Day 10 - July 30, 2021
Hooray - I am back on pace to blogging at a normal hour! Real post today!
As usual, let's start in the pool. In hopefully some foreshadowing for what should be a great finals race, the USA's Caleb Dressel tied an Olympic record in the 100 meter butterfly in his Heat (which happened to be the last heat of the first round) of 50.39 seconds. In the first semi-final, Kristof Milak of Hungary broke the Olympic record by swimming the race in 50.31 seconds. Caleb Dressel immediately came back to break that record in the second semi-final by going 49.71. Can't wait to see this final today!!!
Emma KcKeon of Australia won gold in the 100 meter freestyle, breaking the Olympic recod that she set just two days ago. This is her second gold medal of these games. Hong Kong's Siobhan Haughey earned the bronze, and Australia's Cate Campbell won bronze.
The best result in the pool on Day 10 was turned in by South Africa's Tatjana Schoenmaker in teh 200 meter breastroke. Not only did Schoenmaker win gold, but she broke the world record in the process. The USA finished second and third, with Lilly King earning silver and Annie Lazor winning the bronze.
However, it wasn't Dressel, or McKeon, or Schoenmaker that were the talk of the pool, as American backstroker Ryan Murphy - without pulling any punches - stated that swimming results were tainted by doping, and that he doesn't think his races were clean. Murpy finished third in the 100 meter backstroke earlier this week behind Evgeny Ralnov (gold) and Kilment Kolesnikov (silver); and he finished with the silver medal in the 200 meter backstroke behind Evgeny Ralnov. Both Ralnov and Kolesnikov swim for the Russian Olympic Committee because Russia itself is banned from international competition for systemic doping and testing procedures, as well as the erasing of testing records of its athletes.
Qualifying heats have started on the track, and boy-oh-boy do we already have some controversy. The USA's 4x400 mixed medley relay easily won its heat, but was disqualified for passing the baton outside of the exchange zone on the fist and second legs of the race. However, team USA was reinstated after it was shown that race officials lined up Lynna Irby, running the second leg, incorractly. Tape also showed the officials lining up other runners in other heats incorrectly, but those runners noticed it and self-corrected. Team USA advances.
On a completely other track, Bethany Shriever won the finals in the women's BMX. The Great Britain rider narrowly defeated Colombia's Mariana Pajon by just .09 seconds. Pajon was the two-time defending gold medalist in the event, having won gold in 2012 in London and 2016 in Rio. Merel Smulders from the Netherlands finished with the bronze. Apologies to Shriever, but this was the best picture I saw.
On the men's side, Conor Fields of the USA, the defending gold medalist and the number 1 seed entering the finals, took a horrific crash in the first turn of the finals, sending him to the hospital, where last report was that he was stable, but still undergoing tests. With Fields down, Niek Kimmann of the Netherlands won gold, Kye White of Great Britain took silver, and Colombia's Carlos Alberto Ramirez Yepes earned bronze.
The games of the day is no doubt the women's soccer quarterfinals - all of the games (well, 3 out of 4)! Sweden beat Japan 3-1, and in a barnburner, Australia defeated Great Britain 4-3, setting up an Australia-Sweden semi-final matchup. In the other half, Canada outlasted Brazil in penalty kicks after a 0-0 draw. In the final quarterfinal matchup, Vivienne Miedema earned her 100th cap in the game against the USA, and then proceeded to score her 9th and 10th goals of these Olympics. It wasn't enough as the USA added 2 goals within a 3 minute stretch of the first half to send this game to extra time. Preserving the tie was a late penalty kick save by US goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher. After a goalless extra time, the U-S prevailed 4-2 on penalty kicks, with Naeher making 2 saves in the shootout! The clinching goal calmly scored by Megan Rapinoe.
Athlete of the Day - Alyssa Naeher, Soccer, United States
Not just the 2 shootout saves (Canada's goalie also had 2), but the big penalty shot save late in the second half as well.
Olympic Term of the Day: Exchange Zone - A track and field term for the marked area in a lane of track where two relay runners must meet and exchange the baton; the exchange zone is 20 meters long.
Olympic Events Watched: Athletics (Track & Field), Baseball, Basketball, BMX, Canoe, Handball, Judo, Soccer, Table Tennis, Volleyball
USA Potential Closing Ceremony Flag-Bearer (Alphabetically): Caleb Dressel, Phillip Dutton, Brady Ellison, Lee Kiefer, Katie Ledecky, Sunisa Lee, Kelsey Plum, Anastasija, Zolotic
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