As much as Michael Phelps 8 gold medals puts him in the running for the greatest Olympian ever, all the hype probably hurt him when it comes to the overall Olympic moment. On my meter, Usain Bolt jogging to a new world record in the 100m was simply indescribable. Some really big names were saying that if Bolt hadn't started  celebrating in the final 20m he would have run 9.5x and I believe them.  I can't even get out of bed in 9.69 and this guy is waving his arms and thumping his chest.  Oh baby! Frankly, I think Michael Johnson's 19.32 200m record is in jeopardy unless Bolt, who will be about 30m in front of his nearest challenger as he nears the finish line in the 200m final starts playing the air guitar and humming Bob Marley tunes.

OK.  We had to give citizenship to a Kenyan to get an Olympic contender in the men's 1500m.  But, not just some Kenyan, a guy who won silver in 2004 and is the reigning World Champion. C'mon man, the USA was drafting a ringer! Then the ringer fails to make the finals in the 1500m. What happened?  Is citizenship revokable? Hopefully, Lagat will redeem himself in the 5000m, but frankly he looked flat and that graceful stride and potent kick were nowhere to be seen.

I said this once an I will say it again.  They should just toss out judged sports from the Olympics. We know Michael Phelps and Usain Bolt are the best because they were first across the line.  Forget the doping, the judging is the biggest blight on the Olympics.  It just sucks big time to see all the bad calls.

Bruce

I am a cyclist first and a swimmer about eigth or ninth and was anxiously awaiting both the men's and women's Olympic Road Races.  The course looked brutal. The competition looked packed.  Unfortunately, the USA came up goose eggs in both events and it just looked to me that there was very little teamwork or strategy in place.  To be fair, I was not on site and the conditions in both races was extreme, though for different reasons, so I am defintiely in airmchair quaterback territory big time. Hey, but rather than bag on the cyclists when I am sure they were probably doing all they could, let's talk about the men's 4x100 freestyle relay in swimming.

I have to be honest when I tell you that when I heard that the French were the favorite to win the event I had to do a double take.  This is the same country which hasn't won their local bike race, the Tour de France, for 23 years which could easily be 46 years before Le Marsielles sounds on the Champs Elysees. So how can the French be fast in the pool?  And and even better question, how can they be faster than the Americans? Hey, we invented swimming We have Mark Spitz and Michael Phelps.  We own the water whether it resides in Europe, Australia, Asia, North and South America or Antarctica.

You have to have an Olympic moment for each Games. In 1996, it was Carl Lewis winning the long jump for the fourth time.  In 2000 and 2004 it was my gold medal winning run in the marath, hey, who's typing on my keyboard....

OK. You know what I mean.  You don't need Jimmy Roberts telling you what's so symbolic about anything.  It is that moment when you understand what competition and sport are all about.  Oops, now I am beginning to sound like Mr. Roberts. Somebody shoot me!

What I am trying to say before one of my other personalities takes over is that watching Jason Lezak chase down Team Croissant was, for now, my Olympic moment.  Not only did Lezak swim the fastest relay split, they didn't have a watch on me in 2004 or it would have been, hey, give me back my keyboard..... but, Phelps and his teammates also rose to the occaison. That is what relays are all about and why they are so exciting to watch.

As I said before, the 4x100 is my Olympic moment so far.  I am hoping that Christine Thorburn and Kristin Armstrong going 1-2 in the women's TT and Dave Zabriskie and Levi Leipheimer going 1-2 in the men's time trial will be my newest favorite Olympic moment, but, man the US team in the pool really pulled one out and they did by elevating their game, swimming like a team and relying on good old competitiveness to bring home the gold.

Yeah, yeah, yeah,

Bruce ( well that's the name on the body I am currently inhabiting).