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 - Tokyo 2020 - Day 12

 Day 12 - August 1, 2021

Entry 2 of catch-up mode, so here we go ...

Last day of swimming, so we won't change a good thing and we will once again start in the pool.

And the pool did not disappoint.  The USA's Robert Finke added a second gold (to his 800m meter freestyle gold) by winning the 1500 meter freestyle, outdistancing the Ukraine's Mykhail Romanchuk and Germany's Florian Wellbrock, who joined him on the podium.

Australia's Emma McKeon earned the title fastest woman in the pool by breaking the Olympic record in the 50 meter freestyle, earning her 4th gold of these games (and 7th overall!!!).  This Olympic record stood for 1 whole day, as she broke her own record set the day earlier.  Sweden's Sara Sjoestroem finished second and Denmark's PErnille Blume earned the bronze.  Closing out the women's meet, Australia set an Olympic record in teh 4x100 meter medley relay, but with some controversy.  The aforementioned Emma McKeon looked like she jumped early to start her third leg (butterfly), and overtook the USA's Torri Huske at the start to cruise Australia into the lead, a lead which anchor Cate Campbell was not going to give back.  The United States finished second with China earning the bronze.

For the men, Caleb Dressel set an Olympic record in the 50 meter freestyle, easily defeating France's Florent Mananudou and Brazil's Bruno Fratus (second and third respectively), with fellow American Michael Andres finishing fourth.  Then, 40 minutes or so later, Dressel took the lead in his third leg of the men's 4x100 medley relay, which Zach Apple brought home for gold in World Record time, along with teammates Ryan Murphy (backstroke) and Michael Andrew (breastroke).  This was Andrew's first medal in what was supposed to be his coming-out party.  Perhaps he should have not badmouthed people that wear masks or got vaccinated.  Caleb Dressel won 5 gold medals in 6 events (the 6th being yesterday 4x100 mixed medley relay, in which Lydia Jacobs had her goggles incident), and Dressel was taken out of the 4x200 meter freestyle relay due to scheduling concerns with his other races.

In gymnastics, America's Jade Carey followed up her silver medal in the team competition with a gold in the floor exercises.  A trio of medals for the United States women, as Mykayla Skinner won silver in the vault, and Sunisa Lee - fresh off her individual all-around gold medal, won bronze in the uneven bars.  Also of note is Israel's Artem Dolgopyat winning gold in the men's floor exercises, with fellow non-Olympic power Rayderley Zapata from Spain taking silver.  China - now there is an Olympics gymnastics power - won bronze through Xiao Ruoteng.

Germany's Alexander Zverev followed-up his semi-finals defeat of Novak Djokovic by easily handling the ROC's Karen Khachanov 6-3, 6-1 for gold.  ALso in tennis, Belinda Bencic could not double after her singles gold, as Switzerland - with her and Viktorija Golubic losing the Barbara Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic, who earned the gold medal.  Still a great two weeks for Bencic.

In fencing, the United States won bronze in team foil as Alexander Massialas, Race Imboden and Gerek Meinhardt defeated their Japanese counterparts for third.  This was the first team medal in foil in the United States history.  France defeatd the Russian Olympic Commitee 45-28 in the gold medal match.

The most watched sport for the next week will no doubt be track & field (Athletics), and it did not disappoint yesterday.  Raven Saunders of the United States won silver, as China's Gong Lijiao took home the gold.  But no doubt, the coverage is going to be of Saunders elevating her arms in an "X" sign on the podium, which she says indicates "the intersection where all oppressed people meet."  The International Olympic Committee if investigating whether Saunders' arm signal violates its rules, but the United States Athletics Federation supports her.

In the men's high jump, Mutaz Essa Barshim of Qatar, and Gianmarco Tamberi of Italy were tied at 2.37 meters (with bronze medal winner Maksim Nedasekau of Belarus), and they had the same amount of misses (Nedasekau had more), which is the tiebreaker in the high jump.  While an official was discussing the jumpoff rules with Barshim and Tamberi, Barshim said, "or we can have 2 golds?".  It was determined that the two competitors and friends would both get a gold medal! 

Tamberi-Barshim share Olympic gold, heartwarming moment leaves netizens in tears - YouTube

Yulimar Rojas of Venezuela outdistanced Patricia Mamona of Portugal and Spain's Ana Peleteiro for the gold medal in the women's triple jump, with a world record jump of 15.67 meters, or 51.411 feet.

In the feature race of the Olympics, the men's 100 meter dash (and who will replace Usain Bolt), traditional sprinting powers Canada finished third (Andre de Grasse with his second consecutive 100 meter dash podium finish), and the United States (Ronnie Baker fifth and Fred Kerley winning silver), are upset by Italy's Lamont Marcell Jacobs, who ran away with the gold in 9.80 seconds.  This is Italy's first gold medal ever in the 100 meter dash, and first sprinting gold medal since the 200 meter great Pietro Mennea's gold in Moscow in 1980.

But, the best, most exciting, and closest action of the day occurred at Kasumigaseki Country Club, as Xander Scahauffele - the fifth ranked golfer in the world - earned the gold medal with an 18-under 266, to narrowly hold off a "come out of nowhere" course and Olympic record 10 under par 61 from Slovakia's Rory Sabbatini, who won silver.  The battle for third place was amazing, as seven players tied for 3rd with a 15 under 269, and headed for a sudden death playoff.  Local hero Hideki Matsuyama, feeling the pressure after shooting a pedestrian 69 (2 under) in the final round, and Great Britain's Paul Casey were dropped on the first playoff hole (18).  The remaining 5 players all parred the second playoff hole (hole 10).  A par on the third playoff hole (hole 11) was the end of the line for Colombia's Sebastian Munoz, Ireland's Rory McIlroy, and Chile's Mito Pereira, leaving Taipei's C.T. Pan and the USA's Colin Morikawa to shoot it out at 18 again, where Pan's par earned him the bronze.

A tough tie for 22nd for Sungjae Im and tied for 32nd for Si Woo Kim, both of South Korea, as a medal for either - or both - of them, would have enabled them to skip compulsory military service.

Athlete of the Day - Lamont Jacobs, Athletics (Track & Field), Italy

He really did win the 100 meter dash!!!

Olympic Term of the Day:  Fosbury Flop - In track, specifically the high jump, the method of jumping by American Dick Fosbury who used it in the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City, in which the final four or five steps of the approach are fun in a curve, allowing the jumper to turn away from the bar as they jump, and thus going over the bar with their back.  This method gives a longer time period for take-off thrust, and produces a rotation of the jumper's body along the bar's axis, aiding in clearance.

Olympic Events Watched:  Athletics (Track & Field), Badminton, Equestrian, Fencing, Golf, Swimming 

USA Potential Closing Ceremony Flag-Bearer (Alphabetically):  Caleb Dressel, Phillip Dutton, Brady Ellison, Robert Finke, Lee Kiefer, Katie Ledecky, Sunisa Lee, Kelsey Plum, Anastasija, Zolotic