Archive for August 18th, 2008

LOOK OUT FOR OUR NEW MULTIMEDIA WEB SITE! IN THE MEANTIME, ENJOY OUR WATERCOOLER CHATS: OLYMPIC WEEK ONE HIGHLIGHTS

Olympics Week One is in the books. And it has been a huge hit around the country, with NBC reporting that roughly 30 million tune in every night to watch. It seems that America has caught Olympic fever. Here are some amazing highlights:

1) Michael Phelps, or as the Chinese have been calling him “America’s Super Fish” has done it. A record-breaking 8 GOLD MEDALS!! However, they didn’t come easy. He won two medals literally, by his fingertips. He was behind in one race the entire way, until a late surge in the end put him in contention to win the race (note the word “contention”). It still seemed that his Serbian opponent, Milorad Cavic, was poised to win the race. But at the last 1/100th of a second, he charged the wall and with a heavy amount of amazing luck, Phelps’ fingers touched the wall before Cavic. Beyond surreal.

2) Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt shattered the 100m world record on Saturday, crushing the competition with a finish time of 9.69 seconds. Keep in mind that this was a guy who just started running this event two months ago. He’s a natural, and now holds the distinguished title of “Fastest Man In The World.”

3) In gymnastics, Nastia Liukin from the United States won the all-around gold. This was an event China was heavily favored to win, so Liukin’s victory is both spectacular and an underdog victory.

4) And in some sad news, Liu Xiang, possibly China’s most marquee athlete in these Olympic Games, hobbled off the field before his first heat in the 100m race. The whole nation was waiting to see how their hero would perform, and now, four years in the making, they won’t get that chance. And neither will he.

5) Serena and Venus Williams won gold medal in women’s doubles tennis.

Watercooler Discussion: What has been your favorite Olympic moment in week one?

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