My cousins were here for the week to celebrate my grandfather’s 100th birthday, so I didn’t have any time to update the results for the past 2 days.  So as it stands, we are now at Day Eleven, where China has comfortably pulled away with 39 golds compared to its closest rival the USA with 22 golds.  Great Britain surged ahead to 3rd place with 12 golds mostly coming from the cycling events while Australia has 11, and Germany is 5th with 9.

The news of the day, and I promise it will be the last time I mention his name, 23-year old Michael Phelps of the USA received his record-breaking 8th gold medal of Beijing 2008, surpassing any other athlete before him and became the most decorated man in Olympic history.  He beat out Michael Spitz’ 36-year old record of winning 7 golds in the Olympic Games.  His overall gold medal count is 14 golds, 5 more than any of his closest rivals. And just to set it straight as to how great an achievement this was, not only did he destroy any records in terms gold medal count for an individual, he also set SEVEN new world records out of the EIGHT that he has won in these 2008 Games.  Simply unbelievable.

The Tennis and Badminton events for all levels have already finished and the reviews on the medal matches can be found below.  Basketball is at Day 6 and today was the final day of eliminations.  The top 4 countries in each group will advance to the Quarterfinals while the bottom 2 teams from both groups will say goodbye to the Olympics this year.

Men’s basketball action on Day Six saw FOUR countries being eliminated, as the Quarterfinals will start in two days.  Group A saw Russia (1-4) and Iran (0-5) bow out of the tournament while Group B had Germany (1-4) and Angola (0-5) bid farewell.  China got to the Quarters by the skin of their teeth as they were the last entry into the QF bracket with a 2-3 win-loss card and they will face a much stronger and more experienced Lithuanian squad.  As it stands now, the matchups for the Quarterfinals will be: 1. Spain vs Croatia ; 2. Lithuania vs China ; 3. Argentina vs Greece ; 4. USA vs Australia.

The results for the day saw Croatia bury Iran by 34 points in Group A.  In the big match within the group, Australia surprisingly blew out Lithuania by 31 points and needed that to boost up their morale as they will face the USA in the Quarterfinals.  Bogut led the Aussie charge missing only 2 shots and burying all 3 of his three’s. And rounding off the group, Argentina’s Luis Scola scored a career high 37 points and Andres Nocioni scored 19, as they beat the listless Russian squad by 12 points eliminating them from the competition.  They will face Greece in a much anticipated matchup in the next round.

In Group B, Greece beat China by 14 points, as they will be going up against the Argentinians in the Quarters.  Other results saw Spain utterly destroying Angola by 48 points and will be ready to face Croatia while the USA also blew out Germany by 49 points and will face Australia in the last match.

MEN’S BASKETBALL DAY SIX RESULTS:

Group A
CROATIA 91 (3-2) - IRAN 57 (0-5)
AUSTRALIA 106 (3-2) - LITHUANIA 75 (2-2)
ARGENTINA 91 (4-1) - RUSSIA 79 (1-4)

Group B
GREECE 91 (3-2) - CHINA 77 (2-3)
SPAIN 98 (4-1) - ANGOLA 50 (0-5)
USA 106 (2-2) - GERMANY 57 (0-5)

At the end of the elimination round today for the men’s basketball event, these are the overall statistical leaders for each category.  In the Points category, Manu Ginobili of Argentina leads the pack with 19.6 ppg, followed closely by Paul Gasol of Spain with 19.4 ppg and Luis Scola, also of Argentina, with a 19.2 ppg average.  In Rebounding, Iran’s Hamed Ehadadi is the only player averaging in double figures with 11.2 rpg, with Dirk Nowitzki of Germany and Yao Ming of China tied with a far 8.4 rpg average.  In Assists, Sarunas Jasikevicius of Lithuania leads the pack with a 5.4 apg average followed by Ginobili with 5.0 apg.  In Blocks, Iran’s Ehadadi is again on top with 2.6 bpg, followed by Russia’s Andrey Kirilenko with 2.2 bpg.  And lastly, in Steals, Kirilenko is tops with Ricky Rubio of Spain with 2.6 spg, and then three Americans, Lebron James, Chris Paul, and Dwyane Wade, are tied at 2.4 spg to close off the top snatchers in the elimination round.

In Tennis, the medal rounds finished today for all categories and saw the hottest player in Tennis this year, win yet another championship, and maybe none more elusive and important than the Olympic Gold. 2nd seeded Rafael Nadal of Spain continued his torrid pace this year by defeating 12th seeded Fernando Gonzalez of Chile 6-3, 7-6 (2), 6-3 in the Finals to claim his first ever gold in the Olympics. 3rd seeded Novak Djokovic of Serbia held on yesterday to take the bronze against 8th seeded James Blake of the USA 6-3, 7-6 (4) to round off the men’s medal matches.  On the women’s side, the Russians dominated the event by winning gold, silver, and bronze to cap this year’s Olympic success.  9th seeded Vera Zvonareva of Russia won the bronze against a pesky Li Na from China 6-0, 7-5, while two Russians went at it in the gold medal match.  Smarting from her come from behind heartbreak of a defeat in Wimbledon a few months ago, 5th seeded Elena Dementieva of Russia again saw her hopes fade as 6th seeded Dinara Safina, also of Russia, seemed to want history to repeat itself when she came back yet again amidst leads from Dementieva that could have closed the match.  The three-setter, however, ended in a 3-6, 7-5, 6-3 victory for Elena Dementieva as she doused any come from behind miracle victories yet again by the determined Safina.

On the doubles matches, the top seeded Bryan Brothers of the USA settled for the bronze as they defeated Arnaud Clement/Michael Llodra of France 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 while the gold medal match saw a very determined Roger Federer make sure that he brought home a gold even if it was not in the men’s singles category.  So the 4th seeded Swiss pair did not disappoint and went on to win the gold in a very exciting four-setter that brought so many ooh’s and aahh’s in an amazing display of doubles. The final score, Roger Federer/Stanislas Wawrinka defeated Simon Aspelin/Thomas Johansson of Sweden 6-3, 6-4, 6 (4)-7, 6-3 to take home the gold.  And on the women’s side, the 8th seeded pair of Yan Zi/Zheng Jie of China proved too much for the 6th seeded Bondarenko sisters of Ukraine as they won in 2 easy sets 6-2, 6-2.  And in the gold medal match, the unstoppable Williams sisters who are seeded 2nd, totally destroyed their 4th seeded opponents from Spain in an anti-climactic gold medal match.  The relentless pair of Venus Williams/Serena Williams routed Anabel Medina Garrigues/Virginia Ruano Pascual 6-2, 6-0 to claim gold for the USA in an hour and 6 minutes of practice time.  That rounded up the entire Tennis event for this year’s Olympics.

Moving on to the Badminton medal rounds, China was dominant.  In all events, it stood on top with a total of 8 overall medals, 3 golds, 2 silvers, and 3 bronze.  Indonesia and South Korea had the exact same medal count with 3 overall, with a gold, silver, and bronze, each.

Two days ago, the women’s doubles medal matches ended with China winning both bronze and gold.  The 3rd seeded Wei Yili/Zhang Yawen beat the Japanese pair of Maeda Miyuki/Suetsuna Satoko in two sets 21-17, 21-10 to claim the bronze medal. The 2nd seeded Chinese pair of Du Jing/Yu Yang handily beat the 4th seeded Korean pair of Lee Hyojung/Lee Kyungwon 21-15, 21-13 for the gold and further stamped their skill level over any other women’s pair in the world.  In medal games yesterday, the men’s bronze medal match saw Lee Jaejin/Hwang jiman of Korea beat Lars Paaske/Jonas Rasmussen of Denmark 13-21, 21-18, 21-17, in an exciting three-setter that showcased two unseeded pairs go at each other.  The gold, however, went to the top seeded Indonesian pair of Markis Kido/Hendra Setiawan who needed three sets to beat my favorite men’s doubles pair Cai Yun/Fu Haifeng of China 12-21, 21-11, 21-16.  And in mixed doubles, the bronze went to the 4th seeded Chinese pair of He Hanbin/Yu Yang who upset 3rd seeded Flandy Limpele/Vita Marissa of Indonesia 19-21, 21-17, 23-21 in one of the most exciting doubles medal matches ever.  The gold went to the surprising unseeded pair of Lee Hyojung/Lee Yongdae of Korea who totally outplayed the top seeded pair of Liliyana/Nova Widianto from Indonesia 21-11, 21-17!

And in the singles matches, it was a clean sweep for China for gold on both men’s and women’s matches and almost swept through even the bronze medal games.  The only other medal won by a pair outside the Chinese was in the women’s singles bronze medal game.  Unseeded Maria Kristin Yulianti of Indonesia upset 3rd seeded Lu Lan of China in three sets 11-21, 21-13, 21-15.  The gold for the women’s singles had two Chinese women also needing three sets to decide the winner.  2nd seeded Zhang Ning, the 33-year old, proved that experience still wins over age as of the moment, as she managed to beat out top seeded 27-year old Xie Xingfang 21-12, 10-21, 21-18 for the coveted gold. And to close out the badminton event, the men’s singles event saw my darkhorse Lee Hyun-il of Korea lose to 4th seeded Chen Jin of China who took the bronze to the tune of 21-16, 12-21, 21-14.  And in another anti-climactic finale, top seeded Lin Dan proved to the world why he is the undisputed King of Badminton as he breezed past the gold medal match against 2nd seeded Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia 21-12, 21-8.  That concluded the entire badminton event for the 2008 Olympics.

Highlights: DAY 11: Monday 08 19 08 (697MB)
Basketball Day Ten: Day 5 Results Summary
Basketball Day Ten: Overall Stat Leaders
Tennis Day Ten: MEDAL MATCHES
Tennis Event: Complete Schedule and Match Stats
Badminton Event: Olympic Seedings List
Badminton Day Ten: MEDAL MATCHES
Badminton Event: Complete Schedule and Match Stats