Word: olympian
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...Just hang on," she told herself - and she did. Her perseverance was golden. "I knew about the history," she said afterwards, all smiles. "I just wanted to swim well and show some of Zimbabwe's soul. And now I've got the full package!" Not to mention a quintessentially Olympian story about a girl from Harare who represented her country in a far-off land, and entered the annals of the sporting greats. Not every ending in the Games' first week was so happy. The Greeks wanted to move beyond the embarrassment of the missed drug tests (and mysterious, possibly...
...athletes who paraded into the stadium to begin the women's morning qualification competition entered through a 2000-year-old archway from a "holding area" beyond the stadium that houses the ruins of temples to Hera and Zeus the Olympian. In ancient days, of course, women had been excluded from the games as spectators, let alone competitors, under penalty of death. At 8:30 a.m., American Kristin Heaston shot her first of three qualifying puts to become the first woman ever to compete at Olympia. When later approached, as she sat on the lawn watching the men compete...
...ignite worldwide sporting passion. India awarded the event appropriate pomp: television networks ran blanket coverage and main roads in the Indian capital were closed off, causing world-record traffic jams. But once the relay started, a look at the torchbearers revealed a surprise. Aside from a handful of lesser Olympians, India had chosen Bollywood stars and cricketers as the guardians of sports' supreme icon. The crowds were huge, and understandably so: the incongruous sight of India's finest actor, Aamir Khan, outfitted for his latest role as a 19th century anti-British mutineer with shoulder-length hair and a handlebar...
...weather became a factor with the temperature dropping about 10 degrees and blustery winds sweeping the water?s surface like a giant broom. World record holder Brendan Hansen settled for silver in the 100m breast stroke, after touching the wall 0.17 seconds behind Japan?s Kosuke Kitajima. Three-time Olympian Jenny Thompson failed to medal in the 100 butterfly, and to close the disappointing night, the U.S. men earned a bronze in the 4x100m freestyle relay, not bad until you consider it?s their worse finish in that event ever. (The U.S. had never lost that race until 2000, when...
...breaststroke, he's merely outstanding. In fact, at the U.S. Olympic swimming trials last month, Phelps became the first swimmer to qualify for six individual events. (He will drop the 200 backstroke in Athens.) "He is really redefining our expectations of swimming excellence," says Pablo Morales, a two-time Olympian in the butterfly and Phelps' role model. "He is blazing his own trail now, and there is probably a whole global army of young swimmers who are looking...