http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/blogs/olympics/ en-us mlowe@pressherald.com 2008-08-24T12:21:34-05:00 hourly 1 2000-01-01T12:00+00:00 http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/blogs/olympics/031957.html Well, the Closing Ceremonies of the Beijing Summer Olympics didn't disappoint anyone. Spectacular, stunning, exhilerating. Anna Goodale, the gold medal-winning rower from Camden, said, simply, "All I know is that it was absolutely spectacular.'' Now I don't want to give... 31957@http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/blogs/olympics/ Live from Beijing 2008-08-24T12:21:34-05:00 http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/blogs/olympics/031948.html Well, counting down the hours until I return home to Maine. Never thought I'd be looking forward to a 14-hour flight, but I am. Not that this hasn't been grand. But it is time to go home. I'll catch you... 31948@http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/blogs/olympics/ Live from Beijing 2008-08-24T06:00:46-05:00 http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/blogs/olympics/031934.html Some days you have it, some you don't. Adam Craig realized he didn't have his best Saturday afternoon in the Olympic men's mountain bike cross country race. He wanted to do well, but not necessarily for himself. Every athlete at... 31934@http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/blogs/olympics/ The competition 2008-08-23T09:41:24-05:00 http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/blogs/olympics/031928.html Well, I'm here at Laoshan Mountain Bike Course and it is hot. The sky is blue, the sun is high and the temperature is 90 degrees. Not sure how the competitors are going to handle it, but they're trying to... 31928@http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/blogs/olympics/ The competition 2008-08-23T02:12:05-05:00 http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/blogs/olympics/031889.html OK, some business first: the men's mountain bike finals, featuring Maine's own Adam Craig, have been moved to 3:30 a.m. (East Coast time) from 3 a.m. Now, here's a shout-out of congratulations to my son, Alex, who's going to be... 31889@http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/blogs/olympics/ Live from Beijing 2008-08-22T06:29:24-05:00 http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/blogs/olympics/031832.html Well, I met Adam Craig, the mountain biker from Exeter today, and was almost stranded at the Laoshan Mountain course. Let's backtrack a little. The rains came here early Thursday morning, drenching, purifying rains that actually eliminated the odor that... 31832@http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/blogs/olympics/ Live from Beijing 2008-08-21T04:55:40-05:00 http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/blogs/olympics/031789.html Today (Wednesday) I went to the Forbidden City. And they let me in. I'm not going to go into much detail of my excursion, accompanied by my German buddy Wolfgang Dreyer of Dresden. You can read about it in the... 31789@http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/blogs/olympics/ Live from Beijing 2008-08-20T07:22:32-05:00 http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/blogs/olympics/031747.html It's always nice to hear a familiar voice, or at least an accent. When I reached the highest point of the Great Wall on Monday, I was talking to my buddy Wolfgang when someone said, "I can't believe I'm at... 31747@http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/blogs/olympics/ Live from Beijing 2008-08-19T11:38:08-05:00 http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/blogs/olympics/031687.html Today was an off-day for Maine's athletes at the Beijing Summer Olympics. Good thing. The organizers of these Games had put together a media tour of the Great Wall of China, in the Badaling section, which was built to protect... 31687@http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/blogs/olympics/ Live from Beijing 2008-08-18T10:53:57-05:00 http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/blogs/olympics/031662.html There, isn't that a good way to begin your day? Anna Goodale of Camden and Elle Logan of Boothbay Harbor became Maine's latest Olympic gold medal winners Sunday evening when they were part of the U.S. women's eight crew... 31662@http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/blogs/olympics/ Live from Beijing 2008-08-17T13:23:45-05:00 http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/blogs/olympics/031652.html That's Michael Phelps on the big scoreboard at the National Aquatics Center here in Beijing after getting his eighth gold medal Sunday morning. It's fitting. He was larger than life at these Olympic Games. Eight gold medals! A writer... 31652@http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/blogs/olympics/ The competition 2008-08-17T00:58:57-05:00 http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/blogs/olympics/031639.html When I first found out that I was coming to Beijing to cover the Olympics, I immediately began to think about what I had to absolutely see. The first was the Great Wall, which I'm going to on Monday. The... 31639@http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/blogs/olympics/ Live from Beijing 2008-08-16T10:55:29-05:00 http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/blogs/olympics/031625.html Wow! I don't know about you, but I sure thought Michael Phelps' pursuit of Olympic history ended Saturday morning here in the 100-meter butterfly. To the naked eye, it sure looked like Milorad Cavic of Serbia beat him for the... 31625@http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/blogs/olympics/ The competition 2008-08-15T23:40:35-05:00 http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/blogs/olympics/031584.html Good morning Maine. Well, got a little surprise today. The sky was blue. The sun was high. And I discovered Beijing is surrounded by mountains! I've been here eight days and this was the first time I've seen the mountains.... 31584@http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/blogs/olympics/ Live from Beijing 2008-08-15T05:32:57-05:00 http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/blogs/olympics/031582.html After winning his sixth gold medal Friday morning in the 200-meter individual medley, then qualifying for the finals of the 100 butterfly, Michael Phelps -- the darling of the Beijing Games thus far -- met with the media to discuss... 31582@http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/blogs/olympics/ The competition 2008-08-15T01:22:39-05:00