Beijing 2008 wrap-up: The we're No. 16 and don't you forget it edition

Day 9

Your daily Olympic wrap-up. Weekends = hard to get time to get this up…

Notable Canadian performance: Ryan Cochrane –With practically the last stroke of the Games for Canada the 19-year-old kid made sure that it wouldn’t be two Olympics in a row without a medal in the pool. And he may have made himself the 2012 gold medal favourite in doing so.
Notable international performance: Usain Bolt - I have no words. His run was the most impressive thing I’ve seen at these Olympics (and I’ve watched every swim Phelps has made).

The Maple Leaf Gold: Blythe Hartley –I said I would acknowledge a turn around perfomance and Hartley had just that in the final. She slightly missed her fifth dive, scoring just more than 70 points instead of her typical 75 and the three women that finished above her were just a bit better. But she had a handle on her anxiety and was able to put up a performance that she will likely live with. After all when your brother dies at the age of 30 a fourth place finish in the Olympics no longer feels so tragic I suspect.

Maple Leaf silver: The Eights Canada’s second gold was sweet redemption for a program that blew up in the 2004 final. Overall it was a great regatta for Canada with four medals, second best behind only England.

Maple Leaf bronze: Tracy Cameron and Melanie Kok: In rowing it’s rare to see a boat that is passed find the resources to fight back and regian the position. But, that’s what Cameron and Kok didm, holding off the Germans to capture bronze.

Maple Leaf tin medal: Martine Dugrenier The wrestler was technically superior to her opponent in the bronze medal bout, but fought scared and paid for it. Employing the wrestling equivalent of a prevent defense she allowed a point with less than 10 seconds left, and in doing so lost a medal. Play to win, or lose (not) trying.

The WTF was the Ceeb thinking award: Am I the only one done with the picture in picture inserts of cheering home town fans? What exactly do I gain as a viewer by seeing Aunt Martha’s jumping up and down while wearing a funny hat and a maple leaf T-shirt?

Honorary Canadian award: Yeah, let’s go back to Phelps one more time. What’s scary is that he has another Games in him.

Canadian highlights for day 10: The Great Canadian Hope ™ takes to the water to start the process of saving the Olympics for all of us.

International highlight for day 10: There isn’t a lot of high profile events today. The women’s 800m and the women’s triathlon should provide some drama, however.