Two of the most celebrated Olympics sports began their competitions on Sunday in Beijing: swimming and women's gymnastics. I have to admit that these two are my favorites to follow.

As an 11-year-old level 5 gymnast in 1996, watching the Magnificent Seven bring home the first team gold meal for the U.S. in Atlanta left a series of indelible images in my mind that I hope our current roster of Olympians can replicate. Of course, the home court favorites are the Chinese team. With 3-time World Vault Champion Cheng Fei leading their team, it will be a battle of U.S. vs. China in a grueling 3 athletes up 3 count format.

In my next blog, as the team finals are set to begin, I'll delve more into the finer points of who or what to look for from the gymnastics floor.

Swimming sensation Michael Phelps won his first medal on Sunday in Bejing, beating his own world record by over 1.5 seconds in the 400 IM, proving he is the best overall swimmer in the world. Like any of us seriously thought he wasn't! Olympic Champions Natalie Coughlin and Dara Torres led and anchored the U.S. team to a silver medal finish behind the Dutch team in 400 freestyle relay.

Late Sunday, the Chinese duo of Guo Jingjing and Wu Minxia defended their Olympic title in the 3 meter springboard diving final.

Monday morning, which will be late tonight for us west coast fans, swimmers will dive back into the pool at the "water cube" for four should-be showdowns that aren't to be missed. Can Brendan Hansen shake off his poor trials performances and uninspired preliminary races to beat his rival Kitajima and European Champion Alexander Oen of Norway or will he crumble under nerves and pressure in the 100 meter breaststroke? The women's 100 meter butterfly, the women's 400 freestyle featuring Katie Hoff and French champion Laure Manadou, as well as the men's 4x100 freestyle relay are the marquee events of the evening.

As the second day in Beijing came to a close, the U.S. and China are fittingly tied in the medal count at 8 each.

Here are a few helpful Web sites to help fans follow the action: www.nbcolympics.com, which has been featuring live streaming of many events that aren't shown in prime time; en.beijing2008.cn is the official site of these games and has a complete schedule and results pages that refresh every 15 seconds.