The women's road race was one of the cycling events at the 2008 Summer
Olympics in Beijing, China. It took place on 10 August 2008, featuring
66 women from 33 countries. Heavy rain during the entire race made
conditions difficult for the competitors. A group of five was able to
break away during the final lap and worked together until the final
sprint, where Nicole Cooke (pictured) placed herself in position to win
the race. Cooke earned Great Britain's first medal at these Games and
200th Olympic gold medal overall. Emma Johansson of Sweden and Tatiana
Guderzo of Italy won the silver and bronze medals respectively. The race
also marked the first positive drug test of the 2008 Olympic Games, by
María Isabel Moreno of Spain. It was the seventh appearance of an
Olympic women's road race event and featured a longer course than any of
the previous six races. The race was run on the Urban Road Cycling
Course (one of Beijing's nine temporary venues), which is 102.6
kilometres (63.8 mi) in its entirety. Including a second lap around the
23.8 km (14.8 mi) final circuit, the total distance of the women's
race was 126.4 km (78.5 mi), less than half the length of the men's
race.
Read more:
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cycling_at_the_2008_Summer_Olympics_%E2%80%93_Women%27s_road_race>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1743:
War of the Austrian Succession: In the last time that a British
monarch personally led his troops into battle, George II and his forces
defeated the French in Dettingen, Bavaria.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Dettingen>
1844:
Latter Day Saint movement founder Joseph Smith, Jr. and his
brother Hyrum were killed by an armed mob who stormed the prison where
they were incarcerated in Carthage, Illinois.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Joseph_Smith>
1905:
The crew of the Russian battleship Potemkin began a mutiny
against their oppressive officers.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_battleship_Potemkin>
1952:
The Congress of Guatemala passed Decree 900, redistributing
unused lands of sizes greater than 224 acres (0.9 km2) to local
peasants and having a major effect on the nation's land reform movement.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decree_900>
1977:
The former French Territory of the Afars and the Issas was
granted independence from France and became Djibouti.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Djibouti>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
philander:
To make love to women; to play the male flirt.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/philander>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
Man is a creation of desire, not a creation of need.
--Gaston Bachelard
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Gaston_Bachelard>