Faster. Higher. Stronger.

Russia’s superwoman Elena Isinbaeva has successfully defended her Olympic title in the Women’s Pole Vault at the National Stadium on Monday, August 18. Two-time world champion Isinbaeva set a world record, her third of the year, when she cleared 5.05m on her third and final attempt.

This is so more inspiring, more than those world records broken in Water Cube.

Watch the sensational moment captured. A truly world class performance.

Michael Phelps out swam Milorad Cavic of Serbia with a new Olympic record time of 50.58 to win the Men’s 100m Butterfly final. The win brings Phelps’ seventh gold medal at the Beijing Games and ties the world record for most gold medals at a single Olympics set by Mark Spitz (USA) at the Munich 1972 Games.

This is the only event in which Phelps participates that he does not hold the world record time.

Catch the historical moment on Michael Phelps become the greatest swimmer on Men’s 4 x 100m Medley Relay Final, 10:58 a.m.(UTC/GMT +8) on August 17, National Aquatics Center.

一小学老师在和学生解释“乳”，乳即是小的意思，
比如乳鸽，乳猪等。之后老师要求小强造句。

小强：老师， 我真得想不出来了， 我的乳头都快想破了。

Lee Chong Wei from Malaysia, the world’s No. 2 shuttler, has entered men’s singles final at the Beijing Olympic Games. He eliminated Lee Hyun-il from South Korea to qualify for the final with 21-18, 13-21, 21-13. He will be facing his tradition rival China world’s No. 1 Lin Dan in the final.

The final showdown will take place at 8:48 p.m. (UTC/GMT +8) on August 17 at the Beijing University of Technology Gymnasium (北京工業大學體育館). If he wins in the final, it would be the first ever Olympic gold for Malaysia, you know?!

Just like Malaysia hoping for the FIRST ever gold medal in Olympics, Singapore also marked history to win the first medal in 48 years in Olympics history, after beating South Korea 3-2 in the semifinal of the women’s team table tennis tournament at the Beijing Olympic Games.

The Southeast Asian city-state, with a population of 4.6 million, has never won a medal at the Games since a silver for men’s weightlifting in 1960. Singapore pinned its hopes on its women paddlers, led by Beijing-born Li Jia Wei.

China will go head to head with Singapore for the gold. So far, the top-ranked Chinese women’s team has never lost any contest to the second seed Singapore which makes them a clear favorite. The gold medal match will take place at 7:30 p.m. (UTC/GMT+8) August 17.

Go Go Lee, and Li also lah.

I got this joke from cnreviews.com about how many swimming world records (WR) / Olympics records (OR) have been smashed in the Water Cube （水立方) - National Aquatic Center（国家游泳中心) since the first day of 29th Beijing Olympic Games.

A: Hi, I just “smashed” a world record in a semi-final contest.
B: Oh, that’s great! Congratulations! Wish you a gold medal in the final.
A: Well, thank you. but I didn’t make into the final.
B: ….

Even you broke a world record, you might not even qualify for the final contest.

So, different theories about the world record making secrets have “revealed” on the web. Here are the top 3 most popular ones:

1. Speedo LZR RACER Swimming Suits

SULLIVAN Eamon from Australia said “it was very comfortable when wearing the Speedo LZR Racer.” Chinese Jiaying Pang said “it was like floating on the water after wearing it.” Speedo has done enough PR to show its high tech behind the “shark-skin”, but number is more convincing: 52 out of 56 swimming world records were set when athletes were wearing Speedo LZR Racer.

2. Technologies Used in Water Cube

4 key elements:

a. The error tolerance for the 50m swimming lane is only 2mm, far more less than international standard of 1cm.
b. Water quality is better. (I ever suspected special chemical was added lol)
c. The floor around the swimming pool is heated to keep the athletes warm before the game.
d. Water recirculating process technologies on the walls of the pool. They were designed and built to absorbed more currents/waves to reduce the resistance.
e. The pool is 1m deeper than general pools, which is also helpful in reducing the water resistance.

Lee Chong Wei steamrolled Indonesia’s Sony Dwi Kuncoro Thursday to reach the Olympic badminton men’s semi-finals and keep Malaysia’s hopes alive of winning its first ever gold medal.

Lee, ranked second in the world, played down his 21-9, 21-11 quarter-final victory over the Indonesian, achieved with a mixture of delicate drop shots and airborne attacks, saying the Athens bronze medallist had been nervous.

Lee was also circumspect about his chances of causing an upset over China to clinch gold, saying although he had beaten their three players before, they were enjoying a home ground advantage.

Lee meets the winner of the quarter-final clash between China’s third seed Bao Chunlai and South Korean champion Lee Hyunil to be played later Thursday scheduled 1830 (+0800 SGT).

Watch Live result here

In capturing the 200-meter butterfly and 800 freestyle relay with his fourth and fifth world records in as many races in the Beijing Games, Phelps eclipsed a group including Mark Spitz and Carl Lewis to become the winningest Olympian of all time with 11 gold medals.

That leaves only one other thing for Phelps to do before he leaves China: win all eight of his events to take down Spitz’s record of seven golds at the 1972 Munich Games.

Phelps is now five-for-five, and Mark Spitz is well-within his sights. Saturday morning’s 100-meter butterfly is the biggest hurdle remaining. If Phelps can get by American teammate Ian Crocker, he should get his eight golds, barring a catasrophic disqualification in Sunday’s medley relay.

Three more events for swimming history., 15, 16 and 17th August.

Read more here

China dominated Men’s Gymnastics today, winning the Team Gold with a total of 286.125 points. Japan won the silver medal with 278.875 points and the United States won the bronze medal with 275.850 points.

体操男团中国雪耻夺冠