Wed July 23: Countdown to Beijing: THE ULTIMATE OLYMPIC PREVIEW

We are approximately two and a half weeks away from one of the most anticipated events of the decade--the Games of the XXIX Olympiad from Beijing, China. And to make up for lost time, here is my preview for the marquee events that most of us will be watching during the Games.

SWIMMING PREVIEW
The first week of the Olympic Games will be highlighted by gold medal action at the Water Cube, the National Aquatics Center, where the swimming events will take place. From the looks of things, the United States is likely to field one of the strongest and deepest swimming teams in Olympic history.

Men:
If the United States will dominate the pool, the most likely man to do so is Michael Phelps. Appearing in his third Olympic Games, Phelps will be looking to better his record in Athens four years ago, when he won six gold medals and two bronze medals. His strongest event will likely be the 200 meter butterfly, where he owns nine of the 10 fastest times ever. He will, however, face credible threats in the other seven events that he will be competing in.

The 200m freestyle was the most competitive event at the Athens Games where Ian Thorpe and Pieter van den Hoogenbond won gold and silver respectively while Phelps grabbed the bronze. Thorpe has retired but veteran swimmer van den Hoogenbond, at 30 years old, is still one of the better freestyle swimmers competing in the world. Phelps edged van den Hoogenbond last year at the world championships in world record time but the Dutch swimmer remains a huge contender in Beijing.

If Phelps can't win gold in certain events, then the man most likely to do so is his teammate, Ryan Lochte. The two swimmers had a fierce rivalry at the Olympic trials but Phelps consistently came out on top. Lochte is a huge threat to Phelps in the individual medley races, including the 200m and 400m events.

And while Phelps is expected to take gold in the 200m butterfly, the 100m butterfly may be a bit more difficult for Phelps to dominate. Fellow American swimmer Ian Crocker has a good chance of stealing the gold from Phelps in this event. He came close to doing so last year at the World Championships when he lost to Phelps by five one-hundredths of a second.

Specialists like Brendan Hansen and Aaron Peirsol make the U.S. swimming team look unstoppable coming into the games. Hansen is likely to take gold in the 100 meter breaststroke but will have to fend off his Japanese rival, Kosuke Kitajima, who took gold in this event in Athens. Kitajima should have no problem taking the gold in the 200 meter breaststroke after Hansen failed to qualify for this event at the trials. Since Hansen will only have one shot at individual gold, the storyline surrounding his rivalry with Kitajima becomes that much more interesting.

Meantime, Peirsol is a huge favorite to take the backstroke events in Beijing. He won gold in world record time in the 100 meter backstroke at the world championships. But like Phelps, he may fall to his teammate Ryan Lochte in the 200 meter event after Lochte edged Peirsol for gold last year in Melbourne.

The incredible depth that the United States has makes them a sure favorite in the relay events, especially the medley relay. Australia, however, always remains a contender, especially with swimmers like Grant Hackett, who is still in great shape to take the middle and long distance frestyle events.

Women:
American women are likely to be successful as well with Natalie Coughlin and Katie Hoff leading the way. At the same time, the rivalry with Australia is more intense on the women's side than on the men's side.

Coughlin is unmatched in the 100 meter backstroke as the defending Olympic and world champion. Katie Hoff could match Phelps's success in Athens as she comes in as one of the youngest and strongest female swimmers in the world. An incredible all-arounder, Hoff is a contender in the 200m, 400m and 800m freestyle events as well as the medley events.

Hoff does have a tough schedule ahead for her in Beijing as well as tough opponents that have good chances to take gold. One of her strongest opponents come from down under in Australia and include Stephanie Rice, who has traded world records with Hoff in the 400 meter individual medley this season.

Australia has huge chances to take gold in the breaststroke and butterfly events with Libby Trickett and Leisel Jones, both of whom gave the home crowd of Australia a thrill when the world championships were in Melbourne last year. Lisbeth Trickett (formerly Lisbeth Lenton before her marriage last year) took home gold in three individual events last year, including the 50 meter and 100 meter freestyle and the 100 meter butterfly. Leisel Jones owns the world record in the 100 meter breaststroke but may face opposition from American swimmer, Jessica Hardy, who has traded world record titles with Jones before.

The number of contenders from both Australia and the United States makes the women's relays the top event to watch in Beijing. Expect competitive swimming from both lanes of the pool, especially in the 4x100 meter medley and freestyle relays.

GYMNASTICS PREVIEW
Again, the United States are favorites in several events, including the team and individual all-around finals. But there are plenty of international contenders that can easily give the United States some difficulty in Beijing and have excellent chances of taking home the gold.

Men
The Chinese and the Japanese are likely to field very strong teams that could take home the top prizes in the team competition. The two teams won gold and silver respectively at last year's world championships in Stuttgart, Germany and have been consistently the top teams in the world. China's big driving force in the sport is Yang Wei, the two-time defending world champion in the men's individual all-around. He is known for getting high difficulty scores in his routines, combining complex elements with perfect execution in his performances. In last year's world championships, he put up a huge lead in the all-around going into the final rotation that despite a fall from the high bar, he still won the world championship. Yang Wei is also a contender in the pommel horse and rings competition.

Yang Wei will be likely matched by American gymnast and defending Olympic champion Paul Hamm, who made a spectacular comeback to win gold after falling from the dismount from his vault routine. Like at last year's world championship, Yang Wei had the lead coming into the final rotation but fell from his high bar routine and thus opening the door for Paul Hamm.

Hamm is hoping to lead the United States to success in Beijing after capturing the silver medal in the team event in Athens. Paul Hamm was named to the team despite being unable to compete at the Olympic Trials due to broken right hand. But he showed that he has recovered after putting up an excellent performance in front of a selection committee last Saturday at the U.S. Olympic training camp. Before breaking his hand, Paul Hamm showed that he is still a strong contender for gold in Beijing despite taking time off after the 2004 Olympics after winning the Tyson American Cup last March in New York.

Going to Beijing with him is his twin brother Morgan Hamm, named to the team despite testing positive for taking an anti-inflammatory drug during the U.S. National Championships. Joining the Hamm brothers is first time Olympian Jonathan Horton, who won the individual all-around at the Olympic Trials. Horton was part of the U.S. team that placed fourth in the world championships last year. He is the only member of that team that will be part of the Olympic team. Joe Hagerty, Justin Spring and Kevin Tan make up the rest of the men's U.S. Olympic gymnastics team.

But there are plenty of international stars that are likely to steal the show and the gold in Beijing. Diego Hypolito can bring historic gymnastics success to Brazil with a gold in the floor exercise. He is the current world champion and is the first male gymnast from South America to medal at the world championships. Veteran gymnast Marion Dragulescu from Romania is still a favorite for both the vault and floor exercise competition while Germnay's Fabian Hambuchen, current high bar world champion is a favorite in the event after leading the German team to a bronze medal in the team final and winning silver in the men's all-around.

The men's all-around will be the competition to watch with many superstars, veteran favorites and young hopefuls competing. The event could be the best of the men's program or even of the entire Olympic Games.

Women's preview still to come...

Mon July 7: Reviewing (And Analyzing) An Awesome Sports Week

My first full week of blogging about world sports turned out to be one of the most action packed sports weeks that I've been through, and the way it ended this past weekend gave every sports addict no reason to quit.

WIMBLEDON 2008
Nadal Better Than Federer?
The computers still say that Federer is number one in the world. To me, the simple answer is yes (Nadal is better), at least for now.

I think when we look back at it, Federer will be one of the most decorated players in the sport of tennis with his outstanding winning streak and number of grand slam titles. But in my eyes, Nadal is currently the top player in the world for a variety of reasons.

He's been consistently number 2 before his wins at the French Open and Wimbledon this year. For the past three years or so its always been these two fighting it out during the heart of the tennis season. If anyone could stop Federer, it's Nadal (though Fed has lost to other opponents in the past). And its been so obvious that Nadal has been getting closer to that number one spot. His fitness has been getting better, he's well conditioned and during the fortnight at the all-England club, he's had to fight slightly harder than Federer.

Comparing the two roads to the final, Nadal had a tougher road (though not by much). The only seeded player that Federer had to defeat was Lleyton Hewitt while Nadal had to face three. Federer never gave up a set in his road to the final while Nadal gave up one against Ernests Gulbis of Latvia in the second round.

And by beating Federer at his game, Nadal defeated long odds of capturing this title when you considered everything that happened. Nadal prevented Federer from winning his sixth consecutive Wimbledon title. And this year, Nadal has two grand slam titles while Federer has zero. Nadal captured the elusive double of French and Wimbledon titles. So while Federer will probably be remembered as one of the greatest, for now, he'll have to settle with being second.

The backcourt might have helped Nadal...
One important thing that I'd like to point out is that the backcourt was dustier than ever, which may have helped Nadal. As we all know, Nadal is a strong clay-courter and his record at the French Open shows this. At this year's Wimbledon, with the fewer amount of rain delays compared to previous years, the backcourt was roughed up a lot and much of the grass disappeared in that backcourt by the middle weekend. During finals weekend, when that backcourt looked more like a claycourt than a grass court, I noticed many athletes were slipping and sliding at the back court. And I'm sure that whatever moisture that was able to touch that backcourt before the "gremlins" covered it up during rain delays made the surface feel more like a claycourt than a grass court.

Now I'm not saying that the lack of grass at the backcourt greatly helped him, but it may have been a factor especially considering how close yesterday's final was. Federer made some noticable unforced errors and Nadal was able to get a lot of strong shots, including several running forehands. In reviewing yesterday's match, I was amazed at how quickly Nadal was able to travel across the court to retrieve balls that normally seems out of reach.

Wimbledon in Review...
Regardless of how it happened, it was a great final and an exclamation point on an awesome fortnight of tennis. Wimbledon 2008 will be remembered as the tournament of upsets and great weather that ended with rivalries that never failed to entertain the crowd. Congratulations to Venus Williams and Rafael Nadal and here's to what should be a great hardcourt season to come...

U.S. OLYMPIC TRIALS
I was also lucky to have my first week of blogging coincide with an event that only comes every four years: The Olympic Trials. We've had so many great stories develop out of the past week of swimming and track and field trials, as well as a lot of questions concerning the selection of the U.S. Olympic team.

Track and Field from Eugene, Oregon
I'll remember the Oregon trio that was able to get to Beijing after a thrilling 800 meter race. I'll also remember staying up until 1AM in the morning here on the East Coast to watch all the drama unfold. We'll all remember how Tyson Gay ran the fastest 100 meters any human has ever ran in any conditions (9.68 in a wind-aided race).

I'll also remember the upsets and the triumphs. How Jeremy Wariner DIDN'T win the 400 meters and athletes who didn't previously make the team now have their one chance. Like Lolo Jones who made the team after winning the women's 100m hurdles. And if you watched yesterday, you'll remember how great America is after three runners born outside of the United States made the Olympic team in the 1500m race, led by Kenyan-born Bernard Lagat, America's best chance for a gold medal in that event.

At the same time, we'll remember how cruel the trials are, and possibly how unfair it is. We'll remember how Tyson Gay, days after his remarkable win in the 100 meters, was unable to qualify for the Olympic 200m race after pulling up in a quarterfinal heat with a severe leg cramp. No matter how successful your season was, if you don't do well at the trials, you can't go to the Olympics. It's a rule that I disagree with and that should be changed. If you don't automatically qualify, but you've had one of the most awesome seasons ever, I think an athlete should at least petition himself for the Olympics.

The other side of the arguement will say that it's not fair to those who did do well at the trials, who have worked hard to peak at the right time. And if Tyson Gay is going to have cramps days after the 100 meters, whose to say that he won't cramp up again during the Olympics?

That might be true, but should an athlete's ability to win gold at the Olympics be judged by just one race or one event? While I think it makes a great story for television audiences and should be a primary part of the selection process, Olympic team organizers should be a little more open to selecting team members.

Swimming from Omaha, Nebraska
First off, congrats to Omaha for staging a great team trials. The region has been plagued by numerous flooding and tornadoes and this was a great event to bring confidence and hope back to the heartland.

The swim trials were headlined by Michael Phelps, at least at the start of the event. He's probably the only reason why NBC sent Bob Costas to the event. And it's true that he deserved to headline the event because he won all five of his events, two of them in world record time. But when I look back at these trials, I'll remember the rivalry that Phelps had (and will have at the Olympics) with Ryan Lochte. We'll also remember the talent that America found in Katie Hoff, the young 19-year-old that may become the new face of American swimming alongside veteran Natalie Coughlin, who broke several world records of her own during the trials.

The 200 meter breaststroke, like the 200 meter dash in track, showed the heartbreak of the trials, when Brendan Hansen finished in a shocking fourth-place. Like Gay, Hansen will be unable to compete in the 200m breaststroke in Beijing.

But it appears that the most interesting story out of the swimming trials is that of Dara Torres, the 41-year-old swimmer and mother who will make her fifth Olympic Games. Apparently, she has become the inspiration of middle-aged people everywhere. I guess NBC can count on that demographic to be viewers of the swimming events at this year's Olympics.

But seriously, I respect her enthusiasm and her performance as an athlete. It just proves that at any age, a person can be an elite athlete. It's great for the sport and great for sports in general to see more age diversity. It also silences the critics who say that you can be too old to be an athlete. All Torres is guilty of is living her life to the fullest.

YANKEES SPLIT SERIES WITH RED SOX...
Alex Rodriguez of the New York Yankees tied Mickey Mantle for 13th most home runs all-time, bringing him closer to being one of the best hitters of the game (in the regular season that is, postseason is a different story).
http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/yankees/2008/07/06/2008-07-06_arod_ties_knot_with_mickey_mantle_with_h.html

Meanwhile, Brett Gardner became the unlikely hero by hitting the winning RBI drive in a classic game between AL East Rivals. For New York fans, it was a rollercoaster ride that ended on a high note. More importantly, the four game series between the two teams was split two games each with the Yankees entering the final week before the All-Star break with a bit of momentum.
http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/yankees/2008/07/06/2008-07-06_brett_gardner_leads_yankees_over_red_sox.html

OTHER NOTES...
A blockbuster trade was made between the Cleveland Indians and the Milwaukee Brewers, regarding the American League Cy Young Winner CC Sabathia:
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5j_ZFiZGSwSzXzXqvEdxtg5tI_uWQD91P61K02

After the third stage of the Tour de France, it is the French riders who are enjoying success:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/08/sports/sportsspecial1/08tour.html

And finally, Sri Lanka can enjoy a national victory in the popular sport of cricket after their dominating victory over India in the Asia Cup final:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/cricket/7492421.stm

So a sports packed week comes to an end and things settle down a bit this week. Coming up tomorrow, check out my first post on the Tour de France and a little more attention will be paid to baseball as the All-Star Game approaches.

Thanks so much for reading. Monday always has the longest blog because I'll always look back at what is usually a pack weekend in sports. Hope you enjoyed my first week and I'm sure it will get better. If this is your first time here, leave a comment because I'm always looking for a way to make it better.