Parker will remain in San Antonio to begin his rehab. He’s expected to return to Europe next week — as long as his rehab goes well.

France’s first qualifying game is August 5th against Italy. Parker has already been ruled out of that contest. On August 8th, France plays Finland and most indications are that Parker won’t play in that game either. If his rehab his going well, Parker’s first game back with his national team will likely be August 14th against Italy.

Last year, Parker had the best season of his NBA career. He averaged 22 points, 6.9 assists and 3.1 rebounds per game in 34.1 minutes. He shot 50.6% from the field and 78.2% from the free throw line. During his eight years with the Spurs, the 27-year-old Parker has won three NBA championships.

Tony Parker - Spurs (Image: Zuma Press)

Post from: EveryJoe

Tony Parker has Minor Ankle Injury

Ice Dancing: the Gold Medal went to Isabelle Delobel and Olivier Schoenfelder (France), whose winning performance is featured below. Taking the Silver Medal were Tanith Belbin and Benjamin Agosto of the United States. Sinead Kerr and John Kerr of the United States finished in third place.

The mens individual Gold went to Takahiko Kozuka of Japan. Johnny Weir of the United States won the Silver and Evan Lysacek, also of the United States, won the Bronze Medal.

The Pairs Gold went to Aliona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy of Germany. The Silver was awarded to Keauna McLaughlin and Rockne Brubaker of the United States and the Bronze went to Maria Mukhortova and Maxim Trankov of Russia.

The womens individual competition is still underway as I write this. We will have the results of that competition tomorrow.

Post from: EveryJoe

Skate America Kicks Off ISU Grand Prix Season

France, who has hosted the Winter Olympic Games three times, announced today that they are putting together a bid for the 2018 Games. Under consideration are the cities of Annecy, Nice, and Grenoble. The 1924 Winter Games were held in Chamonix, the 1968 Games in Grenoble, and the 1992 Games in Albertville (pictured above).

France intends to announce their candidate city in early 2009. They have at least one rival. Munich Germany has already announced her plans to bid for the 2018 Games.

^{(photo © Newscom)}

Post from: EveryJoe

France Planning Bid for 2018 Games

The men’s individual gymnastics competition concluded on Tuesday. The Chinese made a strong showing, seizing three of the four individual Gold Medals. Below are the results:

In the horizontal bar, Zou Kai of China earned the Gold Medal. Jonathon Horton of the United States took the Silver Medal and Fabian Hambuechen of Germany took the Bronze.

On the parallel bars, Li Xiaoping of China earned the Gold Medal. Yoo Wonchui of South Korea earned the Silver and Anton Fokin of Uzebekistan earned the Bronze.

On the vault, Leszek Blanik of Poland took the Gold Medal, Thomas Bouhil of France earned the Silver and Anton Golotsutskov of Russia earned the Bronze.

On the rings, it was China’s Chen Yibing’s performance (pictured above) that earned the Gold Medal. The Silver Medal went to his countryman, Yang Wei and Oleksandr Vorobiov of Ukraine earned the Bronze Medal.

Post from: EveryJoe

Men’s Individual Gymnastics Results

Vincent Hancock, 19, of the United States became the second member of the US Army Marksmanship Unit to win a Gold Medal in shooting at the Beijing Games when he won the skeet shooting event on Friday. Hancock hit 121 of 125 targets in the qualifying round and a perfect 25/25 in the final. He tied with Norway’s Tore Brovold in the competition, but won when Brovold missed one of his targets in the shoot-off. Anthony Terras of France won the Bronze Medal.

Glenn Eller of the United States, also of the US Army Marksmanship Unit, won Gold in the double trap shooting event earlier in the week. The Unit helps to train new soldiers, among other duties.

At 19, Hancock is the youngest of the 14 shooting Gold Medal winners.

Post from: EveryJoe

Second US Army Shooter Wins Gold

Great Britain\’s Rebecca Adlington won Gold in the long distance swimming race, the women\’s 800m freestyle, giving her country its first Gold Medal in that event in more than 80 years. She won with a world record time of 8:14.10, breaking the record set by Janet Evans in 1989. Adlington was followed by Alessia Filippi of Italy for the Silver Medal and Lotte Friis of Denmark for the Bronze.

Kate Hoff of the United States failed to qualify for the final.

Kirsty Coventry of Zimbabwe finally got to stand atop the medal stand in Beijing, winning the women\’s 200m back stroke event with an Olympic record time of 2:05.24. Margaret Hoelzer of the United States earned the Silver Medal and Reiko Nakamura of Japan was awarded the Bronze.

Coventry has won three Silver Medals in Beijing.

In the fast-paced men\’s 50m freestyle event, Brazil\’s Cesar Cielo Filho bested an all-star field to win the Gold Medal, the first ever swimming Gold for Brazil, setting a new Olympic record of 21.30. The Silver went to France\’s Amaury Leveaux and the Bronze went to fellow Frenchman, Alain Bernard. Australia\’s Eamon Sullivan, the world record-holder, finished sixth.

In the men\’s 100m butterfly event, Michael Phelps continued his winning streak by the narrowest of margins–just .01 seconds. He earned his seventh Gold Medal of the meet with a new Olympic record of 50.58. Following him were Milorad Cavic of Serbia for the Silver Medal and Andrew Lauterstein for the Bronze.

Post from: EveryJoe

Scenes from the Water Cube – 8/16

Team Britain, composed of Chris Hoy, Jason Kenny, and Jamie Staff, won the first short track cycling event of the Beijing Games on Friday, besting Team France in the three-lap event. Germany, the defending Gold Medalists, earned the Bronze Medal.

Post from: EveryJoe

Britain Wins Cycling Spring Gold

France’s Laure Manaudou announced yesterday that she’s “taking a break” from swimming after she failed to qualify for the finals in the 200m backstroke event. This follows her last place finish in the 400m freestyle event earlier in the week, an event in which she won the Gold Medal in Athens in 2004. She also finished 7th in the 100m backstroke event this week.

Manaudou, 22, has been a favorite of the French tabloid press this past year. She broke with long-time coach Phillipe Lucas last year to move to Turin and train with her then-boyfriend/fiance, fellow swimmer, Luca Martin. When that relationship ended, compromising pictures of Manaudou started appearing around the Internet. To make matters worse, Martin is now dating Manaudou’s swimming competitor, Federica Pellegrini (who won the 200m freestyle event in Beijing this week). All of that drama has to be distracting.

Post from: EveryJoe

France’s Manaudou to Take Break from Swimming

China’s Liu Zige won the women’s 200m butterfly event with a world record time of 2:04.18. She was followed by her teammate, Jiao Liuyang for the Silver Medal and Australia’s Jessicah Schipper for the Bronze.

Stephanie Rice and the Australian team prevailed in the women’s 4×200m freestyle relay, with a world record time of 7:44.31. The Chinese women (Yang Yu, Zhu Qianwel, Tan Miao, Pang Jiaying) earned the Silver Medal and the United States (Allison Schmitt, Natalie Coughlin, Caroline Burckle, and Katie Hoff) place third for the Bronze Medal.

In addition to Rice, the Australian team included Bronte Barratt, Kylie Palmer, and Linda MacKenzie.

Persistance paid off for Alain Bernard of France as he took the Gold Medal in the men’s 100m freestyle event. Bernard was bested by the Americans in the 4×100m freestyle relay for the Gold earlier in the meet.

Eamon Sullivan of Australia took the Silver Medal and Jason Lezak of the United States and Cesar Cielo Filho of Brazil tied for the Bronze.

Defending Olympic champion, Pieter van den Hoogenband of the Netherlands finished fourth. Hoogenband announced his retirement from competitive swimming after the race.

As Jeanne reported earlier, Japan’s Kosuke Kitajima won the Gold Medal in the men’s 200m breast stroke event, setting a new world record of 2:07.64. He was followed by Brenton Rickard of Australia and Hugues Duboscq of France for the Silver and Bronze Medals.

Post from: EveryJoe

Scenes from the Water Cube – August 14

Don’t talk “trash” to the US men’s swimming team; you’ll only inspire them. That’s what the French swimmers learning Monday when the US men snatched the Gold from the favored French team by just .08 seconds.

For days, French swimmer, Alain Bernard had been saying that they were in Beijing to “smash” the Americans. They had reason to be cocky. Most sources picked the Gallic group–or perhaps the Australians–for the Gold Medal.

That’s before Michael Phelps and company hit the pool. Swimming just over an hour after his swim in the 200m freestyle semifinals, Phelps led the Americans for the first 100m leg, setting a new American record at 47.51. (Lead swimmer for the Australians, Eamon Sullivan, set a new world record for the 100m leg at 47.24; first legs of relays are eligible for world and Olympic records.)

However, the French were not to be taken lightly. Coming into the anchor leg, Bernard was almost a body-length ahead of the American’s Jason Lezak. Lezak is no stranger to the 4×100 free relay; he’d been a part of the Silver and Bronze 2000 and 2004 relay teams. He knew he had to put in a record performance and that he did. Lezak, at 32 the oldest man on the American swimming team, swam the fastest anchor leg in history: 46.06.

The Americans beat the French team by just .08 of a second for a new world record of 3:08.24. The win gives Michael Phelps his second Gold Medal of the Beijing Games.

Also swimming for the Americans were Garret Weber-Gale and Cullen Jones.

In addition to Bernard, the French team included Frederick Bousquet, Fabien Gilot, Amaury Leveaux. The Australian team (Ashley Callus, Eamon Sullivan, Andrew Lauterstein, Matt Targett) earned the Bronze Medal.

Post from: EveryJoe

US Men Destroy World Record in 4×100m Freestyle Win