Olympics - Paris 2024 - Day 4

Day 4 - July 27, 2024

It was the first full day of competition, and boy was it jampacked with events, including our first medals!

Might as well start with controversy, as more comes out surrounding the Chinese swimming doping scandal.  Positive tests from the Tokyo Olympics were revealed in April of this year (after being swept under the rug by the Chinese federation for three years!)  It turns out 23 members of the Chinese swim team in Tokyo tested positive for performance enhancing drugs.  Eleven of those 23 are swimming in this Olympics.  At least one member of the Australian delegation is contemplating a podium boycott if a Chinese swimmer wins a medal.  We shall see!

In the first medal match of these games, China 1 defeated South Korea 1 in the 10m Air Rifle mixed team event 1-12, earning gold, while South Korea settled for the silver.  Kazakhstan earned bronze by easily  outdistancing Germany 17-5.

The United States won its first medal in the women's 3m springboard synchronized diving event as Kassidy Cook and Sarah Bacon earned silver behind China's Chang Yani and Chen Yiwen.  Great Britain earned the bronze.

In some exciting games, Spain defeated Slovenia 25-22, and Egypt outlasted Hungary 35-32 in Handball.  Croatia narrowly escaped Japn 30-29 as well.  Germany beat Japan in volleyball 3-2.

 in a great matchup.

In the most dominating American performance yesterday, rower Kara Kohler won her heat by open water, easing into the semi-finals.

Right behindg Kohler's performance was that of the women's water polo team, which defated Greece 15-6!.

The US men's soccer team bounced back from their 3-0 defeat at the hands of the host country France to beat New Zealand 4-1.

In what looks like a literal passing of the torch and a scary combination for its opponents, Rafael Nadal and Carlos Alcaraz are teaming up for men's doubles for Spain!

France defeated two-time defending Olympic champion - and previously undefeated in the Olympics Fiji - to win the rugby 7s gold medal, but the game of the day was the South Africa - Australia bronze medal game.  South Africa scored two tries in the waning minutes of the second half to tie the match, and then the deciding try as time expired to win the bronze medal!  Just exhilarating.

But, the primary focus yesterday was on the pool, specifically the women's 400m Freestyle final and both 4x100 meter freestyle relays.  The women's 400 meter Freestyle final featured the three women that have hte best 30 times in history, and in this battle of the titans Australia's Ariarne Titmus defeated Canada's Summer McIntosh (silver) and Katie Ledecky of the United States (bronze).

Australia won the women's freestyle relay, with the US winning silver and China winning the bronze, and the stage looked set for an Australian sweep of the day.  But, third leg Hunter Armstrong - sorry Greg Olsen - took over second place and then the lead before handing the proverbial baton to perhaps the greatest finisher in relay history, Caleb Dressel.  And with about a body length lead when he entered the pool, Dressel coasted to gold despite a charge from Australia, which came in second and Italy earned the bronze.

Athlete of the Day - Ariarne Titus, Australia, Swimming

She dominated the race that most swim fans were most interested in seeing, as her, McIntosh and Ledecky are the three most dominant women at the 400 meter distance ever, and they were all competing in the same race.

American Athlete of the Day - Chloe Dygert, United States, Cycling

Dygert suffered a crash during the women's individual road racing time trail, yet got up to win bronze, just missing out on the silver by seconds.  A well earned bronze!!!

Olympic Term of the Day:  Open Water - Rowing - When a boat is more than a full length ahead of every other team in the race.

Olympic Events Watched:  Badminton, Basketball, Beach Volleyball, Cycling, Gymnastics, Rowing, Rugby, Soccer, Swimming, Table Tennis, Volleyball, Water Polo

USA Potential Closing Ceremony Flag-Bearer (Alphabetically):  Chloe Dygert, Brady Ellison, Casey Kaufhold, Alyssa Naeher Mallory Swanson                            

Olympics - Tokyo 2020 - Day 8

 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                          

Olympics - Tokyo 2020 - Day 6

Day 6 - July 26, 2021

Day 6, and lots of action in the pool, so let's get right to it!

In the semi-finals of the 100m backstroke Reagan Smith broke the Olympic record to be seeded first in the finals.  Of note, this was the 4th straight race in this discipline in which an Olympic record was broken!

In what was supposed to be one of the more dynamic races in the pool, the United States ran (swam?) away with the 4x100 meter freestyle relay, winning gold.  Caleb Dressel, Blake Pieroni, Bowen Becker, and Zach Apple took home the gold!

In the women's 400 meter freestyle, one of the marquis races of these Olympics due to those involved, Ariarne Titmus of Australia, in the second fastest time ever at this distance, won gold defeating Katie Ledecky, who herself swam the 4th fastest time in history.  They will meet again at 200 meters.

Adam Peatty of Great Britain easily won the 100 meter breastroke.  Peatty, who has the 15 fastest times in the world at this distance, is also the favorite at 200 meters.

Canada's Margaret McNeil won the gold in the 100m butterfly, followed VERY closely by Yufie Zhang of China and Australia's Emma McKeon, who took home the silver and bronze respectively.  Only .01 seconds behind McKeon and finishing in fourth was Torri Huske.  The spread between first and fourth was only .14 seconds!!!!

Outside of the pool, we have the first medals ever awarded in Women's Skateboarding, and the event was dominated by not only teenagers, but young teenagers!  Japan's Momiji Nishiya, 13 years old, won gold, with fellow 13 year old Rayssa Leal from Brazil winning silver, and the old person in the group, 16 year old Funa Nakayama won bronze.  Alexis Sablone, a 34 year old from the United States, finished fourth.

In softball, although the gold medal game between the United States and Japan had already been set, the US and Japan finished pool player with a humdinger of a game, the United States won on a walk-off home run by Kelsey Stewart.  This was the United States first home run of the entire Olympics.

In the most dominating performance of the day, Luka Doncic of Slovenia scored 48 points - the second most in Olympics history between Oscar Schmidt's 55 - as Slovenia defeated Argentina 118-100.  NBA fans know Doncic really well, and this performance cements him as one of the best players in the world.

Athlete of the Day - Adam Peatty, Swimming, Great Britain

Greatest breastroker ever!  Period.  Dominated the 100m for gold.

Olympic Term of the Day:  Eggbeater - In water polo, the leg kick used to tread water and and lift players vertically out of the water.

Olympic Events Watched:  3x3, Beach Volleyball, Gymnastics, Softball, Swimming, Table Tennis, Volleyball, Water Polo

USA Potential Closing Ceremony Flag-Bearer:  Monica Abbot, Phillip Dutton, Brady Ellison, Lee Kiefer, Cat Osterman, Kelsey Plum, Anastasija, Zolotic