Olympic beach volleyball draw decided
July 31, 2008
In Lausanne on July 30 the teams to play in the Beijing Olympic beach volleyball tournament found out who they will face in first round action.
The tournament is to be held at the impressive 12,000 seat stadium in Chaoyang Park.
Both gold medallists from the Athens Olympics will be in Beijing to defend their title. USA’s Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh will open their defence with a match against Japan’s Mika Teru Saiki and Chiaki Kusuhara on Sunday, August 10, at 09:00 Beijing time. The men’s gold medallists Emanuel and Ricardo of Brazil serve it up against Angola’s Emanuel Fernandes and Morais Abreu on Saturday, August 9, at 13:00 local time.
After having been in Beijing for a day I can say it will be tough work for the beach volleyballers. The humidity will make for a sticky situation on the Chaoyang Park sands.
The Sydney Olympics women’s champion Natalie Cook will team up with her new partner Tamsin Barnett to take on Russian pairing of Uryadova and Shiryaeva.
Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh will be tested by some of the Chinese pairings who will be hoping to use the home court advantage to lift their play to a higher level and claim gold as did Pottharst and Cook in Sydney.
In the men’s event it will likely be a USA team or a Brazilian pairing who claim gold. Rogers-Dalhausser were the top team in the Olympic qualifying list. They play Samoilovs and Plavins from Latvia in their first match.
I have tickets for one session of beach volleyball so I am looking forward to checking out the action then.
More big name athletes succumb to injury before Beijing Olympics
July 31, 2008
The men’s all around gymnastics champion from Athens will not be in Beijing to defend his title due to a hand injury that has forced USA’s Paul Hamm out of the USA gymnastics team.
Hamm broke his hand on May 22 at the national championships and had been working hard to recover in time to defend his Olympic title.
China’s Yang Wei is now stand out favorite to win the all-around title in Beijing. Hamm was the only opponent that people could see troubling the two-time defending world champion.
If Yang can deal with the pressure of performing in front of a home crowd it will be a glorious moment for him if he pulls off the gold medal in the men’s all around gymnastics event in Beijing.
Australian Olympic Kayak team arrives in Beijing
July 31, 2008
The majority of the Australian Olympic kayak team travelled on a Qantas flight from Sydney to Beijing yesterday. I was on the same flight and got to have a word to a few of them.
I got to talk to one of Australia’s most experienced Olympians, Clint Robinson. He is competing in his fifth and last Olympics. Robinson won gold in the K1 1000m all the way back at the Barcelona Olympics. He has also won a silver in the K2 500m event in Athens and a bronze in the K1 1000m in Atlanta.
In the Beijing Olympics Robinson is part of the K2 500m and K4 1000m teams. I asked Clint what he thought his chances were of winning a medal in Beijing. He said it will be a tough ask as the team is new. It all depends on how things go over the next few weeks. He pointed out that only the best 10 for each event compete in Beijing so there is no easy ride into the final.
Robinson is unsure if he will take part in the opening ceremony. He said he will see how he is feeling after settling into the athletes village. He said he is there to compete in his events and anything on top of that is a bonus.
Tony Schumacher who will team up with Robinson in the K2 500m and the K4 1000m is competing in his first ever Olympics. He said much the same as Robinson. He needs to see how he is feeling over the next couple of weeks. The kayakers compete in the second week of the China Olympics.
Chantal Meek who will be competing in the K1 and K4 500m events found the trip tiring. As we were all waiting for the luggage to arrive she snoozed off for a while on a baggage trolley.
Ken Wallace, Australia’s top hope for a medal in Beijing will be making his way to Beijing closer to the games.
As I said to Clint and Tony, good luck to the Australian kayak team.
The flatwater and slalom events will be held at Shunyi Olympic Rowing-Canoeing Park north of Beijing.
Arrived in Beijing for the China Olympics
July 31, 2008
Yesterday was a long day. My family and I were up at 3.00am Australian time to head to drive from Canberra to Sydney to catch our flight to Beijing. Close to 24 hours later we were in Beijing and ready for bed.
On our Qantas flight to Beijing there were about 30 Australian Olympic team members. This included athletes competing in the games and support staff. The majority of the athletes comprised of the Australian kayak team.
The Beijing airport terminal 3 was pretty impressive. It is huge and is the best looking terminal I have seen.
After getting out of the terminal we jumped on a shuttle bus and headed into Beijing. Light rain was falling as we took the close to 30 minute ride to our accommodation.
Now it is the next morning I have seen for myself what the air quality is like. There sure was not any blue sky however this was more to do with the rain in the area. I will be looking forward to see how things are as the clouds clear.
Later today I will be heading out to some Olympic venues here in Beijing.
Sastre draws inspiration from yellow jersey
July 27, 2008
In the time trial stage 20 of the tour de France it was Carlos Sastre who rode an inspired race to keep his challengers at bay. In the 53km time trial many expected Cadel Evans to chase him down.
It did not turn out this way as Sastre rode the time trial of his life to keep a lead of just over one minute going into the final stage. Evans was seventh in the stage and this was not good enough to grab the yellow jersey.
Unless there is some accident that claims Sastre on the final day it appears that the tour victory is his. There is an unwritten rule that prevents riders from challenging the yellow jersey on the 143km ride into Paris.
In stage 20 it was Stefan Schumacher who won the time trial as he powered home in 1 hour 3 minutes and 50 seconds.
Sonny Bill Williams shocks league world
July 27, 2008
Canterbury player Sonny Bill Williams has reportedly walked out in year one of a five year contract to pursue a potential $3million 2 year deal to play in French rugby union.
He headed overseas without even letting his teammates know his was leaving the club. Canterbury players, management and fans are not impressed with the actions of Williams.
The NRL is also against the move and say that if Williams plays rugby he will be banned for life from playing in the Australian league competition.
On top of the threat to ban Williams from the NRL they are hoping the the rugby union authorities won’t register the renegade bulldog. If this happens he could see himself out of the game altogether.
It will be interesting to see how this pans out.
Time trial to decide le Tour de France?
July 26, 2008
Since Carlos Sastre grabbed yellow at the summit of L’Alpe-d’Huez we have witnessed two flat stages that as expected did not see any changes in the top places in the tour.
The real action is likely to place in stage 20 on Saturday. The riders will participate in a 53km time trial that takes them from Cérilly to Saint-Amand-Montrond leaving the start at regular intervals. The stage is quite flat and is not very technical.
The key to the stage is just how much juice do the riders have left in the tank after battling it through the French Alps. In a one off time trial of this length Cadel Evans is always expected to be able to take around two minutes from Sastre.
Going into stage 20 Evans needs to make up 1 minute 34 seconds to be wearing yellow at the end of the stage, providing Denis Menchov does not better him. Frank Schleck and Bernhard Kohl are not expected to figure in proceedings during the time trial. This makes the tour a race between three riders. Sastre, Evans and Menchov.
Can Sastre use the inspiration of wearing the yellow jersey to keep him ahead of the chasing Evans and Menchov? All will be revealed on Saturday 26 July as the riders take to the roads of France.
There is some talk that if after the time trial there is a slim margin to one of the riders the final stage into Paris may be a competitive stage. In more recent years it has been more a procession stage where the riders just cruise into the French capital and no effort is made to change the placings.
Can Evans peg pack Sastre to win le Tour de France?
July 24, 2008
The Tour de France riders have completed the tough stage 17 mountain stage which took in the famous L’Alpe-d’Huez. The ride went from Embrun to L’Alpe-d’Huez. The stage included three sizable climbs which tested the legs of the riders and sorted the men from the boys.
Team CSC helped their rider Carlos Sastre take the stage win and with that the yellow jersey. The Spaniard now holds a 1 minute 24 second lead over his teammate, Frank Schleck. Bernhard Kohl is nine seconds further back. The pre-race favorite in many eyes, Cadel Evans is just one second behind Kohl and 1 minute 34 behind Sastre.
In stage 17 Sastre got his break going up the final climb to the summit of L’Alpe-d’Huez. Evans without the help of his team was not strong enough to accept the challenge of Sastre. Evans did at least battle to the line the best he could to not let Sastre take too much of a lead.
Stage 18 sees a return to the flatter terrain and should see a more predictable stage. The riders will travel from Bourg-d’Oisans to Saint Etienne in this 196.5km stage.
CSC who appear to be the team in control of the race will be working today to consolidate the lead Sastre has established. They know that Evans has the potential to chase him down in the time trial and re-claim the yellow jersey. Will this happen? The talk at work was that Sastre knowing he is close to victory will put in a do or die effort in the time trial and that Evans may only make up 30-40 seconds on the leader.
It will be an exciting few days as the tour makes its way to the French capital this weekend. As an Aussie I will be cheering for Evans as he attempts to become the first ever Australian to win the le Tour de France.
The tour concludes with stage 21 from Etampes - Paris on Sunday 27 July. In recent times whoever is wearing the yellow jersey going into this stage is not challenged and they just cruise into Paris and get to bask in the glory.
Tan named as captain of US Olympic gymnastics team
July 23, 2008
I was just over at the LA times website and read that Kevin Tan has been named captain of the US men’s gymnastic team. He is a three-time member of U.S. world championships teams
Tan has grandparents who live in Beijing so it will be a bit like a homecoming games for him.
The team also includes Athens Olympic all around men’s champion Paul Hamm and his twin brother Morgan. Paul was only recently confirmed as being in the team as he had to prove that he had recovered from a broken hand sustained in May.
The US team will be looking to better the team silver medal won in Athens and the fourth place at the 2007 World Championships. China as the current World Championships are the team to beat. It will be interesting if performing in front of a home crowd will inspire the team or add pressure.
The dreaded injuries leading up to Beijing Olympics
July 23, 2008
With the Beijing Olympics so close now it is always a tough time for athletes if they pick up an injury. They know that being injured now can mean the end of their Olympic dream.
We have recently seen this happen to Australia’s Jana Rawlinson and Nathan Deakes as they both were forced out of the athletics event in Beijing. Both are current world champions so it makes it even more disappointing seeing some gold medal chances go begging.
As a former volleyballer I always think of the story of US player Rod Wilde who broke his leg just before the Los Angeles Olympics. The US team went on to claim gold and he missed the ride.
Looking at US sports, women’s soccer player Abby Wambach has had her Olympic dream shattered thanks to a broken leg sustained in a friendly match against Brazil.
Despite this Wambach is still very supportive of her team as they continue the journey to Beijing without her.
Lets hope there are not too many other tragic tales of injury that keep stars out of the Olympic spotlight.
