Multimedia -08-11-08 Lezak's Amazing Finish (NBC Olymics.com) Watch the fastest relay split in history. 08-08 -08-13-08 Lezak's Amazing Finish - From Underwater View (NBC Olymics.com) Watch the fastest relay race from an underwater view. Above the toolbar, select the "Watch Now" feature called "Underwater View." 08-08 -Opening Ceremonies (NBC Olympics) Provides a short review of the stunning opening ceremonies. 08-08 China's Top 5 Athletes (NBC Olympics) Provides highlights of China's favorites for gold. 08-08 News -08-10-08 China Starts Its Gold Rush (Time.com) "As a symbol of its powerful reemergence, China's first Olympic gold medal couldn't have been any more fitting. On Saturday, just 12 hours after the blaze of fireworks that opened the Beijing Games, Chen Xiexia, a Chinese female weightlifter in the 48 kg class, captured the host nation's first gold by heaving a combined total of 212 kg, an Olympic record. A 25-year-old who has dedicated 13 years of her life to this grueling sport, Chen thoroughly dominated the event, lifting 13 kg more than Turkish silver medalist Sibel Ozkan. A capacity crowd watched the Chinese champion's Herculean display — weightlifting may be a sporting sideshow in other countries, but in China it is prime-time viewing." 08-08 -08-10-08 Phelps By a Finger (Time.com) "Michael Phelps' quest for eight gold medals remains alive and well after the U.S. men out-touched the French in a down-to-the-wire relay on August 11. It was the U.S.' shakiest event, given that the French squad boasts world record holder Alain Bernard, but Athens 2004 veteran Jason Lezak managed to beat Bernard to the wall in the last 100m by .08 of a second. The time set a new world record, dropping the previous one, set just the night before in the preliminary heat by the U.S., by nearly four seconds." 08-08 -08-10-08 USA Beats China in Basketball (SportsIllustrated.com) "The U.S. men's Olympic basketball team dazzled President Bush and perhaps a billion more fans in one of the most anticipated events of the Summer Games." 08-08 -08-11-08 Lezak's Amazing Finish (NBC Olymics.com) "The U.S. men's 4x100m free relay team won gold Monday in the most exciting, most record-breaking, most amazing, thrilling, unbelievable relay anyone could ever imagine, evidence of exactly what Jason Lezak, who swam the greatest anchor leg in relay history, had to say when it was all over:" " 'People always step up and do things out of the ordinary at the Olympics.' " "This was even so much more. Extraordinary in every regard." 08-08 -08-15-08 China Spends $17 Billion to Reduce Olympic Smog (Time.com) "To pre-empt complaints about Beijing's typically horrendous air pollution — the Chinese capital ranks among the world's most polluted urban areas — city officials embarked on a massive cleanup operation in the months and weeks leading up to the Games." 08-08 -08-15-08 Nastia Liukin and Shawn Johnson Go 1-2 for All Around (NBC Olympics) "Nastia Liukin, a Russian-born American gymnast of exquisite grace and beauty, on Friday won the women's individual all-around competition, a triumph that served as an emphatic reminder that the sport is formally called 'artistic gymnastics' and Olympic judges still delight, when all is said and done, in artistry rendered under pressure." 08-08 -08-15-08 Phelps March to Greatness Unlikely to Be Topped (USA Today) "Whether or not Phelps wins eight gold medals in Beijing to surpass Mark Spitz's record seven golds from the 1972 Games, his audacious march toward Olympic history and his astounding performances are unlikely to be matched for years — if ever." 08-08 -08-16-08 Olympic Medals by Country (Sports Illustrated) Tracks medals by nation. 08-08 -08-16-08 Phelps Wins 7th Gold By One-Hundredth of a Second (Sports Illustrated) "For starters, Phelps was seventh at the 50-meter turn, somewhere in his own zip code, maybe in Lane 4 of the track stadium next door. Even Phelps' power-sleeping dog, Herman, had him by at least a paw and a half. Forget a gold medal; Phelps was in danger of not getting one of those blue ribbons they give to people just for showing up. With Cavic in front at 23.42, Phelps' teammate Ian Crocker, the world-record holder, was already pretty far back at 23.70. Phelps was at 24.04. In a 100-meter race, you don't overcome a six-tenth deficit at the 50-mark unless that shark takes his lunch in the other lanes." 08-08 -08-16-08 Torres, Oldest Olympic Swimming Medalist in History (U.S. News) "Dara Torres, 41, became the oldest swimming medalist in Olympic history on Sunday. She has twice retired from swimming and has a 2-year-old daughter, but keeps returning to the sport to add to her medal collection." 08-08 -08-24-08 Can Science Tell a Gymnast's Age (Time.com) "The lingering questions highlight one of the few areas in sports science today that remains untestable. Researchers can screen for illegal substances, determine your gender, and tell you whether you're fighting a cold, all from a few blood and tissue samples. But they still cannot definitively determine a person's age." 08-08 -10-01-08 Ages of Chinese Gymnasts Confirmed (USA Today) "China's Olympic gold-medal winning women's gymnasts met the minimum age requirement of 16, according to the findings of an investigation by the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) announced Wednesday." 10-08 07-31-08 The LZR Suit and the Gold (Newsweek.com) "Speedo's LZR Racer swimsuit is causing the biggest splash in and out of the pool. The rubbery full-body corset would look more at home in a Batman movie than on the pool deck. But since it was introduced in February, swimmers wearing it have set a stunning 38 world records. Rivals' suits have set just three world records during that time, which has them crying foul (while scrambling to come up with their own sci-fi suits). The coach of the Italian team calls the LZR Racer 'technological doping.' The second largest U.S. swimwear maker, TYR, filed a federal lawsuit in California, alleging anticompetitive practices, against Speedo's parent company, the coach of the U.S. swim team and even a TYR endorser, Olympic medalist Erik Vendt, who switched to the Speedo. A Japanese swimmer under contract to Mizuno just set a world record in a LZR (pronounced laser), which he'll wear in Beijing." 07-08 100 Olympic Athletes to Watch (Time.com) Provides a picture and article on 100 top athletes competing in the 2008 Olympics. 08-08 Eight Great Athletes (NBCOlympics.com) "Eight is an auspicious number in Chinese culture. Thus, what better way to assess the forthcoming 2008 Beijing Olympics than with eight essential storylines to keep in mind as the Games get under way on Aug. 8 and unfold over the 16 days that follow." 08-08 Equestrian Tragedy (Time.com) "She was supposed to ride into the Beijing Games on a pony. And not just any pony, but Teddy, a pint-sized fighter who was rocking the equestrian world. Karen O'Connor's story had all the elements: a 50-year-old baby boomer shooting for gold, an undersized competitor taking on the big horses, and a touching relationship between, not just a rider and her horse, but a rider and her pony!" 08-07 MSNBC Olympics Coverage 2008 (MSNBC News) Provides coverage of the Olympics. 08-08 NBC Olympics Coverage 2008 (NBC Olympics) Provides coverage of the Olympics. 08-08 NY Times Olympics Coverage 2008 (NY Times) Provides coverage of the Olympics. 08-08 Olympics 2008 Countdown in China (MSNBC News) "As fireworks exploded over Tiananmen Square on Wednesday night, a troupe of 200 youthful singers on a glittering stage below belted out the theme song to mark the one-year countdown for the Beijing Olympics: 'We Are Ready.' " 08-07 Olympics Tennis 2008 (NY Times) "Nadal earned the ranking [of number 1] by becoming the first man in 28 years to win the French Open and Wimbledon in the same season, ending Federer’s five-year run of victories at the All England Club in a five-set classic that is already being referred to in hushed tones." 08-08 Papers -TV Coverage of Events By Channel (NBC Olympics) Provides a chart of coverage by day, hour, event, and channel. 08-08 A Brief History of Track in the Modern Olympics (NBC Olympics) Provides highlights of the Olympics, starting with the year 1896. 08-08 Announcer: Phelps Is "the Greatest Olympian of All Time" (U.S. News) "Cheering from the pool deck, Michael Phelps won his record eighth gold medal of the Beijing Games on Sunday to become the grandest of Olympic champions." " 'The Beijing Olympics has witnessed the greatest Olympian of all time - Michael Phelps of the USA,' the announcer said as Phelps posed on the deck with his teammates." 08-08 Bolt, One of the Greatest (NBC Olympics) "Usain Bolt of Jamaica etched his name into history Wednesday as one of the Olympic greats, indeed one of the greatest athletes of all time." "And while no evidence of any sort has surfaced to suggest he's not, it's naïve not to wonder how Bolt is able to run so fast. Because no one in the history of human beings, from the first primitive soul desperately trying to outrun a saber-toothed tiger to the sophisticated races of our times, has ever run as fast as Usain Bolt has run at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games." 08-08 Johnson, Shaun (ESPN) "After becoming America's fourth ever women's gymnastics world all-around champion in 2007, the then 15-year-old Shawn Johnson warned there would be more to come and switched her gaze firmly on the Beijing Olympics." 08-08 Liukin, Nastia (Wikipedia.org) "Anastasia 'Nastia' Valeryevna Liukin (...born October 30, 1989) is a Russian-American artistic gymnast. She is the 2008 Olympic individual all-around gold medalist, the 2005 and 2007 World Champion on the balance beam, and the 2005 World Champion on the uneven bars. With nine World Championships medals, seven of them individual, Liukin is tied with Shannon Miller as the American gymnast having won the most World Championship medals." 08-08 Michael Phelps: Greatest Olympian (Time.com) "At the Beijing Water Cube around 10:30AM, Michael Phelps swam two races, and won more gold medals. He broke two more world records, and got himself a new title: the most decorated Olympic athlete of all time." "He now has five gold meals in these Olympics, and 11 in his career, moving past Mark Spitz, U.S. track and field legend Carl Lewis, ex-Soviet gymnast Larissa Latynina, and Finish distance runner Paavo Nurmi for the all-time record." 08-08 Phelps Ties Spitz's Gold Record (USA Today) "Phelps won his seventh gold medal in Beijing, tying Mark Spitz's record from the 1972 Games. Eight golds would give Phelps the greatest single Olympic performance." 08-08 Phelps Wins Most Gold in Olympic History (CBS News) Tied no more. Michael Phelps swam into history as the winningest Olympic athlete ever with his 10th and 11th career gold medals and fourth world record of the Beijing Games." 08-08 Train Like an Olympic Candidate (MSNBC News) "Despite all the corporate grandstanding, the saccharine profiles, and the cheesy music, we're still drawn to the Olympic Games because they promise a glimpse of athletic perfection — that sinuous state of being when the outer boundaries of raw physical ability are reached and then exceeded ever so slightly." "But the fact that such boundaries are breached raises a question: How can each generation of athletes become faster, stronger, and quicker ... without doping?" "The answer is simple: They train with coaches on the absolute cutting edge of exercise science, coaches whose tips will help you build muscle, burn stubborn fat, and even recover in record time." 08-08

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