Athletes of the day
Beach volleyball stars Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh, gold medalists in Athens four years ago and three-time reigning world champions, play a live second-round match against a team from Cuba NBC's evening broadcast.
The pair have won 63 straight matches after Sunday's first-round win over a team from Japan. They are the tournament's top seed.
Treanor made news Saturday when President Bush visited the beach volleyball venue. She invited the President to smack her bikini-clad bottom for luck, but he refused, going for the lower back instead.
— Mike Persinger, Charlotte Observer
Country of the day
Germany
Population: 82,424,609
Location: Europe
Area: 137,847 square miles
National anthem: "Deustchlandlied"
Top medal contenders: Germany is expected to have several medal contenders in track and field - particularly in the women's throwing events. Also in the mix: swimmer Britta Steffen and gymnast Fabian Hambuechen.
Olympic history: Its best performances have come in swimming, track and field, equestrian and flatwater canoeing.
Olympic fact: Germany is fourth in all-time medals behind only the United States, Soviet Union/Unified Team and Great Britain.
All-time medals: 617.5
Gold: 197.5
Silver: 212
Bronze: 226
— Sarah Rothschild, Miami Herald
This day in Olympic history
Aug. 11, 1928, Amsterdam: The man who would later be famous for his role as "Tarzan" Johnny Weissmuller -- successfully defended his Olympic swimming title in the men's 100-meter freestyle. In winning the fourth of his five gold medals, he missed his world record of 57.4 seconds, but set an Olympic standard of 58.6.
— Mark Maloney, Lexington Herald-Leader.
Source: The Complete Book of the Olympics
On TV
Swimming kicks into high gear this evening with NBC showing live swimming finals, including the 100 meter breaststroke, which features current world-record holder, American Brendan Hansen, versus his nemesis from Japan, Kosuke Kitajima.
&mash; Jennifer Floyd Engel, Fort Worth Star-Telegram
China invention of the day
Kaboom! (black powder)
Emperor Wu Di (156-87 B.C.) commissioned his alchemists to search for the secrets of eternal life and their experiments included mixing and heating sulphur and saltpeter together. By the 10th century, charcoal had been added to create black powder, a precursor to gunpowder.
At first, black powder wasn't used to humiliate and maim neighboring mischief-makers but to treat skin diseases and kill bugs. Eventually, someone stuck the powder in bamboo tubes, and stuck the tubes on arrows that could be launched.
Adding fire, the Chinese saw that gas escaping from the tubes propelled the tubes, and voila, the first rocket, which begat fireworks, etc.
— Luciana Chavez, The News & Observer
Observations
- The China Daily newspaper reports that movie star Jackie Chan had 101 sets of clothes he had custom-made for Olympic occasions, and each set is printed with the Olympic rings. I'm all for the Olympic spirit usually, but that's 100 sets too many.
And here's something else you can do without. Chan has released a solo album - yes, he apparently sings - that includes 10 songs he sang about the Olympics.
- The U.S. men's basketball team honestly likes China superstar Yao Ming - you can tell by the way they talk about him. Point guard Chris Paul said he got to know Yao at the 2008 NBA All-Star game and was surprised at how much Yao jokes around. He said that in the locker room Yao once rummaged through his street clothes and pulled out a pair of his pants.
"So he comes over to me, and he holds them up right beside me," Paul said of Yao and the slacks. "And I'm not kidding, they were exactly my height."
- Michael Phelps' first of many medal ceremonies at these Olympics was memorable. After breaking his own record for gold in the 400 individual medley, Phelps was blinking back tears as a pre-recorded version of the national anthem played and the U.S. flag rose.
Then, right at the "O'er the land of the free" part, the recording malfunctioned and ended suddenly. It sounded a little like one of those old vinyl records when someone banged into the record player and knocked the needle off. Phelps broke up laughing, as did most of the crowd.
— Scott Fowler, Charlotte Observer