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 - 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.