Sunday Olympics Wrap - August 24, 2008

Yeah, they're over...I'm quite sad...

As I've pointed out, I really am a huge fan of the Olympics for all of the reasons I laid out yesterday and more. Here are some of the happenings over the Games that were especially exciting:

USA Men's reclaims gold against Spain: Pau Gasol was a different sort of player that was the clear leader of the Spanish National team. The USA team completely dominated them in the earlier rounds but Spain made the collection of NBA stars really work for the gold. Even Coach K couldn't help but smile!

USA dominates volleyball: The USA Men captured gold in volleyball for what was certainly a bittersweet victory. At the start of the Games, coach Hugh McCutcheon's in-laws were the victims of a random act of violence. His father-in-law was killed and his mother-in-law seriously injured. No one will ever know why the family was targeted since the assailant ended his life immediately after committing the heinous act. McCutcheon had to be alone for a bit after the win.

On a much happier note, Team USA secured the gold for both women's and men's beach volleyball events. This was the second consecutive Olympics gold for the women. They've gone undefeated for a ridiculous amount of games and haven't ruled out London in 2012...

Swimming royalty: Michael Phelps can no longer have his record-breaking 8 gold medals questioned as they have gone over his finish time and time again in the 100m butterfly. He won - no question about it. The remarkable Dara Torres proved that age really is only a number. Equally amazing Natalie Couglin won six medals in swimming which is the most by a US woman.

Track and Field: I wish I was a runner - can you believe the amazing shape these athletes are in? I'll be motivated to keep up my workout for quite some time after watching them! A man from the US takes the gold in the decathlon again. Bryan Clay is one that has a story we are hearing so much more of lately - a troubled youth leading to athletic greatness. Good for him. The US women and men both took gold in the 4x400 events but did not fare so well in individual races.

There is so much more to talk about too - Argentina winning the gold in men's soccer, the US capturing gold in women's soccer, gymnastics, the taekwondo family, synchronized swimming, and so on...I really cannot comment on all. The entire Olympics are such a treat for a sports nut like myself. It will take me a few weeks to digest it all but I will certainly miss that for the last two weeks there has always been something on television to watch!

I found this medal tracker on ESPN.com where you can click on each individual country and see all of the medals won. Yahoo! Sports has a user-friendly guide to all of the individual sports as well.

What has been your favorite Olympic story?