How the sport works

The first team to score twenty five points in three sets wins the match. This was still a preliminary round so there were no medals awarded tonight.

 

It never fails to stun me how tall volleyball players are, so when the American and Serbian teams came on the court, I found I kept saying, “My god, she's tall!” as each player was introduced. Numbers three and nineteen on the American squad seemed especially giant-like.

 

I am fantastically terrible when it comes to playing volleyball, so it impresses me all the more to see volleyball played well. I loved watching the Americans psych out the Serbians with decoy players jumping and pretending to spike the ball. Some of the rallies made me wince in sympathetic pain as I imagined the stinging and burning on the players' arms. I couldn't help but compare volleyball to soccer: when volleyball players dive on the hardwood floor, making that awful high pitch squeaking sound, they get up immediately and are back in the game. In soccer, however, players who fall on the soft, cushy grass, take their time to roll around and howl and hold up the game. Hmm. I know which sport I respect more.

 

Serbia played well, but the Americans outplayed them and deserved to take the match in three straight sets.

The Italy-Algeria game wasn't much of a contest with Italy finishing off Algeria in straight sets. That said, Algeria rose to the challenge and their playing improved as the match wore on.

How the sport works

There are two different types of stroke: sweeping (one oar per athlete) and sculling (two oars per athlete, abbreviated with an X). If there is a cox in the boat to steer and motivate the athletes, it is abbreviated with a plus sign and a minus sign without a cox. Boats seat 1, 2, 4, or 8 rowers. Women and men compete in 1X, 2X, 2-, 4X-, 4-, and 8+. The standard course is 2,000 meters long and the first boat to cross the finish line wins.

When my dad and I sat in our seats at rowing, I was only thinking about the races I would get to see and never imagined I would be chatting with two Olympic medalists by the end of the morning.

A fan sat next to my dad and we started talking about how great the rowing has been all week before he casually mentioned he had rowed for the US in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics in the men's quad (M4X-) which won the silver medal. Not long after, a tall man wearing a red Canada jacket and whose legs barely fit in the seat sat next to me. He saw my Canadian flag and introduced himself as Adam. I could tell immediately he was a rower and, not long after we began talking, I discovered he was Adam Kreek, gold medal champion of the men's 8 (M8+) at the 2008 Beijing Olympics! Watching Olympic medalists Adam Kreek and Jason Gailes introduce themselves to each other and then swap stories about their Olympic experiences and talk about mutual acquaintances, I truly had to do my best to keep my jaw off the ground. I honestly can't begin to describe what an unexpected treat it was to watch world class racing with two Olympic athletes!

I also picked up a new souvenir. A group of Canadians had red felt maple leafs (leafs, not leaves!) and when I asked where I could get one, a man simply handed me his. I can't wait to wave this during the Olympics. Go Canada go!

The rowing itself was superb. Every rower gets ranked, so in some events there are A-F finals, where the A finals is for the gold medal. The very first race was the M1X F final between three competitors vying for 31st, 32nd, and 33rd place. The crowd favorite was Niger's Hamadou Djibo Issaka. He gained entry to the Olympics as a wild card through a channel designed to promote rowing in new countries. Djibo Issaka only learned to row three months before the Olympics began which was apparent to anyone who has ever rowed when you watch his form. His presence has resurrected stories of Eric the Eel, a swimmer from Equatorial Guinea at the Sydney 2000 Olympics who started swimming only eight months before the games. Djibo Issaka may have finished his race 1:20 after the winner and almost two minutes slower than the gold medal winner, but the crowd gave him a rousing standing ovation.

The most anticipated race of the morning was the W2X featuring Katherine Grainger and Anna Watkins of Great Britain. Grainger had won silver at the last three Olympics so it was wonderful for her to finally win gold by a comfortable lead in her home country.

The other races were outstanding, with many close races and athletes giving their all.

Medal results

M4X-

Gold: Germany

Silver: Croatia

Bronze: Australia

Australia, foreground, and Croatia, background.

Germany celebrates their gold.

M2-

Gold: New Zealand

Silver: France

Bronze: Great Britain

W2X

Gold: Great Britain

Silver: Australia

Bronze: Poland

M1X

Gold: New Zealand

Silver: Czech Republic

Bronze: Great Britain

How the sport works

Teams win a set by scoring twenty one points and the first team to win two of three sets wins. There were no medals up for grabs tonight.

Horse Guards Parade was a beautiful setting for the beach volleyball competition.

Just outside the venue, a sand sculptor was hard at work.

The first men's match was Switzerland v. Austria, with Switzerland taking both sets.

The Scottish announcer was definitely a highlight of the night. To get the crowd excited, he started call-and-response chants, so he'd say, “Switzer,” and we'd respond with, “land!” He got a big laugh from the audience with his cheer for Austria: “When I say, 'Austri–,' you say, 'UH!'”

In the second men's match, the Americans walked over the Cezch Republic.

Between sets and matches, the Horse Guards Parade Dance Crew (say that ten times fast) came out to entertain the crowd with some cheesy dancing.

There was a women's lucky losers match, so I got to see Great Britain play. Unfortunately for them, the Austrian women's team destroyed them in straight sets.

Other than the incessant cat calling during the women's match, it was a fun night.

How the sport works

An athlete must complete two different types of lifts. Round one is the snatch, where he must lift the weight above his head in one fluid movement. The second round is the clean and jerk, where he must lift the weight first to his collarbone and then over his head. A lift is awarded only when at least two of the three judges are satisfied his elbows are locked out and he is standing still. Lifters get three attempts in the snatch and the clean and jerk. The athlete with the highest combined weight lifted wins. In case of a tie, the lifter with the lowest body weight wins.

Fourteen lifters started the first round but, as four of them failed to complete a snatch, there were only ten in round two.

There were big groups of fans from countries like Indonesia, China, and eastern Europe. At first, they all just cheered for their own athletes, but as the evening progressed, the crowd warmed up to the competitors as we witnessed their determined struggles to successfully complete their lifts. By the end of the night, we were on our feet, cheering for each lifter, regardless of his country. One of the lifters was from North Korea, so I was happy to cheer for North Korea for the first time in my life.

Early on, it was clear the Chinese lifter would win the gold. He completed his lifts, most of which were heavier than the other athletes’ lifts, with such ease that there was no way anyone could catch him. Below, he celebrates his gold medal lift.

Gold may have been already claimed but the battle for silver was tight. It came down to a Romanian and an Indonesian. The Romanian had completed a heavier snatch in the first round, so the Indonesian had to do a heavier clean and jerk if he was to catch him. The audience loved the drama. On the Indonesian’s last clean and jerk of the night, he lifted the 188 kilos up to his chest, though it was a struggle. When he lifted the weight above his head, he took a few steps to steady his balance. And then he took a few more steps. And a few more. Everyone in the crowd was on their feet, yelling and screaming for him as he walked all over the platform with the weight still over his head, desperately trying to find his balance. When he did finally stand still and complete the lift, he was ecstatic and the crowd went crazy!

I’d seen weightlifting on tv in the past and figured it might be fun to watch them lift double my body weight over their head live in person. Having been to just one session of Olympic weightlifting, I am now hooked!

Medal results

Gold: Qingfeng Lin, China

Silver: Triyatno Triyatno, Indonesia

Bronze: Razvan Martin, Romania

How the sport works

In singles badminton, the first athlete to reach twenty one points wins that particular game. A player needs to win two games to win the overall match. The only difference in doubles is that there are two players per team.

This was early in the preliminary round so there were no medals on the line today, though the match results would dictate players’ seeding.

It was clear that while badminton may not be a big sport in the west, it is absolutely huge in Asia. I saw the number one ranked mixed doubles pair of China, the number three ranked player from China, and the number four ranked men’s doubles team from South Korea.

Matches took place simultaneously on three side by side courts, so there was a lot of action to watch.

Because shuttlecocks are sensitive to air conditioning, there was no AC in the venue. It got so hot that one cameraman kept falling asleep!

Thailand easily beat Taiwan 2-0 in the mixed doubles and the support they got from two extremely vocal fans helped them enormously! The crowd loved these guys and were happy to follow anyone they cheered for.

Indonesia walloped Estonia in the men’s singles. At one point, the Indonesian swung his racquet to return a rally and the shuttle got stuck in his racquet (no picture of that unfortunately)!

The world’s fifth ranked woman from India destroyed Switzerland in a match that lasted only twenty four minutes (the others were all over thirty some minutes).

The best match of the session was number thirteen of Singapore versus number four of Japan in the women’s singles. Singapore really stepped up their game and gave Japan a run for their money. In the end, Japan won 2-1, but it took them a lengthy eighty five minutes minutes to do so. The longest rally lasted a impressive sixty two strokes and the longest duration of a rally was seventy two seconds! It may not sound like along time but, believe me, it was a hard fought point!

I’m not likely to take up badminton anytime soon, but it was fun to see a sport I’ve had relatively little exposure to being played at such a high level.