Sport

GOLDEN TOUCH

August 20 - 26, 2008
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The first week in Beijing has been dominated by three men, one in the pool and two on the track. There have of course been many achievements at these Games and numerous disappointments but as with every Olympics some athletes capture the imagination of the public as others cannot.

First up is Michael Phelps who during the first week has eclipsed the achievements of Mark Spits in the 1972 Games and has won eight Gold Medals in the pool. The roll call of 400m medley, 200m freestyle, 200m butterfly, 4x100m free relay, 4x200m free relay, 200m medley, 4x100m medley and the 100m butterfly is an astonishing achievement considering he had to race 17 times in nine days. Included within these wins were seven world records just to add icing to the cake.

He has now won 14 Gold Medals in total and will go down in history as the greatest-ever swimmer especially if he goes on to win more at London 2012. It is said records are there to be broken but it will probably be a long time until we see any thing like this again and his single Games tally will likely stand for some time.

Australian swimmer Grant Hackett said: "Michael Phelps - you can't put it in words what he has done here, his level of achievement is phenomenal and I don't think it will ever be seen again." And it is not easy to find fault with these comments.

The swimming always dominates the first week until the athletics begins but when it did we got the defining moment every Olympics needs and that was, as it often is, the Men's 100m Final. It was billed as a three way contest between Tyson Gay, Asafa Powell and Usain Bolt but the outcome was only about one man and that was the Jamaican they call 'Lightning'.

Bolt not only won the final breaking the world record in the process, he won it in a manner that has astonished the sprinting world.

A time of 10.69 seconds is unbelievable enough but with 20 metres to go he had eased down and was showboating to the crowd. Gay had failed to overcome recent injuries and did not make the final and Powell had been so intimidated by his younger compatriot he finished a disappointing fifth.

Bolt has been talked about since he was a teenager and many expected him to make his mark in his favoured 200m as his tall build appears to suit this more, so to win by 15 metres is a fantastic feat and it is likely he will have added the second event by the time this has gone to press.

What is surprising is that this is the first sprint gold for a Jamaican athlete in history and if this was not enough the women's 100m resulted in a clean sweep for the small Caribbean country the following day when Shelly-Anne Fraser won gold in a time of 10.78 seconds. It is difficult to imaging the relays going to any other country when they take place at the end of the events schedule.

And then on Monday came the day that 1.3 billion people had been waiting for, Liu Xhiang attempting to defend the 110m Olympic gold he won in Athens.

His face had been on every billboard and advert in China for months and months and he was going to be the Cathy Freeman equivalent, the defining moment of Beijing.

He was considered to be the host's best chance of athletics success but he had been suffering from Achilles and hamstring injuries leading up to the games and it proved to be his downfall.

Following a false start the 91,000 crowd in the bird's nest stadium were left stunned when Xhiang grabbed the back of his leg, pulled off his number and limped out of the arena followed by lots of his adoring fans. Sport can be cruel at times and given the Olympics only come around every four years, let alone in one's own country, this was indeed a devastating blow to the athlete himself as well as his nation.

The Games, of course, will go on and others will achieve their ultimate goal, the thing they have worked and sacrificed all they life for ... but it is difficult to imagine anyone taking the limelight away from either Phelps or Bolt - both of whom have transcended their respective sports over the past 10 days.

To compare the two is impossible as they are entirely different in nature but to win eight golds at one Games is an incredible achievement and whilst Bolt may well go on to more glory in the future these Olympics will be best remembered for Michael Phelps and his wonderful performances in Beijing.







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