the great michael phelps......india wins first gold...

Michael Fred Phelps (born June 30, 1985 in Baltimore, Maryland) is an American swimmer who holds World Records in several events. Phelps won eight medals at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, six of which were gold^[4], which tied the record for medals at a single Olympics, a record that had been held by Alexander Dityatin since 1980. Phelps' international titles, along with his various world records, have resulted in him being named World Swimmer of the Year in 2003, 2004, 2006, 2007 and American Swimmer of the Year in 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006 and 2007. He has qualified to compete in eight swimming events at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, where he has won two gold medals in the two events in which he has swum so far. http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=BTTUosT85Zk&feature=related

Michael Phelps, with teammates Garrett Weber-Gale, Cullen Jones, and Jason Lezak took the gold medal in the men's 4 x 100m freestyle relay and smashed the World record for the second straight time.

The team's winning time of 3:08.24 seconds wiped out Sunday's prelim record of 3:12.23 set by Jones, and teammates Nathan Adrian, Ben Wildman-Tobriner, and Matt Grevers.

The victory gave Phelps his second gold in his quest for a perfect eight gold medals to break Mark Spitz's record of seven gold medals at a summer Olympic Games.

The French quartet of Amaury Leveaux, Fabien Gilot, Frederick Bousquet and Alain Bernard finished second with a time of 3:08.32. The Australian team Eamon Sullivan, Andrew Lauterstein, Ashley Callus and Matt Targett swam in third at 3:09.91.

"It was unbelievable! Jason (Lezak) finished the race better than we could have asked for. In the last 50 (meters), I was like, this is going to be a really close race. At the end, as you could see I was pretty excited, I was very emotional," Phelps said following the race. bhinav Bindra won the gold medal in men's 10 metre air rifle event of the shooting competition at Beijing [Images] Olympics [Images] on Monday morning.

The medal is India's first individual gold, and the first since 1980, when the hockey team emerged triumphant in Moscow [Images].

Bindra shot a total score of 700.5.

China's Zhu Qinan, gold medalist at Athens 2004, won the silver medal with a total score of 699.7.

The bronze medal was won by Finland's Henri Hakkinen, who was leading the field after the qualification round, but was unable to hold off Bindra and Zhu in the final.

Bindra held his nerve to score 10.8 on the 10th and final shot, while Zhu shot 10.5 and Hakkinen fell back with a poor score of 9.7.

Earlier, Bindra ended the poor run of Indian shooters at the Olympics by qualifying for the men's 10 metres air rifle event final.

However, Gagan Narang failed to make the final cut in the same event as he finished ninth with a score of 595/600. Narang shot a series of 97, 100, 100, 100, 98, 100.

Bindra, a Khel Ratna winner, finished the qualifying event joint-fourth with Romania's George Alin Moldoveanu in the qualification round. The duo had a score of 596/600.

The bespectacled India shooter's scoring sequence was 100, 99, 100, 98, 100 and 99.

Meanwhile, Finland's Henri Hakkinen qualified first for the event with a score of 598/600 after shooting a series of 100, 100, 99, 100, 100 and 99.

China's Qinan Zhu was a point adrift of Hakkinen with a series of 100, 100, 100, 100, 99 and 98.

olympics...fed ex and naddy....

olympics start and being a tennis fan, i wish for a recap of wimby final of this year. it would be great to have two of the worlds best player to fight each other.

Nadal has won 32 of his past 33 matches on three types of surfaces, and most know by now that he claimed the French Open and Wimbledon in impressive fashion. Susceptible on hard courts in the past, the 22-year-old cruised to the Toronto Masters title and earned the No. 1 ranking last week in Cincinnati, reaching the semifinals before losing to third-ranked Novak Djokovic. Djokovic blew Nadal off the court in the opening set, although fatigue might have had something to do with it.
Nadal is human, after all.

After his losses to Simon and Karlovic, Federer said he was glad they didn't come at the Olympics or the U.S. Open.
But the losses were hardly the best preparation for Beijing, mind you.
Federer hasn't won a Grand Slam or Masters Series title this season, and alarmingly, his only appearances in Masters Series finals in 2008 have come on clay.
A year ago, there was little chance of Federer squandering a pair of break leads to Simon in the third set. Federer had won eight of nine tiebreakers versus Karlovic prior to losing two to him in Cincinnati.
Maybe carrying Switzerland's flag during the opening ceremonies in Beijing, on his 27th birthday, will give him a boost. Roger Federer will come back even stronger from his recent slump and reclaim the world number one spot, according to his close friend and fellow player Dominik Hrbaty.
Swiss Federer is bidding for an Olympic medal in Beijing to make up for what, by his very high standards, has been a barren year.Federer is suddenly losing to players he used to swat aside in his sleep. Giant Croat Ivo Karlovic was the latest to taste victory against him in Cincinnati last week.

Rafael Nadal said fatigue would be his biggest enemy when he led a formidable Spanish men's quartet in the Olympic tennis event starting on Saturday.
The 22-year-old is hoping to add a gold medal to the French Open and Wimbledon crowns he has already bagged this year but just hopes there is something left in his legs.
"I'm very tired but I'm okay, all things considered," Nadal, who will replace Roger Federer as world number one on August 18, told reporters on Wednesday.
"I've only had a week to rest since Wimbledon and before that the schedule was horrifying. I had hardly had any days off.

There will be many rivalries to look forward to in Beijing but none more enthralling perhaps that Roger Federer versus Rafael Nadal.
Federer will be looking to take revenge for his defeats at the French Open and Wimbledon. Even though he will lose the No. 1 ranking to Nadal but he is still a huge draw at the games and the Olympics are special to him

Nadal is staying in the Olympics Village and loving every minute of it. Even his coronation as the world No. 1 has taken a back seat for the moment.
"Yes to be No. 1 is a great thing. For many years I have been battling to achieve this and it will be great. But right now I don't really have time to enjoy that. We are all enjoying the Olympic Games. It is a very different experience and I want to live the Olympic experience," Nadal said.
There is a line from Rocky movies. "It ain't about how hard ya hit. It's about how hard you can get it and keep moving forward."
Federer may have lost his No. 1 ranking but he is by no means finished. It has made him all the more determined and that's why her is the player to watch out in tennis at the Olympics.