By Mark Tennis, Executive Editor

An amazing two-week run of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games is over and from the Calympics perspective we have one question: Are we the only ones in America who wouldn't have been too upset had Milorad Cavic of Serbia edged Michael Phelps in the 100-meter butterfly?

It's not that we're anti-Phelps. It's just that he didn't go to a California high school while Cavic did and Cavic's gold would have counted toward California's medal count. Cavic, who attended Woodbridge High in Irvine but is Serbian from birth, is even listed in the CalHiSports.com state record book.

Phelps' grand total of eight gold medals also broke the all-time Olympic record of seven golds held by Californian Mark Spitz.

Oh well, even though Phelps comes from Baltimore, there's little question that California, thanks again to Natalie Coughlin, Dara Torres, Jason Lezak and Aaron Piersol, still is America's top all-time swimming state.

Coughlin, who went to high school next door to football powerhouse De La Salle at all-girls Carondelet of Concord, became the first female swimmer in Olympic history to earn six medals in a single Olympiad. Piersol added two more individual medals with a gold in the 200 back and a silver in the 100 back. He also swam a leg in the 4x100 medley relay final that clinched it for Phelps to break Spitz's record. Lezak, who helped Phelps with an amazing relay leg in the 4x100 freestyle relay, also teamed up with Piersol in the 4x100 medley relay.

With the swimmers leading the way, California as a state compiled 26 medals in the 2008 Summer Olympics. This would rank the Golden State 11th among all nations in the world.

That total does not include any athletes who currently train in California but went to high school in another state, like decathlate Brian Clay. It is a total based only on where medalists graduated from high school.

For team sports and relay events, we did not count medals toward California's total unless that team was comprised of at least 50 percent of Californians.

We did count the beach volleyball duo of Todd Rogers and Phil Dahlhausser since Rogers is from a California high school. Dahlhausser is not but has picked up the sport in California. We also counted relay teams in women's track and women's swimming that had two of four from California.

We did not count medal-winning USA teams in women's basketball, men's volleyball, women's volleyball, women's soccer and baseball. Although California was strongly represented on all five teams, we didn't get to 50 percent on any of them.

Of those teams, California's Lisa Leslie deserves special mention as she won the fourth Olympic gold medal of her career, becoming the first woman in Olympic history to win four team gold medals. Leslie, of course, was once on the same team at Morningside High in Inglewood as USA teammate Tina Thompson.

For the gold medal-winning Redeem Team, California's contingent was led by point guard Jason Kidd (St. Joseph, Alameda) and forward Tayshaun Prince (Dominguez, Compton). Both are former CalHiSports.com Mr. Basketball State Players of the Year.

Here is the list of Calympic medalists for 2008:

Gold Stephanie Brown-Trafton (Arroyo Grande) women's track discus
Gold Natalie Coughlin (Carondelet, Concord) women's swimming backstroke
Gold Phil Dahlhausser (Florida & California) & Todd Rogers (San Marcos, Santa Barbara) men's beach volleyball
Gold Allyson Felix (L.A. Baptist, North Hills) & Monique Henderson (Morse, San Diego) women's track 4x400 relay
Gold Jason Lezak (Irvine) & Aaron Piersol (Newport Harbor, Newport Beach) men's 4x100 medley relay
Gold Misty May-Treanor (Newport Harbor, Newport Beach) & Kerri Walsh (Archbishop Mitty, San Jose) women's beach volleyball
Gold Aaron Piersol (Newport Harbor, Newport Beach) men's swimming backstroke
Silver Natalie Coughlin (Carondelet, Concord) & Dara Torres (Westlake, Los Angeles) women's swimming 4x100 free
Silver Natalie Coughlin (Carondelet, Concord) & Dara Torres (Westlake, Los Angeles) women's swimming 4x100 medley
Silver Milorad Cavic (Woodbridge, Irvine) men's swimming 100 fly
Silver Mike Day (Valencia) men's BMX
Silver Allyson Felix (L.A. Baptist, North Hills) women's track 200-meter dash
Silver Gina Miles (Davis) equestrian eventing
Silver Aaron Piersol (Newport Harbor, Newport Beach) men's swimming 200 back
Silver Kim Rhode (Arroyo, El Monte) women's skeet shooting
Silver Dara Torres (Westlake, Los Angeles) women's swimming 50 free
Silver USA women's softball team (13 of 15 on roster from California)
Silver USA men's water polo team (mostly from California)
Silver USA women's water polo team (mostly from California)
Bronze Bob & Mike Bryan (Rio Mesa, Oxnard) men's tennis doubles
Bronze Natalie Coughlin (Carondelet, Concord) women's swimming 100 free
Bronze Natalie Coughlin (Carondelet, Concord) women's swimming 200 IM
Bronze Larsen Jensen (Mission Viejo) men's swimming 400 free
Bronze Jason Lezak (Irvine) men's swimming 100 free
Bronze Donny Robinson (Napa) men's BMX
Bronze Adam Wheeler (Lancaster) men's Greco-Roman 96 kg

Where California Ranks If It Were A Nation
(takes away medals from USA's totals)

China 100, USA 86, Russia 72, Great Britain 47, Australia 46, Germany 41, France 40, Korea 31, Italy 28, Ukraine 27, California 26, Japan 25, Cuba 24, Belarus 19, Spain 18, Canada 18, Netherlands 16.

Comments or corrections? Email mark@studentsports.com and be sure to leave a comment as well so others can check it out.