tourmaline: (olympics watercolour)
The 2008 Olympics is about to begin its final day in Beijing :( So seeing as I've concentrated on Team GB in all my previous posts, a few words now about some other athletes:

Usain Bolt centrepiece of Jamaica's awesomeness on the athletics track. Have you taken a good look at his legs? No wonder he's been winning golds with world records, his legs are quite preposterous. They're about as long as many people are tall, and his thighs are the most enormous thighs ever seen on a human.

Michael Phelps I'm glad that everyone seems to agree that he's a nice, sweet guy as well as being an awesome swimmer, and eight golds is probably beyond even LJ-ish superlatives. I wonder whose idea it was for the BBC to have that cardboard cut-out of him in the studio for the highlights shows? So cheesy you could put it on toast and grill it.

Leisel Jones I remember her as a 15-year-old at Sydney, and she just wins more & more. I like her name, I like that (a) she appears to be named after a character from The Sound Of Music; and (b) her name is close to Deisel :D

Jang Mi-Ran who won gold in weightlifting, when it was clear she had done enough for gold she stayed on to set new world records, it was such a fab thing to watch - there was a big South Korean contingent in the crowd but everyone was there cheering her on. Awesome.

Andreas Thorkilsden I saw him set an Olympic record this afternoon in the javelin. Fab throw, and he was so cool.

I'm sure there are others. But it's been a long two weeks, and Team GB have done miles better than expected. Attention is now turning to the handover at the closing ceremony, and then to London 2012.
tourmaline: (olympics watercolour)
Team GB are still in third place, but Russia have only one gold medal less than us, despite our three medals from today:

Gold - Sailing - Iain Percy & Andrew Simpson, Star class

Silver - Swimming - David Davies, 10km open water

Silver - Athletics - Phillips Idowu, triple jump

The BMX track was a casualty to a downpour, so no races there today. Get used to it - it rains a lot in London too (although it rains even more in Manchester, and at the 2002 Commonwealth Games it didn't rain at all for the first week).

A more relaxed day

Wednesday, August 20th, 2008 06:04 pm
tourmaline: (olympics watercolour)
A more relaxed day of medalling for Team GB, ie no golds today, but a silver and three bronzes:

Silver - Swimming - Keri-Anne Payne, women's 10km open water

Bronze - Swimming - Cassie Patten, women's 10km open water

Bronze - Sailing - Bryony Shaw, women's windsurfing RS:X

Bronze - Athletics - Natasha Danvers, women's 400m hurdles


Meanwhile, Russia have overtaken Australia on the overall medals table and are catching Great Britain up - they're three golds behind now. It's gonna be close.

It doesn't stop

Tuesday, August 19th, 2008 06:46 pm
tourmaline: (olympics watercolour)
Four more gold medals for Team GB today! Plus a couple of silvers too:

Gold - Sailing - Paul Goodison, Laser class

Gold - Cycling - women's sprint - Victoria Pendleton

Gold - Cycling - men's sprint - Chris Hoy

Gold - Athletics - women's 400m - Christine Ohuruogu

Silver - Cycling - men's sprint - Jason Kenny

Silver - Athletics - men's high jump - Germaine Mason


It's been announced that the velodrome at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow will be named after Chris Hoy following his three gold medals - and he's the first Brit for 100 years to win three golds in a single Games. Similarly, an about-to-be-refurbished swimming centre in Mansfield will be renamed in Rebecca Adlington's honour when it reopens (it's the pool where she began swimming as a child).

And we've still got a lead over Australia in the overall medals table:

Photobucket


Let's see how long that will last! I can't believe there's only five days left, it's all gone so quickly.