Beijing Olympic Events and Medalists So Far

Beijing Olympic Events and Medalists So Far

Since the 2008 Summer Olympic Games kicked off in Beijing on August 8, a lot has already happened. The games have been underway for just over a week, gold medals are being wracked up by some countries and events continue to keep crowds silent in expectation.

Things got off to a flying start on August 9 with archery, badminton, basketball, beach volleyball, boxing, equestrian sports, artistic gymnastics, handball, rowing, sailing and swimming, all starting the first in a series of rounds to determine who would bring home the gold. Football already commenced on August 6th and has been continuing since, while road cycling, fencing, judo, shooting and weightlifting all saw their first finals. The official sport categories in which athletes may compete at the summer games this year are as follows: archery, athletics, baseball, badminton, basketball, beach volleyball, boxing, cycling, canoe/kayak, diving, equestrian, fencing, gymnastics, trampoline, handball, hockey, judo, modern pentathlon, rowing, sailing, shooting, softball, swimming, synchronized swimming, tennis, taekwondo, triathlon, table tennis, volleyball, weightlifting, water polo, and wrestling.

Thus far it seems that host country China has been taking home the most gold medals, with a combined total of 23 gold medals. They are followed by the United States, who have managed to wrack up a total of 14 gold medals. Germany is currently ranked third with eight gold medals, and Korea and Italy follow in fourth and fifth respectively with six gold medals each.

So far the name on everyone’s lips at the Beijing Olympics is “Michael Phelps.” The American swimmer already carved a name for himself at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens where he claimed eight medals (six gold, two bronze) and tied with Soviet gymnast Alexander Dityatin for the most medals of any type that have been won by one person in any one Olympics. This year he returned to the Olympics in top form and has claimed a further six gold medals, giving him a sum total of 12 gold medals and making him the person to have earned the most gold medals of any Olympic athlete competing in the modern Olympic era.

The 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing are already well-underway but there is still plenty of time and no one knows exactly what will happen over the course of the next few days. Already Cuba claimed the first gold medal for Latin America in the men’s super heavyweight wrestling. The next few days are bound to be very exciting as the world’s top athletes continue to battle it out on the sports fields.