Phelps puts one in the record books
Takes his first gold at Beijing
BEIJING – Michael Phelps isn’t just living up to his ridiculously high expectations. He’s exceeding them.
After setting an Olympic record on his first dive into the Beijing Olympics pool, Phelps lowered his own world record in the 400-meter individual medley by a whopping 1.41 seconds to easily win the first of his hoped-for eight gold medals. And this was supposed to be his toughest event.
The huge smile on his face after touching the wall and seeing his time was pure joy and, perhaps, a bit of relief. One down, seven to go.
Phelps’ victory moved the United States into a tie with China atop the gold-medal race. The score is only 2-2 a few hours into Day 2, but this is a race worth watching.
Add a silver medal for 41-year-old Dara Torres and a U.S. swimming relay team, plus bronzes for swimmers Ryan Lochte, Larsen Jensen and Katie Hoff, and the Americans were up to eight overall medals this morning, another Olympics best thus far. That’s pretty good considering the U.S. was shut out going into the last final of Day 1 – lagging behind Cuba, Uzbekistan and 16 other countries.
Then came some serious slicing and dicing at the fencing hall. Mariel Zagunis, Sada Jacobson and Becca Ward went 1-2-3 in saber, putting the U.S. on the medals chart, smack dab on top.
The first day in Beijing, however, will be remembered more for tragedy – the stabbings of Todd and Barbara Bachman and their Chinese tour guide, and the suicide of their Chinese attacker. Todd Bachman was killed, while Barbara Bachman was in stable but critical condition after eight hours of surgery Saturday.
The Bachmans are the parents of former U.S. Olympian Elisabeth Bachman McCutcheon and the in-laws of current men’s volleyball coach Hugh McCutcheon. They were at a tourist site when the man attacked them then jumped off a 130-foot-high balcony.
“When one member of our family suffers a loss, we all grieve with them,” U.S. Olympic Committee chairman Peter Ueberroth said.
Swimming: Since Phelps’ win was somewhat expected, perhaps the bigger news at the Water Cube was that Hoff finished third in the 400 IM, losing the race – and her world record – to Australia’s Stephanie Rice. Elizabeth Beisel, the 15-year-old American who finished first in qualifying, was fourth.
Torres, competing in her record fifth Olympics, was given the anchor leg on the 400-freestyle relay. She dove in second and finished second, fending off Australia but unable to make a move on the Netherlands.
Phelps’ biggest foe in the 400 IM was supposed to be Lochte. Indeed, Lochte was ahead more than halfway through the race.
But the big guy couldn’t be denied, his winning time more than 4 seconds faster than his victory in Athens. Laszlo Cseh of Hungary took the silver, and Lochte finished third.
When Phelps looked up, he saw President Bush and his family waving and cheering.
“That was a pretty cool feeling to have the president say congratulations and have him in the crowd,” Phelps said.
In the men’s 400-meter freestyle relay, reigning world champion Park Tae-hwan of South Korea won the gold, Zhang Lin of China took silver and Jensen was third; at least Jensen can take solace in setting a U.S. record, breaking the mark he set in qualifying the night before. Favored Aussie Grant Hackett of Australia wilted from first to sixth.
Beach volleyball: The American duo of Kerri Walsh and Misty May-Treanor began their bid for another gold medal with a decisive victory over a Japanese duo. No surprise, right? Well, the top U.S. men’s duo were a surprise, too, but they were also a huge disappointment Saturday.
Todd Rogers and Phil Dalhausser – defending world champions and winners of 21 straight international matches – lost to a Latvian team that was seeded 23rd in the 24-team field. Now they must win their next two pool-play matches to be assured of a spot in the medal round.
Volleyball: Playing hours after learning about the attack on the Bachmans, the U.S. women’s team beat Japan 3-1. Emotions came pouring out after, with Logan Tom bursting into tears.
“God, we all love Wiz,” Tom said, referring to former teammate Elizabeth Bachman McCutcheon by her nickname. “It’s hard to put it in words. That’s not something that’s supposed to happen.”
The men’s team was playing later today, without McCutcheon on the bench.
Shooting: The first gold medal of these games went to Katerina Emmons of the Czech Republic, the wife of U.S. shooter Matt Emmons. The couple met in Athens and now hope to celebrate gold medals together.
Katerina Emmons was on target from the start of the 10-meter air rifle, shooting a perfect 400 in qualifying, then finishing with an Olympic record of 503.5. Favorite Du Li of China was only one point behind after qualifying, but nerves got in her way while trying to win the first event for the host country.
“I wasn’t fully prepared for the pressure of competing at home,” Du said.
Lioubov Galkina of Russia won the silver and Snjezana Pejcic of Croatia took the bronze.
Gymnastics: The U.S. men finished atop their qualifying group with a score good enough to clinch a spot in the team finals. Even without injured stars Paul and Morgan Hamm, the Americans still have a shot at a medal – even if it’s a slim one.
“To make a major team personnel change, compete in the first subdivision and qualify for the team finals is a huge accomplishment, and we are looking forward to competing on Tuesday,” U.S. coach Kevin Mazeika said.
China, winner of three straight world championships and the overwhelming favorite, lived up to it by soaring to the top of the pack.
Cycling: Samuel Sanchez of Spain emerged from a sprint to the finish in the shadow of the Great Wall to win the men’s road race, a trek that covered 152 miles in hazy air.
Italy’s Davide Rebellin won silver on his 37th birthday, and Switzerland’s Fabian Cancellara took the bronze. Levi Leipheimer was the top U.S. finisher, placing 11th.
Sanchez won in 6 hours, 23 minutes, 49 seconds, conquering a route that went past Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City and other landmarks in Beijing, then outside the city for seven punishing laps of a hilly loop course between two points on the Great Wall.
Women’s basketball: Diana Taurasi scored 17 points and Sylvia Fowles added 16 points and 14 rebounds to send the U.S. women strolling past the Czech Republic 97-57 in front of President Bush and the U.S. men’s team. Next up for the Americans is host China.
WNBA star Lauren Jackson led medal favorite Australia with 18 points and 10 rebounds in an 83-64 victory over Belarus that featured Prime Minister Kevin Rudd in the stands. Australia lost the last two Olympic finals to the United States but came into the 2008 Beijing Games as world champions.
“We’re just chipping away at a number of things – we’ve got quite a few things to work on, but I thought we executed pretty well,” Australia coach Jan Stirling said.
In other matches, China beat Spain 67-64, South Korea needed overtime to beat Brazil 68-62 and New Zealand edged Mali 76-72.
Women’s soccer: So much for the U.S. women’s scoring drought. Midfielder Carli Lloyd scored on a first-half volley to lead them past Japan 1-0 in their first game since a 2-0 loss to Norway.
The Americans created a host of scoring opportunities, but were only able to capitalize in the 27th minute, when Lloyd volleyed a cross from defender Stephanie Cox just under the crossbar. Goals are at a premium for this club with scoring leader Abby Wambach out with an injury.
China tied Canada 1-1, putting the host country in position to advance to the quarterfinals. Two-time FIFA Player of the Year Marta scored to help Brazil beat North Korea 2-1; Sweden beat Argentina 1-0; Germany beat Nigeria 1-0 and Norway beat New Zealand 1-0.
In other sports:
•American sailor Zach Railey was second in an Olympic Finn race, first in a series of 11 that will determine the medals.
•American middleweight boxer Shawn Estrada beat Ezequiel Maderna of Argentina.
Elsewhere around the games:
•Greek sprinter Katerina Thanou was kicked out by the IOC for her role in a drug-testing scandal at the Athens Games four years ago. She was to run the 100 meters.
•President Bush went mountain biking on the Olympic course, got sandy at beach volleyball, got a chalk handprint left on his back after a photo with the softball team and watched the women’s basketball team win easily Saturday.