China dominates Phelps-less day
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BEIJING — Michael Phelps finally had a breather, a day to sit and count his gold medals instead of trying to add to his collection. There was no slowing the Chinese, though.
From getting their first swimming gold in a world-record time to a long-awaited gold in men’s gymnastics to golden redemption for a shooter, the hosts continued to amaze. With five more golds today, their Olympic tally is up to 22.
China’s winning percentage is ridiculous — more than 1 in every 4 events. If the Chinese can somehow keep it up, they would claim 78 golds — the most by any country in a non-boycotted games since 1904, back when tug-of-war was still on the docket.
At day’s end, China led the U.S. 34-33 in the overall medal count. But that was likely to change tomorrow when Mr. Phelps heads into the water.
He’ll be swimming the 200-meter individual medley, seeking his sixth gold of these games and the 12th of his Olympic career. And, win or lose, the spotlight will be his once again.
While China’s Yang Wei added the individual gold to the team title, Americans weren’t able to add anything to their bronze collection. Jonathan Horton finished ninth and Sasha Artemev was 12th.
Things might have been different if reigning champ Paul Hamm was healthy. Without him, it was Mr. Yang’s to lose and he never came close to that, winning by nearly three points over Kohei Uchimura of Japan. Benoit Caranobe of France won the bronze.
Hiroyuki Tomita, the only other man to win the world title since Athens, finished fourth. Fabian Hambuechen, the silver medalist at world’s last year, fell from the high bar, his signature event, and wound up seventh.
“You can think about the what if, what if, what if,” said Mr. Hamm’s coach, Miles Avery. “But Paul isn’t here so that isn’t an issue.”
Mr. Yang is China’s second men’s all-around champion, joining 1996 champion Li Xiaoshuang. Winning at home made it even better.
“The Chinese team is responsible for a lot of people’s dreams,” Mr. Yang said. “This year has not been very good for China. There’s been a lot of disasters, so these Olympic Games, there’s a lot of pressure. It’s impossible not to be nervous, and it’s how to cope with the nerves is our job. And right now, I feel very excited.”
