From the publishers of THE HINDU VOL.31 :: NO.52 :: Dec. 27, 2008 • Contents
	YEAR-END SPECIAL / BEIJING OLYMPICS/ OTHER STARS They were champions too The 2008 Olympics wasn’t just about Usain Bolt, Yelena Isinbayeva and Michael Phelps. There were other athletes too who stole the show with their compelling performances. Kamesh Srinivasan on the other star performers in Beijing. Never mind the fact that it was only a doubles gold medal. For the sheer intensity with which he played to win it, Roger Federer stood out among the stars of the Beijing Olympics. Federer, who entered the singles semifinals at the Sydney Olympics, was trying to salvage some pride in the season after being forced to play the second fiddle by Rafael Nadal. The all-consuming energetic game of Nadal saw him capture the Olympic singles gold, to go with the French Open and Wimbledon titles. “Not in my best dreams could I have imagined this,” said the Spaniard after emerging victor in Beijing. Federer, however, bounced back from the defeat to American James Blake in the singles to capture the doubles gold in the company of Stanislas Wawrinka, another top-10 singles player. There were tears of joy as Federer was overwhelmed by emotion. Elena Dementieva was the heroine for Russia as she led a Russian 1-2-3 in women’s singles. For someone who had won the silver in 2000, it was the greatest moment of her life as Dementieva bagged the gold, defeating the in-form Dinara Safina in a gripping final. “This is the best thing that has happened to me in my life. I was eight years old and dreaming about this moment. I can win a Grand Slam or become No. 1, but there is nothing compared to the gold medal. Nothing,” said Dementieva as she savoured the moment. Vera Zvonareva spoilt the Chinese dreams by defeating Na Li for the bronze medal. In athletics, Usain Bolt may have stolen the thunder with three world records, but there still were other stars like the Ethiopians, Kenenisa Bekele and Tirunesh Dibaba, who stood out with their compelling runs in the 5,000 and 10,000 metres. Bekele, 26, won the 5,000m in 12:57.82s, erasing a 24-year-old world record in the process. He had earlier won the 10,000m, clocking 27:01.17s for another Olympic record. Asafa Powell, the star before Bolt struck, ran that splendid anchor in the 4x100m relay to help Jamaica to the gold in a world record time of 37.10s. Pamela Jelimo was another star at the Games, winning the women’s 800m. She, thus, became the first Kenyan woman to win an athletic medal at the Games. The 18-year-old went on to bag the golden league. Chris Hoy won the hearts of his countrymen by bagging three gold medals to become the first Briton in 100 years of Olympic history to do so. The 32-year-old cyclist, along with Rebecca Adlington, 19, who won two swimming gold medals, played a significant role in projecting a positive image of Britain which finished with a record 19 gold medals. World No. 1 Lin Dan lived up to his status to help China win the men’s badminton gold. Zhang Yining, also of China, defended her gold medal in table tennis by beating compatriot Wang Nan. It was Zhang’s fourth Olympic gold, including two from the team event. However, it was Wang who wound up her campaign as the most successful table tennis player in Olympic history with four golds and a silver. Nastia Liukin won the women’s individual all-round title in gymnastics, beating compatriot and world champion Shawn Johnson. The two were the stars for the US, despite China dominating the show in gymnastics. Liukin, though, missed the gold in the uneven bars in the tie-breaker. Li Xiaopeng did what he had accomplished in Sydney 2000 — bag two gymnastic gold medals to boost the rich Chinese collection. Matthew Mitcham stopped China from sweeping all the eight gold medals by winning one for Australia, in the men’s 10m platform, the final diving competition in Beijing. He beat Zhou Luxin of China, who had led in the first five rounds by 4.80 points. Andrei Aramnau, 20, shattered three world records on way to claiming the men’s 105kg gold in weightlifting. The Belarusian lifted a total of 436kg, with 236kg in clean and jerk. Katerina Emmons of the Czech Republic was the star on the opening day as she captured the first gold medal of the Games with a world record in the women’s air rifle. Katerina shot a perfect 400 in the qualifying phase and wound up the show with a 103.5 in the final, which meant two Olympic records apart from the world record. She beat Lioubov Galkina of Russia by 1.4 points. Ralf Schumann missed the gold by 0.7 points to Oleksandr Petriv of Ukraine in the men’s 25m rapid-fire pistol, but yet was the hero as it was his fifth medal in six Olympics. The 46-year-old German had won three gold and a silver medal from the previous five Games. Printer friendly page   Send this article to Friends by E-Mail Contents • Daily Sports • The Hindu • Business Line • Frontline • Publications • eBooks • Images Copyright © 2008 Sportstar Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of Sportstar.