Most of the 91,000 assembled simply stood up and left the stadium, as Heat 6 was run in silence with the second lane empty. For the record, Konstadinos Douvalidis won in 13.49, which tied for the fastest 110m ever run by a Greek hurdler.

Of course, it could have been the lane Liu was in, provided you believe in hexes and that sort of thing. Lane 2 at the Bird's Nest has now claimed two hurdlers. American Terrence Trammell, who silvered in 2000 and 2004, pulled up with a hamstring injury after the first hurdle out of the same lane as Liu left limping.

BEACH VOLLEYBALL: A lot was made of Georgia's women's beach volleyball team of Cristine "Saka" Santanna and Andrezza "Rtvelo" Martins (Sakartvelo = Georgia in a Georgian dialect) when they beat Russia last Wednesday in a showdown with political implications. It would turn out to be the only match the Brazilian imports won at the Olympics, and the pair was eliminated on Day 6 in the Lucky Loser bracket.

A deeper impression is being made by the Georgian men's team. Also from Brazil, Renato Gomes and Jorge Terceiro took the Brazilnames "Geor" and "Gia" in order to endear them to their new countrymen. Earlier today, the duo snuck by a Dutch team 21-19, 21-19 to reach the semifinals. In a pre-Olympic interview, conducted in much less complicated times before the recent Russian invasion, Georgia's volleyball federation head Levan Akhvlediani talked to Reuters about his seven-year-old Brazil project.

"Every business needs success so I looked for the shortest way to success."

SAILING: The messy 49er race from yesterday is finally resolved, after no fewer than three protests were filed -- the race started after the 4:30 p.m. cut-off, conditions were bad and the Denmark entry used a boat from an eliminated competitor. The Danes' mast snapped before the race in the midst of heavy winds -- so they made it back to shore and borrowed Croatia's two-man skiff, and sailed to an eventually contested win. The Danes spent a sleepless night wondering whether they'd keep their gold medals or not, but a jury ruled today that they indeed could.

"I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy. You're down, you're up, you're down. You think you win, you lose. In my heart I hoped for it, but that's one thing. Another thing is what will happen in the jury room," [Martin Kirketerp] Ibsen said.

Just outside Olympia, state-run news service Xinhua is reporting that Beijing police have received 77 applications (involving 149 people) to demonstrate inside the three designated protest zones around the city. The move to allow protests was in response to the IOC's concerns that the Chinese government was stifling free speech, and was hailed as a sign of progress and openness. But for various reasons, that number was swiftly and summarily whittled down to zero.

Seventy-four applications have been withdrawn so far, because the problems those applicants contended for were properly addressed by relevant authorities or departments through consultations, added the spokesperson.

Two other applications have been suspended because their procedures were incomplete, the spokesperson said. In one of such cases, for example, the applicant applied to take children to the demonstration, which is against China's law...

The one remaining application has been vetoed by the public security authority, as it is in violation of China's law on demonstrations and protests, the spokesperson said without elaboration.

Ummm, err... Baby pandas!