which star shines brightest?

who is the biggest star of the olympics? this certainly makes for an interesting debate, doesn’t it?

if you ask me, the first week of the olympics belonged to the phenomenal michael phelps, who achieved his personal goal of 8 gold medals, surpassing mark spitz’ all-time gold medal record haul that has been in place since the 1972 munich olympics.

A combination photo shows Michael Phelps holding each of his eight gold medals in the swimming competition at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. Phelps won his eighth gold medal on Sunday, beating Mark Spitz’s record of seven gold medals won at a single Games in 1972. The medals were won in: (Top row L-R) 400m individual medley (August 10), 4x100m freestyle relay (August 11), 200m freestyle (August 12), 200m butterfly (August 13). (Bottom row L-R) 4x200m freestyle relay (August 13), 200m individual (photo credit: the montreal gazette)

 the second week has its undoubtedly brightest star in jamaica’s lanky 6’5 sprinter, usain bolt, breaking his 100-M sprint world record by .04 of a second (could have been faster had he not started celebrating 5 metres before the finish line!) AND, more amazingly, michael johnson’s 12-year world record at the 200-M sprint by .01 of a second!  when bbc’s commentators sue barker and pundit collin asked michael johnson what he thought of the man who had broken his record, johnson enthused, “he’s superman!”

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usain bolt of jamaica celebrates winning the 200m final at the national stadium (bird’s nest) last aug 20 (photo credit: the vancouver sun)

21-year old hurdles track star dayron robles from cuba, the man who would break china’s 1.3 billion hearts, stormed to a gold finish earlier, and one wonders if he and liu xiang would have had a battle royale in the 110-M hurdles final.  that race had lost some of its lustre for the chinese, whose favourite son, xiang, limped off the track days ago with a hurting hamstring and right foot injury.

dayron robles of cuba and liu xiang of china (photo credit: bbc photo gallery)

not even the russian beauty yelena isinbayeva who holds the world record for the pole vault, who broke her own record yet once more at the games, could take away from the shine of phelps and bolt.  not even the chaotic race of the 4×100 metre relays of the american men and women can distract one from the glory of the two amazing younsters.  there is no doubt in my mind that michael phelps and usain bolt are the recognised poster boys of the 2008 beijing olympic games.

compared to the legendary sergey bubka, yelena isinbayeva flashes a smile after besting her own record at the pole vault, clearing 5.05 m (photo credit: the telegraph.co.uk)

a question to you (do take this seriously, give me a response, i would really love to know):  will anyone ever remember the amazing run rafael nadal had in winning the olympic gold in men’s singles on his first try, coming after his equally amazing wins in roland garros and wimbledon just one month before?

rafael nadal, olympic gold medallist for his beloved spain, after defeating fernando gonzalez of chile in their gold medal match last sunday, aug 17