American swimmer Michael Phelps became the most successful Olympian of all time by winning two more Beijing gold medals on Wednesday to take his career tally to an unprecedented 11 victories.

The mighty Phelps overtook an elite group including Mark Spitz and Carl Lewis who had won nine golds by breaking his own world record in the men's 200 meters butterfly.

Phelps brushed off a problem with his goggles that left them full of water. "Under the circumstances, it's not a bad result," he told reporters.

An hour later, the 23-year-old was back in the pool with his American team mates to win the men's 200 freestyle relay, knocking over four seconds off the previous world best. It was his fifth gold from these Games adding to six in Athens in 2004.

Phelps is now within reach of Spitz's record of seven golds at one Games. With each of his Beijing golds coming in record times he is also tracking Spitz's achievement of winning each of the 1972 titles in world best times.

The day's dry land highlight came when China took advantage of stumbles at key moments by the U.S. to win one of the Games' showpiece events, the women's team artistic gymnastics.

Alicia Sacramone, the senior team member, stumbled off the beam after fluffing her mount and then fell flat on her back during her floor exercise. Shell-shocked at her disastrous mistakes, she hurried down the stairs and collapsed in tears.

It was the first victory in the event for the Chinese women.

An astonishing six world records were broken in the Water Cube pool, taking the tally for the Games to 16 in four days.

France's Alain Bernard briefly took Eamon Sullivan's world record in the 100 freestyle semi-finals but the Australian recaptured it less than five minutes later.

Italy's Federica Pellegrini broke the women's 200 freestyle record to take gold and ease the pain of losing in her favorite race, the 400 freestyle. Australia's Stephanie Rice won her second gold in record time in the 200 individual medley.

Phelps's triumphs pushed him ahead of Lewis, Spitz, "Flying Finn" distance runner Paavo Nurmi and Soviet gymnast Larysa Latynina on nine golds.

Latynina and fellow Soviet gymnast Nikolai Andrianov hold the record for the most career medals of any colour, with 18 for women and 15 for men.

U.S.-CHINA BATTLE

China's determination to stage a successful Games has been criticized for going too far after organizers said they used a photogenic stand-in to lip-synch the voice of a less suitable looking 7-year-old girl singer at the opening ceremony.

Yang Peiyi's voice but not her face were used, "because of her external appearance," ceremony director Chen Qigang told state television. "It was for the national interest."

Opening ceremony fireworks were pre-recorded to make better television and empty seats are being filled with cheerleaders in other measures to give the Games a good gloss.

China and the United States are tussling for top place on the medals table with the Americans trailing the hosts 14 golds to 10, despite the Phelps phenomenon.

The Americans, who dethroned the Chinese as world champions in 2007, arrived with high hopes of winning their first women's Olympic gymnastics team title on foreign soil.

But a series of injuries left them only four fit gymnasts and their best hope was that the Chinese would fail to cope with an unaccustomed early start, after the event was switched to the morning to catch the prime-time American television market.

But China's women withstood the pressure to win in front of an ecstatic home crowd that expected nothing less than victory.

"Unfortunately we made two mistakes and you cannot win gold with two mistakes," said U.S. team coordinator Martha Karolyi.

China's men had grabbed gold in their gymnastics team event on Tuesday, sparking national rejoicing after returning home from Athens in 2004 without a medal.

The women cyclists were thankful that Beijing's weather had improved for their 23.8km time trial between two sections of the Great Wall. It was won by American Kristin Armstrong.

Suffocating heat and smog forced a third of the field in the men's road race to quit the race on Saturday, while a day later thunderstorms and heavy rain left the women cyclists to face treacherously slippery conditions.

In a reminder of the struggle to keep the competition clean, two more possible doping incidents were revealed.

Bulgaria said it had sent home its men's volleyball captain

after pre-Olympic doping controls showed he was close to anti-doping limits. Plamen Konstantinov would face further tests back home in Sofia, the volleyball federation said.

A Taiwanese baseball player tested positive for a banned substance in checks conducted before the Games started, the International Olympic Committee said. Jamaica said its athletes were being tested so heavily it could affect their performance.

Sean Maguire

Joey Chestnut reclaimed the top spot at the annual hot dog eating contest in Coney Island on Friday after first tying with archrival Takeru Kobayashi in a 10-minute chow-down and then beating him in a five-dog eat-off.

The men tied at 59 frankfurters in 10 minutes, before being made to gobble another five dogs in a last-minute tiebreaker. They consumed 64 hot dogs total and were looking quite peaked after the competition.

Kobayashi had hoped to reclaim the throne after a disappointing three-dog loss last year shattered his six-year winning streak.

"He wanted it, but I needed it," Chestnut said of his diminutive Japanese rival.

Thousands gathered at Coney Island on the Fourth of July to watch the glutinous gladiators compete in the annual event. Chestnut emerged victorious for the second year in a row, beating 20 others who had only 10 minutes to scarf down as many hot dogs as possible, two minutes less than in previous years.

The regulation time was changed after it was revealed that the original competition in 1916 was just 10 minutes long, instead of the 12-minute limit used in more recent years. The switch made for a tense competition.

Chestnut quickly pulled ahead, with cheeks puffed as he crammed hot dogs into his mouth. At one point, the 24-year-old Californian led Kobayashi 14 to 11. Kobayashi fell to third place, but ate his way back and the two went dog-to-dog in the final stretch. After a frankfurter photo-finish, the judges decided it was a tie.

Richard Shea, one of the founders of the International Federation of Competitive Eating, said it was the first time in his memory the contest went into overtime.

As usual, Kobayashi's strategy was to eat all the dogs first, then dunk the buns and eat them. A pause while swallowing the soggy buns meant defeat.

"He should've won it, it was his to win," said judge Gersh Kuntzman said of the diminutive 30-year-old of Nagano, Japan.

The 128-pound legend in the competitive eating circuit told Brooklyn papers that he wasn't feeling 100 percent, and while he was improving, the tooth problem and sore jaw that hampered last year's performance were still something of a problem.

"If I put one more mouthful in, I could've won (in regulation)," Kobayashi said through a translator.

Their competitors also included a pizza cook from New York City, a fishmonger from Chicago and a 110-pound mother of two from Maryland.

Chestnut, who topped out at 210 pounds, downplayed his win, which includes $10,000 and the coveted mustard-yellow belt.

"It was crazy. I'm just a normal guy eating hot dogs on the Fourth," he said. "You can't overcomplicate it."

Chestnut said he was mentally prepared to eat 70, but his body was pushing back during the competition; it didn't want to swallow fast enough.

And it shouldn't want to. In fact, it's downright bad for your health, says Dr. Marc Siegel, a professor at New York University School of Medicine.

"Hot dogs are extremely unhealthy, especially when eaten at high volume," he said. "They're really processed, they have high cholesterol and too much salt."

And thanks to the quantities the competitors ate, they'll likely suffer nausea, bloat, headache, and possibly high blood pressure for several days as the body slowly digests the food.

"One is bad for you, five's worse and 50 is terrible," he said.

Luckily for the svelte first and second-place winners, being in better shape helps in digesting the food.

And any gastrointestinal woes won't deter Kobayashi. He says he'll be back for a rematch next year. Before that, the two will face off again at the Krystal Square Off World Hamburger Eating Championship Sept. 28 in Chattanooga, Tenn.

ADAM GOLDMAN

Poker professional Scotty Nguyen won nearly $2 million at the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas on Monday, topping a field of 148 players and emerging from a marathon final table with his fifth gold bracelet.

Nguyen beat out 23-year-old Michael DeMichele in H.O.R.S.E., a rotating-game tournament that cost $50,000 to enter.

The various games and limited betting structure reward all around play and is said to truly reward the best players over the long haul. Along with the main event, many players consider H.O.R.S.E. the most important tournament in the World Series of Poker.

“Scotty Nguyen’s gonna be triple crown, baby!” Nguyen said after posing at the made-for-TV final table with thick stacks of $100 bills and his newly won bracelet. “That’s my dream.”

The 45-year-old Nguyen, who won $1 million at the series’ main event in 1998, said he hoped to also win the main event this year and the series’ player of the year award to complete his dream run.

Nguyen won the final hand Monday at limit Hold ‘em, pushing DeMichele all in with an ace and a 10. DeMichele, far behind in chips, called with an ace and a three, and Nguyen’s 10 gave him the win when both players paired their aces. DeMichele won $1.24 million for his second place finish.

“I guess I’ll have to live with being that guy,” said DeMichele of Poughkeepsie, N.Y.

Nguyen said it felt good to break through and win his first gold bracelet since 2001.

“I’m gonna make Phil Hellmuth squirm,” he said, referring to the World Series of Poker record holder with 11 bracelets.

H.O.R.S.E., which stands for five games of poker played in rotation—Hold ‘em, Omaha, Razz, Stud and Eight or Better—tests the all-around player more than the No Limit Hold ‘em game, which was born in Texas and has become the most popular poker game worldwide.

The event was also played with betting limits, meaning dramatic “all-ins” were eliminated in favor of skills demonstrated over longer sessions of play.

Nguyen started the final table Sunday with the second-highest chip stack among a tough field that included DeMichele and poker professionals Erick Lindgren, Barry Greenstein and Huck Seed.

Lindgren, DeMichele and Nguyen were mired in a three-way battle for most of the wee hours, with Matt Glantz busting out in fourth place shortly before 11 p.m. Sunday.

Lindgren wasn’t eliminated until 4:30 a.m. Monday, when his pair of eights lost to Nguyen’s pair of nines.

“What are you going to do,” Lindgren said after finishing third and winning $781,440.

DeMichele was out about a half-hour later, unable to overcome Nguyen’s overpowering chip stack.

“After E-dog’s gone, everything’s just like a walk through the park,” Nguyen said. “Nobody’s going to stop me. This is what I want, baby.”

OSKAR GARCIA

Oscar Stohler was raised in a sod house in western North Dakota and ranched there for nearly seven decades. He never gave much thought to what lay below the grass that fattened his cattle.

When oilmen wanted to drill there last year, Stohler, 83, doubted oil would be found two miles underground on his property. He even joked about it.

"I told them if they hit oil, I was going to buy a Cadillac convertible and put those big horns on the front and wear a 10-gallon hat," Stohler recalled.

He still drives his old pickup and wears a mesh farm cap — but it's by choice.

In less than a year, Stohler and his wife, Lorene, 82, have become millionaires from the production of one well on their land near Dunn Center, a mile or so from the sod home where Oscar grew up. A second well has begun producing on their property and another is being drilled — all aimed at the Bakken shale formation, a rich deposit that the U.S. Geological Survey calls the largest continuous oil accumulation it has ever assessed.

Landowners in western North Dakota have a much better chance of striking it rich from oil than they do playing the lottery, say the Stohlers. Some of their neighbors in the town of about 120, from bar tenders to Tupperware salespeople, have become "overnight millionaires" from oil royalty payments.

"It's the easiest money we've ever made," said Lorene Stohler, who worked for decades as a sales clerk at a small department store.

State and industry officials say North Dakota is on pace to set a state oil-production record this year, surpassing the 52.6 million barrels produced in 1984. A record number of drill rigs are piercing the prairie and North Dakota has nearly 4,000 active oil wells.

The drilling frenzy has led companies to search for oil using horizontal drilling beneath Parshall, a town of about 980 in Mountrail County, and under Lake Sakakawea, 180-mile-long reservoir on the Missouri River.

"I have heard, anecdotally, that there is a millionaire a day being created in North Dakota," said Ron Ness, president of the North Dakota Petroleum Council.

Kathy Strombeck, a state Tax Department analyst, said the number of "income millionaires" in North Dakota is rising.

The number of taxpayers reporting adjusted gross income of more than $1 million in North Dakota rose from 266 in 2005 to 388 in 2006, Strombeck said. The 2007 numbers won't be known until October, she said.

Bruce Gjovig, director of the University of North Dakota's Center for Innovation, said his informal survey estimates the number of new millionaires in Mountrail County, one of the biggest drilling areas of the Bakken, may be as many as 2,000 — or nearly a third of the county's population — in the next three to five years.

North Dakota's per capita income in 2007 was $36,846, ranking the state 30th in the nation and up from 42nd in 1997, said Richard Rathge, the state Data Center director and North Dakota demographer.

"The two main drivers are energy and agriculture income," Rathge said. The increasing wealth in the state from oil should push the average annual wage in North Dakota, he said.

The oil boom has spurred several "Jed Clampett-like" tales of ordinary folks getting rich, said Tom Rolfstad, the economic development director for the city of Williston.

Rolfstad said he hasn't spotted any Ferraris or Rolls Royces in town, though several people can afford them now.

"I'm seeing a lot more big, shiny gas-guzzling pickups," he said.

Several homes that cost more than a million dollars also are being built in Williston, he said. The community of about 12,500 people is perhaps best known as the hometown of NBA coach Phil Jackson.

Most people "don't want people to know how much money they got and they don't want to be tagged with being wealthy — they want to be themselves," Rolfstad said.

Oscar and Lorene Stohler said their newly found wealth hasn't changed them.

"We still know what tough times are," Oscar said. "We grew up in the Dirty '30s."

"We put our kids through college without that oil money," Lorene said.

The couple moved a few miles east to Beulah and paid cash for their new home, the first one they have owned. They have established trust accounts for their four children.

Lorene said the only thriftless purchase was an automatic sprinkler system for her flowers that surround the couple's new home. And Oscar bought a $1,000 ring for his wife to celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary.

"We got enough now to buy new stuff," Lorene said, "but we like our old stuff."

JAMES MacPHERSON

After four days of coffee brewing, Irish barista Stephen Morrissey on Sunday won the ninth annual World Barista Championship, impressing judges by flambeing a drink of panna cotta, blueberries, chocolate and espresso.

Morrissey finished ahead of the national champions from Australia and the Netherlands in a competition to serve judges four perfect espressos, four foamy cappuccinos and four own-recipe signature drinks using espresso in 15 minutes.

"What came out in the espressos and cappuccinos was amazing and of extremely high quality," one of judges told Reuters of the winner's bid after the votes had been collected.

At barista tournaments, judges look for a thick elastic espresso, a cappuccino topped with high caliber foam texture and a unique coffee invention to please eyes and taste buds.

If baristas -- professionals highly skilled in coffee preparation -- can accomplish this, and they have the ability too take coffee experience even further, they have a chance to win.

"The judges want to be guided through the whole experience like a television chef would present it and really make the judges crave the drink," the 2007champion, James Hoffmann, told Reuters.

The decision came in a densely packed conference hall in Denmark's capital Copenhagen, where more than 1,000 spectators watched coffee art and cheered every-time a barista made a cappuccino foam heart or leaf pattern.

At the first edition of the competition in 2000 only 12 baristas competed and this year 52 countries participated, creating a Eurovision song contest-like atmosphere at the tournament.

Morrissey was the first Irish winner of the World's biggest special coffee making event.

Next year the grinder click noise and the coffee spray will sound in Atlanta in the United States.

Martin Burlund; Martin Burlund

For the first time in American history a woman has been chosen for promotion to four-star general.

The Pentagon announced Monday that President Bush nominated Lt. Gen. Ann E. Dunwoody to head the Army Materiel Command, responsible for equipping, outfitting and arming soldiers throughout the Army.

If confirmed by the Senate, she would be the first woman to attain the rank of a full general. By law, the Army is limited to 11 active-duty four-stars, including the Army chief of staff, Gen. George Casey.

Women haven't reached four-star rank because by law they are excluded from serving in combat roles, which historically have been the path to the highest-ranking positions. That exclusion still applies, but with Dunwoody the Army has chosen to cast aside its customary limitations on promotion.

Dunwoody is one of only two female three-stars in the Army; the other is Lt. Gen. Kathleen Gainey, director of logistics on the Joint Staff.

"Her 33 years of service, highlighted by extraordinary leadership and devotion to duty, make her exceptionally qualified for this senior position," Defense Secretary Robert Gates said in a statement.

Dunwoody currently is deputy commander of Army Materiel Command. Among her earlier assignments, she was commander of Army Combined Arms Support Command and the Army deputy chief of staff for logistics.

Dunwoody is a native of New York; she received her Army commission after graduating from the State University of New York in 1975.

"I am very honored but also very humbled today with this announcement," Dunwoody said. "I grew up in a family that didn't know what glass ceilings were. This nomination only reaffirms what I have known to be true about the military throughout my career — that the doors continue to open for men and women in uniform."

ROBERT BURNS

Bay Area chefs and restaurateurs took home three top prizes in tonight's James Beard Foundation Awards in New York, including best chef in the Pacific region. The awards, given annually, are considered the Oscars of the food world.

Craig Stoll, chef and co-owner of Delfina in San Francisco, beat stiff competition from other Bay Area chefs and was named the best chef in California and Hawaii, one of 10 such regional awards. Stoll and his wife, Annie, also operate the adjoining Pizzeria Delfina. The award goes to a chef who has been working in that job for at least five years and has set consistent standards of excellence.

Another major prize, Outstanding Pastry Chef award, went to Elisabeth Prueitt and Chad Robertson, owners of Tartine Bakery in San Francisco, as the best pastry chefs or bakers in America. The award designates a chef or baker who serves as a national standard-bearer of excellence. The couple also own Bar Tartine, a restaurant a few blocks away on Valencia Street. Nicole Plue, pastry chef at Redd in Yountville, was one of the five nominees in the pastry category.

In addition, Fritz Maytag of Anchor Brewing Co. and Anchor Distilling Co., both in San Francisco, a pioneer in the American micro-brew and artisan spirits industries, received a Lifetime Achievement Award. Maytag also produces high-quality blue cheese at his family's Maytag Dairy Farms in Iowa, and is a leader in the resurgent American artisan cheese industry.

Stoll's competition this year included three other Bay Area chefs - Douglas Keane of Cyrus in Healdsburg, David Kinch of Manresa in Los Gatos, and Michael Tusk of Quince in San Francisco. Los Angeles chef David Myers was also nominated in the category. As with all James Beard awards, a chef can win the category just once.

Terra, the restaurant in St. Helena owned by chef Hiro Sone and his wife, Lissa Doumani, took the award for the nation's best restaurant service. Sone and Doumani also own Ame in the St. Regis Hotel in San Francisco.

Other Bay Area nominees in various categories included Nate Appleman of A16 and SPQR in San Francisco, as Rising Star Chef of the Year, for chefs under the age of 30. The award went to Gavin Kaysen of Cafe Boulud in New York. Boulevard in San Francisco was nominated for restaurant of the year, given to an outstanding restaurant that has been in business 10 years or more. This year, that award went to Gramercy Tavern in New York.

The awards were handed out in a ceremony that was attended by more than 1,800 food and wine professionals. The James Beard Foundation, headquartered in New York, was named after the late teacher and cookbook author who championed American cuisine. It is dedicated to preserving and nurturing American culinary diversity and tradition and supporting excellence in the field.

Miriam Morgan

As it turned out, Sameer Mishra provided more than just comic relief at the 2008 Scripps National Spelling Bee. He ended up winning the title.

The 13-year-old from West Lafayette, Ind., who often had the audience laughing with his one-line commentaries was all business when he aced "guerdon" — a word that appropriately means "something that one has earned or gained" — to win the 81st version of the bee Friday night.

"I don't know about comedy lines, but my parents have been telling me since the beginning that I should always stay calm, cool and collected," said Sameer, who likes playing the violin and video games, and hopes one day to be a neurosurgeon.

Sameer, appearing in the bee for the fourth time and a top 20 finisher the last two years, clenched both fists and put his hands to his face after spelling the winning word. He won a tense duel over first-time participant Sidharth Chand, 12, of Bloomfield Hills, Mich., who finally stumbled on "prosopopoeia," a word describing a type of figure of speech.

Sameer was a crowd favorite throughout the tournament. When told one of his words in the semifinals was a dessert, he deadpanned: "That sounds good right now." He rolled his eyes and muttered "wonderful" when told that one of his words had five different language roots. He once asked "Are you sure there are no alternate pronunciations?" and later uttered "That's a relief" after initially mishearing the word "numnah" (a type of sheepskin pad).

And what did he have to say while hoisting the heavy trophy? "I'm really, really weak."

Sameer is coached by his sister, Shruti, a high school senior and three-time spelling bee competitor. The first-place finish won him $35,000 in cash and more than $5,000 in other prizes.

Third place went to Tia Thomas, 13, from Coarsegold, Calif., who was eliminated on "opificer" (a skilled or artistic worker). She started the word with an "e" instead of an "o" and received a standing ovation and a hug from her mother. Tia was one of the favorites, appearing in her fifth and final bee after an eighth-place finish a year ago.

The finals were aired live in prime time on ABC, and it appeared for a while that the broadcast could run late into the night. Twenty-four of the first 25 words were spelled correctly, with the dictionary-familiar competitors breezing through words such as "brankursine," "cryptarithm," and "empyrean" with barely a hitch.

Rose Sloan was so familiar with "alcarraza" (a type of jug) that the 13-year-old from River Forest, Ill., couldn't stop laughing in glee when pronouncer Jacques Bailly uttered it. She was later eliminated on "sheitel" (a wig worn by Jewish women).

Austin Pineda, 14, of Perris, Calif., was the only early casualty, putting an extra "l" in "tralatitious" (handed down) as he nervously twirled his bangs with his index finger.

It was somewhat surprising who didn't make the finals. There were no Canadians — and no Matthew Evans.

Matthew, also a favorite to win in his fifth and final appearance, was stunningly eliminated during the semifinal round Friday when he misspelled "secernent," a word dealing with secretion and one that somehow eluded him as he studied his personal 30,000-word list. He ended it with "-ant."

When the 13-year-old from Albuquerque, N.M., heard the bell, he slumped his shoulders, lowered his head and slowly walked offstage, a rare standing ovation echoing behind him. He stayed in the comfort room for more than a half-hour, and his eyes were still red when he emerged.

"It's disappointing," said Matthew, choking back tears. "I know a lot of people were rooting for me."

All seven representatives from Canada were vanquished in a span of about 20-minutes in the first semifinal round. No Canadian has ever won the bee, but the country always fields a strong contingent. Nate Gartke of Alberta was last year's runner-up.

"Seven up, seven down," said Pam Penny of Ancaster, Ontario, whose daughter, 10-year-old Veronica, was eliminated on the French-rooted word "etagere." "Very disappointing. Especially for Canadians to go down on French words."

Among the spectators was 94-year-old Frank Neuhauser, the winner of the first national bee in 1925. Asked to spell his winning word from 83 years ago, Neuhauser rattled off the letters to "gladiolus" as if he were racing through his ABCs.

"It's an easy word," said Neuhauser, who attracted a long line of teen and preteen autograph-seekers. "Nobody could miss it, but the second (-place) girl did."

Neuhauser's prize was $500 in $20 gold pieces. He also was feted with a parade through his hometown of Louisville, Ky.

"It was a lot easier back then," Neuhauser told the audience. "There were only eight competitors instead of 288. I'd never make it now."

The 288 spellers that entered this year's bee was a record. Forty-five of them made it past the preliminary and quarterfinal rounds Thursday to compete on Friday.

JOSEPH WHITE

Two scuba divers, a British man and an American woman, were rescued on Saturday after drifting for 20 hours off Australia's Great Barrier Reef after they became separated from their dive party.

A rescue helicopter spotted the divers drifting about 7.8 nautical miles north-west of Bait Reef, winched them aboard and flew them to a nearby resort island, police said.

"I'm quite surprised, they are in such great condition," a helicopter rescue official told local radio.

"It was quite amazing, with over 20 hours in the ocean to not have more exposure, but I guess the wetsuits just kept them warm enough during the night. Possibly they had some fresh water on them and they didn't get too sunburnt during the afternoon."

The two, part of a party of six divers on a charter boat, became separated on Friday afternoon and drifted some eight nautical miles during the night.

Police said the pair were diving in a small inlet called Gary's Lagoon when they failed to resurface as scheduled.

The dive boat crew started a search, alerting police when they failed to find any trace of the missing divers.

Three aircraft, including a specialized search and rescue plane with forward looking infra-red equipment, searched overnight for the pair. The search was expanded on Saturday with seven helicopters and three aircraft looking for the pair.

Michael Perry; Lincoln Feast

Quick: Cochabamba is the third-largest conurbation in what country?

Your answer might be, "Huh?" But 11-year-old Akshay Rajagopal answered "Bolivia" to clinch the 20th annual National Geographic Bee on Wednesday.

A conurbation is a large, densely populated urban area — and Cochabamba is the third-largest one in the South American country.

Akshay's correct answer capped a two-day event in which he got every question right. A sixth-grader at Lux Middle School in Lincoln, Neb., he won a $25,000 scholarship.

Along the way, Akshay answered questions that included the westernmost Asian national capital (Ankara in Turkey), the country where Makossa is a popular type of music (Cameroon), and the location of Tillya Tepe (it's in Afghanistan).

"Some of them were hard but others were OK," Akshay said as he held an oversized check. "I think I was just lucky."

As he blitzed the competition, his family looked on from the front of the auditorium at the National Geographic Society headquarters in Washington. He boned up for several months by studying geography DVDs and textbooks.

"He's been interested in geography since he was 5," said his mother, Suchitra Srinivas.

One student from every U.S. state and territory, along with a student from a military family, took part in the competition run by National Geographic. Akshay was the youngest of the 10 finalists, all boys.

"Jeopardy!" host Alex Trebek, who has moderated the bee for all 20 years, called it the "national annual humiliation," exposing that a group of middle schoolers has vastly more knowledge of geography than most of the nation.

"The kids never cease to amaze us," Trebek said.

The runner-up was 13-year-old Hunter Bledsoe, 13, a student at Hewitt Trussville Middle School, Trussville, Ala.

Akshay, whose hobbies include collecting coins, is considering some kind of career that involves geography, but he has plenty of time to make up his mind. For now, he just likes to study the globe.

"I get to learn about the world and how it works, which is cool," he said.

The eight other finalists, and their schools, are: Nikhil Desai, 13, Challenger School, Newark, Calif.; Benjamin Geyer, 14, British School of Washington, Washington; Erik Troske, 14, Barker Middle School, Michigan City, Ind.; William Lee, 13, Joyce Middle School, Woburn, Mass.; Isaac Pasley, 14, West Junior High School, Columbia, Mo.; Joseph Perea, 13, home schooled, Eureka, Mont.; Milan Sandhu, 13, Ross A. Lurgio Middle School, Bedford, N.H.; and Taylor Morris, 13, Charles D. Owen Middle School, Swannanoa, N.C.

STEPHEN MANNING