5. Men's 100 m Usain Bolt
Usain Bolt, Jamacia's 22 year old sprint phenom is without a doubt the fastest man in the world today. He showed that in his first medal competition in Beijing. After a good start, and holding his own in the first fifty, Usain pulled away in the second half. In the last twenty meters, after checking both sides to see if anyone was following Usain let up. Instead of running, he patted his chest to make sure everyone knew how awesome he was. He broke his own world records by three hundredths of a second. But we'll never know how fast he could have been.
4. Men's Beach Volleyball Final Dalhausser & Rogers
The US Women's team was heroic before they reached Beijing, having won each of the last hundred some-odd games—but there was no suspense. Not so with the less-so, but still heroic Men's team, Dalhausser & Rogers. There was a great deal of suspense indeed in the gold medal match's final set, when the US men were down by increasing numbers with no momentum. Until Dalhausser rejected three straight spikes at the net. It turned the tide, and the US team went on to beat the Brazilians for the gold.
3. Men's 10 m Platform Matthew Mitcham
Matt Mitcham, Australia's first openly gay professional athlete was never a threat. He failed to qualify to enter in the 3 meter springboard competition. Four days later—on the final day of the Olympics—he did qualify for the 10 meter platform. In the second to last round a fair dive put gold 33 points out of reach for Mitcham. But his final overwhelming-awesome 112 point effort shut out a Chinese sweep of the whole diving venue.
2. Men's 400 m Free relay Lezak, Jones, Phelps, and Weber-Gale
This event was only Phelp's second in Beijing, and universally recognized as one of his weakest. The US team were slow to start, and well behind the pack during most of the race. Phelp's third-up performance closed the US team to a quarter pool length from first. But it was Jason Lezak swimming anchor, who closed the distance to a half body length. With twenty meters left in the race he dug down to find a reserve of strength the French didn't have to win gold.
1. Men's 100 m Butterfly Michael Phelps
The 100 m Butterfly is Phelps' race. His seventh swim should have easily added to his six Beijing golds. He began the race in typical style with an imperfect start, and laggy first length. After the turn, Phelps (in classic form) pulled away from the pack but still didn't have the lead. Serbia's Čavić was out ahead down the final length. But it was Phelps' genius final half stroke that out-touched Čavić by a heart stopping one hundredth of a second; the smallest margin of victory possible.
