For so long Olympic Basketball was property of the United States. After a long struggle to redeem their horrific showing in Greece four years ago, the US defeated Spain 118-107 Sunday to take the gold medal.

With less than two and a half to play in the game the US only led by four, but they began to pull away and hold off the Spanish. Kobe Bryant’s clutch four-point play with about 3:00 left in the game took a little bit of the wind out of the Spanish crowd. After Dwyane Wade hit from three to make the score 111-104 and the clock nearing the two minute mark, the US seemingly put it on cruise control. Wade finished with 27 while Kobe Bryant also contributed 20 points. Spain’s Rudy Fernandez scored 22 and Bryant’s teammate Pau Gasol had 21. (Read More)

In what could be the last Olympic baseball tournament ever, the US won’t play for gold after losing to Cuba by a score of 10-2 and they’ll play South Korea in the gold medal game. The Koreans beat Japan 6-2 in the other semi-final.

Cuba clearly showed why they’ve won three of the last of the last four gold medals and they’ll look to give South Korea their first loss of the tournament in the final. Baseball became an Olympic sport in 1992 and Cuba won then and again in 1996 and 2004. The US won in Sydney in 2000. (Read More)

Somewhat lost with the performances of Michael Phelps and Usain Bolt these Olympics, Team USA will play for gold in basketball and volleyball this weekend. Basketball defeated a Ginobili-less Argentina team by a score of 101-81 and volleyball took down Russia in a thrilling five-game match.

Manu Ginobili, Argentina’s best player, re-injured his left ankle halfway through the first quarter and was unable to return the floor. The US caught a break but it arguably didn’t matter. They already established a 10 point lead when he left the game. They got their revenge on Argentina, who beat them in the 2002 World Championships and in Athens in 2004. (Read More)

The “Redeem Team” is only two victories away from getting back to the top of the Olympic basketball world. After demolishing the field so far, they will face Argentina, the defending Olympic champs, in the semifinals and the winner of Spain and Lithuania should they win tomorrow.

Coach Mike Krzyzewski really has this team playing as well as they can and after rolling Australia 116-85 in the quarterfinals, they appear to be unbeatable. Argentina poses a threat, but the way the Americans have been played, it looks like it doesn’t matter who the opponent is. (Read More)

We’ve seen just about everything in Beijing this Olympics. Michael Phelps won eight gold medals, not just by winnings races but destroying the competition and shattering records. We saw Usain Bolt run a simply ridiculous 9.69 100m dash. We’ve also had the opportunity to watch sports we normally wouldn’t see, including handball, rowing and water polo. Most of the athletes have demonstrated good sportsmanship win or lose and we see what the Olympics is supposed to be about.

Others however, have not. Swedish Greco-Roman wrestler Ara Abrahamian was stripped of his bronze medal after he protested the judging of the event. He was awarded his medal and then took it off and left it on the ground and walked away from the mat. His frustration of winning silver in Athens and bronze this year simply did not warrant such an act. Of course everyone wants a gold medal but even winning a medal should be something to be proud of. (Read More)

Are you kidding me? Usain Bolt of Jamaica improved his mark as the World’s Fastest Man, seemingly jogging a world record 9.69 seconds in the final of the Olympic 100 meter dash.

Bolt shattered his previous world record of 9.72 as well as blowing away the field by a full two-tenths of a second. With about 20 meters to go, Bolt shifted his eyes to his right, looking one last time for former world record holder Asafa Powell or anyone else near him. (Read More)

Joey Cheek won two medals in speedskating at the 2006 Winter Games in Turin and he has used his platform to co-found Team Darfur to raise awareness to the war torn region of Sudan. China decided today that they don’t want him to come to the Olympics this summer.

Cheek had his visa revoked the day before he was supposed to leave and promote the cause. China has a problem with it because they have been involved in Darfur and they can’t admit that they’ve been wrong about political issues and it unfortunately seems like they won’t change their ways. (Read More)