Fourth-Place Medal, a Yahoo! Sports blog covering the Summer Olympics in Beijing

Fourth-Place Medal

Sat Aug 23, 2008 2:15 pm EDT

Best of Beijing: Volume 14

By Nick Friedell

Let's take a look back at some of the best pictures of the day ...

LaShawn Merritt makes sure he doesn't drop the baton during the 4 x 400 meter relay

The South Korea baseball team shocks Cuba to win gold

Javier Mascherano and the Argentinian soccer team defeat Nigeria 1-0 in gold medal match

U.S. 4x400 meter women's relay team celebrates after winning gold medal

Photos via Getty Images

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65 Comments

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  1. hmmm
    1. Posted by hmmm Thu Sep 03, 2009 7:19 pm EDT

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    go (to hell) team china!
  2. dotttuc81
    2. Posted by dotttuc81 Thu Sep 03, 2009 3:47 pm EDT

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    Funny, China doesn't believe in hell. Officially atheist .
  3. noway
    3. Posted by noway Thu Sep 03, 2009 7:34 pm EDT

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    ???
    Chinese already in ...hell
  4. Michael r
    4. Posted by Michael r Thu Sep 03, 2009 3:51 pm EDT

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    Nice Go USA check out: Rent Textbooks & Save 60-80% at Chegg.com!
  5. Michael r
    5. Posted by Michael r Thu Sep 03, 2009 3:51 pm EDT

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    Nice Go USA check out:
  6. monkeylemur
    6. Posted by monkeylemur Thu Sep 03, 2009 7:25 pm EDT

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    XD i was so happy that korea won. last time in a world cup, they beat japan 2 times in a row but lost to their third game which happened to be the most important one out of the three. good thing that didn't happen this time.
  7. vledfan1
    7. Posted by vledfan1 Thu Sep 03, 2009 10:36 pm EDT

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    doping?, underage?, bad referees calls? LOL you americans have a nice history in all this facts so thats it you dont deserve but shut your mouths up!
  8. @*$%^&$#
    8. Posted by @*$%^&$# Thu Sep 03, 2009 7:35 pm EDT

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    the jamaicans flubber shoes really work just wish they matched
  9. o_oholycrap
    9. Posted by o_oholycrap Thu Sep 03, 2009 7:48 pm EDT

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    49 golds eat it!
  10. Asian
    10. Posted by Asian Thu Sep 03, 2009 7:40 pm EDT

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    49 golds of unknown sports
  11. paulkimchee
    11. Posted by paulkimchee Thu Sep 03, 2009 8:03 pm EDT

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    jap mo fos!
    don't you feel salty now, after you guys said that we wouldn't be able to play even with you guys for 10 years? guess what... we whooped you twice!
  12. Brian S (brianguy)
    12. Posted by Brian S (brianguy) Thu Sep 03, 2009 4:19 pm EDT

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    "ribbed, for her (his?) pleasure"
    watching these olympics, I really don't understand why track athletes don't use stick-um on their hands, or at the very least, chalk to prevent dropping the baton. isn't it legal? chalk, at least? field competitors use it all the time, so why not runners.
    in addition to that, 2 of the 4 US men's 4 x 400 relay runners insisted on carelessly carrying/passing the baton incorrectly, even after the men's and women's teams in the 4 x 100 didn't qualify because of dropping the baton. talk about taking a risk nobody needs to be taking!! even though I'm glad it worked out well in the end, it smells of arrogance/stupidity.
    the only time I ever carried a baton in a race in my life, I sure never dropped it. and this was a meaningless relay, not even an official race.
  13. Joyce
    13. Posted by Joyce Thu Sep 03, 2009 10:16 pm EDT

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    Phelps won----- All China: go, Phelps!
    US basketball won------ All China: go
    China won------All USA,
  14. Joyce
    14. Posted by Joyce Thu Sep 03, 2009 10:16 pm EDT

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    Phelps won----- All China says: go, Phelps!
    US basketball won------ All China says: go USA
    China won------ All USA says : under age, cheating, go to hell
  15. david&goliath
    15. Posted by david&goliath Thu Sep 03, 2009 2:48 pm EDT

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    quote to brian;;
    the more unofficial a relay is - the easier it is - and guess what - you're not even on the U.S team's scale -so stop mouthing off like an obnoxious goose.
    Yes - the U.S didn't fare well - but, hey - each individual on that team worked hard to get there - give them credit.
  16. JJF
    16. Posted by JJF Thu Sep 03, 2009 4:41 pm EDT

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    none and noway
    I hope you are not American. You are from the bottom of the food chain, RIGHT!
    You're a shame to the rest of us.
    Pathetic moron!!!!!!!!!!!
  17. Terry
    17. Posted by Terry Thu Sep 03, 2009 10:25 pm EDT

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    Don't hate a nation just because they won 49 gold medals, especially when they're becoming one of the major powers in the world. They are not perfect, but that doesn't mean we are better than them. We are all human beings. We can't criticize China as a whole just because most of you have individual feelings about certain of their people. Americans always tend to criticize people of what they're doing, but most of us never thought about the mistakes we're making too.
    To the morons who were making those idiotic comments about China - Stop making us look bad because everyone thinks we're nothing but a bunch of whining oats who can't stand losing.
  18. John
    18. Posted by John Thu Sep 03, 2009 7:14 pm EDT

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    God! why you guys hater China so much? Where did you get this kind of education to utter so mean, hateful words to a country that you barely know? Just because china got more golds than America? maybe next time America would achieve more! If i were China, i would give all the golds to America so that you guys would shut up and enjoy feeling American!
  19. Zippo
    19. Posted by Zippo Thu Sep 03, 2009 11:01 pm EDT

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    See John its not about the medals. Its about cheating and the (although it hasnt been proven by IOC standards) very high probablity that they are. Just looking for fairness. If the playing field is kept fair then by all means may the best man win and congrats to who does. What bothers me is when the states claim foul everyone's quick to hate on them but if its anyone else its ok. Its that kind of double standard and hipocrocy that bothers me.
  20. kkebaksa
    20. Posted by kkebaksa Thu Sep 03, 2009 4:16 pm EDT

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    Wow... Look how high the korean baseball team threw him @_@
  21. zaku
    21. Posted by zaku Thu Sep 03, 2009 10:36 pm EDT

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    see zippo the chinese gymnasts have give their birth certificates,passport,id and their own parents acknowledgement to IOC what else you want them to do? strip naked to you whether they're still virgin or not? haven't you heard DON'T JUDGE BOOKS BY IT COVERS? besides asian look younger than their actual age suggested and thinner frame than american gymnasts.how bout asians complained that usa basketball is too tall for asian nations to compete with it's not fair to us cause americans players are genetically and naturally taller and bigger what you gonna say about that?
  22. roth
    22. Posted by roth Thu Sep 03, 2009 10:08 pm EDT

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    By the way, here are some cold war facts. Based on the Gold medals won, if we put together the medals won by Russia and the old Soviet countries, the USSR would have placed second in these Olympics and he US third. But then, the USSR would have come up with an even more solid sports program than China and would land first in Gold medal count. East Germany would not be far behind and the medal standings (based on a qualitative count with the number of Golds determining the rankings ) would look like this:
    #1 USSR
    #2 China
    #3 East Germany
    #4 United Stares
    #5 West Germany
    If Europe entered as a single community the US would place fifth or sixth.
    On a per capita basis, the US and China would not even be in the top five.
  23. aly
    23. Posted by aly Thu Sep 03, 2009 7:33 pm EDT

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    i agree w/ zaku and terrence and all those other ppl. so stop dissing china and get on with ur life. srry if i'm too mean. I guess I'm influenced cuz i was born in America and raised here but am Chinese. I'm happy for both US and China cuz they both worked really hard and tried their best.
  24. Art F
    24. Posted by Art F Thu Sep 03, 2009 2:46 pm EDT

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    Hello just wanted to state that the China governement will do anything and everything to win.....even if it means breaking the rules......also you must understand that Americans are people from all parts of the world......coming together as one........finally look at the over-all medal count for picking who is the best country at these games......last time I checked I was USA USA USA USA.....in the lead.....lol
  25. dondkim
    25. Posted by dondkim Thu Sep 03, 2009 3:46 pm EDT

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    People, we can't post whatever we feel like and think nobody's going to read it. The internet is international, remember that. That being said, we Americans still have a lot to be proud about. Yes, some of the judging was unfair, yes the Chinese had younger players, etc. But whining about it will just get the international community talk more trash. Remember China has 1.3 billion people. That's more than a billion more people than us. Chinese also get 7 and 8 year olds to go train at a special training facilities far away from home for years. That's why the NBC newscasters call it the Chinese Athletic Machine. If we had 1.3 billion people and had the same system as the Chinese, we would win every single medal in the Olympic games. More impressive than the Chinese are some of the smaller nations winning golds with barely a few million people. As far as what people think are actual sports, all sports are legit as long as enough people participate in them.

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