Olympics Wind Down

while there are still events to go....it's amazing that so much has gone on and the end is coming soon.  The Wushu Exhibition is also coming to an end......as they are finishing up the Sanda Events and the Taiji and Taijijian Events. One of my favorite events was Ping Pong.........it's not the game we play here for recreation.........but a highly athletic sport..........one of my high school students was on the US Team.........it actually helped his wushu....he learned to be quick and light on his feet and was able to jump and hang in the air.  anyways watched the terrific match between China's Zhang Yining and Singapore's Wu Jia Wei............the number one seed Zhang eventually won......but she lost the first match and had to win the last two games......interesting to note though..........many of the top players are all from China even though they represent different countries..............Wu and Gao Jun from the USA were also from China originally........

Zhang Yining advances to the finals after defeating Wu Jiawei.

In Beach Volleyball, the USA swept, earlier Misty May and Kerri Walsh won and in the  Men's  Dalhausser/Rogers win the gold with a strong performance against the duo from Brazil.

Dalhausser proved to be too much for the Brazillians as the US Beach Volleyball Duo won the Gold.

China continues to dominate in the diving event as young Chen Roulin wins the gold in the 10m springboard.

Chen Roulin dives for the Gold.

Team USA, however, flubbed the 4x400 relays both the Men and Women's Teams had the dropsies...and lost by dropping the baton........that's a yikes!

US gets pounded further by the Jamaican runners as they win easily......finished with the top time of 42.24.

 In Taekwando, the Lopez family has already won one bronze and one silver for the USA, their older brother still has a shot at the Gold.

Hadi Saei celebrates as he wins a Gold in Taekwando for Iran.

US also beats Russia in Volleyball to advance to the Finals to battle Brazil for the Gold.

Wushu finishes up to tomorrow today was mostly Taiji.....

In second place in Taijiquan, is Miyayoka Ai with a 9.66. Sure looks like slow long fist!

Ho Si Yang from Macau,scored a 9.41 in Taijiquan for seventh place.

Cui Wenjuan took first place in Taijiquan with a score of 9.85.

Now that's a stretch!

Ma Lingjuan wins the gold Medal in the combined Jianshu and Qiangshu division.

Wushu unfortunately has garnered very little coverage, and any videos posted on Youtube have been removed...for copyright infringement....probably by orders from the Beijing Olympic Committee............no real surprises......the countries currently strong in Wushu won most of the medals........China, Russia,Japan, Hong Kong, Korea......all the Asian countries did well.  It's an indication or should be to the IWUF that they need to promote Wushu better and it needs to be more competitive........the level in the rest of the world is not very high.

Well, I am looking foward to seeing the Ping Pong finals...........and hope maybe we see a little wushu coverage!??  Also, gotta see the Redeem Team play in the finals......and hope they can bring the Gold back to the USA. Tomorrow will mark the finals for a lot of events so should be the biggest award day of the Games. Team USA,  Jiayo!

OK, peace everyone and enjoy the rest of the Games!!