Nigeria
Argentina beat Nigeria 1-0 under a
strength-sapping midday sun to take a second consecutive Olympic
football gold on Saturday and avenge defeat by the Africans in the 1996
final.
Despite boasting the skills of Lionel Messi and orchestration of
Juan Roman Riquelme, the champions of Athens 2004 never found their
stylish best. But they were well worth the win thanks to a delightful
second-half chip from striker Angel Di Maria.
With the temperature hitting 32-degree Celsius (89.60F), Nigeria
mounted plenty of late pressure but were unable to reproduce the drama
of 12 years ago when a last-gasp goal gave them victory despite
Argentina's protestations of offside.
The football final's noon start was the price paid for hosting the
game in the magnificent Bird's Nest stadium, needed for the last
session of track athletics in the evening. That underscored the
second-tier place the 'beautiful game' has at the Olympics.
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Governing body FIFA, wary of creating a rival to its own World Cup,
restricts the Olympic tournament to under 23 year olds, with each team
permitted three over-age players.
Brazil, who have won the World Cup five times but never an Olympic
gold, took bronze on Friday with a 3-0 win over Belgium, but that was
scant consolation for crashing out 0-3 to arch-rivals Argentina in the
semi-final.
Hoping to restore pride for Africa after Nigeria's loss, Ethiopian
long-distance runner Kenenisa Bekele will attempt to be the first man
since 1980 to win both 5,000 and 10,000 metres in the highlight of
track events on the Games' penultimate day.
Bekele retained his 10,000m title last weekend and now needs his
first major 5,000m gold to equal compatriot Miruts Yifter's
long-distance double 28 years ago.
In the usual east African running rivalry, Bekele's toughest
competition comes from a trio of Kenyans and their former compatriot
Bernard Lagat, now running for the United States.
Jamaica's Usain "Lightning" Bolt lit up the Bird's Nest on Friday
night, taking a third gold in the men's 4x100m relay after his
individual sprint double.
All three victories have come in world record time.
"All I can say is yo, Jamaican sprinters (are) taking over the
world," Bolt said after his final race.
UNSTOPPABLE CHINA
There was a sour note on Day 15 of the Games when the International
Olympic Committee (IOC) said there had been another doping case. It did
not immediately name the athlete or sport.
With 32 golds up for grabs on Saturday, the first went to Germany's
Sabine Spitz in the cross-country mountain bike race. She had time to
wave a flag as she crossed with a 40-second lead.
Two favourites dropped out, the heat and tough course seemingly
taking their toll.
China have had a fabulous Olympics, and Zhou Luxin is favoured to
take the last diving gold, in the 10m platform, to give the hosts a
clean sweep of all eight diving medals.
"Everyone who has come before me has done their duty, so I have to
make an extra effort," said Zhou.
With the last 12 golds of the Beijing Olympics to be awarded on
Sunday, China is now assured top spot in the overall table.
The hosts have 47 golds to 31 for the United States. Britain have a
surprising 18 golds, their best performance in a century.
China's position on top of the medal table was widely predicted,
given their strength at events like diving and table-tennis, but the
size of the gap has surprised many.
With one fifth of the world's population to choose from, Chinese
authorities have poured billions into a Soviet-style training system
geared to maximising medals. Their new sporting superpower status
reflects their emerging global economic might.
As the Olympic flag is lowered at Sunday's closing ceremony and
passed to 2012 hosts Britain, China will feel the $43 billion (23
billion pounds) investment on the Games was money well spent.
Despite a buildup dominated by talk of pollution and human rights,
attention during the Games has focused on China's dazzling venues and
the scintillating sport inside them.
The individual standouts have been Bolt and American swimmer Michael
Phelps, who won eight gold medals to become the most successful athlete
in the history of the Games.
Despite some small protests over Tibet, a couple of militant attacks
in west China around the start of the Games, and the murder of a U.S.
tourist, little has distracted from the sport.
A record number of nations, 85, have taken medals, including, for
the first time, conflict-riven Afghanistan whose taekwondo bronze
winner Rohullah Nikpai was rewarded with a house.
American team leaders have called for a post mortem into their
disappointing showing after they failed to win a sprint gold in an
unboycotted Games for the first time since 1976. Both their men's and
women's 4x100m sprint relays dropped batons.
There was disappointment for the United States too in baseball,
where perennial rival Cuba knocked them out in the semi-finals and now
face surprise package South Korea at Wukesong Field for gold. That will
be the last game before baseball is axed from the Olympics programme.
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