Really light day today, as only some soccer and rowing really in action, well, and training in shooting, but we won't count that.
So yes, I did watch some men's soccer - Brazil and Germany was exciting; Spain versus Egypt was not. But, I did learn something incredibly interesting. If you are a Spanish player, and you play professionally for a team in Spain's La Liga, if the national team selects you to participate, neither you nor the team can say "no". You are obligated to play for the national team. So, whereas Spanish players in the Premier League, or Bundesliga often are not allowed to play in the Olympics, if they play in La Liga - it is required. It is Spanish law. Amazing.
In rowing, we had men's single sculls heats, women's single sculls heats, men's double sculls heates, women's double sculls heats, men's quadruple sculls heats, and women's quadruple sculls heats. These were just the heats, so no medals, but man-oh-man is the rowing venue gorgeous. The bridges look amazing, and of course, the mountains in the background!
The big story from the games themselves come from the rowing arena, in men's quadruple sculls where Poland won the second heat by .03 seconds over Italy, finishing in 5:39.25, to the Italians 5:39.28. In the first heat, The Netherlands won in a time of 5:39.80 with Australia in second in 5:41.54. This sets up an amazing final between those 4 countries and whichever 2 countries make it through the repechage, likely Great Britain (finished in 5:42.01 in heat 1) and China (finished in 5:43.44 in heat 1). If you want to watch a closely battled race in which all 3 medals are up for grabs, the men's quadruple sculls will be it. It would seem the Olympic Record of 5:36.20 set by Australia in 2008 in Beijing could be there for the taking.
Athlete of the Day - Men's Quadruple Sculls, Poland
Dominik Czaja, Wiktor Chabel, Szymon Posnik, Fabian Baranski
The rowers in the aforementioned quadruple sculls heat will be the number 1 seed, by .03 seconds heating into the finals. Regardless of what happens on the water in the future, these were the best performers on day 2!
Olympic Term of the Day: Repechage - An additional race in rowing that gives non-qualifiers an additional chance to advance to the next round. For example, in the previously discussed quadruple sculls semi-finals, the top 2 teams in each race advance to the finals, whereas the next 3 finishers advance to the repechage, where the top 2 in the repechage will join the finalists.
Olympic Events Watched: Men's Soccer; Women's Rowing; Men's Rowing
USA Potential Closing Ceremony Flag-Bearer: Cat Osterman
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