The US Men's Gymnastics team barely squeaked by with a bronze medal. We really were no match for China, but for a while it looked like we would get silver. Jonathan Horton had a great day, sticking all of his landings, even after his super cool and super hard high bar dismount. Justin Spring's high bar routine was even more fun to watch. He was all over the place, with multiple releases and one-handed swings. I think he's my favorite team member. But then, Joey Hagerty had a bad floor routine and our first two pommel horse guys had trouble. Artemev, however, stepped in and kept us ahead of the Germans with a great routine. The most interesting part of that, though, was that he hadn't done anything the whole day and then had to go very last. Talk about pressure, mate.
Tonight was Aaron Peirsol's medal debut. I really like him. He's really laid back--doesn't even shave before prelim races--but he still gets it done when it really matters. Even in this race he had a not-too-great start, and then pulled ahead the last 25 meters. He's a cool dude. He's like the Bode Miller of swimming.
Phelps got his third gold in the 200 freestyle. He makes it looks so easy--he was a body length ahead for the whole second half of the race. It's no wonder he's interviewed so often, but the interviewers always ask him the same questions. "How did you do it?" "What were you thinking?" "How did you pull through?" He usually manages to give pretty interesting answers, though. I guess he's just used to it by now.
I can't go without mentioning any females... Natalie Coughlin won gold in the 100m backstroke, which was extra cool 'cause she was the first to ever defend the title, and subsequently the first to win it twice.
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