Olympics

Welcome to Olympic Mettle, a new blog covering the 2012 Olympics games from The Baltmore Sun.  

Swimming UMBC's Hussein qualifies for Olympics UMBC junior Mohamed Hussein took first place, broke the Egyptian national record and qualified for the 2012 Summer Olympics in London in the 200-meter individual medley Sunday afternoon at the Auburn Classic at the Martin Aquatics Center. Hussein, who has already qualified for the Summer Games in the 100 freestyle, becomes the first Egyptian swimmer to ever make the cut for two events at a single Olympic Games. He is the second UMBC swimmer to make the Olympics, joining Mehdi Addadi , who qualified for the 2000 Summer Games in Sydney for his native Algeria.

It was a swimmer's version of a busman's holiday: During some rare time off last week from her intense training at Baltimore's Meadowbrook pool, Allison Schmitt decided to visit ... the National Aquarium. “When I saw the dolphins,” Schmitt said with a laugh Thursday, “I wanted to jump in.” Such is the single-minded focus of swimmers such as Schmitt, a bronze medalist in the 2008 Olympics, and among those competing here this week in the Indianapolis Grand Prix. It's among the final tune-ups before the qualifying trials in June for the London games in July.

Submitting sports notices The deadline for submitting sports copy is 9 a.m. Monday. We prefer email (howardcountysports@patuxent.com). Questions? Call 410-332-6578. Special Olympics Orioles fans who plan to attend games at Camden Yards this year have the opportunity to help Special Olympics athletes at the same time. Special Olympics has obtained vouchers for $15 tickets to all Oriole games except the prime games. Five dollars from each ticket purchased will go to Special Olympics.

Tickets to the 2012 Olympics in London are now available, marking the first opportunity for fans of Michael Phelps and other athletic luminaries to secure their seat for next year's global competition. The Olympics begin in just about 500 days and tickets went on sale about mid-day Tuesday with organizers offering more than 6.6 million tickets - about 58,000 available initially in the U.S. - to some 650 competition sessions. This is just the first phase and people can apply for tickets through April 26. Tickets are not being sold first-come, first-serve, however.

Figure skating is electric Phil Hersh Chicago Tribune Short track speedskating is great if you like roller derby. Anyone can watch terrific hockey eight months a year. But what I like best at the Olympics is figure skating, and the most exciting moments often come during the six-minute warm-up before the last group of singles skaters does its long program. The tension is electric as each skater tests his or her big jumps, and the crowd is very aware when a man tries a quad, a woman tries either a triple axel or a nemesis jump.

FOR ALL THE SUCCESS of athletes such as sprinter Marion Jones and swimmer Jenny Thompson, the biggest Olympic headline has been that American audiences were less than enthralled by the Sydney Games. Many in the United States have viewed this year's Olympics as little more than background noise -- another passing media diversion -- offering less hype and vigor than "Survivor" and ultimately to be replaced with November's presidential elections. It's not just the tape-delayed coverage. There's a growing sense of resignation that the Games, once laden with meaning and cultural significance, have been replaced by slick, packaged stories of Olympic sponsors who now own the Games and define their cultural significance.

Final medal count.. .. .. .. .. ..G . ..S .. ..B .. .. .Tot.U.S. .. .. .. ..44 ...32 .. .25 .. .. ..101Germany .. .. ..20 ...18 .. .27 .. .. ...65Russia .. .. ...26 ...21 .. .16 .. .. ...63China .. .. .. .16 ...22 .. .12 .. .. ...50Australia .. .. .9 .. .9 .. .22 .. .. ...40France .. .. ...15 .. .7 .. .15 .. .. ...37Italy .. .. .. .13 ...10 .. .12 .. .. ...35South Korea .. ..7 ...15 .. ..5 .. .. ...27Cuba .. .. .. ...9 .. .8 .. ..8 .. .. ...25Ukraine .....

Picture a composer who has labored over a masterwork for years, only to have it pilloried by the public when it is performed for the first time, and you can begin to understand what must be running through Dick Ebersol's mind as his Olympics telecasts are being picked apart from all corners. For Ebersol, the chairman of NBC Sports, who dropped out of college 32 years ago to become a researcher for ABC's telecasts of the 1968 Winter and Summer Games, the Olympics have been a magnificent obsession, a Holy Grail of television programming.

"HI. IT'S Jim McKay."He was returning a call seeking his insights into the state of the Olympics. The sound of his voice on the other end of the line was startling, nevertheless, partly because it's so familiar from his decades on the air, partly because it's like conversing with Zeus on Mount Olympus himself, so identifiable is the man with the world's greatest international sports festival. His work has won a closetful of Emmys, and his reportage of the fatal hostage-taking of Israeli athletes in Munich, West Germany, in 1972 -- "They're all gone" -- is a signature moment in sportscasting.

Twenty-seven-old Minju Kim from Seoul, South Korea, found the early races a big yawn, so she and her friend Jieun Yi of Philadelphia stopped by the volleyball field. "For me, it's not that interesting," Kim said. She is visitig Yi, who is originally from Seoul, for a month. It is her first time in the United States. Yi married into a family full of horse racing fans. Today is her second trip to Preakness. She visited all three races last year, and said she perfers the Kentucky Derby for the outfits.

The Baltimore Sun Several roads in Annapolis will be closed briefly on Saturday morning for the Annapolis Police Department's 1 Mile Challenge. The event, a one-mile run through downtown Annapolis, benefits Special Olympics Maryland. Walkers, joggers, dogs and strollers are permitted The closures are Randall Street to King George Street, King George Street to College Avenue, College Avenue to Church Circle, Church Circle to Main Street, and Main Street back to Randall Street, said Detective Amy Miguez.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Michael Phelps remembers this as the city where he "came back," prompting his coach Bob Bowman to ask with mock innocence, "from where?" Bowman well knows, of course, that Phelps was referring to swimming his first race, the Charlotte UltraSwim Grand Prix in 2009, after returning from a suspension after a photo of him with a marijuana bong surfaced. This weekend, he competed here for the last time, another stop in the valedictory lap he has been taking as he trains for his fourth and final Olympics this summer.

Alas, Kegasus will not be the most athletic, um, sentient being in the infield at Preakness. Olympic Gold medalists Phil Dalhausser and Todd Rogers will compete in a National Volleyball League (yes, that's a thing) event on May 18-19. The pair will be making their domestic debut in advance of the London Games. Dalhausser, who's nickname "The Thin Beast" must be among the best in sports, will be recognizable to many sports fans. One, he's a thin beast. Two, he's got a bald dome that really sticks with you. Summer Olympic contenders Jen Kessy and April Ross will also compete on Preakness weekend, in what might be, according to a release, the only domestic appearance by American teams prior to the competition in London.  America's best known beach duo -- Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh -- has reunited but is not scheduled to appear in Baltimore.

The day began as so many have for Michael Phelps : at Meadowbrook pool in Mount Washington, where the mileage he has swum over the years would have gotten him to London a long time ago. But on this Saturday, the Baltimore swimmer's work would continue out of the water as well. On deck was Ryan Seacrest, recently named a prime-time host of NBC's coverage of the Summer Olympics in London, in town to interview him. And later that night, Phelps would headline a fundraising gala for Meadowbrook's North Baltimore Aquatic Club, mingling with the Maryland governor and first lady and donors who in some cases paid in the five figures to meet him. A hundred days from Wednesday, the Summer Games will open, but the event is also the beginning of the end of one of the greatest Olympic careers ever.

Patrick Husson has come a long way since walking on to the UMBC swimming team as a freshman in the fall of 2010. Now, he's one of three Retrievers hoping to compete in his country's Olympic swimming trials for a spot in the Summer Games in London. Husson will participate in the U.S. trials in June in Omaha, Neb., for a chance to be one of two swimmers to represent his country in the 200-meter breaststroke. "I have nothing to lose and I'm just having a blast with training and preparing for this meet.

Despite the recession and a soft advertising market, CBS is very optimistic about bringing home the gold with its mammoth coverage of the Winter Olympics from Albertville, France, which started Saturday and runs for 16 days and nights."

..........G S B T NOR 2.....7....7.....16 GER....6....6.....3.....15 USA.....7....4....2...13 RUS.....6.....2...5....13 CAN...2...4....5....11

We really enjoyed Jean Marbella 's article about Michael Phelps ("In his 'last year,' Phelps thoughtful," March 29). My family and I have always been huge fans of Michael Phelps . We met him and his mom, Debbie, at a golf event several years ago. My elderly mom, Trudy, who closely follows his career, was treated as a special guest of the Phelps' at the event and it really meant a lot to her. Ms. Marbella describes Michael as...

LAKE PLACID, N.Y — Just before he jumps on his skeleton sled for a wild, head-first ride down an icy, mile-long chute, Bradley Chalupski lowers his helmet visor, revealing a large Star of David. Beneath the helmet is another layer: a yarmulke emblazoned with the logo of the University of Maryland. In two years, Chalupski hopes, he will honor his sport and his Jewish heritage by participating in the Winter Olympics in Russia as the first ever member of Team Israel to race skeleton.