Beijing 2008 Olympic Games Live Blog Day 14: Canoe and kayak, track and beach volleyball

Beijing 2008 Olympic Games Live Blog Day 14: Canoe and kayak, track and beach volleyball
Posted: August 21, 2008, 8:16 PM by Chris Boutet
Olympics
Update: Thomas Hall has won a bronze in the canoe, and Karine Sergerie will fight for gold in the Taekwondo 67kg event at 8 a.m. ET.
Hello and welcome to Day 14 of the National Post's live coverage of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. Every day for the duration of the games, the Post's Olympics editors will be curating a day-long post like this one that will set up the day's main events, provide recaps and results as well as any relevant analysis and insight. Post online editor Chris Boutet blogs until 3 a.m. ET (or 3 p.m. Beijing time), after which Noah Love takes over from 4 a.m. ET to noon.
Medal count so farSchedule of events
A rundown of the top headlines tonight on the Post's Beijing Games page:
Lamaze's golden turnaroundIOC orders probe over Chinese medallist He's ageOrlando 17th after first day of qualificationsJapan scores epic softball upset over U.S.Jamaica continues its dominance on the trackBeijing not as party-friendly as host cities past
And on our Posted Sports blog:
Olympics postcard: That's the way the cookie crumblesOlympics postcard: Picture this
Today's Events
A look at the main events happening from now until 3 a.m. ET:
Thu. 21 - 7:30 pm: Track and Field — Men's 50km WalkThu. 21 - 8:30 pm: Hockey — Women's Classification 11-12Thu. 21 - 9:00 pm: Beach Volleyball — Men's Bronze Medal MatchThu. 21 - 9:01 pm: Beach Volleyball — Men's Final RankingThu. 21 - 9:30 pm: Water Polo — Men's Classification 11th-12th PlaceThu. 21 - 10:30 pm: Cycling BMX — Women's Final RunThu. 21 - 10:40 pm: Cycling BMX — Men's Final RunThu. 21 - 11:00 pm: Beach Volleyball — Men's Gold Medal MatchThu. 21 - 11:00 pm: Hockey — Women's Classification 5-6Fri. 22 - 3:00 am: Synchronized Swimming — Team Event Technical Routine
Here are some of the main events happening between 4 a.m. and 12 p.m. ET:
Fri. 22 - 5:05 a.m.: Canoe — Double 1000m Men's FinalFri. 22 - 5:20 a.m.: Kayak — Four 1000m Men's FinalFri. 22 - 7:55 a.m.: Track — Men's Pole Vault FinalFri. 22 - 9:15 a.m.: Track — Women's 4x100m FinalFri. 22 - 10:10 a.m.: Track — Men's 4x100m Relay Final
Canadians in action tonight: Kara Grant of Stratford, P.E.I., and Monica Pinette of Langley, B.C., compete in the women's modern pentathlon (10-metre air pistol, fencing epee, 200-metre freestyle swimming, show jumping and 3,000-metre running) at 8:30 p.m.(all times ET); Samantha Cools of Airdrie, Alta., competes in the women's BMX semifinals at 9 p.m.; Massimo Bertochi of Tottenham, Ont., enters the final day of the decathlon (110-metre hurdles, discus, pole vault, javelin and 1,500 metres) beginning at 9 p.m.; at 9:30 p.m., Karine Sergerie of Sainte-Catharine, Que., begins her medal quest in taekwondo's 67-kilogram class; the men's water polo team plays China for 11th place, also at 9:30 p.m.; and in men's taekwondo, Sebastien Michaud of Quebec City competes in the 80-kilogram class. Updates to follow on all these events.Elsewhere tonight, we'll check in on the men's beach volleyball gold-medal game between the United States's Phil Dalhausser and Todd Rogers and Brazil's Marcio Araujo and Fabio Magalhaes.
Live blog begins below — most recent content at top. All times ET unless otherwise noted.
Taekwondo — Women's 67kg Class
5:30 a.m.: A big update on Sergerie — she advanced through the quarters against the Argentinian, and then in the semis, she took on Asuncion Ocasio Rodriguez. She took that match 2-0 and is off to the gold medal match. She's also guaranteed to win a medal, it's just a question of what colour it will be.10:45 p.m.: Canada's Karine Sergerie has advanced to the quarter-finals in women's 67kg taekwondo, besting Australian Tina Morgan 0:0 (Won by Superiority). She now goes on to face Vanina Paola Sanchez Beron of Argentina at 3:15 a.m.
Kayak/Canoe — Flatwater
Kayak Four (K4) 1000m Men's Final5:25 a.m.: The Canadian quartet run in lane 9 for this race and are not expected to contend for a medal. Canada is at the back of the pack from the very start, more than a full boat length behind at the first interval. Belarus wins its second gold in as many races and the Canadians go home with a last-place finish.
Canoe Double (C2) 1000m Men's Final5:18 a.m.: Andrew Russell and Gabriel Beauchesne-Sevigny run in lane 7. The Germans hold a big lead halfway through, the Canadians are three seconds back in fifth. The team from Belarus makes a huge move in the final 250 metres and catches the Germans. Russell and Beauchesne-Sevigny make a push for bronze but come up short, finishing sixth. Hungary takes bronze.
Canoe Single (C1) 1000m Men Final
3:50 a.m.: And just 10 minutes later, Canada's Thomas Hall has a brilliant final 200 metres to come from behind and win the bronze! Attila Sandor Vajda of Hungary wins the gold with a 3:50.467, while David Cal of Spain finished second with 3:52.751. Hall's third-place finish was in a time of 3:53.653.
Kayak Single (K1) 1000m Men Final
3:40 a.m.: Canada's flagbearer Adam van Koeverden came into this race favoured to win gold, and he has to be disappointed with the result. Van Koeverden had spent the race firmly in second place heading into the final 200 metres, but appeared to run out of gas and just could not keep pace, finishing well out of the medals, eighth in a field of nine.
Tim Brabants of Great Britain handily won the gold with a time of 3:26.323, Eirik Larsen of Norway the silver with 3:27.342 and Australia's Ken Wallace rounded out the podium with a time of 3:27.48. Van Koeverden finished with a time of 3:31.79.
"I just didn't have it," a clearly shaken Van Koeverden told the CBC after the race. "Hell of a time not to have it. I was a spectator. I'm sorry, I'm really sorry.""I'm just incredibly disappointed."
Pitcher Yoon Suk Min (L) and catcher Kang Minho of South Korea celebrate after defeating Japan. (Danny Moloshok/Reuters)

Baseball — Men's Semi-Final
2:10 a.m.: Korea continued its surprise march into the the baseball gold-medal final tonight as Lee Seung-yuop notched a two-run homer in the eighth inning to shock rivals Japan by a score of 6-2. From Reuters:
Lee, who earns his living playing for the Yomiuri Giants in Japan, may not be so welcome upon his return after sinking Japanese gold medal hopes with a two-run blast into the right field bleachers that keyed a decisive eighth inning four-run burst.
The surprise package of the baseball tournament, Korea has never before reached the Olympic final and will now have a chance to claim the last gold medal before the sport is dropped from the Games programme after Saturday’s final.Korea will now await the winner of Friday’s other semi-final between three-times Olympic champions Cuba and their bitter rivals the United States.
Track and Field — Men's Decathlon

1 a.m.: After beginning the day 88 points ahead of the field, American Bryan Clay is closing in on the Olympic decathlon gold after a morning at the hurdles left him 283 points clear with three events remaining. From Reuters:
Clay, the 2004 Olympic silver medallist, began the day 88 points ahead and immediately stretched that to 124 with a 13.93 110 metres hurdles, the second-best of the day.
He then posted a 53.79 metre discus to open the gap to a formidable 283 points.
Clay, who said he began the day “exhausted, just like everybody else”, needs only to avoid disaster in the pole vault to go into the evening javelin and closing 1,500 metres with what should be an unassailable lead.
Oleksiy Kasyanov of Ukraine moved up to second place after the discus, ahead of Andrei Krauchanka of Belarus and Trey Hardee of the United States.
The pole vault event began at 12:55 a.m. and is underway now.
Philip Dalhausser (R) and Todd Rogers of the U.S. celebrate victory against Brazil in their men's beach volleyball final match. (Gil Cohen Magen/Reuters)

Men's Beach Volleyball
12:25 a.m.: Todd Rogers and Phil Dalhausser of the United States have followed up the U.S. women's beach volleyball gold medal with one of their own tonight, defeating Brazilians Marcio Araujo and Fabio Luiz Magalhaes in three sets, 23:21,17:21,15:4.
Earlier, Emanuel Rego and Ricardo Santos, also from Brazil, won the bronze medal, beating Jorge Terciero and Renato Gomes of Georgia 15:21,10:21.
Modern Pentathlon
12 a.m.: The second event in the women's pentathlon, one-touch epee fencing, has concluded, and Yane Marques of Brazil has moved up to split the lead with Lena Schoneborn of Germany, both with a total score of 1892. Marques recorded 14 victories and 9 defeats for a fencing score of 736, while Schoneborn went 18-5 for a fencing score of 832, second best in this event. Omnia Fakhry of Egypt is third, going 13-10 for a fencing score of 712 and total of 1880.
Among the Canadians, Monica Pinette struggled mightily in the fencing event, notching just 6 victories and 17 defeats to bump her down to 24th overall with 1724 points. Just ahead of her is Kara Grant of Stratford, P.E.I., in 23rd place with 1736 points.
Next up is 200m freestyle swimming at 2:30 a.m.
10:10 p.m.: The first of the pentathlon's five events has wrapped up, and Canada's Monica Pinette is off to an encouraging start, sharing second place in the 10m air pistol shooting event with a score of 187 and a pentathlon total of 1180. Anastasia Samusevich of Belarus posted identical numbers to Pinette, while Belinda Schreiber of Switzerland is in first, shooting 188 for a total score of 1192. Hungary's Zsuzsanna Voros, gold medallist for women's pentathlon in 2004, is currently in 12th place with a total of 1120.Next up is the Women's Fencing Epee One Touch, now underway.

Competitors walk through a corner during a lap of the National Stadium at the start of the men's 50-kilometre race walk. (Gary Hershorn/Reuters)

Track and Field — Men's 50km Walk
11:25 p.m.: The race is over, and Italy's Alex Schwazer wins the gold, finishing the 50k with a time of 3:37:09. Jared Tallent of Australia takes silver with 3:39:27 and Denis Nizhegorodov of Russia the bronze with 3:40:14. Canada's Tim Berrett finishes in 38th place with a time of 4:08:18.
9:45 p.m.: We're now halfway through the men's racewalk, and Tim Berrett of Canada is well back of the lead at the 25-kilometre mark, in 37th place with a time of 1:57:09. Australian Jared Tallent has moved up from third position to take the lead with a time of 1:49:00, in a dead heat with Alex Schwazer of Italy. Russian Denis Nizhegorodov, leader at the 20k mark, is one second back in third place, along with China's Li Jianbo.
Sammy Cools of Canada retrieves her bike after an early fall in the BMX women's final. (Jean Levac/Canwest News Service)

Cycling BMX — Women's Semi-Finals

10:30 p.m.: Apparently, we were a bit confused earlier on the status of Samantha Cools' medal hopes. Turns out the Airdrie, Alta., racer did, in fact, squeak through to the final after finishing fourth after three heats. Cools, however, failed to complete the race, crashing out shortly after the start.
Anne-Caroline Chausson of France wins the first-ever gold in this inaugural event, while countrywoman Laetitia le Corguille took silver. The bronze went to Jill Kintner of the United States.
9:25 p.m.: Canada's Samantha Cools will not advance to Friday's BMX women's final after finishing sixth of eight in Heat 1 with a time of 39.765 seconds. The top four racers — in order: Anne-Caroline Chausson of France, New Zealand's Sarah Walker, Gabriela Diaz of Argentina and Jenny Fahndrich of Switzerland — move on.-->