Portal:Current events/2008 August 17

• 2008 South Ossetia war:
  • Russian troops continue to withdraw from the Georgian city of Gori, where the major Georgian army base was dissembled by Russian troops soon after the conflict end. Two Russian APCs still remain at a checkpoint near the city, Reuters reports. (Reuters).
  • The BBC's Richard Galpin, who has spent the past two days travelling from the Black Sea port of Poti to Tbilisi, says Georgian forces seem to be surrendering control of the highway to the Russians (BBC).
  • Russia has denied claims its forces have begun withdrawing from breakaway republic of South Ossetia, that was attacked by Georgian army on August, 8 (Sky News).
• 2008 Summer Olympics:
  • China, having won 8 gold medals in one day, overtakes their record (32 gold medals) at Athens and leads the medal table temporarily with 35 gold medals. (BBC)
  • Swedish wrestler Ara Abrahamian is stripped of his bronze medal in the Men's 84kg Greco-Roman category after throwing the medal to the mat and leaving the medal ceremony in protest at the officiating of his semifinal match. (Reuters)
  • Constantina Diṭă-Tomescu of Romania wins the Women's Marathon with a time of 2:26:44. At 38, she is the oldest woman to win the Olympic Marathon.
  • American swimmer Michael Phelps wins gold as the butterfly leg of the winning Men's 4 x 100 metre medley relay team. With the relay victory, Phelps earns his eighth gold medal (5 individual, 3 relay), setting a record for most golds at an Olympic games, beating Mark Spitz's previous record of 7 set in 1972. (Bloomberg)
  • The Australian Women's 4 x 100 metre relay team of Emily Seebohm, Leisel Jones, Jessicah Schipper and Libby Trickett wins the gold medal in world record time.(Reuters)

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