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we checked in with christine brennan covering the games for "usa today" and abc. last time i talked with herave short while ago and i know many of you will be happy to hear no spoiler alert-- i think i can promise this-- is necessary for our discussion. well, christine, hello again. before we get into summing up mode, i do want to ask you about one particular athlete,uc sane n bolt because he is off the charts in both performance and personality. are you with me on that? >> i completely agree with you, jeff. it happened right behind me on the track and done the unprecedented, winning the 100 and 200 at this olympics and of course wearing it four years ago, a first-ever double-double and usain bolt is one of the great stories coming out of these games, as he was out of the beijing games four years ago. you're right. he's saying he's the greatest of all time. who can really argue? he's certainly, you can make the case, the greatest olympic sprinter of all time. he's not necessarily going to win the gold medal for humility. all the me-me-me stuff, all the self-procla

more on this day's events now with christine brennan. she's covering the games for "u.s.a. today" and abc and joins us again from london. do christine, a big moment, a historic moment for gabby douglas. tell us what you saw there today. >> jeff t really was something. for the first time ever the women's all-around competition in gymnastic tess olympics, you could argument most lucrative, the most famous of all olympic gold medals and the win cert most famous olympic good medalist potentially for the first time goes to a woman of color, an african-american, gabby douglas with a stellar perfmance. she just didn't flinch. she took the lead right off the bat on the vault. never gave it up. the russians kept trying to get close. and gabby douglas was just dominating. just like the u.s. team, two days earlier, gabby douglas performed individually just like that team did without a mistake. and to think about this for a moment this is the gold medal that mary lou receipton did, of nasdaqia lukin four years ago and now it belongs to gabby douglas who one year ago, most of us had nev

we get theatesfrom christine brennan of "u.s.a. today." >> brown: anwe remberobe hughes and judith crist, two legendary critics of the arts whose deaths remind us of another era. >> warner: that's all ahead on tonight's newshour. major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: moving our economy for 160 years. bnsf, the engine that connects us. >> and by the bill and melinda gates foundation. dedicated to the idea that all people deserve the chance to live a healthy, productive life. and with the ongoing support of these institutions and foundations. and... this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> brown: there won't be a trial for the man who shot up a political event for an arizona congresswoman last year. instead, the gunman pleaded guilty today, guaranteeing he'll spend his life behind bars. psychiatrists medicated him for success friendna. today, the judge declared him mentally competent clearing him to plead

more on the state's events with christine brennan and joins us from london and welcome back.tart with gymnastics which americans have been so rivotted on. this is the last day and it seems that alley is going t allo ho with as manyedals as gabby douglas. >> gabby douglas has the most important one. she is the break out star of the games. not just in gymnastics but all sports in the united states. having said that after douglas won the all-around title and the u.s. team won the gold as well, it has -- there's been a lot ofn celebrations and a lot of media and gabby has not had a chance to focus on heroux teens. hence an 8th place finish on the uneven bars today and seven place on the balance beam today holding on for dear life. that is not the image that you want to have. but it's tough. it shows the pressure. it also shows how much fun she has been having celebrating. an ally her teammate won a gold and a bronze is the star of the show for this day each though gabby has the big prize from last week. >> neither have anything to be ashamed or unhappy about. moving on to track a

and that was a fun story watch. >> brown: allight, christine brennan in london.e again, thank you for all your reporting and talking with us these past couple of weeks. >> my pleasure, jeff. thank you. >> brown: again, the major developments of the day. the u.s. government slashed its corn and soybean crop expectations again, as a worsening drought plagues most of the country. hundreds of mourners paid final respects to the six people gunned down sunday at a sikh temple near milwaukee. and three u.s. marines were killed in afghanistan by an afghan police officer. it was the third such attack this week. >> brown: on our web site, get a glimpse of campaigns of days past. kwame holman tells us more. >> holman: on our home page, we've collected a slideshow of historic election images and artifacts displayed at the library of congress. author adam brent houghtailing explains the appeal of listening to melancholy songs from his new book, "this will end in tears: the miserabilist guide to music." find that on art beat. tonight's edition of "need to know" on pbs is a "da

athletes at the olympic games from christine brennan in london. >> brown: from california: spencer michelsorts on a fierce fight over a proposal to build two tunnels to divert water from the northern part of the state to the south. >> woodruff: and paul solman talks to the former government watchdog for the bank bailouts, who says too much help went to wall street, not enough to main street. >> i didn't take an oath of office in order to cheerlead bad policies and to turn and look away when, when they did things that harmed, actually harmed people and protected the banks instead of what they were supposed to do. >> brown: that's all ahead on tonight's "newshour." major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: and the william and flora hewlett foundation, working to solve social and environmental problems at home and around the world. and with the ongoingpo

in that regard, china may have some point. >> christine brennan, there's no doubt. saying he had the same kind of extraordinary rapid growth and performance. five seconds. when he was 16, 17. same age. when you're very young as a swimmer, you can have these alarming jumps in your performance levels. physically, she isn't anything as bulky as the chinese swimmers who did cheat. we remember that from athens and other games. are we giving her a bad rap, do you think? >> well, i don't think we are. i think journalistically it's the right thing to do. michelle smith, an irish swimmer, she got all those questions in 1996. when dora tore rez came back in 2000, i wrote a column saying if she with german we'd ask these questions about her. she didn't like that. there are questions about chinese drug testing. that is the international community asking those very tough questions. it's not the same as some of the drug testing around the rest of the world. and the chinese coming out of the blue, i mean, good for her, i hope she's clean, but the history of the sport says we have

we get the latest from christine brennan of "u.s.a.oday." >> brown: and we remember robert hughes and judith crist, two legendary critics of the arts whose deaths remind us of another era. >> warner: that's all ahead on tonight's newshour. major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: moving our economy for 160 years. bnsf, the en t

christine brennan, welcome. today augusta national instead of having no women over its 80 years' history now has two. is this a big deal? and if so, why? >> i think it's a very big deal. it's not just about playing golf and sports, ray. to me it's a cultural story. and it comes... it's fitting in many ways that it comes right after the london replyings. the women's olympics. we were talking all about the u.s. women winning so many more gold medals than the u.s. men. a week later you've got this last bastion of male supremacy. augusta national golf club finally in a very public way -- and this is a private club that doesn't tell us anything -- making this announcement, unprecedented that they would go so public and be so forth coming to talk about not one but two female members. i think it's a great step for augusta national. i think it speaks volumes about the need to have more women not only in the game of golf, which is not exactly, you know, the biggest issue in the nation, but also in the corridors of power

. >> brown: and as the thrilling olympic games wind down in london, we check in with christine brennan"usa today." >> woodruff: that's all ahead, on tonight's newshour. major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: and with the ongoing support of these institutions and foundations. and... this program was made possible by the cra

christine brennan, sports columnist for usa today. what a big day for the americans. >> absolutely. i was at gymnastics. you could have been at swimming and had the same headlines. >> watching michael phelps going to the 20th medal, he wanted it badly. got a look at a guy with not enough golds same i am having that. >> and ryan lochte, and phelps not winning individual medal to this point, the pride of the athlete showed through. the sense it is his last olympics and gold is great. to be an individual gold medallist is fantastic. would have been a footnote in a bad way if phelps hadn't gotten that. >> do you think ryan thought psychologically got the glory at the top. >> all gone downhill from there. >> only won two golds. >> he started with an important race and beat michael phelps. for all, it is a bit of an uneven story for lochte and phelps. some great moments. they'll take those away. what really shows is again what an amazing thing we saw four years ago from michael phelps. this is reality in swimming. someone wins here and there. the french men reel in the americans at the en

christine brennan, sports columnist for usa today. what a big day for the americans. >> absolutely.could have been at swimming and had the same headlines. >> watching michael phelps going to the 20th medal, he wanted it badly. got a look at a guy with

christine brennan, sports columnist for usa today. what a big day for the americans. >> absolutely.astics. you could have been at swimming and had the same headlines. >> watching michael phelps going to the 20th medal, he wanted it badly. got a look at a guy with not enough golds same i am having that. >> and ryan lochte, and phelps not winning individual medal to this point, the pride of the

"usa today" sports columnist christine brennan. welcome.ere you as shocked as everybody else seems to have been when he threw the towel in? >> yeah, he gave up. the ultimate battler in sports just quits. i don't know if i was completely shocked because he'd been saying this all along, that he was fed up and sick and tired. the thought that he would -- as you say, wave the white flag of surrender knowing that that meant he was lose the tour de france titles, be banned for life and forever be labeled a cheater at least officially. you know, he's got his fan base. it tells you i think he was very concerned about what the testimony would have been in arbitration if he had falsed that. so he decided to go to the court of public opinion instead. >> to all the fans in uproar, i've been on twitter, give you my view. to me, he's obviously i think throwing the towel in because he was a cheat. but there are many people still defending him. saying, look, he never failed a drugs test and this is a complete stitch up. what do you say to that? >> marion j

let's get all of the latest on the amazing day for the americans, and with me is christine brennan, sportsat a day for the americans. >> yes, i was at gymnastics, but with swimming you could have had the same headlines. >> watching michael phelps storming to the 20th medal and he wanted it badly. i got a look at a guy slightly bruised of not enough goals and i have to have this. >> and beating lochte's baby in the 200 i.m.

christine brennan is a biggest name in sports journalism. with "usa today" and joins us on the phone with more on this. great to hear you, christine. thank you for joining us. >> my pleasure. thank you for having me. >> i think your headline you just yoet for "usa today" online says it all. finally. why did it take so long and why now? >> well, i think one of the reasons it's happening now is the chairman, sue. billy payne. this is a man who ran the atlanta olympics and the olympics previously known as the women's olympics until the london games which i was honored to cover and just got back from. and billy payne is a much more modern chairman of augusta than anyone they've had before. this is the oldest of the old boy's clubs. this is the last bastion of supremacy and bring in millions of dollars of corporate money and had to happen. i think the trigger was jenny rametti the ibm ceo. the ceos traditionally members of augusta. she wasn't and the issue blew up in april embarrassing billy payne and the club. they realized they had to do somethi

i'm joined now by christine brennan from "usa today" and dominique dawes who was part of the dream teamnastic gold for america in 1996. let's talk michael phelps. he's become officially the greatest olympic medal winner in history. what does it mean to any olympic

i'm joined now by christine brennan from "usa today" and dominique dawes who was part of the dream teamwho last won gymnastic gold for america in 1996. let's talk michael phelps. it's the big story today. he's become officially the greatest olympic medal winner in history. what does it mean to any olympic athlete? >> michael phelps has definitely earned every single one of these 19 medals that he's won thus far. it means so much. it's the legacy he's going to leave behind. not just in swimming but in olympics sports and in sports in general. i'm so proud of him. he's from maryland. i've been cheering for him every step of the way. >> christine, it's an