Olympics - Paris 2024 - Day 9

 Day 9 - August 1, 2024

One thing and one thing only dominated yesterday, and it was a topic that I wanted to avoid until it actually occurred but was something that us "amateur" sports enthusiasts knew was brewing.  And, although technically inapplicable here, the issue is one of transgender women in sports.  I will try to be as thorough as I can, but also as brief as possible as I want to get to the actual sports as quickly as possible.

The issue surrounds Imane Khelif, an Algerian boxer, and what happened in her first round fight agains Angela Carini from Italy.  Carini retired 46 seconds into the fight after taking one punch to the nose from the Algerian fighter.  The controversy comes from the fact people believe Carini retired because she was fearful for her safety fighting against a "man".  Carini didn't help matters by refusing to shake Khelif's hand after the fight - for which Carini later apologized and even said she would embrace Khelif.  

So, the issue about Khelif being a "man" is that she was suspended by the IBA - the International Boxing Association - for having failed a test which said her chromosomes are XY.  It should be noted that the IBA is run by a Russian, who moved its headquarters to Russia after the leader secured funding from Russia, and the "test" occurred after Khelif had defeated a Russian fighter.  The IBA never produced the results of the test, only saying that she must  be XY because her testosterone was so high.  Also of note is that the IBA has been discredited as an agency and no longer oversees amateur or Olympic boxing.  

Anyway, Khelif was born female, has female sex organs - and always has - participated in the Olympics in Tokyo in 2020, and hails from a country that outlaws gender-reassignment surgery and practically outlaws anything it considers gay, bisexual or lesbian.  If Khelif was a transgender athlete, she would be more likely to be arrested or executed than representing Algeria in the Olympics.

There is a legitimate discussion that can be had about transgender athlete's participation in certain women's sporting events - but this is not the situation upon which to have that discussion.

Can I get to the good stuff now?  Good.

Simone Biles, Simone Biles, SIMONE BILES!!!  After a subpar performance in the uneven parallel bars left her third after two rotations of apparati, Biles nailed her vault and floor exercises to secure the gold medal in the individual all-around.  Rebecca Andrade of Brazil won silver and Biles' USA teammate Suni Lee earned bronze!  Biles is truly the GOAT - and they should retire that term!

Another All-Time Great, Katie Ledecky, won her 13th medal, the most all-time by an American female athlete, as the US won silver in teh 4x200 meter freestyle relay.  Australia dominated for gold, but they cannot take away Ledecky's record-breaking swim.

Also at the pool, a current and future great, Summer McIntosh of Canada, won the 200m butterfly final for her second gold medal of these events.  The 17 year old has won three total medals in Paris.  Following her on the podium were silver-medalist Regan Smith, and bronze-medalist Zhang Yufie of China.

Fellow American Kate Douglass won gold in the 200m breastroke, besting South Africa's Tatjana Smith and Tes Schouten of the Netherlands, who won silver and bronze respectively.

Equally as dominating as Biles and Ledecky has been the USA women's basketball team who have won 56 consecutive Olympics games.  Correction, 57, as they slowly pulled away from a Belgian squad that looks like medal contender.

Athletics - the formal name of Track & Field - started, with the men's 20km walk.  Ecuador's Brian Pintado pulled away from the leaders with one 1km lap remaining to coast to the gold medal.

In "non-traditional" sports, the USA - and HARVARD - won gold around Paris.  First at the rowing venue, the USA won gold in the men's fours despite facing the favorites and world champions from Great Britain.  Nick Mead, Justin Best, Michael Grady and Liam Corrigan - a Harvard alumnus - rowed their way to America's first rowing gold in this event since 1960!

Harvard making its presence felt - AGAIN - in fencing as the USA won gold in the team foil.  Jacqueline Dubrovic, and Maia Mei Weintraub were led by gold medalist Lee Kiefer with silver-medalist Lauren Scruggs (a rising senior at Harvard) securing the winning point!  Go Crimson!

In judo, Azerbaijan secures a gold in the men's 100kg division as Zelym Kotsoiev defeated Georgia's Ilia Sulamanidze 10-1.

Athlete of the Day - Simone Biles, United States, Swimming

How could it be anybody but?

Non-Simone Biles Athlete of the Day - Brian Pintado, Ecuador, Athletics/Summer McIntosh, Canada, Swimming

The 20km racewalking is no joke.  McIntosh now has 2 golds, and 3 overall medals at 17 years of age.

Team of the Day - USA Women, Fencing

Individual and team gold for Lee Kiefer; Individual silver and team gold for Lauren Scruggs in foil.  Great work ladies!

American Non-Simone Biles Athlete of the Day - Katie Ledecky, United States, Swimming

breaking a career record usually gets you noticed on here.

Co-American Athletes of the Day - Liam Corrigan, United States, Rowing/Lauren Scruggs, United States, Fencing

Harvard Gold Medalists!!!

Olympic Term of the Day:  Repechage - Boats that do not qualify for the next round from a heat, participate in an additional race, with the winners then qualifier for the next round.  That additional race is called a repechage.

Olympic Events Watched:  Archery, Athletics, Basketball, Beach Volleyball, Golf, Gymnastics, Swimming, Tennis

USA Potential Closing Ceremony Flag-Bearer (Alphabetically - Capitals indicate a potential favorite to this point):  SIMONE BILES, Chloe Dygert, Brady Ellison, Torri Huske, Casey Kaufhold, LEE KIEFER, KATIE LEDECKY, Ilona Maher, Tom Murphy

Olympics - Paris 2024 - Day 5

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                             

Olympics - Tokyo 2020 - Day 5

  Day 5 - July 25, 2021

A little late today, but that is mostly because it was a workday for me, and it was a Monday.  Ugh!  But at least it was an Olympics Monday!

So, in something that I will most certainly be typing again, USA Men's Basketball lost to France 83-76.  France is a very talented team led by Evan Fournier and Rudy Gobert, among other NBA players, but Kevin Durant should be leading this team through pool play and into the medals.  Except he scored 10 points.  UGH!

Also surprising is that number 1 women's tennis seed Ashleigh Barty is out of the competition after losing her first round match to Spain's Sara Sorribes Tormo 6-4, 6-3.  At leat the Americans are still in pool play.

Not all of the pre-Olympic favorites faired poorly, as the US women's softball team won a walk-off victory thanks to a 2 RBI single by Amanda Chidester to secure not only the 2-1 victory, but also a place in the gold medal game.  The runs scored by Australia was the first run given up by the Americans in the tournament so far - and it was an unearned run.  Monica Abbot struck out 13 in 8 innings to go 2-0 in the tournament.

In other good news, Japanese siblings Uta Abe and Hifumi Abe both won gold medals in judo, Uta in the women's 52-kg weight class and Hifumi in the men's 66-kg weight class.  The are the first brother-sister combination to win gold on the same day in the same Olympic competition.

In another feel good story, the dressage competition in equestrian has started, and American Phillip Dutton  has started his 7th Olympics competition.  Dutton is unique in that he competed 3 times for Australia (1996, 2000, 2004), and now 4 times for the United States after changing his citizenship (2008, 2012, 2016, 2020).  He has won gold for Australia (1996 Atlanta - team eventing; 2000 Sydney - team eventing) and a bronze for the United States (2016 Rio de Janeiro - individual eventing).

Australia showed that they are again just as competitve as the United States in the pool (hint:  foreshadowing for tomorrow's post) as they set a new World Record in the 4x100 meter freestyle relay, earning gold for Bronte Campbell, Meg Harris, Emma McKeon and Cate Campbell as the team finished in 3:29:69, the first time a women's relay has finished under 3:30.  Canada just nipped the United States at the wall for the bronze, while the Americans earned a silver.

Staying in the pool, the men's 400 meter freestyle was certainly something to watch.  White the favorites, Jack McLoughlin of Australia and Kieran Smith of the United States certainly swam well, they only could earn the silver and bronze respectively as relatively unknown Tunisian Ahmed Hafnaoui, only 18 years old, swam the swim of his life to capture the gold while out in lane 8 - which means he was the slowest qualifier for the finals, and in fact, only qualified for the final by .14 seconds!  He out-touched McLoughlin and Smith, who all finished under 3:44:00.

Even more confusing than Hafnaoui's victory, was the women's cycling road race, at least to some.  Early in the race, 6 riders including Anna Kiesenhofer of Austria broke away from the peloton practically as soon as the race started.  As often happens, most of the favorites - including Annemiek van Vleuten, Anna van der Bregge, Marianne Vos and Demi Vollering of the Netherlands - let Kiesenhofer and the other breakaway riders go, knowing they would have a chance to reel her in later with the rest of the peloton.  This occurred as the 5 breakaway riders were caught by the peloton, when van Vleuten made her move, and finished the race in Fuji Speedway thinking she had won gold.  Except, the peloton had only caught 5 of the breakaway riders, but not Kiesenhofer, who earned gold.  Van Vleuten, who suffered a horrific crash in Rio in 2016, settled for the silver.  Van Vleuten blamed her mistake on the fac that she is used to using a radio, as communications are ordinarily allowed in professional races where teams keep racers apprised of the race status, but those communications are not allowed in the Olympics.

The United States won two unexpected golds.  Lee Kiefer prevailed in individual foil over Inna Deriglazova of the Russian Olympic Committee.  Deriglazova was the defending Olympic gold medalist.

Anastasija Zolotic, an 18 year old from Clearwater, Florida, also won gold.  She defeated Tatiana Minina of the Russian Olympic Committee in the 57 kg final of Taekwondo.

On the downside, Skateboarding made its very disappointing debut.  It is nowhere near as exciting to watch as when snowboarding was added to the Winter Olympic schedule, and certainly pales in comparison to the other newcomer which has already started, 3x3.  Hopefully surfing is more like 3x3 and less like skateboarding.

I would also be remiss if I did not mention Amber English and Vincent Hancock's gold medals in skeet shooting.

Athlete of the Day - Ahmed Hafnaoui, Swimming, Tunisia

Nobody - and I mean NOBODY - foresaw his victory in the men's 400 meter freestyle.

Olympic Term of the Day:  Ollie - In skateboarding, it is a jump where the front wheels leave the ground first, and both the skater and the board are airborne.  This is the foundation of a lot of other technical tricks.

Olympic Events Watched:  Badminton, Basketball, Beach Volleyball, Cycling, Diving, Equestrian, Fencing, Gymnastics, Skateboarding, Swimming, Table Tennis, Taekwondo, Tennis

USA Potential Closing Ceremony Flag-Bearer:  Monica Abbot, Phillip Dutton, Brady Ellison, Lee Kiefer, Cat Osterman, Kelsey Plum, Anastasija, Zolotic