Day 5 - July 28, 2024
The controversy of the day involves the Brazilian swim team. Brazil sent home swimmer Ana Carolina Vieira after she left the athlete's village with her boyfriend - fellow swimmer Gabriel Santos - without clearing it with the team beforehand. Santos was given a warning, but Vieira was sent home. The Brazil swim team leader, Gustavo Otsuka, claims that they were both warned, but then they found out Vieira questioned the lineup of the 4x100 meter freestyle relay team that finished 12th in the heats, failing to advance to the finals. But we all really know what happened - Santos is a he, and his behavior is somehow not as bad as Vieira's, the woman. And yes, this is 2024.
In what could have been the biggest news of the entire Olympics, Simone Biles injured her calf during a warm-up on the floor exercises. After some treatment and getting her leg wrapped, she completed the floor exercises, the vault, and the uneven parallel bars, and she finised in first overall, as did the US team. Sunisa Lee - the defending Olympic all around champion - will be the other American in the all-around finals, narrowly nipping teammate Jordan Chiles, who finished fourth overall. Chiles failed to qualify for the individual all-around because the rules only permit two finalists per country, maximum.
We just missed one of the potentially all time biggest upsets in sports history as the Netherlands' women's archery team took the 9 time defending South Korean team to a ninth and deciding game in the semi-finals, before faultering on their last shots. Yes, I said - 9 TIME DEFENDING CHAMPION!!! After the late loss in the semi-finals, the Netherlands lost 5-4 to South Korea, they then lost their bronze medal match to Mexico. South Korea, in the finals, won its second consecutive 5-4 over China to win gold.
The South Korean women were equally amazing in the 10 meter air pistol shooting event, with Oh Ye Jin winning gold and Kim Yeji winning silver, with India's Manu Bhaker earning bronze. The Italians were able to put 2 men on the podium in the 10 meter air pistol event, with Federico Nilo Maldini wining silver just ahead of compatriot Paolo Monna (bronze). They both finished behind China's Xi Yu.
In the biggest upset so far in the Olympics, Cuban boxer Julio Cesar La Cruz - in search of his third gold medal in boxing in the Olympics, lost in the first round to Loren Berto Alfonso Dominguez of Azerbaijan. Dominguez, a Cuban-born exile who defected to Azerbaijan, defeated La Cruz in a split decision, ending La Cruz's attempt to become only the fourth athlete ever to win 4 boxing gold medals.
Japan's dominant team in women's skateboarding finished with the gold and silver as Yoshizawa Coco (gold) and Akama Liz (silver) beat the old woman of the competition, 16 year old Rayssa Leal of Brazil, who earned the bronze.
Kazakhstan and Moldova both earned their first medals of these games in judo, with Gusman Krygyzbayev winning bronze in judo for the former, and Denis Vieru winning bronze in for the latter. Both finished behind Japan's Abe Hifumi (gold), who defeated Brazil's Willian Lima 10-0 in the gold medal match. In the women's 52kg final, Uzbekistan's Diyorka Keldiyorova defeated Kosovo's Distria Krasniqi 1-0 for the gold, the first for Uzbekistan in these games. Krasniqi (OK you caught me, I just wanted to type Krasniqi again) won the first medal for Kosovo.
In US team news, Haley Batten won the silver medal in women's cross-country mountian biking, finishing just behind France's Pauline Ferrand Prevot, who secured gold. Jenny Rissveds of Sweden earned the bronze.
The United States women continued winning on the pitch with a 4-1 victory over Germany. They have now scored almost double the amount of goals (7) as they did the entire World Cup (4). Sophia Smith scored a brace and Mallory Swanson added her third goal of these games. The US secures a berth in the knockout rounds, but will have a final tune-up group match against Australia.
US women secured more medals for the team in the epee portion of the fencing program as Lee Kiefer defending her gold medal from Tokyo, defeating teammate and Harvard fencer Lauren Scruggs in the final. Scruggs secured the silver with her performance at these games.
The United States men's basketball team easily defeated the reigning MVP Nikola Jokic's Serbian team behind 23 points from Kevin Durant and 21-7-9 from LeBron James. Next up for the US is South Sudan, who defeated Puerto Rico in a hotly contested, fun-to-watch match.
As we always know, the first week is dominated by the pool, and the action there did not fail to astound. France's wunderkind Leon Marchand set an Olympic record in winning gold in the 400 meter individual medley. American Carson Foster earned the bronze, just behind Japan's Tomoyuki Matsushita, both well behind Marchand.
The women's 100 meter butterfly final featured two Americans, Gretchen Walsh - the world record holder, and Torri Huske, and these two highly ranked women did not disappoint as Huske took home the gold just ahead of Walsh. Huske finished fourth, just .001 off the podium in Tokyo, so this race was some sweet redemption for her. China's Zhang Yufei finished fourth.
But the race of the day was the men's 100 meter breastroke, in which Italy's Nicolo Martinenghi narrowly upset the sport's best breastroker Adam Peaty of Great Britain, who tied for silver with American Nic Fink. It is a good thing they use computerized timing devices because we could not visibly determine the winner from the overhead camera view as Martinenghi's time of 59.03 just narrowly outtouched both Peaty and Fink at 59.05. Peaty had won the gold medal in the event in Rio in 2016 and Tokyo in 2020. Hours after finishing the race Peaty tested positive for Covid, putting his remaining events in doubt.
Athlete of the Day - Leon, France, Swimming
He thoroughly dominated the 400 meter individual medley, long considered the quintessential race to determine the best all around swimmer.
American Athlete of the Day - Lee Kiefer, United States, Fencing
Defending her gold-medal winning performance from Tokyo in the epee.
Olympic Term of the Day: Epee - Fencing - The Epee is the heaving thrusting sword in fencing, as opposed to the foil, which is the light, flexible thrusting sword, and the sabre, which is the shorter, slashing sword with a larger guard.
Olympic Events Watched: Archery, Basketball, Beach Volleyball, Fencing, Gymnastics, Rugby, Skateboarding, Soccer, Swimming, Volleyball
USA Potential Closing Ceremony Flag-Bearer (Alphabetically): Chloe Dygert, Brady Ellison, Torri Huske, Casey Kaufhold, LEE KIEFER, Sophia Smith, Mallory Swanson
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