OLE!!! Spain won a gold medal in gymnastics! Gervasio Deffer won the gold medal for the men's individual vault. He's from Barcelona.

What a SCRAPPY (that's a positive thing, Spaniards) team Spain has in men's basketball! Wow. I was impressed with their aggressive play in an unfortunate loss to the USA. Seems the coach was just as aggressive after the game.

And Columbus, Ohio's own Paul Hamm has won TWO gold medals in men's gymnastics!!! (we assume he'll be able to keep them under the controversy)

And what about that men's 200 meter sprint?!! WOWEE!!! A USA Sweep: 1-2-3. The 200 meters was MY favorite even in high school track but also the 100 meters, 4 X 100 meter relay, and 4 X 400 meter relay. I'm looking forward to watching those men's relays tonight. I was sad to see the USA women's mis-handle of the baton in last night's final. What a shame.

The men's Chinese 110 meter hurdles was absolutely impressive. INCREDIBLE. What perfect execution of a nearly flawless run. Who would ever have thought China would have a Gold medal in any of the sprints. Wow. Good for them.

And how about that interesting story of the New York/San Diego native running for the Dominican Republic in the men's 400 meter hurdles! While I couldn't tell from the interview and story, I wasn't sure he could even speak Spanish! But he won the even and the USA had the lead in the last 80 meters but Felix Sanchez passed him and kept going faster and won easily. Just incredible.

The USA Men's Basketball team is OUT. This may be the biggest shocker of the entire Olympics. I thought it interesting the comments of one of the winning Argentina team saying that the USA has the better group of INDIVIDUALS of any team but they don't play as a TEAM and that's why they lost. Pau Gasol of Spain said essentially the same thing - risky, considering he plays for a United States NBA basketball team.

And how about Cuban "defector" (??), Joan Lino Martínex, who won the bronze medal in men's Long Jump?! Seems in 1997 the Cuban team traveled to Spain for a competition and "he fell in love with Spain and a Spanish woman and decided to stay." In the articles I've read they haven't said he was a DEFECTOR, exactly, but it does seem like this. He has not been back to Cuba since 1999. There's an interesting article about him (as well as articles about Flamenco stars Paco de Lucía and Estrella Morente) in today's edition of the English version of Spain's daily newspaper El País HERE (in .pdf format).

Other stories about the Olympics (not necessarily Spain-related, of course) that interest(ed) you? let use know! Today's the last day of events.

Saludos, MadridMan

Well the situation of Paul Hamm has more changes than a soap opera script! This poor young man is being treated as if he's done something wrong! Did he cheat? Did he fail to show up at a drug screening? Did he fail a drug test? NO...NO...NO!
He went out there, did a performance of a lifetime then HE'S penalized for the mistake of the judges! The matter would have been easily solved had the South Korean team followed the proper procedure in filing their protest at the time it occured. They did not, they waited until the next day. Too late to make any changes. Paul was named the winner, it should remain that way.

What if Spain was in the World Cup against France and the Spanish team was given a penalty and gave France a free goal shot that won them the game, then later to find out the next day that the referee was incorrect to give Spain the penalty. The Spanish could protest but it would not change the decision of the game. The French win, no dual World Cup Title...nada!

Unfortunately this happens in sports because we're human and there is a lot of human error in sports. However, even if they should force Paul to give up the medal, the US may file a protest of their own as there were mandatory deductions there were not take off the South Korean while doing his performance on the parallel bars. Where does it end? If they decided to take the medal from Paul Hamm, then it opens the door for every single event to be contested...every second or third place athlete will protest...then what...a repeat of the event? How long would it take for the Olympics to end? Again, it's not the athlete's fault, it's the judges fault. They're the ones that need to be rediculed, not Paul!

Thumbs up to you OsoMajor.You said it and I agree.

O shei...O shei...Argentina ha ganado las medallas de oro en soccor y basketball! .

Congratulations to Argentina for winning the gold medals in soccor and basketball! Are there any Argentine message board members here?

Hahaha.. When watching the Argentina versus Italy men's gold medal Basketball game I wondered for whom, if either, Alberto & Enrique of Hostal Adriano were cheering. Alberto & Enrique
and both Italian Argentines... or Argentine Italians. Either way, they won!! Good for Argentina. They played excellened TEAM basketball.

I'm now on "pins and needles" while awaiting the men's 4 X 100m and 4 X 400m relays as well as the women's 4 400m relay. Also looking forward to Morroco's Hicham El Guerrouj 1500m race.

Saludos, MadridMan

MadridMan,

Actually Paul Hamm is from Waukesha, Wisconsin. Is he enrolled at OSU? An excellent gymnast.

I've enjoyed the games. I'm a bit prejudiced towards US competitors but I too revel in seeing underdogs win. The young man from Morocco, who captured a rare pair of golds in 800 and 1,500 metres, as an example.

Gotta love how the world's basketball teams have come on so well. Spain has become one of the best teams in the world. But for the luck of the draw, they could have been in the finals against Argentina to be honest. Have to wonder why the US, where baseball started, couldn't even field a team that could "qualify" for the Olympics. Gotta wonder why US NBA stars would "pass" on playing in the Olympics, when it's probably the biggest honor they could ever get. I guess they worship money way too much, and in some cases, are just plain cowards.

Loved the swimming events. It was nice to hear the mens US star say he hopes to be "better" in four years. The kid got 6 gold, a silver, and a bronze, I think. He might be better in 4 years? Gawd!

I've watched so many events to this point that I'll be glad when it's over. I'm an Olympics junky I'm afraid, and having NBC cover it on so many different numbers of their networks made it a "vocation" for the last few days. I'm going to suffer withdrawal symptoms after today, I know it.

Maybe I can watch a few British comedies to get me back on track.....

Wolf

Wolf,
Yes, it seems Hamm is living in Columbus. You can read the article "Olympic Gold Medalist Paul Hamm Returns to Columbus " HERE :

Here's a clip of that article...:
By the way, I REALLY enjoyed the mens and womens final 4 X 400 meter relays although they weren't very exciting. The mens 4 X 100 meter relay was very VERY exciting, the USA JUST missing the gold (by 0.02 seconds - with bad hand-offs) to win the silver.

Saludos, MadridMan