Olympic highlights: August 22, 2008

August 22, 2008 August 22, 2008 is the 13th major day of the 2008 Olympic games. The below article lists some of the highlights.

Men's 50km walk
Alex Schwazer of Italy has set a new Olympic record in the men's 50km walk with his time of 3 hours and 37.09 minutes. Schwazer dedicated his win to his grandfather.

"This is for my grandfather who died in July. I'm very sad about it. He's been there for me my whole life, but now I'm sure he is happy."

Jarred Tallent of Australia grabbed silver at 3 hours 39.27 minutes and Denis Nizhegorodov of Russia came in third with 3 hours 40.14 minutes. Tallent became the first Australian male to win more than one medal in track and field in over 100 years.

Water polo
The Australian water polo team has advanced to the seventh-place playoffs after beating Italy 17-16 in penalty shootouts at the Yingdong Natatorium today. Australia's Sam McGregor scored the final shot in the shootout. Italy's Alessandro Calcaterra was the game's top scorer with six goals.

Men's BMX cycling
Latvia's Maris Strombergs took gold today in BMX cycling's Olympic debut. This is Latvia's first medal in the Beijing games. Strombergs, who was already the world champion, won his qualifying rounds, securing him the preferred inside-gate position. Americans Mike Day and Donny Robinson came second and third respectively after narrowly avoiding a crash at the second turn.

Women's table tennis
Two Chinese, Athens 2004 champion Zhang Yining and Sydney 2000 champion Wang Nan, will meet tonight in the women's table tennis finals.

Li Jiawei missed out on a spot in the finals when Zhang won four games to one earlier, while Guo Yue was beaten by Wang, winning the final game after drawing the previous four.

Men's beach volleyball
Philip Dalhausser and Todd Rogers won the Olympic gold medal for the United States in the men's beach volleyball competition by winning all but one set in the final against the Brazilians Fabio Magalhaes and Marcio Araujo.

Men's volleyball
The American volleyball team survived a close tiebreaker with Russia today. They will advance to compete for the gold medal on Sunday. Their opponent is still to be decided out of the Italy-Brazil semifinal.

Men's K1 1000m
Britain's Tim Brabants clinched another gold medal for his country in the men's K1 1000m canoeing race today, finishing a boat's length ahead of the defending Norwegian champion Erik Veraas Larsen. Australia's Ken Wallace came in third to grab bronze.

Brabants' gold is Britain's 18th and his country's first ever.

Men's 4x100m Relay
Usain Bolt picked up his third Olympic gold medal in the late hours of this evening in the men's 4x100m relay, running the third leg. The Jamaicans smashed the world record by 0.30 seconds, coming in at 37.10. This is the third new world record, that Usain Bolt, has either broken or participated in breaking.

The Jamaican team consisted of Nesta Carter, Michael Frater, Bolt and former 100m world record holder Asafa Powell. Trinidad and Tobago grabbed silver while Japan came in a surprising third.

Men's pole vault
Australian Steve Hooker has clinched gold in the men's pole vault by clearing 5.96m, smashing the Olympic record in the process. Russian Evgeniy Lukyanenko took second and Ukrainian Denys Yurchenko landed bronze. Another Ukrainian, Sergey Bubka, holds the world record at 6.14m, but Hooker decided to call it a night after clearing 5.96m.

Hooker is the first male Australian to win a track and field gold medal in sixty years. John Winter won gold at London's 1948 games for high jump.

Gymnastics age controversy
The gymnastics age controversy surrounding Chinese Olympic gymnast He Kexin continues, with the International Olympic Committee instructing the world gymnastics federation, known as the FIG, to investigate a number of athletes' ages.

Olympic rules stipulate that competitors must turn 16 in the year of the Olympics to be eligible to participate. According to online registration sites, half of China's gymnastics team would be underage.

Medal Table
北京奧運每日簡報 (8月21日)