Results tagged “2008olympics”

             

The Beijing Olympics ended after a memorable 16 days of competition and world record-breaking. The opening was massive and lavish, focused on China's history, and the finale was another extravagant display of modern, fanciful performances and fireworks.

     

It's been a day of highs and lows for American women at the Beijing Olympics. Kerri Walsh and Misty May-Treanor defended their gold medal in women's beach volleyball. Though it was raining, the players didn't seem to mind, with Walsh saying, "The rain made it better. I don't know why, but it made it better. The ball is really wet and slimy, and you have to take care of the ball. But it's not my first rodeo in the rain." The Daily News' Filip Bondy noted after the winning spike, "The two Americans dropped to their knees, hugged, rolled around in the sand and came off looking like glazed doughnuts in two-piece bathing suits." Some other stats at NBC Olympics.

After setting yet another world record last night in the 200m freestyle, swimmer Michael Phelps racked up his third gold medal at these Beijing Olympics. And he has two finals, the 200m butterfly and 4x200m freestyle relay, which will air tonight in the United States--the 200m fly at 10:18 p.m., the 4x200m relay at 11:16 p.m.

     

At the National Aquatics Center in Beijing, the U.S. men's swimming team for the 4x100m freestyle relay provided a stirring, come-from-behind win over France in the final moments of the race. While Michael Phelps, who won the 400m individual medley already, is still on track to win eight gold medals at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the real story was the relay's anchor leg swimmer, Jason Lezak.

            

The 2008 Olympics in Beijing were officially kicked off, and the NY Times reported that the festivities were an "opening ceremony of soaring fireworks, lavish spectacle and a celebration of Chinese culture and international good will." The ceremonies were produced by director Zhang Yimou, and NBC will be broadcasting the ceremony beginning at 7:30 p.m. EST tonight, but in case you want to get a sense of the highlights to look for, USA Today has a liveblog.