Slovakia’s Michal Martikan wins the gold medal for men’s slalom canoe single. This should make up for his disappointment in Athens where a penalty relegated him to second place. According to Reuters, Martikan, then only 17 years old, won his first [and Slovakia's first] Olympic gold during the 1996 Olympic Games.

Photo credit: Shaun Botterill via beijing2008

Okay, this is another “better late than never” blog entry. Fabian Cancellara of Switzerland kisses his gold medal after he topped the men’s individual time trial in cycling. Let’s include Fabian in our list of medal kissers which, so far, contains shooting champ Satu Makela-Nummela of Finland. I’m hoping that Fabian’s countryman and Swiss flagbearer Roger Federer will join their ranks. Go Raja.

Photo credit: stu forster via beijing2oo8

There’s the art of Olympic medal biting, then there’s the art of flag waving, now let’s look at the art of medal kissing as demonstrated to us by Finnish gold medalist Satu Makela-Nummela. Satu won the gold medal in women’s trap shooting last Monday [so this is a "better late than never" kind of post]. Satu’s gold is the first, and so far the only, gold for Finland in Beijing.

Photo source: mtv3.fi

Embarrassed that female Olympians [Britta Heideman, Natalie Coughlin, Amanda Beard, etc] are outscoring the males in the very important Olympic art of posing naked, this group of New Zealand football players led by Sam Messam decided to equalize things by removing their shirts and performing the traditional Maori “haka” before a crowd of cheering thousands.

Now everything is all right with the world since the nakedness score between male and female Olympians is now even.

New Zealand related stories:
Olympics Fashion: New Zealand Unveils Uniform
Quote of the Day: New Zealand’s Tash Hind
Selection Controversy: Liza Hunter-Galvan to Sue Athletics NZ

Photo source: Chinadaily

Judoka Irakli Tsirekidze won the second medal for Georgia following his countryman, Manuchar Kvirkvelia’s triumph in wrestling. Irakli defeated Algerian Amar Benikhlef to bag the judo men’s 90-kg title.

Related:
Manuchar Kvirkvelia Waves Flag for Georgia

Photo source: tvnz