Bolt Rules, Gymnastics Wrap Up

By Brendon Rosenau
Love of Sports Correspondent

The artistic gymnastics portion of the Olympics came to an end Monday night.

The Americans entered Beijing with high expectations and will now leave Beijing with their heads held high and their pockets lined with silver and gold. The U.S. grabbed three more medals on the last day of competition, marking their most successful haul in over 70 years.

1-2 Punch Delivers Final Golden Performance

The gold in the balance beam came down to a familiar battle: Johnson vs. Luikin.

Nastia Luikin had one up on her USA teammate Shawn Johnson, winning the individual all-around, and now Johnson had a chance to even the score.

The 16-year-old Johnson, who was favored to win gold in several events, knew she had just one more chance to win her first one. She was finally able to grab the elusive gold with a near flawless performance on the beam (16.225), ending her first Olympics with the moment of a lifetime. She performed not only with the pressure of expectations on her shoulders, but with the intimidating Luikin waiting in the wings.

Luikin, the last competitor of the event, scored a 16.025, good for silver. It was her fifth medal of the Games, setting a U.S. record, and the second time the duo went 1-2 in an event.

The two girls left the Olympics with eight medals in total and became the first Americans to go 1-2 in the all-around and in the beam.

On the men’s side, Jonathan Horton got his second medal of the Games with a silver on the horizontal bar. Horton, the emotional leader of the bronze medal U.S. team, made his routine more challenging in the days leading up to the event. The gamble paid off, as he scored a 16.175. Kai Zou of China won the event with a 16.200. Horton had a slight step on his landing that prevented him from upsetting the Chinese favorite.

The Americans won 10 over all medals in gymnastics, which was the most for the country in a non-boycotted Olympics since 1932. The count would likely have been higher had injuries not left the Hamm brothers stateside.

Golden Ring

Henry Cejudo had never won a match against senior world-level competition before the Olympics. But in Olympic competition, Cejudo’s never lost.

The 21-year-old beat Tomohiro Mastsunaga of Japan in the 55kg finals to become the youngest American wrestling champion. Cejudo, who called himself unorthodox after the gold medal ceremony, was behind in each of his first two matches after one period. He believed his youth would help him outlast his opponents, and he was right. He scored takedowns in the final moments of the second and third periods in those two matches to advance to the final.

He’s the first U.S. Olympian to go straight from high school to the Olympic program and medal.

Tracking Gold

Dawn Harper won gold in the 100-meter hurdles running the race of her life. Harper ran a personal best 12.54 to edge out Sally McLellan by a tenth of a second. American LoLo Jones was in the lead, but was tripped up by a hurdle late in the race. The slip knocked her down to seventh at 12.72.

Sonya Richards clocked in at 49.93 in the 400 earning herself a bronze medal and keeping the U.S. in the lead in track. Christine Ohuruogu of Great Britain won the race by a nose. Shericka Williams of Jamaica crossed the finish line in 49.69, seven-hundredths of a second behind Ohuruogu.

Usain Bolt of Jamaica has officially qualified for the 200-meter final. He has a chance to break Michael Johnson’s record of 19.32 set at the 1996 Games. Since Johnson set the record no one’s come within three-tenths of a second of that time.

Sailing into the Sunset

Anna Tunnicliffe won gold in the Laser Radial (single-person dinghy) in sailing. Tunnicliffe started the final day of the 11-day race prematurely and had to go all the way to the beginning and start again. By the time she got restarted she was in ninth place and out of medal contention. Then she moved to the opposite side of the water and made a miraculous run to finish second in the race, but first overall. She said she knew she had nothing to lose and went all out to cover the final distance.

The U.S. lead on the medal count has shrunken a little, 79-76.

Team Notes

Women’s Basketball: The women‘s hoops team got 26 points and 14 rebounds from Sylvia Fowels in a 104-60 stomping of Korea. The Korean team hung tough in the first quarter, trailing just 25-21 after 10 minutes of play. Before word could spread about a potential catastrophic upset for the U.S., the Americans took over. The U.S. outscored Korea 41-13 between the second quarter and the first five minutes of the third to vanquish the Korean’s team spirit. Next up is Russia in the semifinals.

Beach Volleyball: Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh buried another victim in their continued march to excellence. The tandem embarrassed Brazil 2-0, winning their two games 21-12 and 21-14. Walsh finished with 12 kills, three blocks and two aces, while May-Treanor had 10 kills and six digs. Tian Jia and Wang Jie of China are all that stand in the way of the queens of the sand.

Volleyball: Inside, the women won a hard fought 3-2 battle with Italy to move to the semifinals. Italy took a 2-1 lead before the Americans staged an inspiring comeback in the fourth game. In the 15-point fifth and final game, the U.S. rode their wave of their momentum to an easy 15-6 win. Danielle Scott-Arruda led the team with 15 kills. Logan Tom played extremely well with 14 kills, three blocks and two aces. Next up is Cuba, the only team to have defeated the U.S, in the semifinals.

Water Polo: Brenda Villa’s power play goal late in the fourth quarter gave the U.S. a 9-8 win over Australia to move to the gold medal game. The Americans played world class defense and led 8-5 in the final quarter and were seemingly on their way to an easy win. The Aussies fought back and finally broke the defensive code to tie the game before Villa netted her third goal of the game. The U.S. will face the Dutch in the finals early Friday morning.

Baseball: The U.S. secured their spot in the medal round with a ho-hum 4-2 win over Chinese Taipei. Finally, a day where the actual game was the story. Dexter Fowler just missed the cycle with a single, double and triple, highlighted by his two-run double in the sixth. His rip came after John Gall led the inning off with a solo home run to put the Americans ahead 2-1.

Throughout the Games, the Americans have been mired in controversy. They were the first team to play in the new extra innings format, they had a game called after a four hour rain delay and they’ve had two players hospitalized with head injuries. Matt LaPorta was drilled in the head and suffered a mild concussion against China and Jasyon Nix needed microsurgery over his eye after getting hit by a pitch against Cuba.

The game against China was an ugly one. U.S. batters were hit by pitches five times by the Chinese team coached by former big league general Jim Lefebvre. Things started when LaPorta made an aggressive slide into home and injured China’s catcher Wang Wei. Nate Schierholtz led off the next inning and was plunked. Schierholtz would score on a sac fly and, upon reaching the plate, ran over the new catcher. LaPorta came up in the next inning and was beaned. Lefebvre claimed the Chinese weren’t throwing at the U.S. and was more upset with the two collisions at home plate.

The good news is both LaPorta and Nix could play on Friday. The U.S. will face Japan tomorrow night and will begin the semifinals on Friday.

(Continue to check in everyday in this same spot to read Rosenau’s daily Olympic coverage.)