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A memorable spectacle indeed!
Nothing could stop her
South African swimmer Natalie du Toit didn't win a medal in the women's open water 10km race at Shunyi. She didn't need to. Tire 24-year old's journey to the start line in Beijing has been an achievement worthy of any Olympic medal. Du Tbit on August 20 made history as tire first amputee to compete at the Olympic Games, finishing 16th in a field of 25. Du Toit lost her left leg in a motorcycle accident in 2001, a year after narrowly failing to qualify for the Sydney Games. Her leg was amputated at die knee after it began to turn gangrenous. She was back in die water three months later and the 10km race was the culmination of her life-long dream to compete at die Olympics. Such was the immense interest in dulbit's story, she was mobbed by reporters from all around the worid after the race. The five-time Athens Paralympic champion, who gives motivational speeches for a living, admitted she was overcome by emotion before the race and was almost choking up as she later spoke about her journey. "For me to come to the Olympics Games has been a dream come true," du Toit said. "To be here, it's been a long road. I have worked hard to get here. I deserve to be here on merit. I don't want to get anything free." Du Toit, who wears a prosthetic leg out of the water, was prompted to give open water swimming a try last year because there is less emphasis on the start and no tumble turns to worry' about. She qualified for Beijing after finishing fourth at the 10km world open water championships in Seville in May.
Team China
China completed the Long March to world sporting supremacy on home territory and the toppling of the United States never looked in doubt from the moment that weigh (lifter Chen Xiexia opened her country's account with the second gold medal of the Olympics. By the end of the Games, China had made off with 51 golds, well ahead of the Americans. The United States remained ahead in total number of medals won though. China's successes came mainly in lower profile sports such as diving, shooting and table-tennis while success in sports like athetics and swimming remained elusive with just Liu Zige's women's 200m butterfly gold to celebrate for the hosts. The story of the 19 year old Zige was one to behold. A relative unknown before the Games began, she shaved nearly 1.9 seconds of the previous mark to finish in World Record time well ahead of Australian favourite in the Games, Jessica Schipper. But with the top gold medal tally in the bag, how well the Chinese defend their crown in London in four years time will be fascinating to watch.
Elena Isinbaeva
Diva is a word that is overused in the.sporting world, but if there is any athlete who merits the description it is Russia's peerless pole vaulter Elena Isinbaeva.The former gymnast and Red Army lieutenant pocketed her second straight Olympics gold with consummate ease, clearing 25cm higher than her nearest rival, and then produced a one-woman showof the highest quality and drama. She failed twice in her bid at a new world record height of 5.05m, but on her third attempt she sailed over triggering one of the most gleeful gold medal celebrations of the Games. She insists she will be back in four years time in London to bid for the treble.
Michael Phelps
Came to Beijing with the anticipation that he would take anything that would come his way. The American entered the fray with his name enrolled in a record eight events -100m butterfly, 200m butterfly, 200m freestyle, 200m individual medley, 400m individual medley, 4x100m freestyle relay, 4x200m freestyle relay and 4x100m medley relay. Believe it or not, Phelps, whose nickname is 'MP1, won all the eight golds, seven of those coming in world record timing. Nevertheless, the event, the 100m butterfly, that denied him a golden slam at the Water Cube came in nothing less than an Olympic record. His Beijing medals added to the six golds that he won four years ago at Athens -- the 400m individual medley, 100m butterfly, 200m butterfly, 200m individual medley, 4x200m freestyle relay and 4x100m medley relay - making him the greatest Olympian of all time with 14 gold medals. He has two bronze medals also to his name at the Athens Games.
Stephanie Rice
The Australian sweetheart arrived in Beijing after ending her two-year relationship with fellow Aussie swimmer and 50m freestyle world record holder Eamon Sullivan just in July. The couple lived in separate states of Australia, (Sullivan in Western Australia and Rice in Queensland) and said the stress of living so far apart and of course the impending Olympics caused the split of Australia's 'Glamour Couple'.
But the split only appeared to be the springboard for Rice as she slashed 1.67 seconds off American Katie Hoff’s world mark in stopping the clock at 4 minutes 29.45 seconds for the 400m individual medley to win her country's first gold medal at the Beijing Olympics on August 10. And then three days later, the unlucky' 13 brought good luck for Rice when she grabbed the 200m individual medley to become Australia's first dual gold medalist of die Games, that too coming with a world record time.