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

In the women’s 100m hurdles, Dawn Harper of the United States won the Gold Medal, followed by Sally McLellan of Australia for the Silver Medal and Canada’s Priscilla Lopes-Schliep for the Bronze. Favorite and two-time indoor champion, Lolo Jones of the United States led the race before stumbling on the 9th hurdle. She ended up finishing seventh.

There was similar drama in the women’s 400m event. Great Britain’s Christine Ohurogu won the Gold Medal, followed by Shericka Williams of Jamaica for the Silver. Sanya Richards of the United States, favorited to win the race, pulled up with a tight hamstring muscle near the end of the race and finished third for the Bronze Medal.

In the men’s 1500m race, Rashid Ramzi of Bahrain took the Gold Medal, followed by Asbel Kipruto of Kenya for the Silver Medal and Nicholas Willis of New Zealand for the Bronze Medal. Ramzi’s win gives the Mideast nation of Bahrain its first ever Gold Medal in track and field.

In the men’s discus event, it was an Eastern European sweep. Estonia’s Gerd Kanter won the Gold Medal. Piotr Malachowski of Poland earned the Silver and Virgilijus Alekna of Lithuania took the Bronze Medal.

Finally, in the men’s high jump, Andrey Silnov of Russia won the Gold Medal. Germaine Mason of Great Britain took the Silver Medal and Yaroslav Rybakov of Russia earned the Bronze.

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Scenes from the Bird’s Nest – August 19

The US men’s basketball team easily defeated Team Germany on Monday, leaving them the only team undefeated in pool play. Dwight Howard led the scoring with 22 points as they topped the Germans 106 to 57. LeBron James contributed 18 points. Dallas Maverick All-Star, Dirk Nowitzki led the scoring for the Germans with 14 points.

The Lithuanian team was undefeated going into today’s game with Australia, but lost to the Aussies 106-75. Team USA faces the Australians on Wednesday in the first game of the quarterfinal elimination round.

^{(photo © Newscom)}

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US Men’s Basketball Goes Undefeated to Quarter Finals

While men’s basketball garnered the majority of attention early on, the men’s 400-meter freestyle relay swimming competition provided onlookers with an epic finish. Nearly a body length behind going into the final turn, Jason Lezak pulled off a stunning victory for the U.S. men’s swimming team. Only a fingertip separated Lezak from his French competitor, Alain Bernard. With a time of 3 minutes and 8 seconds, the Americans broke the previous world record by an astonishing 4 seconds. The victory also gave Michael Phelps his second gold medal of the Beijing Games.

Katie Hoff wasn’t as successful as her male counterparts, receiving the silver medal in the women’s 400-meter freestyle. Rebecca Adlington of Britain won the gold medal with a time of 4 minutes and 3 seconds. In the 100-meter breaststroke, Kosuke Kitajima of Japan defended his title, exceeding the previous world record by 0.22 seconds.

Meanwhile, the U.S. men’s volleyball team clinched a 5 set victory over Venezuela 3-2. This was an emotional victory for the team following a day senseless tradgedy. Coach Hugh McCutcheon and his wife would spend the day at a local hospital, awaiting news on the condition of Mrs. McCutcheon’s mother, Elizabeth Bachman. Mrs. Bachman survived an attack by a local resident that unfortunately claimed the life of her husband, Todd Bachman. The team’s next opponent will be a tough Cuba team.

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Argentina Falls to Lithuania in Men’s Basketball

LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, and the rest of the so-called USA “Redeem Team” prevailed over Yao Ming and Team China in their opening game of the Olympic men’s basketball competition to win with a score of 101-70. The two teams were close for the first half of the contest, but the US team pulled away during the second half of the third quarter. Dwayne Wade contributed 19 points for the US and LeBron had 18. Ming was the high-scorer for the China team with 13 points.

The game, one of the most anticipated of the Olympic Games, was said to draw more than a billion viewers worldwide (according to NBC.com).

Team USA will face Angola in their next game, on Tuesday.

Other Sunday Olympic men’s basketball results are as follows:
Russia over Iran – 71 to 49
Lithuania over defending Gold Medalist, Argentina – 79 to 75
Germany over Angola – 95 to 66
Spain over Greece – 81 to 66
Croatia over Australia – 97 to 82.

^{(photo © Newscom)}

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USA Tops China in Men’s Basketball

Team USA is looking like the Gold Medal winners they hope to be. In their third pre-Olympic exhibition game today, they trounced Lithuania 120-84, with a strong defense led by Kobe Bryant (left) and 64 percent shooting. Dwyane Wade led the team with 19 points, followed closely by Dwight Howard and LeBron James (right) with 17 each.

Team USA heads to Shanghai this weekend, where they’ll play Russia and Australia before continuing on to Beijing.

^{(photo © Newscom)}

Post from: EveryJoe

Another Win for Team USA