Olympic Headlines

The big disappointment of the day is the withdrawal of China's Liu Xiang from the 110 metres hurdles. The World and Olympic Champion slipped during a false start in the heats and never returned to the starting blocks. In the press conference afterwards, he's coach revealed that he's been suffering with an ankle injury for 6 years.
Oatar's Mohammed Issa Al-Thawadi made a false start and said after the race that a 110 meters hurdles race without Liu is a pity. It means Liu's much anticipated showdown with Cuban Dayron Robles is off. Robles bettered Liu's world record earlier this year.

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Jamaica's Usain Bolt, who claimed the 100 metres gold in world record fashion, cruised through to the second round of the men's 200 metres today. He's chasing the first Olympic sprint double since American Carl Lewis achieved the feat at the Los Angeles Games in 1984. Another Jamaican, 21 year old Shelly-Ann Fraser, won the women's 100 metres.
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Dutch cyclist Marianne Vos won her first Olympic medal with gold in the women's points race after a disappointing sixth in the Road Race. Vos lapped the field and won the first of 10 sprints to secure the gold medal in the 100-lap, 25-kilometre race.
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The Republic of Korea overcame Austria 3-1 to clinch the bronze medal in men's table tennis. Oh Sang-eun, in excellent form, defeated Austria's leading player, Werner Schlager, by 3-1 in the first match. The ROK athlete has been outstanding in Beijing, suffering only one defeat in Singles matches. That one loss came after fighting through five games against Ma Lin of China, ranked No. 2 in the world.
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In sailing, Australia's Elise Rechichi and Tessa Parkinson won the second 470 gold of the Olympics. If you don't know, 470 is a two person dinghy. They emulated the Aussie men, Nathan Wilmot and Malcolm Page who won gold earlier today.
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Yesterday 37 medals were won - the biggest day s! o far. The talk of the town has been Michael Phelps, who won a! record 8 gold medals thanks to an American Team victory in the 4 by 100 metres medley. He eclipsed Mark Spitz's 36 year record of 7 golds at one Olympics. He's 14 golds overall is also the most decorated Olympian ever. Don't forget he also set 7 world records this year and is still only 23 - so expect a lot more from the Man Machine.
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Kenenisa Bakele set an Olympic record of 27minutes 1.17 seconds to win the ten thousand metres. The great Haile Gebrselassie finished sixth in what was surely his last Olympics.
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Rafael Nadal's words after winning gold in the men's tennis is the quote of the day on the official Beijing site: "Not in my best dreams could I have imagined this." The Spaniard, who assumes the number one world ranking today, beat Chile's Fernando Gonzalez.
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The Williams sisters took the doubles' gold, while Elena Dementieva beat Dinara Safina in the singles final, as Russia claimed gold, silver and bronze.