Medal Stands - Day 5

The following is the standings for the countries in terms of medals.

1) United States - 10 (gold) 8 (silver) 9 (bronze) 27 (total)
2) China - 14 (gold) 3 (silver) 5 (bronze) 22 (total)
3) South Korea - 5 (gold) 6 (silver) 1 (bronze) 12 (total)
4) Australia - 4 (gold) 2 (silver) 6 (bronze) 12 (total)
5) Italy - 4 (gold) 4 (silver) 2 (bronze) 10 (total)
6) Russia - 2 (gold) 5 (silver) 3 (bronze) 10 (total)
7) France - 0 (gold) 7 (silver) 2 (bronze) 9 (total)
8) Japan - 3 (gold) 1 (silver) 3 (bronze) 7 (total)
9) Great Britain - 2 (gold) 2 (silver) 3 (bronze) 7 (total)
10) North Korea - 1 (gold) 2 (silver) 4 (bronze) 7 (total)

United States Medal Winners

The following is a list of names of medal winners for the United States.

Bronze

Swimming - Men's 100-Meter Freestyle - Jason Lezak
Judo - Women's Middleweight (63-70 kg) - Ronda Rouse
Cycling - Men's Individual Time Trial - Levi Leipheimer
Swimming - Women's 200-Meter Individual Medley - Natalie Coughlin
Swimming - Women's 100-Meter Backstroke - Margaret Hoelzer
Swimming - Men's 200-Meter Freestyle - Peter Vanderkaay
Gymnastics - Men's Team - Alexander Artemev, Raj Bhavsar, Joey Hagerty, Jonathan Horton, Justin Spring, Kai Wen Tan
Shooting - Women's Trap (75 Targets) - Corey Cogdell
Swimming - Women's 400-Meter Individual Medley - Katie Hoff
Swimming - Men's 400-Meter Freestyle - Larsen Jensen
Swimming - Men's 400-Meter Individual Medley - Ryan Lochte
Fencing - Women's Individual Sabre - Becca Ward
Swimming - Women's 4x200-Meter Freestyle Relay
Wrestling - Men's Greco-Roman 84-96 kg - Adam Wheeler
Fencing - Women's Team Sabre - Becca Ward, Mariel Zagunis, Sada Jacobson
Swimming - Men's 200-Meter Individual Medley - Ryan Lochte

Swimming - Women's 100-Meter Freestyle - Natalie Coughlin




Silver

Gymnastics - Women's Team - Shawn Johnson, Nastia Liukin, Chellsie Memmel, Samantha Peszek, Alicia Sacramone, Bridget Sloan
Equestrian - Individual Eventing - Gina Miles
Swimming - Women's 100-Meter Breaststroke - Rebecca Soni
Swimming - Men's 100-Meter Backstroke - Matt Grevers
Swimming - Women's 400-Meter Freestyle - Katie Hoff
Swimming - Women's 100-Meter Butterfly - Christine Magnuson
Swimming - Women's 4x100-Meter Freestyle Relay
Fencing - Women's Individual Sabre - Sada Jacobson
Shooting - Women's Skeet (75 Targets) - Kimberly Rhode
Swimming - Men's 200-Meter Backstroke - Aaron Peirsol
Shooting - Men's 50-Meter Free Rifle Prone (60 Shots) - Matt Emmons




Gold

Cycling - Women's Individual Time Trial - Kristin Armstrong
Swimming - Men's 4x200-Meter Freestyle Relay
Swimming - Men's 200-Meter Butterfly - Michael Phelps
Shooting - Men's Double Trap (150 Targets) - Glenn Eller
Swimming - Men's 100-Meter Backstroke - Aaron Peirsol
Swimming - Women's 100-Meter Backstroke - Natalie Coughlin
Swimming - Men's 200-Meter Freestyle - Michael Phelps
Swimming - Men's 4x100-Meter Freestyle Relay
Swimming - Men's 400-Meter Individual Medley - Michael Phelps
Fencing - Women's Individual Sabre - Mariel Zagunis
Swimming - Women's 200-Meter Breaststroke - Rebecca Soni
Swimming - Men's 200-Meter Backstroke - Ryan Lochte
Swimming - Men's 200-Meter Individual Medley - Michael Phelps

Medal Update - Day 5

The following is a list of the medals won on day 5 of the games, the country the athletes represent, and the names of the athletes:

Women's 200-Meter Frestyle
Gold - Federica Pellegrini - Italy
Silver - Sara Isakovic - Slovenia
Bronze - Jiaying Pang - China

Men's 200-Meter Butterfly
Gold - Michael Phelps - United States
Silver - Laszlo Cseh - Hungary
Bronze - Takeshi Matsuda - Japan

Women's 200-Meter Individual Medley
Gold - Stephanie Rice - Australia
Silver - Kirsty Coventry - Zimbabwe
Bronze - Natalie Coughlin - United States

Men's 4 x 200 Freestyle Relay
Gold - United States - United States
Silver - Russia - Russia
Bronze - Australia - Australia

Women's Individual Time Trial (Cycling)
Gold - Kristin Armstrong - United States
Silver - Emma Pooley - Great Britain
Bronze - Karin Thurig - Switzerland

Women's Team Gymnatics
Gold - China - China
Silver - United States - United States
Bronze - Romania - Romania

Ya Kinda Expected It...

4 days into the Beijing 2008 Summer Olympics and people are still buzzing about the fantastic and spectacular show that China put on for the world. The whole performance was directed by famed chinese director Zhang Yimou at a cost of nearly $300 million USD, or $2.1 billion RMB. The show featured an intricate and huge amount of manpower and technology, featuring one of the biggest LCD screens in the world and about 15,000 performers. As well, the show was backed by tons of fireworks, possibly even more than you can see on July 4th. The whole show really makes a person wonder, "how is that even POSSIBLE?" Well, after 4 days of games, the opening ceremony is still taking hits to it's credibility. 2 days after the olympics, a british newspaper claimed that some of the fireworks shown were either pre-recorded or computer generated.

The reason behind this? Well, the newspaper claims the reason is so that helicopters flying above the stadium would be safe and unharmed during the performance. Now, is it really the truth? There's been a heated debate as to if it is true or not. However, after the news broke out, Beijing organizers admitted to the deed. Some of the fireworks shown round the stadium were computer generated. The company that created the fireworks tried its hardest to make it look as if the fireworks were created live, and in fact, many people could not tell the difference. The fireworks were used because of the poor weather conditions. They were given to the companies for convenience.

And now, 4 days into the olympics, another trick has been uncovered. The ceremony's music director, Chen Qigang, talked about the trick on Beijing radio. He says that it was a last minute decision, where high officials said that the 7-year old Yang Peiyi was not the image that China wanted to send to the world. She was replaced by 9-year old Lin Miaoke. However, that's not the only part of the trick. During the ceremony, it was Yang Peiyi's voice that you heard, and NOT Lin Miaoke. Lin Miaoke was just lip-syncing to the previously recorded tape.

Many Western countries are badgering China over its obssession of its image. China has already done a security crackdown on the olympics, making sure that protestors are not at the games. China has done everything in its power to make these olympics are perfect as possible. They are very quick to strike if something goes wrong that would embarrass them in front of a world of people. They've even gone to new lengths by making this decision. But, all-in-all, it just goes to show, that, for such a big performance, you just kind of expected it.

Medal Update - Day 4 Overnight (Cont'd)

The following is a list of the medals won overnight, the country the athletes represent, and the names of the athletes:

Women's Half Middleweight (58-63 kg)
Gold - Ayumi Tanimoto - Japan
Silver - Lucie Decosse - France
Bronze - Elisabeth Willeboordse - Netherlands
Bronze - Ok Im Won - North Korea

Men's Half Middleweight (73-81 kg)
Gold - Ole Bischof - Germany
Silver - Jaebum Kim - South Korea
Bronze - Tiago Camilo - Brazil
Bronze - Roman Gontiuk - Ukraine

Men's 62-69 kg
Gold - Hui Liao - China
Silver - Vencelas Dabaya-Tientcheu - France
Bronze - Tigran Gevorg MARTIROSYAN - Armenia

Men's Individual Saber
Gold - Man Zhong - China
Silver - Nicolas Lopez - France
Bronze - Mihai Covaliu - Romania

Medal Update - Day 4 Overnight

The following is a list of the medals won overnight, the country the athletes represent, and the names of the athletes:

Women's Synchromized 10-Meter Platform
Gold - Ruolin Chen, Xin Wang - China
Silver - Melissa Wu, Briony Cole - Australia
Bronze - Tatiana Ortiz, Paola Espinosa - Mexico

Men's Double Trap (150 Shooting)
Gold - Glenn Eller - United States
Silver - Francesco D'aniello - Italy
Bronze - Binyuan Hu - China

Women's 58-63 kg
Gold - Hyon Suk Pak - North Korea
Silver - Irina Nekrassova - Kazhakstan
Bronze - Ying-Chi Lu - Taiwan

Men's Greco-Roman 55-60 kg
Gold - Islam-Beka Albiev - Russia
Silver - Vitaliy Rahimov - Azebaijan
Bronze - Ruslan Tiumenbaev - Kyrgzstan
Bronze - Nurbakyt Tengizbayev - Kazhakstan

Men's Greco-Roman Under 55 kg
Gold - Nazyr Mankiev - Russia
Silver - Rovshan Bayramov - Azerbaijian
Bronze - Roman Amoyan - Armenia
Bronze - Eunchol Park - South Korea