Olympics - Paris 2024 - Day 10

 Day 10 - August 2, 2024

Not sure anything could compare to the situation surrounding Algerian boxer Imane Khelif, except for that surrounding Taiwanese boxer Lin Yu-ting, who is in the exact same position.  Any hormonal issues that either may, or may not, have could be different, but the underlying situation and its impact on the culture way are exactly the same, excepting the outrage that did not occur yesterday.

American golfer - and defending gold-medalist Xander Schauffele - did find himself in a bit of a jam as he approached his ball well off the 13th fairway and bruied in the whisps and the rough.  As he is addressing his ball, he sees something weird (my word, not his).  It turns out his ball was lodged up against an antpile.  No relief, play on.  He quikcly took a punch shot, sending hisball only 50 yards into the fairway, and ended round 2 in a tie for the lead, with Japan's Hideki Matsuyama and Great Britain's Tommy Fleetwood at 11 under.  Lurking in 10th place is world's number 1 Scottie Sheffler.

The biggest story had French judoka Teddy Riner, teh same Teddy Riner that lit the Olympic flame, woan his 4th gold medal in judo by capturing the heavyweight title.  His four golds - and six overall - make him the most decorated judoka of all time.

France had more success in BMX, as Joris Daudet captured gold for France, and leading a French sweep of the podium as compatriots Sylvain Andre (silver) and Romain Mahieu (bronze) joined him.

France continued its great performances on the day at equestrian, in the team show jumping competition, where it finished in the bronze medal position, behind a virtually flawless Great Britain squad which won gold, and the USA team that had 1 fault total between 3 riders to earn silver.

But no French athlete is having the games of Leon Marchand, who won his 4th gold medal - and 4th Olympic record - in 4 events as he swam away from the field in the 200 meter individual medley.

Not having as good a day in the 200m individual medley was Slovakia's Tamara Potocka, who collapsed after her preliminary heat.  She is under medical care now, and after first reports of an asthma attack, Potocka blamed exhaustion.  Here is to quickly improving, especially if you have any other events remaining.

In the women's 200m backstroke, Australia's Kaylee McKeown won another gold medal - her second of these games and 5th overall - finishing ahead of Regan Smith of the USA (silver) and Canada's Kyle Masse (bronze).

In trampolining, yes trampoilining, Ivan Litvinovich, an independent athlete, won gold defeating China's Wang Zisai (silver) and Yan Langyu (bronze).  Litvinovich is an independent athlete because Belarus is banned from these games due to its support of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

In doubles tennis, Americans Taylor Fritz and Tommy Paul lost their semi-finals match against the Australian duo of Matthew Ebden and John Peers, which prohibits an All-American final against Austin Krajicek and Rajeev Ram.  Both American teams will play for medals tomorrow.

Ths US men's soccer team was ecstatic to make the quarterfinals, and that is where their run ended, falling 4-0 to Morocco.  Morocco moves on to play the country with which they share the world's shortest border of only 242 feet - Spain.  In the other half of the bracket Egypt will play host France.  I imagine that game is going to be PACKED!

In archery, Americans Casey Kaufhold and Brady Ellison earned bronze in team competition.  Kaufhold is ranked number 1 in the world, but was upset early in the women's event.  At 20, she looks to have many more chances for individual medals, and perhaps team gold!  The bronze is the fourth medal for Ellison, who is still alive in the men's event.  Korea defeated Germany for the gold, with the Germans winning silver.

The Americans also won a medal at the shooting range, as Sagen Maddalena won a silver medal in the women's 50 meter rifle, three position, behind only Switzerland's Chiara Leone who captured gold.  China's Zhang Qiongyue earned bronze.  This completely ruins my joke about teh US not being able to shoot unless they use an AR-15 and/or no medals in shooting is proof that the US does not apply anything they learn in school.

The United States also earned a bronze medal in sailing in the men's skiff.  Ian Barrows and Hans Henken secured the medal, finishing behind Spain (gold) and New Zealand (silver).

On the track, the United States set a world record in the 4x400 meter mixed relay preliminary round.  YES - IN THE PRELIMINARY ROUND.  Given that it was just the preliminary round, it will be interesting to see if the US keeps the team of Vernon Norwood, Shamier Little, Bryce Dedmond, and Kaylyn Brown together, or if they will add any "faster" runners for the finals.

As outstanding as the USA's performance was in the 4x400 mixed relay, nothing in these Olympics yet compares to the men's 10,000 meter event.  First, the medalists:  Uganda's Joshua Cheptegei won gold; Ethiopia's Berihu Aregawi earned silver and Grant Fisher from the United States captured the bronze.  That doesn't even tell the story.

For the last two laps, it looked like the entire field was sprinting.  Cheptegei was leading a field of what looked like 7 or 8 medal contenders at that point.  With just under a lap left, the final sprints began.  Fisher passed about 4 men to come into second down the backstretch, only to be caught by an equally charging Aregawi at the finish line for a photo finish for the silver medal.  All told, the top 13 competitors BROKE THE OLYMPIC RECORD!  THIRTEEN!!!  Imagine coming in 11th, and still breaking an Olympic record.  Amazing - what a race.

Athlete of the Day - Teddy Riner, France Judo

Fourth gold and sixth overall in judo.  Most decorated judoka ever.

Co-Athlete of the Day - Joshua Cheptegei, Uganda, Athletics

Gold medalist in THE race of the day, outracing 12 other would-be Olympic record setters.

Team of the Day - 4x400 meters mixed relay, USA, Athletics

World record in the preliminaries.

American Athlete of the Day - Grant Fisher, United States, Athletics

Broke the previous Olympic record in the 10,000 meters in winning bronze.

Olympic Term of the Day:  Berm - In BMC racing, it is the banked corner which is an essential feature for riders to keep their speed through the turns.

Olympic Events Watched:  3x3, Archery, Athletics, Badminton, Basketball, Beach Volleyball, BMX, Equestrian, Golf, Rowing, Soccer, Tennis, Volleyball, Water Polo

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