Men's 100m: Showdown or Jamica's Show?

Active Sara — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 20:17:25 GMT

Tyson Gay wasn't sure if he would even be at the Olympics due to a left hamstring injury he suffered in early July at the U.S. trials, but the 2007 world champion is eagerly awaiting a 100-meter dash showdown this weekend with Jamaica's Asafa Powell and Usain Bolt.

Gay owns the fastest wind-aided time in history with a 9.68, but his competitors hold the two fastest legal times in the history of the 100-meter dash. Powell held the world record of 9.74 until this spring when Bolt, who beat Gay, broke the record with a 9.72.

So even if Gay is 100 percent recovered as he claimed this week, he has to race his absolute best to beat Jamaica's flying duo. If he's healthy as he says, it will be an exciting showdown to watch as these three race to grab the gold.

What are your thoughts? Will Gay be able to bring one home for team USA?

Talk About Heart...

Active Sara — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 00:30:03 GMT

The U.S. women’s gymnastics team showed up to the National Indoor Stadium Sunday night ready to shine with a sure plan to qualify for the team final. Well, they qualified, but not with the same plan they had when they entered the stadium.

As team USA walked out onto the floor their was distress showing on their faces, but no one watching knew why. Next, Samantha Peszek, who was supposed to compete in all four events, never took off her warm-up suit. What was going on?

The announcers searched for answers, panning from coach, to Peszek, to her mother and back. As we later found out fifteen minutes into the competition, Peszek had sprained her ankle during warm up on the floor and did not seem to be competing at all.

The team was clearly stressed by the sudden change in plan, which was first obvious on their faces, but later even more evident when the first two U.S. gymnasts to compete, Bridget Sloan and Alicia Sacramone, stepped out of bounds during their floor routines.

Sacramone’s performance on the floor, which is usually her specialty, cost her a chance at competing in the individual finals. The U.S. team seemed to be crumbling right before our eyes.

Peszek did compete in the uneven bars and cleanly landed her dismount despite the painful ankle sprain she endured just a couple hours before. However, Peszek’s teammates, Chellsie Memmel and Nastia Liukin were not as lucky. Both had uncharacteristic falls in the event.

With Peszek out of three of the four events, the team was without a throwaway score on floor, vault and beam, which meant there was no room for mistakes if they wanted to go on to the team finals.

By the final rotation, the balance beam, team USA got it together and it might have been thanks to the pep talk Sacramone gave before her teammates took to the beam. They all nailed their routines.

In the end, team USA was in second place, despite an uncharacteristic performance by the defending champions. The girls huddled with their arms around each other and gave words of encouragement to one another and showing the fans watching on tv that team USA would be back, as the team to beat, in the finals. Watch out China!

Blog Posts From Active.com 2008 Olympics Tagged With team-usa

Men's 100m: Showdown or Jamica's Show?

Talk About Heart...