Phelps wins fifth gold medal

Michael Phelps won the men's 100 meters butterfly by one stroke to collect his fifth gold medal of the Games. That with two bronzes allowed him to join Americans Mark Spitz and Matt Biondi as the only swimmers to win seven medals at an Olympics. Phelps beat American team mate Ian Crocker on the final stroke to win gold in 51.25 seconds. Crocker clocked 51.29. With just one more swimming event left for him at the Games, Phelps could go into the record books with Soviet gymnast Alexander Dityatin in 1980 as the only people to win eight medals at a single Olympics. But, Phelps has decided not to swim the relay final Saturday, so his good friend Ian Crocker can swim instead and possibly win a gold. The wiiner of the 100 meter butterfly was suspose to swim in the relay final, but Phelps wants Ian to have a chance at the gold. Phelps would still get a medal (if the relay team medals) because he swam in the relay preliminaries. "Michael is already assured whatever medal the relay wins tomorrow night," said Phelps's coach Bob Bowman. Phelps said giving up his place was tough but the best decision for the team. "Ian is one of the greatest relay swimmers in the U.S. team and he wasn't feeling too well in the freestyle relay," he said. "But I am willing to give him a chance to step up tomorrow night and hopefully win that relay. "We came into this meet as a team and we're going to leave it as a team. Phelps has won gold in the 200 and 400 individual medley, 100 and 200 butterfly and 4x200 freestyle relay. He has also collected bronzes in the 200 freestyle and 4x100 freestyle relay. The 100 butterfly brought him his seventh Olympic medal, matching the total achieved by Spitz in 1972 and a third American Matt Biondi in 1988. His Olympics over, Phelps is now looking forward to indulging in some fast food -- hamburgers, fries and apple pie. "It's a good thing to be able to sit back and relax a little but when tomorrow's final comes I will be in the stands and cheering as hard as I can for the U.S. team," he said.

Patterson wins gold in gymnastics

ATHENS, Greece - The 20-year wait is over. America has its new Mary Lou, and her name is Carly Patterson. Compare that to Khorkina, who was graceful and elegant in every sense, but stumbled ever so slightly during one pirouette and didn’t have the burst off the mat to go with her trademark flamboyance. When Patterson’s winning score was posted, coach Evgeny Marchenko lifted her on his left shoulder and paraded her in front of the fans — a champion’s chariot for a championship effort. “I don’t even know what to say right now,” Patterson said. “You dream about this your whole life. Then you win the gold medal. It’s just amazing.” The other American in the competition, Courtney Kupets, struggled all night and finished ninth. Last year at world championships, it was Khorkina edging out Patterson. Two moments stood out then: Khorkina leaving the floor and admitting she was uninterested while Patterson was performing the decisive routine on vault. Then, at the medalists’ news conference, Patterson stepping onto the podium to be greeted by Khorkina, who started flipping through a magazine to show the American her latest modeling pictures. An arrogant insult? Maybe so. “I just thought, ‘Whatever?”’ Patterson said last month. “I’ll go out and do my gymnastics and the best person will win.” She did just that. During the medals ceremony, Patterson sang along to “The Star-Spangled Banner,” played at the arena for the second straight night, and she looked to be blinking back tears. Khorkina, meanwhile, stared at the scoreboard and smiled at the fans, most of whom had come to see her. As she closed her night dancing to “Acropolis Adieu,” there was a sense that this was her time, and her arena. Once the music started, Khorkina was sexy, seductive, beautiful. Her tumbling passes were graceful and fluid, not the work of a pure jock but of a ballerina who simply works the jumps into the bigger show. But there were mistakes. Often in the past, they have been overlooked, a bow to a star who at times has seemed bigger than the sport. But when the score, a 9.562. popped up, Khorkina nodded knowingly. She had left the door open, and Patterson took advantage. Waiting for the start signal, Marchenko gave her a thumbs-up and she nodded back. The highlights of her routine had little to do with dance, and lots to do with jumping. On her third tumbling pass, she did two somersaults, and when they were complete, she was still hanging high enough that she could look down and pick the exact spot she wanted to land. She landed perfectly — on all four passes, and that was the difference between first and second. “I just knew I had to stick a good floor routine,” Patterson said. “After my last pass, I knew it.” Khorkina’s best event is uneven bars, and two rotations earlier, she scored a 9.725. Patterson answered with a 9.575, a much better effort than in team finals, when she got caught up during one of her spins and lost precious tenths of points that made the difference in America’s silver-medal showing against Romania. Two nights later, though, Patterson got her gold, and Americans found a new gymnastics star.

Hamm wins gold in gymnastics all-around

ATHENS (Reuters) - Paul Hamm etched his name into the record books as he became the first American man to win the Olympic gymnastics all-round crown Wednesday Hamm overcame a fall from the vault to grab a last gasp victory with the final routine of the day for a total score of 57.823. "I thought after the vault I cost myself any medal. My thought was I should shoot for bronze," said a jubilant Hamm after adding the Olympic gold to the world title he won last August. "I dug down deep and gave it everything I had on the parallel bars and high bar. And after high bar, my coach said 'all right Olympic champion, and I said 'what, no way'." Mounting the horizontal bar trailing in fourth place, Hamm completed his gravity-defying routine to perfection and threw his arms up in the air in victory even before the judges had declared their verdict. His final score of 9.837 was enough to edge out South Korean's Kim Dae-eun by just 0.012 of a point and spark off ecstatic celebrations around the Olympic Indoor Hall. Read more here

Phelps gets two more golds

ATHENS (Reuters) - Michael Phelps took his haul of gold medals at the Athens Olympics to three on Tuesday after winning the 200 meters butterfly and helping the United States beat Australia in the 4x200 freestyle relay. The American also has two bronze medals and with three events still to go, he now seems certain to become first swimmer to win eight medals at a single Olympics. The American posted the second fastest time in history to win the 200 butterfly in one minute 54.04 seconds, just 0.11 outside the world record he set at last year's world championships. He was under world record pace at the halfway stage but began to slow down on the turn for home before holding off the late charge of Japan's Takashi Yamamoto and Stephen Parry, who provided Britain with their first Olympic swimming medal since the Atlanta Games in 1996. Phelps returned to the pool an hour later to join Ryan Lochte, Peter Vanderkaay and Klete Keller for a dramatic relay battle with Australia. Phelps swam the lead-off leg and the U.S. had a big lead heading into the final changeover but Ian Thorpe, winner of the 200 individual gold the previous night, began to close on Keller. With everyone in the stadium on their feet roaring, Thorpe looked as though he would pass Keller in the final few meters but the American held on to reach the wall just 0.13 seconds ahead with Italy third. "It was probably the most exciting race I've ever been part of," Phelps said. "I knew Klete would come through. He anchored the relay perfectly. He held off the greatest 200 freestyler in history." Thorpe, who was aiming for his third gold of the Games, said: "We've owned this event since 1998 so this is a disappointing result.

Go Brasil!!!

OK, I really want the USA to win, but how could you not cheer for this?

Phelps gets first gold

ATHENS, Greece - Michael Phelps of Towson, Maryland won his first Olympic gold medal and broke his own world record in the 400-meter individual medley Saturday night, an impressive start to his quest to eclipse Mark Spitz's 1972 record of seven gold medals. Phelps won with a time of 4 minutes, 8.26 seconds, breaking the record of 4:08.41 that he set last month at the U.S. Olympic trials in Long Beach, Calif.

Top U.S. Olympians to watch

1. Michael Phelps How many? The first week of the Olympics will be all about keeping count of Phelps’ swimming medals in individual and relay events, projecting his chase of Mark Spitz (seven golds in 1972). The tireless Phelps is most dominant in the individual medley, most vulnerable in the backstroke. Even though swimming is one of the more frustrating spectator sports, Phelps is about to become one famous bobbing cap. 2. Bryan and Tom Remember the decathlon hype over Dan (O’Brien) and Dave (Johnson)? There’s a big difference with Tom Pappas and Bryan Clay. "We both made the team," Pappas said, smiling. That’s as big a yuck as you’re likely to hear from the soft-spoken Pappas, who went into the Olympic trials as the heavily-favored, heavily-publicized star with the Greek heritage. Then Clay beat him, soundly, and all of a sudden designers of Wheaties boxes were very confused. Clay is more outspoken than Pappas, and predicts a one-two finish at the Olympics. TV loves decathletes, because the event extends 3. Kerri Walsh and Misty May This photogenic beach volleyball pair became famous during the Super Bowl, when they were featured in a likeable Visa ad. Now they better win a gold medal, or it’s back to Dan and Dave, again. Walsh, 25, is considered the best player in the world right now. May, recovering from an abdominal muscle strain, teamed with Holly McPeak for a fifth-place finish in Sydney. With Walsh, she is expected to fare much better. 4. Courtney Kupets Courtney Kupets and Courtney McCool are a pair of 18-year-old gymnasts on the deepest, most dominant gymnastics team in U.S. history. They’re still trying to figure out what they should be called in Athens, to avoid confusion. While you’re at it, keep an eye on the third star of this team – Carly Patterson. New rules changes in Olympic gymnastics give greater weight to apparatus specialists. The U.S. is stocked at every station 5. Tim Duncan The San Antonio center is the rock that stands between the American NBA stars and the first humiliation of a so-called Dream Team. The other nations have shooters, they have passers, they have rebounders. Some even have pains in the neck like Allen Iverson. None has a Duncan, though, who faces enormous responsibility and pressure that comes with his unique, big-man talent 6. Mia Hamm This is the fond farewell to a golden generation of stars, personified by Hamm. After losses in Sydney and at the 2003 World Cup, Hamm, Julie Foudy, Brandi Chastain and all the others are looking for a graceful, triumphant exit. Ask Hamm what she hopes her legacy will be with the team, she says, "Dental insurance." Her teammates will probably remember her for more than that. 7. Marion Jones There are better track athletes these days (Maurice Greene, Alan Webb, Stacy Dragila, Jamie Nieto, Jeremy Wariner). But you can’t take your eyes off this exquisite athlete, or the headlines that trail behind her. Jones is only a threat for an individual medal in the long jump, and that event is rarely one of the sexier competitions. But Carl Lewis once proved that a star can turn a landing pit into a takeoff board for celebrity. The big question: Will the track coaches include Marion in the relays, knowing there is a chance her drug scandal may explode and all medals might have to be returned? 8. Venus Williams Yes, we know tennis is not that important at the Olympics, and that everybody is pointing instead to the U.S. Open that follows within days. But with Serena withdrawing, Venus has all our attention and will try to win without her sister, and bring home the gold medal. Unfortunately, Wimbledon champ Maria Sharapova didn’t qualify, because her ranking was too low at the time the Russian team was selected. 9. Lisa Fernandez Forget all the hype over photogenic Jennie Finch. The star of the softball team remains Fernandez, the overpowering pitcher who can start any number of games in a row without tiring. 10. Rulon Gardner Gardner was a breakout story in Sydney, where he finally beat the unbeatable Russian bear, Aleksandr Karelin, in the super heavyweight division of Greco-Roman wrestling. Now, Gardner could be even bigger, because he is coming back at age 33 from a snowmobile accident that cost him a toe. Gardner remains a breath of fresh air in this sport, an unspoiled farmer’s kid from Afton, Wyoming. He’s as tough to knock off his feet as Jim Brown.