OLYMPIC MOMENTS

The Olympics games is fast winding down and is has been two weeks of non stop action laced with excitement. Records have been broken, new champions born and crowned, hearts broken, old rivalries renewed, new rivalries made.

Some talking points of the Games must be the eight gold medal winning of American Swimmer – Michael Phelps in the swimming events and more so with the fact that he broke world records on the way to winning the gold medals. He made history as the most successful Olympian in the history of the games.

The American’s monopoly of the Track events was finally broken by an inspired Jamaican team and other countries that have been on the fringes of success in past Olympics. It just shows that other smaller countries are catching up to the American’s in terms of talent discovery and development.
Though the irony of it all is that most of these athletes from other countries all have their training in the US with some of them on scholarships in Colleges and Universities there.

Usain Bolt, a name that would be listed as one of the great Olympians in years to come lived up to his pre-Olympic billings by becoming one of the few Olympians to have won both the 100m and 200m races and the only one to have done so in world record breaking times. The tall lanky lad from Jamaican was simply unstoppable and breathtaking.

IOC President Jack Raques complained about the seeming disrespect by Usain Bolt for his fellow competitors and for over- celebrating but what would you expect from someone that blew away all opposition to confirm his supremacy as the world fastest man?

The Male Football Final event will be a repeat of the 1996 Atlanta Olympics gold medal match, Nigeria vs Argentina. Nigeria won the gold on that occasion 3 goals to 2 to be the first African country to do so. Argentina are the defending champions having won gold in Athens 2004 so you might be right to say it will be a match between two past winners. The match promises to be full of excitement.
The South Americans are coming with flair and attacking fluidity and with the likes of Lionel Messi, Sergio Augerio, etc in the team a lot of attacking fire power is sure to be on display. Confidence will be high for the Argentines after their 3-0 bashing of their eternal enemies Brazil in the semi finals. This is not to take anything away from the Nigerians who bashed a bewildered Belgium 4-1 in the semi-finals with a display that was imperial. It will be a close call but I would want to stick my neck out for the Nigerians for the Gold.

The host country China came into the games with one ambition only and that is to overtake the Americans in the medals table at the end of the games. They sure achieved this aim even though there still some events yet to be completed but with the way the medals table stands now, it would be impossible for the Americans to catch up with the host country.

This year’s Olympics haven’t been entirely free of the perennial doping scandals. Some competitors have tested positive already but this I believe would not in any way diminish the success of the Game.