Day 8 - July 28, 2021
I am a little late on this post so this information is going to be a bit dated, but I wanted to make sure that I covered every single day of these Olympics - so I am not going to skip it! (No pictures today though, due to the fact I have to do multiple entries.)
As is often the case in the first week, the pool is where we find some incredible action, and this day was not exception.
In the freestly rematch between the 2 world champions, Ariarne Titmus defeated the field to win her second individual gold of the games, this time in the 200 meter freestlye. Katie Ledecky finished in 6th.
But, Ledecky can never be counted out as she also had the finals of the 1500 meter, the first time this event has been competed in the Olympics by women. Ledecky did not disappoint, winning gold, and pulling teammate Erica Sullivan to the silver. Ledecky, who set the Olympic record in the qualifying heat, coasted to an easy victory despite having swam the 200 meter freestyle finals earlier.
The United States also won 2 medals in the women's 200 meter individual medley, Yiu Ohashi of Japan won gold, followed by Americans Alex Walsh and Kate Douglas. World and Olympic record holder, and all-time great Katinka Hosszu finished 7th, in likely her last chance at a medal.
Outside on the water, China, Poland and Australia advanced into the A-Finals in the women's quad sculls when Germany, who was in second at the time, caught a crab (see word of the day below), which immediately slowed the boat to the point where it looked like it was standing still. A truly weird visual to anyone that has never seen this happen in a rowing event, which to be honest is most of us since we don't watch rowing regularly!)
Besides swimming, the other most popular sport is Olympics, and the women's gymnastics world, and thus that of these Olympics, was rocked a second time by Simone Biles' announcement that she was withdrawing from the individual All-Around, on the heels of withdrawing from the team competition.
Unfortunately for the men, Biles' announcement overshadowed the men's all-around, so I will definitely mention it as 19-year old Daiki Hashimoto of Japan won gold, defeating Ruatang Xiao of China - who won silver - and Nakita Nagornyy of the Russian Olympic Committee, the bronze medalist.
China faired much better in the mens 73kg weight class of weightlifting as Shi Zhiyung set a world record of 364 kilograms, winning the gold medal.
Annemiek van Vleuten made up for her mistake in the cycling road race by absolutely dominating the time trial, winning gold for the Netherlands by over 56 seconds over silver medalist Marlen Reusser of Switzerland, and teammate Anna van der Breggen, the bronze medalist. (See previous post for van Vleuten's mistake, which resulted in a silver).
Fiji won its second gold ever in defeding its men's rugby 7s gold medal!
Team USA's women won the first ever gold medal in 3x3, defeating ROC in a game that was nowhere near as close as the the final 18-15 score. Kelsey Plum scored 5 early points to stake the USA to an early lead, and to finish as the leading scorer in the tournament. The ROC had no answer for 6'5 Stefanie Dolson, who led USA in scoring with 7. Dolson was primarily responsible for placing the ROC in foul trouble when, after 7 fouls a team is awarded two free throws and at 10 fouls, the team receives 2 free throws AND the ball.
Fellow US athlete Sam Kendricks, the 2x defending pole vaulting world champion and Rio bronze medalists has withdrawn from the Olympics due to a positive Covid-19 test. Kendricks was the gold medal favorite in these games.
For the second consecutive day, Tokyo has set their record with 3,177 Covid cases.
The USA men's basketball team rebounded (see what I did there?) by annihilating Iran, but because it was Iran I am not going to mention very much about this game, since it doesn't tell us much. Concerning is that Kevin Durant has only scored 10 points in each of the team's first two games.
And to be honest, I only even mentioned the USA men's basketball team because the fact they played Iran gives me this great segue....
Judoka Saeid Mollaei of Mongolia won the gold medal in the 81 kg weight class. Mollaei was born in Iran, and won gold at the 2018 world championships. In the 2019 world championships, Mallaei was ordered by the government of Iran, the Iran Olympic Committee and the Iranian Judo Federation to throw his semifinal match so that he would not have to compete against Sagi Muki in the finals because Muki is Israeli. Mallaei left the tournament and went into hiding, securing a 2 year visa from Germany. He eventually gained citizenship from, and competes for, Mongolia. After winning the gold, Mollaei thanked the citizens of Israel for all of their positive energy.
Athlete of the Day - Saeid Mollaei, Judo, Mongolia
An athlete standing up for his beliefs, imagine that!
Olympic Term of the Day: Catching a crab - In rowing, after sticking an oar into the water for a stroke, and the oar fails to come out of the water when released, thus stopping the forward momentum of the boat.
Olympic Events Watched: 3x3, Archery, Basketball, Canoe, Cycling, Swimming, Table Tennis, Tennis, Volleyball
USA Potential Closing Ceremony Flag-Bearer (Alphabetically): Phillip Dutton, Brady Ellison, Lee Kiefer, Katie Ledecky, Kelsey Plum, Anastasija, Zolotic
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