Olympics - Rio 2016 - Day 10

Day 10 - August 12

Today's Events:  Archery, Badminton, Basketball, Beach Volleyball, Fencing, Golf, Shooting, Soccer, Swimming, Tennis, Track and Field, Trampolining, Volleyball 

Olympic Word of the Day:  Piste - In fencing, it is the 14 meter long, by 2 meter wide "court" upon which fencers compete.

Sportsmanship was not the highlight of Day 10.  Islam El-Shehaby, a judoka from Egypt, refused to shake the hand of Or Sasson, his Israeli counterpart that had just defeated him.  Although the International Judo Federation is looking into the situation to possibly sanction El-Shehaby (shaking hands is not required, but bowing afterward is; El-Shehaby eventually bowed).  An International Olympic Committee spokesperson said that it was a step forward that the match even took place, as many participants from hyper-religious Islamic countries refuse to even compete against Israeili athletes.

  

Now to be fair to El-Shehaby we do not know his situation.  It is entirely possible that those in the Egyptian Judo Federation, those associated with the government, or even rogue elements outside the government may have threatened his life for competing against Sasson, much less shaking hands, but hopefully he is just being a jerk.

Bad sportsmanship is not limited to athletes from countries that insult our allies, but the good ole U S of A has its bad sports as well, namely, Hope Solo.  After the heavily favored American soccer team, for which Solo plays goalie, lost in a shootout to Sweden, Hope Solo called the Swedes cowards, for executing a tough, defensive-minded gameplan, and then insulted the Sweden coach, Pia Sundhage, who formerly coached the U.S. Women's National Team.  Given the quantity of issues in Solo's background, some analysts are starting to call for her dismissal from the national team.

In the pool, Katie Ledecky set a world record in the 800 meter freestyle, exited the pool, showered, put on makeup, changed into her club clothes, then returned to the pool to watch second and third place finish the race.  She simply dominated, but she cannot be the story of the day, as she wasn't even the story of the day in swimming.  

That honor belongs to Joseph Schooling of Singapore.  Schooling won gold in the 100m butterfly in Olympic record time.  In doing so, he defeated a trio of Olympic swimming royalty who all tied for the silver medal:  Michael Phelps of the United States, Laslzo Cseh of Hungary and Chad le Clos of South Africa.  You know who didn't beat Phelps?  Alydar himself, Ryan Lochte, who is finished.

A trio of Americans had great days in Rio.  Shooter Kim Rhode won bronze medal in the women's skeet event.  The bronze is Rhode's sixth medal overall, having medaled in each of the last 6 Olympics, the first person to medal in 6 different Olympics.

In the boxing ring, American Nico Hernandez earned a bronze medal in the light flyweight, after falling to Hasanboy Dusmatov of Uzbekistan. Hernandez, won a medal for the once-proud US boxing team, despite being one of only 5 fighters to qualify for the Olympics from the U.S.

At the track, Shot Diva Michelle Carter won the gold medal, the second such medal for her family, as her father Michael Carter, won the gold in 1984 in Los Angeles.  Afterward, Carter went on to win the Super Bowl with the San Francisco 49ers in January 1985, and then two more times thereafter.  Carter, after qualifying third, unleashed a monster throw of 20.63m on her final attempt.

Inside the velodrome, Bradley Wiggins, along with his Great Britain teammates, twice set the world record in the Men's team pursuit, the last time in the finals as Great Britain defeated Australia.  It was Wiggins's British record 8th medal 5 of which are gold, to go with 1 silver and 2 bronze.

However, the story of the day belongs to the the winner of the first gold medal on the track.  Ethiopia's Almaz Ayana wins gold by breaking a 23 year old world record.  Her time of 29:17.45 shattered the World Record formerly held by China's Wang Junxia.  Ayana defeated silver medalist, Vivian Cheruiyot from Kenyan, and countrywomen (and three time medalist) Tirunesh Dibaba, as athletes from Ethiopia and Kenya took the top 5 spots and 6 of the top 8,  American Molly Huddle finished 6th, setting an American record 30:13.17.

But, this post has to come full circle, and to do that was Sweden's Sarah Lahti, who finished 2 minutes and 11 seconds behind Ayana in 12th place.  Abut Ayana Lahti said, "I cannot say that she is not clean, but there is little doubt".  Good sportsmanship Lahti.

Olympics - Rio 2016 - Day 1

Day 1 - August 3

It has been awhile since you have heard from any of us, and that is going to change as the spectacle that is the Olympics has already begun in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.  Yes I know they Opening Ceremonies are tonight, but the games started on Wednesday with Women's Football, and continued yesterday with Men's Football.  We will have Olympics for 17 consecutive more days.

The Olympics are the best part of the sporting calendar to me, and as such, I am going to try to keep up the ambitious schedule of one recap post for each day, focusing on the most important story of the previous day.  For day 1, that is pretty easy.

For starters, the American women's football team (Yes I know it is soccer, and  yes, I call it soccer - but for purposes of this blog I am going to use only the officially sanctioned sport names), started the defense of their World Cup victory, attempting to become the only team to follow up World Cup victory with a gold medal.  In that game, American captain Carli Lloyd scored the first goal, and she could use this tournament to cement her name at the top of the list of the best female footballers in the world.  Also starting for the United States was teenager Mallory Pugh, who, at the tender age of 19 once to establish herself as a force at the international level.  The American goalie, Hope Solo, started to a rousing chorus of boos due to her outspokenness regarding the battle against the Zika virus.  So, that would normally be enough to make the US 2-0 victory over New Zealand to be the story of the day.  However, it was not.

The story of the day was the announcement that Michael Phelps was selected as the US flag-bearer during the opening ceremonies.  For those that do not know, each American sport (swimming, track and field, gymnastics, archery, rowing, etc.) all have captains, and the captains meet to select the flag-bearer for the opening and the closing ceremonies.  Given that Michael Phelps is the most decorated person in Olympic history, this was a fine choice, and you will not hear me complain.  How many other countries have ever had 22-time medal winner carry their flag?  Here is a hint:  It's zero.  However, the US delegation missed the opportunity to make a statement about the true nature of the Olympics.

I am not talking about the second place finisher in the vote for US Flag-bearer, Ibithaj Muhammad, who will compete in fencing wearing a hijab, the first person in the Olympics to do so.  Although, selecting the saber-wielding Muhammad would only be a political statement, as this is her first Olympics, even though she has won two bronze medals at the World Cup.

Some have suggested Bernard Lagat, the Kenyan-born 41 year old 5000 meter runner who became a US citizen in 2004, but that also appears to be more political, showing that the US is made up of immigrants who contribute to all of society, including sport.

Another track athlete, Allyson Felix, who will be competing in her fourth Olympics, after having won the silver medal in the 200 meters, her specialty, at 18 years of age in Athens.  She is a medal favorite in the 200 meters again this year.

And who could forget Ryan Lochte - ok, now I am being ridiculous.

However, the flag bearer should have been ....

Shooter KIM RHODE.

Rhode is competing in her sixth - yes you read that correctly - sixth Olympics, all while having medaled in each of the previous 5 Olympics.  She has previously won gold in the double trap in 1996 (Atlanta), the double trap in 2004 in Athens, and in skeet in 2012 in London; the silver in skeet in 2008 in Beijing, and the bronze in 2000 in Sydney.  She is a medal favorite again this year.

Rhode may not have the sheer number of medals of Phelps, but it should be noted that many more swimming events exist,  Selecting Rhode would give the acknowledgement that she has been the best in the US in her event over two decades, and among the best in the world for that same period of time.  It would also acknowledge that for all of the NBA players, and tennis players, and swimmers that we all know, that the Olympics is also for people in events that we generally would never follow except ...

IT IS THE OLYMPICS!

So, although I cannot complain with the Michael Phelps selection, the US delegation missed a big opportunity to honor one of the true Olympic greats, and I will be cheering for Rhode just as much as Phelps, albeit harder to find on television.

To Kim Rhode - best of luck, and bring home your sixth medal (at least)!