Olympics - Rio 2016 - Day 19

Day 19 - August 21

,
T-oday's Events:  Basketball, Handball, Mountain Biking, Track and Field, Volleyball, Wrestling

Olympic Word of the Day:  Opposite - In volleyball, the player that plays opposite the setter.  Generally a hitter, but may often be called to set if a bad pass from the back makes it difficult for the setter to get to the ball.  Also important in outside blocking.

There were two absolutely phenomenal games played today.  The first ties into the Olympic word of the day, that being the bronze medal volleyball match between the US and Russia.  The US lost a match against Italy in the semi-finals in five sets, after being up 2 sets to 1, whereas Russia was absolutely annihilated by Brazil.  How would those matches affect the finals?  Well, we may not have had a chance to know, as the United States bus did not have the proper credentials to get through the new blockades set up for the Closing Ceremonies (the volleyball stadium is near the Olympic Stadium), so the team had to exit the bus and walk over a mile to the arena in the rain.  So we don't know if it was the after effects of the semi-finals hangover or the problems with arrival, but either way, the United States started off slow losing the first two sets 23-25, 21-25.  But, in the second set coach John Speraw inserted veteran outside hitter Reid Priddy, who had played exceedingly sparingly throughout the tournament, and the veteran erupted.  Although the 38 year old is retiring from the national team, with his hitting, movement and skills, I would expect to see him on the beach volleyball scene in the near future. Behind Priddy, and with Middle Blockers/Hitters Max Holt and David Lee providing devastating slams from the middle, and opposite Matt Anderson heating up from the outside, the United States overcame many problems from the service line to win the final three sets 25-19, 25-19, 15-13.  Brazil, behind the tournament-long hitting of Wallace, took the gold over Italy in straight sets, making up for the silver medals won by the country in volleyball in the last two Olympics.

For Russia, the semi-finals marked the last game of Sergei Tetyukhin, who was playing in his 6th Olympics.  Tetyukhin didn't just play sparingly, he was involved in almost every minute of these games.  Although he did not go out with a medal, Teyukhin's talent were necessary for Russia to advance to the bronze medal game.

The second fascinating game of the day was the gold medal match in the Men's Team Handball, between Denmark and France, with the Danes winning 28-26.  Mikkel Hansen who was amazing throughout the Olympics again starred for Denmark, scoring 8 times in the match to defeat the world number 1 ranked, and defending gold medalist, France.

On another Court, the United States Men's Basketball team bounced back from a close group play victory (3 points) over Serbia to win the gold-medal game over the same country 96-66.  Carmelo Anthony announced his retirement from the U.S. National team.  For Serbia, the play of point guard Milos Teodosic should earn him a contract in the NBA.  In a fascinating bronze medal match, Spain defeated Australia by 1 in  a match that was won on a great defensive stand by the Spaniards, who held Australia without a shot that could have put the Aussies ahead.

Just as their were two matches that carried the last day of the Olympics, two very different protests helped close out the games of the XXXI Olympiad.  The first was incredibly amusing.

As the clock ticked up to 6:00 (the final time in a wrestling match) in the bronze medal match at the 65kg weight class, Ganzorigiin Mandakhnaran of Mongolia was beating Uzbekistan's Ikhtiyor Navruzov 7-6.  At around 5:54 and 5:55, Mandakhnaran began celebrating by pumping his hands in the air.  The referee considered this fleeing, and awarded a point to the Uzbek, making the score tied at 7.  Those that recall yesterday's post will know that in wrestling the tiebreaker goes to the person that scored the last point, and since time had expired, that was Navruzov.  As the Mongolian's started to understand what had just happened, the coaches threw the challenge mascot.  (Instead of a challenge flag, each coach had mascot they could throw onto the mat which would trigger a video replay.)  However, this situation is not reviewable.  The coaches, Tserenbaatar Tsogtbayar and Byambarenchin Bayaraa, started their own protest by stripping, one coach took off his shirt, and the other stripped down to their underwear.  This resulted in another point for Navruzov, solidifying his claim for the bronze with an 8-7 victory.  It should be noted that the three judges from Navruzov's quarterfinal match were sent home for malfeasance earlier in the tournament.  Congratulations to Navruzov, but the fans were definitely supportive of the Mongolians as they shouted "Mongolia, Mongolia!"  Here are the coaches.

 
Another more serious protest occurred on the marathon course, where Eliud Kipchoge of Kenya crossed the finish line in first place in 2:08:44 for fold.  American Galen Rupp, fresh off his 5th place finish in the 10,000 meters and running in only his second marathon - his first being the Olympic trials, was third in 2:10:05.  However, the important action occurred after Kipchoge finished and ahead of Rupp.

Ethiopia's Feyisa Lilesa finished second in 2:09:54, capturing the silver medal.  However, as Lilesa neared and crossed the finish line, he raised his arms to form an "X".

The "X" was not a celebration, or a cue to family or friends, but a gesture that could lead to Lilesa's execution, or at least jail.  The formation has become a formal protest of the Oromo tribe in Ethiopia, the largest single ethnic group in the country.  The government has marginalized the Oromo people, taken away their land, jailed them, and worse, killed them - over 400 since last November.  Although Ethiopia's Communication Minister said that Lilesa has nothing to fear upon returning to Ethiopia for his protest, it should be noted that the state run television station edited out the gesture once noticed, and has not replayed Lilesa's finish.  The Guardian is reporting that Lilesa is seeking asylum, but details are scarce as to whether that will be in Brazil or elsewhere.  The Guardian quoted Lilesa as saying "Maybe I stay here [Brazil].  If I can get visa, I can go to America".

For taking this stand in the face of imprisonment or death, Feyisa Lilesa and his marathon finish are the story of the day.

The closing ceremonies completed the event, with the proverbial - and almost literal - passing of the torch from Rio de Janeiro to Tokyo, Japan, that will host the Summer Olympics in 2020.  Interestingly, representing Tokyo is the Governor of Tokyo, Yuriko Koike accepted the Olympic flag, the traditional closing of the games, even though she was only elected 3 weeks ago.  Also appearing was Japan's Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, in a tribute to Mario Brothers that stunned the stadium.

Olympics - Rio 2016 - Day 18

Day 18 - August 20

Today's Events:  Badminton, Basketball, Canoe, Golf, Handball, Mountain Biking, Soccer, Volleyball, Water Polo, Wrestling

Olympic Word of the Day:  Stalling - In wrestling, failing to engage the opponent, presumably to waste time.  First infraction is a warning, and at the time of the second "warning" the action is stopped so that the athlete is "put on a clock", at which time he has to score a point within 30 seconds, or else the opponent is awarded a point.

On Saturday, nobody capped a more memorable Olympics that Isaquias Quieroz dos Santos, the Brazilian canoer nicknamed "Missing Kidney".  On Saturday, he secured his third medal of the Olympics, a silver in the men's 1000 meters, to go along with his silver in the men's doubles 1000 meters and a bronze in the men's 200 meters.  Three medals to signify each of the three times he almost lost his life.  At age 3 a pot of scalding water fell on him, and the doctor's told his mother he was not going to make it.  At 5, he was kidnapped, but later returned unharmed.  And, at 10, he climbed a tree to get a better look at a snake out on a branch, fell onto a rock with the fall breaking a kidney in half.  He has been nicknamed "Missing Kidney" ever since.  

From the remarkable to the sublime, the United States Women's Basketball team secured gold by demolishing Spain 101-72.  Nobody, with the possible exception of Simone Biles, was more dominating at the Olmpics than this U.S. team.  Diana Taurasi, who along with Sue Bird and Tamika Catchings earned her fourth gold medal, has been complaining - rightfully so - that the team has not garnered more attention.  It hasn't received more attention because they were too good, and the games have not been that interesting.  A weird dichotomy, sure, but domination sometimes has its price.

In today's lesson on sportsmanship, American J'Den Cox won the bronze medal by defeating Cuban Reinaris Salas.  Cox. who late in match was leading by one, was warned for stalling.  He had thirty seconds to win a point, otherwise Salas would be awarded a point.  This was important because in freestyle wrestling, ties are broken by whomever scored last.  Cox attacks, and attacks, and attacks, has the big Cuban up, flips him, and Salas still has a hold of Cox's ankle, so a point is awarded to Salas with just six seconds left.  Cox's team challenges, and upon video replay, Cox is awarded 2 points for a take down, and since he scored points, no penalty is awarded to Salas, thus taking his point away.  A 3 point swing.  Instead of being tied, Cox is now up 3.  After a brief protest by his coaches, Salas refuses to continue the match.  Cox technically wins by disqualification.

That should be contrasted with the actions of Malaysia's Lee Chong Wei.  Wei, the number 1 ranked badminton player in the world lost the gold medal match to China's Chen Long to secure his third Olympic silver in his fourth Olympics.  Lee, crying, then apologized to all 30 million Malaysians that he could not give give them the gold medal they expected.  This juxtaposed with Ryan Lochte, who, just apologized for embellishing a story, that was not actually accurate to begin with.

On the track, the Americans again excelled, with Matt Centrowitz winning the gold medal in the men's 1500 meters.  In winning a very tactical race that Centrowitz controlled from the beginning, he became the first American male to win at that distance since 1908.

For the sixth consecutive time, the American women won the 4x400 meter relay, in convincing fashion.  Another repeat winner was Great Britain's Mo Farah, who followed up his gold medal in the 10,000 meters with another gold in the 5,000 meters, completing the double that he accomplished in London in 2012.

Gwen Jorgensen won the gold medal in the women's triathlon, becoming the first American to do so in that event.  Jorgensen, who completed the course in 1:56:16, defeating silver medalist Nicola Spirig of Switzerland by 40 seconds, with bronze medalist Vicky Holland of Great Britain just 5 seconds behind Spirig.

Despite all of the triumph listed here, none came close to the triumph of these Olympics:  Brazil's triumph over Germany for the gold medal in men's soccer.  The game, tied a 1-1 through regulation and extra time, went to penalty kicks.  Germany, going first, scored on each of its first four spot kicks, while Brazil countered scoring on each of its first four kicks.  Then, Brazilian goalie Weverton guessing correctly by diving to his left, made a spectacular save on Germany's Nils Pieterson, who blistered his kick to the goalie's left.  Then Neymar, recognized as one of the world's greatest soccer players coming off his spectacular curling free kick in the first half that gave Brazil a 1-0 lead, buried his penalty into the top of the net after a stutter step to clinch the gold medal.  It was difficult to see who was crying more, the Brazilians for winning, or the Germans for losing, but the emotions ran extremely high at Maracana.  That, was the story of the day!

Olympics - Rio 2016 - Day 17

Day 17 - August 19

Today's Events:  Basketball, Boxing, Canoe, Field Hockey, Handball, Soccer, Track and Field, Volleyball, Wrestling

Olympic Word of the Day:  Indictment - A formal charge or accusation of a serious crime

On "Today's News With Ryan Lochte", American swimmer James Feigen was allowed to travel back to the United States after he "purchased the right to his own passport" for $10,800.  This was reportedly in exchange for Brazil not pressing charges against Feigen.  Lochte, however, being in the US the entire time that this story has broke, could still be charged by the authorities and/or suspended by FINA - the governing body of international swimming - or USA Swimming.

Lochte, from the comforts of his own home - or wherever he is staying, posted an apology on Instagram.  His apology starts, "I want to apologize for my behavior last weekend - for not being more careful and candid in how I described the events of that early morning."  Clearly, Lochte doesn't even know what he needs to apologize for.  What a dope.

Our first real doping scandal at the Olympics - not to be confused with the Russian doping scandal prior to the Olympics - occurred when weightlifter Izzat Artykoff of Krzygystan lost his bronze medal after testing positive for strychnine.  STRYCHNINE!!!

At the golf course, Lydia Ko of New Zealand shot a 29 on the front nine, helped by a hole-in-one on the 140 yard par-3 8th hole.  She was joined in the aces club by Lin Xiyu - who actually recorded her hole-in-one on the same hole earlier in the day.

The United States Women's Water Polo team dominated Italy 12-5 in the gold medal game, earning the Americans their second straight water polo title.

The Cinderella ride for the coward Swedish soccer team ended as the fell to Germany 2-1 in the gold medal game.  All jokes about Hope Solo aside, Sweden, behind former American coach Pia Sundhage, did well to earn silver, as Germany was easily the best side in this tournament.

Since a little bit of refresher on sportsmanship is needed after any Hope Solo reference, I submit these words from Jordan Burroughs, a gold medal favorite in wrestling after losing in the quarterfinals to Aniuar Geduev of Russia.

“I feel like I let my family down, my kids,” you said. “I missed a lot of important milestones in my children’s lives to pursue this sport. I didn’t see my son walk for the first time. I’ve left my wife at home with two kids for long periods of time to go to training camps, to foreign countries. She did that joyfully, not begrudgingly, because she knew on days like these I always fulfilled my end. Now I feel like I let her down. I let her down, I let my family down. This is supposed to be my year. This is supposed to be my breakthrough performance that cemented me as a legend in the sport. And it almost retracted my position in the sport. It hurts me. It hurts a lot, man. It hurts.”

Jordan, you are a three time world champion with an international record of 130-4.  You let nobody down.

Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia defeated Lin Dan of China in the semi-finals of men's badminton.  This sets up a huge final with China's Chen Long for the gold.

On the track, the United States women dominated in the 4 x 100 meter relay, running the second fastest time in history - from LANE 1!  Amazing.

On the men's side, Jamaica defended its gold medal by cruising to an easy victory in the same event.  Usain Bolt took the baton roughly even with several other teams, only to win handily over Japan and the United State - who were ultimately disqualified for passing the baton outside of the area.  Canada ends up with the bronze medal.  Even though the American protest was denied, the members of the team still do not know what they did wrong.

No match was as amazing as the Denmark-Poland semi-final in handball, in which Denmark prevailed 29-28 in overtime.  Denmark will now play the reigning champions France for the gold medal.

If any game could match the handball match, it was the gold medal game in women's field hockey, as Great Britain earned the gold medal by defeating the Netherlands in a shootout.  Great Britain, you win the story of the day!

Olympics - Rio 2016 - Day 16

Day 16 - August 18

Today's Events:  Basketball, Beach Volleyball, Canoe, Diving, Handball, Track and Field, Volleyball

Olympic Word of the Day:  Extradition - The official process under which one country transports a suspected criminal or convicted criminal to another country.

I could not make this up, but if I were to make this story up, it would obviously have included Ryan Lochte.  So, the whole drama about Ryan being robbed at gunpoint is not only made up, but was said not to make him seem like a hero/tough guy, but because he and his cohorts did something they shouldn't have.  Something that likely never would have come to light anyway, but, due to Lochte's made-up robbery story, now everyone knows about.  The taxi carrying the four swimmers, including Lochte and Jimmy Feigen, stopped at a convenience store, at which time the athletes needed to use the restroom.  When the door to the restroom wouldn't open up immediately, one kicked open the door.  Thereafter, Lochte decided to go all wolfman on the restroom and mark the entire thing as his territory.  A security guard, with gun drawn, did confront the swimmers and would not let them leave until they left money for the damages.  And this was caught on video.  Also caught on video was the swimmers entering the athlete's village a few minutes after the incident.  Lochte is in the United States while Jimmy Feigen is still in Rio without his passport.  Gunner Bentz and Jack Conger were already released b police after making additional statements.  Yes, I started this whole Olympic posts trying to make fun of Ryan Lochte in each, and boy did he oblige in making it a much easier experience than I expected.

Let's get to some happier matters, and no event was more fulfilling for the home fans than Alison and Bruno winning gold in men's beach volleyball over the Italian team of Daniele Lupo and Paolo Nicolai.  Although the Brazilian duo won in straight sets, they were down in both sets before storming back to victory in both.  Alison, widely viewed as the best men's beach volleyball player, and Bruno were the number one ranked team entering the knockout round, and the overwhelming favorite enter the Olympics, however, Alison severely sprained his ankle on Day 5, and his mobility was obviously affected the remainder of the tournament.  They prevailed in the quarterfinals over the American team of Dalhausser and Lucena in what was likely the match of these Olympics. Congratulations to all of Brazil for this one, as I am sure they celebrated well into the night.

Equally exciting for the fans was the duel on the track between Usain Bolt and history, as he clearly no longer duels with other athletes.  Bolt had made it clear that he wants to be the first man under 19 seconds in the 200 meters, but that he didn't think he could go that fast here.  Still, a world record was possible.  Alas, history beat Usain Bolt in the race, as Bolt cruised to the gold medal in 19.78, easily outdistancing Andre ("Drake") de Grasse of Canada and France's Christophe Lemaitre.

Out on the golf course, American Stacy Lewis shot an -8 par 63 to put herself strongly in medal contention.  Lewis finished at 8 under, despite a double bogey on her card, tied the course record set last week by Marc Fraser of Australia and Matt Kuchar of the U.S.  The world's former number 1 is 1 shot behind the current number 1 Inbee Park halfway through the tournament.

The United States absolutely excelled on the track, and in no event did the U.S. fare better than in the men's shot put.  Ryan Crouser set an Olympic record with a put of 22.52 meters, a full 1.36 meters ahead of New Zealand's Tomas Walsh, who captured the bronze, with the silver going to ..... fellow American Joe Kovacs, who wins silver with a throw of 21.78 meters.  The 1-2 finish is the best shot put finish for the United States in Olympic history.

More expected, but no less impressive, Ashton Eaton defended his gold medal from London in the Decathlon, becoming only the third person ever to repeat in the event; with Bob Mathias winning in 1948 and 1952 (before becoming a US Congressman) and British great Daley Thompson winning in 1980 and 1984.  Eaton set an Olympic record with 8893 points, finishing the 1500 meters in 4:23:33.  He joins his wife Brianne Thiesen-Eaton in winning Olympic medals, as she earned the bronze in the heptathlon.

Crouser was great, and Eaton was impressive, but the most bizarre event on the track was the women's 4x100 meter relay preliminaries, in which the United States team, Allyson Felix, the U.S.'s second runner, was reaching to hand the baton to English Gardner, but was bumped by the arm of the Brazilian in the next lane.  This caused Felix to have to toss the baton to Gardner, who could not grasp it.  As the baton lay on the ground, Felix exclaimed to Gardner to pick it up to finish the race.  This was important, because it is a pre-requisite in filing an appeal, which the U.S. did.  The IAAF (the governing body of track), noticed that the Brazilian team went outside its lane and bumped Felix, and the U.S. was awarded another race - by themselves - to try to beat the time set by the then 8th ranked Chinese team.  Not only did the U.S. beat China to bounce that country out of the finals, but the qualified first for tonight's finals.

As interesting as the women's track story is, it pales in comparison to one of the most compelling stories of all time, as it brings into the equation definition of race, geo-politics, intrigue and sports, all into one story.  Luisito Pie of the Dominican Republic won the bronze medal in the 58kg weight class of taekwando, after falling to Thailand's Tawin Hanprab in the semi-finals, but recovering to defeat Spain's Jesus Tortosa Cabrera in the bronze medal match.  This is the Dominican Republic's first - and likely only - medals in these games.

So what makes this interesting?  Pie is of Haitian descent.  Although Haiti and the Dominican Republic share an island, they share no culture except often hatred, usually with the Dominicans looking down upon the Haitians condescendingly.  (Is there any other way?)  This transcends even color, as black Dominicans often feel superior to the Haitians, and often express their superiority over the Haitians more than lighter-skinned Dominicans.  In 2013 and 2014, this disgust and disdain for the Haitians came to the forefront when the Dominican Republic outlawed and rescinded citizenship for all those of Haitian descent - even those that were already Dominican citizens.  This left an estimated 210,000 people without a country, many of whom may have never even been to Haiti.  Now, there is a lot more details to the story, including the parallels to the current argument within the United States as a lot of the Dominican children of Haitian descent were children born in the DR to Haitian migrant worker parents.  In 2014, the Dominican Senate allowed a "pathway to citizenship" for those children of migrant workers.

So, in short, a Dominican athlete, who is not necessarily welcome in his country because of his race and ethnicity because he is Haitian, who is involved in a political battle over what constitutes a Dominican "citizen", won the only medal of these games for the Dominican Republic.  Isn't sport just grand?!

That was enough deep talk about they Olympics, so let's get to what we really like - UPSETS!  Usually we celebrate the upsets because it is the underdog, upstart Americans that defeat the champion from fill-in-the-blank other country, but today, it was the young Serbian women's volleyball team that defeated the number 1 ranked US of A in a thrilling 5 setter.  Serbia won 3-2 (20-25, 25-17, 25-21, 16-25, 15-13).  After falling behind 2 sets to 1, the Americans rallied to win easily in the fourth set, and jumped out to a 3 point lead in the final short set, which only goes to 15.  Serbia, led by deadly outside hitter Tijana Boskovic and middle blocker Brankica Mihajlovich rallied to send them to the gold-medal match against China.  The United States will battle for the broze medal against the Netherlands.

But, that upset was not even close to being the biggest upset of the day.  In an upset that sits in the pantheon of all-time upsets with the United States over the Soviet Union in hockey in Lake Placid in 1980, or Rulon Gardner defeating Russian legendary giant Alexander Karelin in Greco-Roman wrestling in Sydney in 2000, Helen Maroulis, an American freestyle wrestler that wrestled at the 53kg weight class, advanced to the finals where she faced Japan's Saori Yoshida, the defending three-time Olympic gold medalists who also has 13 world championships under her belt.  It was an amazing run for Maroulis to win the silver medal and to perform well against Yoshida, only something else happened.  Maroulis took control of the match to defeat Yoshida 4-1 to win gold; the first ever gold medal in wrestling for an American woman.  Without hyperbole, this is one of the biggest upsets of all time, and for that, Helen Maroulis wins the story of the day!

Olympics - Rio 2016 - Day 15

Day 15 - August 17

Today's Events:  Basketball, Beach Volleyball, Diving, Handball, Track and Field, Volleyball, Wrestling,

Olympic Word of the Day:  Passport - An official document issued by a government, certifying the holder's identity and citizenship and entitling them to travel under its protection to and from foreign countries.  OK - so not really an "Olympic" term, but it will make sense soon.

Some amazing performances today, starting with Brazil's men's soccer team 6-0 defeat of Honduras in the semi-finals, in which Neymar scored a goal just 14 seconds into the fixture.  Gabriel Jesus scored as well, and the stadium is going to be rocking when Brazil plays Germany for the gold medal on Saturday.

China's men's table tennis team defeated Japan for the gold medal, to join the Chinese women's team as gold medalists, and finalizing the country's sweep of the sport in the Olympics.

Thailand's Ariya Jutanugarn, fresh off her British Open victory shot a 7-under par 65 in the first round, with plenty of big names behind her, including world number 1 Inbee Park from South Korea and American Lexie Thompson.

On the track, Jamaica's Elaine Thompson completed the sprint double by winning gold in the 200 meters, with Daphne Schippers of the Netherlands winning silver and American Tori Bowie earning the bronze.  In the men's steeplechase, Conseslus Kipruto set an Olympic record in winning gold, with American Evan Jager winning the silver medal.  It was only the second American medal in the event, and comes just after American teammate Emma Coburn won a bronze in the women's race.  Interestingly enough, both Coburn and Jager wore the same hair tie, as Coburn had to borrow Jager's before her race.

In the women's 110 meter hurdles, after each winning their respective semi-final races, Brianna Rollins, Nia Ali and Kristi Castlin swept the podium for the United States, the first such sweep in any event by American women in history.  Rollins (as  you can see below) held the lead throughout most of the race, but a great close by Ali - one of 25 siblings - and Castlin allowed the U.S. to win all three medals.

In the 200 meter semi-finals, a budding bromance seems to be developing between Jamaica's Usain Bolt - the gold medal winner in the 100 meters, and Canada's Andre De Grasse - the bronze medal winner in the 100 meters, as each competed in the same semi-final heat, finishing 1-2, and advancing to the finals.

There is more to report on the Ryan Locthe situation.  A Brazilian Judge has issued a seizure warrant for the passports of Ryan Lochte and his three teammates involved in the now alleged holdup-robbery at gun point in Rio.  When the authorities went to the Olympic Village to serve the warrants, the U.S. swim team had already vacated the village.  Lochte, it turns out, flew home on Tuesday or early Wednesday, but Gunnar Bentz and Jack Conger were both removed from their airplane before it departed Rio de Janeiro - Galeao International Airport and taken for police questioning.  Swimmer James Feigen was unaccounted for, but apparently had made arrangements to speak to authorities tomorrow.  This story could ONLY involve Ryan Lochte.

The story of the day goes to Japan's Kaori Ocho, who won her fourth wrestling fold medal when she defeated Valeria Koblova 3-1 in the 58 kg weight category.  Ocho is the first wrestler in history to win four gold medals.  Sakshi Malik of India won the bronze medal, the first medal for India in these games.  Congratulations Ocho, will you try to make it 5 in Tokyo in 2020?

Olympics - Rio 2016 - Day 14

Day 14 - August 16

Today's Events:  Beach Volleyball, Diving, Track, Water Polo

Olympic Word of the Day:  Nacra 17 - It is the exclusive mixed multihull used for the multi-hull sailing competition in the Rio 2016 Olympics.  It was designed specifically for use in these Olympics as well as international events leading up to the Olympics.

Lots of action on August 16.  For starters we will examine: (1) the expected; (2) the unexpected; (3) the good; (4) the bad; and (5) the bizarre.

The expected was Simone Biles, who won her fourth gold of the Olympics in the floor exercise.  Biles mesmerized the audience - and the judges - who gave her a 15.966, beating out fellow American Aly Raisman by almost a 1/2 point.  Raisman finished with the silver, while Amy Tinkler of Great Britain won bronze.  It is a shame that Biles winning a gold is ho-hum, but when you are as dominating as Biles is, this gold was definitely expected.

The unexpected was that the Belgian men's field hockey team beat the Netherlands 3-1 to advance to the gold medal match against equally unheralded Argentina which beat the heavily-favored, two-time defending champion Germany.  What makes the Belgium victory more astonishing is that Belgium has never beaten its neighbor in over 80 years of playing field hockey.

The good was the U.S. performance in the men's triple jump, where American Christian Taylor defended his gold medal from London with a jump of 17.86 meters, followed closely by teammate Will Claye, whose 17.76 meter jump for second place helped him defend his silver medal from London.  Claye, to celebrate, jumped into the stands, hugged his girlfriend and then asked her to marry him.

The bad of this games has easily been the boxing judging.  The attention started when Irish bantamweight, Michael Conlan - who won bronze in London and was the favorite to win gold in Rio - lost to Russia's Vladimir Kikitin in a unanimous decision (all 3 judges had it 2 rounds to 1 in favor of the Russian).  Conlan, who was clearly the better fighter, stood in the ring and gave the judges the middle finger once the Russian was announced as a winner.  He then tweeted directly at Russian President Vladimir Putin, "How much did they charge you, bro?"

Conlan's defeat was bad, but nowhere near the level of the defeat of Roy Jones, Jr. at the hands of Korea's Park Si-hun in Seoul in 1988, after which Jones was named the best boxer of the entire tournament, not just in his weight class.  But, after looking at Conlan's defeat,the previous day's decision in favor of Russian Evgeny Tishchenko over Kazakhstan's Vassiliy Levit looks even worse.  Levit, who looked like he won easily, lost on the score cards and once Tishchenko was announced as the winner, the crowd booed heavily.

Unfortunately, this was just the tip of the iceberg, and an unspecified number of judges were sent home from Rio as punishment for their performance.

The bizarre is the Ryan Lochte story, who you may recall was robbed at gunpoint with 3 of his swimming teammates after a night of partying.  Brazilian authorities have announced that they do not believe any assault or robbery ever took place.  Stay tuned, as there is undoubtedly going to be more to this.

Back to the actual events, in an amazing soccer match, and a big FU to American goalie Hope Solo, Sweden's women's soccer team advanced to the gold medal match defeating host Brazil 4-3 on penalty kicks after a 0-0 draw.  Apparently the Swedish women were not cowardly enough to miss their penalty kicks.

Omar McLeod won the 110m hurdles, winning another gold for Jamaica on the track, won a race that saw, for the first time ever, no United States athlete on the podium.  University of Oregon wide receiver Devon Allen did finish 5th in the race.

But, as varied as the stories above are, they do not come close to the story of the day.  Argentine Santiago Lange, 54 and competing in his sixth Olympics, won gold in the Nacra 17 mixed hull sailing competition with his teammate Cecilia Carranaza.  This was Lange's first gold to go with 2 previous bronze medals, and comes just a year after losing a lung to cancer.  For your perseverance and performance, Lange is the story of the day.

Olympics - Rio 2016 - Day 13

Day 13 - August 15

Today's Events:  Basketball, Boxing, Cycling, Track, Wrestling (Greco-Roman)

Olympic Word of the Day:  Greco-Roman Wrestling - A form of wrestling where the wrestlers are forbidden to tackle, trip or use holds below the waist.

Then lets start with Greco-Roman wrestling, where Cuba's Mijain Lopez won gold in the 130kg (superheavyweight) class, his third Olympic gold, tying him for the most Greco-Roman Wrestling golds of all time with the legendary Soviet/Russian Alexander Karelin.  Karelin, you might recall, just missed a fourth gold when he was upset by American Rulon Garner 1-0 in Sydney in 2000 in one of the most notable sports upsets of all time.  Congratulations to Lopez, easily one of the best of all time in his sport.

At the track, American Emma Coburn won the bronze medal in the 3000m steeplechase, the first American women to medal in that event (and only second American ever; after Brian Diemer in 1984). Coburn's charge at the end brought her into third place, only 1/2 second behind silver medalist Hyvin Jepkemoi of Kenya; both well behind winner and gold medalist Ruth Jebet of Bahrain.  Congratulations to Jebet, and Bahrain!

In the men's 800m dash, David Rudisha of Kenya followed up his shocking gold medal from London with an expected gold medal this time, traversing 800 meters in 1:42:15, just ahead of Algerian Taoufik Makhloufi and American Clayton Murphy.

Coburn, who is 25, and Murphy, who is only 21, are expected to be early favorites for Tokyo in 2020.

But the story of the track, and the story of the day goes to the women's 400m, where co-favorites Allsyon Felix of the United States and Shaunae Miller of the Bahamas, literally flinging themselves to the line for first place.  Miller, whose dive at the finish line was better than any of Ryan Lochte's into the pool, took gold in a personal best 49.44, just beating Felix's lean at the tape who finished second at 49.51.  Jamaica's Shericka Jackson took third in 49.85.  Allyson Felix, with her 7th medal (with the 4 x 400m relay still to go), becomes the most decorated female track athlete in American history.

As amazing as the men's race was with Wayde van Niekerk breaking the world record from lane 8, this race was even better.  Not much is going to be able to top the 400 meters in this Olympics, or maybe any.  That, is the story of the day.

Olympics - Rio 2016 - Day 12

Day 12 - August 14

Today's Events:  Basketball, Diving, Equestrian, Golf, Tennis, Track & Field, Water Polo

Olympic Word of the Day:  Balk - In equestrian, when a horse refuses to move, or make a jump.  Results in a penalty.

For all of the faults the United States tennis team took due to Venus Williams losing her first singles match, Serena Williams losing way earlier than expected, and the Williams sisters falling early in the doubles, failing to win their fourth gold medal, the team actually fared pretty well.  In mixed doubles, Jack Sock and Bethanie Mattek-Sands won the gold medal over fellow Americans Rajeev Ram and Venus Williams, who earned the silver medal.  It was the second medal for Jack Sock who, along with teammate Steve Johnson earned bronze in the men's double.  For all of the starpower of the United States watching as the medal rounds progressed, three medals in the five events is not bad.

Fellow American Sarah Robles won the bronze medal in over 75kg weight class of weightlifting, earning the first American weightlifting medal since 2000 in Sydney.  Robles lifted 286 kilograms, 20 kilograms shy of the silver.

It was a great day for Great Britain, who celebrated 5 golds, in gymnastics, cycling, golf, and tennis, and eight medals overall.  The gold in cycling was expected, and Justin Rose in golf and Andy Murray in tennis are certainly world renowned, but Max Whitlock in gymnastics stole the show winning the gold in the floor exercise to go with the gold he won in pommel horse.

Speaking of the men's floor exercises, in addition to celebrating Whitlock's gold, the Brazilian crowd went berserk for Diego Hypolito and Arthur Mariano, the home-country gymnasts that won silver and bronze respectively.  Hypolito and Mariano could not contain their emotions of winning medals in their home country, and then acknowledged the crowd as they waived their flag for all to see.

In diving, Shi Tingmao continued China's dominance of the 3m springboard by winning the gold medal, China's 8th consecutive in the event.  However, it is hard to say whether Shi or He Zi had the better day, as after He won the silver medal, her boyfriend, fellow diver Qin Kai, asked He to marry him at the venue immediately after the medal ceremony.  She accepted.

Moving to the track, the long-awaited final of the men's 100 meter dash did not disappoint, ad two time defending gold medalist Usain Bolt of Jamaica flew to a relatively easy victory, over American Justin Gatlin (silver) and Canadian Andre de Grasse (bronze).  No word if Drake and Ryan Lochte were present to cheer on de Grasse.  Usain Bolt (three golds) and Justin Gatlin (1 gold, 1 silver, 1 bronze) are the only two athletes in history to win three Olympic medals in the 100 meters. Yet, despite all of the buzz surrounding the fastest man on earth, even Bolt could not carry the story of the day.

That honor belongs to South Africa's Wayde van Niekerk, who followed up his world championship in the 400m by breaking the world record in running a 43.03 in beating reigning Olympic medalist Kirani Jones from Grenada and LeShawn Merritt of the United States in one of the strongest races ever run at this distance.  van Niekerk passed the immortal Michael Johnson, dethroning Johnson as the fastest man in history at this distance.  Congratulations to Wayde van Niekerk, you are the story of the day.

Olympics - Rio 2016 - Day 11

Day 11 - August 13

Today's Events:  Badminton, Beach Volleyball, Diving, Fencing, Table Tennis, Track, Water Polo,

Olympic Word of the Day:  Sculler - A sculler is a rower who rows with two oars, one in each hand.

I did not get to see much of the Olympics today due to a previous commitment, so this post only covers what I see and know about.

In the pool, both the Men and Women from the United States won gold medals in the 4x100m medley relay, although both of those gold medals were expected.  The races were important because the United States won one more swimming medal in Rio than it did in London, and the women's victory was the 1000th gold medal in Olympic history for the United States.

Almost as expected was the third-straight gold medal for the United States in the women's 8 with coxswain rowing competition.  The team is now undefeated in Olympic and international competition in the last 11 years.  Elle Logan rowed her way to her third consecutive gold medal on the team.  American Gevvie Stone also earned the silver medal in the single sculls competition.

Almost as expected was more violence against athletes in Rio.  A quartet of swimmers, including Ryan Lochte, were robbed at gunpoint after the taxi was pulled over by thugs dressed as fake cops.  The group was heading back to the athletes village after partying at the French Club, the hospitality location set up for the French delegation, and their invitees.

Not as expected was the gold medal won by Monica Puig of Puerto Rico in tennis.  Puig defeated Germany's Angelique Kerber in three sets, with Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic winning the bronze medal over American Madison Keys.

In track, Great Britain's Mo Farah defended his 10,000m title, as expected, but it is the way Farah won that makes the race memorable,  Mo Farah fell to the ground after being bumped by his fried and training partner (and eventual 5th place finisher) Galen Rupp of the United States.  Farah made up the ground with some pacing assistance from Rupp, and eventually defeated Paul Kipngetich Tanui of Kenya and Ethipio's Tamirat Tola, who joined Farah on the podium.

The story of the day is not Farah, but rather German Christoph Harting, who, on his last attempt, unleashed a massive throw of the discuss that went 68.37 meters.  Harting, unseating the reigning Olympic champion, Robert Harting - CHRISTOPH'S BROTHER!, who won gold in London with a throw of 68.27.  Congratulations Christoph, you are the story of the day.

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 9

Day 9 - August 11

Today's Events:  Field Hockey, Golf, Kayaking, Rowing, Rugby, Swimming, Table Tennis, Tennis

Olympic Word of the Day:  Try - In rugby, it is the primary method of scoring worth 5 points.  It is scored when a player places the ball on the ground with downward pressure in the in-goal area between (and including) the goal-line and up to, but not including, the dead ball line of the opposition's half.  A pretty generic word in rugby, but since rugby has not been in the Olympics since 1924, a good starting word for those about to become fans of this exciting game.

I would be remiss if I did not start my recap of yesterday's action  without mentioning Kayla Harrison, easily the best American judoka of all-time.  Harrison, the Olympic gold medalist in judo in London 2012, repeated yesterday in the 78kg weight category, to become the only two-time American gold-medalist in the sport (being the first gold medalist in 2012).  Congratulations to Kayla Harrison, who - along with 3 or 4 others - becomes an early contender to carry the American flag in the closing ceremonies.

Justin Rose, competing for Great Britain, took his 7-iron at the 189 yards par 3 4th hole at Olympic golf course, and never needed to use his putter.  This first hole-in-one in the Olympic Games history, led him to a 4 under par first round of the tournament.  Although Australian Marc Fraser leads the tournament at -7, Justin Rose easily had the shot of the tournament.

In the pool, American, Simone Manuel, who had qualified third for the 100m freestyle final behind Australian Cate Campbell's Olympic record, took to the pool in the finals to come in tied for first with Canada's Penny Oleksiak in their own Olympic record 52.71.  With an incredibly talented and deep field, it was an incredible performance, and nobody expressed more shock and pure joy about Manuel's victory than Manuel herself, as these pictures show.

Ryan Lochte once again failed to live up to his billing in a showdown with Michael Phelps, as he fell to 5th in the 200m individual medley.  Ryan Lochte has finished behind Michael Phelps so many times that I will now refer to him as Alydar.

In Table Tennis, for the second day in a row, two Chinese compatriots fought in the finals for the gold medal.  On Day 8, Ding Ning defeated Li Xiaoxia to win gold as China went 1-2 in the women's final and solidified themselves as the country to beat in the team title.  Yesterday, it was world number 1 ranked Ma Long, who exacted revenge for being left off the Olympic team in London in 2012 for Zhang Jike, who won gold in London but succumbed in straight sets to Ma.  As Chinese men went gold-silver, they also solidified their position as the favorites to win team gold.

Back in the gymnastics arena, Simone Biles cemented her standing as one of the world's best gymnasts EVER, by defeating teammate Aly Raisman for the all-around title by 2.1 points.  This is a greater margin of victory than the sum total from 1980 through 2012!!!  That, my friends, is dominating.  (It should be noted that Raisman herself outdistanced the bronze medal by 1.433 points - so the distance between Biles and the rest of the world is VAST).  Biles now has two gold medals in these Olympics, and she has qualified for the finals in three separate individual apparatus.

While Simone Biles was the most dominating athlete yesterday, her win was expected and thus rather uninteresting, so she is not the story of the day.

The story of the day goes to Fiji's men's rugby team, which won gold by defeating Japan in the semi-finals and annihilating Great Britain 43-7 in the gold medal game - and the game wasn't even that close.  Fiji, which earned the country's first ever medal in Olympics history, win in Rugby's first appearance in the Olympics since 1924.  Like Manuel, the joy emanating from the team during the final and after the game was palpable.  For their win, for their country, and for their joy, the Fiji Men's Rugby team is the story of the day.