Olympic Thunder

Day 13 of the Beijing Olympics, 22 Aug in China (21 in North America), brought about some more incredible performances from the world's top athletes. A lot of noise was made about the winners, but when it came to the showdown, there were some unexpected surprises!

Oh my gawd! So many favorite teams disqualified from the relays!

The American men and women dropped the baton! The French women also dropped the baton. The British men failed to pass the baton before leaving the crossover box! What an embarrassment for American track, who has long dominated the sprint events! The Jamaicans have become the new powerhouse of track, having claimed more golds in track than all other nations at the Beijing Olympics, and they're not done running yet!

The weather has been terrible in China. But the rains didn't stop some of these great athletes from shining.

How about that 20km walk for women? The brief lull in the rain only made the fit women even hotter (looking). But even with all that humidity and rain, it was a like a runway show! Except there was no running allowed. In fact, several ladies were kicked out for running. One of them was in third place during the race when the officials booted her jogging ass out!

It was quite entertaining when Ryta Turava of Belarus was second in the race, til she realized she had drank too much fluids. She tried several times to stick her finger down her throat. She was hoping to throw up all that fluid that slowed her down (with all that added weight). But when she stopped to try and throw up, two other race walkers passed her fluid overload ass to win silver and bronze! And like some of the athletes after crossing the finish line, Ryta Turava collapsed on the track. Russian Tatiana Sibileva offered a helping hand.

Get your fat, water retaining ass off the track!


Norway's Kjersti Tysse Platzer stretched her long legs to win the silver, leaving Italy's Elisa Rigaudo the bronze.





And it was Olga Kaniskina of Russia who sashays to gold!
Sashay! Chante! Chante! Chante! Chante!










Top this, Tyra Banks! I get gold for my strut!


Another event that caught my eye was the men's 10km marathon swim.

These aren't your pool swimmers in straight lanes. Nope. These are the tough fellas of open water swimming. Apparently, fights often break out when people start elbowing each other during the swim. But if the officials see you starting a fight, they'll give you a warning. Keep making trouble, and they'll disqualify you. And that's what happened to a Russian favorite. He started making fights, and he got ejected from the race.

But the funniest thing was that as the swimmers made their laps, they had to pass by this area where they were offered drinks and food!

Here fishy, fishy, fishy!


Britain's David Davies led most of the race; it's a lot of work to lead the race, but he preferred being ahead of the race than being in the middle of the group. In the center, the idiots like to bump each other and fight.



But the winner of the race was Netherlands' Maarten van der Weijden. Maarten van der Weijden is a leukemia survivor. He was diagnosed in 2001, but stem cell transplants helped him overcome the disease and return to swimming. He now spends his time talking about leukemia and supporting cancer research. When he won the race, he was congratulated by David Davies.





Maarten: Promise me now, Rose, and never let go of that promise.
David: I promise.
Maarten: Never let go.
David: I'll never let go. I'll never let go, Jack.
(Cue Celine Dion: Near, far, where ever you are, I believe that the heart does go on...)


I kid! I kid! Germany's Thomas Lurz of Germany claims bronze. David Davies wins silver.

Carry me to my silver medal, bitches! I just got done swimming over 6 miles in the freaking rain! Can Michael Phelps do that? I don't think so!



Heymans broke between two Chinese teens, penetrating into tight territory.


Emilie Heymans wins silver in 10m platform diving, repeating fellow Canadian diver Alex Despatie's feat of coming between two Chinese divers on the podium. Chen Ruolin wins gold and Wang Xin settles for bronze.

Update 22 Aug 2008, 00:01 a.m. : Day 14, 23 Aug in China

How about that exciting men's beach volleyball match between Americans Phil Dalhausser and Todd Rogers vs Brazilians Marcio Araujo and Fabio Luiz for the gold medal! It was an epic battle! There were missed serves and missed blocks that kept the match tight. The first set alone went up to 23-21 for the Americans. But the Brazilians fought back and won the second set 17-21, threatening the Americans dominance. Things looked bad for the Americans, Dalhausser was missing blocks and Rogers kept hitting the ball out of bounds. But the Americans regrouped in the third set and showed the world why they were number 1. With block after block by Daulhausser and strikes from Rogers, the Americans beat the Brazilians 15-4 in the third set and win the gold. For the first time in Olympics history, a single country wins both the mens and womens beach volleyball gold!

Breaking News: It appears the International Olympic Committee has asked the International Gymnastics Federation to investigate the allegations that the Chinese women's gymnastic team may have broken the rules by having underage members on their team. New evidence has surfaced that 3 of the members of the Chinese team are under 15 years of age. The rules made by the Federation (Gymnastics, not Star Trek) specifically state that the gymnasts must turn 16 by end of the Olympic year. He Kexin, the Chinese gymnast who tied Nastia Liukin but was given the gold on the uneven bars, is one of these alleged underage gymnasts! Her passport said she was born in January of 1992, but her birth certificate has surfaced stating she was born in 1994, making her only 14! Even better, the state run news Xinhua News Agency listed He Kexin as 13 years old in a November 2007 report! And the news agency refuses to issue a correction, saying that the information was correct when it was printed! Now, I'm sure even if they use the Chinese Calendar, it still doesn't add up to a 2 year jump from 13 in 2007 to 15 in 2008! Oh, the drama from the Olympics continues, and it appears the gymnastics competition still goes on! If the Chinese are proved to have falsified the ages of their team, they not only lose their team gold, but their other medals, too! The Americans would then be elevated to team gold and Nastia Liukin gets the gold she was denied in the uneven bars! The storms of controversy are still thundering in Beijing!