The American women took the Gold Medal in the women’s 4×400m relay, with anchor Sanya Richards passing Russian, Anastasia Kapachinskaya in the final meters. The Russian women took the Silver Medal and the Jamaican team earned the Bronze. In addition to Richards, the US team included Allyson Felix, Monique Henderson, and Mary Weinberg.

Nancy Langat of Kenya took the Gold Medal in the women’s 1500m event, followed by Iryna Lishchynskia and Nataliya Tobias of Ukraine for the Silver and Bronze Medals, respectively. American Shannon Rowbury finished in seventh place.

In the women’s high jump event, Belgium’s Tia Hellebaut surprised everyone by beating strong favorite, Blanka Vlasic of Croatia, who hadn’t lost the event in 34 meets. Vlasic got the Silver Medal and Anna Chicherova of Russia earned the Bronze Medal.

In the men’s 5000m contest, Kenensia Bekele of Ethiopia finished first for the Gold Medal. Eliud Kipchoge of Kenya and his countryman, Edwin Cheruiyot Soi earned the Silver and Bronze Medals. Bekele won the Gold Medal in the men’s 10,000m event earlier in the Beijing Olympic meet.

It was never a contest in the men’s 4×400 relay. The American men–Angelo Taylor, Jeremy Wariner, LaShawn Merritt, and David Neville–took the lead early and never relinguished it. The Silver Medal went to the team from the Bahamas and the Bronze Medal was awarded to the Russian team.

The men of the Baltic nations swept the men’s javelin competition, with Norway’s Andreas Thorkildsen , the defending Olympic champion, winning the Gold Medal. Ainars Kovals of Latvia took the Silver and Tero Pitkamaki of Finland earned the Bronze Medal. Thorkildsen set a new Olympic record of 90.57m.

Kenya won its first ever Gold Medal in the mens 800m event with Wilfred Kipkemboi Bungei’s win in Beijing. Ismail Ahmed of Sudan finished second for the Silver Medal and Alfred Kirwa of Kenya finished third for the Bronze Medal. Kenya, with its long history of Medals in the long distance events, had never won the mens 800m.

^{(photo of Nancy Langat © Newscom)}

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Scenes from the Bird’s Nest – August 23

Andrey Moiseev of Russia won the Gold Medal in the men’s modern pentathlon competition. That’s the five-event content, which includes epee fencing, pistol shooting, a 200m freestyle swim, show jumping, and a 3km cross-country run. The event was added to the Olympics in 1912. It is designed to mirror the skills needed for a soldier behind enemy lines.

Edvinas Krungolcas of Lithuania took the Silver Medal and his countryman, Andrejus Zadneprovskis earned the Bronze Medal.

In the men’s 50km walk, Italy’s Alex Schwazer earned the Gold Medal, setting a new Olympic record of 3:37:09. He was followed by Jared Tallent of Australia for the Silver Medal and Denis Nizhegorodov of Russia for the Bronze Medal.

In the women’s 200m event, Veronica Campbell-Brown continued Jamaica’s dominance of the Olympic sprinting events. Following her lead across the finish line were Allyson Felix of the United States for the Silver Medal and Kerron Stewart of Jamaica for the Bronze Medal. Campbell-Brown’s win completed the Jamaica’s sweep of all four of the mens and womens sprinting events.

In the infield, Barbora Spotakova of the Czech Republic earned the Gold Medal in the Javelin throw. Maria Abakumova of Russia took the Silver Medal and Christina Obergfall of Germany earned the Bronze.

Portugal’s Nelson Evora won the Gold Medal in the mens triple jump, besting Howard Idowu of Great Britain, who won the Silver Medal, and Leevan Sands of the Bahamas, who earned the Bronze Medal.

The United States swept the mens 400m event, with LaShawn Merritt leading the field for the Gold Medal. He was followed by Jeremy Wariner, the defending Olympic champion, for the Silver Medal and David Neville for the Bronze.

In the mens 100m hurdles, Cuba’s Dayron Robles easily bested the field, winning the Gold Medal. David Payne of the United States took the Silver Medal and David Oliver, also of the United States, earned the Bronze Medal.

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Scenes from the Bird’s Nest – August 21

Image details: U.S. Track and Field Olympic Trials – Day Four served by picapp.com

The United States will be sending just two women to Beijing to compete in the javelin event. Kara Patterson leads the team, qualifying with a distance of 191′ 9″ in Monday’s qualifying meet in Eugene, Oregon. Joining her in Beijing will be fourth place finisher, Kim Kreiner, a four-time national champion. The second and third-place finishers: hometown girl, Rachel Yurkovich and Kara Pound failed to meet the “A” level requirement of having thrown 198′ 6″ and are thus not eligible for the team.

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US Women’s Javelin Team