and Jiang Wenwen of China compete in the final of the duet free routine of the synchronized swimming during the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games at the National Aquatic Center, or the Water Cube, in Beijing, China, Aug. 20, 2008. Jiang Tingting and Jiang Wenwen of China ranked fourth.
The twins scored 96.334 points, about three full points less than the winners.

"I didn't catch the rhythm, and that caused the problem in our synchronisation," said the younger Tingting, struggling to hold back her tears.

The older sister Wenwen, usually the more silent one, tried to give an assertive tone: "we have competed three times and our performance has improved every time. We are very thankful to our coaches."


Jiang Wenwen/Jiang Tingting of China perform during the duet technical routine of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games Synchronized Swimming events in Beijing, China, Aug. 18, 2008.
Before she could finish the sentence, tears began welling up in her delicate eyes. "We are aware that there is distance between us and the stronger duets. It is a good experience. We still have the team event and we will continue to work hard for that," she said, before hurrying out of the mixed zone.

Slender and tall, the sisters were sent to a local sport club at a young age to increase strength and remedy their lean figure. They started doing synchro swimming as a sport after a synchro coach persuaded them to give it a try.

Synchronized swimming is far from being a popular sport in China, but the sisters came under spotlight when they dethroned longtime Asian champion Japanese swimmers at the 2006 Doha Asian Games. Months later, they made a historical fourth in team and duet competitions in the 2007 Melbourne World Championships.

At an April Olympic qualifier event in Beijing, the twins held off a Japanese duo and won a duet silver.

Mentored by Masayo Imura, a famed Japanese coach, the twins were prepared to improve upon the 7th place from Athens to win a medal at their home Olympics.

They trained nine to 10 hours every day, and had to drop their favourite spicy foods for fearsome amount of cheese and dessert to improve strength.

In their Olympic debut on Monday, the twins marched in unison upon a blue carpet to boisterous cheers of the spectators. Wenwen said the cheers were so loud that they nearly drowned the music.

In Wednesday's final, their free routine was performed to a music piece called "Flying", in which they simulated peacocks and used thin legs to form a square, a unique element that won acclamations in the fully-packed stadium.

Their three-minute performance impressed the crowd, but was only rated 93 percent of their level by coach Imura. "They make an error in the end, and of course there were regrets. We had aimed to win a medal," she said.

"But they are still part of a bigger team and they still have to give it all in the team competition to get a medal," she said.

The team routine is the second medal event in the synchronized swimming discipline. The final is scheduled on Saturday.

Source: xinhua

Amputee swimmer finds herself in water

For the often critical journalists, they rarely give applause to anyone. But they did Wednesday to South African Natalie du Toit.

Du Toit, 24, is the first female amputee to compete in the Olympics.
Natalie Du Toit of South Africa talks to her coach after women's marathon 10km competition at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games swimming event in Beijing, China, Aug. 20, 2008. Natalie Du Toit ranked the 16th of the event. Du Toit, whose left leg was amputated in 2001 after she was injured in a road accident, is an athlete for both Beijing 2008 Olympic Games and Paralympic Olympics.
As the exhausted girl was receiving message after finishing 16th in a grueling 10-kilometer open water race, nearly 100 journalists waited patiently for her at the press room. Before du Toit emerged, questions on her were poured to her competitors.

"I think she deserved a separate gold medal just for the effort," winner of the race, Russia's Larisa Ilchenko, said. "It takes a lot of willpower to compete in this discipline. I want to compliment her for being so strong and so brave."

Starting swimming at the age of six, du Toit nearly qualified for the 2000 Games at the age of 16. But the following year as she trained for the 2004 Olympics, she was struck by a car while on her motorbike in Cape Town. Her left leg was amputated at the knee.


Natalie Du Toit of South Africa talks to her coach after women's marathon 10km competition at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games swimming event in Beijing, China, Aug. 20, 2008. Natalie Du Toit ranked the 16th of the event. Du Toit, whose left leg was amputated in 2001 after she was injured in a road accident, is an athlete for both Beijing 2008 Olympic Games and Paralympic Olympics.
Du Toit responded to the tragedy by jumping back in the pool a few months later. She had never been a distance swimmer before the accident, but a year ago she started training for the race. She qualified for the Beijing Games with a fourth-place finish at the open-water world championships in May in Spain.

When du Toit finally appeared in front of the media, she looked tired but happy. "For me it was a dream come true," said she.

The open-water event is slated to the 2008 Olympic Games for the first time. The event is often referred to as a "wrestling match in water" due to the aggressive techniques employed in competing in the sport.


Natalie Du Toit of South Africa has her tag removed after women's marathon 10km competition at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games swimming event in Beijing, China, Aug. 20, 2008. Natalie Du Toit ranked the 16th of the event. Du Toit, whose left leg was amputated in 2001 after she was injured in a road accident, is an athlete for both Beijing 2008 Olympic Games and Paralympic Olympics.
One significant difference between du Toit and the other swimmers is that she has to make sure that someone takes care of her prosthetic leg at the start and return it to her at the finish. Except for that, as an amputee competing with able-bodied people, du Toit received no more courtliness.

"There was lots of dunking. It's always going to be dangerous, the best thing is not to panic, and then keep coming back," she said. The South African stayed in the first pack during the three quarters of the race, but dropped behind at the last stage.

"A couple of things went wrong. I struggled with my cap. And from lap one already I went wrong in the first buoy and my cap got stuck in the first buoy...I kind of stuck in the pack all the time. That sort of beat myself a bit," she said.

When du Toit finished the race, she could hardly get out of the water. "That shows I did give all my best in the race," she said jokingly.

"I was disappointed a bit. Position 16 isn't great. I would have liked to have been in the top five. As a seasoned swimmer there should be no excuses. But I gave my best and I am happy with the result," she said calmly

But when it came to what swimming meant to her, the athlete got quite emotional.

"I feel completely free in the water and I feel that's who I am. I've given up a lot, given up studying. I do motivational speaking for a living, but you know I've given it up ," said du Toit, trying to fight back tears.

At home, du Toit is a national icon and her story has inspired thousands of her compatriots. At the opening ceremony of the Beijing Games, she carried South Africa's flag leading her country's athletes into the Bird Nest.

Having gone through so many ups and downs in life, du Toit said she hoped to show all the people, not only the disabled, that "you have to work hard.""There are the negative things. But there are a lot of positive things down the way as well. It's to use the negative things in a good light."

Du Toit, who will soon compete in multiple events in the Paralympics, said she will continue to compete with able-bodied people. "I don't even think about not having a leg and if I want to keep competing I will have to continue to qualify with the able-bodied. For me it's not about the disability at all."

The swimmer said she hope to be back for 2012 London Olympics. "Where I'll be hoping for a top five place," said she.

Source: Xinhua