Beijing Olympics!

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http://gallery.bizhat.com/showgallery.php/cat/2608

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The Olympic rings are pictured



Movable-type printing



Opera performance



Fireworks go off

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Acrobats perform in the Bird's Nest



Lang Lang plays the piano



Art performance in the Bird's Nest

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Unheralded Sushil Kumar rose from obscurity to find his rightful place in the history of Indian sports when he won the bronze medal in men's 66kg freestyle category at the Beijing Olympics in Beijing.

Sushil's campaign seemed nearly over when he lost his first round battle against eventual silver medallist Andriy Stadnik but repechage provided him a ray of hope and the Indian proved simply irresistible as he beat three grapplers on the trot to win the bronze.

Down in the dumps after his opening round defeat, Sushil came up with an incredible show, beating Doug Schwab (USA), Albert Batyrov (Belarus) and finally the losing semifinalist Leonid Spiridonov (Kazakhstan) in the repechage rounds to earn his slice of history.

Sushil thus became the second Indian wrestler after K D Jadhav who won a bronze in the 1952 Helsinki Games to win an Olympic medal.

Incidentally, in the 2006 Doha Asian Games also, Sushil had beaten Leonid to win the bronze.

Against Leonid, Sushil grabbed early initiative by scoring two technical points that proved decisive in the end.

Though the Kazakh grappler scored one in the second period and managed to thwart Sushil, the Indian proved his superiority again in the third period and eventually prevailed 3-2 to trigger frenzied celebration among the Indians present at the Chinese Agricultural University in Beijing.

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Jamaica's Usain Bolt completed his sprint double gold medal today in Beijing, winning the 200 meters in 19.30 seconds, a new world record.

Churandy Martina of the Netherlands Antilles won the silver. American Wallace Spearmon finished third but was disqualified for stepping out of his lane, so fourth-place finisher Shawn Crawford of the United States received the bronze medal. (UPDATE: Martina was also disqualified, so Crawford gets the silver and fifth-place finisher Walter Dix of the U.S. gets the bronze.)

Bolt, who previously set a new world record of 9.69 seconds in the 100 meters, is the first athlete to win both the 100 and the 200 since Carl Lewis in 1984. Bolt is only 21 years old, and track experts are nearly unanimous in saying that a good coach could improve his technique. There's every reason to believe that he will be a dominant sprinter for years to come. He has the talent to become the greatest ever.

American Michael Johnson set the previous 200-meter world record of 19.32 seconds at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, a record that felt at the time like it was unbreakable. But no one knew at the time about a 9-year-old Jamaican named Usain Bolt.

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Russia's Elena Isinbaeva poses for photos with her new world record after the women's pole vault final at the National Stadium, also known as the Bird's Nest, during Beijing 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China, Aug. 18, 2008. Isinbaeva claimed the title in the event and set a new world record



Pole vault tsarina Elena Isinbaeva on Monday evening cleared the new world record of 5.05 meters, winning her second Olympic gold medal almost with no efforts.

With only two successful jumps, the defending Olympic gold medalist and world champion secured the gold. On the fifth attempt, she broke the Olympic record which was created by herself four years ago in Athens. The 26-year-old pole vaulter eventually overcame her 24th world record of 5.05 meters.

Isinbaeva said, "I was trying to do my best for the crowd. It makes me happy, so happy. I felt that I could not go out without the world record because of the support the crowd gave me. I remember my feelings from Athens and I wanted to feel that again."

Although she said everyone's confidence of her victory put a lot of pressure on her, the Russian jumper believed she would soon clear 5.10 meters.









Elena Isinbaeva of Russia celebrates during the women's pole vault final at the National Stadium, also known as the Bird's Nest, during Beijing 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China, Aug. 18, 2008. Isinbaeva claimed the title in the event and set a new world record.









Since taking home the Athens Olympic gold in 2004, Isinbaeva has dominated the pole vault jump, including two world record-breaking jumps in 2008 with 5.03 meters in Rome and then 5.04 meters in Monaco.

During her complete reigning in the field, she also added the gold medals from the 2005 and 2007 world championships and the 2006 European championships.

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Phelps 23 posing with his eight medal collection, the richest gold medal haul ever from a single Olympic Games, marks Phelps' fifth appearance on the cover of Sports Illustrated.