[Archive 2008-08-22] Olympic highlights: August 22, 2008

Historical archive — originally published 2008-08-22. This report records what was known on that date. It is not current news; subsequent events may have changed the situation. Wikinews closed in May 2026.

August 22, 2008 is the 13th major day of the 2008 Olympic games. The below article lists some of the highlights.

Alex Schwazer of Italy has set a new Olympic record in the men's 50km walk with his time of 3 hours and 37.09 minutes. Schwazer dedicated his win to his grandfather.

Jarred Tallent of Australia grabbed silver at 3 hours 39.27 minutes and Denis Nizhegorodov of Russia came in third with 3 hours 40.14 minutes. Tallent became the first Australian male to win more than one medal in track and field in over 100 years.

The Australian water polo team has advanced to the seventh-place playoffs after beating Italy 17-16 in penalty shootouts at the Yingdong Natatorium today. Australia's Sam McGregor scored the final shot in the shootout. Italy's Alessandro Calcaterra was the game's top scorer with six goals.

Latvia's Maris Strombergs took gold today in BMX cycling's Olympic debut. This is Latvia's first medal in the Beijing games. Strombergs, who was already the world champion, won his qualifying rounds, securing him the preferred inside-gate position. Americans Mike Day and Donny Robinson came second and third respectively after narrowly avoiding a crash at the second turn.

Two Chinese, Athens 2004 champion Zhang Yining and Sydney 2000 champion Wang Nan, will meet tonight in the women's table tennis finals.

Li Jiawei missed out on a spot in the finals when Zhang won four games to one earlier, while Guo Yue was beaten by Wang, winning the final game after drawing the previous four.

Philip Dalhausser and Todd Rogers won the Olympic gold medal for the United States in the men's beach volleyball competition by winning all but one set in the final against the Brazilians Fabio Magalhaes and Marcio Araujo.

The American volleyball team survived a close tiebreaker with Russia today. They will advance to compete for the gold medal on Sunday. Their opponent is still to be decided out of the Italy-Brazil semifinal.

Britain's Tim Brabants clinched another gold medal for his country in the men's K1 1000m canoeing race today, finishing a boat's length ahead of the defending Norwegian champion Erik Veraas Larsen. Australia's Ken Wallace came in third to grab bronze.

Source and licence

Text adapted from Olympic highlights: August 22, 2008 by Wikinews contributors under CC BY 2.5. Paragraphs have been selected and abridged, and formatting adjusted. Contributor history.