2008 Olympics Open Thread Day 3

Nicole Cooke wins the Road Race for Great Britain! Our first gold medal! :-)

A quarter of the way through the Bronze Medal Archery v France, Great Britain lead 48-46. Not a bad start!

Another thing, a Georgian won a bronze medal in a shooting event, and a Russian won silver. The two stood together on the podium embracing one another, a nice gesture given the current conflict between the two nations. Nobody cared that China won the event.

Also, happily, well away from the Olympics, on the fourth day of the Fourth Test Match between South Africa are 138/4 in their second innings, but only 16 runs ahead of England. England are 2-0 down in the series though.

Soccer is on: USA-Netherlands kicking off now.

The lineup is the same as vs. Japan. Not a fan, since Freddy Adu can't get creative as a striker.

The Dutch lineup (3-5-2):

Babel---Beerens
Emmanuelson---Bakkal---DeGuzman
Maduro---Drenthe
Jaliens---Marcellis---Zuiverloon

Vermeer

10': Bradley misses a volley on a feed from Adu.

14': Drenthe puts a head of a cross from the right, but nods it well high and wide.

Goal

Ryan Babel gets a head on a cross, saved by Guzan but right back to Babel.

1

0

Elsewhere in the 20th minute:

1

1

24th minute:

1

0

Freddy Adu cut past the entire Dutch defense, but can't finish and shoots it well high.

34 minutes in. Free kick right outside the box for the US. Bradley drives it into the wall for a corner.

The Dutch have controlled play so far. If not for some great dribbling for Freddy Adu, the US would not have any chances whatsoever.

The first real team attacking move for the US. Holden and Rogers(?) get long shots off at the keeper, but he keeps it out of the net.

How do you say "lucky" in Dutch? The keeper comes out to collect a ball but leaves the goal open. Fortunately for them, no Americans are there for the easy goal.

Halftime

1 - 0
2 - 0
2 - 1

1 - 0

Nowak needs to take Old Man River a.k.a. McBride out. He has been totally useless. If they put in Altidore, there's a chance he can get a good run on with a feed from Adu.

Halftime- Croatia 47, Australia 31 in men's b-ball.

Huge opportunity for Netherlands. A Drenthe free kick goes perfectly for Hedweges Maduro, whose header hits the side netting. It should have gone in goal. Lucky break for the US.

The first card of the match: Maurice Edu runs into the keeper to earn the caution.

Marcellis gets carded for the Dutch. Here in the second half, the US has pushed forward much better and is getting shots on goal.

Goal

Sasha Kljestan makes a run, gets a nice thorough ball from Adu, then makes some good moves before putting the ball in the back of the net.

1

1

Right after the goal, Jozy Altidore subs in for Robbie Rogers. Look for Adu to spend more time in the midfield.

Free kick opportunity for Holland from 35 yards out. Holland's favorite Canuck, Jonathan de Guzman, hits it way over.

70th minute Sub for Netherlands: Beerens out, Jong-a-pin in

Goal

US Corner never gets clear, goes off Jozy Altidore (he's credit with it at least; looked like a own goal to me) and in the goal.

2

1

Netherlands are making their subs: Drenthe and Marcellis out, Makaay and Sibon in. Time to throw the kitchen sink out for the Dutch, so they can find the equalizer.

Adu gets a yellow for charging the keeper. He'll be out against Nigeria, but it won't matter if they hold on to win, as they will have clinched a spot in the medal round.

Last US sub: Adu out, Feilhaber in.

13ish minutes to go.

3 minutes of stoppage time to go.

A bad spot for a free kick for the US

and they paid for it. Sibon scores on a free kick to get the draw.

Final

2

2

Group B Standings:

1.  USA 4 (GF = 3)
   
2.  Nigeria 4 (GF = 2)
   
3.  Netherlands 2
   
4.  Japan 0

The Netherlands needs to beat Japan to advance. A draw would suit the US, since the have the same goal difference as Nigeria but have scored more goals so far. They'll be without Adu or Bradley though, so it will likely be up to Feilhaber and Szetela to step up in their places.

One issue for all these teams is the looming threat of Argentina in the quarters. They're likely to win the group, so you don't want to be second place. If Brazil wins their group, they'll also be on that side of the draw, so winning Group B is even bigger.

Dear Marcelo Balboa,

Thanks for jinxing us with your stupid "good suspension" comment. Now leave my TV forever. Hopefully I'll be able to watch the commentary-free stream vs. Nigeria.

Thanks,

Thecrookedcap

I have never seen Yao so intense!

Did you hear that? They brought back the "NBA on NBC" music prior to cutting to commercials.

THEY BROUGHT BACK THE NBA ON NBC THEME!!! YES!!!! 11-9 China. I'll be going to church soon, won't be able to watch the game so SS or someone keep up the live blog.

They just switched over to USA/China basketball here in Australia. Unfortunately, it's 12:30 at night and I've got to work tomorrow. I'm going to stick with it as long as I can, though--nobody gets any work done on Mondays anyway, right?

Come on China! :-P

29-29! Go China!

The Chinese defence is pretty awful in this game (I know that with my limited knowledge of basketball...)

China have decided to let the USA score lots of points here...

49-37 to USA... Game over, I reckon.

Over on the USA network they are showing Women's Archery. S Korea vs China. Apparently the S Koreans are an unstoppable powerhouse. They also have one of their archers wearing a hello kitty arm protector and another wearing a winnie the pooh one. And these women are putting on a show of accuracy that is mind boggling.

Yao Ming is down.

LeBron James and Dwayne Wade are the top scorers, at 18 and 17 respectively.

74-48 to the USA. Quick counter attacks are winning the game for USA.

I feel bad for China in terms of the schedule: their next game is against Spain, the World Champs and the second biggest threat for the gold medal.

Unbelievably, the basketball stream has stopped. :-( Win for USA though.

NBA ON NBC!!!!

This is Sofoklis Schortsanitis.....the Greek beast, 375 lbs.

Bug off minus person, whoever you are, if you have a specific beef with me, talk to me. Does a minus next to my name give you some sort of weird pleasure?

Come on, show yourself instead of hiding like a little scaredy cat, minusing my comments for reasons unknown, go on, if you keep minusing me to the point where I'm past Jamel in the all-time minus list, you obviously have a problem with me......or you just want to tick me off, or both.

Show yourself, I'm waiting.

Minus this one, minus every comment I've ever made on ArmchairGM, heck, create 15 more accounts to minus this if it makes you feel fuzzy inside.

Dear NBC, Stop mentioning that "the Chinese don't seem to be cheering that loudly." Perhaps their culture finds it socially unacceptable to act like a raving lunatic when their gymnast sticks a landing (not saying whether or not this is a fact, more a theory on my part).

It's the 100m backstroke for the women, Natalie Coughlin of the US in lane 5, Julie Wilkinson of Canada in lane 2 as the notables.

Here we go, Coughlin out to an early lead, Nakamura of Japan in 3rd, and look at Coughlin go, she will advance to the final of the 100m backstroke with ease with a time of 59.43, Nakamura 2nd.

Gemma Spofforth in 3rd, Hanae Ito of Japan finished 5th.

In the other semifinal, Kirstie Coventry of Zimbabwe finished 1st with a time of 58.77, and it's a world record!

Anastasia Zueva in 2nd, Margaret Hoelzer of the US finishes in 3rd.

Now the 200m freestyl mene.

Lane 1: Dominik Koll of Austria.

Lane 2: Ross Davenport of Great Britain.

Lane 3: Danila Izotov, just 16 years old from Russia.

Lane 4: Jean Basson of South Africa.

Lane 5: Colin Russell of Canada.

Lane 6: Emiliano Brembilla of Italy.

Lane 7: Nicholas Sprenger of Australia mate!

Lane 8: Finally, Rodrigo Castro, the 19 year old from Brazil.

In the semifinal of the 200m freestyle we are underway.

Davenport touches the wall after the first 50m with a slender lead, Colin Russell catching up to the leaders in lane 5, after 100m, Jean Basson with a narrow lead over Davenport and Sprenger.

Izotov has lost ground as well as Russell, less than 50m to go, and Basson is pulling away in the final 50!

Can he challenge Michael Phelps' world record? He goes to the wall, he won't make it in time with a 1:46:13 time! Izotov takes 2nd, and Davenport takes 3rd.

Stay tuned for the 2nd semifinal.

The 2nd semifinal, I don't have all the names:

Lane 1: Nimrod......very long name of Israel, I mean it's long.

Lane 5: Michael Phelps

Lane 6: Yoshihiro Okimura of Japan

Lane 7: Peter Vanderkaay of the US

Lane 8: Robbie Renwick of the US

Here we go! Meichtry of Switzerland ahead, Vanderkaay 2nd after the first 50.

Phelps coasting at 4th and after 100 it is still Meichtry ahead and Vanderkaay 2nd.

Meichtry still ahead, Michael Phelps picking up the pace in the final 50m.

At the wall it's a close one, it will be....Vanderkaay of the USA! Park of Korea finishes 2nd and Phelps is 3rd and likely into the final.

Vanderkaay wins with a time of 1:45:76.

100m Butterfly women's final now live in Beijing, with Zhou Yafei representing China in lane 2.

Lane 1: Inge Dekker ofin the Netherlands

Lane 2: Zhou Yafei

Lane 3: Jessicah Schipper of Brisbane, Australia.

Lane 4: Libby Trickett, also from Australia, she is one of the favorites.

Lane 5: Christine Magnuson of the US.

Lane 6: Li Tao of Singapore, just 18 years old.

Lane 7: Jemma Lowe, another 18 year old from Britain from Wales.

Lane 8: Gabriella Silva of Brazil, who have not done well in swimming this Games at all.

This is the final of the women's 100m Butterfly, medals will be handed out.

56.61 the world record to beat as we are underway!

Schipper approaches the wall with Trickett and Trickett leads, here comes Magnuson from the US, it's a world record pace, Trickett getting close, it's a close one and TRICKETT GETS GOLD! No world record, but chalk up a gold for Libby Trickett, a silver for Magnuson, a bronze for Schipper.

A very close race down the stretch, Magnuson was coming hard down the stretch but it was not enough.

The winning time for Trickett was 56.73, Zhou Yafei of China finished 4th as one of the notables.

Mark Gangloff in lane 1 of the US

Brendan Hansen in lane 2 of the US

Brenton Rickard in lane 3 of Australia

Alexander Dale Oen in lane 4 of Norway

Kosuke Kitajima in lane 5 of Japan

Hugues Doboscq in lane 6 of France.

Roman Sludnov in lane 7 of Russia.

Finally, Igor Borysik of Ukraine.

This is the 100m breaststroke final.

Here we go!

Hansen and Gangloff neck and neck but it is a close field and after 50m it is Oen of Norway winning so far.

Here comes Kitajima from Japan! Wow what a turn at the wall, it's a close race down the stretch and Kitajima has won it! The turn at the wall was the key to his world record win and gold! He gets gold with a WR time of 58.91. Oen finishes in 2nd for the silver, and Duboscq finishes 3rd with the bronze.

The Americans fail to medal, Hansen finishes 4th, and Gangloff finishes last.

The 100m breaststroke for the women in the first of two semifinals.

Lane 1: Kirsty Balfour of Scotland.

Lane 2: Jillian Tyler, the Alberta native.

Lane 3: Sun Ye of China.

Lane 4: Yuliya Efanova of Russia.

Lane 5: Rebecca Soni of the USA.

Lane 6: Joline Hostman of Sweden.

Lane 7: Chen Huuia of China, just 18.

Lane 8: Elise Matthysen of Belgium.

Here we go!

The first of two semifinals.

Tyler of Canada gets off to a decent start, but it is Efanova of Russia with the early lead and off the wall she is first, Soni is 2nd, Hostman is 3rd as we reach the final 50m.

Efanova pulling away from the competition it looks like, and now SOni has made a comeback, and Soni with 5m to go has taken the lead in a dramatic finish, and wins with a time of 1:07:07, Efinova finishes 2nd, and Sun Ye of China finishes 3rd.

Anyone here?

Man, we can all watch on NBC, you don't need to send messages about lane assignments

Yay! Another "profile" story

That reminds me, Sraport if you're still here: When you say "we all are watching NBC", you were technically wrong. SSR typically watches the CBC (Canadian) coverage.

WOW! Rebecca Addrington, just 5'2 in the 400m freestyle wins gold by seven hundredths of a second over Katie Hoff, who takes the silver.

Virtually the last stroke did it, and Manadou finishes 3rd.

Here we go, Phelps will start off first in lane 4, France in lane 5.

Phelps off to a great start but it's Canada 2nd and Australia 1st, wow this could be a damper so far in the quest for 8 gold.

Australia 1st, USA 2nd, Canadians 3rd, the Australians dominating so far, but the US have come back to take the lead, Canada in a surprising 3rd.

US increasing their lead, Colin Jones for the US entering as the French are now in 2nd, the French have taken the lead now, Canada down to 4th.

France now dominating, the anchor leg now, France increasing their lead, can the French do it?

The return leg, the final 50m, the US making a comeback, and at the wall!!!!!!!!!!!! US WINS!!!!!!!!! FRANCE SECOND!!!!! US WINS AND IT IS A WORLD RECORD!!!!!!

France nearly had a 1 second lead, and in the final 50m, the last American racer gets the win........

Michael Phelps will have his quest for 8 golds just barely alive......what a finish, Australia gets bronze.

An incredible finish to the race, US wins, oh my what a race. I'm in shock.

Jujie Luan, a 50 year old fencing legend now representing Canada after representing her native China, has advanced to the round of 32 after a 13-9 win over Tunisia's Ines Boubakri.

Thank the dear lord for the Nadal match stream. I have no interest in the NFL Films-knockoff piece chronicling a basketball blowout.

Nadal won the first set, but is down a break in the second 3-0 (Rafa's serving now) to some Italian guy.

Nadal's opponent is a guy name Potito Starace. He's the 71st ranked player in the world. He has no titles.

Nadal loses the second set 6-3, so it goes down to the deciding third (in the Olympics, men's matches are best of 3 sets until the final).

Calling it a night.