Beijing 2008 Olympic Games: Mount Olympus Meets the Middle Kingdom officially Games of the XXIX Olympiad

Cyclist Chris Hoy of Great Britain won the men’s sprint, his third gold medal of the Beijing Games after wins in the men’s keirin and team sprint events. Hoy is the first Briton in 100 years to take home three golds in one Olympic Games.

Russia’s Mavlet Batirov won the men’s 60-kg freestyle wrestling gold medal, four years after capturing the 55-kg gold at the 2004 Athens Games.

Li Xiaopeng of China won the men’s parallel bars gymnastics event. Previously, Li took the parallel bars gold at the 2000 Sydney Games and won a bronze medal in the event at the Athens Games.

Russia’s Yelena Isinbayeva broke her own women’s pole vault world record by clearing 16 feet 6³/₄ inches (5.05 metres) and took her second consecutive Olympic gold medal in the event, repeating her victory in the women’s pole vault at the 2004 Athens Games.

American Stephanie Brown Trafton captured the gold in the women’s discus throw event.

Emma Snowsill of Australia won the gold in the women’s triathlon.

American swimmer Michael Phelps broke the 36-year-old record of gold medals won in a single Olympic Games—previously held by Mark Spitz—by winning his eighth gold of the Beijing Games as a member of the American 4 × 100-metre medley relay team.

Jamaica continued its domination of the sprints as all three medalists in the women’s 100-metre sprint final—led by gold medal winner Shelly-Ann Fraser—hailed from that country.

China won the women’s team table tennis event to break the country’s record for gold medals in one Olympic Games with 33.

Rafael Nadal of Spain won the gold medal in the men’s tennis singles event, becoming the first player with a top-five ranking by the Association of Tennis Professionals to do so.

Russia’s Elena Dementieva defeated countrywoman Dinara Safina to capture the gold medal in the women’s tennis singles event.

Jamaica’s Usain Bolt broke his own world record in the men’s 100-metre sprint final by finishing the race in 9.69 seconds to earn his first Olympic gold medal.

Michael Phelps of the United States won his seventh gold medal of the Beijing Games in the 100-metre butterfly event to tie Mark Spitz’s Olympic record. Phelps won the race by 0.01 second.

Michael Phelps won his sixth Olympic event as he captured the gold in the 200-metre individual medley, breaking his own world record in the process.

American gymnast Nastia Liukin won the gold in the women’s individual all-around competition. Teammate Shawn Johnson placed second, marking the first time that American gymnasts had finished in the top two positions in the women’s all-around.

Brothers Pavol Hochschorner and Peter Hochschorner of Slovakia won their third consecutive Olympic gold medal in the men’s double canoeing slalom event. The two had previously won the event in the Sydney Games in 2000 and in the Athens Games in 2004.

Tuvshinbayar Naidan of Mongolia won the first gold medal in his country’s 40-year Olympic history by taking the men’s 100-kg judo event.

Two-time world champion Yang Wei of China won the men’s individual all-around gymnastics gold medal.

Japanese swimmer Kitajima Kosuke won the men’s 200-metre breaststroke gold medal, his second gold of the 2008 Games and fourth overall.

The Ukrainian women’s sabre team upset the top-seeded U.S. team and host China en route to winning the gold medal.

American swimmer Michael Phelps won his 10th and 11th career Olympic gold medals—his fourth and fifth of the 2008 Games—to break the previous record of nine gold medals shared by Paavo Nurmi, Larisa Latynina, Mark Spitz, and Carl Lewis.

China’s women’s gymnastics team won the country’s first gold medal in the artistic team event.

The cycling individual time trial gold medals were won by Fabian Cancellara of Italy and Kristin Armstrong of the United States.

Chinese weightlifter Liu Chunhong defended her 2004 Athens Games gold medal by winning the women’s 69-kg division of the weightlifting event. Liu broke world records in all three weightlifting categories—the snatch, the clean and jerk, and total weight.

Togo’s Benjamin Boukpeti placed third in the men’s single kayak slalom event. His bronze medal is the first Olympic medal in Togo’s history.

China took home the gold medal in the men’s team gymnastics event, the country’s seventh win in the last eight Olympic and world championships combined.

American swimmer Natalie Coughlin repeated as gold medalist in the women’s 100-metre backstroke event, defeating world record holder Kirsty Coventry of Zimbabwe in the final.

The first two wrestling gold medals of the Beijing Games were awarded to Russia’s Nazyr Mankiev and Islam-Beka Albiev for winning the Greco-Roman 55-kg and 60-kg weight classes, respectively.

India’s Abhinav Bindra won the first individual gold medal in his country’s history by taking the men’s 10-metre air rifle event.

American swimmer Michael Phelps—who won the 400-metre individual medley event on August 10—continued his historic quest for eight gold medals in one Olympic Games as a member of the winning American 4 × 100-metre freestyle relay team.