Google got some serious gold, promotion-wise: Olympic cyclist and Gold Medalist Kristin Armstrong wrote that Google Earth was "invaluable" in helping her find a training route in Boise, Idaho similar to the Olympic course in Beijing.

Armstrong tipped the hat (helmet?) in a guest post in the Google Lat Long Blog, which covers Google Earth and Maps. In it, she describes how at her husband's urging, she took one of his GPS units on her time trial ride back in December. After exporting the GPS and elevation data and loading it into Google Earth, she "was then able to trace the entire course from the comfort of my home half a world away and find a similar route to train on back in Boise."

Moral of the story?  An innovative use of technology can give you the win in everything from business to sports. And tech geek friends (or spouses) are great to have around.

Armstrong finished the post with more praise for Google, this time for Google Calendar. She writes that it's a huge help in coordinating scheduling with her manager and agent. It is a great tool, one I use myself. If you do also, the Google Calendar Gadget (for use with Google Desktop or an iGoogle page) makes it ridiculously quick to add new events or check a day's schedule.