There were much speculation about the possibility of American swimmer Michael Phelps breaking Mark Spitz' record of seven gold medals won in a single Olympics. True enough, he did not disappoint. He qualified for eight events (400m individual medley, 200m individual medley, 100m and 200m butterfly, 200m freestyle, 4x100m medley relay, and the 4x100m and 4x200 freestyle relays) and won them all world record time, except for the 100m butterfly where he set a new Olympic record. Phelps, in the process of surpassing Mark Spitz' record set at the 1972 Games, matched and then outstripped the record nine career gold medals of Games icons Spitz, Paavo Nurmi, Carl Lewis, and Larissa Latynina to emerge the greatest Olympian of all time.

Lightning Bolt Strikes Thrice

With the two-time world champion Tyson Gay eliminated in the semifinals, Jamaican Usain Bolt seemingly had only fellow Jamaican Asafa Powell to beat in the 100m sprint final. He looked around with only thirty meters left and realized that it was all clear; he breezed through and was still able to shatter his own record with 9.69 seconds. Four days after, he repeated the feat in the 200m final, breaking the 200m world record to achieve the first Olympic golden sprint double in twenty four years; and the first 100-200m victories at world record pace. Two days later, Bolt went on to capture his third gold medal running the third leg of the Jamaican 4x100 meters relay team.

Russian and Georgian Medalists in Symbolic Embrace

While sharing the medal podium, good friends and former teammates of the former Soviet Union, Russia's Natalia Paderina and Georgia's Nino Salukvadze embraced and kissed each other on the cheeks, setting aside the conflict between their two countries and providing a boost to the Georgian team that had considered pulling out from the Games a day earlier. They finished silver and bronze respectively behind China's Guo Wenjun following the dramatic women's 10m air pistol event final. Salukvadze expressed optimism, hopeful that the Games' ideals of peace would be an example for those watching. "If the world were to draw any lessons from what I did, there would never be any wars," she exclaimed. "After all, we live in the twenty-first century. We shouldn't really stoop so low to wage wars against each other."

Injured Liu's Pullout Shocks China

China's 1.3 billion population has been banking on Liu Xiang to defend his 110m hurdles Olympic title won four years ago in Athens. Liu, one of the major faces of the Beijing Olympics, has been bothered by his right Achilles' heel injury for six to seven years and was obviously in pain when he lined up for the race. He would limp down the tunnel of the Birds Nest stadium to a confused silence from the largely nationalistic crowd.

US Gymnast Ends China Run

China emerged as Games new gymnastics superpower after striking gold in both the men's and women's team events. But China's stranglehold on the sport would be broken by Nastia Liukin of the United States who won the women's individual all-around event, with Shawn Johnson, Liukin's compatriot, taking the silver to make it a one-two finish for the United States. The best the host nation could salvage was a bronze medal by Yang Yiling. The triumph somehow atoned for the US women's loss to China in the team event due to costly mistakes on beam and floor.

South African Amputee Inspires the Rest

The 24-year-old Natalie du Toit, who had won six medals at the 2004 Athens Paralympics, desires to inspire others to reach for their dreams after fulfilling her ambition to compete at the Beijing Olympics despite having her lower leg amputated seven years ago in a motor accident. Thus, she became the first amputee to qualify for the Olympic Games since 1936, and would finish sixteenth in the women's 10km marathon swim. Her participation prompted the eventual gold medal winner Larissa Ilchenko of Russia, to insist that du Toit merited a medal just for competing.

Australian Diver Prevents China Sweep

Matthew Mitcham of Australia qualified in second position for the 10m platform event final. With one last dive to go, he was ranked second, 34 points behind China's Zhou Luxin, having experienced mixed success in his first five dives. After Zhou made the worst dive of the final scoring a measly 74.80 points, Mitcham still needed a near perfect score of 107.30 to clinch the gold. His near-perfect final dive drew four perfect tens from the judges and attained 112.10 points, the highest single-dive score in the history of the Olympics. His win prevented China from achieving a clean-sweep of all diving events at the Games.

The Redeem Team Avenges Athens Loss

Following disappointments of placing sixth at the 2002 World Championships and settling for third place at the 2004 Games and the 2006 World Championships, the United States sent a twelve-man basketball team, dubbed the "Redeem Team," in an effort to reclaim the global throne that once belonged to them. The team, consisting of prominent NBA players, included Carmelo Anthony, LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, Dwight Howard among others. The United States totally conquered Group B in pool play, crushing China, Angola, Greece, world champion Spain, and Germany by an average margin of 32.2 points. Then, the United States soundly defeated Group A's fourth place-finishers, Australia 116-85 in the quarterfinal matchup headed by Kobe Bryant's 25 points, and Manu Ginobili-led Argentinian team (the 2004 Olympic gold medallist) 101-81 led by Carmelo Anthony's 21 points. In the final battle for the gold, the United States defeated Spain 118-107 in a remarkably close game, with the Americans' lead reaching as high as fourteen points, and as low as two points with less than four minutes left to play.

Cancer Survivor Beats the Odds in Swim Marathon

The 27-year-old Dutchman Maarten van der Weijden was diagnosed with leukemia in 2001, but returned stronger following his ordeal to compete at the 2003 open water championships before being crowned world champion over 25km in Seville earlier this year. He compared his gold medal triumph to his personal battle against cancer as he waited patiently for the leaders to set the early pace before a late burst saw him claim gold in a time of 1 hour 51 minutes 51.6 seconds.

More articles on the Olympics:

• 12 Unforgettable Olympic Stories
• 12 More Unforgettable Olympic Stories
• Michael Phelps: The Greatest Olympian of All Time

Articles on Greatest Athletes series:

• Greatest American Female Gymnasts
• Greatest American Male Gymnasts
• 10 Greatest Female Gymnasts in History
• 10 Greatest Male Gymnasts in History
• 10 Greatest Female Figure Skaters of All Time
• 10 Greatest Male Figure Skaters of All Time

But the reason we love the Olympics is the controversy that surrounds the competitions. Here is a place where the whole world will gather in a theme of unity but at the same time accuse other countries of cheating and biasness. Case in point; female gymnastics. From the underage claims to the dubious tie-breaking procedure to the knee landing being better than a two feet landing, we had one of the best Olympic moments. The media was ecstatic, churning article after article about China's Olympic conspiracy.

And then there was the moment when it was not the 29th Olympiad but the 1st Phelpiad. Okay, so the guy set 7 world records individually or otherwise, on the way to winning 8 gold medals. That in itself is remarkable. But when I tuned in to watch the Olympics and all that was on American T.V stations was Phelps live swims followed by Phelps re-runs, that story turned old faster that moldy bread. The glamour was lost and all I could think off was when do I get to watch real Olympics.

Another reason why we love the Olympics- We (or maybe just I ) will celebrate when an athlete (Phelps) does something remarkable, but complain when he (Phelps) becomes the Olympics, because there are thousands of other athletes we would like to see. Save the accolades until after the Olympics.

And the main reason we love the Olympics? The dubious sport activities. Trampoline! Really, trampoline. Maybe I just don't get it, but I watched both the men's and women's finals and still cannot figure out how 1 minute of that exercise is considered an Olympic event. And let's not forget the equestrian thing. Tried watching a few minutes of it and all I could think was that English royalty would be good at it. Too bad they don't compete. I wonder if it's forbidden by the queen.

My own personal reason for loving the Olympics? To find out how many athletes have changed citizenship for money. I still can't get over how many Kenyan runners are turning up for other countries especially Qatar and Bahrain. Although on the other hand, if a country offered me one million dollars and $1,000 every month for life just to get its passport, I would not think twice. But then again, my patriotism is somewhat misplaced. However, now that the IOC has decided to put a stop to country hopping, I will need a new reason to look forward to the next Olympics. Oh! I already have one. What will Phelps do next?

Happy Olympics!!

I thought of an idea that rankings should be determined by not only the number of medals, but with the amount of each type of medal and the ratio to the total.

If this is too complicated, why not just set up different rankings suck as overall as in total medals, or most gold, and even most improved country. This would shine spot light not only on the professional olympic countries but the smaller developing countries too.

The 2008 Olympics offer all sorts of swim racing events that Michael Phelps did and there are not as many events for runners and gymnasts. Maybe Michael Phelps should be the best swimming Olympian and not the best.

WHY IS THAT? YOu may say there are a lot of fake things in china, But this is for china's own good.If your country is the host of the Olympics, Will you like the performance with alot of not-so good looking singers to perform?.Then The first look of performers is VERY important.

Second, The footprints fireworks are also phoney. The fireworks everyone sees in their TV's and in the "bird's nest" are only computer generated graphics.

Why would China decide to generate the fireworks instead of capturing them live?The problem is China wants to have good comments on it's opening ceremony, they don't want anybody critizing them for capturing the fireworks badly.Again, this is to make the performance better,for the viewers to enjoy it in a better angle.

Earlier in the year Caroline and Georgina had been criticized for poor form after a series of losses that included not even making the A final in the Polish round of the tour. But the golden haired sisters peaked at exactly the right time in Beijing and entered the record books as one of only four New Zealand Olympians to back up a gold medal from the previous Olympics.

3 Time World Champion and favourite for the gold medal just a fortnight ago, Mahe Drysdale had to be stretchered from his boat and attended to by 12 paramedics after a heroic performance in the men's single sculls after battling the Beijing flu right up until the race. Drysdale stormed into the lead with 500m to go but couldn't hold off the fierce challenge and finished third. He had to be assisted to the podium to collect his medal after being re-hydrated intravenously.

Nathan Twaddle and George Bridgewater also picked up a medal in the rowing gaining a bronze in the men's pairs. Well beaten to the line for first and second, the pair got to the bronze without a challenge from the rest of the field.

History was made at the Birdcage in the women's shot put where Valerie Vili picked up gold with her first throw of the night heaving the weight a huge 20.56m becoming only the second New Zealand woman to win a gold medal in a field event. The last was Yvette Williams some 40 odd years ago. Only one other throw looked to challenge Vili when the Belarusian reached 20.28m but it was never going to be enough. An elated Vili had to be restrained by Chinese officials in her bid to run across the track and grab the New Zealand flag after her champion effort.

The fifth medal was picked up by road cyclist turned track cyclist Hayden Roulston in the men's individual pursuit. Up against World Champion Bradley Wiggens from Great Britain, Roulston got of to a great start leading the Brit by 2 seconds half way through the race. But the freakishly good Wiggens came back to win the gold and hand Roulston a well deserved silver. All this with a heart condition that could cripple him at any moment, Roulston has entered heroic status in the sports mad land down under.

The greatest day in Olympic history for New Zealand will be remembered for an age and go down as one of the great sporting moments for the Land of the Long White Cloud.

But then I thought about my own community, New London Connecticut. Recently the city counsel in New London has offered a "fair market value" to many homeowners in order to buy their homes and use the property for economic development. The goal of the committee was to buy this property (oceanfront) and build a complex with stores and condos. Some of the homeowners refused, not wanting to sell their homes for the economic development of a crime ridden city.

This case went all the way to the US Supreme Court which ruled in favor of the city of New London! Read about it here.

The United States Supreme court ruled that government can take your land for economic development as long as the government ruled it as "distressed."

Needless to say the city of New London was quick to classify the land as distressed and stated that they needed it for economic development. They offered the family fair market value (I wonder if this value was after it was classified as distressed?). I quickly started to develop plans to develop the property.

Many of the "big box" companies the city of New London was hoping to get into the space have publicly turned down the offer. Spokesmen for Target and Wal-Mart have stated that they do not want to enter into a community that has a bad feeling about people being evicted by government from their home. These companies do not want to be the "bad neighbor."

The Supreme Court ruling was in June 2005, three years ago. So what is going on with beautiful piece of property now owned by the City of New London? Is there a beautiful strip mall with a Family Dollar Store? Perhaps there is a new Taco Bell? Perhaps there is a row of Condos with ocean views? Nope, there is just a vacant lot full of weeds and vacant homes for drug dealers to fill.

How much different are we than the Chinese government? Our government now has the legal right to take our land for their economic desires and the Chinese have the right to take their citizens. It's not like the citizens of New London voted on taking this land; it was the vote of the counsel.

At the night of the opening ceremony, all the athletes, delegates, special guests, the Olympic staffs and the audiences representing their countries respectively joined together to usher the arrival of the 2008 Olympic Games. Their spirits were high incorporating with the high aims and dreams to fulfill the ultimate goals which would definitely bring fame and name globally for their represented countries.

The 29th Beijing Summer Olympic Opening Ceremony's countdown began at the National Stadium (also known as the Bird's Nest) located in north Beijing, China, on August 8, 2008.

(Photo credit: Adam Pretty/ Getty Images)

The Chinese flag with five yellow stars was escorted by representatives of 56 tribes in China.

(Photo credit: Sohu)

The Chinese flag was carried by a troop of soldiers who walked neatly showing their endless patriotism to China.

(Photo credit: Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)

The Chinese flag was hosted smoothly as the Chinese National Anthem was played during the opening ceremony for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games at the National Stadium.

(First photo credit: XinHua)

(Second photo credit: Vladimir Rys/Bongarts/Getty Images)

The Olympic flag was escorted into the National Stadium.

(Photo credit: XinHua)

TheOlympic flag was raised next to the Chinese national flag.

(Photo credit: XinHua)

Li Ning, the former gymnastics champion of China, carried along the Olympic flame while he was lifted to the air.

(First photo credit: XinHua)

(Second Photo credit: www. Beijing2008.cn)

Li Ning mustered all his courage and effort to “run” through his final destination: cauldron.

(Photo credit: XiaoMing)

Li Ning finally reached his destination. He paused for a while before lighting up the cauldron, marking the official commencement of the 29th Beijing Summer Olympic Games.

(First photo credit: Sohu)

(Second photo credit: XinHua)

The cauldron eventually lit up. Its fire “crawled” with its high spirit to soar as high as it could, highlighting the good start of the commencement of the Olympic Games in Beijing, China.

(Photo credit: WeiXiang)

At the night, a day on August 8, 2008, the Bird's Nest was sparkling with gorgeous fireworks. All the people from different races, religions and nationalities gathered here to cheer the arrival of the Olympic with the utmost joyous spirits.

(Photo credit: Jonathan Wong)

The sky of the Beijing was lighted up with extremely beautiful fireworks. It was an amazingly spectacular photo ever captured!

(Photo credit: Jonathan Wong)

These were another spectacular views of the fireworks went off the top of the Bird's Nest during the opening ceremony.

(First photo credit: Olympia)

(Second photo credit: Sohu)

These fireworks formed up numerous spectacular trees suspending high up the sky. While looking at this photo, I was moving with the scene, and some tears were rolling out from my eye sockets.

(Photo credit: WeiXiang)

Tonight, the sky of Beijing was bespangled with unexpectedly magnificient fireworks. Some comet looked like fireworks were merged with some dandelion looked like fireworks. All the eyes in the stadium were sparkled with joy.

(photo credit: XiaoMing)

Wow, amazing shooting up fireworks exploded over the sky! Have you seen them before? They were indeed marvelous and amazing!

(Photo credit: Olympia)

Wow, another spectacular view at the Bird's Nest which turned the entire Beijing into a merry land!

(Photo credit: ChenGong)

This cultural show was about The Silk Road, or Silk Route, which reflects the ancient Chinese history. Historically, the Silk Road had been the main trade route connecting West and East Asia via regions of the Asian continent.

(Photo credit: ChenGong)

This performance presented the sailing boats which reflected the development of the civilization of China as the important route to venture into other civilizations of Persia, Arabia, India, ome, Egypt, and Byzantium. 6oo years ago, that was during the reign of Dinasty Ming, Zhenghe led seven voyages consisting of 27,000 people to carry out his diplomacy task. His first exploration started from Quanzhou of China to as far as the region of East Africa and thus it was later popularized as “Silk Road on the Sea.”

(Photos credit: Sohu)

A view on the performance on “Chinese character” by the performers. The Chinese characters or Hanzhi in Chinese, is one of the oldest characters in the word which carry the underlying meaning of the Chinese culture and civilization.

(Photo credit: CCTV)

This was the vew of the performance on “movable-type printing” which represented the “ancient Chinese keyboard.” It reflected the evolution of the Hanzhi or Chinese characters from the past until now.

(First photo credit: Sohu)

(Second photo credit: Mike Hewitt/ Getty Images)

This performance symbolized 3,000 students of Confucious. The performers were reciting the “Analects of Confucius” or Lunyu in Chinese. Of all, one of the phrases recited was “We're all brothers no matter where we are.” (“sihaizhinei, jiexiongdiye” in Chinese). (the first photo). His students had bamboo books holding in their hands with Confucious's sayings engraved on the texts (the second photo).

(First photo credit: CCTV)

(Second photo credit: Sohu)

Tai chi, a soft Chinese martial art, is a form of meditation (or meditation in motion) that is primarily practised for its health benefits, particurlarly when dealing with tension and stress. Tai chi which was originated from two important philosophical texts of Tao De Ching and I Ching emphasizes the thorough relaxation, characterizing by its slow, and soft movements rather than brute strength. Its history dated back to about the 2nd millennium b.c. and it was then developed by a Taoist monk, Chang Sand Feng to be known as Tai Chi. A man named Yang learnt Tai Chi developed by Chen family and subsequently modified it as the Yang style of Tai Chi Chuan which is the most common traditional style of Tai Chi Chuan practised up to now. According to the Chinese practitioners, one becomes ill as the flow of “chi” (or simply translated as “breath” in English) throughout the body is being blocked or trapped. And thus tai chi is a form of spiritual and physical meditation that promotes the smooth flow of “chi” for the ultimate effect of the natural harmony, natural balance of self and world as designated by its symbol “.”

(Photos credits: AP)

Chinese Opera (or xiqu in Chinese) is a well-known drama and musical theatre in China, in which its stories were taken from the high literate value of historical novels (such as Zajuin the Yuan Dynasty) about the society, political and even military struggles. Of all the regional branches of operas, the Beijing opera is the most popular one. This drama potrays the acting of footwork, gestures and other body movements as expressed in riding a horse, opening a door or rowing a boat accompanying with the colloquial speech. The opera was evolved from dances, talking, antimasque, folk songs incorporating with taditional instruments like the gong, lute, and Erhu.

The first opera school (with its poetic name as “Liyuan”, or “pear garden” in English) was established by the Emperor Taizong during the reign of Tang Dynasty (618 -907). Later, during the Yuan Dynasty (1271 - 1368), the opera was officially regarded by the court officials and the emperors as one of the traditional arts among the Chinese community. For Chinese, particularly the older folks, listening and watching opera is the utmost pleasure. This Chinese opera was then developed in a fashionable form among the ordinary people during the reign of the Qing Dynasty (1644 - 1911) and the performances were made so common in restaurants, makeshift stages, and even the tearooms. Up to now, there are as many as 300 opera styles being developed according to regions and locality.

(Photos credit: Beijinghome)

A stunning performance by 2008 drummers at the National Stadium during the opening ceremony for the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics which won them thunderous applauses from the audience.

(Photos credit: Nakamura)

The Olympic-ring illuminated amidst a plain color background with a halo-like glow, forming a marvelous picture that worth to flame in your photo album.

(Photo credit: Alexander Hassenstein/Bongarts/Getty Images)

The dancers performed flips and other gymnastic feats around the gigantic globe with its show entitled “Beautiful Olympics”, which reflecting its theme of “One world, one dream.”

(Photos credit: XinHua)

The painting scroll symbolizes the development and origin of the Chinese culture and history. It is a white paper with an area of 20x 11m, 20cm in thickness and weighed in approximately 800 kg.

(Photo credit: Beijinghome)

The painting scroll was gradually opened, telling people that everything would be started with its content. In the middle of the painting scroll, there lay a piece of paper, representing that the paper was one of the inventions in the ancient China. The patterns and designs of the painting scroll highlighted the flow of the Chinese origin from rock paintings, pottery and bronze….and its history went up to many dynastical reigns.

(Photo credit: Sohu)

Dancers used their body languages to perform on the scroll, which emphasized the underlying unique features and styles of the painting scroll.

(Photo credit: Adam Pretty/Getty Images)

These footprints fireworks were named as the “Footprints of History”, symbolizing the pace of the successive summer Olympic Games.

(Photo credit: XinHua)

Achievements to Date

The best result since 1956, when Kenya made her debut at the Olympic Games were Silver medals by Douglas Wakiihuri in the 1988 Seoul Olympics; Eric Wainaina in Sydney in 2000 and Catherine Ndereba in Athens in 2004. Others have been bronze medals in 1996 by Eric Wainaina and Joyce Chepchumba in Sydney Games in 2000.

Despite the weight of history, Kenya's six entrants, are a formidable lot with at least four considered the best in the world at their specialty. The men's line-up includes 2007 New York Marathon and 2007 & 2008 London Marathon Champion Martin Lel.

Lel is a formidable runner and will be well supported by Sammy Wanjiru, who might be the surprise weapon at the Games. He is an incredible young talent, who already holds the half-marathon world-record and ran 2:06 in his debut and then broke 2:06 in his second marathon at London just a few months later.

Haile Gebreselassie Opts Out

And finally, Robert Cheruiyot who won the Boston Marathon in 2003, 2006, 2007 and 2008, setting a course record 2:07:14 in 2006. These are names that would put fear in any opponent including the legendary distance runner and world record holder Haile Gebreselassie from Ethiopia. Fortunately, the 35-year-old Gebreselassie who holds the world marathon record of 2 hours 4 minutes 26 seconds decided against running the road race because of the poor air quality expected in Beijing so as to concentrate on 10,000m.

The women's side includes the incredible and God fearing Catherine Ndereba, often known as Catherine the Great. Ndereba holds the distinction of holding the only top five fastest times in marathon history that are not held by Paula Radcliffe. Her fourth fastest time in history (2:18:47) was a world record when she ran it in 2001 and makes her the only other woman in history to have broken 2:19:00 in the marathon. So with Radcliffe not having raced of late, Catherine, who is the defending 2007 World Athletics Champion in Marathon, may finally clinch that elusive Gold for Kenya at the Olympic Games.

The other female runners are not well known, but who knew Douglas Wakiihuri when he won Gold in the 3rd edition of the World Athletics Championships in 1987? Big Games have a history of throwing up new talent and it is a momentous time for Martha Komu and Salina Kosgei to prove that they are not just making up the numbers. Of note is the fact that Salina Kosgei finished fourth in London in 2007.

Formidable Force

Kenya will be a formidable force in the games, especially without world record holder Haile Gebreselassie in the mix. It is time for Kenyan Marathon runners who have dominated city marathons across the globe earning themselves plenty of money to demonstrate that they too can win gold for their country.

Whereas Martin Lel and Robert Cheruiyot, who have shown they can win strategically difficult races like New York, London and Boston, might be considered favorites, Sammy Wanjiru could emerge the surprise hero given his under dog status and hunger to win his first Marathon race.