Day 7 of the Olympics--evening session...

8:00 am--This does it for day seven...we'll be back around 8 am (5 pm Thursday on the West Coast) for the Friday morning session.

As stated earlier,
Canada's team of Hank Palmer, former Washington State Cougar Anson Henry, Jared Connaughton, and Pierre Browne, finished 2nd in heat 2, in 38.77, and qualified for the final Friday night.

With the carnage of dropped batons from the two heats, the Canadians, who are coached by Atlanta relay gold medalist Glenroy Gilbert, are now seen as a bona fide medal threat behind Jamaica. The only real threat to the Jamaicans are themselves--remember, several of them had a tiff with their federation before the start of the Olympics over a mandatory relay camp. when those athletes felt that they were better off working with their personal coaches.

7:45 am--
After the rest break for the decathletes, the 400s are over now.

In heat one, Clay's 400m of 48.92 gives him 865 more points and a total 4521 at the end of day one, and the lead ending day one.

In heat 5, Trey Hardee runs 47.75, worth 921 points, giving him a score of 4428, keeping him in third, 5 points behind second place Andrei Krauchanka of Belarus.

In the men's triple jump, Portugal's Nelson Evora adds the Olympic title to his world championship, winning with a season best 17.67/57-11.75. Phillips Idowu of Great Britain gets silver at 17.62/57-9.75, and Levan Sands of the Bahamas third at 17.59/57-8.5.

Seven athletes jumped 17 meters or better tonight (55-9 1/4).

6:55 am--
In the decathlon high jump, which just finished, Bryan Clay cleared 1.99m/6-6.25, worth 794 points. Trey Hardee jumped 2.05/6-8.75, worth 850 points. Clay still leads with 3656 points. Hardee stands third with 3507 points.

6:50 am--
Dayron Robles of Cuba wins the 110 hurdles decisively, as the world record holder ran 12.93. American teammates David "King of" Payne and David Oliver went 2-3 in 13.17 and 13.18.

Triple jump is still going on, as is the decathlon high jump.

6:45 am--
The 110m hurdles, from lane 2 to 9, will be Wignall, Phillips, Noga, Payne, Robles, Oliver, Doucoure, and Quinonez. Robles, of course, is the World Record holder.

6:40 am--
In the women's javelin, reigning world champ Barbora Spotokava of the Czech Republic wins with a toss of 71.42/234-4 on her final toss. Maria Abakumova of Russia was second at 70.76m/232-2, with Christina Obergfoll from Germany third at 66.13m/216.11

6:26 am--
LaShawn Merritt (43.75) wins the 400 in a minor upset over Jeremy Wariner (44.74). What's more amazing is the distance he beat Wariner...Wariner looked horrible.

David Neville gets the bronze with a dive (44.80), and a face first slide into home!

From an American perspective, looks like this is the only thing that's going right tonight.

We will get caught up with the field events soon, as we were knocked offline for a few minutes, and spent some time with technical issues.

6:10 am--
The relay woes continue on the women's side as the pass from Torri Edwards to Lauryn Williams was a disaster. It's a clean sweep for the final turn!

5:45 am--
Catching up on the relays--the third exchange has been the death of numerous teams...it's screwing with people's speed on the track and hence their exchanges.

The Canadians got the baton around the track, running 38.77, with Anson Henry on the second leg. They will advance to the finals.

5:26 am--
The train wreck that is the US sprint relay team is now done. Parker writes, "Patton just couldn't quite get the baton into Gay's hand; it was almost there but Gay didn't have it when Patton let go, and it fell to the track.

"Massacre on the third exchange, apparently; it looks like only four teams finished. Nigeria, Poland, South Africa and the USA all went down on the third exchange."

Interesting to see what the guys on Team USA have to say in the mixed zone afterwards.


5:20 am--
The United States will run a team of Rodney Martin, Travis Padgett, Doc Patton & Tyson Gay in the first of two heats. Top 3 plus 2 fastest advance to tomorrow night's finals. Team USA is positioned in lane 7.

The Canadians are in the second heat, with ex-WSU Cougar Anson Henry running the second leg. The Canadians are on the inside in lane 2.

Will be interesting to see how the passes go with the wet conditions.

5:10 am--
Gary Reed of Victoria, a world championship medalist runs 1:45.85 to get second and advance. The biggest shocker is that Abubaker Kaki, the teenaged Sudanese sensation was dead last in 1:49.19.

5:00 am--
The second heat all but guarantees that Borzakovskiy is not advancing, as the top 3 are under 1:45.

Just as soon as we say the rain has stopped, it starts again.

4:55 am--
Nick Symmonds runs 1:46.96 in heat 1 of 3 (top 2 + 2 advance). Wilfred Bungei of Kenya wins the heat in 1:46.23. Defending Oly champ Yuriy Borzakovskiy was third in 1:46.53, and in danger of not making the finals.

Temperature is close to 78 degrees. Rain's stopped, but track's still wet from this morning.

4:40 am--
Catch up time; in the 200, Marshevet Hooker was fifth in a personal best 22.34.

In the women's 1500, Christin Wurth-Thomas ran 4:09.70, and Erin Donahue 4:16.05, and didn't advance.

Campbell is now the fourth Athens gold medalist to defend, according to Parker Morse of the IAAF.

They are finally handing out the men's 200 medals, after the DQ's from last night. The crowd goes nuts as Frankie Fredericks hands Usain Bolt his medal.

4:33 am--
Jamaican Veronica Campbell-Brown quickly made up the stagger on Allyson Felix to win the women's 200 in 21.74. Kerron Stewart bronze in 22.00, just ahead of a late-charging Muna Lee with 22.01.

In the decathlon high jump, the bar is at 1.84m/6-0.5, worth 661 points. The women's javelin finals are under way.

4:25 am--
We've been in scramble mode tonight, due to some technical difficulties. Women's 200 finals, men's 400, & 110 hurdles are finals tonight, along with women's javelin, and triple jump on the field.

Decathlon continues, along with the women's 1500, and semis in the 4 x 100 meter relay, and men's 800. We'll get you caught up.

In the women's 1500, only Shannon Rowbury has advanced out of the semifinals, running 4:03.89.

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