Games of the XXVIII Olympiad / Athens
Day Nine
Early Morning Competition
WORTH THEIR METTLE
In a match that went well into a warm Athens night, Germans Rainer Schuettler and Nicolas Kiefer completed their 2004 Olympic Games with a silver medal. After nearly three hours and 45 minutes, and at 2:37am a German shot went wide to end the match at 26 64 63 67(7-9) 46. The match, which went five incredible and agonizing sets, went to the gutsy Chilean duo of Massu and Gonzalez - one played already earlier (Gonzalez got bronze) in the evening and the other plays tomorrow (Massu goes for gold).
Great things to see - the crowds that remained really got to see an entertaining match, far more celebratory and vocal than what we see in the Grand Slams. Also, that a number one and number two do not have to face each other to see great tennis. Aside from rabid JHH fans, which would you have rather watched - the women's finals of #1 v #2 or either men's today - the singles bronze or the doubles gold? I cannot even imagine how Kiefer and Schuettler feel, they lost a match that was in their reach... but hopefully sooner rather than later they can come to look at that medal and feel only joy. That medal represents the achievement of the Olympic Games (participating in two Olympics apiece) and it's emotions should coincide with that elation they felt after defeating Bhupathi and Paes.
They did not lose a gold medal, they won a silver.
Congratulations was sent to Kiefer and Schuettler from the past German tennis greats that seem to almost haunt them - Boris Becker, Steffi Graf and Michael Stich. Afterwards, Schuettler said, "That is so brutal. Such a chance one gets only once in their life. Before the tournament I would have very much been pleased about silver. Now I am disappointed."
"In a few days they will hopefully recognize that also silver is a giant success", said Stich. The pair now will move to the US Open, of which Kiefer said, "I carry my medal forward to New York, I will never again experience so terrible a defeat in my life."
On a personal note, I think that Jim Courier's commentary on USA Network was pretty over the line in his criticism of the German pair - especially Rainer throughout the match. As happy as I am that the network carried the entire event (and there weren't Americans in it!), even as it went nearly three hours over it's allotted time block, his comments weren't necessary. He said things along the lines of 'nothing firing in Schuettler's brain,' that 'he must be blind,' 'he's the weakest guy on the court,' and even that he 'was a hack.' (There were others but I cna't remember the phrasing.)I was always a fan of Courier, but I just don't see those remarks as appropriate to what was actually happening on the court - every player on that court made errors today. Sure, the loss was extremely disappointing, but that commentary turned it more towards sour.
medal
\Med"al\, n. [F. m['e]daille, It. medaglia, fr. L. metallum metal, through (assumed) LL. metalleus made of metal.] A piece of metal in the form of a coin, struck with a device, and intended to preserve the remembrance of a notable event or an illustrious person, or to serve as a reward.
mettle
1. Courage and fortitude; spirit: troops who showed their mettle in combat.
2. Inherent quality of character and temperament.
Idiom:
on (one's) mettle
Prepared to accept a challenge and do one's best.
Sunday, more still coming...
There's Something About Rainer... Articles
Schuettler Shots... Photos
Day Eight
Doubles Gold Medal Match
Today, German pair Nicolas Kiefer and Rainer Schuettler take on Chile's Fernando Gonzalez and Nicolas Massu in the Olympic Doubles Gold Medal Match.
As a pair, Massu and Gonzalez reached the finals at the World Team Championships and semifinalists in Bastad. Massu, pairing with Juan Ignacio Chela, reached the finals in Acapulco and the semis Buenos Aires.
Rainer, while pairing with Lars Burgsmüller in World Team Tennis, has faced Massu and Gonzalez before. The Germans won, 61 26 60, in May of 2003 on clay. Kiefer, playing with fellow German Bjorn Phau, faced Massu and Saretta in April of this year in Bermuda, losing 26 06.
In singles, Schuettler has faced Massu twice this year, losing both times on clay - the semis in Kitzbühel 36 36 and in Germany at the World Team Championship round robin play 46 64 26. Against Massu, their only meeting was this year in Toronto where Rainer took the hardcourt match 63 46 36. Kiefer's only singles play against either came at Wimbledon in 2002 where he defeated Gonzalez 75 63 60.
Tennis play begins at 5pm Athens time, in the US it's 10am NY time and coverage is on USA Network. Here is the schedule page for Saturday's matches and here is the Olympic site's preview of the day, where they say the men's doubles gold match is the last one of the day. Contested today are: men's singles bronze, women's singles gold and bronze, women's doubles bronze and the men's doubles gold.
Gonzalez, in yesterday's singles match, tweaked his right ankle and plays in the bronze singles match today, so we'll have to see how that affects his play. In bronze doubles men's play, Ancic and Ljubicic won a thriller against Bhupathi and Paes. The match lasted some four hours and ended 76(5) 46 16-14 in the early morning hours. Here is the report on the match from the Olympic site.
I had tried to update the past few days yesterday but after reaching the 'upload' page, everything was lost - twice. So what's up now is super sparse, and I wanted to get the gold medal stuff up for sure. As I can today I will try to smooth things out and get everything in order and fill in more from the completed matches. Photos (lots of photos) from the semis doubles are up however.
Day Six
Spin Silver Into Gold?!
(Deja vu...) Today, in another upset, the unseeded pair of Rainer Schuettler and Nicolas Kiefer knocked off another seed. In just over an hour they easily defeated 5th seeded Bhupathi and Paes 62 63 in the semifinals and will play for the Doubles Gold Medal!! Saturday afternoon (5pm start Athens time, USA in the US is slated to carry the match live 10am NY time) the Germans will face Massu and Gonzalez of Chile, they are the first match of the day and their medal ceremony will close the day (10-10:45pm). The incredible pair from Chile advanced after defeating Ancic and Ljubicic 75 46 64.
Bhupathi and Paes, heading into this round, had not given up a break in the entire Olympic Games.
There's Something About Rainer... Articles
Schuettler Shots... Photos
Day Five
Doubles Quarterfinals
Today, in another upset, the unseeded pair of Nicolas Kiefer and Rainer Schuettler advanced to the third round/semifinals with a 26 62 62 win over 8th seeded Jonathan Erlich and Andy Ram.
Next up, the semis on Thursday (5-7pm Athens time) against 5th seeded Mahesh Bhupathi and Leander Paes. The pair from India defeated 4th seeded Black and Ullyett of Zimbabwe on Wednesday, 64 64. As a team, Bhupathi and Paes won in Toronto this year. Paes, with other partners, won Gstaad and Halle, was a finalist in Dubai and a semifinalist in 's-Hertogenbosch, Hamburg TMS and Prostejov. Bhupathi, playing with others, won Bastad, Rome, Auckland and Dubai and was a semifinalist at Indian Wells TMS and Roland Garros.
Erlich and Ram were finalists in Chennai and Rotterdam while reaching the semis in Halle, Los Angeles and Milan. Erlich and Paes paired to reach the semifinals at 's-Hertogenbosch.
Here is the stat page from the doubles match against the Israeli duo.
There's Something About Rainer... Articles
Schuettler Shots... Photos
Singles
Day Three and Four
Not Much Online
For Days Three and Four I will be in NY for work (the nerve of them, it's the Olympics!) and most likely not able to get to any computer at all. I may pay the ridicilous cost of the hotel to get unreliable internet access in the room, but not sure - I won't be there much to update anyways. So, that means no updates until Wed night.
However, it also means that when I see Monday's primetime coverage I will have no idea of the results and can watch it 'for real'. Great for true anticipation, bad for the nerves. (Go Lenny) I'll miss Rainer's singles and doubles match, but as soon as I can get any updates done, I will. I'll be in NY with its orange alert and waiting for my sister to call from CA when she arrives there. Poor girl is flying from Libya (yes, Libya) thru London to California - all in one day. Talk about a sore butt from the plane seats! So, cheer on Rainer and enjoy the Games in general!
Day Two
Doubles Action
Tennis - both singles and doubles, mens and womens - begins Sunday morning, here is the Athens Olympic Games page on tennis and the schedule. Kiefer plays singles in the AM (10-noon Athens time) and then teams with Rainer for the PM (5-7pm) session in doubles.
On a side note, check out the Athens Games home page and study their little photo under the Olympic Tennis Tournament block... yes, that is Rainer! (It's now changed since tennis is underway, but for a couple days, it was on the Olympic main page - the same picture as the first one in the list of this post)
On the Bravo network from 4AM to noon (NY time) Sunday they will carry some of the tennis live. Also on Monday and Tuesday there will be both live morning coverage from 5AM to noon and then more coverage from 5-8PM (not listed as live but I don't think it's just an AM session repeat). On Wednesday, tennis on Bravo from 5-8PM.
Check the weather information for the Olympic Tennis Centre here
Live results can be found here
So far, the most helpful page of the Games has been this one, a user friendly layout of what events are happening on what days... very handy
Other things I am looking forward to today, some women's gymnastics and a good showing by a personal favorite, Lenny Krayzelburg in swimming, and of course more Phelps and Thorpe in the pool Sunday as well.
UPDATE: Kiefer (14th seed) defeated Vladimir Voltchkov (a familiar Davis Cup name) 62 64. Afterwards, he said "I had a good serve and a good return. The conditions were not the best, because of the air and the humidity, but I'm very satisfied and I hope that my win will help the other German players psychologically."
Next up in the afternoon is doubles on Court 5 with Schuettler, "I don't mind because that way I'll have tomorrow as a day off."
Schuettler and Kiefer defeated Pavel and Hanescu in a tight 75 76(3) first round match. Once the stats page is posted I'll link it, and add any post match quotes I come across. In the second round they will face the winner of the Tomas Berdych/Jiri Novak (Cze) vs 2nd seeded Wayne Arthurs/Todd Woodbridge (Aus). I believe Tuesday would be the earliest for this 2nd round face off.
In singles, I haven't seen a schedule yet, but Schuettler should play his first round match against Andreev on Monday.
In other Olympic action, the overly touted Team USA men's basketball team lost today, which is fine with me. I feel that the Dream Team from 1992 ruined the Olympic spirit in this sport. The only good thing that came about from it was that the rest of the world really took to basketball and it has truly become a global sport. I think it's great that they can come in and beat a US team that thinks they are "all that." Confidence is one thing, arrogance and indifference are another. (Can you tell I am not a major hoops fan?)
After reading the SI's Saturday blog, I am checking out when any handball will be shown. (Here we go - MSNBC on Monday from 2-7AM has men's South Korea vs Russia and then from 10am-4pm men's Croatia vs Slovenia.) Another great aspect of the Olympic Games - you could become a fan of a whole new sport. In Salt Lake City, to get some of the events that I really had to see, you had to buy certain ticket packages. They would stick in a couple 'random' events with the 'meat and potatoes' in order to either pump up the sales figures or to try to get people to see some of these things, like it or not. I tell you, some of my 'random' events were the venues that were the most exciting and memorable. Do I really know anything about speed skating? Nope. Sure, I think it's a super cool sport and I almost always watch it, but I could maybe name 5 names aside from Eric Heiden... yet I had a blast at speed skating, the crowds are wild and intense, the speed on TV pales in comparison to reality, and I saw some world records - can't beat that. Don't get me started on the ski jumping and its venue!
Word has also come across that the US 400 freestyle relay - an event that Phelps had been added to - didn't qualify, so the quest for eight is already over. Please, the kid is going to swim nearly 20 times this week, let's just enjoy it - and everyone else who is tops in the world trying to make the finals as they participate in this roofless venue. And yes, Lenny Krazyzelburg made it to the semis.
There's Something About Rainer... Articles
Schuettler Shots... Photos
These are from practice on 12 Aug, they go quite well with the site's new color design, eh?
Day One
We are fully underway at the Athens Games, and swimmer Michael Phelps has claimed medal number one. Note medal number one and not gold number one - sure, I think he'll win at least another gold, but if he comes home with 6 bronzes and a gold, is that really tragic or terrible?? I am fearful that if he ends up with five gold and three silver that he'd be dubbed a failure (if he gets that result in medals, that is really a better result than Spitz') which would be a total shame.
98% or so of these athletes aren't going to medal and don't really even have a chance at medaling, but the victory is that they are there. My plea to anyone who reads this, sports fan or not, if you ever, ever, ever get the chance to see anything of an Olympic Games - go. If you hate sports, you'll enjoy the international flair of the fellow spectators, if you hate crowds you'll love the opportunity to experience another land and its people as the city and nation opens its arms to the world, and if you do love sports - you'll love every second of your Olympic stay. Hell, I had fun waiting for my bags in Salt Lake City, watching as teams from around the world came through baggage claim, seeing tubes of ski jumpers' precious equipment go around the belts, watch as foreigners cheered all the athletes as they went by - in the airport! Yeah, you're here, in the airport - round of applause! It's great!
I already hate the time delay in knowing who wins, but if you can avoid the updates from refraining to visit news sites, they send you breaking news updates via email with the news as the message, or you check on the hurricane coverage and see the ticker spill the beans, or ESPN while running bass fishing or something pops up a box that Phelps has won. Sort of ruins the anticipation and excitement for the coverage of the event in another 7 hours from now still (currently 2pm NY time), but what can you do. It's much easier when the Games are a time zone behind you! Am I going to not watch because I already know the results, hell no, so I'll shutup now.
Other Olympic News
Opening Ceremonies
One of the many things I love about the Olympic Games is that it has its own world... in Olympic-land, the actual days of the week and the dates disappear and everyone goes by 'Day Seven', 'Day Twelve', etc. Guaranteed that if you asked someone in Athens, say on next Wednesday, "What is the day today?"... they would respond, 'Day Five'.
So here, on Day Zero or Day One Eve (pre-Opening Ceremony) are the latest links I have come across. I can't guarantee that for the entire Olympiad that my links will truly line up with the day they reflect, but it's the best way to keep things straight as to what is a new link and what is old. Rainer's tennis links I will keep true to the days of competition.
4000 tests for 300 drugs, security outnumbers athletes 7 to 1, 202 countries, the billions of dollars involved, millions of spectators... you can say that the Olympic Games are all about numbers, which is true. But the most important numbers aren't the medal counts or the advertising dollars, it's the 10,500-plus athletes who are in Athens to fulfill a dream.
I confess, I am a terrible keeper of good secrets/surprises... if it's bad or serious, I can take it to my grave... but good ones, I am weak! I will have to completely try to control myself from sneaking peaks at the images from the Opening Ceremony all night on the photo sites online. In the US, the coverage isn't until 8pm NY time, as I write this part, the Ceremonies are already underway and I can barely wait! Of course I have already stole glances at the first few pictures that have come across the start of the ceremonies. The lighting of the flame is what I am looking forward to the most - my favorite images of previous Games are the ski jumper from Lillehammer (though he didn't actually light it) and the simplicity of the archer from Barcelona and the combination of water and fire at the Sydney Games. Of course an emotional favorite is Atlanta with Ali doing the honors and the Salt Lake City Games I witnessed with my beloved 1980 Olympic Hockey Team.
(Debating about what to do for the photos, I don't think I am going to post them all here since it would take forever to load. I may put the main Olympic ones on another site (will link to from here) and keep just the Rainer-related ones and maybe a Pic of the Day on this site. I have like 80 pictures from the Opening Ceremony alone, granted that's not a typical day, but even 10 a day for the next two weeks will slow the site down. Also bear with me as I am 7 hours behind the Games and sometimes twice that before it is aired on TV here, I'll post as fast and as often as humanly possible. Being an Olympic fan is a full-time job, a fabulous full-time job!)
There's Something About Rainer... Articles
Olympic Pictures
Let's play the German version of "Where's Waldo?"... "Where's Rainer?"
Athens, Greece
15-22 August 2004 (Tennis)
Olympic Games page
Tennis page
US TV schedule page
Olympic Tennis Centre info page
Rainer Schuettler's Olympic bio page
Rainer Schuettler, the Olympic seventh seed, will face off against Russian Igor Andreev in the first round of play. Andreev holds a 1-0 advantage over the German, winning earlier this year on clay in Gstaad's semifinals 62 36 76(6).
In doubles, Schuettler and Kiefer will take on Romania's Victor Hanescu and Andrei Pavel.
There's Something About Rainer... Articles
Early Morning Competition
WORTH THEIR METTLE
In a match that went well into a warm Athens night, Germans Rainer Schuettler and Nicolas Kiefer completed their 2004 Olympic Games with a silver medal. After nearly three hours and 45 minutes, and at 2:37am a German shot went wide to end the match at 26 64 63 67(7-9) 46. The match, which went five incredible and agonizing sets, went to the gutsy Chilean duo of Massu and Gonzalez - one played already earlier (Gonzalez got bronze) in the evening and the other plays tomorrow (Massu goes for gold).
Great things to see - the crowds that remained really got to see an entertaining match, far more celebratory and vocal than what we see in the Grand Slams. Also, that a number one and number two do not have to face each other to see great tennis. Aside from rabid JHH fans, which would you have rather watched - the women's finals of #1 v #2 or either men's today - the singles bronze or the doubles gold? I cannot even imagine how Kiefer and Schuettler feel, they lost a match that was in their reach... but hopefully sooner rather than later they can come to look at that medal and feel only joy. That medal represents the achievement of the Olympic Games (participating in two Olympics apiece) and it's emotions should coincide with that elation they felt after defeating Bhupathi and Paes.
They did not lose a gold medal, they won a silver.
Congratulations was sent to Kiefer and Schuettler from the past German tennis greats that seem to almost haunt them - Boris Becker, Steffi Graf and Michael Stich. Afterwards, Schuettler said, "That is so brutal. Such a chance one gets only once in their life. Before the tournament I would have very much been pleased about silver. Now I am disappointed."
"In a few days they will hopefully recognize that also silver is a giant success", said Stich. The pair now will move to the US Open, of which Kiefer said, "I carry my medal forward to New York, I will never again experience so terrible a defeat in my life."
On a personal note, I think that Jim Courier's commentary on USA Network was pretty over the line in his criticism of the German pair - especially Rainer throughout the match. As happy as I am that the network carried the entire event (and there weren't Americans in it!), even as it went nearly three hours over it's allotted time block, his comments weren't necessary. He said things along the lines of 'nothing firing in Schuettler's brain,' that 'he must be blind,' 'he's the weakest guy on the court,' and even that he 'was a hack.' (There were others but I cna't remember the phrasing.)I was always a fan of Courier, but I just don't see those remarks as appropriate to what was actually happening on the court - every player on that court made errors today. Sure, the loss was extremely disappointing, but that commentary turned it more towards sour.
medal
\Med"al\, n. [F. m['e]daille, It. medaglia, fr. L. metallum metal, through (assumed) LL. metalleus made of metal.] A piece of metal in the form of a coin, struck with a device, and intended to preserve the remembrance of a notable event or an illustrious person, or to serve as a reward.
mettle
1. Courage and fortitude; spirit: troops who showed their mettle in combat.
2. Inherent quality of character and temperament.
Idiom:
on (one's) mettle
Prepared to accept a challenge and do one's best.
Sunday, more still coming...
- Olympic site had this recap of the match
- Reuters report of the reaction in Chile
- Olympic site's post-match with Gonzalez and Massu
- Deutsch Welle report on the silver, and this report after their semi win
- Sportbild.de article on Saturday's medal match, one of the few articles that has quotes, and another Sportbild piece on tennis from Saturday
- TennisMagazin.de report on the match
- Netzeitung.de report
- N-TV.de article
- Spiegel.de piece
- Sport.ard.de article
- Die Welt.de report
- Chicago Sun Times piece on the Chile victory
- NYTimes article on JHH's win, with some men's doubles thrown in there as well
- DW-World article on the music behind the anthems
- MSNBC article on Islamic women in the Games
- MSNBC report on the first time for some countries to allow women to compete
- MSNBC article on some US athletes being booed during play but welcomed off the playing fields
- MSNBC commentary on the Games nobody attended
- Psychology article that I swear I just happened upon today in a different search for work
- MSNBC Olympic notebook, full of interesting tidbits - and some stories that should be getting far more attention. Everyone should see the Oscar-winning documentary "One Day In September" about the Munich Games - here are some links about it: Jewish Journal piece on the documentary, Seattle Post-Intelligencer review of the film, and an ESPN commentary on two September events that changed the world
Other Olympic News
Day Eight
Doubles Gold Medal Match
Today, German pair Nicolas Kiefer and Rainer Schuettler take on Chile's Fernando Gonzalez and Nicolas Massu in the Olympic Doubles Gold Medal Match.
As a pair, Massu and Gonzalez reached the finals at the World Team Championships and semifinalists in Bastad. Massu, pairing with Juan Ignacio Chela, reached the finals in Acapulco and the semis Buenos Aires.
Rainer, while pairing with Lars Burgsmüller in World Team Tennis, has faced Massu and Gonzalez before. The Germans won, 61 26 60, in May of 2003 on clay. Kiefer, playing with fellow German Bjorn Phau, faced Massu and Saretta in April of this year in Bermuda, losing 26 06.
In singles, Schuettler has faced Massu twice this year, losing both times on clay - the semis in Kitzbühel 36 36 and in Germany at the World Team Championship round robin play 46 64 26. Against Massu, their only meeting was this year in Toronto where Rainer took the hardcourt match 63 46 36. Kiefer's only singles play against either came at Wimbledon in 2002 where he defeated Gonzalez 75 63 60.
Tennis play begins at 5pm Athens time, in the US it's 10am NY time and coverage is on USA Network. Here is the schedule page for Saturday's matches and here is the Olympic site's preview of the day, where they say the men's doubles gold match is the last one of the day. Contested today are: men's singles bronze, women's singles gold and bronze, women's doubles bronze and the men's doubles gold.
Gonzalez, in yesterday's singles match, tweaked his right ankle and plays in the bronze singles match today, so we'll have to see how that affects his play. In bronze doubles men's play, Ancic and Ljubicic won a thriller against Bhupathi and Paes. The match lasted some four hours and ended 76(5) 46 16-14 in the early morning hours. Here is the report on the match from the Olympic site.
I had tried to update the past few days yesterday but after reaching the 'upload' page, everything was lost - twice. So what's up now is super sparse, and I wanted to get the gold medal stuff up for sure. As I can today I will try to smooth things out and get everything in order and fill in more from the completed matches. Photos (lots of photos) from the semis doubles are up however.
Day Six
Spin Silver Into Gold?!
(Deja vu...) Today, in another upset, the unseeded pair of Rainer Schuettler and Nicolas Kiefer knocked off another seed. In just over an hour they easily defeated 5th seeded Bhupathi and Paes 62 63 in the semifinals and will play for the Doubles Gold Medal!! Saturday afternoon (5pm start Athens time, USA in the US is slated to carry the match live 10am NY time) the Germans will face Massu and Gonzalez of Chile, they are the first match of the day and their medal ceremony will close the day (10-10:45pm). The incredible pair from Chile advanced after defeating Ancic and Ljubicic 75 46 64.
Bhupathi and Paes, heading into this round, had not given up a break in the entire Olympic Games.
- Rainer and Nicolas' post match comments
- Update on results and schedule for remaining mens tennis
- Indian Express article on the semis
- Deepika Global (India) brief on the day
- Old Miss Sports (Bhupathi's alma mater) recap of the day
- Sify Sports (New Delhi) brief on semis
- Gulf Daily News (Bahrain) roundup of tennis from Thursday
Day Five
Doubles Quarterfinals
Today, in another upset, the unseeded pair of Nicolas Kiefer and Rainer Schuettler advanced to the third round/semifinals with a 26 62 62 win over 8th seeded Jonathan Erlich and Andy Ram.
Next up, the semis on Thursday (5-7pm Athens time) against 5th seeded Mahesh Bhupathi and Leander Paes. The pair from India defeated 4th seeded Black and Ullyett of Zimbabwe on Wednesday, 64 64. As a team, Bhupathi and Paes won in Toronto this year. Paes, with other partners, won Gstaad and Halle, was a finalist in Dubai and a semifinalist in 's-Hertogenbosch, Hamburg TMS and Prostejov. Bhupathi, playing with others, won Bastad, Rome, Auckland and Dubai and was a semifinalist at Indian Wells TMS and Roland Garros.
Erlich and Ram were finalists in Chennai and Rotterdam while reaching the semis in Halle, Los Angeles and Milan. Erlich and Paes paired to reach the semifinals at 's-Hertogenbosch.
Here is the stat page from the doubles match against the Israeli duo.
- TennisMagazin.de
- Sport.ard.de article on Kiefer's singles results, with some doubles coverage as well
- Yahoo Deutschland article on win
- Sport1.de similar article
- Ha=aretz Daily (Israel) brief recap of quarters as well as other Olympic results and this article from the Jerusalem Post
- Hindu News article after Paes/Bhupathi's quarters win
- Sify piece on the Indian duo win over Zimbabwe
- Hindustan Times brief on Bhupathi/Paes and this one on their quarters win
- ATP News report on some of the players and their Olympic experience, the Roddick 'stalking' is classic
- Tennis-X.com on Olympic tennis results
- Sport1.de from earlier in week
- Sport1.de article with mainly Mayer about Olympic atmosphere, may be a repeat
Other Tennis News
Singles
Day Three and Four
Not Much Online
For Days Three and Four I will be in NY for work (the nerve of them, it's the Olympics!) and most likely not able to get to any computer at all. I may pay the ridicilous cost of the hotel to get unreliable internet access in the room, but not sure - I won't be there much to update anyways. So, that means no updates until Wed night.
However, it also means that when I see Monday's primetime coverage I will have no idea of the results and can watch it 'for real'. Great for true anticipation, bad for the nerves. (Go Lenny) I'll miss Rainer's singles and doubles match, but as soon as I can get any updates done, I will. I'll be in NY with its orange alert and waiting for my sister to call from CA when she arrives there. Poor girl is flying from Libya (yes, Libya) thru London to California - all in one day. Talk about a sore butt from the plane seats! So, cheer on Rainer and enjoy the Games in general!
Day Two
Doubles Action
Tennis - both singles and doubles, mens and womens - begins Sunday morning, here is the Athens Olympic Games page on tennis and the schedule. Kiefer plays singles in the AM (10-noon Athens time) and then teams with Rainer for the PM (5-7pm) session in doubles.
On a side note, check out the Athens Games home page and study their little photo under the Olympic Tennis Tournament block... yes, that is Rainer! (It's now changed since tennis is underway, but for a couple days, it was on the Olympic main page - the same picture as the first one in the list of this post)
On the Bravo network from 4AM to noon (NY time) Sunday they will carry some of the tennis live. Also on Monday and Tuesday there will be both live morning coverage from 5AM to noon and then more coverage from 5-8PM (not listed as live but I don't think it's just an AM session repeat). On Wednesday, tennis on Bravo from 5-8PM.
Check the weather information for the Olympic Tennis Centre here
Live results can be found here
So far, the most helpful page of the Games has been this one, a user friendly layout of what events are happening on what days... very handy
Other things I am looking forward to today, some women's gymnastics and a good showing by a personal favorite, Lenny Krayzelburg in swimming, and of course more Phelps and Thorpe in the pool Sunday as well.
UPDATE: Kiefer (14th seed) defeated Vladimir Voltchkov (a familiar Davis Cup name) 62 64. Afterwards, he said "I had a good serve and a good return. The conditions were not the best, because of the air and the humidity, but I'm very satisfied and I hope that my win will help the other German players psychologically."
Next up in the afternoon is doubles on Court 5 with Schuettler, "I don't mind because that way I'll have tomorrow as a day off."
Schuettler and Kiefer defeated Pavel and Hanescu in a tight 75 76(3) first round match. Once the stats page is posted I'll link it, and add any post match quotes I come across. In the second round they will face the winner of the Tomas Berdych/Jiri Novak (Cze) vs 2nd seeded Wayne Arthurs/Todd Woodbridge (Aus). I believe Tuesday would be the earliest for this 2nd round face off.
In singles, I haven't seen a schedule yet, but Schuettler should play his first round match against Andreev on Monday.
In other Olympic action, the overly touted Team USA men's basketball team lost today, which is fine with me. I feel that the Dream Team from 1992 ruined the Olympic spirit in this sport. The only good thing that came about from it was that the rest of the world really took to basketball and it has truly become a global sport. I think it's great that they can come in and beat a US team that thinks they are "all that." Confidence is one thing, arrogance and indifference are another. (Can you tell I am not a major hoops fan?)
After reading the SI's Saturday blog, I am checking out when any handball will be shown. (Here we go - MSNBC on Monday from 2-7AM has men's South Korea vs Russia and then from 10am-4pm men's Croatia vs Slovenia.) Another great aspect of the Olympic Games - you could become a fan of a whole new sport. In Salt Lake City, to get some of the events that I really had to see, you had to buy certain ticket packages. They would stick in a couple 'random' events with the 'meat and potatoes' in order to either pump up the sales figures or to try to get people to see some of these things, like it or not. I tell you, some of my 'random' events were the venues that were the most exciting and memorable. Do I really know anything about speed skating? Nope. Sure, I think it's a super cool sport and I almost always watch it, but I could maybe name 5 names aside from Eric Heiden... yet I had a blast at speed skating, the crowds are wild and intense, the speed on TV pales in comparison to reality, and I saw some world records - can't beat that. Don't get me started on the ski jumping and its venue!
Word has also come across that the US 400 freestyle relay - an event that Phelps had been added to - didn't qualify, so the quest for eight is already over. Please, the kid is going to swim nearly 20 times this week, let's just enjoy it - and everyone else who is tops in the world trying to make the finals as they participate in this roofless venue. And yes, Lenny Krazyzelburg made it to the semis.
- SI's Olympic Tennis main page
- ESPN recap of the main tennis results (no Rainer mention)
- SI's blogger has this Saturday report
- SI article on Monday's 200 Freestyle looming "Duel in the Pool" which, on paper, could be one of the best swimming races ever
- SI capsule for those of us who aren't gymnastic experts
- ESPN report on Jenny Thompson's silver in the relay from Sunday, I really like her attitude
Olympic Tennis News really, but I needed a header
Other Olympic News
These are from practice on 12 Aug, they go quite well with the site's new color design, eh?
Day One
We are fully underway at the Athens Games, and swimmer Michael Phelps has claimed medal number one. Note medal number one and not gold number one - sure, I think he'll win at least another gold, but if he comes home with 6 bronzes and a gold, is that really tragic or terrible?? I am fearful that if he ends up with five gold and three silver that he'd be dubbed a failure (if he gets that result in medals, that is really a better result than Spitz') which would be a total shame.
98% or so of these athletes aren't going to medal and don't really even have a chance at medaling, but the victory is that they are there. My plea to anyone who reads this, sports fan or not, if you ever, ever, ever get the chance to see anything of an Olympic Games - go. If you hate sports, you'll enjoy the international flair of the fellow spectators, if you hate crowds you'll love the opportunity to experience another land and its people as the city and nation opens its arms to the world, and if you do love sports - you'll love every second of your Olympic stay. Hell, I had fun waiting for my bags in Salt Lake City, watching as teams from around the world came through baggage claim, seeing tubes of ski jumpers' precious equipment go around the belts, watch as foreigners cheered all the athletes as they went by - in the airport! Yeah, you're here, in the airport - round of applause! It's great!
I already hate the time delay in knowing who wins, but if you can avoid the updates from refraining to visit news sites, they send you breaking news updates via email with the news as the message, or you check on the hurricane coverage and see the ticker spill the beans, or ESPN while running bass fishing or something pops up a box that Phelps has won. Sort of ruins the anticipation and excitement for the coverage of the event in another 7 hours from now still (currently 2pm NY time), but what can you do. It's much easier when the Games are a time zone behind you! Am I going to not watch because I already know the results, hell no, so I'll shutup now.
Other Olympic News
- SI report on Day One and what it brings
- SI's blogwriter had this Friday post, love the part about the "Arabian Dukies"
- SI's brief on Phelps' first event and first gold, the first gold for Team USA. The only downside of Day One - the medal counts begin
- SI article on the not so pretty past of the favorite Olympic 'traditions'
Opening Ceremonies
One of the many things I love about the Olympic Games is that it has its own world... in Olympic-land, the actual days of the week and the dates disappear and everyone goes by 'Day Seven', 'Day Twelve', etc. Guaranteed that if you asked someone in Athens, say on next Wednesday, "What is the day today?"... they would respond, 'Day Five'.
So here, on Day Zero or Day One Eve (pre-Opening Ceremony) are the latest links I have come across. I can't guarantee that for the entire Olympiad that my links will truly line up with the day they reflect, but it's the best way to keep things straight as to what is a new link and what is old. Rainer's tennis links I will keep true to the days of competition.
4000 tests for 300 drugs, security outnumbers athletes 7 to 1, 202 countries, the billions of dollars involved, millions of spectators... you can say that the Olympic Games are all about numbers, which is true. But the most important numbers aren't the medal counts or the advertising dollars, it's the 10,500-plus athletes who are in Athens to fulfill a dream.
I confess, I am a terrible keeper of good secrets/surprises... if it's bad or serious, I can take it to my grave... but good ones, I am weak! I will have to completely try to control myself from sneaking peaks at the images from the Opening Ceremony all night on the photo sites online. In the US, the coverage isn't until 8pm NY time, as I write this part, the Ceremonies are already underway and I can barely wait! Of course I have already stole glances at the first few pictures that have come across the start of the ceremonies. The lighting of the flame is what I am looking forward to the most - my favorite images of previous Games are the ski jumper from Lillehammer (though he didn't actually light it) and the simplicity of the archer from Barcelona and the combination of water and fire at the Sydney Games. Of course an emotional favorite is Atlanta with Ali doing the honors and the Salt Lake City Games I witnessed with my beloved 1980 Olympic Hockey Team.
(Debating about what to do for the photos, I don't think I am going to post them all here since it would take forever to load. I may put the main Olympic ones on another site (will link to from here) and keep just the Rainer-related ones and maybe a Pic of the Day on this site. I have like 80 pictures from the Opening Ceremony alone, granted that's not a typical day, but even 10 a day for the next two weeks will slow the site down. Also bear with me as I am 7 hours behind the Games and sometimes twice that before it is aired on TV here, I'll post as fast and as often as humanly possible. Being an Olympic fan is a full-time job, a fabulous full-time job!)
- TennisMagazin.de story on how the first round shapes up for the German team
- TennisMagazin.de article from Friday on the Games, where Rainer says that when they are eating they all try to pick out other famous athletes
- ESPN's Page 2 on how they think the Opening Ceremonies could be improved
- Page 2 on the 'Olympic skin' issue and their take on what could be the best image of the Athens Games, and if the Olympics can be trusted
- ESPN's AP report on how the Games are set to open
- ESPN's list of ten gold medal matchups that they want to see
- ESPN's Jim Caple's report on the $7.2 billion show
- ESPN article on Iraq's upset soccer win and one on the new Iraq that will march in the Opening Ceremonies
Other Olympic News
Olympic Pictures
Let's play the German version of "Where's Waldo?"... "Where's Rainer?"
Athens, Greece
15-22 August 2004 (Tennis)
Olympic Games page
Tennis page
US TV schedule page
Olympic Tennis Centre info page
Rainer Schuettler's Olympic bio page
Rainer Schuettler, the Olympic seventh seed, will face off against Russian Igor Andreev in the first round of play. Andreev holds a 1-0 advantage over the German, winning earlier this year on clay in Gstaad's semifinals 62 36 76(6).
In doubles, Schuettler and Kiefer will take on Romania's Victor Hanescu and Andrei Pavel.
- Fox Sports (Australia) report on the seeds and the first round match-ups
- Calcutta Telegraph summary of the singles and doubles seeds
- Sports Illustrated's wire report on the Olympic seedings
- SI report on Serena backing out of the Games, as well as the article on Capriati staying home, but Henman will gut it out
- ESPN brief on the rankings, the points issue, and the German women players who were robbed
- ESPN article on Martina's Olympic debut
- Sports Illustrated Frank Deford's piece on Michael Phelps
- SI piece on Iraqi soccer team
- SI bit on new things at the Games
- ESPN Page 2 story on sex and the Olympic Games
- MSNBC article on what storylines will be big during the Games
- MSNBC story on the Opening Ceremonies
- MSNBC article on how it's the women who are the stars of the Games
- MSNBC's Top 10 American athletes to watch
- ESPN report on whether a gold medal can equal green in the bank
- ESPN's take on the US athletes that could capture the Wheaties box
- ESPN Notes contains a roundup of all sorts of Olympic randomness, I especially like the wreath aspect of the games
- Sports Illustrated's version of the notebook, similar yet different
- CNN Money article on advertising gold
- Sports Illustrated writer keeping an Olympic blog
- Sports Illustrated story on who really comprises Team USA, be sure to hit the 'continue' button at bottom of page
- Sports Illustrated bit on the flame reaching Athens, ready for the start of the Games
Tennis Olympic News
Other Olympic News
posted by Sprtswrtr @ 6:16 PM
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