Usain Breezes Through The 200m Semis

The final is tomorrow 05h30. He said he wants to break his 19.19s record. This means running half a second faster than his time in the semis. De Grasse could provide some motivation. Bolt will of course be in action at 18h48 today in round 1 of the 100m relay (the final is at 05h35 on Saturday).

You also don't want to miss the Badminton singles semis which starts at 18h00 when Sindhu will try to earn the second medal of a billion-people nation. While the US will be facing Serbia at 20h00 in one of the two women volleyballs semis. If you like women wrestling today is the day you want to be glued to your TV. Tomorrow if you also like men wrestling. 

Of course as these Olympics are ending in the weekend there will be a lot of medals awarded in the next 2-3 days. Hopefully Brazil will win as many as possible so that the home crowd is in the best of moods. Like at 00h30 on Sunday when the Selecao play in the Maracana. And get a chance to get even.

Rio Olympics Are Excuse To Watch Gisele Walk

Now that's done, see you in Tokyo in four years.

Wait. There's plenty else to see. Like Kohei Uchimura -- regarded by many as the greatest gymnast of all time -- tonight at 23h00 in the men's individual all-around. Nadia told FT how perfect Kohei was: you can't see any flaws even in slow-motion. Then there's that giant from Jamaica -- and the world's favourite -- who has trouble decelerating in the sprints. He didn't go watch Ms. Bundchen at the Maracana preferring to save his energy to let his races do the talking. Mr. Bolt will turn 30 the day these 31st Olympics end.

The Selecao will also try to do better than grabbing silver for the fourth time. That's not looking too good after two scoreless draws against South Africa and Irak. But a lot of the most memorable experiences will come from athletes we've never heard before. They will dazzle us with their craft. It will not matter which country they are from. We will instantly become one of their fans. Especially if the contests are tight. As many have been already.

The US is ahead in the medal count. Right in front of China. And Hungary. But we've barely started. And there's so much stuff to watch. Including Vinicius and Tom.

The Most Watched Event

The Opening Ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympics holds the verifiable audience record of 984 million people. That's different from the estimated audiences of billions of people tuning in that are sometimes thrown our way. Which is almost twice the 530 million who watched man help humanity make a giant step. For sure back in 1969 there were a lot less people on Spaceship Earth. The 2006 FIFA World Cup Final attracted over 700 million people. Or 300 million less than the audience of the 2011 Cricket World Cup semi-final between nuclear archrivals India and Pakistan.

And what about the most watched events of the last Olympics? Usain Bolt's 100m win tops the list if you exclude opening and ending ceremonies. His 200m victory is at no 8. The wins of two women -- Jessica Ennis and Sally Pearson -- are also in there.

Looking up in the sky doesn't count?

Thank You London!

For the great emotions you provided for a little over two weeks. Watching Bolt run nine times was more than a treat. Along with Jamaican colleagues. Phelps made some more history. Brazil did not look hungry enough to win the men's football final. And Russia made an awesome comeback in the last game of the men's volleyball.

It was also fun guessing who would win the different events. It was not the Greek-god type of athlete who threw the javelin the furthest. Nope, it was a skinny Keshorn Walcott from Trinidad and Tobago. Who seemed to have the right combination of height, speed and shoulder muscle flexibility. Same for the decathlon  with Ashton Eaton. Quite nice to see Leonel Suarez finish third there -- he won the javelin and high-jump parts.

And the US won most gold this time: 48 or 10 more than China. Which won 13 less events than in Beijing. While Britain bagged 10 more gold than four years ago. Doesn't hurt to play at home.

Good thing we have the English Premier League starting on Saturday. To help get us out of any post-Olympic blues.

Shouldn't Yoga Become An Olympic Discipline?

It's a sport, millions practice it, it's been around for thousands of years and it's a very healthy exercise. And there are poses with varying difficulty just like in gymnastics or diving. And who says we cannot have synchronised yoga a bit like synchronised swimming.

Kathak, Bharat Natyam should go in there too. They are as elegant as artistic gymnastics.

They should definitely appear as demonstration sports in Rio. If you ask me.

Selecao Could Grab Elusive Title Tomorrow

When they meet Mexico at Wembley. Indeed the five-time World Cup winners, eight-time Copa America champions and three-time Confederation Cup snatchers returned home twice with Olympic Silver. The timing couldn't be better: Brazil will host the World Cup in 2014 and the next Olympics. Besides they are currently at their lowest FIFA ranking: 13.

The match starts at 18h00.

Jamaicans Set to Sweep 200m

With three terrific sprinters. Usain Bolt breezed through the heat of his favorite event today. Yohan Blake too looked impressive. And so did fellow countryman Warren Weir. There were three athletes under 20 seconds in Beijing four years ago. We could have more tomorrow for the semis and on Thursday for the final. All this should push Jamaica up the medal rankings by several spots.

That's a nation of 2.9 million people. Just in case you're wondering.

100m Final Could Be Fastest Ever

And that for a number of reasons. First, going into the semis there are seven athletes who have sub-9.90 times this season. Second the track seems to be fast. Third athletes often lower their personal bests in such finals because everybody is running fast -- the case for half of the sprinters in the Beijing finals four years ago with only two runners taking more than 10 seconds to cover the distance. Finally there is one Usain Bolt running and he could beat his own world record of 9.58s simply because he is reaching the age of peak-performance or could benefit from a slightly faster wind or reaction time.

It's not impossible that Jamaica sweeps the dash. And it would make for a wonderful celebration too. Indeed independent Jamaica turns 50 in a few hours.

The Jump That Took Forever To Measure

Three Digits is Enough

That's essentially what Omega was told when it asked whether it should build a four-digit scoreboard for gymnastics for the 1976 Montreal Olympics. Because 10.00 was simply not possible. And then Nadia began her routine on the uneven bars and everyone -- judges, spectators and competitors alike -- were awestruck by a dazzling performance that had no flaws. So that the first perfect score showed up as a confusing 1.00. She went on to win six more.

Man Catches Up With Woman After 48 Years

Which is what Michael Phelps did yesterday when he matched Larisa Latynina's record of 18 Olympic medals. And she was standing ready to present Phelps with the extra medal that broke her own tally. Unfortunately Olympic rules don't allow this.

I didn't know about this until a few days ago. I thought Phelps was the record holder since Beijing. You learn something everyday. In any case, here's Larisa in action.

Elizabeth Plays Own Role in 007 Clip

China Already Ahead in Medals Count

At the end of the first day. And they are still topping the charts as Day 2 draws to a close. They've got 6 gold and a total of 10 medals. The US is second and Italy is 3rd. In all 21 countries have won medals.

I watched Brazil beat Belarus a little while ago. For sure they've got some great talent like Neymar, Pato, Oscar and Thiago Silva in there but I was wondering if they would be able to beat La Roja in the next World Cup. Well Japan has beaten Spain a few days ago. And Senegal won 2-0 against Suarez's Uruguay. Let's see.

Also watched a great women volleyball match between Brazil and Turkey. The Turkish ladies put in a great fight and they were about to start the 4th set when I went to snooze (Brazil won 3-2).

Man, Olympics are great!!!

World To Pause For Billion-Rupee Ceremony

1.3 billion to be precise. Which starts in about four and a half hours in one of our planet's most exciting cities and will involve 15,000 people. The artistic director for this mega-event is none other than Danny Boyle. We shouldn't be surprise then that A.R. Rahman will be pitching in with something to rock the stadium.

And while you guess who will light the flame here's some music to get into the mood.

Meet Mr Near-Perfect Landing: Kohei Uchimura

He's already done something no one has done before: win three gymnastics world championships back to back. The New York Times says he's set to soon become the greatest who ever lived. Don't forget to watch him in London.

Mauritius Has 11 Athletes in London Olympics

One less than at the Beijing Olympics. You probably know the triathlete Fabienne St-Louis and the beach-volley champs Natacha Rigobert and Elodie Li Yuk Lo. And Aurelie Halbwachs who will participate in cycling events. Plus a few other athletes in swimming and track and field. Good luck to all of them and may they follow in Bruno Julie's footsteps.

South Africa has 133 athletes (3 less than in Beijing), Madagascar 7, Kenya 50 (they sent 2 less 4 years ago but had an amazing medals rank: 13). India is sending 83 people (compared to 57 in China) while China is sending 382 (vs 639 when it was the host country). That's barely bigger than the Japanese delegation (303). Russia has 443 athletes (they are always a big team). USA has probably the largest one (indeed 536).

And finally Great Britain will be represented by 556 athletes. The fun begins in a little less than seven days. If you're taking the opening ceremony as yardstick.

Olympics Head To Rio