g3 － day 7.

Blogging about amazing women doing amazing things at the Olympics means I'm following the Beijing Games more closely than I've followed the Olympics for years － maybe ever. And I'm loving it － especially getting into the lower-profile events, like, well, almost everything except gymnastics, swimming and beach volleyball.

As a big, big, big bonus, I'm temporarily saved from having to comment about John Edwards' baby-daddy drama. Yech.
So, back to Beijing . . .

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Team USA's Shalane Flanagan [above], 27, of Marble Head, MA, knew she had finished the 10,000-meter race, but had no clue how she finished. Following a few moments of reorientation, Flanagan realized she had just won the bronze, only the second medal earned by an American － male or female － on the track in a race longer than 800m since 1984; Lynn Jennings won the same 10K bronze in Barcelona in 1992.

Ethiopia's Tirunesh Dibaba got the gold with an Olympic record and the second-fastest time ever at 29 minutes, 54.66 seconds. Turkey's Elvan Abeylegesse took the silver at 29:56.34. Flanagan's time of 30:22.22 broke her own American record from last May of 30:34.39.

Flanagan's mother, pioneering runner Cheryl Treworgy, was present for her daughter's triumph. Treworgy ran college track at Indiana State and set a marathon world record.

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Cookin' at the 'Cube were Zimbabwe's Kirsty Coventry and Team USA's Margaret Hoelzer, 25, of Huntsville, AL ... former Auburn University roommates and forever rivals, the women finished first and second, respectively, in the 200-meter backstroke. The pair has been trading world records and championships in the event for a couple of years; Coventry defended her Olympic title and won the gold by breaking Hoelzer's world record, touching the wall at 2 minutes, 5.24 seconds. Hoelzer earned the silver about a second later. Japan's Reiko Nakamura got the bronze at 2:07.13.

g3 － day 6.

Oh. My. God.

The competition for the women's gymnastics individual all-around last night kept me glued, wide-eyed, to NBC's live tv coverage into the wee hours, but who could turn away with Team USA's top two women gymnasts vying for the gold, and it all coming down to the last two performances of the very last event??

Nastia Liukin [above, right], 18, of Parker, TX, was the manifestation of grace under pressure, and it paid off. Liukin became the third American woman to win the Olympic all-around event, inheriting the mantle from Carly Patterson, who won the gold in Athens in 2004, and following in the the giant footsteps of Mary Lou Retton, who won in 1984.

Shawn Johnson [above, left], 16, of West Des Moines, IA － reigning world champion － followed her friend, rival and Olympic Village roommate with the silver. China's Yang Yilin earned the bronze.

Following the first rotation on the vault, Johnson was in second place behind Romania's Steliana Nistor, while Liukin was way back in ninth position (the vault is her weakest event). The second rotation on the uneven bars was where Liukin jockeyed into medaling position; her strongest event, the uneven bars left Liukin in second place behind Yang, with Johnson pushed back to fifth position. At the balance beam, Liukin shone again, taking over the top spot, with Yang just 0.15 behind her and Johnson in third place, 0.60 behind the leader. So the gold medal was determined by the fourth and final rotation － floor exercise. Yang, Liukin and Johnson were the last three to compete. The pressure was palpable. The Americans were awesome.

Liukin is the only child of a double gold medalist and a former rhythmic gymnastics world champion. Valeri Liukin, her father and coach, won two golds for the Soviet Union 20 years ago, but was beat out in the individual all-around by a teammate － so his daughter's victory in an eerily similar situation sent him soaring with much more than just fatherly pride.

If you missed her amazing performance last night, then you can still see Liukin compete in the individual uneven bars, balance beam and floor exercise events.

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Meanwhile, a swimming stunner over at the WaterCube . . . American Rebecca Soni, 21, of Plainsboro, NJ, won the gold in the 200-meter breaststroke, setting a new world record at 2 minutes, 20.22 seconds, and upsetting the favorite Leisel Jones of Australia.

Jones earned the silver at 2:22:05, and Norway's Sara Nordenstam got the bronze at 2:23:02. Jones had won the gold in the 100-meter breaststroke earlier in the week, with Soni coming in second.

Soni, the daughter of Hungarian immigrants, will swim the breaststroke leg in the 400 medley relay final late Saturday night.

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Team USA swimmer Natalie Coughlin, 25, of Vallejo, CA, had another big day, earning her fifth Beijing Olympic medal by winning the bronze in the 100-meter freestyle competition. Germany's Britta Steffen won the gold and Australia's Libby Trickett earned the silver. Coughlin had already won gold in the 100m backstroke, silver in the 4x100m freestyle relay, and bronze in the 4x200m freestyle relay and in the 200m individual medley.

Coughlin also won five medals in 2004 in Athens, becoming the third American woman swimmer to do so. She's got one more event left to go, offering her the opportunity to exceed the five-medal mark she currently shares with Dara Torres and Shirley Babashoff. Along with the U.S. 4x100m medley relay team, Coughlin will compete today for a spot in the finals on Sunday.

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It was shoot-off at the Beijing corral, producing Italy's Chiara Cainero as the winner of the gold in women's skeet shooting, with American Kim Rhode earning the silver and Germany's Christine Brinker getting the bronze.

The trio tied for the finish at 93 targets, and the shoot-off was on. Cainero hit the first two targets, while Rhode and Brinker both missed one. The shoot-off continued, with Rhode, 29, of El Monte, CA, eventually besting Brinker for the second-place spot.

Rhode won gold in double trap shooting in 1996 and in 2004, but the event was eliminated for women before the Beijing games － so skeeting for silver it was.

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Remember what I said about women and weaponry . . . The Ukrainian women's saber team stunned fencing followers by winning the gold over China and over the top-seeded U.S. team featuring all three individual medalists. The Americans －Mariel Zagunis, Becca Ward and Sada Jacobson － got usurped by the Ukrainians during the semifinals, and so fought the French for third place. Ultimately, China settled for the silver, while Team USA got the bronze.

g3 － day 5.

No, no － not a crazy-ass cat fight; just a combative moment of American history, as 21-year-old Ronda Rousey [brutish in blue] won the first Olympic medal ever for the United States in women's judo.

Rousey, of Santa Monica, CA, earned the bronze in the 154.3-pound division, following Japan's Masae Ueno, who won the gold, and Anaysi Hernandez of Cuba, who got the silver. Edith Bosch of the Netherlands also earned a bronze medal.

Rousey, a world silver medalist last year, is the daughter of AnnMarie De Mars, the first U.S. woman to win a world judo title. Rousey says her next plans include going to college, becoming a vegan and buying a surfboard.

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And the pool's still cool, er, hot . . . Stephanie Rice led Australia's women's swim team to win the gold in the 800-meter freestyle relay, and shattered the world record by almost six seconds doing it.

Rice and her teammates Bronte Barratt, Linda Mackenzie and Kylie Palmer finished in 7 minutes, 44.31 seconds; the prior record of 7:50:09 had been set by the U.S. women's team at last year's world championships.

The Americans － Natalie Coughlin (Vallejo, CA), Katie Hoff (Abingdon, MD), Caroline Burckle (Louisville, KY) and Allison Schmitt (Canton, MI)－ earned the bronze at 7:46:33, the first time Team USA has lost the event since it began in 1996. The Chinese women's team got the silver in 7:45:93.

g3 － day 4.

A disappointing day for Team USA's women's gymnastics team . . . but is silver sooo saddening? Sure, the gold-getting Chinese "women" are an average age of 12 and an average weight of 50 pounds, but they really did rock the competition. Stuff happens, right?

Not as if you could miss the perpetual slow-mo slideshow of U.S. team captain Alicia Sacramone falling off of the balance beam or falling onto her back during the floor exercise, but just in case you haven't gotten the whole story, here it is: The Chinese women's gymnastics team overtook the favored American team － due to a series of heartbreaking errors － to win the host country's first-ever gold in this event. Romania, which won the gold four years ago in Athens, claimed the bronze.

Twenty-year-old Sacramone, a veteran who has stayed with the sport this long especially to go for the gold in Beijing, missed her mount onto the balance beam, then went splat on her second tumbling pass in the floor exercise; additionally, she and teammates Shawn Johnson and Nastia Liukin all stepped out of bounds on the floor, securing themselves a second-place spot.

Controversy has surrounded the munchkin-like Chinese team, who have been accused of having half a team under the age requirement of turning 16 this year. But the international gymnastics federation has declared all members eligible, and honestly, they simply soared through their performances, beaming (pardon the pun), and just so all-around amazing and darling . . . they earned it.

Still, silver's nothing to sneeze at － king-size kudos to America's pride: Sacramone (Winchester, MA), Johnson (West Des Moines, IA), Liukin (Parker, TX), Chellsie Memmel (West Allis, WI), Samantha Peszek (McCordsville, IN) and Bridget Sloan (Pittsboro, IN).

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Another solid silver went to American Gina Miles of Davis, CA, who － with her horse, McKinlaigh [both pictured above] － rode to second-place success in the equestrian individual jumping final.

German Hinrich Romeike, riding Marius, won the gold and Kristina Cook of Britain, riding Miners Frolic, got the bronze in this rare co-ed sport. Team USA's Miles moved up from fifth place after jumping two round with no penalties.

Factoid: The Olympic equestrian events are being held in Hong Kong rather than Beijing, due to quarantine restrictions in mainland China.

g3 － day 3.

G3 = Girls Gone Gold － thoughts??

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My kids were watching Finding Nemo the other evening, so I can't help but be singing Dory's "just keep swimming" song following today's Olympic events. For the women, Day 3 was all about the pool.

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Team USA's Natalie Coughlin [pictured above] won the gold in the 100-meter backstroke, becoming the first woman ever to successfully defend her title in the event.

Vallejo, CA, native Coughlin finished in 58.96 seconds; Kirsty Coventry of Zimbabwe － who earlier set a world record at 58.77 in the semifinals － earned the silver at 59.19, and American Margaret Hoelzer of Huntsville, AL, got the bronze at 59.34.

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Britain's Rebecca Adlington won the gold in the 400-meter freestyle, running down American Katie Hoff in the last 50 meters of the race and touching the wall 7/100ths of a second earlier than Hoff.

Adlington's winning time was 4 minutes, 3.22 seconds; Hoff, of Towson, MD, earned the silver with a finishing time of 4 min., 3.29 sec.; and Adlington's teammate Joanne Jackson got the bronze at 4 min., 3.52 sec.

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Australia's Leisel Jones won the gold in the 100-meter breaststroke, completing her set of Olympic medals in the event － she won the silver in 2000 and the bronze in 2004.

Jones finished a body length ahead of her competitors, touching the wall at 1 minute, 5.17 seconds. American Rebecca Soni of Plainsboro, NJ, earned the silver at 1 min., 6.73 sec., and Mirna Jukic of Austria got the bronze at 1 min., 7.34 sec.

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Another Aussie, Libby Trickett, won the gold in the 100-meter butterfly, finishing at 56.73 － the fourth-fastest time in history, and just 0.12 seconds off the world record. American Christine Magnuson of Tinley Park, IL, earned the silver at 57.10, and Trickett's teammate Jess Schipper got the bronze － her first individual Olympic medal － at 57.25.

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And last but not least, thinking outside the Watercube . . . Finland's Satu Makela-Nummela won the gold in women's trap shooting, setting an Olympic record by hitting 21 targets in the finals and finishing with a total score of 91.

Slovakia's Zuzana Stefecekova, who was tied with Makela-Nummela going into the finals, earned the silver with a score of 89. American Corey Cogdell of Eagle River, AK － the youngest contender at 21 － beat three other competitors to get the bronze.


What do we do? We swim, shoot . . . :)

amazing women olympic highlights － day 2.

I've been trying to come up with a cleverly abbre-viated name for the women compe-ting at the Olympics, but can't quite seem to get the right feel . . . wom-lypians? she-lympians? Gals of the Games? GG4G (Girls Going for the Gold)? Hmph. Let me know should you come up with a workable suggestion of your own － I'm open!!

Meanwhile, back to Beijing . . .

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It's been almost a quarter-century since Dara Torres first dived into an Olympic pool for a freestyle relay － but Sunday morning, the 41-year-old mom's anchor leg helped win the U.S. a silver medal, just behind the Netherlands and just before the Australians.

With this win, Los Angeles native Torres:

• has won ten Olympic medals;
  
• is the first American swimmer to compete in five Olympics; and
  
• is the oldest swimming medalist of either gender － breaking the century-old standard of Britain's William Robinson, who at 38 earned the silver in the 200 breaststroke in the 1908 Games.

Of course, it took a team to gain Torres' glory － kudos, too, to Natalie Coughlin of Vallejo, CA, Kara Lynn Joyce of Ann Arbor, MI, and Lacey Nymeyer of Tucson, AZ.

Quoth Torres: "The water doesn't know what age we are."

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Australian Stephanie Rice broke the world record Sunday in swimming's 400-meter Individual Medley, winning the Down Under's first gold of the Games and 400th summer Olympic medal. Rice's time of 4:29:45 and silver medalist Kirsty Coventry of Zimbabwe's 4:29:89 time both beat the former world record of 4:31:12, set by bronze medalist Katie Hoff at the U.S. Olympic trials just two months ago.

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I hadn't realized, and therefore, neglected to mention yesterday, that the first gold medal for the Chinese was also won by a woman during Saturday's Day One Games. Chen Xiexia [pictured above] set two Olympic records as she won the gold in the women's 48-kilogram (not quite 106 lbs.) weight category.

The 25-year-old was the only athlete to successfully complete all of her six lifts in the competition, and dominated in both the snatch (in which the weight bar is raised above the head in one continuous motion) and the clean and jerk (a two-step lift in which the bar is held at shoulder level, then pushed overhead). World champion Chen lifted 209.5 pounds in the snatch and 258 pounds in the clean and jerk, an Olympic record. Her total score of 467 pounds was also an Olympic high score, besting the prior record by 4.4 pounds.

women olympians create a winning beginning.

God, I love the Olympics.

I realize by Day Ten, I'm going to be weary of the relentless coverage (by not only NBC, but CNBC, MSNBC, USA and Oxygen, as well as Sports On-Demand . . . like there'll be anything at all left to demand!), but today, at the close of [Delayed] Day One, I'm all verklempt.

Of course, I'm also considering inviting a few friends over for an Olympic edition of the drinking game "Hi, Bob" － in the original game, you watched reruns of the old Bob Newhart Show and everybody drank every time a character said, "Hi, Bob," guaranteeing three-sheets status by evening's end; in my 2008 "Boozin' for Beijing" version, everybody drinks every time you see an image of Mao Zedong, former Chairman of the Communist Party of China . . . he's not too visible during many of the sporting events, but Friday night's opening ceremony coverage would have been quite the swigging soiree!

Anyway, a couple of quick kudos for a quartet of women athletes who started the games off with a bang. Quite literally so for Katerina Emmons of the Czech Republic, who earned the games' first gold medal with a record-setting 10-meter air rifle performance. Emmons finished with an Olympic record of 503.5 points, having shot a perfect 400 in qualifying.

She's married to American shooter Matt Emmons, who won a gold in prone rifle at Athens' 2004 Olympics. Matt will compete in both prone and three-position rifle this year; Katerina will compete in three-position as well.

"I'm more proud of her than if I was to do it myself," said her supportive spouse.
"I feel amazing," said his winning wife. And you should, Katerina － you *are* amazing.

Meanwhile, Mariel Zagunis won the United States our first gold medal of the Beijing Games, leading an American sweep in women's saber fencing. Zagunis, of Beaverton, Oregon, got the gold with her 15-8 victory over Sada Jacobson, of Dunwoody, Georgia, who won the silver [that's them paired off in the photo above－Zagunis, L, and Jacobson, R]; 18-year-old Becca Ward, of Portland, Oregon, got the bronze.

Zagunis also won the gold in Athens in 2004, becoming the first American in a century to win a fencing gold. Now, the U.S. women pose a fencing powerhouse － this same trio is seeded number-one for the saber team competition, scheduled for Thursday.

Women and weaponry － a winning Beijing blend!!