Day 7 of the Olympics--morning session...

11:05 pm--Amazingly enough, they started the decathlon shot put on time 55 minutes ago. We signed out, but took a peek, and lo & behold, Bryan Clay threw a personal best in the shot put 16.27m/53-4.5 worth 868 points. He now has 2862 points, and still leads the competition.

Hardee threw 13.49m/44-3.25, worth 697 points, giving him a score of 2657 points, putting him in third.

Tom Pappas withdrew, apparently hurting himself in the long jump. Confirmation on what happened will be posted when competition resumes at 7 pm, Beijing time, or 4 am in Seattle...see you then!

9:40 pm--Clay wins his second event, long jumping 7.78m/25-6.25 worth 1005. Hardee jumps 7.72m/25-4, worth 990 points.

Pappas jumps 7.41m/24-3.75, worth 913 points.

Clay & Hardee are still 1-2 overall with 1994 points, and 1960 points, respectively. Pappas is 12th at 1747.

Fifteen jumpers will advance to the finals, with 1.93 the magic qualifying mark (6-4). Chaunte Howard is the only American to qualify, as both Amy Acuff and Sharon Day go out at 1.89 & 1.85.

In group B of the javelin, Leigh Smith (76.55m/251-1) and Mike Hazle (72.75/238-8) continue the trend of US non qualifiers in the throws.

8:15 pm--In the javelin, Breaux Greer took one throw at 73.68m/241-9, and two passes, so he won't advance (no surprise). The rain has picked up.

Parker notes that Greer was throwing with a broken finger after shutting it in a door two weeks ago.

The blogger at nbcolympics.com writes, "Just a note, Breaux Greer is still sporting the black, white and pink Breaux-hawk from Trials. Right now he looks like a soaking wet cat that has been spray-painted in a demented act of graffiti."

Did notice Sergey Makarov of Russia slip as he planted to throw.

In the women's high jump, the bar's at 1.85m/6-0.75. Amazed that no one's gotten hurt with the slick runways.

6:52 pm--After the 100, Bryan Clay is the early leader, winning the 100 in 10.44, worth 989 points. Trey Hardee is second with 970 points, as he finished second behind Clay in 10.52. Tom Pappas is tied for 19th with 834 points, running 11.12 in his heat.

Readers, it's going to be a while, especially if you're following the decathlon.

6:05 pm--Parker writes, "The men's javelin qualifying has been delayed an hour. The decathlon long jump has also been delayed thirty minutes. Women's high jump delayed an hour. The men's javelin group B is also back an hour; the decathlon shot put is delayed fifty minutes."

With the rain, they are trying to clean up the field event area.

5:40 pm--Can't believe it's day 7 of the Olympic track & field competition already at the Bird's Nest...

The first day of the decathlon with Team USA's Bryan Clay will highlight the morning session, as he runs the 100, long jumps and throws the shot.

Other events going on include the finals of the women's 20-kilometer walk, along with qualifying in the women's high jump, and men's javelin.

From an American perspective, the javelin offers an interesting proposition, as 2007 world championship Breaux Greer will throw. Greer, who did not even make the finals of the US Olympic Trials, was added to the team on the basis of holding an "A" standard, as no other Americans beyond Leigh Smith and Mike Hazle had the requisite mark.

Greer revealed at the Trials that he had "Tommy John" surgery on his rotator cuff, an injury he suffered in the first round of the finals at the world championships.

While healing up, he's appeared on the NBC television series, "American Gladiators" under the stage name of "Hurricane".

Greer will throw in flight 1.

Going back to the decathlon, I encourage followers of the event to download the media guide for this event at www.decathlonusa.typepad.com. Most of the information is compiled by decathlon guru Frank Zarnowski, who is one of the world's leading experts on this event.

Tom Pappas will be in heat 2, while Clay and Trey Hardee are in heat 3 of the decathlon 100.

Parker Morse, who is blogging as usual for the IAAF writes, "It has been raining buckets most of the morning, and if we had much wind we would call the conditions "Helskink-esque." It's warmer here in Beijing, though." It's currently 70 degrees in the Chinese capital...