The Beijing Olympics were like the marathon won by Samuel Wanjiru of Kenya on Sunday: Off with a bang, run at an unbelievable pace and finished in record time.
IN MY OPINION
BEIJING - In two different quadrants of this endless city Saturday night, a couple hours apart, Sanya Richards and Sylvia Fowles finished their Olympic quests with gold medals.
BEIJING - Hope Solo's sure hands made up for the butterfingers of U.S. relay runners on a seesaw day for Americans at the Olympics. Goalkeeper Solo punched a ball that was flying toward the net to save a 1-0 victory over Brazil for the women's soccer team. With a gold medal hanging around her neck, she salvaged not only her reputation but a brutal slate of performances on Thursday in Beijing.
IN MY OPINION
BEIJING - Michael Phelps may be the most astounding athlete of the Beijing Olympics. Natalie du Toit is the most inspirational. Phelps' eight gold medals and seven world records left you in awe. Du Toit's effort in the open water swimming marathon left you in tears.
The finish line was within sight. The gold medal was within Sanya Richards' grasp.
IN MY OPINION
Track and field has found its antidote. He calls himself Lightning Bolt. When he strikes, you can't take your eyes off him. Jamaica's Usain Bolt electrified the prickly air inside the Bird's Nest Stadium once again Wednesday night, winning the Olympic 200-meter dash in riveting style.
IN MY OPINION
BEIJING -- Bershawn Jackson grew up running at Moore Park, where the track is worn thin, like many dreams in Miami's inner city. Jackson always wanted to go to the Olympics. He wanted to ''travel the world and get out of the ghetto,'' as he put it. So he ran. He ran and ran around the balding old track at Moore Park, and it was fitting that the short kid chose the spiteful 400-meter hurdles as his event. Each race presents 10 obstacles to overcome.
IN MY OPINION
BEIJING - As teammate Jason Lezak stroked for home, Michael Phelps looked up at the bubbled ceiling of the Water Cube. His smile seemed to stretch from one end of the pool to the other.
IN MY OPINION
BEIJING -- The women's 100-meter dash is typically a race between individuals and a clash of egos. But with three Americans and three Jamaicans in the final field of eight, Sunday's race was one between nations with long histories of sprinting success.
TRACK & FIELD
The Olympic torch is aflame 24 hours a day, and from certain vantage points it looks like Bird's Nest Stadium is on fire. That's not too far-fetched a notion. The world's fastest runners could very well burn up the track as the main action of the Beijing Games shifts from water to land.
IN MY OPINION
One day a couple months ago, before the Olympics, Dara Torres walked around with a urine sample in one hand and a cell phone in the other.
IN MY OPINION
And then there was one. Michael Phelps won his seventh gold medal of the Beijing Olympics Saturday, windmilling past Milorad Cavic on his final stroke in the 100-meter butterfly at the Water Cube to win by a fingernail.
OLYMPICS | GYMNASTICS
BEIJING - Nastia Liukin and Shawn Johnson are teammates, roommates and friends. A year ago they hatched a plan to finish 1-2 in the all-around gymnastics final at the Beijing Olympics. It didn't matter what order, as long as the duo won gold and silver together in their U.S. leotards.
LINDA ROBERTSON | IN MY OPINION
BEIJING -- Four years of anticipation came down to the floor exercise, on a blue mat with white lines, and as the music swelled, the crowd screamed and the TV cameras zoomed in, the American gymnasts stumbled.
IN MY OPINION
BEIJING - To contend with the baby's-breath breezes on Fushan Bay, sailors prepared for the Olympics by lowering their own personal ballast: They went on diets.
Jevon Tarantino and partner Chris Colwill had a silver medal, or at least a bronze, within reach as they stepped onto the three-meter springboard for their final dive Wednesday.
Here in Beijing, they have the Temple of Heaven, the Hall of Eternal Well-Being, the Gate of Luminous Peace, and the Gate of Earthly Tranquility. But they never mention the Intersections of Death.
IN MY OPINION
China is madly in love with basketball. With one-fifth of the world's population, that's a lot of love. Yao Ming knows how it feels. He is treated like a 7-6 god whenever he comes home. Soon his likeness may replace Mao's on the Gate of Heavenly Peace.
IN MY OPINION
BEIJING -- Solomon Bayoh, a sprinter from Sierra Leone, is not a dumb jock. Neither is Germany's Frank Dehne, South Africa's Katherine Meaklim, nor the Netherlands' Mirjam Melchers.
In Beijing, even the fans will be in peak form for the Olympics. More than 300,000 people have been trained as volunteer cheerleaders for the Games, taking classes to perfect elaborate hand gestures and loud chants, such as Jia you! Jia you! -- Add fuel! Add fuel!
