Olympic word of the day: Although some time has passed since the institution of the libero in professional volleyball in 1998, it is still a relatively unusual position for those of us of a certain age, so I felt it necessary to define the libero. Libero - In volleyball, a defensive specialist that must operate only under certain rules. A libero must be registered with the tournament organizers, and each team is allowed only one libero. The libero is (A) restricted to performing as a back row player and has no right at all to complete an attack hit when the ball is above the height of the top of the net; (B) may not serve, block or attempt to block; (C) not allowed to make a set in front of the 3 meter line (otherwise the ball may not be attacked); and must wear a different colour shirt from the other members of the team. The team is allowed an unlimited amount of substitutions for its libero that do not count against the substitution limit. All of this to say that a libero is a defensive specialist.
What looked like was going to be a very slow day at the Olympics as far as stories go (except for THE story of the day). Late afternoon, however, that changed quickly.
The dominating U.S. Women's soccer team proved that their were - well - less than dominant. Although a loss was never in doubt, and even though they still won their group to go forward to the knockout stages, the U.S. looked beatable. The U.S. drew with Colombia, who started the scoring early, and then ended the scoring late to earn the draw. These were the first two goals for Colombia in Olympic history, and the first two goals against the U.S. ever. A bright spot was that the two American goals were scored by the youngsters Crystal Dunn and Mallory Pugh.
Then, the number 1 ranked and seeded Serena Williams lost in straight sets to Elina Svitolina. Serena, looking just as lost and frustrated as she has for the entire tournament, seemed to lack power and fire as she lost to Svitolina for the first time in her career. Paul Annacone seemed to think that the courts in Rio lacked power and that the balls played heavy, which would negate any advantage possessed by the power players such as Serena, and fellow upset victims Novak Djokovic, Svetlana Kuznetsova and Gabrielle Muguruzu.
The worst-side of these Rio Olympics reared their head today (well last last night/early this morning), after Belgian judo bronze-medalist Dirk van Tichelt won the bronze medal in judo, and then decided to go celebrate in Copocabana Beach, where he was subsequently robbed. The perpetrators took his cell phone, but not his medal. They did leave van Tichelt with a present to show for his efforts - a nice shiner.
Another big night in the pool as two of the stories of these Olympic games and one big story from Olympic history all won gold.
Michael Phelps, won gold over a crowded field of rivals that included 2012 gold medalist, Chad le Clos (who finished fourth) in the 200m butterfly, and then turned around minutes later to anchor the 4x200m freestyle relay with Conor Dwyer, Townley Haas and Ryan Lochte (as well as qualifier Jack Conger - who also receives a gold) and easily defeated Great Britain and Japan for Phelps's 25th overall Olympic medal (21 golds). The team was so fast that even Lochte's disgusting bleached hair could not keep them from winning.
Just 50 minutes after disqualifying herself from the 200m butterfly semi-finals, Hungary's Katinka Hosszu won the third gold of Rio in the 200m individual medley. (She withdrew from the butterfly because of the IM finals). Katie Ledecky, with a last 15 meter sprint that has never been seen before in swimming - excepting Jason Lezak's final 15 meters in the 4x100 meter freestyle relay in the 2008 Olympics - pulled ahead of Swedish swimmer Sarah Sjolstrom, who had drawn virtually even with Ledecky after the last turn, to win her second gold of these Olympics, with her best event still to come.
Even though Hosszu and Ledecky are two of the major stories of these Olympics, they are not the story of the day. That falls to the "Final Five". Now, at first, I despised this name. I thought it was corny, trite, and just another corny phrase started by someone in the media to create a marketing opportunity on top of what was already a great story. However, I then found out that the name was created by the team itself - rumor has it Simone Biles thought of it - and that it has a double meaning in that they are the last team to be coached by the retiring Marta Karolyi, and that next Olympics will only have four-gymnast teams, well, now I tolerate it.
That being said, the team marched out in $14,000 Swarovski-crystal laden, sparkly red-white and blue uniforms that brought less attention to the athletes than their stunning routines did. The 12 performances (3 athletes per apparatus) totally annihilated the second place Russians and third place Chinese. In fact, the Chinese team was paired with the Americans, and after having had their guts torn out by the Americans in routine after routine, vault after parallel bars, just completely succumbed to the pressure and the talent of the U.S. team on the floor exercise, and fell to third place. With Aly Raisman and Simone Biles left to compete on the floor, Tim Daggett looked at the score and said that for the U.S. to win all Raisman and Biles have to do is "not injure themselves". Raisman and Biles did much more than that with two scintillating performances, which lead to a great individual floor exercise competition, not to mention the all-around.
Gabby Douglas and Aly Raisman become the first American gymnasts to win three gold medals, although they both have a chance to add to the total, with Simone Biles - who no less an authority than Mary Lou Retton said was the most talented gymnast ever - likely to at least tie that number in her first Olympics.
For thoroughly decimating the competition, the story of the day is ... Captain Aly Raisman, Simone Biles, Laurie Hernandez, Gabby Douglas, and Madison Kocian.
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