Olympic's final run

Watching the men's Olympics marathon live; a really fast pace so far, in the rapidly-warming Beijing morning. They're actually doing a profile of what happened to the marathon leader, Vanderlei Cordeiro de Lima from Brazil, four years ago in Athens-- when a deranged ex-Irish priest who believed space aliens were coming to take over attacked him as he was leading the race.

He was shoved into the crowd, before onlookers dragged the crazy man--who NBC interviews--off de Lima. Man, with less than 2 miles to go his once-large lead shrank, then he lost it; then he flies into the stadium, finishes third! Gets bronze, and the sportsmanship medal.

Wow, I'd totally forgotten about that; this crazy Irish guy has also disrupted an F1 race; he was fined, but not imprisoned. At least the nutcase realizes he went too far. de Lima says he was never angry at him, the moment itself was bigger than any medal. Wow....

Meanwhile, Ethiopia, Kenya and Kenya are top three a little past halfway, it's the fastest pace ever for an Olympic marathon, on 2:05 pace. Announcers are incredulous; Americans are running their planned pace.

One of the five lead pack runners, from Eritrea, used to work as a day laborer, collecting wood for .30 cents a day.... Lewis Johnson reports from the course right in front of the runners, temps are in the 80s and everyone's scrambling for water. Mile 16... they can't keep up this pace, right?! It's battle of Africa, two Kenyans, Eritrean, Ethiopian, Moroccan. Kenyans wanna win to help heal their country; oddly, the country's never won the Olympics marathon. Everyone else is at least 43 seconds back at this point.

Americans have moved up to 11th and 15th place, more than a minute back. Now, few minutes later, Ryan Hall, the U.S. champ, has fallen back to more than 3 minutes off--no word on why.

Now at Peking University--why did it keep that name?!--which is generally know as Beida. Hmm, Mao graduated from here. Lots of shade here, and a misting area. Moroccan is dropping back a bit, lead foursome is pulling away. My god, this could be a run for the ages.

Hmmm, last year's world champ from Kenya looks like he's out of it, by the side of the road as an ambulance pulls up. Ethiopia-Merga, Kenya-Wanjiru, Eritrea-Kifle, Kenya-Lel, Morocco-Gharib. Announcer says Wansiru has to be the favorite at this point, he trained in Japan for the humid conditions, only two Kenyans to win Olympic medals went there too.

1:28 in, Merga and Wanjiru opening up a gap over the others, lead pack is strung out a bit now. Now, just five minutes later, Moroccan rejoins lead pack, then falls back--like a yo-yo, as commentators say; they also now think one of these guys will probably win gold.

Back from break, coming up on 1:40 and the three have been reunited again. 2 hours 9 minutes is the OR; it's always slower than most marathons because it's held in the hot days of summer. Now comes the wall.... Now nearing high 80s says Lewis, they're on like a highway or something, sheesh. It can be over 100 on the asphalt, commentator says; mile 21, bit over 5 miles left.

Hmm, Wanjiru and Merga share a bottle of water, they're back out front a bit of the Moroccan. Commentators saying they're likely to be gold/silver/bronze. Americans up to 10th/11th place, in a normal race their time would've been great, but it's an extraordinary race. Seems like it'd have been predictable that the Kenyans were fueled by something more than the usual competitive pride.

1:50 in, leaders can see the Olympic stadium. Now, Wanjiru pulling away, Moroccan second, Eritrean fading in third. Man, he's just increasing the margin. I'm rooting for him, what a great story; ugh, they go to another commercial. Pretty cool that they've covered the marathon this entire time though.

Back, matter of minutes left; Wanjiru on Olympic record pace. NBC spelling it Wansiru on the graphic for some reason. They've had quite a few camera and audio problems during this race, with the picture freezing a number of times. He's got about 5 minutes left, about 13 seconds in front of the Moroccan. A Chinese volunteer picks his water bottle up after he discards it, nice souvenir.

Looks like he's lengthening his lead; he's running fluid, looks to be in good shape. Checks his watch, running down the highway. What a great sight; mile 25. Lead now up to about 20 seconds ahead of Gharib. Wow, they are waaaaaay out in front of everyone.

Coming past the Water Cube, my god, the two of them are more than a minute ahead of everyone else! How is that possible?! Is NBC's graphic messed up? He's young, 21; not much marathon experience. My gosh, third place is like 2:20 behind them?!

2:03, about to head into the stadium. His lead is getting sider, can't even see second place on the helicopter's eye view. He's benefitted from Japanese coaching, NBC says it's not just a Kenyan victory here. Apparently Japan loves distance running.

And he's into the tunnel; raises his hands in triumph. There's a VW pace car right in front of him. Can hear the roar of the crowd as the commentator says he was wrong about the pace, what an amazing run. Man, it's a HUUUUGE cheer as he runs into the stadium, what a great moment. Big smile on his face, he's waving to the crowd as he runs around the entire track, all by himself; second place nowhere to be found. He's going to destroy the OR of 2 hours, 9 minutes, 21 seconds, which has stood for 24 years!

Still by himself, coming home to the finish line, hands up in the air; and he finishes in 2:06:30. Wow! Kneels on the ground crosses himself. And here comes two-time world champ Gharib of Morocco, for the silver, 2:07:16.

Ethiopian Merga comes jogging easily into the tunnel, his teammate is right behind him, should be interesting race for bronze. His teammate Kebebe is coming up on him a bit, oh-oh. He keeps looking behind him, his teammate is coming up; gap is definitely closing, let's see what their kick is like. Now Merga just gets passed easily, he's almost walking at this point, in real pain; Kebebe finishes in 2:10:00 for the bronze. Wow, Merga almost gets passed again at the finish, barely able to walk.

American in the stadium now, in ninth place, running well. Hall behind him. They run times that would've gotten them on the podium in a normal Olympics race. They both look pretty strong, makes you wonder if they had pushed it....

Gosh, that was really exciting. Next--men's 10M platform diving, China trying to sweep all 8 golds in the diving events, U.S. doesn't even have a single medal to this point--just like they finished in Athens. I think the diving coach should be fired, in addition to the track and field head. Just ridiculous, given our population and facilities; we've badly underperformed expectations in both events.

Thomas Finchem of U.S. first, messed up in his first dive, a horrible entry into the water. Not a great second dive, either. Ugh, low score. David Boudia, our best hope for a medal, in fifth place. Oooh, a nice dive; knifes into the water. His coach is happy, too. Zhou Luzin dives, they keep talking about the pressure on the Chinese athletes; of course, it's normal--a great power, at home. Don't make it seem so exotic. He's in first after the initial dive, great dive here will keep him there, all 9s or higher except for the Bulgarian judge's 8.5.

Some Aussie, with a nice entry; they don't explain the order of the divers, maybe based on how they finished in prelims? NBC has been so wildly inconsistent here, some great commentators, then other events where they don't even tell us what we need to know to appreciate the action. Matthew Mitcham gets four 10s, but still in second. American stays in 5th.

Third dive now. Still hyped up from that great marathon; I always try and watch it at the Olympics, remember generally you have to get up early on the Sunday for it. Glad it was live here.

Hey, 14-year-old Tom Daley. Loooks even younger; let's check his passport. Sign him up now, this kid's gonna be one of the stars at the London Olympics. Finchem starts out in a handstand; huge splash on the entry. Looks like it's nerves, commentator says. His total after three is close to the Chinese diver's after two. Nice dive, from Boudia; well, commentator says not so, they use their cool strobe light photos to show the sequence; sure enough, low scores, U.S. hopes slipping away.

Zhou now, looks quietly confident. Audience is hyped, lots of people waving Chinese flags. Kindof a big splash; hmmm. Hmmm, he gets all scores above 9, despite what commentator though. Huo Liang, who's already won synchro gold--my gosh, every Chinese diver here has medaled! Now that's dominance. Not a good entry at all. China is 1, 3; Boudia falls to 6th, within 20 points of third.

They skip Finchem's fourth dive; Boudia has a good dive, big sound of splash but splash looks small. Zhou needs to close the deal; a bit arching into the water, but small splash. Gets a good score, Aussie does well too; now Huo, hmmm, big splash.

For some reason, into the last dive they say the "last chance to spoil China's sweep of diving gold" rests with the Aussies. Why is 'spoil' what they're emphasizing here? Sheesh. Boudia's next-to-last dive, not great. Wow, Zhou nails the landing after a bad takeoff, commentator calls it a 10 entry going into the water. And he gets 10s. "Tough, but not impossible, for anyone to deny China the sweep."

Aussie has a good dive, currently second. Boudia behind the kid in 7th. Nice last dive for Finchem; but now, a horrible last dive for Boudia, he almost belly flops. Commentator says it looks like he runs out of gas. Big mistake for Zhou on his last dive, commentator says, as he kicks out his knees; he'll probably still win, but feeling the pressure.

Now some drama.... Wow, a great dive by Mitcham--and he's actually in first now, by 4 points! Wow. The crowd is roaring, even though he beats the Chinese; and now the commentator says it's over, the 3rd place guy can't catch him. He's stunned a country, silenced the Water Cube, announcer says; man, he's really annoying. Huo dives not great, the Aussies are celebrating. Even though I generally don't like the Aussies, it's a great story, coming from that far back on the last dive. Huo now the only Chinese diver in the entire games to not medal!

Hmm, quick google search shows other people aren't crazy about these NBC announcers; I actually think Cynthia Potter is fine, even if her tone is a bit direct and almost insulting at times.

But Ted Robinson is just horrible--he's openly rooting for countries, and seems to think everyone shares his desire to see China lose. He gets things wrong all the time, and doesn't correct himself. Plus his tone is just irritating as hell; he really seems to think we're tuning in to hear him exult.

Thank god that's it for diving; back to track and field, and Tom Hammonds/Ato Bolton, who might be my favorite announcing team out of these Olympics. Hammonds is pretty straightforward, if a bit odd at times; and Ato is great, gives us insight and personality and passion.

Women's 4x400 relay, let's see if the U.S. relay team can make up for its failures so far. Wow, USA track athletes switched from their normal blue tops to red tops in order to honor China. Now that's a classy move. Let's go USA!

Really, overall, it's been a great Olympics; I've enjoyed watching just about all of it. So many unexpected, nice moments; these athletes are all amazing, and the drama beats anything, anywhere.

And they're off, U.S. falling behind, Jamaica is waaaaaay out in front. Russia, Great Britain, Jamaica; but U.S. not far behind, Alyson Felix is just blazing here, grabs the lead, is accelerating easily. Let's go USA! Man, just increasing her lead, second exchange is clean too. Man, U.S. is now busting out, Russia and Jamaica trailing.

Now U.S. is falling back a bit, hope our anchor is great; Russia is just motoring past her like she's standing still. Last lap, U.S. has already moved up, but Russian had a nice cushion. Russia is increasing their lead; here comes Sanya Richards, about halfway to go, U.S. is gaining, here she comes, she's passing her--and yes, USA! USA! Awesome! Now that's a great finish, Bolton calls it a great race, great leg by Richards. Funny, you can see Russian checking the big screen down the stretch to watch herself getting passed. Jamaica finishes third.

Now, Men's 4x400 relay, we should win easily considering we swept the medals in the individual event. Just don't drop that stupid baton! LaShawn Merritt is running first, Jeremy Wariner is running anchor--Bolton says he doesn't remember the U.S. team ever leading off a relay with the Olympic champ. Maybe he's not good at receiving the baton.

Stupid British team, their anchor was taunting the Jamaicans after they won their semis heat; Ato gets off a great line, "He told the BBC he's just never been in the lead before; we'll see if he gets a chance tonight." It's especially idiotic given the respective dominant performance of the Jamaicans in track, versus the pathetic performance of the Brits.

Wow, U.S. owns the top 10 times in this relay, Bolton says this is probably their best team ever. And they're off; Merritt is running well, already makes up the slack on two guys. Nice exchange, Angelo Taylor is extending the lead. Hmm, Belgium trying to keep up, down to the second exchange, it's getting larger; wow, David Neville is just screaming down the track; Belgians staying tough. Jeremy Wariner takes it, and he's just accelerating. Nice and relaxed, it's a huuuuuuge lead, Bahamas in second, then Russia. 2:55:39, new Olympic record.

Bolton says they ran over their heads, given how young they are. Now that's awesome. They get four flags, and take their victory lap. Bolton says the race was a walk, it was supposed to be a bit closer, on paper. They reshow the first exchange; after Merritt it was pretty much over. Wow, U.S. won by about 3 seconds, what a huge margin.

Cool, four more gold medal track finals tonight. They show the medals ceremony for the women's relay; athletes look so classy, U.S. can be proud of the way we carried ourselves at these games--no incidents that I can recall. Great big smiles on all four of them, some tears too.

NBC's announcers really do talk over everything, like they're afraid to let us watch without guidance. It's to the point when they do shut up, they actually tell us that they're going to 'let' us just listen.

Men's 800M next, is NBC contractually obligated to mention the water cube everytime they show an outside shot? Youssef Kamel of Bahrain a favorite, Ato says he has a real problem with nerves. Yego of Kenya the world champ, the only 3 races he won all last year were at the world championships. They show a Candian, the team's had a disappointing Olympics. Cuban next; and the rest of the field, all from African countries, NBC doesn't show any of them.

Kenyans in front, controlling the pace. A bit slow of a pace, now picking it up. Starting to sprint, Kenyan Wilifred Buengei is going to win, Ismail--Sudan runner who's huge--finishes second, Yago of Kenya third.

Hammond says the Bird's Nest is the most distinctive stadium he's ever broadcast from. Women's 1500M next, an American Shannon Rowbury in it. Was an Irish stepdancer, thinks that's helped her in running. They profile her; kindof an oddly produced piece. Duke degrees; and Maryam Jamal of Bahrain, the heavy favorite. Born in Ethiopia, though, ranked #1 the last three years. Show some Ukrainian, too. Big field here; and they're off. No American has ever won a medal in this event, she's in the pack at the moment.

Pace a bit slow, says Ato, should be picking up. 2 laps yet, race still as it was after the start. Jamal moves up to third now, seems to be making her move; now in front, bright yellow sneakers. On the bell lap, she's stretching her lead a little, two others up front with her, American in fourth but is trying to move up. Now Jamal gets passed by Kenyan, American falls back. Down the stretch, Legat of Kenya too strong, Jamal is really fading, gets passed, finishes fourth and is in despair.

Competitors come out for the women's high jump, an American, Chaunte Howard. Favorite has won 33 in a row, Blanka Vlasic of Croatia, 6 feet 4 inches; clears easily; now Howard misses, and she's out.

Odd, back to Men's 5000M final. Bernard Legat of the U.S., reigining world champ; ran poorly in 1500M, where he's also reiging world champ but didn't even make final. Hmmm, a bizarre staggered start, some a few meters in front of others--no explanation, probably cause there are so many people in the field. Two brothers from Ethiopia in this race.

They're running very deliberately, pretty slow; nobody wants to be the leader. The camera angle from the side looks like a machine; Ato says it'll be 6 on 1, Ethiopians/Kenyans want to keep him off the medal podium. He's falling into the middle of the pack a bit. Hmm, one of the runners--Legat?--had his shoe kicked off at a world championship, stopped, took it off, and still won.....

They say Legat likes this pace, he has great speed down the stretch. Two brothers in front, third Ethiopian up there too. 9 laps to go, nearing 4 minutes gone. Kenyans consider Legat a traitor, they show one of them waving his finger at Legat, you're not passing me. Not a social dance, says one of the commentators. Another American in the race, huge guy.

They cut away, back to jump; Vlasic the second biggest track favorite announcer says, after the Russian chick who won pole vault. Whoah--and Vlasic loses, Belgian takes gold, in a huge upset.

Back to the race, not much seems to have changed, about 8 minutes in. 5 laps to go. Ethiopian opens up a lead, Legat in like 5th. Now the pack is breaking up, Legat's up in fourth; now they're all strung out. Come on, Legat! He looks to be running pretty easy. Now getting crowded by the 5th place Kenyan, right on his hip; and pases him. Hmm, 3 laps to go, 3 Kenyans behind the Ethiopian. Legat letting the four of them go, he's in 5th, by a healthy margin.

Bolton says Legat didn't want this to happen; wow, looks like Legat is out of it, he looks exhausted. The Ethiopian/Kenyans are way out front, lap and a half left. This is crazy. Now, the bell lap; Ethiopian and a Kenyan are way out front, Kenenisa Bekele, who won the 10,000M is going to win this thing easily, sets a new OR.

Wow, Legat is nowhere to be seen, no medals, way back in ninth. Bekele celebrating with his flag--hmmm, don't remember Ethiopia having a star of david with a cross inside on their flag.

Now they have Costas' interview with IOC chair Jacque Rogge. For some reason they're dividing this into three parts; Bob says right off the start this has been a most glorious Olympics, but as always they are issues.

Asks about 5 of the 6 Chinese gymnasts possibly being underage. Rogge says obviously they want the rules to be followed; the gymnastics authority has seen the documents, will make a statement soon. Fourth question is whether the age requirements should even exist, Rogge says you have to protect young people from pressure, overtraining--well, why then is there a 14-year-old diving for Great Britain?

Next, doping; Rogge says this has been his top priority. Wonder if Bob at some point asks about the three Spanish teams making racist faces for their group photos. Russia-Georgia war, Rogge says the Georgian team winning four medals has done more for their country than if the team hadn't been here.

They bring back the NBA on NBC music, prompting Bob to say, hey, I remember that music! U.S. vs. Spain, 2:30 a.m. live. 49 gold for China, 34 for U.S., 107 to 96 overall. Men's relay medal ceremony. They keep focusing on Wariner, who coincidentally is the only white face on the U.S. team.