(BEIJING, August 21) --
"I am number one" screamed new 200 meter world record holder Usain Bolt into a TV camera lens after leaving the field for dead to complete an Olympic gold sprint double -- both in world record times.
You better believe it. Cool, calm and charismatic in his pre-race preparations, for once here is an athlete who can live up to the hype once the gun has been fired. One day short of his 22nd birthday, Bolt blasted out of his blocks and crossed the finish line 19.30 seconds late to slice two-hundredths of a second off the previous mark of 19.32. By comparison, the rest of the world class field left trailing in Bolt's wake looked like a bunch ungainly dads competing on school sports day.
For Bolt, it seems, is the real deal. The Jamaican hasn't so much re-written the record books in the past five days -- rather he has given athletics the boost it needs.
For the remainder of the summer, children across the world will attempt to emulate this new ebullient sprint king. With five days to go, it is safe to say that Beijing 2008 belongs to Usain Bolt. In terms of numerical superiority, swimmer Michael Phelps' awesome first week makes him an all-time Olympic great. And Bolt has some catching up to do to match the marvelous record of American sprinter Carl Lewis -- the last man to complete the Olympic 100m and 200m sprint double. Let's not forget that for good measure Lewis also won the Long Jump and the 4 x100 Relay in Los Angeles, and nine Olympic gold medals in total.
Yet like the greatest of sportsmen such as Muhammad Ali, Pele or Magic Johnson, Bolt adds something else -- theater. It isn't just what he does, it is the way that he does it. There is joyous confidence that somehow falls this side of arrogance -- enough to suggest he is capable of gouging lumps out of his own world records. It will be fun to watch. And athletics stadiums around the world are guaranteed to be packed to the rafters to see him try.
Frankly, it is up to other athletes to respond -- a hard ask for the night's other track and field athletes. For the record, Shawn Crawford and Walter Dix both of the United States took the silver and bronze medals. Churandy Martina and Wallace Spearmon were both disqualified.
So pity the poor, the Women's 400 meters hurdlers who were up next. Another Jamaican won gold - Melaine Walker in a new Olympic record time of 52.64 seconds. Sheena Tosta of the United States ran 53.70 to claim the silver, while Tasha Danvers of Great Britain took the bronze in 53.84.
Earlier, Aksana Miankova of Belarus won the Women's Hammer Throw gold medal in a new Olympic record of 76.34 meters to frustrate Athens 2004 silver medalist Yipsi Moreno of Cuba who, again, came second with 75.20m, while China's Wenxiu Zhang threw a season best of 74.32m to claim bronze.
In evening's other heats, unsurprisingly Dayron Robles of Cuba ran the fastest time in the Men's 110m Hurdles semifinals, while defending champion Veronica Campbell-Brown of Jamaica led home the first Women's 200m semifinal in 22.19 seconds to qualify for the final. Kenya's Wilfred Bungei qualified fastest for the Men's 800m semifinal by running a season best time of 1:44.90 minutes, while in the Men's 5000m preliminary round Matthew Tegenkamp of the United States ran the fastest time ahead of Kenya's Eliud Kipchoge and Ethiopian brothers, Tariku and Kenenisa Bekele, the latter going for the 5000m / 10,000m double, having won the longer race on August 17.
Off track and over the water – well 10 kilometers' worth to be precise -- the Women's Swimming Marathon made its Olympic bow with a predictable outcome, although hardly an easy race for overwhelming favorite Larisa Ilchenko of Russia, who touched home first in a time of 1:59:27.7. It was a close race throughout, and although Ilchenko broke away from the pack late on, she was pushed all the way by Great Britain's Keri-Anne Payne, whose GB compatriot, Cassandra Patten, finished third.
Much of the pre-race speculation centered around amazing leg amputee Natalie du Toit of South Africa, who finished a creditable 16th in a time of 2:00:49.9, a little over one minute behind winner, Ilchenko.
Also on water, there were sensational scenes at Qingdao, when Athens silver medalist Yin Jian won China's first ever Olympic Sailing gold medal by clinching the Women's RS:X (Windsurfer) title, ahead of Italy's Alessandra Sensini. The 2008 world champion, Tom Ashley of New Zealand, triumphed in the Men's race. Gliding around in water rather more gracefully, Russian duo Anastasia Davydova and Anastasia Ermakova won the first Synchronized Swimming gold medal of Beijing 2008 in the Duet Free final. It was the four-time world champions' third Olympic gold, having won both the Duet and Team gold medals in Athens.
On sand, second-seed Phil Dalhausser and Todd Rogers of the United States easily defeated surprise semifinalists Jorge Terceiro and Renato Gomes of Georgia to advance to the final of the Men's Beach Volleyball. They will meet Brazil's Fabio Magalhaes and Marcio Araujo, the fourth-seeded pair who edged out fellow Brazilians and defending champions, Ricardo Santos and Emanuel Rego.
Back on terra firma, though barely on stable land, there was almost a shock on the first ever day of the Olympic BMX Cycling competition as three-time world champion Kyle Bennett dislocated his left shoulder in a crash during heat three of the quarterfinals at the Laoshan BMX Field. The 28-year-old had enough points, however, and is through to tomorrow's (August 21) final.
From teeth gritting to gripping and grappling, Buvaysa Saytiev claimed Russia's fifth Wrestling gold medal of the Games by beating Soslan Tigiev of Uzbekistan to take the Men's Freestyle 74 kilogram crown. By contrast, European champion Ramazan Shahin won Turkey's first gold medal of the Games by defeating Andriy Stadnik of Ukraine in the 66kg weight category.
China and Mexico were triumphant on the opening day of Taekwondo competition. World champion Wu Jingyu of China won the Women's -49kilogram crown by beating Buttree Puedpong of Thailand in the final, while Mexico's Guillermo Perez claimed the Men's -58kg gold by defeating Yulis Gabriel Mercedes of the Dominican Republic.
The highlights of other teams sports nearing a conclusion saw the Women's Hockey finalists decided with semifinal wins for the Netherlands, which crushed 2008 Champions Trophy winners Argentina 5-2, and China, which stunned reigning European and Olympic champions Germany to reach its first Olympic Women's Hockey final.
Today's last-ever Olympic Women's Softball final will be contested between the United States and Japan, with Australia already having secured the bronze medal via the Page system, where the top two seeds (the United States and Japan) play each other in the semifinal, essentially guaranteeing the loser a best-chance finish of bronze.
Team USA advanced to the semifinals of the Men's Basketball tournament by knocking out Australia 116-85, and will meet Argentina which edged out Greece, 80-78, in the most close-fought game of the quarterfinals. Spain defeated Croatia 72-59, and will face Lithuania which comprehensively crushed China 94-68 in the other semifinal.
The Spanish are also through to the Men's Handball semifinals after beating the Republic of Korea 29-24 and now meet Iceland, 32-30 victors over Poland, while Croatia proved too strong for Denmark, winning 26-24, and will now meet France, 27-24 winners of their tie against Russia.
In Men's Water Polo quarterfinals there were wins for Italy, Greece, Montenegro and Serbia.
That was Day 12 of Bejing 2008 -- an evening lit up by a Bolt of lightening pace.
