2008 Summer Olympics highlights

This article documents a current sports-related event. Information may change as the event progresses.

This page contains notable highlights from the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China.

[edit] Calendar

Template:2008 Summer Olympics Calendar

[edit] August 6

Football

• The first competitions of the Games started at 5:00pm CST (UTC+8). The first events were women's football (soccer) matches. The day was devoted to women's football.^[1][2]

[edit] August 7

Football

• The first football (soccer) matches for men began on this day. The day was devoted to men's football matches.^[3][4]

[edit] August 8

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2008 Olympic Games officially open

Opening Ceremony

Starting at 8:00 PM CST (UTC+8),^[5] the four-hour opening ceremony was attended by 91,000 spectators,^[6] including more than 100 world leaders. The spectacle was directed by filmmaker Zhang Yimou, and the Olympic Cauldron was lit by former Chinese gymnast Li Ning.^[7]

Equestrian

• The first events start in the Special Administrative Region of Hong Kong, with eventing in equestrian sports.^[8]

[edit] Day 1: August 9

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Olympic highlights: August 9, 2008

Archery

• South Korea sets an Olympic record in the ranking round of the women's team archery event.^[9]

Boxing

• Samoa's Farani Tavui is taken to hospital after being knocked unconscious in the men's light heavyweight event.^[10]

Fencing

• The United States sweeps the medals in the women's sabre event, the first U.S. podium sweep of a fencing event since 1904, as Mariel Zagunis takes gold.^[11]

Judo

• Choi Min-ho of South Korea wins the Men's 60 kg ending all his matches with ippon.^[12]
• Ryoko Tani of Japan who had never lost in a major international competition since 1996 was defeated in the Women's 48 kg semifinals by eventual gold medalist Alina Alexandra Dumitru with a controversial penalty point.

Shooting

• Kateřina Emmons of the Czech Republic wins the first gold medal of the games, setting an Olympic record for both the qualifying (with a perfect 400) and final scores, in the women's 10 m air rifle.^[13]

Swimming

• Swimmer Michael Phelps of the United States sets an Olympic record in the first round of the men's 400 m individual medley.^[14]
• Swimmer Alexander Dale Oen of Norway sets an Olympic record in the first round of the men's 100 m breaststroke.^[15]

Weightlifting

• Chen Xiexia of China wins the women's 48 kg event in weightlifting, setting Olympic records in both the clean and jerk, and total weight lifted.^[16]

Gold Medalists
Sport	Event	Competitor(s)	NOC	Rec	Ref
Cycling	Men's road race	Samuel Sánchez	Spain		[17]
Fencing	Women's sabre	Mariel Zagunis	United States		[11]
Judo	Men's 60 kg	Choi Min-Ho	South Korea		[12]
	Women's 48 kg	Alina Alexandra Dumitru	Romania		[12]
Shooting	Men's 10 m air pistol	Pang Wei	China		[18]
	Women's 10 m air rifle	Kateřina Emmons	Czech Republic	OR	[13]
Weightlifting	Women's 48 kg	Chen Xiexia	China	OR	[16]

[edit] Day 2: August 10

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Olympic highlights: August 10, 2008

Archery

• South Korea set a world record for a 24-arrow team match, in their victory over Italy in the quarter finals of the women's team archery event. They went on to win the Gold Medal, stretching the country's winning streak to 20 years over 6 Olympic games. ^[19]

Basketball

• The USA men's basketball team beat hosts China 101–70 in the first, much-anticipated game in the basketball event. Yao Ming, the Chinese star player, scored the first shot of the tournament, but limped off at the end of the third quarter due to an ankle injury.^[20]

Shooting

• Guo Wenjun of China wins gold in women's 10 metre air pistol and sets a new Olympic record for final score with 492.3 points, after Natalia Paderina of Russia had bettered the Olympic qualification record to 391.^[21] During the medal ceremony, Pederina and bronze medalist Nino Salukvadze of Georgia shared a symbolic embrace as their two countries continued to war; the two had been friends since they both competed for the Soviet Union.^[22]

Swimming

• Michael Phelps wins the men's 400 m individual medley final, with a new world record, winning his seventh career Olympic gold medal.^[23]
• Park Tae-Hwan wins the men's 400 m freestyle final. He is the first South Korean swimmer to win an Olympic gold medal for swimming.^[24]
• Swimmer Alexander Dale Oen of Norway set an Olympic record in the semifinals of the men's 100 m breaststroke, his second in the event.^[25]
• Australian swimmer Stephanie Rice sets a new world record in women's 400 m individual medley, winning Australia's 400th Summer Olympics medal. Second place Kirsty Coventry of Zimbabwe also finished below the previous world record.^[26]
• The Netherlands team wins women's 4 x 100 m freestyle relay final with a new Olympic record of 3 minutes 33.76 seconds. Dara Torres of the United States, at 41 years of age, becomes the oldest swimmer to win an Olympic medal after the US team takes silver.^[27]
• American men's 4 x 100 m freestyle relay breaks the World Record with a time of 3:12.23 in the preliminaries.^[28]

Weightlifting

• Prapawadee Jaroenrattanatarakoon of Thailand wins gold in women's 53 kg weightlifting and sets a new Olympic record for clean and jerk. This is Thailand's first medal in the 2008 games.^[29]

Gold Medalists
Sport	Event	Competitor(s)	NOC	Rec	Ref
Archery	Women's team	Park Sung Hyun, Yun Ok-Hee, Joo Hyun-Jung	South Korea		[30]
Cycling	Women's road race	Nicole Cooke	Great Britain		[31]
Diving	Women's synchronised 3 m springboard	Guo Jingjing and Wu Minxia	China		[32]
Fencing	Men's épée	Matteo Tagliariol	Italy		[33]
Judo	Men's 66 kg	Masato Uchishiba	Japan		[34]
	Women's 52 kg	Xian Dongmei	China		[34]
Shooting	Men's trap	David Kostelecký	Czech Republic	OR	[35]
	Women's 10 m air pistol	Guo Wenjun	China	OR	[21]
Swimming	Men's 400 m freestyle	Park Tae-Hwan	South Korea		[24]
	Men's 400 m individual medley	Michael Phelps	United States	WR	[23]
	Women's 4 x 100 m freestyle relay	Inge Dekker, Ranomi Kromowidjojo, Femke Heemskerk, Marleen Veldhuis Heats: Hinkelien Schreuder, Manon van Rooijen	Netherlands	OR	[27]
	Women's 400 m individual medley	Stephanie Rice	Australia	WR	[26]
Weightlifting	Men's 56 kg	Long Qingquan	China		[36]
	Women's 53 kg	Prapawadee Jaroenrattanatarakoon	Thailand	OR	[29]

[edit] Day 3: August 11

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Olympic highlights: August 11, 2008

Swimming

• Kirsty Coventry of Zimbabwe sets a new world record in the women's 100 m backstroke semifinal with a time of 58.77.^[37]
• Kosuke Kitajima of Japan wins the Olympic gold medal in the men's 100 m breaststroke, and sets a world record of 58.91.^[38]
• Arkady Vyatchanin of Russia sets a new Olympic record in the men's 100 m backstroke semifinal with a time of 53.06, only for the record to be set again in heat 2 of the semifinal by Hayden Stoeckel of Australia, with a time of 52.97.^[39]
• The United States team breaks the world record they had set in the semifinals by nearly four seconds, winning the gold medal in the men's 4 x 100 m freestyle relay with a time of 3:08:24, beating France by 0.08 seconds. At the start of the last leg, France's Alain Bernard, who had seen his world record in the 100 m freestyle broken less than two minutes earlier, was ahead by nearly a body length. However, in the final seconds Jason Lezak was able to chase him down with a time of 46.06, the fastest relay leg in history. Five of the eight teams in the final finished under the previous world record, and a sixth team was only 0.03 seconds over the previous record. Australia's Eamon Sullivan also broke the individual 100 m freestyle world record by swimming the leadoff leg in 47.24.^[40]

Shooting

• Entering the finals of the men's 10 m air rifle in fourth place, Abhinav Bindra wins the first ever individual Olympic gold medal for India,^[41] and India's first gold medal in any Olympic event since 1980.^[42]

Judo

• Tajikistan wins its first ever Olympic medal after Rasul Boqiev secures bronze in the Men's 73 kg.^[43]

Gold Medalists
Sport	Event	Competitor(s)	NOC	Rec	Ref
Archery	Men's team	Im Dong-Hyun, Lee Chang-Hwan, Park Kyung-Mo	South Korea	OR	[44]
Diving	Men's synchronised 10 m platform	Lin Yue and Huo Liang	China		[45]
Fencing	Women's foil	Valentina Vezzali	Italy		[46]
Judo	Men's 73 kg	Elnur Mammadli	Azerbaijan		[47]
	Women's 57 kg	Giulia Quintavalle	Italy		[47]
Shooting	Men's 10 m air rifle	Abhinav Bindra	India		[41]
	Women's trap	Satu Mäkelä-Nummela	Finland		[48]
Swimming	Men's 100 m breaststroke	Kosuke Kitajima	Japan	WR	[38]
	Men's 4 x 100 m freestyle relay	Michael Phelps, Garrett Weber-Gale, Cullen Jones, Jason Lezak Heats: Nathan Adrian, Benjamin Wildman-Tobriner, Matt Grevers	United States	WR	[49]
	Women's 100 m butterfly	Libby Trickett	Australia		[50]
	Women's 400 m freestyle	Rebecca Adlington	Great Britain		[51]
Weightlifting	Men's 62 kg	Zhang Xiangxiang	China		[52]
	Women's 58 kg	Chen Yanqing	China	OR	[53]

[edit] Day 4: August 12

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Olympic highlights: August 12, 2008

Swimming

• Michael Phelps of the U.S. sets the world record while winning the 200 m Men's freestyle, tying the record for most gold medals for an athlete.
• Natalie Coughlin of the U.S. becomes the first athlete to successfully defend a gold medal in the Women's 100 m backstroke event.

Shooting

• Walton Eller of the U.S. sets two Olympic records in the men's double trap event, with a qualifying score of 145 and a final score of 190.

Canoeing

• Benjamin Boukpeti becomes the first ever competitor from Togo to win an Olympic medal, taking bronze in the Men's slalom K-1.^[54]

Gold Medalists
Sport	Event	Competitor(s)	NOC	Rec	Ref
Canoeing	Men's slalom C-1	Michal Martikán	Slovakia		[55]
	Men's slalom K-1	Alexander Grimm	Germany		[56]
Diving	Women's synchronized 10 m platform	Wang Xin and Chen Ruolin	China		[57]
Equestrian	Individual eventing	Hinrich Romeike	Germany		[58]
	Team eventing	Peter Thomsen, Frank Ostholt, Hinrich Romeike, Ingrid Klimke, Andreas Dibowski	Germany		[58]
Fencing	Men's sabre	Zhong Man	China		[59]
Gymnastics	Men's artistic team all-around	Huang Xu, Chen Yibing, Li Xiaopeng, Xiao Qin, Yang Wei, Zou Kai	China		[60]
Judo	Men's 81 kg	Ole Bischof	Germany		[61]
	Women's 63kg	Ayumi Tanimoto	Japan		[61]
Shooting	Men's 50 m pistol	Jin Jong-oh	South Korea		[62]
	Men's double trap	Walton Eller	United States	OR	[63]
Swimming	Men's 100 m backstroke	Aaron Peirsol	United States	WR	[64]
	Men's 200 m freestyle	Michael Phelps	United States	WR	[65]
	Women's 100 m backstroke	Natalie Coughlin	United States		[66]
	Women's 100 m breaststroke	Leisel Jones	Australia	OR	[67]
Weightlifting	Men's 69 kg	Liao Hui	China		[68]
	Women's 63 kg	Pak Hyon Suk	North Korea		[69]
Wrestling	Men's Greco-Roman 55 kg	Nazyr Mankiev	Russia		[70]
	Men's Greco-Roman 60 kg	Islam-Beka Albiev	Russia		[70]

[edit] Day 5: August 13

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Olympic highlights: August 13, 2008

Wrestling

• Steeve Guenot wins France its first gold medal of the Beijing Olympics in the men's 66 kg Greco-Roman wrestling, after 9 other medals including 7 silver medals.

Swimming

• Michael Phelps of the U.S. takes the record for most gold medals for an athlete with 11 for wins in the 200 m butterfly and the 4 x 200 m relay.^[71]

Gymnastics

• The Chinese women's gymnastic team wins their first ever team gold medal.^[72]

Weightlifting

• Hungary's Janos Baranyai is taken to hospital after a severe injury during the men's 77kg event in weightlifting.^[73]

Gold Medalists
Sport	Event	Competitor(s)	NOC	Rec	Ref
Cycling	Men's road time trial	Fabian Cancellara	Switzerland		[74]
	Women's road time trial	Kristin Armstrong	United States		[75]
Diving	Men's synchronized 3 m springboard	Wang Feng and Qin Kai	China		[76]
Fencing	Men's foil	Benjamin Kleibrink	Germany		[77]
	Women's épée	Britta Heidemann	Germany		[78]
Gymnastics	Women's artistic team all-around	Yang Yilin, Cheng Fei, Jiang Yuyan, Deng Linlin, He Kexin, Li Shanshan	China		[72]
Judo	Men's 90 kg	Irakli Tsirekidze	Georgia		[79]
	Women's 70 kg	Masae Ueno	Japan		[79]
Shooting	Women's 25 m pistol	Chen Ying	China		[80]
Swimming	Men's 200 m butterfly	Michael Phelps	United States	WR	[81]
	Men's 4 x 200 m freestyle relay	Michael Phelps, Ryan Lochte, Ricky Berens, Peter Vanderkaay Heats: Klete Keller, Erik Vendt, David Walters	United States	WR	[82]
	Women's 200 m freestyle	Federica Pellegrini	Italy	WR	[83]
	Women's 200 m individual medley	Stephanie Rice	Australia	WR	[84]
Weightlifting