Top 15 Highlights Of Beijing Olympics - Why You Should Remember Beijing Olympics

Why You Should Remember Beijing Olympics : 15 Truths

1) First individual gold medal for India - Abhinav Bindra in Shooting

2) First medal for India in Boxing - Vijender Kumar (Bronze) in 75Kg Category

3) Wrestling medal for India (Bronze) by Sushil Kumar after 1952 Helsinki Olympics

4) Angel Valodia Matos of Cuba kicks Swedish referee Chakir Chelbat in 80Kg division. Gets lifetime ban.

5) Ara Abrahamian of Sweden (84Kg Greco/Roman) throws his bronze medal after the medal ceremony.

6) Michael Phelps of USA wins 8 gold medals in a single Olympics, out of which 7 were World Records.

7) Usain Bolt of Jamaica breaks 100m World Record - clocks 9.69 seconds. Breaks 12-year-old Michael Johnson's 200m World Record - clocks 19.30 seconds.

8) Yelena Isinbayeva of Russia breaks World Record in Women's Pole Vault - leaps 5.05 meters.

9) First women athlete of Cameroon Francoise Mbango Etone gets Gold in Women's Triple Jump.

10) Liu Xiang of China fails to defend his 110m-hurdles title. Withdrwas after injury.

11) Rohullah Nikpai wins Afghanistan's first Olympic medal with a bronze in the men's 58-kg taekwondo.

12) Robina Muqimyar of Afghanistan becomes first Woman Athlete of her country to take part in Olympics.

13) USA's Men and Women's 4X100m Relay teams fail to qualify for the finals.

14) For the last time Oympics have seen Baseball and Softball.

15) US sprinter Tyson Gay fails for the 100m final.

Afghanistan in Olympics : Robina Muqimyar Finishes 85th, Massoud Azizi Finishes 76th

AFGHANISTAN IN BEIJING OLYMPICS 2008

Massoud Azizi and Robina Muqimyar of Afghanistan

Afghan sprinter Robina Muqimyar — who in 2004 broke the gender barrier on the Afghan Olympic team — was last in a field of 85 women in the 100 meters, with a time

of 14.80. She ran with a scarf covering her head. Robina wore a scarf covering her head, albeit one with black and white Cheetah spots and decorated with

sequins, and did not seem the least bit bothered that she was the slowest of the 85 runners.

“I’m very happy to compete in 2008 Beijing,” she said in broken English. “I am happy. I like this. I am champion for Afghanistan

Teammate Massoud Azizi finished 76th in the men's 100. He trains in Kabul's National Stadium, where the Taliban once staged regular public executions,wearing jogging shoes because his spikes won't dig into the track's cracked, concrete surface.

Image Courtsey: Leichtathletik.de

Rohullah Nikpai Gives Afghanistan First Olympic Medal in Taekwondo

Rohullah Nikpai defeated world champion Juan Antonio Ramos of Spain on Wednesday to earn the bronze medal in the men's under 58-kilogram taekwondo competition. This is first-ever Olympic medal for Afghanistan.

President Hamid Karzai immediately called to congratulate Nikpai. He also awarded him a house at the government's expense, said Humayun Hamidzada, the president's spokesman.

"I hope this will send a message of peace to my country after 30 years of war," Nikpai said.


Afghanistan will get another chance at a medal in taekwondo. Nesar Ahmad Bahave is competing in a heavier weight class.

Image Courtsey: AP Pictures

Robina Muqimyar : Only Afghan Female Athlete In Beijing Olympics

Sprinter Robina Muqimyar does not have a qualified trainer, she has no sponsor, she comes from a country ruined by war and she grew up under hardline Islamist rulers who would not brook girls playing sport.
Little wonder that she stands little chance of a medal at the Beijing Olympics.
But Muqimyar, the only woman among four athletes representing Afghanistan at the Games, told Reuters she would just be happy if she could improve the 100 metres time she clocked up at Athens four years ago, 14.14 seconds.
"I'm the luckiest girl in the world to participate in two Olympic Games, and I hope to get to London," she said after a ceremony to raise the black-green-gold tricolour of Afghanistan among a sea of flags at the athletes' village.
Although Afghan society remains deeply conservative, some things have improved for women since 2001, when U.S.-led and Afghan forces ousted the Taliban rulers.
Muqimyar, dressed in a headscarf, said that most people in her country would be very proud that a female athlete was representing them in a world sports event.
Her Olympic teammates include two taekwondo competitors and a men's 100 metres runner, Masoud Azizi, a 23-year-old.
There is not a single proper running track in the whole country and athletes in Kabul, the capital, train at a sports stadium where the Taliban used to hold public executions.
"We have to run on concrete," said Azizi, another Athens Olympian who went to Malaysia for five months before the Beijing Games to train. His best time in the 100 metres is 10.87 seconds.
"Under the Taliban regime it was very difficult to be an athlete but now with (President Hamid) Karzai things are better," he said.
"Afghanistan faces a huge funding crisis. At international donor meetings funds go to schools, health and construction but no one considers sports," he said. (editing by Alison Williams)

News Courtsey: John Chalmers of Reuters