The Unofficial 2008 Beijing Olympics Blog

China’s Zou Kai took the gold medal in the Horizontal Bar with a score of 16.200. Zou had already won two gold medals at Beijing 2008 in the Men’s Team and Floor Exercise events.

Jonathan Horton of the United States claimed the silver medal with 16.175, and the bronze medal went to Fabian Hambuechen of Germany with 15.875.

If somebody asked Zou at the start of the Games whether he was expecting to win three gold medals, it is doubtful whether the fresh-faced gymnast would have said yes. However, Zou has been the beneficiary of his own surefire technique and the mistakes of the favorites in the Floor Exercise and the Horizontal Bar.

Tonight in the Horizontal Bar, Zou received the highest A Score out of the eight gymnasts. The A Score is the measure of how difficult a gymnast’s routine is. With 7.200 for the A Score, Zou needed to make as little mistakes as possible, which he achieved by scoring 9.000 for his B Score, which is an assessment of the gymnast’s execution.

Favorite for the gold medal Fabian Hambuechen of Germany performed first, but his performance was lackluster and he could only win the bronze medal. The result must be bitterly disappointing for Hambuechen, who has not been able to perform at his best throughout the entire Olympics. He leaves Beijing with the bronze medal and three fourth-place finishes, including the Team final.

Horton can consider himself unlucky not to win the gold, missing out by only 0.025 of a point. The performance tonight by the pint-sized American was spectacular and he received the highest B Score of all eight gymnasts. Horton is by far the United States’ most successful male gymnast at Beijing 2008.

Dark Horse Epke Zonderland of the Netherlands set himself up for a tilt at the gold medal with a spectacular opening routine. Unfortunately the 22-year-old Dutchman fell from the bar, which destroyed his gold medal hopes in one foul blow.

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Chen Yibing won China’s first gold medal in the Men’s Rings since the legendary Li Ning shared gold with Japan’s Gushiken Koji at Los Angeles 1984. Chen scored 16.600 to win the gold medal.

The silver medal was won by China’s Yang Wei, who scored 16.425. The bronze medal was won by Ukraine’s Oleksandr Vorobiov, who scored 16.325.

Chen, 23, was the favorite going into the event and did not disappoint his home crowd. The seventh out of eight gymnasts to perform, Chen thrilled the crowd with his near-perfect execution. The gold medal is Chen’s second gold medal of the Games, along with his gold medal in the Team event.

Yang performed the most difficult routine, which was enough for him to snare the silver medal. The silver medal is Yang’s third medal of the Games, along with his gold medals in the Team and All-Around events.

Bronze medalist Vorobiov combined a fairly difficult routine with excellent execution, which allowed him to receive a slightly better score than Italy’s Andrea Coppolino and France’s Danny Pinheiro Rodrigues who both received a score of 16.225.

World records are the salt and pepper of every event (in which setting a record is possible). The best of the best make their way into a very small list, where only ‘la creme de la creme’ can get. They are the ones who will be remembered years from now, they are the ones who will inspire new generations and will remain in the history books.

Record(s): Most gold medals in a single Olympic event/Most world records set in an Olympic event
Current Record Holder: Mark Spitz
Challenger: Michael Phelps

Michael Phelps is without a doubt today’s greatest swimmer, and might just be the best swimmer all time. Born in 1985, he still has a whole lot of time to win more medals and set more records. In the 2004 Summer Olympics he won 6 gold medals, with 7 being the current record. He also won a silver and bronze medal, which definitely gives hope for more this year. He also has world records in several events.

Record: 100 metres men (9.72)
Current Record Holder: Usain Bolt
Challenger: Usain Bolt

His amazing performance has granted him a worthy nickname: The Lightning Bolt. His amazing form makes him the no. 1 candidate for the Olympic title this year (despite fierce competition), and everybody is watching him to see if he can go under the historic mark of 9.70 - which would be an amazing performance.

Record: The biggest time distance between 2 olympic gold medals won
Challenger: Mark Todd

Mark Todd is a member of New Zeeland’s delegation, participating in the equestrian events. Todd was voted the International Equestrian Federation’s Rider of the 20th Century and won his last gold medal in 1988 (20 years ago). His inclusion in this year’s delegation makes New Zeeland a strong candidate for a gold medal, as they hope the 52 year old will give them the edge they need.

Record: Most people watching

This is really hard to measure, but this year’s advertising seems to be way ahead of the previous editions and more and more people have showed interest aimed at the Olympic games.

Record: Most world records broken

This year sportsmen seem to have outdone themselves, especially in athletic challenges and swimming. If we were naming just Michael Phelps and Natalie Coughlin we would probably have about 10 world records broken. Coughlin is already considered to be the best American female swimmer ever, and extremely versatile - just as her delegation colleague is. Weightlifters seem to be doing really great too and Yelena Isinbayeva is just on fire. Also, there are more disciplines today than there were say 20 years ago.

Olympic gold medalist, at the last edition, the American gymnast Paul Hamm, unfortunately broke a bone in his right hand Thursday during the United States gymnastics nationals. Although this may seem like a major setback in his road to the Beijing Olympics, it seems he still has big chances to compete in the national team. According to his physicians, the first American man to win the Olympic all-around, will need at least four weeks of intense recovery.

His coach, Miles Avery, remained positive. Some pain, some missed training and even a screw or two that may have to be inserted into the hand to hasten healing will not keep Hamm from competing in China, Avery said.

“Missing four weeks is not the end of the world; we can deal with that,” Avery said in a telephone interview from Houston, the site of the nationals. “I can’t say 100 percent that he will be on the Olympic team, but I feel very good that he can get back to this level.”

Hamm, the United States team’s star since making a comeback last year, has about six weeks to recover before USA Gymnastics officials name the Olympic team on July 1. Olympic competition begins Aug. 9.