How are the Beijing Olympics Medals Made?

Selecting stones

Jade cutting

Jade polishing

Checkup details

Medal mould

Bronze medal

Medal machine tool

Medal after punching

Groove making machine

Groove checking-up

Putting jade into the medal

Finishing

Source: beijing2008.cn

Medal standings as of 20th Aug

TV Schedule for 20th,21st and 22th of Aug

Wednesday, Aug. 20

NBC and NBC HD, 10 a.m.-1 p.m. — Men's Volleyball Quarterfinal (LIVE); Women's Diving - Platform Competition

8 p.m.-Midnight — Track & Field - Gold Medal Finals: Men's 200-meter, Women's 400-meter Hurdles; Gymnastics Gala Exhibition; Women's Beach Volleyball Gold Medal Match (LIVE); Women's Diving - Platform Semifinal (LIVE); Cycling - BMX Gold Medal Finals (LIVE)

12:35-2 a.m. — Women's Volleyball - Semifinal (LIVE); Women's Track & Field - Hammer Throw Gold Medal Final; Women's Beach Volleyball Bronze Medal Match

CNBC and CNBC HD, Midnight-2 a.m. — Softball Semifinal

5-8 p.m. — Boxing - 51kg, 75kg Quarterfinals

USA and USA HD, 2 a.m.-Noon — Men's Basketball Quarterfinal (LIVE); Canoeing Semifinals (LIVE); Women's Swimming - Marathon Gold Medal Final; Men's Water Polo

MSNBC, 5 a.m.-5 p.m. — Softball Bronze Medal (LIVE); Men's Volleyball; Baseball - USA vs. Japan; Freestyle Wrestling 66kg, 74kg Gold Medal Finals; Table Tennis; Men's Handball Quarterfinal

OXYGEN, 6-8 p.m. — Synchronized Swimming - Duet Gold Medal Final

TELEMUNDO, 2-6 a.m. — Men's Basketball Quarterfinal; Track & Field Gold Medal Finals; Men's Diving - Springboard Competition

8-10 a.m. — Men's Beach Volleyball Semifinal; Gymnastics - Individual Event Gold Medal Finals

Midnight-1 a.m. — TBA

UNIVERSAL HD — 24-hour MSNBC, & CNBC HD Simulcasts and Coverage

NBC OLYMPIC BASKETBALL CHANNEL, 2:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. — Men's Games

NBC OLYMPIC SOCCER CHANNEL, 6 a.m.-6 p.m. — Best of Women's & Men's Semifinals
___

Thursday, Aug. 21

NBC and NBC HD, 10 a.m.-1 p.m. — Men's Swimming - Marathon; Gymnastics - Rhythmic Competition; Women's Water Polo Gold Medal Match; Equestrian - Individual Jumping Gold Medal Final; Softball Gold Medal Game Report

8 p.m.-Midnight — Track & Field Gold Medal Finals: Men's 400-meter, Men's 110-meter Hurdles, Men's Triple Jump; Women's 200-meter, Women's Javelin Throw, Men's Decathlon Day 1; Women's Diving - Platform Gold Medal Final; Men's Beach Volleyball - Gold Medal Match (LIVE)

12:35-2 a.m. — Men's Volleyball Semifinal (LIVE); Men's Beach Volleyball Bronze Medal Match

CNBC and CNBC HD, Midnight-2 a.m. — Women's Track & Field - 20k Walk

5-8 p.m. — Freestyle Wrestling 84kg, 96kg, 120kg Gold Medal Finals

USA and USA HD, 2 a.m.-Noon — Women's Soccer Gold Medal Match (LIVE); Softball Gold Medal Game (LIVE); Canoeing Semifinals (LIVE); Freestyle Wrestling 84kg, 96kg, 120kg Competition; Women's Table Tennis Quarterfinals; Men's Table Tennis

MSNBC, 5 a.m.-5 p.m. — Women's Basketball Semifinal (LIVE); Women's Soccer Bronze Medal Match (LIVE); Women's Water Polo Bronze Medal Match (LIVE); Women's Handball Semifinals; Women's Volleyball Semifinal

OXYGEN, 6-8 a.m. — Gymnastics Gala Exhibition

TELEMUNDO, 2-6 a.m. — Track & Field Gold Medal Finals; Women's Diving - Platform Competition and Semifinal

8-11 a.m. — Women's Soccer - Gold Medal Match (LIVE); Women's Beach Volleyball Gold Medal Match

Midnight-1 a.m. — TBA

UNIVERSAL HD — 24-hour MSNBC, & CNBC HD Simulcasts and Coverage

NBC OLYMPIC SOCCER CHANNEL, 6 a.m.-6 p.m. — Women's Gold Medal Match

NBC OLYMPIC BASKETBALL CHANNEL, 8 a.m.-8 p.m. — Women's Semifinals
___

Friday, Aug. 22

NBC and NBC HD, 10 a.m.-1 p.m. — Men's Basketball Semifinal (LIVE); Canoeing - Gold Medal Finals; Women's Table Tennis - Gold Medal Final

8 p.m.-Midnight — Track & Field - Gold Medal Finals: Men's 4x100-meter Relay, Men's Pole Vault, Women's 4x100-meter Relay, Women's Long Jump, Women's 5000-meter, Men's Decathlon 1500-meter; Men's Diving - Platform Semifinal (LIVE); Gymnastics - Rhythmic Competition

12:35-2 a.m. - Women's Volleyball Bronze Medal Match (LIVE); Men's Table Tennis - Singles Semifinals; Synchronized Swimming Team Competition

CNBC and CNBC HD, Midnight-4 a.m. — Boxing 51kg, 57kg, 64kg, 75kg, 91kg Semifinals (LIVE); Baseball Semifinal (LIVE)

5-8 p.m. — Boxing 48kg, 54kg, 60kg, 69kg, 81kg, 91kg-plus Semifinals

USA and USA HD, 2 a.m.-Noon — Men's Basketball Semifinal (LIVE); Men's Water Polo Semifinal (LIVE); Track & Field - Men's 50k Walk; Women's Table Tennis - Singles Semifinal; Men's Table Tennis Quarterfinals; Canoeing Gold Medal Finals

MSNBC, 5 a.m.-5 p.m. — Men's Soccer Bronze Medal Match (LIVE); Baseball Semifinal; Men's Volleyball Semifinal; Women's Field Hockey Bronze Medal Game; Women's Modern Pentathlon; Women's Mountain Bike; Men's Handball Semifinal

OXYGEN, 6-8 p.m. — Women's Field Hockey Gold Medal Game

TELEMUNDO, 2-6 a.m. — Women's Diving - Platform Gold Medal Final; Track & Field Gold Medal Finals; Men's Beach Volleyball Gold Medal Match

6:55-10 a.m. — Men's Soccer Bronze Medal Match (LIVE); Men's Basketball Semifinal (LIVE)

11 p.m.-2 a.m. — Men's Soccer Gold Medal Match (LIVE)

UNIVERSAL HD — 24-hour MSNBC, & CNBC HD Simulcasts and Coverage

NBC OLYMPIC SOCCER CHANNEL, 7 a.m.-7 p.m. — Men's Bronze Medal Match and Women's Gold Medal Match

NBC OLYMPIC BASKETBALL CHANNEL, 8 a.m.-8 p.m. — Men's Semifinals

Jitender follows Akhil Kumar while Vijender ensures another medal..

Bhiwani volcano erupted on the Equadorian.....

Indian boxer Vijender Singh ensured another medal for India at the Beijing Olympics by outpunching Carlos Gongora of Ecuador in the quarterfinal of the 75kg category bout today.
With this victory, he is now assured of at least a bronze medal.



He led all the rounds over Equadorian and clinched the bout 9-4. Although Carlos managed to close the gap in the last round but Vijender's evading tactics and excellent footwork won him the bout.
Video
http://olympics.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/showvideo/3386135.cms


Jitender Kumar lost to Russia's Georgy Balakshin in the quarter-finals of the 51kg flyweight category in the Beijing Olympics.

The Indian boxer lost the bout 15-11 against his experienced Russian rival and European champion at the Workers' Gymnasium to end hopes of a medal.

The Russian took the lead of 2 - 1 in the first round itself. But they both equaly done well with 5 points each in the second round...But Russian raced ahead with counter punches and won the secured points in 3rd and 4th rounds to win the semi berth..

"I'm sorry I could not win the medal but I tried my best," rued Jitender, blood dripping from the cut he had received in the chin.

His other 10 wounds from previous match also made him weak in the match.

Video
http://olympics.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/showvideo/3385994.cms

The other day boxer Akhil Kumar from Bhiwani failed to qualify for the semifanals.

Another bronze for India through Sushil Kumar

Freestyle wrestler Sushil Kumar wins a historic bronze medal in the 66kg category in the Beijing Olympics. Sushil Kumar beat Kazakhistan’s Leonid Spiridonov in a play-off bout for the Bronze medal..


Against Leonid, Sushil grabbed early initiative by scoring two technical points that proved decisive in the end.

Though the Kazakh wrestler scored one in the second period and managed to thwart Sushil, the Indian proved his superiority again in the third period and eventually prevailed 3-2 to trigger frenzied celebration among the Indians present at the venue.

"I thought I'll do whatever it takes and the end result is the medal is mine. It's an unforgettable moment in my life and it seems I'm living in a dream," Sushil said.

"Probably you may say that there was no expectation from the people back home and the media too. But me and my coach (Satpal) always knew I had a fair chance of winning a medal and I'm happy I could achieve that," a beaming Sushil said after winning the medal at the China Agricultural University.

"While it is good not to have that burden of expectation on your shoulder, I think we can give even more provided we get better facilities," said the wrestler.

Video
http://olympics.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/showvideo/3385025.cms

Ramazan Sahin won Turkey's first gold medal of the Olympics with victory in the same competition over Ukraine's Andriy Stadnik. Sahin emerged victorious from a close encounter, 2-2 2-1 2-2, to add Olympic gold to his world and European crowns.

Another Jamaican digs gold in 400m Hurdles...

Another Jamaican Melanie Walker wins the 400m Hurdles in Beijing Olympics 2008...

She set a new Olympics record of 52.64s in the final..

Terrific run by Bolt...Gold in 200m...

Terrific man....terrific..

He looks into the electronic timer and screams.....

oh....The 200m race won by the Jamaican with a world record time of 19.30S leaving behind the others over 5m..

The world record of 19.32S set by American Michael Johnson in the 1996 Olympic Games has become history in the "Lightning Bolt".

Usain Bolt is dancing now....

His win comes day before his 22th birthday....

The 21-year-old had already broken the 100m world mark in the Games when he became the fastest man in the world in 9.69 seconds.

Churandy Martina of the Dutch Antilles got the silver in 19.82 seconds and Shawn Crawford of the United States won the bronze in 19.96 seconds.

Medal standings upto 50 as of 19th..

Easy for Bayeva.....

The cute bird of Russia flies over the pole as well as bird's nest..

Yelena Isinbayeva won a second consecutive gold in the pole vault and broke her world and Olympic records in the process.

With a world record if 5.05m, Yelena Isinbayeva won the gold medal in Beijing Olympics. This is the 24 time she breaking the world record set by herself. The last world record 4.95m was only 20 days old. She broke the record in her 3rd attempt itself.

26-year-old Isinbayeva's only close competitor was United States' Jennifer Stuczynski. But her challenge ended in 4.80m.

"I was trying to do my best for the crowd," she said afterwards. "It makes me happy, so happy, I felt that I could not go out without the world record because of the support the crowd gave me." She said.

So, with 50,000 spectators clapping her on, she set about an assault on her own records, beginning with the Olympic mark of 4.92m that she set in the Athens final.

Sergey Bubka, the great Ukrainian vaulter who set 35 world records himself, was in the stadium to watch. He would have approved of the manner in which Isinbayeva has raised the mark one centimetre at a time, just as he did, making himself rich in reward money as he did so. "I will do it," she replied when asked whether she could surpass Bubka's tally, "I just have 12 more to go. Life would be boring without records to break, so I want to continue on forever."

"It is hard to be more perfect than this. I will still improve and the next goal is London," she confirmed.

Pics
Videos:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYFRLovltCM

http://www.celebrity-link.com/c114/showcelebrity_categoryid-11492.html

http://www.metacafe.com/tags/isinbayeva/

http://china.global-travel.mobi/beijing-olympics-clips/Olympics%20Yelena%20Isinbayeva/

http://www.mahalo.com/Yelena_Isinbayeva

http://www.perfectpeople.net/celebrity-star/4783/yelena-isinbayeva.htm

Romanian ruled the floor..not Johnson or Liukin

Romania's Sandra Izbasa grabbed the gold medal on floor away from world champion Shawn Johnson at the Beijing Olympics.

All-around champ Nastia Liukin took bronze, giving the United States two medals in the event and its women's team five total medals.

Johnson, who also won silver in the all-around, had the unwanted chore of going first. Her performance lacked the usual flair, but a series of somersaults and twists at the end drew a roar from the crowd — and the mark she seemed to need to hold on: 15.50.

But Izbasa, the final competitor, wowed the judges, who gave her a 15.65. Izbasa also helped her country get bronze in the team finals.

Source

Medal standings as of 17th..

Source

Russia's first athletics gold medal from women's Steeplechase

Gulnara Samitova-Galkina of Russia led all the way to win the women's steeplechase gold medal with a world record performance at the Beijing Olympic Games .
The 30-year-old finisehd in 8 minutes 58.81 seconds, breaking the previous record of 9:01.59 set by herself four years ago.

Eunice Jepkorir of Kenya claimed the silver medal in 9:07.41. She outsprinted another Russian Ekaterina Volkova in the final 100 meters to catch the medal and broke the African record.

Volkova, last year's gold winner at the Osaka world championships, finished to claim the bronze in 9:07.64.

It was Russia's first athletics gold medal at the Beijing Olympic Games.

Source

Lin Dan claims Badminton singles Gold

Chinese shuttler Lin Dan claimed the Men's Singles title at the Beijing Olympics, beating Lee Chong-wei from Malaysia 21-12, 21-8 in the final.

China's Chen Jin beat Lee Hyun-il from the Republic of Korea 21-16,12-21, 21-14 in the bronze medal match.

Koreans took over Indonesians

World No. 1 pair Liliyana Natsir and Nova Widianto of Indonesia failed utterly in the final of Mixed Doubles Badminton final in Beijing to World No. 10 Lee Hyo-jung and Lee Yong-dae of the Republic of Korea.


The final gone in 39 minutes with a 21-11, 21-17 ROK victory, turned out to be a disastrous ousting for the heavily favored World No. 1, who dominated the event in recent years. On the previous day, the ROK's two Lees stunned another Indonesian pair, third-seeded Flandy Limpele and Vita Marissa, in a thrilling three-game match to qualify for the finals.
Source

French outruns USA in fencing to take Gold..

The final gold medal in Fencing goes to France. .It gained one more Gold medal by defeating the United States 45-37 in the Men's Team Sabre final.

In the outstanding Fencing final, France's Boris Sanson, Nicolas Lopez and Julien Pillet took a comfortable 20-11 lead after only four bouts. The US athletes Keeth Smart, Tim Morehouse and James Williams weren't able to catch up and trailed 30-21, 35-23, 40-28 to lose to the French
Sabre team 45-37.

The bronze medal goes to Italy after they outscored Russia 45-44.

"We were very unlucky in the semifinals but we're still very happy with our bronze medal. It is an important medal to win, especially on the last day of Fencing," said Italian fencer Luigi Tarantino.
Source

Table Tennis: First Gold to China

The first gold medal ever for the Table Tennis Team event went to China. The silver medal went to Singapore .They fought well and the match was so hard from the host they couldn't outrun Chinese at the Peking University Gymnasium.

Olympic veteran Wang Nan of China played the first match against Singapore's Feng Tianwei winning 3-1. World No. 1 Zhang Yining (CHN) faced a determined Li Jiawei (SIN) in the second match. After losing the first game to Li, Zhang found her pace and ultimately overtook the Singaporean 3-1. In the doubles match, China's Zhang Yining joined forces with teammate Guo Yue and claimed a 3-0 victory.

The win had not come as easy as hoped. Chinese President Hu Jintao and International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge were present among the cheering crowd. This kept the Chinese team on the pressure to win the match
Source

Phelps Creates History!! Crosses Spitz Record of 7!

Phelps became the first man to win eight gold medals at the one Olympics

Michael Phelps won his record eighth gold medal of the Beijing Games on Sunday to become the grandest of Olympic champions.

Jason Lezak held on to the lead Phelps gave him, anchoring the United States to a world record in the 400-meter medley relay against an Australian team that did its best to spoil history.

But Phelps, with a big hand from three teammates, would not be denied. He eclipsed Mark Spitz's seven-gold performance at the 1972 Munich Games, an iconic performance that was surpassed by a swimmer fitting of this generation: a 23-year-old from Baltimore who loves hip-hop music and texting with his buddies.

Source: NDTV

Medal standings as of 16th Eve..

Thunder "Bolt"...in 9.69 Seconds

Oh man......what a magnificent run.....

The world record of 9.72 is history now...The fastest man on earth is now Usain Bolt..

Jamaica's Usain Bolt crashed the 100 m race for men in Beijing Olympics in 9.69 seconds...

Starting in Lane 4, Bolt got a mediocre start out of the blocks but blew away the rest of the field in the final 50 meters, spreading his arms with three strides to go and pounding his chest before crossing the line in 9.69 seconds unofficially. If he had held his form through the tape, he may have run in the 9.5’s.

His rival Jamaican Asafa Powell could finish only fifth..

Boxer Vijender Kumar Enters Quarters in Style!!

Indian boxer Vijender Kumar defeated Thailand's Angkhan Chomphuphuang in the 75 kg category of the boxing event on Saturday.

Vijender dominated the bout and trounced his Thai rival 13-3.

Earlier in the day, pugilist Jitender Kumar advanced to the quarterfinals in the flyweight category.

he Haryana government Saturday announced that any boxer from the state who reaches the quarter-final stage at the Beijing Olympics would get a cash reward of Rs.2.5 million (Rs.25 lakh).
So its all raining money foe these boxers!!

Medal Standing as of 16th.

Spaniard in Final....

Spaniard Rafael Nadal reached the men's singles final at the Olympic tennis event after thrashing Novak Djokovic 6-4, 1-6, 6-4 in the semifinals on Friday.

The Serbian world number three hit a volley long to give the incoming world number one the first win on hard surface this season after battling for two hours and 10 minutes.

Nadal now leads 10-4 over Djokovic in career.

The 22-year-old will meet Chilean Fernando Gonzalez in the final on Sunday while the Serb will face American eighth seed James Blake in the bronze medal match on Saturday.

Zhang Ning wins badminton women's singles Olympic gold

Zhang Ning beat Xie Xingfang 21-12, 10-21 and 21-18 to take the women's badminton singles gold medal in an all-Chinese final at the Beijing Olympic Games.

Zhang Ning

Xie Xingfang

Earlier, Maria Kristin Yulianti of Indonesia beat Chinese Lu Nan 11-21, 21-13 and 21-15 to take the bronze medal.

Maria Kristin Yulianti

Lu Nan

Phelps got away with 7th gold...

Phelps crowned in the 100-m butterfly...

Phelps surpassed Milorad Cavic of Serbia by a hundredth of a second in the 100-meter butterfly. He has one more event left to usurp Mark Spitz and stand alone with eight golds in a single games.

"I was starting to hurt a little bit with probably the last 10 meters," Phelps said after winning the 100 butterfly in 50.58 seconds. "That was my last individual race, so I was just trying to finish as strong as I could."

"I actually thought when I did take that half-stroke, I thought I lost the race there, but I guess that was the difference in the race," said Phelps, who set an Olympic record but failed for the first time to win a gold medal in Beijing with a world record.

The finish was so close the Serbs filed a protest. Swimming's governing body had to review the tape down to the 10-thousandth of a second, and the Serb delegation finally conceded that Phelps won after checking the tape.

"It goes to show you that not only is this guy the greatest swimmer of all time and the greatest Olympian of all time, he's maybe the greatest athlete of all time," Spitz said in a telephone interview from Detroit. "He's the greatest racer who ever walked the planet."

Andrew Lauterstein of Australia won the bronze medal in 51.12, and world record-holder Ian Crocker was again denied the first individual gold of his career.

World Champion Hammered By Indian Juggernaut!! Enters QuarterFinal

India's Akhil Kumar (R) fights Russian world champion Sergey Vodopyanov in the men's bantamweight (54kg) round of 16 boxing match at the Beijing 2008 Olympics August 15, 2008.

India's medal hope is still one more fight away, yet Akhil Kumar’s patriotic win must rank as one of finest performances by an Indian in an Olympic boxing ring. The Haryana boxer gave India a perfect Independence day gift by knocking out World Champion Sergey Vodopyanov of Russia to move into the quaterfinal of the bantamweight (54 kg) category. With the crowd rooting for him, Akhil came back from a huge 2-6 deficit to level at 9-9 and then win the judges nod to edge out his pedigreed Russian rival, and current world champion, Sergey against whom even a loss would not have been a matter of shame.

Current Medal Status- 15ht August

Source: http://en.beijing2008.cn/

TV Schedule for Aug 17 and 18: Olympic Games 2008

The following includes TV schedule of Beijing Olympic Games 2008 in CNBC, MSNBC, Telemundo (in Spanish), USA Network, Oxygen, Universal HD:

Sunday, Aug. 17

NBC and NBC HD, 10 a.m.-6 p.m. — Women's Basketball - USA vs. New Zealand (LIVE); Beach Volleyball Quarterfinal; Women's Volleyball - USA vs. Poland; Cycling - Track Gold Medal Finals; Women's Table Tennis - Team Gold Medal Final; Equestrian - Team Jumping Competition; Rowing - Gold Medal Finals

7 p.m.-Midnight — Gymnastics - Individual Event Gold Medal Finals: Men's Floor, Men's Pommel Horse, Women's Floor, Women's Vault; Track & Field Gold Medal Finals: Women's 100 and Steeplechase; Women's Diving - Springboard Gold Medal Final; Rowing - Eights Gold Medal Finals

12:35-2 a.m. — Track & Field Gold Medal Finals: Men's 10K and Women's Triple Jump; Men's Beach Volleyball Quarterfinal; Women's Triathlon

CNBC and CNBC HD, Midnight-2 a.m. — Women's Beach Volleyball Quarterfinal; Women's Weightlifting - Super Heavyweight Competition

3-7 p.m. — Boxing 64kg, 69kg, 91kg Quarterfinals

USA and USA HD, 2 a.m.-2 p.m. — Women's Beach Volleyball; Men's Tennis - Singles Gold Medal Final (LIVE); Women's Tennis - Doubles Gold Medal Final (LIVE); Cycling - Track Gold Medal Finals; Women's Handball - Russia vs. Germany; Men's Table Tennis - Team Bronze Playoff

MSNBC, 5 a.m.-5 p.m. — Softball - USA vs. Netherlands (LIVE); Women's Wrestling 63kg, 72kg Gold Medal Finals; Women's Table Tennis - Team Bronze; Badminton - Mixed Doubles Gold Medal Final; Men's Fencing - Team Sabre Gold Medal Final; Men's Badminton - Singles Gold Medal Final; Men's Weightlifting 94kg Competition; Women's Basketball - Australia vs. Russia; Women's Volleyball - Italy vs. Brazil; Women's Water Polo Quarterfinal

TELEMUNDO, 4 a.m.-2 p.m. — Swimming - Gold Medal Finals; Women's Volleyball; Women's Diving - Springboard Semifinal; Track & Field Gold Medal Finals; Women's Beach Volleyball; Baseball; Boxing; Gymnastics - Trampoline Competition

6-7:30 p.m. — Women's Beach Volleyball

Midnight-1 a.m. — TBA

UNIVERSAL HD — 24-hour MSNBC, & CNBC HD Simulcasts and Coverage

NBC OLYMPIC BASKETBALL CHANNEL, 2:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. — Women's games

NBC OLYMPIC SOCCER CHANNEL, 6 a.m.-6 p.m. — Best of Men's & Women's games
___

Monday, Aug. 18

NBC and NBC HD, 10 a.m.-1 p.m. — Men's Volleyball - USA vs. Japan (LIVE); Track & Field; Men's Diving - Springboard Competition; Men's Beach Volleyball

8 p.m.-Midnight — Gymnastics - Individual Event Gold Medal Finals: Men's Rings, Men's Vault and Women's Uneven Bars; Track & Field Gold Medal Finals: Men's Steeplechase, Men's 400-meter Hurdles, Men's Long Jump; Women's 800, Women's Discus Throw, Women's Pole Vault; Women's Beach Volleyball Semifinal (LIVE); Women's Gymnastics - Trampoline Gold Medal Final

12:35-2 a.m. — Men's Diving Springboard Semifinal; Men's Triathlon

CNBC and CNBC HD, Midnight-2 a.m. — Softball - USA vs. China (LIVE)

5-8 p.m. — Boxing 54kg, 57kg, 91kg-plus Competition

USA and USA HD, 2 a.m.-Noon — Men's Basketball - USA Game (LIVE); Men's Water Polo - USA vs. Germany (LIVE); Canoeing (LIVE); Women's Field Hockey - USA vs. Britain (LIVE); Men's Table Tennis - Team Gold Medal Final & Bronze Medal Final; Women's Table Tennis Singles Competition

MSNBC, 5 a.m.-5 p.m. — Men's Basketball - Argentina vs. Russia (LIVE); Women's Soccer Semifinals (LIVE); Baseball - USA vs. China; Cycling - Track Gold Medal Finals; Men's Handball - Germany vs. Denmark; Men's Weightlifting 105kg Competition; Men's Beach Volleyball

OXYGEN, 6-8 p.m. — Equestrian - Team Jumping Final

TELEMUNDO, 2-6 a.m. — Gymnastics - Individual Event Gold Medal Finals; Women's Diving - Springboard Gold Medal Final; Track & Field Gold Medal Finals

8 a.m.-Noon — Women's Soccer Semifinal (LIVE); Men's Beach Volleyball; Boxing

Midnight-1 a.m. — TBA

UNIVERSAL HD — 24-hour MSNBC, & CNBC HD Simulcasts and Coverage

NBC OLYMPIC BASKETBALL CHANNEL, 2:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. — Men's games

NBC OLYMPIC SOCCER CHANNEL, 6 a.m.-6 p.m. — Women's Semifinals

Paes, Bhupathi Crashes Out! Quarterfinal Loss

Mahesh Bhupathi and Leander Paes play against Switzerland's Roger Federer and Wawrinka

India's only hope of another medal which rested on, Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi crashed out of the men's double at the 2008 Olympics losing in straight sets to the Swiss pair Roger Federer and Stanislas Warwinka in men's doubles quarterfinal on Friday.

The fourth seeded Federer and Warwinka defeated the Indians, seeded seventh, 6-2, 6-4 at the Olympic Green Tennis Centre.

Medal Standings as of 15th morning..

Phelps now with SIXTH gold...2 to go!! Attaining Immortality

MICHAEL Phelps has won his sixth gold medal of the Olympic Games, taking out the 200m individual medley final in world-record time of 1min54.23.

Laszlo Cseh of Hungary was second, 2.29sec behind Phelps and Ryan Lochte of the United States third.

Cseh challenged Phelps over the first 100m, but Phelps smashed the field in the breaststroke leg and then swam away in the last 50m.

Tomorrow, Phelps will swim in the final of the 100m butterfly to tie Mark Spitz's record of seven gold medals.

On Sunday his last event will be the men's 4x100m medley relay.
Source

Downfall of the giant.....

Definitely, not a good day for Roger Federer..

Federer slumped to a 6-4 7-6 (7-2) defeat in the quarter finals of the Beijing Olympics at the hands of,James Blake, American who had lost all eight previous encounters with the long-time world No.1. It was a shocking threat from the American and Federer couldnt avert it.

Earlier the Swiss player had complained about the schedule and was not happy with making the players play nearly 10 matches in 7 days..

I guess, he dont have to complaint anymore...:-(

The Goldfinger Returns Home Sweet Home

India's first individual gold medalist Abhinav Bindra said that he would like to dedicate his gold medal to all athletes, who can now dream big.

Gold medalist shooter Abhinav Bindra with his parents after the arrival at IGI Airport in New Delhi on Wednesday Night.

Gold medalist shooter Abhinav Bindra with his parents after the arrival at IGI Airport in New Delhi on Wednesday Night.

Abhinav Bindra poses with his medal, family and supporters at the New Delhi airport.

President Pratibha Patil displays the gold medal of Indian shooter Abhinav Bindra to the media at the presidential palace in Delhi

Bindra said that he is overwhelmed by the reception that he got on his arrival,he told the media persons in New Delhi,

Abhinav Bindra shot an overall score of (596+140.5) 700.5 in a thrilling finale, which went right down to the last shot.

Bindra's historic feat has bettered the silver medal feat of double trap shooter Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore in Athens 2004.

Source: NDTV

Mobile Olympics!

One Mean Machine

The 67-year-old retiree happily showed off his pride and joy, a decked-out motorised tricycle that he has converted into a sort of roving Olympics advertisement, covered in stickers of the Fuwa (the official mascots of the Games), official slogans like “One World, One Dream”, and a fair share of Cadillac emblems for good measure.

He told me, glowing, how his grandson enjoys being picked up from school in the mean machine, techno blaring on the speakers he’s installed on it; how it’s helped him meet many people, folks like me who were just curious; how he swaps ideas on new designs with other enthusiasts; how he plans to upgrade to an aluminium frame from the heavier steel.

Source: Reuters

Live Streaming of Olympic Matches!!

To watch the Olympic matches live click on the link below:

http://www.asiaplatetv.com/aptv_others.htm


Go through the following the tutorial to learn how to watch the matches live:

http://www.asiaplate.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2633

TV Schedule for Aug 15 and 16: Olympic Games 2008

The following includes TV schedule of Beijing Olympic Games 2008 in CNBC, MSNBC, Telemundo (in Spanish), USA Network, Oxygen, Universal HD:


Friday, Aug. 15

NBC and NBC HD, 10 a.m.-1 p.m. — Swimming; Track & Field; Beach Volleyball; Women's Water Polo - USA vs. Russia

8 p.m.-Midnight — Swimming (LIVE): Gold Medal Finals: Men's 100-meter Butterfly, Men's 50-meter Freestyle, Women's 200-meter Backstroke, Women's 800-meter Freestyle and Women's 50-meter Freestyle semifinal; Track and Field - Men's 100-meter competition, Men's Shot Put Gold Medal Final; Beach Volleyball (LIVE); Men's Volleyball - USA vs. China

12:35-2 a.m. — Women's Track & Field - 10,000-meter Gold Medal Final; Women's Diving - Springboard Competition

CNBC and CNBC HD, Midnight-4:30 a.m. — Softball - USA vs. Japan (LIVE); Boxing 57kg, 60kg Competition (LIVE)

5-8 p.m. — Boxing 57kg, 60kg Competition

USA and USA HD, 2 a.m.-Noon — Women's Soccer Quarterfinal (LIVE); Women's Basketball - USA vs. Spain (LIVE); Baseball - USA vs. Cuba; Tennis Semifinals; Beach Volleyball; Men's Archery - Individual Gold Medal Final; Cycling Track Events Competition

MSNBC, 5 a.m.-5 p.m. — Women's Volleyball - USA vs. China (LIVE); Women's Soccer Quarterfinals; Beach Volleyball; Women's Badminton - Doubles Gold Medal Final; Women's Handball - France vs. Norway; Men's Weightlifting 85kg Gold Medal Final; Women's Table Tennis - Team Semifinal; Women's Water Polo - Netherlands vs. Australia and Hungary vs. Greece

OXYGEN, 6-8 p.m. — Equestrian - Jumping Competition; Tennis Semifinal

TELEMUNDO, 2-6 a.m. — Swimming Gold Medal Finals; Women's Volleyball; Women's Gymnastics - Individual All-Around Competition

8 a.m.-Noon — Women's Soccer (LIVE); Beach Volleyball; Boxing

Midnight-1 a.m. — TBA

UNIVERSAL HD — 24-hour MSNBC, & CNBC HD Simulcasts and Coverage

NBC OLYMPIC BASKETBALL CHANNEL, 2:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. — Women's games

NBC OLYMPIC SOCCER CHANNEL, 6 a.m.-6 p.m. — Women's games
___

Saturday, Aug. 16

NBC and NBC HD, 10 a.m.-6 p.m. — Men's Basketball - USA vs. Spain (LIVE); Track & Field; Men's & Women's Gymnastics - Trampoline Competition; Beach Volleyball; Women's Diving - Springboard Semifinals; Men's Water Polo - USA vs. Croatia; Rowing - Gold Medal Finals; Cycling - Track Gold Medal Final; Women's Badminton - Singles Gold Medal Finals

7:30 p.m.-Midnight — Swimming (LIVE): Gold Medal Finals: Men's 4x100-meter Medley Relay, Men's 1500-meter Freestyle, Women's 50m Freestyle, Women's 4x100-meter Medley Relay; Track & Field - Women's Marathon (LIVE), Women's 100-meter Competition, Men's 100-meter, Women's Heptathlon and Women's Shot Put Final

12:30-2 a.m. — Women's Beach Volleyball - USA Match; Women's Track & Field - 800-meter Semifinals

CNBC and CNBC HD, Midnight-4:30 a.m. — Softball - USA vs. Taiwan (LIVE); Boxing 51kg, 75kg Competition (LIVE)

5-8 p.m. — Boxing 48kg, 75kg Competition

USA and USA HD, 2 a.m.-2 p.m. — Women's Tennis - Singles Gold Medal Final (LIVE) and Singles Bronze Medal Match; Track & Field - Men's 20k Walk; Men's Tennis - Doubles Gold Medal Final and Men's Singles Bronze Medal Match; Women's Field Hockey - USA vs. New Zealand; Cycling - Track Gold Medal Finals; Men's Table Tennis Team Semifinals

MSNBC, 5 a.m.-5 p.m. — Men's Soccer Quarterfinals (LIVE); Baseball - USA vs. Canada; Women's Wrestling - 48kg, 55kg Gold Medal Finals (LIVE); Beach Volleyball; Men's Badminton - Doubles Gold Medal Final; Equestrian - Individual Dressage

TELEMUNDO, 2 a.m.-2 p.m. — Men's Soccer Quarterfinals (LIVE); Track & Field - Gold Medal Finals; Swimming - Gold Medal Finals; Men's Basketball; Women's Diving - Springboard Competition; Beach Volleyball; Baseball; Boxing

6-7:30 p.m. — Men's Volleyball

Midnight-1 a.m. — TBA

UNIVERSAL HD — 24-hour MSNBC, & CNBC HD Simulcasts and Coverage

NBC OLYMPIC BASKETBALL CHANNEL, 2:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. — Men's games

NBC OLYMPIC SOCCER CHANNEL, 6 a.m.-6 p.m. — Men's games

Current Medal Standings-14th August

Source

Medal standings as of 13th

Watch Phelps online....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sc84iGmQgEo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Gm4tkBZhvQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ssSkC6ZAstw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYdmo8DMIuQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bsgwhGYNrIc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZORYAFgINc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=21lUFXQ4ycE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-uy_GiEPX80

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Hst2dbhFlI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Hst2dbhFlI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Wf4kGtNp00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXbNx422hrk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yx1RbBVwJTA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7VQzrJTxMA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdn6XNhL0k8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rFneBYY4m2Y

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WOAR_wuCjOU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MBgWYh9G9Sw

Top List

Top 10-1 Beautiful Women at Beijing Olympics..

10. Tatiana Golovin – France

9. Stephanie Rice – Australia

8. Victoria Pendleton – Great Britain

7. Lauren Jackson – Australia

6. Jelena Jankovic – Serbia

5. Amanda Beard – United States

4. Alona Bondarenko – Ukraine

3. Rita Dravucz – Hungary

2. Maria Sharapova – Russia

1. Alexandra Orlando – Canada

Source

Hot Olympic Girls 4

20-11

20. Naide Gomes – Portugal

19. Yelena Isinbayeva – Russia


18. Sue Bird – United States

17. Jenny Adams – United States

16. Luciana Aymar – Argentina

15. Margherita Granbassi – Italy

14. Heather Mitts – United States

13. Natalie Coughlin – United States

12. Susanna Kallur – Sweden

11. Allyson Felix – United States

Source

Hot Olympic Girls 3

30-21

30. Britta Steffen – Germany

29. Ana Ivanovic – Serbia

28. Christine Arron – France

27. Ricarda Lisk – Germany

26. Sophie Edington – Australia

25. Katerina Emmons – Czech Republic

24. Kelly Sotherton – Great Britain

23. MeLisa Barber – United States

22. Charlotte Craig – United States

21. Marta – Brazil

Source

Hot Olympic Girls 2

40-31

40. Ayumi Morita – Japan

39. Annabelle Orme – United States

38. Diana Lopez – United States

37. Sanya Richards – United States

36. Chantelle Newbery – Australia

35. Jessica Ennis – Great Britain

34. Elizabeth Beisel – United States

33. Agnes Szavay – Hungary

32. Almudena Cid – Spain

31. Leisel Jones – Australia

Source:

Hot Olympic Girls 1

Wanna Spice up Olympics a bit...?

Here we go...

The 50 Most Beautiful Women of the 2008 Beijing Olympics:

50-41

50. Dara Torres – United States

49. Yelena Soboleva – Russia

48. Katerina Bad’urova – Czech Republic

47. Venus Williams – United States

46. Cat Osterman – United States

45. Bronte Barratt – Australia

44. Gro Hammerseng – Norway

42. Veronica Campbell-Brown – Jamaica

41. Katy Livingston – Great Britain

Source

Shark strikes again.......now with 11 golds.

Greatest Olympian: America's Michael Phelps has won his fourth and fifth gold medals in Beijing and his 10th and 11th overall.Photo: Getty

Baltimore Bullet takes his Olympic gold medal tally to 11 over all .

The victory was not smooth for him. Laslo Cseh and Takeshi Matsuda tried their best to challenged him all the way in a thrilling finale to the men's 200 metres butterfly.

Phelps, who touched the wall in a world record time of 1 minute and 52.09 seconds, was physically exhausted and later he complained about his goggles.

"My goggles were filling up with water during the race, and I had trouble seeing the wall," he said.

"I wanted the world record. I wanted a 1:51 or better, but given the circumstances it's not too bad, I guess."

He ended the first race 4-for-4 in both, setting his latest world record in 1:52.03 and becoming the first athlete ever to win 10 Olympic gold medals.

Later he added an 11th, and fifth in these Olympics, grabbing an obscene lead while swimming the first leg of the 4 x 200 freestyle relay gold-medal team that also included Ryan Lochte, Ricky Berens and Peter Vanderkaay.

And yes, it set another world record, in 6:58.56, obliterating the previous record by 4.68 seconds, finishing more than 5 seconds ahead of runner-up Russia.

Whats cooking....? Bill Gates in Beijing...

Bill Gates in Beijing...

Bill Gates watched badminton matches at the ongoing Olympic Games here on Monday morning, and joked he was a badminton player.

Gates, founder of Microsoft and once the richest man in the world, said the competitions were "great" and he was impressed. When asked if he had been a badminton player, he replied with smiles "I became one."

He wrote "badminton is great" and signed his name at the Badminton World Federation's signature book.

The matches in the Beijing University of Technology Gymnasium on Monday morning were between the world top men's singles, women's singles and women's doubles players, in which the defending Olympic women's doubles champion Yang Wei and Zhang Jiewen were ousted early in the quarterfinals.

Praise on China



















































Microsoft co-founder said the "fantastically managed" Beijing Olympics had helped show the important role China will play in the world.

"I've had a wonderful trip this week. I started off by having a chance to go to the Olympic Games' opening ceremony, and see a lot of those games, which were fantastically managed," he told a packed audience in Hong Kong.

He was speaking at an event celebrating the 10th anniversary of Microsoft Research Asia, the software company's research arm in the Asia Pacific region.

"It really is a milestone, which shows the world the opportunities we have if we all work together, and have places like Hong Kong and China which will be such an important part of the future," he said.

"I also will get to spend some time here and see the Olympic events, and then go back up to Beijing and see more there," he said.

Gates also met Hong Kong's chief executive Donald Tsang on Tuesday to discuss his vision for the IT industry and developing Hong Kong into a leading digital city, his spokesman said.-AFP

Source

Aaron Peirsol Breaks his own world record in 100M backstroke

AMERICAN Aaron Peirsol smashed his own world record in defending his 100m backstroke Olympic crown yesterday.

The 25-year-old carved 0.35 seconds off his mark with a time of 52.54 and admitted his delight in a one-two American finish as Matt Grevers took silver in 53.11.

Russian Arkady Vyatchanin and Australian Hayden Stoeckel both took the bronze medal with a dead-heat of 53.18.

Peirsol, had lowered his own world record at the US trials in Omaha last month and the reigning world champion has now broken the 100m backstroke world mark five times since his victory in Athens four years ago.

But he said the exertion of winning his fourth Olympic gold medal took its toll.

“It doesn't get any easier, to be honest,” said Peirsol.

“The knowledge and experience you have done it once and can probably do it again does help. That is what I tried to keep in mind, but I really wanted to race and the guys around me pushed me to what I did today.”

“The best thing about it was having Matt right behind me, we wanted an American 1-2 finish.” – AFP.

Medal Stindings till 13th morning..

Saina Crahes Out!! Flash News!

Saina Lost to her Indonesian counterpart today

The 18-year-old Indian went down 28-26 14-21 15-21 in the thrilling contest against her world number 16 rival.

However, unfazed by the initial setback Yulianti equalised in the next game, helped to a large extent by Saina's mistakes.

The decider looked like going Saina's way as she led 11-5 at one point but nerves got the better of the world number 15 Indian in the closing stages as Yulianti equalised before racing away with the game and the match.




















In the men's competition, Anup Sridhar has already made his exit, losing in the round of 16 of the men's singles event.

India's chances of getting a medal now lies entirely on Paes-Bhupathi pair, Sania Mirza withdrew from the tournament because of injury!