Kiwiblog

The LA Times reports on how it is a trans-Tasman battle for medals per capita with Australia 2nd and NZ 3rd. I suspect we will slip back by the end of the Olympics though.

If Michael Phelps was a nation, he’d definitely win the medals per capita count

Later today Phelps competes for his 8th gold medal. It is the 4 x 100 m medley relay. It was very close in the heats.

Tags: Australia, Michael Phelps, New Zealand, Olympics, Sport

I was in a strategic planning meeting all day yesterday so watching the Olympics on replay, but great to see the news that the Ever-Swindells won gold, as well as Valerie Vii.

It was a day for close wins with Phelps winning his seventh gold by 0.01s and the Ever-Swindells retaining their Olympic crowns also by 0.01s – my God. And I reckon Mahi Drysdale would have won gold not bronze if he wasn’t sick as a dog.

But Vii’s win was amazing – she set a personal best and crushed the opposition. Peaking in the Olympic final is the time to do it.

Tags: Ever-Swindells, Mahi Drsydale, Michael Phelps, Olympics, Sport, Valerie Vii

Lots to cover in brief. First the Australian political party leader who told off his 17 year old daughter on Facebook, exposing her drunken party photos to the world! Also wonderful is the conversation between two of Alexander Downer’s children on Facebook about why he was so pompous in a photo

Bernard Hickey complains (as I often have done) that we are paying $79 million into TVNZ6 and TVNZ7 yet they won’t make them available on Sky TV. He quotes former TVNZ Head of News Paul Norris in support – they have a reponsibility to make them widely available and could extend them with a flick of a switch to 700,000 households overnight.

Andrew Bolt has a fascinating exchange with an academic over the “stolen generation”. While there certainly is much in Australia’s past that was deplorable (as in NZ), it is apparent that certain portions of it such as the “stolen generation” have been over-hyped. He cites the example of one Aboriginal leader who claimed to be part of the “stolen” generation who was “taken from my family” but in fact was put up for adoption by her father who could not cope with five children.

Lindsay Perigo writes a moving account of his last face to face meal with Anna Woolf, who is dying of brain cancer. Even just reading his account makes the eyes water – I can’t imagine how hard it is for those who are close to Anna, let alone Anna herself.

The Telegraph points out that if Michael Phelps was a country, he would be coming 5th on the Olympic medal table – ahead of Italy, Russia, Australian and Great Britain.

Frog Blog joins Nick Smith on wondering why DOC is spending so much money on a new corporate brand, when it has just laid off 60 workers to save money.

Liberty Scott exposes Sue Kedgley’s scaremongering over cellphone towers. Good God, this debate was settled over a decade ago in terms of science. I’d be more inclined to take Sue’s campaign against the towers seriously if she’d give up her cellphone.

Lindsay Mitchell covers the launch of a second Maori based party. The Hapu Party is led by David Rankin, and three policies to date:

1. To have Maori eligible for the pension at age 56, because of the lower life-expectancy of Maori
2. To introduce a flat rate 18% personal tax and GST rate.
3. To immediately allocate all treaty settlement money directly to hapu and marae

They have me with policy No 2. Policy No 3 is between Iwi and Hapu to resolve in my opinion, and Policy No 1 has no chance. Worryingly for the Maori Party, Rankin also talks of financial irregularities with a Maori Party MP and a SFO complaint.

Tags: Andrew Bolt, Anna Woolf, Bernard Hickey, cellphone towers, DOC, Facebook, Freeview, Frog Blog, Greens, Hapu Party, Liberty Scott, Lindsay Mitchell, Lindsay Perigo, Maori Party, Michael Phelps, Nick Smith, Olympics, Sky, stolen generation, Sue Kedgley

Michael Phelps has just got his 4th gold medal at these Olympics for a total of 10 Olympics golds. Four atheletes had won nine gold medals each (including Carl Lewis) but he is the first to win 10, and may go on to win 14.

So far he has won gold in the 400m individual medley, 4 x 100m freestyle relay, 200m freestyle and 200 m butterfly. He competes later today in the 4 x 200 m freestyle relay, and later in the 200m individual medley, 100m butterfly and 4 x 100 m medley relay.

What is also amazing is all four gold medals to date have broken the world records. He now holds six world records.

In 2004 he got six golds and two bronzes. The two bronzes were both in races he has already got gold for in 2008. However the relays depend on the whole team, so nothing is certain.

UPDATE: And in the 4 x 200 m freestyle relay Phelps got the team off to a huge start and they smashed the world record to get the gold. First ever relay under seven minutes – more than five seconds off the old record.

Tags: Michael Phelps, Olympics