Olympics - Beijing 2022 - Day 11

 Day 11 - February 14, 2022

Happy Valentine's Day, and the most important Valentine for the Olympic athletes is a medal!

In hockey, we the viewers all get what we want - a Canada/US Final!!!  The Olympic hockey gods are definitely good!!!

In worse news, the Kamila Valieva positive drug test situation took an interesting turn.  Sha'Carri Richardson, the U.S. Sprinter who tested positive for THC at the US trials, went public with the question as to why Valieva - who tested positive for a performance enhancer at the ROC's Olympic trials - still gets to compete when Richardson could not - and answers the question by stating it must be because Vaileva is white.  And, Richardson isn't wrong.  Stay tuned as Valieva competes tomorrow.

Something incredible interesting is brewing in Bobsled, as the 2-man competition completed their first two runs, with German squads in first, second, and fourth, with the fourth-place sled only .05 seconds behind the Russian Olympic Committee sled.  This could be the only time one country has swept the podium in bobled.

The men's ski jumping team competition (large hill) took place, with Austria winning gold over Slovenia (silver) and Germany (bronze).

In the X-Games competitions, the women's freestyle skiing aerials and slopestyle took place.  In the aerials, the host China wins gold behind Xu Mengtao, followed by Hanna Huskova of Belarus (silver) and American Megan Nick (bronze).

 

In slopestyle, Eileen Gu of China, the gold medalist in the half-pipe, won her second medal by coming in second in slopestyle, beat only by a tremendous run by Mathilde Gremaud of Switzerland who takes gold.  Kelly Sidaru of Estonia comes in third.  The Russian Olympic Committee is protesting what it believes was low scoring for fourth place Anastasia Tatalina.

After some weather delays, the women's downhill was completed, and Switzerland's Corinne Suter won gold in an incredibly fast run.  She was joined on the podium by two Italians, Sofia Goggia (silver) and Nadia Delago (bronze).

In speedskating, the team pursuit competition finished with Norway defeating the Russian Olympic Committee for gold in the final.  The United States won the third-place match over the Netherlands to take home bronze.  The U.S. team, made up of Casey Dawson, Emery Lehman, and Joey Mantia - Ethan Cepuran skated in the semi-finals) kept Sven Kramer from winning his 10th all-time Olympic medal.

Athlete of the Day:  Sofia Goggia, Italy, Alpine Skiiing

Goggia won the silver medal in the women's downhill, JUST THREE WEEKS AFTER A CRASH LEFT HER WITH A DAMAGED ACL!!!  She is in pain, and likely needs surgery, but she was not missing the Olympics.

Teamwork/Sportsmanship Moment of the Day - Everyone in the Skating world not related to Russia, Every Country Except Russia, Figure Skating

Virtually everyone in the world of figure skating, form athletes, to former athletes, to coaches, to administrators, to broadcasters, are unanimous in condemning the fact that Kamila Valieva is still performing in these Olympics.  Although, the IOC has stated that no medals will be awarded should Valieva finish first, second, or third, until its investigation is complete and all legal challenges are finished.

Olympic Term of the Day: Hammer - In curling, the team with the last stone in any given end of play holds "the hammer."  The 16th delivered, or last stone, curled in any given end.

Olympic Events Watched: Alpine Skiing, Curling, Bobsled, Freestyle Skiing, Hockey, Ski Jumping

USA Potential Closing Ceremony Flag-Bearer(s):  Nick Baungartner, Nathan Chen, Kaillie Humphries, Erin Jackson, Lindsey Jacobellis, Chloe Kim, Hilary Knight, Elana Meyers Taylor

Olympics - Tokyo 2020 - Day 11

Day 11 - July 31, 2021

So, I fell off the pace this weekend, but I did watch the Olympics, and I do have my notes, so I will be catching up with a vengeance today!  Probably not a lot of pictures, just narrative to help me catch up.

Since we are closing to the end of swimming and diving, I might as well start with them again.  In the pool, Katie Ledecky won her third straight Olympic gold in the 800 meter freestyle, and her 10th overall medal (7 gold).  Ledecky beat Australia's Ariarne Titmus, who earned silver, and Simona Quadarella of Italy, winning bronze.

In the 4x100 mixed medley relay, Great Britain set a world record for gold, followed by China and Australia for silver and bronze respectively.  The United States finished in 5th, but was never in it as Lydia Jacoby, swimming the breastroke second leg, knocked her goggles off her eyes and down into her mouth as she dove into the pool to start her race.  This easily cost the US two to three seconds, and a possible medal.

The track also had its mixed relay, as the 4x400 mixed relay was held.  In a surprising result, Poland won gold in an Olynpic record time (well, this is the first time the race was competed at the Olympics,) with the Dominican Republic earning silver and the United States winning the bronze.

In a highly-anticipated race on the track, Jamaica's Elaine Thompson-Herah defended her 2016 gold medal in the 100 meter dash, setting an Olympic record as she led a Jamaican sweep of the podium.  Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce (double-hypen should be her nickname) came in second and Shericka Jackson finished third.  Thompson-Herah's 10.61 is the fastest in Olympic history, and the second-fastest of all time.  I don't know where Sha'Carri Richardson would have finished, but she definitely would have made this race way more exciting.

USA Men's basketball defeated the Czech Republic in a not very exciting 119-84 blowout.  This game gets mention here because Kevin Durant finally showed up, scoring 23 points on 8-11 shooting, with 8 rebounds and 6 assists.  If Durant starts playing, watch out.

New Zealand defeated France 26-12 in the women's rugby gold medal game, and Fiji, fresh off the men's gold medal, beat Great Britain 21-12 in the bronze medal game.

But, some of the most interesting action on this day occurred in tennis.  After losing yesterday in the men's semifinals to Germany's Alexander zverev 1-6, 6-3, 6-1, Serbia's Novak Djokovic, the number 1 player in the world who has won the Australian Open, French Open and Wimbledon already this year, lost in the bronze medal match to Spain's Pablo Carreno Busta 6-4, 6-7, 6-3.  After being denied a medal, Djokovic then withdraw from the mixed doubles bronze medal match, leaving his teammate Nina Stojanovic without the ability to play for a medal, and handing women's world number 1 Ashleigh Barty and John Peers of Australia the bronze medal.

In the most exciting match of the day, Brazil's team of Laura Pigossi and Luisa Stefani fought off four match points in a row to win the bronze medal in women's doubles defeating the Russian Olympic Committee's Veronika Kudermetova and Elena Vesnina 4-6, 6-4, 11-9.

In the women's singles gold medal match, the only gold medal match of the day, Switzerland's Belinda Bencic defeated Marketa Vondrousova of the Czech Republic 7-5, 2-6, 6-3.

Staying in racket sports, in a mtach with world-wide geopolitical implications, Chinese Taipei's Lee Yang and Wang Chi-Lin defeated China's Li Jun Hui and Liu Yu Chen 2-0, to win the gold medal in badminton men's doubles.  I sure hope the Chinese government doesn't attempt to retaliate against Li and Liu for losing to Taipei, but my guess is the government will just take credit for this gold medal.

Athlete of the Day - Belinda Bencic, Tennis, Switzerland

Well earned gold medal, all earned while also playing doubles for Switzerland (her gold medal game for that is tomorrow).

Olympic Term of the Day:  Shido In judo, a penalty which is equal to a koka score; 3 shidos equals one point for your opponent

Olympic Events Watched:  Athletics (Track & Field), Badminton, Baseball, Golf, Handball, Swimming, Triathlon 

USA Potential Closing Ceremony Flag-Bearer (Alphabetically):  Caleb Dressel, Phillip Dutton, Brady Ellison, Robert Finke, Lee Kiefer, Katie Ledecky, Sunisa Lee, Kelsey Plum, Anastasija, Zolotic