Games of energy and brilliance

In this EFE photo, Spain's Rafael Nadal celebrates winning the gold medal in the men's tennis singles event. Nadal is now officially the No. 1 tennis player in the world starting today

Olympic Games are usually unforgettable for the athletes, for the countries, for the glory and sometimes even for the shame. However, the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games could be the subject of a book all by itself. New world records and history unraveling before spectators' eyes are happening almost every day. The Games have not even ended, yet a more than impressive cadre of the world's super athletes have given organisers, fans and the media more than enough of what they came here for, not to mention the Olympic spirit.

Sport is the activity in which ordinary people made of flesh and bones accomplish extraordinary feats, thanks to practice, practice and more practice. Sport becomes mythical and God gets the thanks He deserves when athletes surpass their own expectations or acts of fortune and misfortune appear out of nowhere. One of these could be swimming 17 races in nine days, medaling in 14 of them, pocketing 8 gold and all this of course, against the best on the planet. The athletic feat was so great and the legend created so young, that his name need not even be mentioned for the world to know about whom this author refers. As he would tell you himself, he is not the new Spitz, he is Phelps. Still, Phelps has only one date on the world calendar and it comes only every four years. This does not mean that the 23-year-old figure is less than Michael Jordan or Tiger Woods. In fact, if Michael Phelps were the name of a country, it would be fifth on the overall standings, behind the United States, China, the United Kingdom and Germany.

On the other end, Jamaica's Usain "Lightning" Bolt cannot seem to find a worthy opponent, so much so that he could afford to jog into the finish line and still break the world record - which happened to be his own - with his closest rival from Trinidad and Tobago Richard Thompson at least two full lengths behind. After three Jamaicans took gold, silver and bronze in the 100 meter dash, some international press hail Jamaica as the fastest country in the world.

Meanwhile Spain's Rafael Nadal - a phenomenon of his own - is scooping up massive support as his extraordinary successes unfold everywhere he goes. Apart from André Agassi in the Atlanta Olympic Games of 1996, no tennis player of the "great elite" had won gold at the Olympic Games. Nadal did it with the energy and brilliance that have characterized his career and indeed, energy and brilliance seem to be what are characterizing the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games too.


In this EFE photo Michael Phelps raises his hands amidst a crowd of swimmers.