Olympic Roundup: Phelps wins, saber women sweep

Olympic Roundup: Phelps wins, saber women sweep


Michael Phelps isn't just living up to his ridiculously high expectations. He's exceeding them.

After setting an Olympic record on his first dive into the Beijing Olympics pool, Phelps lowered his own world record in the 400-meter individual medley by a whopping 1.41 seconds to easily win the first of his hoped-for eight gold medals. And this was supposed to be his weakest event.

The huge smile on his face after touching the wall and seeing his time was pure joy and, perhaps, a bit of relief. One down, seven to go.

Phelps' victory moved the United States into a tie with China atop the gold-medal race. OK, so the score is only 2-2 a few hours into Day 2, but this is a race worth watching.

Add bronze medals for swimmers Ryan Lochte, Larsen Jensen and Katie Hoff, and the Americans were up to seven overall medals Sunday morning, another Olympics best thus far. That's pretty good considering the U.S. was shut out going into the final final of Day 1 — lagging behind Cuba, Uzbekistan and 16 other countries.

Then came some serious slicing and dicing at the fencing hall. Mariel Zagunis, Sada Jacobson and Becca Ward went 1-2-3 in saber, putting the U.S. on the medals chart, smack dab on top.

The first day in Beijing, however, will be remembered more for tragedy — the stabbings of Todd and Barbara Bachman and their Chinese tour guide, and the suicide of their Chinese attacker. Todd Bachman was killed, while Barbara Bachman was in stable but critical condition Sunday morning after eight hours of surgery Saturday.

The Bachmans are the parents of former U.S. Olympian Elisabeth Bachman McCutcheon and the in-laws of current men's volleyball coach Hugh McCutcheon. They were at a tourist site when the man attacked them then jumped off a 130-foot-high balcony.

"When one member of our family suffers a loss, we all grieve with them," U.S. Olympic Committee chairman Peter Ueberroth said.

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Swimming

Since Phelps' win was somewhat expected, perhaps the bigger news at the Water Cube was that Hoff finished third in the 400 IM, losing the race — and her world record — to Australia's Stephanie Rice. Elizabeth Beisel, the 15-year-old American who finished first in qualifying, was fourth.

Phelps' biggest foe in the 400 IM was supposed to be Lochte. And, indeed, Lochte was ahead more than halfway through the race.

But the big guy couldn't be denied, his winning time more than 4 seconds faster than his victory in Athens. Laszlo Cseh of Hungary took the silver, while Lochte finished third.

When Phelps looked up, he saw President Bush and his family waving and cheering.

"That was a pretty cool feeling to have the president say congratulations and have him in the crowd," Phelps said.

In the men's 400-meter freestyle relay, reigning world champion Park Tae-hwan of South Korea won the gold, Zhang Lin of China took silver and Jensen was third. Favored Aussie Grant Hackett of Australia wilted from first to sixth.

Still to come Sunday — 41-year-old Dara Torres and the U.S. women tring to take down China in the 400 freestyle relay.

Beach volleyball

The American duo of Kerri Walsh and Misty May-Treanor began their bid for another gold medal with a decisive victory over a Japanese duo Sunday morning. No surprise, right? Well, the top U.S. men's team were, too, but they were a huge disappointment Saturday.

Todd Rogers and Phil Dalhausser — defending world champions and winners of 21 straight international matches — lost to a Latvian team that was seeded 23rd in the 24-team field. Now they must win their next two pool-play matches to get into the medal round.

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Volleyball

Playing hours after learning about the attack on the Bachmans, the U.S. women's team beat Japan 3-1. Emotions came pouring out after, with Logan Tom bursting into tears.

"God, we all love Wiz," Tom said, referring to former teammate Elizabeth Bachman McCutcheon by her nickname. "It's hard to put it in words. That's not something that's supposed to happen."

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Shooting

The first gold medal of these games went to Katerina Emmons of the Czech Republic, the wife of U.S. shooter Matt Emmons. The couple met in Athens and now hope to celebrate gold medals together.

Katerina Emmons was on target from the start of the 10-meter air rifle, shooting a perfect 400 in qualifying, then finishing with an Olympic record of 503.5. Favorite Du Li of China was only one point behind after qualifying, but nerves got in her way while trying to win the first event for the host country.

"I wasn't fully prepared for the pressure of competing at home," Du said.

Lioubov Galkina of Russia won the silver and Snjezana Pejcic of Croatia took the bronze. Jamie Beyerle of Lebanon, Pa., finished fourth.

Pang Wei handled the home country pressure just fine, easily outlasting a pair of Koreans in the finals of the men's 10-meter air pistol. When it was over, Pang — the 2006 world champion — turned around and waved his hat in the air while the home crowd cheered. Americans Jason Turner and Brian Beaman were fourth and fifth.

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Gymnastics

The U.S. men finished atop their qualifying group with a score good enough to clinch a spot in the team finals. Thus, even without injured stars Paul and Morgan Hamm, the Americans still have a shot at a medal — even if it's a slim one.

"To make a major team personnel change, compete in the first subdivision and qualify for the team finals is a huge accomplishment, and we are looking forward to competing on Tuesday," U.S. coach Kevin Mazeika said.

China, winner of three straight world championships and the overwhelming favorite, lived up to it by soaring to the top of the pack.

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Fencing

Zagunis won this event in 2004, making her the first American in a century to win a fencing gold. Now, the U.S. is a force, an obvious favorite to win the team saber event.

Jacobson, who got bronze in Athens, was the top seed but Zagunis had one of her best performances in the final.

"That was probably the hardest bout I've ever fenced in my career," Zagunis said.

Ward, who is part of the same Oregon fencing club as Zagunis, turned an early 6-1 deficit into a 15-14 victory.

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Weightlifting

Chen Xiexia, last year's world champion, dominated Saturday's competition from start to finish, lifting 210 pounds in the snatch and 258 in the clean and jerk.

By winning the second event of the games, she earned the first medal of any shade for the host country.

Turkey's Sibel Ozkan won the silver medal, while Chen Wei-Ling of Taiwan finished third. The 2004 Olympic champion, Nurcan Taylan of Turkey, was eliminated after three failed attempts in the snatch.