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.