Beijing Olympic Games

Gymnastics-Sacramone spurred on by setbacks

By Pritha Sarkar

BEIJING, Aug 3 (Reuters) - If looks could kill, Alicia Sacramone might have ended Shawn Johnson’s gymnastics career at last year’s world championships.

Then aged only 15, upstart Johnson burst on to the scene to claim three golds at the world championships in Stuttgart, relegating Sacramone to a silver on the floor.

Sacramone, champion on the apparatus in 2005, appeared so shocked by the turn of events, she was caught on camera looking angrily at Johnson while she fought back tears.

Many people accused her of being a sore loser but in an interview with Reuters, Sacramone said the episode would spur her on to success at the Beijing Olympics.

“I was upset but it wasn’t like I was upset with Shawn, I was upset with my own performance because I had a little bobble (in my routine),” explained the 20-year-old, who underwent knee surgery in 2006.

“I worked so hard that whole year to come back and I wanted to get my floor title back after not even making it to finals in 2006. It was our last day of competing and there were a lot of emotional release just from being in a stressful situation in the whole trip. I just wanted that gold medal for myself.

“But if anything, having her come in and being such a good competitor just pushed us hard to achieve more. It was a motivational thing for me to work harder.

“I’m personally glad it was now (in 2007) because I knew I needed to go home and work harder and get up my level of difficulty to give her a good fight in China.”

Sacramone is no stranger to setbacks as she has had to deal with her fair share over the past few seasons.

Four years ago, the vault and floor specialist had been expected to compete at the Athens Games but she was crippled by nerves during the U.S. Nationals and her error-filled displays meant she did not even make it to the selection trials.

TEARS SHED

Instead of fulfilling her own Olympic dreams, she was left behind in Winchester, MA., and had to follow all the action as a television viewer. When fellow American Carly Patterson captured the all-round gold, it only added to her frustrations.

“It’s such a great accomplishment to have someone from your own country win the Olympics but it was a little hard to watch as I would have liked to have been at that Olympic Games,” said Sacramone, the daughter of an orthodontist and a salon owner.

“It was really hard, it was a tough time. I took some time off and… that helped me to revive and made me realise that I do want to do gymnastics and keep training. There were a lot of tears shed but made me stronger and I feel I’m a lot better competitor because of it.”

By the time the 2005 world championships came around in Melbourne, Sacramone showed that she had learned to control the jitters and executed a string of soaring twists and powerful tumbles to land the gold medal in the floor exercise.

After finally proving her credentials, she and team mate Nastia Liukin were expected to spearhead the American challenge in the run-up to Beijing.

Although world all-round champion Johnson has recently stolen the spotlight from her more experienced compatriots with her intricate yet powerful routines, Sacramone does not intend to be just a supporting act at the National Indoor Stadium.

She has trained for almost 9000 hours over the last Olympic cycle to make sure her second chance at glory does not go to waste.

She also has an added incentive to strike gold in China. So far her father has taken possession of her seven world championship medals and displays them in his office. If she wins a top prize in Beijing, she has no intentions of handing it over.

“A world medal is amazing… but getting that Olympic medal would just top out (the) world (medal). That feeling of winning a gold medal would be to die for. That (Olympic medal) might have to be in my room. That one’s mine,” she grinned.

(For more Olympic stories visit our multimedia website “Road to Beijing” at http://www.reuters.com/news/sports/2008olympics; and see our blog at http://blogs.reuters.com/china)

Swimming-Hackett calmer than ever with record in sight

By Karolos Grohmann

BEIJING, Aug 3 (Reuters) - Australia’s Grant Hackett, looking to become the first male swimmer to win three successive Olympic gold medals in the same event, said he was more relaxed going to Beijing than he had been at previous Games.

Hackett, who has won two Olympic 1,500 metres freestyle titles, said on Sunday his preparation in Malaysia for next week’s Olympic Games had been flawless, adding to his confidence.

“For me going three in a row, I certainly realise the attention and expectation that comes with that,” Hackett told reporters after arriving in Beijing.

“But at the same time I probably feel more relaxed with this than I felt in the past two (Games).”

Hackett won his first 1500m Olympic title in front of a home crowd during the Sydney Games in 2000, and has since admitted he had put himself under enormous pressure at the time to do well.

The 28-year-old won his second in Athens four year later, competing with a partially collapsed lung that diminished his lung capacity by 25 percent, without telling his team doctors.

“Touch wood, everything is going according to plan this time. I was always looking forward to these Olympics and I have prepared myself physically and mentally,” he said.

“(There are ) so many rivals this time round and more depth than ever. Now you just have to go out there, give it your best shot and the results will talk for themselves.”

Hackett’s preparations were given a major boost last month when he shaved almost two seconds off his own world record in the short-course 800m freestyle.

“I am confident I can get the best out of myself. I feel fit to race and look forward to doing everything correctly.”

(Editing by Greg Stutchbury)

(For more stories visit our multimedia website “Road to Beijing” at http://www.reuters.com/news/sports/2008olympics ; and see our blog at http://blogs.reuters.com/china )

Beauty’s long journey from Bangladesh

By Azad Majumder

SAVAR, Bangladesh, Aug 3 (Reuters) - Nazmunnahar Beauty’s journey to the Olympics is typical of her many fellow Bangladeshi athletes at the Beijing Games.

Orphaned as a child, Bangladesh’s fastest woman was taken in by her next door neighbours and later encouraged into athletics by a coach who spotted her potential.

“I never thought of (the) Olympics. It’s like a dream come true,” said Beauty, who will participate in the 100 metres.

“It was a long struggle, but still I have no regret. I have got the opportunity to represent my country in an Olympics.”

Beauty, like the other five members of the country’s team, have made Beijing after struggling through abject poverty.

Swimmer Dolly Akthar, who competed at Sydney and Athens, learned to swim in ponds, while sprinter Abu Abdullah, placed his athletics career on hold to join the Bangladesh army and was a member of the United Nations peacekeeping force in Ivory Coast.

“I knew if I join the peacekeeping mission, I may be out of athletics forever,” said Abdullah, who will also run the 100 metres.

“Still I had no choice as financially it was a huge reward.”

Abdullah returned home in late 2007 in an effort to regain his fitness before Beijing and, like Beauty and Akhtar, was granted an International Olympic Council (IOC) wild card to ensure all member countries were represented at Beijing.

The South Asian country, whose only high-profile presence in world sports is through their cricket team, has competed at the Olympics since 1984, but not won a medal in world competition.

Bangladesh, which attained independence after a guerrilla war against Pakistani troops in Dec. 1971, have had success at the regional South Asian Games and Bangladeshi athletes won Commonwealth gold medals in 1990 and 2002.

The real reward for the six athletes and seven officials, however, will come from marching behind their team’s flag at Beijing’s National Stadium on Friday.

“To become a sportsman in a country like Bangladesh is never easy,” said athletics coach Nazrul Islam.

“You have no money and no other benefit, but only some honour. Becoming an Olympian is their highest honour.”

(Writing by Nizam Ahmed; Editing by Greg Stutchbury)

(For more stories visit our multimedia website “Road to Beijing” at http://www.reuters.com/news/sports/2008olympics ; and see our blog at http://blogs.reuters.com/china )

Rain, rain go away for opening ceremony

BEIJING (AP)—Rain threatens to dampen Friday’s opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics.

The show will go on, however, rain or shine, according to Wang Hui, spokeswoman for the Beijing organizing committee.

“We have done some rehearsals, and in one rehearsal we encountered periodic rain,” she said Sunday. “That may have turned out to be a test for us. So we are very confident of producing a successful opening ceremony.”

Meteorologists will only say there is a chance of rain. A more precise forecast is expected on Wednesday.

China’s government has a well-known rain-making department and officials had spoken confidently about being able to make rain—or even stop it—during the games.

Now they’re a bit more cautious.

“Our technology is still considered experimental,” said Zhang Qiang, director of the Weather Modification Bureau.

US swimmers chomping at the bit

by Martin Parry

SINGAPORE (AFP) - The US swim team are chomping at the bit in the countdown to Beijing after an ideal preparation, with head coach Mark Schubert predicting another titantic battle with fellow superpower Australia.

Always formidable in the Olympic pool, the United States will have a squad of proven performers at Beijing's Water Cube in their bid to maintain their swimming superiority.

With the aid of Speedo's new LZR Racer form-fitting bodysuit, world records are set to fall—and Schubert acknowledges the meet will be one of the fastest ever.

"Over the last two years technology has obviously improved greatly and that technology will help, but the best racers will still win," he said in Singapore, where the team enjoyed what they said was "a dream training camp".

"Yes, it will be faster and maybe it's going to be the toughest. But to me it is still all about racing, and the people who know how to race well and are prepared for it will do the best."

Spearheading the team is Michael Phelps, who won six gold and two bronze in Athens.

He will tackle five individual events, in four of which he holds the world record—the 200m freestyle, 200m butterfly and the 200m and 400m individual medleys.

"This is probably some of the best training I've done in quite some time and, you know, we're all getting so much more excited, and the closer we get we can hardly wait for the Olympics to actually come," said Phelps.

His fifth individual event could well turn out to be a tussle with teammate Ian Crocker in the 100m butterfly, in which Crocker holds the world record but trails in his head-to-head rivalry with Phelps.

Brendan Hansen, who will go hammer and tong with Japan's Kosuke Kitajima for the 100m breakstroke title, echoed the sentiments of Phelps.

"Most of the team has been chomping at the bit this last week, waiting for the week to go by. We are definitely anxious to get to Beijing and for the Games to get started," he said.

The men's team is stronger than the women's.

Katie Hoff has posted the fastest times of 2008 in the 200 and 800 freestyles and the 400 medley, in which she set a world record at trials.

She also owns the second-fastest times of the year in the 400m free and 200m medley, but she'll face tough medley competition from Australia's Stephanie Rice.

Only two other women's world records belong to Americans—Natalie Coughlin's 100m backstroke mark and world champion Margaret Hoelzer in the 200m back.

While the depth of swimming worldwide has improved considerably since Athens, Schubert still sees Australia as the USA's great rival.

"We enjoy competing against the Australians. They just seem to be our natural rivals. We have a great deal of respect for them, particularly for creating so may great swimmers from such a small country," he said.

"When we have a chance to race against them, we always relish it."

Despite the relaxed atmosphere at the Singapore camp, the team has had to cope with some setbacks: breaststroke medal contender Jessica Hardy tested positive for a banned substance at the US trials.

Breaststroker Eric Shanteau meanwhile is heading to Beijing battling testicular cancer, while Dara Torres's coach is suffering a potentially deadly blood disorder.

Jelimo poised to complete meteoric rise

By Jack Oyoo

NAIROBI, Aug 3 (Reuters) - Kenyan teenager Pamela Jelimo is a warm favourite to complete her astonishing rise by claiming Olympic 800 metres gold in Beijing.

The 18-year-old, a sprinter in her school days, only took up the two-lap charge four months ago and has never looked back, breaking national and world junior records as well as staying on course to win the $1 million Golden League jackpot.

Jelimo ran the fastest 800m for nearly 11 years in Berlin in June—it was only her fourth race over the distance—and she has since bettered her time with a majestic run of one minute 54.97 seconds in Paris a month later.

Throw in further victories in Rome and Oslo in the Golden League series and Jelimo, whose time has only been bettered by Russia’s Yelena Soboleva this year, looks a near certainty for gold.

“It is not a question of who will or will not stop Jelimo because that creates bad blood among runners,” she told Reuters.

“I tested my strength in Rome and Paris. I think I am fine and only waiting for Beijing.

“I returned home to train in my country with my compatriots so that we can plan together. So far so good.”

Despite her progress in such a short space of time, her modesty is striking.

“I started running in my home district (secondary) school of Koyo in Nandi South district. But I never went beyond district level,” she said.

“But after finishing school in 2006, I had enough time last year and prepared well, hence where I am now.”

Jelimo was urged to ditch the shorter sprint events and take on the 800m and she ran 2:01.02 at the African Championships trials in Nairobi in April.

A national junior record followed at the African Championships in Addis Ababa two weeks later.

She broke the world junior record in Hengelo, Netherlands in May when she ran 1:55.76 and her progress is such that even Jarmila Kratochvilova’s 25-year-old world record of 1:53.28 looks within striking distance.

“Time will tell. There is always room for improvement and that will come to pass. I am now focusing on the Olympics.”

(Editing by Jack Kimball and Miles Evans) (For more stories visit our multimedia website “Road to Beijing” at http://www.reuters.com/news/sports/2008olympics; and see our blog at http://blogs.reuters.com/china)

WITNESS: Love or hate them, Olympic openings are pure kitsch

Paul Majendie is a correspondent based in the London Bureau who joined Reuters in 1970. He first went to the summer Olympics at Los Angeles in 1984 and has covered every opening ceremony since then—in Seoul, Barcelona, Atlanta, Sydney and Athens.

By Paul Majendie

BEIJING (Reuters) - I have never laughed so much in my life. It was so over the top, pure Hollywood.

Eighty-four pianists in white tie and tails launched into Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue” on 84 pianos. A jet-propelled “Rocket Man” soared into the stadium to whoops from the crowd.

The opening ceremony at Los Angeles in 1984 was unalloyed showbiz. In the next five Games, organizers preferred a less flamboyant palette of nationalistic fervor, folklore and historical pageants.

Californian flower girls handed out bouquets in LA because, as the oleaginous TV commentator explained, they wanted to “ensure this is a person to person moment.”

Pure kitsch. Fervent national pride. Cheesy dance routines. An interminable parade of athletes. Stodgy official speeches.

I have, for my sins, covered every opening ceremony since then and there has been a great deal of all the above. They seem to get longer every time but I have become an unashamed addict.

Admittedly, spectators are often force-fed a diet of anodyne bonhomie but the show-stopping moments stay in the mind forever.

At the Seoul Summer Games, the South Korean crowd went crazy when 76-year-old Sohn Kee-Chung, winner of the 1936 marathon, carried the torch into the stadium.

He had been forced to enter that marathon using a Japanese name because Korea was then occupied by Japan.

But cynics may recall Seoul as the year of the burnt doves.

Several of the birds—traditional symbols of peace—met an untimely end while sitting on the edge of the Olympic cauldron for the lighting of the flame.

The flame-lighting is the climax of the show and organizers work long and hard in secrecy searching for the wow factor.

In Barcelona in 1992, Paralympic archer Antonio Rebollo lit the Olympic flame by firing a blazing arrow into the cauldron.

But the gold medal for pure emotion would have to go to Atlanta in 1996.

Appearing from the shadows, Muhammad Ali walked slowly forward to take the Olympic flame from swimmer Janet Evans.

Ali, ravaged by Parkinson’s Syndrome and a pale shadow of the boxing genius who once could “float like a butterfly and sting like a bee,” shuffled up to kindle the flame, his hands shaking and his face gripped in concentration.

President Bill Clinton’s eyes were glistening with tears. It certainly had me sobbing.

To cries of “G’Day” to the world, Sydney went for an army of lawnmowers and a giant pink jellyfish. A lone horseman led a cavalry charge of 120 stockmen in a flamboyant opening flourish.

Then, in a gesture of national reconciliation, Aborigine runner Cathy Freeman was picked to light the flame, creating a ring of fire in the heart of a cascading waterfall.

But she and the 110,000-strong crowd held their breath as the eight-tonne steel bowl of flame shuddered and snagged at the start of its journey up the side of Stadium Australia.

Engineers fixed the fault in just three minutes that must have felt like a lifetime for the organizers.

After all the doomsday warnings about Athens not being ready in time, the Greek capital launched the 2004 Olympics in its ancient birthplace with an acclaimed spectacular.

The stadium floor was flooded with water, creating a shimmering sea that burst into flames as the five Olympic rings were set ablaze by a pyrotechnic comet flashing down from the sky. It looked superb.

And then, as in every Summer Games, the opening ceremony almost ground to a halt to welcome the people who really matter — even if at times it seemed every athlete on earth was parading through the stadium.

Then come the obligatory pyrotechnics. Fireworks always look more spectacular live than they do on television.

Heading for my seventh and final Olympics, I must say I cannot wait to see what the Chinese will come up with.

(Editing by Robert Woodward and Greg Stutchbury)

(For more stories visit our multimedia website “Road to Beijing” at http://www.reuters.com/news/sports/2008olympics; and see our blog at http://blogs.reuters.com/china)