Germany snatches Olympic bronze medal

(BEIJING, August 21) -- Germany snatched the Olympic Women's Football bronze medal by beating Japan 2-0 in the bronze medal match at the Workers' Stadium tonight in Beijing. Both goals were scored by second-half substitute Fatmire Bajramaj in the 69th and 87th minutes.

Artur Taymazov defends his title

(BEIJING, August 21) -- Uzbekistan's Artur Taymazov defended his title in the Men's Freestyle Wrestling 120 kilogram weight class by defeating Russia's Bakhtiyar Akhmedov in the final on Thursday, August 21.

Taymazov took the first period 3-0 and continued his run in the second period, winning 1-0.

This is Uzbekistan's first gold medal in Beijing.

Netherlands win their first ever Olympic Women's Water Polo medal

e Netherlands has beaten the United States 9-8 to win the gold medal in the Women's Water Polo final at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games at the Yingdong Natatorium on Thursday, August 21.

IOC Athletes Commission election results released

(BEIJING, August 21) -- Moon Dae-Sung, Claudia Bokel and Ruiz–Luaces Yumilka have been elected into the Athletes' Commission of the International Olympic Committee, replacing Sergey Bubka, Robert Ctvrtlik and Barbara Kendall. Alexander Popov, who was first elected to the IOC Athletes' Commission in 1999, was re-elected into the commission.

Twenty-nine athletes were candidates for membership in the IOC Athletes' Commission, including current and retired Olympic athletes. According to IOC regulations, the Athlete's Commission is composed of 19 members, seven of whom are designated by the IOC president, with the other 12 made up of eight summer sports athletes and four winter sports athletes.

Moon Dae-Sung, who received the most votes, is an Olympic Taekwondo athlete from the Republic of Korea. He won a gold medal in the +80kg event at the Athens 2004 Olympic Games. He was followed by legendary swimmer Popov Alexander, with a total of 1,903 votes. Popov dominated sprint swimming throughout the 1990s and won five Olympic gold medals and four Olympic silver medals in his career.

Claudia Bokel, a German épée fencer, won the silver medal in the épée competition at the Athens 2004 Olympic Games with her teammates Britta Heidemann and Imke Duplitzer, while Cuban volleyball player Ruiz–Luaces Yumilka took part in three Olympic Games in a row since 1996 and twice won a gold medal with her team and claimed the bronze in 2004.

China's hurdler Liu Xiang came in eighth in the election with a total of 1,386 votes.

Created on October 27, 1981, the IOC Athletes' Commission is the link between active athletes and the IOC. The commission holds at least one meeting each year and meets regularly with the IOC Executive Board, to which it issues recommendations.

Campbell-Brown retains Olympic gold in Women's 200m

(BEIJING, August 21) -- Athens 2004 Olympic Games gold medalist Veronica Campbell-Brown of Jamaica successfully defended her Women's 200m title, crossing the line for gold at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games in a personal best of 21.74 seconds.

The 26-year-old was under extra pressure to retain her title after failing to qualify for the 100m at the Jamaican Olympic trials, but she was in control of the 200m race from the gun to the line.

World champion Allyson Felix of the United States finished second behind the Jamaican, as she did at Athens 2004, and continues the tradition of the world champion failing to win the Olympic gold a year later.

Kerron Stewart of Jamaica added another medal to the growing Jamaican total by narrowly grabbing the bronze in 22.00s, just ahead of Muna Lee of the United States, who ran a personal best 22.01s for fourth.

Stewart was the quickest into her stride and was ahead at the bend.

As the athletes entered the home straight, Campbell-Brown moved to the front and extended her lead down the final 50m.

It was a disappointing run from Felix, who failed to find her rhythm and had to watch as Campbell-Brown raced away for the second time in the Olympic Games.

Campbell-Brown's success means Jamaica has now won gold at 100m and 200m in both the Women's and Men's competitions and won six of the 12 medals available at those distances.

Campbell-Brown and her Jamaican teammates will now be hyper-confident of adding more medals from the Women's 4 x 100m Relay. They won the same relay in Athens.

Ashley golden, Zubari wins Israel's first Beijing medal

(QINGDAO, August 20) -- 2008 world champion Tom Ashley of New Zealand won gold in the Men's RS:X (Windsurfer) with 52 overall points, just one point better than second-place finisher Julien Bontemps of France. Shahar Zubari of Israel finished second in the medal race to grab bronze with 58 points overall and give Israel's its first medal of the Beijing Olympic Games.

Ashley experienced his worst day of sailing on Tuesday, August 19, positioned 32nd in the final race of the opening series, and many wondered if he could climb back to win on Wednesday in the light shifty airs. He finished the medal race third behind Chan King-yin of Hong Kong and Zubari.

"I've done it. It's the most incredible feeling and I can't begin to tell you how I feel right now," Ashley said. "It was an insanely tough medal race -- the weather gave us a little bit of everything, but I tried to sail as consistently as I could."

Ashley was coached by Grant Beck of New Zealand, who was also instrumental in the three previous medal wins of Barbara Kendall who finished sixth earlier on Wednesday in the Women's RS:X medal race.

Julien Bontemps of France, who took the series lead on Tuesday, failed to medal at the Athens 2004 Olympic Games, finishing ninth.

Shahar Zubari also created a Wednesday comeback to claim his bronze medal, reveling in the lighter shifty airs and flat seas -- sailing conditions he loves.

"I feel so happy. I'm only 20 and I feel like a superstar. I was lucky to have the wind on my side today," Zubari said. "When I finished, I counted back and realized I had won bronze. I was crazy with joy."

Russia's technical mastery wins Duet Synchronized Swimming Gold

(BEIJING, August 20) -- Anastasia Davydova and Anastasia Ermakova (RUS) lived up to their No.1 ranking, winning their third Olympic gold medal in Synchronized Swimming, at the National Aquatics Center on August 20.

The results mirrored the Melbourne 2007 World Championships with the top eight teams finishing in the same order.

Davydova and Ermakova, who won Duet and Team gold at the Athens 2004 Olympic Games, were Beijing gold favorites.

The pair held a 0.416 lead over second-placed Spain in the free routine preleminilary on August 19. They produced an ambitious and beautifully executed routine in the final, earning perfect 10.0's from the five technical merit judges and three artistic impression judges. Their 49.917 gave them a combined score of 99.251.

Spanish duo Gemma Mengual and Andrea Fuentes took silver and in doing so claimed their NOC's first Olympic Synchronized Swimming medal.

Their free routine was well-constructed and executed, scoring 49.500, but their technical and free routines left them 0.917 behind Russia at 98.334.

Japan claimed bronze, continuing their record of never leaving an Olympic Games without a Synchronized Swimming medal. The Japanese duo Harada Saho and Suzuki Emiko improved on their preliminary performance to earn 48.917 in free routine for a combined 97.167.

China's twins Jiang Tingting and Jiang Wenwen were unable to reproduce the timing of their preliminary Free Routine, and their small synchronization errors in the final were costly. A score of 48.250 for a combined 96.334 left them fourth.

Creative choreography was not enough for the fifth-place United States' Andrea Nott and Christina Jones to challenge for a medal.

Canada's Marie-Pier Boudreau Gagnon and Isabelle Rampling finished sixth with a combined 95.084.

Synchronized Swimming continues at 3:00 p.m. (UTC/GMT+8) August 22 with the Team Event Technical Routine.