The silver is the first medal won by the tiny city-state of Singapore since 1960. For their accomplishment, the team will receive a bonus of about a half-million dollars. Had they won the gold, it would have been about $1 million...
At one point, the NBA-style emcee broke in during a stop in play and asked everyone to yell "Go Singapore!" three times to help out the visiting team. The crowd obliged. "Thanks everyone," the announcer said. "Now back to the game."
Team Singapore won a silver at the Beijing Olympics yesterday (August 17), courtesy of paddlers Li Jiawei, Wang Yuegu and Feng Tianwei who lost to China, the world's No 1 team.
Too Strong
Ranked world No 2, the Singapore girls gave everything they had at the Peking University Gymnasium but found the Chinese just way too strong. They lost 0-3 eventually. In the first singles, Feng Tianwei, the team's rising star who was the heroine in the semi-finals against South Korea, faced China's former world No 1, Wang Nan. The Singaporean started well by winning the first game, 11-9. But the Chinese took the next three games, 11-3, 11-8 and 11-6 to win the match.
Uphill Task
Li Jiawei, ranked No 6 in the world, then had to take on world No 1, Zhang Yining in the second singles. Again, Singapore started nicely, with Li winning the first game 11-9. Her Chinese opponent, however, won the next three games, 11-3, 11-4, 11-7 to put China 2-0 up as a team. Then came the doubles. It was an uphill task for Li and Wang Yuegu as they were up against world No. 1, Zhang and world No. 2, Guo Yue. The Chinese team combined well to win with ease, 11-8, 11-5,11-6. With this win, China won the tie, 3-0 and the Olympic gold medal.
First Medal
Though Team Singapore lost, the girls already had much to be proud of. Going into the final, they were already assured of at least a silver - our first medal since the silver by weightlifter Tan Howe Liang at the 1960 Rome Olympics. No wonder in Singapore, fans across the country followed the final closely. Through television, internet and handphones, they joined the officials and fans who were in Beijing to follow our paddlers' progress match-by-match, game-by-game, point-by-point. At the Singapore Table Tennis Association, for example, a live screening of the final enabled fans to cheer and bond together.
It was Sunday so it was my family gathering and we all watched and cheered on at home for our Singapore team...
Michael Phelps cemented his place in Olympics history Sunday, capping a sensational week by becoming the first athlete ever to win eight gold medals in one Games.
http://www.nbcolympics.com/swimming/photos Great Pics found here... Really nice..
5 things we learned about Michael Phelps
The greatest performance in Olympic history left no doubt about Michael Phelps' place in history. As the world watched, Phelps captivated with dominating wins, close finishes and miracle comebacks. Now that it's all over, there are a few things Phelps revealed about himself in Beijing.
1. For the last time: He's the greatest swimmer in history.
No more comparisons, please: Michael Phelps is the greatest swimmer of all time, without a doubt. He's on his own level. There's no one else in the same general area. Even before Beijing, it was clear he was special; eight gold medals later, we can put the debate to rest - finally.
2. It's not luck.
Maybe it seemed lucky that Michael Phelps won the 100m butterfly by the smallest possible margin in swimming, .01 of a second. It certainly appeared to the naked eye that he lost the race; Mike Cavic arrived at the wall first. But Phelps touched first. And it wasn't luck.
Conventional swimming wisdom would always say not to take an extra, mini-stroke at the finish. But Phelps, seeing that he was behind Cavic, knew that if he glided to the wall, he had no chance to win. So he took the extra stroke - and that was the difference. His fingers beat Cavic's to the wall. It's evident in slow motion, where Phelps' arms are moving so much than Cavic's.
If luck had any part, it was that Cavic, who did glide to the wall, was just far enough away from the wall at the finish that he had no choice but to glide. But it wouldn't have mattered, if Phelps hadn't decided to take that extra stroke.
"When I chopped the last stroke, I really thought it cost me the race," Phelps said. "But it happened to be the exact opposite. If I had glided, I would have been way too long. I ended up making the right decision, trying to take a short, fast stroke to get my hand on the wall first."
3. He's not just the best swimmer in the world, he might just be the smartest.
Anyone who has ever swum with goggles before knows how unbelievably difficult it is to do when they're full of water. No doubt, it happens all the time, even in Olympic finals. But it's essentially swimming blind; you can't see the walls. And without good turns, Phelps, whose walls are usually the best parts of his swims, is almost beatable. Almost.
Where most swimmers would, and do, panic upon being blinded by water on their eyeballs, Phelps, swimming the 200m butterfly for his fifth gold in Beijing, immediately realized that he should start counting his strokes. That enabled him to at least estimate where the wall was. That, combined with spotting the ‘T' at the end of each lane was enough for Phelps to make decent turns. And with just decent turns, he won, breaking the world record - only by .03 of a second.
Immediately after the race, speculation was that Phelps was tiring after so many swims in Beijing. Maybe he was, but that had nothing to do with his seemingly sluggish turns. Then he revealed the goggle malfunction.
"As soon as I dove in, they filled up," he said. "I was more or less trying to count my strokes, hoping I'd be dead on at the turns. I'm disappointed because I know I can go faster, but there was nothing I could do. I handled it the best way I could."
4. He couldn't have done it on his own.
In leading off the 4x100m freestyle relay, Phelps split a 47.51, a new American record and a personal best by almost a half-second. But that alone was not fast enough to beat the favored French team. The U.S. team was well behind when the anchors dove in, and there are few people who would say they thought Jason Lezak could make up that much ground on Alain Bernard.
"I'm not going to lie," Lezak said. "When I flipped at the 50 and I still saw how far ahead he was, and he was the world-record, I thought, it really crossed my mind for a split second, there's no way.
"Then I told myself that's ridiculous, I'm racing for my country here, I can do this."
It took the fastest relay split in history, a 46.06, by Lezak, but he touched out Bernard by .08 of a second. And even though Lezak said he didn't do it for Phelps, it certainly helped. Without Lezak's miracle swim, it would have been seven golds and a silver.
5. Sometimes, things do work out exactly as you plan them.
Obviously Phelps didn't plan to swim the 200m butterfly blind; or to win the 100m butterfly by .01 of a second; or for Jason Lezak to split a 46.06 to pull out a thrilling win in the 4x100m freestyle relay.
But all of those things happened - it wasn't perfect, but it did work out. Eight events, eight gold medals. Some were close and some were not; some looked easy and some did not. But he won them all, despite obstacles and challenges.
It all worked out, not so much for Mike Cavic or the French relay team, but for Phelps. And that's why it's unlikely the world will ever see anything like it again.
Salute to this young chap as he won so many medals.. His spirit and determination is one we should be aspire to have.. As always said, 'u got a will, u got a way...' Nothing is impossible, it's how we can and how long we take to achieve it... Set a goal and work towards it.. He DID IT...
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