Olympics Day 10: Fall From Grace
No one came into the Beijing Olympics under more pressure than Lu Xiang.
Yes, a lot of Americans wanted to see Michael Phelps win eight gold medals, and there are other athletes like Kirsty Coventry who were their nation's only real chance at a medal.
But Lu Xiang was China's face of the Olympics. He shocked the world with his gold in the 110-meter hurdles in Athens, and his repeat victory was going to be the signature moment of the 29th Summer Olympiad. China has won more gold medals than any other country, but this wasn't going to be a win in table tennis, badminton, weightlifting or even gymnastics. This was going to be China's star winning another gold medal in the Olympic Stadium as the whole world watched.
This might sound like hyperbole, but it really isn't. Lu's image is everywhere in China - he has truly become a national hero since winning that medal in Athens. Yesterday, ticket scalpers were getting thousands of dollars for seats at the morning session, just to see him run in the first round.
Caveat emptor.
Lu pulled out of an event in late May with a leg injury and hasn't raced since. He's been training in seclusion, but the Chinese coaches have been assuring the public that he was fine. That turned out to be a lie. In the warmups, Lu only managed to get over two hurdles before crumpling to the ground in pain and grabbing his right Achilles' tendon. He actually got into the starting blocks for his first-round heat, but he pulled up after about three strides. As the rest of the field went back to the blocks - it had been a false start - Lu pulled off his lane number and walked slowly out of the stadium.
China will still finish the Olympics with more gold medals than any other country, but they just lost their signature moment.
Somehow, the Games managed to go on.
The most impressive performance of the day probably belonged to Australia's Emma Snowsill, who wiped out the field in the triathlon. She swam 1500 meters, biked 40 kilometers and ran 10 kilometers in just under two hours, beating Portugal's Vanessa Fernandes by over a minute.
The other contender for Olympian of the Day would be Russia's Elena Isinbayeva, who didn't even have to work hard to win the pole-vault gold. The only time she was challenged was when she needed three tries to break her own Olympic record and then three more to break her own world record. By that point, everyone else had been done for an hour.
Between Snowsill and Australia's sailing golds, they are now comfortably in third place in the medal standings. Russia's sweep of women's single's tennis has helped them take over fourth and Great British dominance of the cycling events has gotten them into fifth. South Korea, which had been locked into third for about a week, hasn't done much of anything now that the archery and judo are finished.
At the top of the standings, the United States moved back into first place, thanks to the sweep of the 400-meter hurdles. With track and field and team sports now taking center stage, the Americans should start to pull away. Sonya Richards is almost a lock for gold in the women's 400 meters tonight, and our women's 100-meter hurdles team could sweep, led by Lolo Jones.
RealSports Medal Standings
1) United States 21-19-25=187
2) China 25-14-12=179
3) Australia 11-8-12=91
4) Russia 8-10-11=81
5) Great Britain 11-6-5=78
6) South Korea 8-9-5=72
7) France 4-10-12=62
Japan 8-3-7=56
9) Italy 6-6-6=54
10) Germany 6-5-6=51
X) MichaelPhelpsLand 8-0-0=40
11) Ukraine 5-3-5=39
12) Holland 3-4-4=31
13) Cuba 1-5-5=25
14) Kenya 2-4-2=24
15) Spain 3-2-2=23