Ben Askren was predicting gold in 74kg freestyle wrestling, which is nothing unsusual. He always projects an extremely confident attitude.
But the reality is that wrestling at this level is as much about experience as it is strength, preparation and techinique. Askren did not match up well to Cuba's Ivan Fundora, losing 3-1, 4-0.
Wrestlers such as Fundora and two-time Olympic champ Buvaysa Saytiev have many more years' experience at the international level than Askren does.
Askren's loss really wasn't such a big surprise, and it points out the brutal nature of the sport - two weeks of preparing in China for Askren, and then his Olympic competition was over in about an hour.
Afterward was one of those times it's difficult to be a sportswriter. Askren was sobbing, barely able to talk and looked like he was about to collapse in disappointment.
It's a very uncomfortable feeling trying to get your necessary "quote" at moments like these.
It reminded me of when skater Tim Goebel performed poorly at the U.S. Championships in 2006 and left the ice knowing he would not make the Olympic team.

The most live Olympic coverage is online, at NBCOlympics.com. You can also watch replays of past events, including an interesting video of the men’s 4x100 freestyle relay, featuring an upset of France by Team USA, as seen from the bottom of the pool. That Web site also will guide you to complete schedules for TV viewing. Tip to our Everest/SureWest readers: Use Time Warner Cable (Overland Park) as your cable provider when the Web site asks and spare yourself a load of trouble.

I've got the full lineup of TV coverage of the Olympics here.

After winning his eighth gold medal in the medley relay, Michael Phelps did his press conference at the Water Cube, went to drug testing, did another press conference at the Main Press Center ... and basically looked like he was ready to go sleep for a few days.
Phelps said he'll stay in Beijing until Aug. 21, and he has a few obligations to meet here. But he can't wait to go home to his hometown of Baltimore and relax a little bit.
Technically, the swimming competition isn't over - although it is finished in the Water Cube. There will be "marathon" swimming races _ each 10K _ for men and women out at the rowing/canoe/kayak venue. Those are Wednesday and Thursday.
Synchonized swimming is the next event to move into the Water Cube, starting Monday.
The building is really the gem of these Games, even more so than the Bird's Nest.
The Cube is just so striking visually, especially at night when it's lit up and glows. With Phelps having such historical success in this building, it's bound to be the signature structure that will always be remembered from these Olympics.The amazing Water Cube

Who would've predicted that a big cheating scandal at the Beijing Games would have nothing to do with the athletes?

My review of the full first week from the Olympics as seen on TV - including new details about the visual chicanery that has taken some of the fun out of last week's opening ceremony - is here:

* The Olympics so far

The pollution situation here was a big story the first several days of the Games, including the bleak-looking skies the Friday of the Opening Ceremonies.
The last couple of days, however, the skies have cleared and the "look" of the Olympics couldn't be more different.
The pictures show the stark contrast between the afternoons of Friday, Aug. 8 and Friday, Aug. 15.
Beijing on Aug. 8Beijing on Aug. 15 The last two days, the common areas between the major venues of the Bird's Nest, the Water Cube and the National Indoor Stadium (where gymnastics is held) were filled with visitors taking pictures.

The women's all-around competition was just as good as expected, but the outcome probably surprised people.
Shawn Johnson was considered the favorite, but Nastia Liukin performed so well that she took the gold. It wasn't really a matter of Johnson losing it.
This is just the third time that an American woman has won the gymnastics all-around gold at the Olympics, following Mary Lou Retton in 1984 and Carly Patterson in 2004.
One of the most impressive things about the competition was how well both gymnasts handled themselves.
Liukin, being respectful to Johnson, didn't do any big celebrating. And Johnson, despite her disappointment, congratulated Liukin and said she deserved to win the gold.
It's easy to forget sometimes that it was just two teen-agers, ages 18 and 16, who acted with such grace and class. Especially under the stress of having to compete on such a big stage.
What you see at the Olympics, of course, is just a small slice of the years of hard work it takes to get to the level they both are. So Johnson being able to so graciously deal with the letdown of not winning was especially impressive.

On Tuesday, the U.S. men's gymnastics team took a bronze medal and celebrated like crazy. The Americans lost their two experienced Olympians, the Hamm brothers, before the Games to injuries. With two replacement athletes, the U.S. performed very well, led by Jonathan Horton. He just finished his career at Oklahoma this past spring.
The U.S. men were beaming while talking to the media, looking at their bronze medals as if they could hardly believe they had them.
Then Wednesday ... it was an entirely different mood for the U.S. women. They were the reigning world champions, but injuries had affected them, too. In a head-to-head battle - it hardly seemed the other six teams were even there; Romania got the bronze _ the Chinese prevailed with the gold.
And the U.S. women seemed a bit downcast. Especially the oldest of them, Alicia Sacramone. She had a few key errors that really cost the Americans, but teammate Nastia Liukin consoled her by saying it could have happend to any of them.

Like most viewers with high-def TV sets, I was pretty dazzled by the Olympic opening ceremony, but as I write today on my TV Barn web site, I was a little less impressed when I learned that an eye-popping fireworks presentation seen on NBC's telecast was actually a special-effects illusion created in a lab.

* Read the story

Sunday night in Beijing, the Chinese men couldn't do much to stop the high-flying dunk show that their game with the United States turned into.
The Americans were just too much for the Chinese, and it's the same thing on the women's side on Monday night.
It's the second quarter, and the United States is off to a 32-point lead. That's probably pretty safe.
Even so, the Chinese fans are still chanting, hitting together their thundersticks and cheering every made basket by their team.
They also do clap politely when the U.S. scores.

The English translations on some signs in China don't always make a lot of sense because of grammar, syntax, idiom and spelling issues, etc. So they can be rather amusing, like this one that is near the Great Wall.
The message reads:

"May we remind you: Please be self-restraint and be a good tourist to mold a well-mannered imagination."

You can guess they're just telling you to act nice.Sign near the Great Wall