On September 15th, the Olympics began in Sydney, Australia. They will last until October 1st. One highlight of the Opening Ceremony occurred when North and South Korea, who are technically at war, marched together under one flag in the Parade of Nations.
Here in the United States, NBC is providing television coverage for the games. Sydney is 15 hours ahead of Eastern Standard Time. NBC shows all of its coverage on tape, citing the time difference. This has caused some aggravation on the part of viewers. For example, Americans who live near Canada are watching the Olympics on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation channel to see the events live. Also, many websites have the results in the morning that the viewers cannot see until the evening. ABC is in fact doing an Olympic wrap-up for the day on it's evening news.
As of Friday night, the United States stands atop the medal standings with 16 Gold, 10 Silver, and 14 Bronze Medals. The other top two nations are China and Australia.
The major sports that have their events in Week 1 were swimming and gymnastics. The two nations that dominated the pool were the Americans and the Australians. In gymnastics, the Americans have so far not won any medals.
Some of the early swimming events were dominated by the "Thorpedo", Australia's 17-year-old swimming sensation, Ian Thorpe. He won Gold and broke the world record in the 400 meter freestyle and Silver in the 200 meter freestyle. He lead Australia to a Gold in the 4 x 100 free relay over the Americans. Another swimming story belonged to American Lenny Krayzelburg. He won Gold in both the 200 meter and 100 meter backstroke. He and his family left the former Soviet Union and came to the United States without knowing English, so that he could have a better life. Also, American Jenny Thompson has seven Gold medals total, making her the most decorated American women swimmer ever. In Sydney, she was looking for her first individual Gold Medal. She failed to get one.
In gymnastics, people felt that the American men's team had a good chance to get a team medal, something it hasn't done since 1984 (or 1932 in a non-boycotted Summer Olympics). The American men didn't get a medal, and neither did the women. After winning gold in Atlanta in 1996, the women finished fourth in Sydney. In the individual all-around, the closest the American men came was Blaine Wilson, who finished eighth. For the women, the Romanian team swept the medals, and the closest American woman was Elise Ray, who finished 14th.