Olympic Upsets or maybe not?

I said I love the Olympics because of the tenacity of the human spirit and because we just never know when an upset might happen.

It happened this morning and I watched it all! In the 1500m Men’s Freestyle Swimming Competition when Australian Grant Hackett was making a bid for a third gold in this event. The gold medallist ended up being Oussama Mellouli from Tunisia! Think swimming, and images of bulky Australian and American swimmers come to mind, pale and looming large in their swimwear. Not the dusky tones of an African. But there we have it. An upset. I loved it and I rooted for him all the way!

And apparently, last night was the iconic 100m Men’s Track Finals – an event which always garners the most number of viewers and audience who all yearn to see who is making his bid to be the Fastest Man in the World. And this year, it was a Bolt out of the blue!

Usain Bolt from Jamaica won the historic sprint event in the best style I’ve ever seen! Not only did he leave his competitors at least 2-3 strides behind him, he was so confident that he was already thumping his chest and spreading his arms wide to embrace the victory that is truly his, all without breaking his stride. It was amazing. All 9.69 seconds of it. Blink and you’d miss it! I nearly did.  The best thing is that he made it look so effortless and there was no swagger that we always see in the sprint kings. Just look at the picture above. Its like he’s saying “Hey, its me!” I loved it and I loved that Jamaica that I always associate with bananas (for some strange reason) has a gold in the most celebrated track event. Read this article in the Independant. I love the way it was written.

And finally, will we see an upset in the pool? Will reigning King of the Pool Michael Phelps have his medal taken away from him and given to the Serbian who had to settle for Silver?

I guess not, because a press conference was called and it was confirmed that it was Michael Phelps who won the Men’s 100m Butterfly event, not that it was Milorad Cavic, thereby sealing Phelps’ 8th Gold Medal of the Beijing Games and making him the winner of the most Olympic Gold Medals ever.

Apparently Serbia filed a protest over the fact that the photo finish image showed that Milorad Cavic had touched the touchpad just before Phelps did. The difference was 0.01 seconds. How does one measure that in real time? It is practically instantaneous! The electronics say that Phelps touched the wall first, but the photos say that Milorad Cavic did.

Does the USA like their star athlete being doubted? Isn’t this what they are doing to others (gymnastics anyone?) Say what you want, detractors will continue to doubt his victory, and his supporters will maintain that he won… by a fingernail.

So, the moral of the story: Keep long fingernails in swimming. You might need it to win an Olympic Gold.