Our second trip to the Bird's Nest for Athletics proved almost as eventful as the first. The night of events included the Men's and Women's 4x100m Relay Final, which we had initially hoped would include medals for the USA, however, both the men and women managed to get disqualified in the qualifing rounds for dropping the baton. Fundamentals people.
We did get to see Usain Bolt and his fellow Jamaican teamates pull off yet anther world record, which was, again, very exciting. This time he had friends to ham it up with on his victory lap around the stadium. They had fun dancing and posing for the crowd.
Usain Bolt dancing
We also got our one (and only) chance to hear the American National Anthem played thanks to Bryan Clay, the winner of the Men's Decathlon. Clay was so far ahead in points, that he actually lost the final event (1500m) by an embarrassing amount. It was funny to hear the announcer say "And here comes our Gold Medalist" as he crossed the finish line a full 10 seconds after the other runners. After he recovered from collapsing on the ground, he was pretty excited about his victory and we were extremely pround to see our flag waving and hear our song.
The final event of the evening was the Men's Pole Vault. An Australian, Steve Hooker, ended up winning the event and then had a chance to beat the Olympic Record. On his first attemt (of three) he didn't make it over. In his five minutes of rest time, he layed on the ground with his eyes closed while 90,000 people in the stadium watched. He let his opportunity for a second attempt go without trying. On his third opportunity he nailed the Olympic Record. It was an incredibly exciting moment.
American Derek Miles sailing over the bar earlier in the night
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