Running and digging for gold

Track and field semis, Allyson Felix in the women's 200M; she has a good look to her, we'll see if her form compares to the Jamaican who blew everyone away in the first semis. Interesting, Roqaya Al-Gassra from Bahrain, in the full body suit. Wow; she finishes in the top four maybe, does she make the finals?! Felix wins this, Ato Boldon says not at her best here so far. Hmm, Al-Gassra finishes lower than fourth, not in the finals.

It's gymnastics gala night; Yang Wei up on the pommel horse first, pretends to ride it; he's auctioning off his silver to benefit earthquake victims. Pretends to fall off the horse. He's apparently quite a ham; nice to see this side of him. Doing all this to music, and in the dark; does a bunch of flares, then comes off. Hosts walk him around, one in Chinese, another English. The 'English speaker' has a horrible accent, and seems to be pantomining everything.

Shawn Johnson gets a huge hand from the crowd, on the balance beam. She's totally focused, to some whistling song. Nice, and then beams like crazy aferwards before running off into the dark. German guy, Fabian on the high bar. Starts, then jumps off--doesn't like something about the high bar, like it's not supported right, far too loose. Does release after release, it's pretty cool, big smile at the end.

Jonathan Broxton on the high bar, just high-energy, high-flying. Huge landing, doesn't stick it but fun. Nastia Liukin, much more theatrical than Shawn, dances around the balance beam to a slow, sultry pop song. Like she's doing a ballet routine. All in time; very fairy taleish, she's gonna be huge in Asia after this. Man, it's totally pretty to watch, everything fits the music. "Someone hold me safe and warm"; she dismounts, and the gala ends.

Now, Usain Bolt in the men's 200M. Going for 19.32, Michael Johnson's 200M record; they show Johnson, working for the BBC, he says he thinks he can do 19.5. Bolton says he'll be faster than that, will be ahead of WR pace at 200M. Shawn Crawford of the US defending champ here, but it's all Bolt, all the time; one of those combos of charisma, talent, and name.

Long time from ready to set. Wow, Bolt is just blazing fast, no chance for anyone; he's running hard, and he breaks the WR, 19.30. A canned commentary from Bolton, who says lighting doesn't strike twice; then goes nuts, says it may be the greatest performance we've ever seen in a track and field event. There was a headwind, no less. Bolton is just going nuts, says he thought Johnson's record would stand until the day he died. Man, he almost ran a 19.29.... And, his best event might be 400M?!

Johnson, in the BBC booth, has a big grin on his face as Bolt beats his record; like Ato, he's a track fan first and foremost. Bolt does a dance afterwards, I am #1 he tells the camera. Wallace Spearmon comes over, he got bronze. But--he was disqualified, for stepping on the line--a bunch of times, not just once. He puts away the flag he was walking around waving; Crawford moves up to bronze.

Tough moment, Spearmon asked by the reporter about the DQ, he's caught a bit unaware, just says he's going to protest. Afterwards, the silver medalist was disqualified too; which means Walter Dix moved up too. Bolt is a bit more down to earth afterwards in the interview; what an amazing talent.

So the U.S. got silver and bronze--but the Netherlands Antilles blasted us afterwards, saying why would we, such a big country, take away a small nation's moment of glory.... He does have a point, why in arguing about our DQ do we seek to get someone else DQed?

Women's 400M hurdles, a bunch of American women in this event. Americans doing well early; Jamaican accelerating though, American slowing down, Jamaican is going to win, easily; wow, U.S. gets silver. They all run pretty awkwardly though. They interview the American silver medalist afterwards, Sheena Tosta, as if she, not Melaine Walker, had won the thing. It's ridiculous that the Jamaican track and field team is destroying us in sprints.

Afterwards, they show Dix learning he 'won' the bronze from the U.S. coaches, incluing the head men's coach Bubba Thornton. Yeah, U.S.--we rule at these administrative things, too bad we can't run fast. "Well, I still lost" says Dix after his agent congratulates him--we need that kind of attitude, shouldn't be celebrating a DQ fight.

Hmmm, odd; they're showing women's diving in a prime time slot, Laura Wilkinson. She won the only medal we've had this decade in diving 8 years ago; days of Greg Louganis et al are a long ways away. She must do well, otherwise why are they showing this? Jeez, huge splash on her first dive. Not great scores.

Hmmm, a developing story, 15-year-old Haley Ishimatsu of the U.S. is doing really well.... Ugh, a huge, ugly splash from Wilkinson. Odd, where are the Chinese in this event? Canadian in first, ugh, kindof a big splash, but the commentator doesn't think so; a pretty good score, actually. Ah, here's a Chinese diver, tied for third. Other Chinese diver now in first; Ishimatsu in 6th after two dives.

A live look-in at the gold medal match in women's beach volleyball, supposedly they'll play unless there is lightning, it's raining pretty hard.

Wait, the diving is just the semifinals?! Man, they're just wasting time tonight; how about showing some medal events, regardless of whether there are Americans in them or not?! Sheesh. Ugh, there are some really ugly dives here, too. Weird, they're not showing Haley's dives. Weird; this is live, so they're deliberately going to commercials during her dives. They do show some random Italian in the fourth round--and now, Haley for the first time. Commentator likes her; a big splash, it'll be close to see if she makes the finals. Ugh, pretty low scores.

So now they're just going to ditch diving, for rainy beach volleyball. Not a good night for NBC, they've really got nothing. Chinese vs. May-Treanor and Walsh; will be interesting to see how the home crowd and elements affect the Americans. Ugh, doesn't look like a good day for volleyball. 1-0 U.S., Walsh blocks Chinese. Wow, NBC replaying point, miss next one.

China's been consistently in front by a bit so far in a very tight match; 7-7 now. U.S. up front, 8-7, on a bad hit from China. 9-8 U.S. on a bad serve from the Chinese. 10-10 now, back and forth; 11-10 at the technical timeout. Rushed cut back to diving, Wilkinson needs to nail this next-to-last dive to qualify; announcer says that's good enough on an okay dive. Will Haley make it?

Back to volleyball, U.S. steals a point on some great plays, 12-10. Could be the turning point here. 13-13, good serve by the Chinese. Another free point off serve, 14-13, Chinese up. Bad break, bad timing for U.S. 14-14, U.S. back on serve. Oooh, serving ace by Walsh. 16-15 now; wow, they haven't lost a set in two Olympics.

Chinese are serving well; 17-16 U.S. though. 18-17, we're getting down to crunch time. U.S. doesn't wanna leave it to a lucky play for China, need to close out here. Yeah, they pick up a point on serve, 19-17. China's confused, U.S. at 20-17 suddenly. Chinese call a timeout, probably should've called it earlier. 20-18, here we go; Misty spikes it, U.S. win 21-18. Nicely done.

Back to diving? No, they're going to talk about Misty's mom dying in 2001. They show her tattoo, and reshow the ashes thing. They're repeating everything, announcers saying the same stuff they did last time. 1-0 U.S. as second set starts. 2-0, let's go U.S.! A mistake by China, Walsh spikes it home. They smell blood now. Ooh, U.S. blows a chance to go up 4-0, 3-1 instead. Man, May spikes it into the Chinese, 4-1. 4-2. Chinese already won bronze, beating Brazil--hmmm, odd.

5-3; announcers love the Americans, gush over their strengths. Announcer says people are scared of Kerri, that's why they don't serve to her; but try her more, says other announcer. 6-4. 6-5, Chinese coming back. 7-6, stays close. 8-6 as they switch sides. Wow, great Chinese serve; 8-8. Another service ace, Chinese up 9-8 now. 9-9; U.S. needs to change up the pattern here. Nice serve, U.S. 10-9. May an uncharacteristic unforced error, 10-10. Great point, U.S. saves it, 11-10 again at the technical timeout. Jason Kidd in the stands, May idolized him growing up, has his number tattooed on her back.

11-11 to start second part of the set; Karch says China's weathered the onslaught pretty well, crowd helps. Ugh, 12-11 China. Key moment here. 12-12, back on serve. 13-12 on a great play by Walsh, slipping an early shot past China. 13-13. Another shot by China down the line. Ooh, another service ace for China, 14-13. 14-14, U.S. back on serve, Walsh crushes the ball. 15-14 on a point U.S. should've won. 15-15; time for U.S. to make their move. 16-15, U.S. grabs the lead. Wow, just like last set China a bit sloppy, 17-15 U.S., this time China calls the timeout earlier.

Tian/Wang call medical timeout now, trainers working on Tian's arms. Announcers say she likes calling medical timeouts to slow down the match. U.S. just looking very determined. They've won 18 straight events, 107 straight matches. First time the defending champs in either men's or women's beach volleyball has even made it back to the gold medal match.

Battling, breathing and believing is what their coach tells them before every match. 17-16. Wang tries to trick them on a quick hit, fails, 18-16. Oooh, service error from the U.S. 18-17. Critical, critical point. Chinese win a great point on a block at the net, 18-18. Another great point, U.S. wins 19-18. Chinese miss it out of bounds, 20-18! U.S.A.! Gold medal point; Walsh spikes it, and they win gold again! Awesome!

They celebrate, run around, wave flags, dance. Karch callsthem the best team of all time. They're celebrating separately, doing their own thing. Back to Bob Costas in the studio. And then to diving. Kindof a buzz-kill, why not just stay with volleyball; Haley doesn't qualify for the finals, Wilkinson does, in sixth. Talks to the odd Andrea Kremer, tries to give her an injury excuse, she doesn't take it. Super-cute Haley talks, is in tears, says she's disappointed, but a great experience, says sorry a few times.

They go back to beach volleyball, missed live the ashes ceremony, pretty emotional. Now being interviewed, again not live. They're so excited, and hyper. Fun people, keep jumping up and down. Misty's telling off-camera to call her. Hmm, they thank Bush for his inspiration when he met with them, and a shout-out to Karch. Such Californian girls; asked about their future plans, Walsh says she needs a baby, it's that time. Back to Bob, who in his usual sly way says they're running off, looking for someone else to hug.

Chris Collinsworth. Wow, they show Natalie du Toit, an amputee, taking off her prothetic to jump in the water to compete in the open water swimming event! Wow; that is amazing video. 2001 scooter accident. She talks pretty matter-of-factly to Chris about it; was the flag bearer for the South African team. What a great story. How the heck can she swim with only one leg?! Russian woman won the race; Natalie finished 16th! And now she's in the Paralympics. Too bad NBC didn't show us more than a few seconds of the race.

China up 45 to 27 in golds, U.S. up 83 to 81 in overall medals. Few minutes of super heavyweight weightlifting. 551 pounds for the Russian--but then, German 561, goes totally batso after winning. Displays a photo on the gold medal podium, of his wife, who died in a car accident last year. Oh, wow. Again, thanks for not giving us more, NBC.