In what may be one of the finest moments that NBC neglected to show a gymnast not considered medal worthy took the bronze medal in the Mens Individual All Around competition.
The cameras and commentary were focused on Yang Wei of China, Kohei Uchimura of Japan, Jonathan Horton of the USA, Alexander Artemov of the USA, and Sergey Khorokhordin of Russia. Though Yang Wei was near perfect, it was a disastrous night for many in the competition. The pommel horse chewed up one gymnast after another. Uchimura was having a terrible start to the competition, but he wasn’t the only one. Falls and slip ups were common this night.
That opened the door for a relatively unknown gymnast, Benoit Caranobe, of France. While his routines weren’t considered as death defying as the other gymnasts, he executed them well. He was in third place after the third round. Fell in ranking in the fourth round. But, major missteps by other gymnasts allowed him to sneak in for the bronze when it was all said and done.
He sat on the side with his coaches, tears streaming down his face. It almost seemed that he would need a medic as he was so shocked to be medal winner.
Too bad NBC missed it. Their focus on who they thought was the best made them pass over the Frenchman. It wasn’t until around the fourth round that they realized he was in medal contention. They missed out on some great drama–and so did we.
Did you watch the opening ceremonies? China did a wonderful job of displaying their culture and heritage and making it entertaining.
I was intrigued by so many things. Each presentation was more awe inspiring than the previous one. The running man (former gymnast, Li Ning) was so cool. I wonder how long he trained so that it looked so smooth?
The entertainment is fine, but I think my favorite part was and always will be the parade of nations. I can’t help but get a tear in my eye for the country that sends one athlete or a repressive nation that is allowing it’s women to compete.
Perhaps the most touching moment of the night was when the little school boy joined Yao Ming as flag bearer. That boy survived the devastating earthquake this year. He was in one of the schools that collapsed. He saved two class mates because he was a hall monitor and “that’s what hall monitors do”. Yang Ming was big, but the little boy had a bigger heart.
Now it’s off to competition. Hopefully, we’ll see some wonderful displays of athleticism and sportsmanship (sportswomanship, too!) the next two weeks.
Brad Zeigler, 28, was called up for the first time to play in the show this year for the Oakland A’s. 28 is old for a rookie in baseball. By that age, they’ve already been on 5 times, or found a new career. So, Zeigler is as surprised as anyone else that he broke a record that has survived 101 years.
On Sunday, Zeigler came in relief of Jeremy Blevins. Zeigler has been solid all season. He pitched two innings, allowing two hits, striking out three, and not allowing a run to score. That last one is the biggee. Zeigler set the record for most consecutive scoreless innings pitched–27 innings in a row.
That record has held since 1907. It was held by George McCullen.
Zeigler will be forever immortalized in the Baseball Hall of Fame. A few tokens from the game will be sent to Cooperstown for the display that will hold show his feat. In a post game interview Zeigler commented that he never thought he’d hold a record the first year and that he’s happy it’s for doing something good.
