Posts from Summer Olympic Games, Beijing 2008.

August 22



RESULTS OF THE DAY

On the fourteenth day of the 2008 Games, the Russian national team won five awards – gold, two silvers, and two bronzes. All medals, except for one, were won by track and field athletes.

Gold, very unexpected and not accounted for in any medal plans, was brought to the country by the women's team in the 4x100 meters relay. An error by the Jamaican team, considered the favorites of the race, and the withdrawal of Great Britain helped Evgenia Polyakova, Alexandra Fedoriva, Yuliya Gushchina, and Yuliya Chermoshanskaya become Olympic champions. The British team filed a protest, but it was not even considered. In the similar men's discipline with a world record, the Jamaican sprinters were the best, and team leader Usain Bolt became a three-time champion of Beijing-2008.

The competition day in the Chinese capital began as early as 7:30 local time, when race walking masters set off for the 50 kilometer distance. World record holder Denis Nizhegorodov from Russia traded the silver of Athens for the bronze of Beijing. Meanwhile, Italy's Alex Schwazer celebrated victory in brilliant style.

During the day, another titled athlete Tatyana Lebedeva won the silver medal in the long jump, thus achieving a "silver double" – previously, she placed second in the triple jump. The gold in this event went to Brazil's Maurren Maggi.

Another Russian silver in the final track and field event of Friday was won by Evgeny Lukyanenko in the pole vault. He fought for the top medal until the end against Australian Steve Hooker, but deservedly lost to his opponent, who broke the Olympic record while already in the rank of champion.

Aleksandr Pogorelov stopped just one step short of a medal in the decathlon tournament. Until the final event - the 1500 meters run – he was level with Cuba's Leonel Suárez, but ultimately lost the bronze to him and finished in fourth place. The winner was American Bryan Clay. Russian women also remained without medals in the 500 meters run, where Tirunesh Dibaba from Ethiopia won her second Olympic title in Beijing. Liliya Sobukhova finished sixth, and steeplechase triumphator Gulnara Samitova-Galkina finished twelfth.

The only non-track and field medal for the Russians came in boxing. However, it was not a joyful result, but quite the opposite – Georgiy Balakshin lost in the semi-finals of the under 51 kg weight category and received bronze. Two other Russians, team captain Aleksey Tishchenko (under 60 kg) and Rakhim Chakhkiyev (under 91 kg) won their semi-final bouts and secured at least silver for themselves and the country in tomorrow's finals.

In the modern pentathlon, Russian women were unable to repeat yesterday's success of Andrey Moiseev – the best among them, Tatyana Muratova, finished only sixth. Victory was celebrated by German athlete Lena Schoneborn.

Of the six finals in canoeing and kayaking, the Russians were represented in two, but received no medals. Both Sergey Ulegin and Aleksandr Kostoglod in the C-2 1000 meters race, and the Russian K-4 crew over the same distance finished eighth. The champions were: Britain's Tim Brabants in the K-1 1000 meters, Hungary's Attila Vajda in the same discipline for canoeists, a German duo in the K-2 competitions over the same distance, and the Belarusian pair Andrey and Aleksandr Bogdanovich in the C-2, as well as the German and Belarusian teams in the women's K-4 500 meters and men's K-4 1000 meters respectively.

Russian athletes did not participate in the competition for seven other sets of medals. In men's beach volleyball, a duo from the USA prevailed. In the BMX cycling competitions, included in the Olympic program for the first time, victories went to Maris Strombergs from Latvia and Anne-Caroline Chausson from France. In the taekwondo tournament, victories went to South Korea's Hwang Kyung-seon (under 67 kg) and Iran's Hadi Saei (under 80kg). In table tennis, the women's singles competition was won by China's Zhang Yining. And in the women's field hockey tournament, the Dutch national team celebrated victory.

Based on the results of the qualifying competitions, Russian athletes maintain good chances for medals in synchronized swimming, rhythmic gymnastics, and diving.

Today the Russians lost their last hope for gold in men's team sports. The volleyball team under the leadership of Vladimir Alekno lost the semi-final to the US team with a score of 2:3 and will play the Italians for third place. Russian handball players won the consolation semi-final against the Danes (28:27) and will fight for fifth place against Poland. It is also worth noting that a brace from former CSKA Moscow player Jo helped the Brazilian national football team win bronze medals at the Beijing Games. (sportbox.ru)

GENERAL STANDINGS

Hmm, 69 medals isn't much; Russia took third place. The USA has 106 medals, and China has 96.

As reported by the "China Daily" publication, citing Chen Zhiyu, head of the Anti-Doping Department of the Games Organizing Committee, China will store the doping samples of Olympians for eight years for retesting.
The tests will be stored in a frozen state until new methods for detecting doping in athletes' bodies appear. In fact, the PRC has increased the storage period for doping samples by tens of times.
According to current IOC requirements, positive doping tests are stored in laboratories for 90 days, and negative tests – only for a month.

The Chinese are doing a great job. Let's see how many medals the Americans, in general, and Phelps, in particular, won fairly. Because, as soon as they uncover an old sample from Jones, Armstrong, etc., it turns out to be blatant doping.
That's why they say that America is ahead of everyone in pharmacology by one Olympic cycle.

I watched artistic gymnastics today, and I still feel terrible. I wish I hadn't understood anything about artistic gymnastics and had just stared at the girls. We always get upset when our athletes are judged unfairly: gymnasts (everyone remembers Nemov in Athens?), jumpers, trampoline athletes, etc. But what about us? Viner has taken control of the judges and has been creating chaos for the third Olympics in a row. And the Chinese audience, who understands aesthetic sports very well, whistles and is indignant, giving Bessonova absolutely deserved applause. Who needs such gold? It's a shame...

August 23



DAY SUMMARY

On the penultimate day of the 2008 Games, Team Russia won 12 medals – 4 gold, 3 silver, and 5 bronze. This was the team's best result in the current Olympics and allowed them to overtake Great Britain, securing third place in the overall medal standings.

The first, and for today, the first for herself, and for the entire team, gold medal in canoeing and kayaking was won by the renowned Maxim Opalev. This was the third Olympics for the athlete from Volgograd, and it finally brought him gold. The multiple world and European champion won the final race in the men's singles canoe 500 meters. Shortly after, the equally experienced Sergey Ulegin and Alexander Kostoglod could have repeated his success in the doubles competition, but in the end, they won silver, which they were unlikely to be upset about. The champions were the winners of the previous Olympics – the Chinese duo of Yang Wenjun and Meng Guanliang. In the men's singles kayak competition, our Artem Ryakhov finished fifth, while the Australian Ken Wallace took first place. The only Russian representative in the women's finals, Yuliana Salakhova, finished ninth in the women's canoe 500 meters, which was won by the Ukrainian Inna Osypenko-Radomska. Medals in the men's double kayak were awarded without the participation of Russians – the Spanish won, and the Hungarian women won.

The second gold medal of the day for Russia was won by the synchronized swimming team, who are unbeatable for the third consecutive Olympics. The team leaders, Anastasia Davydova and Anastasia Ermakova, have now won their fourth Olympic gold medals in their careers.

The triumph of the Russian athlete in the individual competition in artistic gymnastics was no less expected. In the previous two Olympics, all the gold in this sport went to Russian athletes, and this time the Russian athlete, Evgenia Kanaeva, took the top spot on the podium. Her compatriot, Olga Kapranova, made a regrettable mistake and finished fourth.

And the last of the Russians, boxer Rakhim Chakhkiev, won a gold medal on Saturday. Unlike many of his teammates, he was not considered a favorite in his weight category, but he managed not only to reach the final but also to win against the world champion, Clement Russo. In other weight categories, the winners were: Somjit Jongjohor from Thailand (up to 51 kg), Ukrainian Vasyl Lomachenko (up to 57 kg), Felix Diaz from the Dominican Republic (up to 64 kg), and British James DeGale (up to 75 kg).

Three medals were won by Russian athletes – the women's team (Yulia Gushchina, Lyudmila Litvinova, Tatyana Firova, and Anastasia Kapachinskaya) won silver in the 4x400 meter relay. During the second and third legs, the Russian women were in the lead, but in the final stretch, they lost to the Americans. The US team also won in the same event for men, where the Russians unexpectedly took bronze. The team, which included Maxim Dyldin, Vyacheslav Frolov, Anton Kokorin, and Denis Alekseev, almost won silver, being in fifth place during the race. Another third place of the day was won by high jumper Anna Chicherova. She fought for gold until the very end, which unexpectedly went to Blanka Vlasic from Croatia, not the world leader in this discipline, and to Belgian Tia Hellebaut. Javelin thrower Ilya Korotkov, who finished sixth, and 1500-meter runner Anna Alminova, who finished eleventh, did not participate in the medal events. Victory in these events was won by Andreas Thorkildsen from Norway and Kenyan Nancy Langat. In the events where Russians did not participate, gold medals were won by Ethiopian Kenenisa Bekele (5000 meters) and Wilfred Bungei from Kenya in the 800 meters.

Two medals were won by the Russian women's teams in team sports. But while the handball players lost to Norway with a humiliating score of 27:34 in the final, and won silver, which was tinged with sadness, the basketball players finished the Olympic tournament with their heads held high. By defeating the Chinese 94:81, they won bronze. The gold was won by the US team with a clear advantage. In other team finals, medals of the highest standard were won by the Brazilian volleyball players, the Argentine footballers, the German field hockey team, and the South Korean baseball team. In the individual competition of table tennis players, the entire podium was occupied by representatives of China.

And the day, which was so successful for the Russian team, began with Irina Kalentieva winning bronze in mountain biking. The world champion and World Cup winner, despite an unfortunate fall, managed to finish third. In the men's competition, Julien Absalon from France became the champion again, as he did four years ago.

Gleb Galperin also won bronze in the final event of the diving competition. And first place unexpectedly went not to the Chinese, who had won all the gold in this sport, but to Australian Matthew Mitcham, who performed brilliantly in the final.

Finally, in taekwondo, where Russians were not represented, the last medals of the highest standard were won by Maria Espinoza from Mexico (over 67 kg) and Korean Cha Dong-min (over 80 kg). There was also a major scandal here – the Cuban Angel Valodia Matos, after losing in the bronze medal match of the Olympic taekwondo tournament against the Kazakh Arman Chilmanov, in a fit of rage, hit the judge and was disqualified for life.

OVERALL STANDINGS

Besides doping, judging will also be checked at the next Olympics... I wonder if the Chinese will win as many medals in Sochi? ... I don't think so... maybe 2-3 times fewer gold medals...
P.S. Congratulations to Russia on 3rd place... and to Ukraine and Belarus on 10th and 16th place, respectively...
The Ukrainians still overtook France and the Netherlands... that's nice...
This is approximately what the overall standings of the former USSR countries would look like:
Gold 40
Silver 42
Bronze 80
Total 162

August 24

FINAL DAY OF THE OLYMPICS
Beijing 2008



OVERALL STANDINGS



ALL MEDALS

here

ALL MEDALS OF RUSSIA

here

Congratulations to everyone on taking third place =)))