USA Basketball Winning the Gold

The US Men’s Olympic Team won the Gold:

Order is restored in international basketball. The United States is back on top, but not by that much anymore. Culminating a three-year mission to end years of embarrassment, the U.S. Olympic team survived a huge challenge from Spain, winning 118-107 Sunday in the gold-medal game. After overwhelming everyone for seven games, the Americans led by only four points with under 2½ minutes to play. Then the U.S. proved it could handle a close game that seemed would never come in Beijing. Their prize: the first U.S. gold medal since the 2000 Olympics.

Glad that they finally got their swagger back. Here are pics of Family man Kobe Bryant spent time celebrating his birthday with his wife and daughters Nyla and Natalia during practice at the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics.

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There Goes the Gold

Since it’s a slow day for celeb news, here is a little more Olympics drama for you to discuss at the water cooler:

The U.S. men and women both dropped the baton in the Olympic 400-meter relays Thursday night and failed to advance out of the first round. First, men’s anchor Tyson Gay, part of the American team that won the relay at last year’s world championships, did not get the red metal stick from third-leg runner Darvis Patton. Then, about 25 minutes later, women’s anchor Lauryn Williams flubbed her exchange with Torri Edwards, their baton dropping to the ground, too. At the 2004 Olympics, Williams started running too early and missed a handoff from Marion Jones in the final.

“If people want to assess the blame to me, that’s OK. I mean, I can take whatever it is that people are going to dish out,” Williams said. “We had good chemistry. The hand was back there. She was there. I don’t know what happened.”

Unlike the men, who stopped racing, Williams scrambled back on the wet track to pick up the baton and complete the lap—more than 6 seconds after first-place Belgium finished in 42.92. But the U.S. was disqualified.Afterward, Gay and Patton both took the blame. Gay, who also failed to reach the final in the individual 100, said he felt the baton and “then I went to grab it and there was nothing. It’s kind of the way it’s been happening to me this Olympics.” He said he never before dropped a baton in a relay and that he and Patton practiced all week without missing a handoff. “That’s Tyson Gay. He’s a humble guy,” Patton said. “But I know it’s my job to get the guy the baton, and I didn’t do that.”

Damn, that sucks. Hopefully they won’t beat themselves up for it, sh*t happens.

Give The Brotha A Break

They are trying rain on Usain Bolt’s parade:

IOC president Jacques Rogge criticized Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt on Thursday for showing a lack of respect to other competitors after his record-breaking gold medal performances in the 100 and 200 meters.

“That’s not the way we perceive being a champion,” Rogge said.“I have no problem with him doing a show,” Rogge said in an interview with three international news agency reporters. “I think he should show more respect for his competitors and shake hands, give a tap on the shoulder to the other ones immediately after the finish and not make gestures like the one he made in the 100 meters.”

These motherfu*kers stay nitpicking for every little thing. This nicca just turned 22 years-old and is tearing up the track. Who gives a crap if he didn’t shake hands. Let the man enjoy his victory.

SMH- Bossip

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Jamaica Rules

Usain Bolt is clowning over there in Beijing:

The dramatic ascendance of Usain Bolt as the world’s greatest sprinter continued Wednesday night at the Beijing Olympics as he left another group of elite runners far behind in setting a world record in the 200 meters and winning his second gold medal. Having obliterated the world record in the 100 on Saturday, he is the first man to win both the 100 and 200 at the same Olympics since Carl Lewis in 1984. Starting in Lane 5, Bolt took the lead in the first 50 meters and won in devastating fashion, pulling away from the field and winning by several meters in a time of 19.30. Michael Johnson had held the record of 19.32, set in 1996 at the Atlanta Games.

Churandy Martina of the Netherlands Antilles won the silver. Wallace Spearmon of the United States finished third, but as he began a victory lap while draped in an American flag, he learned that he had been disqualified for stepping into the lane of his teammate Walter Dix. Shawn Crawford, also of the United States, ended up with the bronze.

Bolt, 21, delivered an encore Wednesday. He entered the race owning the three fastest 200 times this season, and in the semifinals on Tuesday he appeared to be holding back yet still finished first, in 20.09. Except for Johnson in 1996, no other runner had ever run faster than 19.62. Bolt’s previous best was 19.67.

Congrats to him…

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US men, women both flub baton handoffs in relay

BEIJING (AP)—The U.S. men and women both dropped the baton in the Olympic 400-meter relays Thursday night and failed to advance out of the first round.

First, men’s anchor Tyson Gay, part of the American team that won the relay at last year’s world championships, did not get the red metal stick from third-leg runner Darvis Patton.

Then, about 25 minutes later, women’s anchor Lauryn Williams flubbed her exchange with Torri Edwards, their baton dropping to the ground, too. At the 2004 Olympics, Williams started running too early and missed a handoff from Marion Jones in the final.

“If people want to assess the blame to me, that’s OK. I mean, I can take whatever it is that people are going to dish out,” Williams said. “We had good chemistry. The hand was back there. She was there. I don’t know what happened.”

Unlike the men, who stopped racing, Williams scrambled back on the wet track to pick up the baton and complete the lap—more than 6 seconds after first-place Belgium finished in 42.92. It was a nice gesture, but the U.S. was disqualified.

Jamaica, continuing its strong showing at the Bird’s Nest, won the other preliminary women’s heat in 42.24.

Earlier, when Gay reached back for his exchange, he never got a grasp of the baton, which tumbled.

Afterward, Gay and Patton both took the blame.

Gay, who also failed to reach the final in the individual 100, said he felt the baton and “then I went to grab it and there was nothing. It’s kind of the way it’s been happening to me this Olympics.”

He said he never before dropped a baton in a relay and that he and Patton practiced all week without missing a handoff.

“That’s Tyson Gay. He’s a humble guy,” Patton said. “But I know it’s my job to get the guy the baton, and I didn’t do that.”

The new chief executive officer of USA Track & Field, Doug Logan, promised “a comprehensive review” of all of the team’s programs.

“Included in this assessment,” he said, “will be the way we select, train and coach our relays.”

Trinidad and Tobago won the heat in which the American men ran, with a time of 38.26. In that first heat, only four of the eight teams managed to make it all the way around the one-lap race in a light rain.

Jamaica won the second heat in 38.31, with former 100 world record-holder Asafa Powell running the anchor leg. Usain Bolt, who broke the world records in the 100 and 200 while winning those gold medals, had the night off—save for a Bird’s Nest appearance to collect his 200 gold—but is expected to run in Friday’s relay final.

Jamaica and the Gold

21 year-old sprinter Usain Bolt won Jamaica’s first ever Olympic Gold medal as well as breaking the World Record in the 100 meters:

Bolt won the 100 meters in a time, 9.69 seconds, that broke his 11-week-old world record of 9.72 and could have been much faster had he not turned the end of the race into Carnival. His rivals still couldn’t catch up. Richard Thompson of Trinidad and Tobago ran a personal-best 9.89 and was farther from first than any Olympic silver medalist since 1984. Walter Dix of the United States was third in a personal-best 9.91, and Churandy Martina was fourth in a Netherlands Antilles-record 9.93.

Dude is no joke. Real talk.

Click here to watch video of the brotha clown on the track

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Gold Bound

The upcoming issue of Jet Magazine talks about the 2008 Beijing Games and the Black athletes to watch at the Olympics:

Tennis champs Venus and Serena Williams, basketball star Dwyane Wade, and track and field great Tyson Gay are just a few of the world’s elite Black athletes ready to compete on the grandest stage on the globe at the Olympics. The best African-American sports stars are prepared to vie for the gold there when the international multi-sport competition opens Aug. 8 in China’s capital, Beijing. For 21 days, they’ll join more than 10,000 other men and women representing over 200 nations, all competing for the ultimate prize of Olympic glory.

Peep more of Dwyane Wade on the cover of Direct TV Access Magazine below.