It one of the most improbable, amazing, and utterly incomprehensible comebacks in not just the history of swimming, but the history of swimming, US swimmer Jason Lezak kept Michael Phelps’ dream of eight gold medals in one Olympics alive Monday morning. It was the final of the 4 x 100 meter and Phelps was going for his second gold medal of the Olympics. Many forecasted that this would be the race that would stand between Phelps and history. The US team consisted of four world-class swimmers in Phelps, Lezak, Garret Weber-Gale, and Cullen Jones. Phelps led off for the US team, but when he finished his 100 meters, the United States sat in second behind a strong showing by Australia. As Weber-Gale finished off his 100 meters, the US had taken the lead by a slim margin, with the French coming on fast. Then came Jones, who lost significant time in his swim and left the US with almost no chance at gold.
Lezak entered the pool six-tenths of a second behind French swimmer Alain Bernard, who had stated earlier that the French were going to “smash” the Americans. The fast swimmer in the world at the 100m freestyle and with a big lead, Bernard was all but certainly going to make that promise come true. Bernard even began gaining ground on Lezak until he was a full body-length ahead of him, an insurmountable distance in swimming. Then, like a switch was turned on, Lezak started to fly. Bernard tightened up and the arena grew louder with people muttering “could he actually do this”. Ten meters to go and Bernard still held a significant lead on Lezak, but Lezak was not about to give up. He continued gaining ground and reached his hand out to the wall as far as possible, touching it just eight-hundredths of a second before the Frenchman, giving the US the victory. Lezak and his teammates erupted, screaming at the top of their lungs and pumping their fists into the air. Phelps was ecstatic, realizing that he had just won gold in his toughest event and the path was now clear for him to make history. Read more…
With an unprecidented, magnificent opening ceremonies, China has officially opened its doors and let the world enter into Beijing for the Summer Olympics. The show that the China put on will forever live as the greatest opening ceremonies in the history of the Olympics. I just don’t see how any city, any country, anyone could possibly top last night’s performance. It was truly magical. And I would expect nothing less from the Chinese, who are determined to prove that they are not a corrupted, evil empire, but a just, skillful country. Though everyone who saw the lighting of the Olympic Torch was no doubt left in awe, it won’t be as easy to convince the world that China is just. My question is: Are the Olympics the place to share political opinions and uproot years of planning with protesting?
The Olympics are designed to bring the world together for two-plus weeks of incredible events to showcase the greatest athletes in the world and the incredible sportsmanship and respect that exists between those athletes. It is for the four athletes from Malawi to show that their country has pride and passion. It is for Michael Phelps to win nine gold medals and the United States Basketball team to reclaim gold. But most of all, it is for the Chinese to take the world by storm. China has spent four years and millions of dollars developing a strategy and training athletes so that when all is said and done at this year’s Summer Olympics, they will be left holding the most medals. Read more…
I know that 95% of America have no idea what I am talking about when I say “SuperLiga”, but bear with me for a moment. SuperLiga is the annual tournament between Mexican and American teams. Each country is represented by four teams who are then split into two groups. It is a standard Fifa format. The four teams in each group play each other once and the two teams with the highest point total (3 points-win, 1 point-draw, 0 points-loss) move on to the semifinals. The Semifinals feature the winner of one group versus the runner-up from the other group in a one-game match, winner moves on. The winners of the semifinals play in the Finals in a one-game match to crown a champion.
On Tuesday night, the New England Revolution defeated the Houston Dynamo on penalty kicks to capture their first SuperLiga title. Before I get to that game, let’s look at the semifinals. In the first semi, the Dynamo faced off against Pachuca CF from Mexico. The final score, Houston 2 Pachuca 0, does not represent what this game was like. With Houston leading 1-0, Pachuca had a goal taken back on an off-side call. Unfortunately, the linesman blew this call as there was no off-side. Arguments ensued, but the call did not change. A couple of minutes alter, Corey Ashe scored for the Dynamo to put them up 2-0 and ice the game. The game did not end on friendly terms though as Pachuca players stormed after the referees after the final whistle, determined to get payback for what was truly a terrible call. For a game to be lost based on poor officiating is not what SuperLiga wants. However, the awful call allowed for fans to see the passion of Pachuca players. Their anger after the game ended shows how much they wanted to win the tournament. For those people that think that there is no pride or passion in SuperLiga, think again. Read more…
