Olympics - Paris 2024 - Day 7

Day  - July 30, 2024

This damn work and real life stuff is getting in the way, but hey, I still have the opportunity to watch some events.  Either way, here is the daily report.

A few controversies from Day 7.  The men's triathlon was postponed because the Seine River, where the swimming portion is to be conducted, is too polluted.  This has only been the case for over 100 years.  Yes, the city of Paris has put billions into cleaning it up, and yes it passed testing last week, but the large amount of rain from last weekend has contributed to the unsafe testing in the waters.  They hope to have the triathlon tomorrow.

The Italian delegation believes the judging in fencing has been unfair, in order to favor some traditional fencing powers, and have lodged a formal protest.  I doubt that will go anywhere.

And, American Coco Gauff lost her third round match.  A super questionable rule came into play - that didn't exactly cost Coco the match - but leads to some serious questions.  Now, the ruling was completely accurate, but the rule itself needs to be changed - IMMEDIATELY.  Here is the scenario - Gauff is down a break point when her opponent returns a shot and as Gauff is in her backswing to hit her shot, the linesman shouts "Out!"  Her opponent calls for a review, and the call was overturned and it was correctly ruled in.  However, Gauff would have hit the ball if the linesman had not made the ruling, but since she didn't, she lost the point, the break, and the game.  Gauff still has mixed doubles and doubles, so hopefully she can still come away with some hardware.

I would be remiss if instead of just commenting on the outcome of the events/games, and the controversies, I didn't mention one particular athlete whose story caught my attention:  Zhiyang Zhang of Chile.  Zhiyang, age 58, was a superstar at table tennis in China as a teen, having won national championships and international tournaments.  However, the governing body of table tennis changed the rules of the sport to require both sides of the paddle to be different colors.  As an aside, for those that don't know each side of the paddle has a different surface to produce different effects on the ball when striking it.  This rule flabbergasted Zhang, and for some reason should could not mentally adapt to the different colors of the paddles, fancying herself a master of using techniques to surprise her opponents by not allowing them to see which side of the paddle she would use for a particular hit.  She stopped playing the game, and moved to Chile where she became a table tennis coach.  Then Covid hit.  She began playing table tennis again to keep herself occupied and she caught the fever.  She began training, and playing in tournaments and she became the Chilean national champion and qualifying for the Olympics.  Alas, she lost in the preliminary round, but Zhang enjoyed every minute of her Olympic experience, something she would have taken for granted as a teen (if table tennis was in the Olympics back then.  (It did not become an official Olympic sport until 1988 in Seoul.

The best event that I watched personally yesterday was the volleyball match between the United States and Germany.  The US jumped out to a hard-fought, but dominating lead by winning the first two sets.  Germany clawed its way back by winning the third set, and then the fourth set.  The fifth set went back-and-forth with the US ultimately pulling out the victory to go to 2-0.  A great team effort as the entire squad played critical roles at different times in this barnburner.

That volleyball match was amazing from start to finish, but nothing beats the ending to THE FINISH OF THE USA WOMEN'S RUGBY BRONZE MEDAL GAME!!!  Alex Sedrick took the Match Ball close to her own try line, started inside into contact, absolutely trucked the Australian defender and sprinted away from the field for the tying try as time expired.  She converted the conversion (ha!) for the US victory and the bronze medal! Sedrick made her kick despite not being in the team's kicking rotation.  The primary kicker was not on the field at the itme Sedrick scored her try (as the team needed different personnel given the time left in the match and the location of possession, so Sedrick stepped up and hit the conversion.  In other news, New Zealand defeated Canada in the gold medal game.

At the shooting range, Guatemala's Jean Pierre Brol Cardenas could not outshoot Great Britain's Nathan Hales (gold) or China's Qi Ying (silver), but he did earn the first medal for Guatemala in these games, and the second overall (a silver in the 20km walk in London 2012.  Hopefully Guatemala doesn't have to wait too long for their first ever gold (foreshadowing).

Something that needed no foreshadowing - the United States absolutely dominated in the women's team gymnastics, securing gold even with Simone Biles stepping out twice during her final floor exercise routine - the last of the competition for the American women.  They won by approximately 6 full points - an absolutely dominating performance!

In another sport that needed no foreshadowing, China won gold in the mixed doubles event in table tennins, defeating the team from North Korea in the finals.  South Korea defeated Hong Kong for the bronze.

In fencing, the Italian women won gold in the team epee, defeating France.  Poland defeating China for the bronze.  No word on if Italy plans to protest this event.

Three medal events in the pool yesterday, with Australia's Kaylee McKeown lowered her own Olympic record in the 100 meter backstroke, defeating her rival, American Regan Smith by .33 seconds.  Katie Berkhoff of the USA finished just behind Mckeown and Smith, earning the bronze.

Daniel Wiffen of Ireland won gold in the men's 800  meter freestyle event to earn gold followed by American Bobby Finke (silver) and Italy's Gregorio Paltrinieri.  It was Ireland's first swimming gold, and in the process Wiffen set a new Olympic record.

And in the anchor position, Great Britain defends its 4x200 meter freestyle gold medal.  The United States finished second for silver, defeating Australia who earned bronze.

Athlete of the Day - Daniel Wiffin, Ireland, Swimming

Setting an Olympic record, a full three seconds faster than your event-best qualifying time, to earn Ireland's first swimming gold gets Wiffin the Athlete of the Day.

Team of the Day - USA Women, Gymnastics

A thoroughly dominating performance by Simone Biles, Sunisa Lee, Jordan Chiles, Jade Carey, and Hezly Rivera

American Athlete of the Day - Alex Sedrick, United States, Rugby

Seriously, go back and watch her Derrick Henry-esque play - with no time left on the clock!!!

Olympic Term of the Day:  Clear - 3x3 - When the defensive team obtains possession of the ball, either by a defensive stop or after giving up a basket, they must take the ball by dribble or pass out past the three-point line before beginning their offense.  This is "clearing" the ball.  Yes, just like on the old playground.

Olympic Events Watched:  3x3, Beach Volleyball, Gymnastics, Handball Rugby, Shooting, Swimming, Table Tennis, Volleyball

USA Potential Closing Ceremony Flag-Bearer (Alphabetically - Capitals indicate a potential favorite to this point):  Chloe Dygert, Brady Ellison, Torri Huske, Casey Kaufhold, LEE KIEFER, ILONA MAHER, TOM MURPHY, Sophia Smith, Mallory Swanson                             

Olympics - Tokyo 2020 - Day 7

Day 7 - July 27, 2021

Day 7, and lots of action in the pool, so I am going to dive right in!

Thomas Daley and Matty Lee pulled off an incredible upsetting the Chinese duo of Cao Yuan and Chen Aisen, who finished with the silver.  Both Cao and Chen have won golds before in the event (1 in 2016 the other in 2012), and were favored by far to win this match, but Daley and Lee pulled off some incredible dives!

The women's synchronized diving was nowhere near as eventful as favorites Chen Yuxi and Zhang Jiaqi absolutely dominated after four dives that all they technically had to do in their fifth and last dive was jump off the platform together and land in the water.  They defeated the surprising Americans of Jessica Parratto and Delaney Schnell, who captured silver despite only being partners 10 days before the Olympic trials, due to an injury to Schnell's original partner.  Parratto and Schnell nailed their last 2 dives to move up from 6th after their second dive, into the silver medal.

In the other side of the pool, four noteworthy events took place.  In the men's 200 meter freestyle, Tom Dean of Great Britain won the gold medal, with is compatriot Duncan Scott winning silver.  Great Britain has to be the favorite for the gold in the 4x200 meter freestyle relay.

In the 100 meter backstroke, World and Olympic record holder, as well as the defending champion, Ryan Murphy looked to defend his title, only to finish third to win the bronze medal.  Murphy finished behind Russian Olympic Committee's Evgeny Rylov who won gold and Kliment Kolesnikov, who earned silver.  Rylov is the first Russian male swimmer to win a gold medal at the Olympics since the great Alexander Popov in 1996 (50 meter freestyle; 100 meter freestyle).

Kaylee McKeown  of Australia won the gold medal by finishing first in the 100 meter backstroke, setting an Olympic record in the process.  This was the fifth time that the Olympic record has fallen in this meet, as McKeown, silver medalist Kylie Masse of Canada, and the USA's Regan Smith (twice), who earned the bronze medal, all broke the record previously in the heats and the semi-finals.  McKeown is forever going to be remembered as the swimmer that screamed "Fuck Yeah!" when asked how it felt to win the gold.  All three of these women deserve their picture in this blog!

A surprise win - and loss - for the United States in the 100m breaststroke as Lydia Jacoby from Alaska - which has only one 50 meter pool in the state - surprisingly won gold, with pre-race favorite Lilly King winning the bronze. Tatjana Shoenmaker from South Africa won silver.

Moving from in the water to, well, on the water, Carissa Moore from the United States won the first women's surfing gold medal ever!!!  Here's hoping this event remains in the games for a long, long time.

The Russian men's gymnastics team won the gold in the men's team competition defeating host Japan by just .103 points (China earned the bronze), but all gymnastics was overshadowed by the fact that Simone Biles withdrew from the team competition.  We don't yet know if she will compete in either the individual all around or in the apparatus finals, for which she qualified on all four apparatus.   

Also out of the Olympics, but this time because of defeat, is home favorite and number 2 seed in women's tennis Naomi Osaka, who lost 6-1, 64 to Marketa Vondousova of the Czech Republic in the third round.  But, the only real winner in tennis this Olympics is the heat, which has damn near crippled the players, sending at least one player off the court in a wheelchair.

Also of bad news in Tokyo, the city had 2,848 new cases of Covid-19 yesterday, the most it has ever had since the pandemic began.  Approximately 160 of those cases are linked to the Olympics.

It wasn't all bad news for the Japanese, as they won two big gold medals in the Olympics.  Fist, Japan defeated the United States for the gold medal game, technically defending their championship from 2008, and avenging their loss to the United States just one day earlier.  Softball will not be featured in 2024, and to be honest, until the rest of the world catches up to the 4 or 5 countries that actually play at a high level, it shouldn't return.

The host country also won an unexpected gold in mixed table tennis, as Jun Mizutani and Mima Ito knocked off China's Xu Xin and Liu Shiwen 4-3, after falling down 0-2 (5-11; 7-11).  China swept all 4 table tennis championships in Rio in 2016 (mens, womens, mens doubles, mixed doubles) and is such a strong team that Liu Shiwen isn't even on the women's singles team, playing only doubles.

In other noteworthy events, Milica Mandic defended her gold medal in Taekwondo at 67kg.  Over in weightlifting, Hidilyn Diaz from the Phillipines won a gold in weightlifting, the first gold medal ever for teh Phillipines!  In a similar vein, Polina Guryeva won a silver medal in wieghtlifting, the first Olympic medal in Turkmenistan's history!!!  And USA's 3x3 hoopster Kelsey Plum hit a last second-shot to send the United States into the semi-finals as the number 1 seed!

Athlete of the Day - Hidilyn Diaz, Weightlifting, Philippines

First gold medal ever for the Philippines!!

Olympic Term of the Day:  First Pull - In weightlifting, the first pull of the snatch or clean is the movenment of the bar from its starting point on the floor until it reaches approximately mid-thight, the point at which the final upward explosive effort is initiated.

Olympic Events Watched:  Basketball, Beach Volleyball, Diving, Gymnastics, Handball, Softball, Surfing, Triathlon, Water Polo

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