Olympics - Paris 2024 - Day 11

Day 11 - August 3, 2024

This was actually from yesterday, but I just found out about it after I posted yesterday's report, so it gets its own entry.  There was a fight in the Olympics that didn't involve boxing, wrestling, judo, tae kwon do, or cisgender/transgender/intersex boxers!  After France defeated Argentina in men's soccer 1-0, an actual physical fight broke out on the pitch.  This all stems from Argentina's Copa America victory prior to the Olympics in which - in celebration - the Argentines were seen celebrating by mocking French soccer players, especially players of African descent.  We saw problems with this in the Morocco-Argentina match, and Argentinian teams of all types have been cascaded with massive boos all around Paris.  Probably was just a matter of time until this happened.  I doubt that any intra-Olympics disciplinary action will be taken against the French players involved.

But, thank God this was the only real conflict yesterday, as there was some really good action at the event venues!

The United States women's soccer team, which was embarrased last Olympics, defeating Japan 1-0 in the quarterfinals off a stoppage time in the first extra time period by Trinity Rodman.  The win puts the Americans into the semi-finals and on the verge of a medal, which they missed in Tokyo.  Below is a good look at Rodman's goal as it passes the keeper.

Rodman's goal was a very important play, but no play was as amazing as Joel Embiid's block of this DUNK ATTEMPT!  Embiid, who has been much-maligned in these Olympics as his game just doesn't seem suited for international play and even sat out the entire game against South Sudan, may have made up for everything with this one play!  Anthony Edwards led the way with 25 points against Puerto Rico, as the United States moves on to the knockout rounds.

For the United States, the stars were out and producing!  Katie Ledecky won the gold medal in the 800 meter freestyle, her 4th straight gold medal in this event (London 2012, Rio 2016, Tokyo 2020, Paris 2024), and her 9th gold medal of all time.  Her 9th gold medal places her in a tie for second all time for Summer Olympic golds, behind Michael Phelps 23.  She is tied with former greats Paavo Nurmi (Athletics, Finland), Larissa Latynina (Gymnastics, Soviet Union), Mark Spitz (Swimming, United States) and Carl Lewis (Athletics, United States).  Ledecky stated after the race that she would look forward to defending her title in Los Angeles in 2028.  If she concentrates solely on the 800 meters and 1500 meters, I don't doubt she would win at least her 10th gold!  Joining Ledecky on the podium were Ariarne Titmus of Australia (silver) and Ledecky's teammate Paige Madden (bronze).

Joining Ledecky in the four-time gold medalist in a single event is retired Army Sergeant Vincent Hancock, who won his fourth consecutive gold-medal in skeet shooting.  And Hancock at age 35 has a lot of shooting left in him.  Winning the silver medal in skeet shooting was American Conner Lynn Prince and the bronze medal was awarded to Meng Yuan Lee of Taiwain.

The athletes to have won four gold medals in the same event in four consecutive Olympics prior to 2024 are:  Paul Bert Elvstroem of Denmark (sailing - monotype yachting; 1948 - 1960), Al Oerter of the United States (discuss; 1956 - 1968), Carl Lewis of the United States (long jump, 1984 - 1996), Michael Phelps of the United States (200 meter individual medley; 2004 - 2016) and Mijain Lopez of Cuba (Greco-Roman wrestling; 2008 - 2020).  These 5 athletes have now been joing by Teddy Riner (France; judo); Ledecky and Hancock.

The incomparable Simone Biles won another gold medal - her third of these Olympics and 7th overall - in the vault.  Jade Carey joined her on the podium by capturing the bronze medal.  Brazil's Rebecca Andrade earned silver.

Also in gymnastics, America's pommel horse specialist Stephen Nedoroscik earned the bronze medal on that apparatus, falling just behind Ireland's Rhys McClenaghan (gold) and Nariman Kurbanov of Kazakhstan (silver).

The United States set a World Record in winning gold in the 4x100 meter mixed medely relay, defeating China by .8 seconds, with Australia finishing third.  In the mixed medley relay, each team selects which two males and females participate for whichever stroke they wish, so long as each swimmer swims a separate stroke.  The United States opted to put the two males first, with Ryan Murphy leading off with the backstroke, Nic Fink went second for the breast stroke leg, followed by Gretchen Walsh in the butterfly leg.  Walsh, competing against a male athlete from Australia, held the lead before touhcing off for Torri Huske for the freestyle leg.

On the track the United States, which set the world record for the 4x400 meter mixed relay in the preliminaries, did not fare as well in the final as Femke Bol, from The Netherlands, ran down absolutely everybody to win gold for the Dutch.  The United States easily outdistanced everyone except Bol for silver.

Some other amazing finishes at the track, as Julien Alfred, from St. Lucia, won her nation's first ever Olympic medal, and it was gold in the 100 meter dash.  Alfred, now the fastest woman in the world, defeated Sha' Carri Richardson from the United States, who earned silver.  Melissa Jefferson of the United States earned bronze.

Also winning her country's first ever Olympic medal was Dominica's Thea LaFond, who bested the competition to win gold in the women's triple jump.  Shanieck Richards of Jamaica earned silver, and the USA's Jasmine Moore captured the bronze.

Ryan Crounser - star of the shotput from the USA, won his third consecutive gold medal in the event, followed by compatriot Joe Kovacs, who won his third consecutive silver medal in the event.

Athlete of the Day - Julien Alfred, St. Lucia, Athletics

Not only first ever medal for St. Lucia, but it was gold, in a premier event, defeating Sha' Carri Richardson. 

Team of the Day - 4x100 meters mixed relay, USA, Swimming

Ryan Murphy, Nic Fink, Gretchen Walsh, and Torri Huske set a world record, and put the US 1 gold behind Australia in the pool.

American Athlete of the Day - Vincent Hancock, United States, Shooting

Ledecky and Biles are often in contention here, so Hancock gets it for his fourth consecutive gold medal in skeet shooting.

Olympic Term of the Day:  Skeet - In shooting, skeet is the event in which participants shoot at clay targets thrown at various speeds and angles.

Olympic Events Watched:  3x3, Athletics, Basketball, Beach Volleyball, Cycling, Gymnastics, Handball, Soccer, Swimming, Table Tennis

USA Potential Closing Ceremony Flag-Bearer (listed alphabetically:  Simone Biles, Ryan Crouser, Brady Ellison, Vincent Hancock, Torri Huske, Lee Kiefer, Katie Ledecky, Ilona Maher, Tom Murphy

Olympics - Paris 2024 - Day 9

 Day 9 - August 1, 2024

One thing and one thing only dominated yesterday, and it was a topic that I wanted to avoid until it actually occurred but was something that us "amateur" sports enthusiasts knew was brewing.  And, although technically inapplicable here, the issue is one of transgender women in sports.  I will try to be as thorough as I can, but also as brief as possible as I want to get to the actual sports as quickly as possible.

The issue surrounds Imane Khelif, an Algerian boxer, and what happened in her first round fight agains Angela Carini from Italy.  Carini retired 46 seconds into the fight after taking one punch to the nose from the Algerian fighter.  The controversy comes from the fact people believe Carini retired because she was fearful for her safety fighting against a "man".  Carini didn't help matters by refusing to shake Khelif's hand after the fight - for which Carini later apologized and even said she would embrace Khelif.  

So, the issue about Khelif being a "man" is that she was suspended by the IBA - the International Boxing Association - for having failed a test which said her chromosomes are XY.  It should be noted that the IBA is run by a Russian, who moved its headquarters to Russia after the leader secured funding from Russia, and the "test" occurred after Khelif had defeated a Russian fighter.  The IBA never produced the results of the test, only saying that she must  be XY because her testosterone was so high.  Also of note is that the IBA has been discredited as an agency and no longer oversees amateur or Olympic boxing.  

Anyway, Khelif was born female, has female sex organs - and always has - participated in the Olympics in Tokyo in 2020, and hails from a country that outlaws gender-reassignment surgery and practically outlaws anything it considers gay, bisexual or lesbian.  If Khelif was a transgender athlete, she would be more likely to be arrested or executed than representing Algeria in the Olympics.

There is a legitimate discussion that can be had about transgender athlete's participation in certain women's sporting events - but this is not the situation upon which to have that discussion.

Can I get to the good stuff now?  Good.

Simone Biles, Simone Biles, SIMONE BILES!!!  After a subpar performance in the uneven parallel bars left her third after two rotations of apparati, Biles nailed her vault and floor exercises to secure the gold medal in the individual all-around.  Rebecca Andrade of Brazil won silver and Biles' USA teammate Suni Lee earned bronze!  Biles is truly the GOAT - and they should retire that term!

Another All-Time Great, Katie Ledecky, won her 13th medal, the most all-time by an American female athlete, as the US won silver in teh 4x200 meter freestyle relay.  Australia dominated for gold, but they cannot take away Ledecky's record-breaking swim.

Also at the pool, a current and future great, Summer McIntosh of Canada, won the 200m butterfly final for her second gold medal of these events.  The 17 year old has won three total medals in Paris.  Following her on the podium were silver-medalist Regan Smith, and bronze-medalist Zhang Yufie of China.

Fellow American Kate Douglass won gold in the 200m breastroke, besting South Africa's Tatjana Smith and Tes Schouten of the Netherlands, who won silver and bronze respectively.

Equally as dominating as Biles and Ledecky has been the USA women's basketball team who have won 56 consecutive Olympics games.  Correction, 57, as they slowly pulled away from a Belgian squad that looks like medal contender.

Athletics - the formal name of Track & Field - started, with the men's 20km walk.  Ecuador's Brian Pintado pulled away from the leaders with one 1km lap remaining to coast to the gold medal.

In "non-traditional" sports, the USA - and HARVARD - won gold around Paris.  First at the rowing venue, the USA won gold in the men's fours despite facing the favorites and world champions from Great Britain.  Nick Mead, Justin Best, Michael Grady and Liam Corrigan - a Harvard alumnus - rowed their way to America's first rowing gold in this event since 1960!

Harvard making its presence felt - AGAIN - in fencing as the USA won gold in the team foil.  Jacqueline Dubrovic, and Maia Mei Weintraub were led by gold medalist Lee Kiefer with silver-medalist Lauren Scruggs (a rising senior at Harvard) securing the winning point!  Go Crimson!

In judo, Azerbaijan secures a gold in the men's 100kg division as Zelym Kotsoiev defeated Georgia's Ilia Sulamanidze 10-1.

Athlete of the Day - Simone Biles, United States, Swimming

How could it be anybody but?

Non-Simone Biles Athlete of the Day - Brian Pintado, Ecuador, Athletics/Summer McIntosh, Canada, Swimming

The 20km racewalking is no joke.  McIntosh now has 2 golds, and 3 overall medals at 17 years of age.

Team of the Day - USA Women, Fencing

Individual and team gold for Lee Kiefer; Individual silver and team gold for Lauren Scruggs in foil.  Great work ladies!

American Non-Simone Biles Athlete of the Day - Katie Ledecky, United States, Swimming

breaking a career record usually gets you noticed on here.

Co-American Athletes of the Day - Liam Corrigan, United States, Rowing/Lauren Scruggs, United States, Fencing

Harvard Gold Medalists!!!

Olympic Term of the Day:  Repechage - Boats that do not qualify for the next round from a heat, participate in an additional race, with the winners then qualifier for the next round.  That additional race is called a repechage.

Olympic Events Watched:  Archery, Athletics, Basketball, Beach Volleyball, Golf, Gymnastics, Swimming, Tennis

USA Potential Closing Ceremony Flag-Bearer (Alphabetically - Capitals indicate a potential favorite to this point):  SIMONE BILES, Chloe Dygert, Brady Ellison, Torri Huske, Casey Kaufhold, LEE KIEFER, KATIE LEDECKY, Ilona Maher, Tom Murphy

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 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 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  

Olympics - Rio 2016 - Day 14

Day 14 - August 16

Today's Events:  Beach Volleyball, Diving, Track, Water Polo

Olympic Word of the Day:  Nacra 17 - It is the exclusive mixed multihull used for the multi-hull sailing competition in the Rio 2016 Olympics.  It was designed specifically for use in these Olympics as well as international events leading up to the Olympics.

Lots of action on August 16.  For starters we will examine: (1) the expected; (2) the unexpected; (3) the good; (4) the bad; and (5) the bizarre.

The expected was Simone Biles, who won her fourth gold of the Olympics in the floor exercise.  Biles mesmerized the audience - and the judges - who gave her a 15.966, beating out fellow American Aly Raisman by almost a 1/2 point.  Raisman finished with the silver, while Amy Tinkler of Great Britain won bronze.  It is a shame that Biles winning a gold is ho-hum, but when you are as dominating as Biles is, this gold was definitely expected.

The unexpected was that the Belgian men's field hockey team beat the Netherlands 3-1 to advance to the gold medal match against equally unheralded Argentina which beat the heavily-favored, two-time defending champion Germany.  What makes the Belgium victory more astonishing is that Belgium has never beaten its neighbor in over 80 years of playing field hockey.

The good was the U.S. performance in the men's triple jump, where American Christian Taylor defended his gold medal from London with a jump of 17.86 meters, followed closely by teammate Will Claye, whose 17.76 meter jump for second place helped him defend his silver medal from London.  Claye, to celebrate, jumped into the stands, hugged his girlfriend and then asked her to marry him.

The bad of this games has easily been the boxing judging.  The attention started when Irish bantamweight, Michael Conlan - who won bronze in London and was the favorite to win gold in Rio - lost to Russia's Vladimir Kikitin in a unanimous decision (all 3 judges had it 2 rounds to 1 in favor of the Russian).  Conlan, who was clearly the better fighter, stood in the ring and gave the judges the middle finger once the Russian was announced as a winner.  He then tweeted directly at Russian President Vladimir Putin, "How much did they charge you, bro?"

Conlan's defeat was bad, but nowhere near the level of the defeat of Roy Jones, Jr. at the hands of Korea's Park Si-hun in Seoul in 1988, after which Jones was named the best boxer of the entire tournament, not just in his weight class.  But, after looking at Conlan's defeat,the previous day's decision in favor of Russian Evgeny Tishchenko over Kazakhstan's Vassiliy Levit looks even worse.  Levit, who looked like he won easily, lost on the score cards and once Tishchenko was announced as the winner, the crowd booed heavily.

Unfortunately, this was just the tip of the iceberg, and an unspecified number of judges were sent home from Rio as punishment for their performance.

The bizarre is the Ryan Lochte story, who you may recall was robbed at gunpoint with 3 of his swimming teammates after a night of partying.  Brazilian authorities have announced that they do not believe any assault or robbery ever took place.  Stay tuned, as there is undoubtedly going to be more to this.

Back to the actual events, in an amazing soccer match, and a big FU to American goalie Hope Solo, Sweden's women's soccer team advanced to the gold medal match defeating host Brazil 4-3 on penalty kicks after a 0-0 draw.  Apparently the Swedish women were not cowardly enough to miss their penalty kicks.

Omar McLeod won the 110m hurdles, winning another gold for Jamaica on the track, won a race that saw, for the first time ever, no United States athlete on the podium.  University of Oregon wide receiver Devon Allen did finish 5th in the race.

But, as varied as the stories above are, they do not come close to the story of the day.  Argentine Santiago Lange, 54 and competing in his sixth Olympics, won gold in the Nacra 17 mixed hull sailing competition with his teammate Cecilia Carranaza.  This was Lange's first gold to go with 2 previous bronze medals, and comes just a year after losing a lung to cancer.  For your perseverance and performance, Lange is the story of the day.

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.

Olympics - Rio 2016 - Day 7

Day 7 - August 9

Today's Events:  Archery, Handball, Judo, Kayak, Sailing, Swimming, Table Tennis, Tennis, Volleyball

Olympic word of the day:  Although some time has passed since the institution of the libero in professional volleyball in 1998, it is still a relatively unusual position for those of us of a certain age, so I felt it necessary to define the libero.  Libero - In volleyball, a defensive specialist that must operate only under certain rules.  A libero must be registered with the tournament organizers, and each team is allowed only one libero.  The libero is (A) restricted to performing as a back row player and has no right at all to complete an attack hit when the ball is above the height of the top of the net; (B) may not serve, block or attempt to block; (C) not allowed to make a set in front of the 3 meter line (otherwise the ball may not be attacked); and must wear a different colour shirt from the other members of the team.  The team is allowed an unlimited amount of substitutions for its libero that do not count against the substitution limit.  All of this to say that a libero is a defensive specialist.

What looked like was going to be a very slow day at the Olympics as far as stories go (except for THE story of the day).  Late afternoon, however, that changed quickly.

The dominating U.S. Women's soccer team proved that their were - well - less than dominant.  Although a loss was never in doubt, and even though they still won their group to go forward to the knockout stages, the U.S. looked beatable.  The U.S. drew with Colombia, who started the scoring early, and then ended the scoring late to earn the draw.  These were the first two goals for Colombia in Olympic history, and the first two goals against the U.S. ever.  A bright spot was that the two American goals were scored by the youngsters Crystal Dunn and Mallory Pugh.

Then, the number 1 ranked and seeded Serena Williams lost in straight sets to Elina Svitolina.  Serena, looking just as lost and frustrated as she has for the entire tournament, seemed to lack power and fire as she lost to Svitolina for the first time in her career.  Paul Annacone seemed to think that the courts in Rio lacked power and that the balls played heavy, which would negate any advantage possessed by the power players such as Serena, and fellow upset victims Novak Djokovic, Svetlana Kuznetsova and Gabrielle Muguruzu.

The worst-side of these Rio Olympics reared their head today (well last last night/early this morning), after Belgian judo bronze-medalist Dirk van Tichelt won the bronze medal in judo, and then decided to go celebrate in Copocabana Beach, where he was subsequently robbed.  The perpetrators took his cell phone, but not his medal.  They did leave van Tichelt with a present to show for his efforts - a nice shiner.

Another big night in the pool as two of the stories of these Olympic games and one big story from Olympic history all won gold.

Michael Phelps, won gold over a crowded field of rivals that included 2012 gold medalist, Chad le Clos (who finished fourth) in the 200m butterfly, and then turned around minutes later to anchor the 4x200m freestyle relay with Conor Dwyer, Townley Haas and Ryan Lochte (as well as qualifier Jack Conger - who also receives a gold) and easily defeated Great Britain and Japan for Phelps's 25th overall Olympic medal (21 golds).  The team was so fast that even Lochte's disgusting bleached hair could not keep them from winning.

Just 50 minutes after disqualifying herself from the 200m butterfly semi-finals, Hungary's Katinka Hosszu won the third gold of Rio in the 200m individual medley.  (She withdrew from the butterfly because of the IM finals).  Katie Ledecky, with a last 15 meter sprint that has never been seen before in swimming - excepting Jason Lezak's final 15 meters in the 4x100 meter freestyle relay in the 2008 Olympics - pulled ahead of Swedish swimmer Sarah Sjolstrom, who had drawn virtually even with Ledecky after the last turn, to win her second gold of these Olympics, with her best event still to come.

Even though Hosszu and Ledecky are two of the major stories of these Olympics, they are not the story of the day.  That falls to the "Final Five".  Now, at first, I despised this name.  I thought it was corny, trite, and just another corny phrase started by someone in the media to create a marketing opportunity on top of what was already a great story.  However, I then found out that the name was created by the team itself - rumor has it Simone Biles thought of it - and that it has a double meaning in that they are the last team to be coached by the retiring Marta Karolyi, and that next Olympics will only have four-gymnast teams, well, now I tolerate it.

That being said, the team marched out in $14,000 Swarovski-crystal laden, sparkly red-white and blue uniforms that brought less attention to the athletes than their stunning routines did.  The 12 performances (3 athletes per apparatus) totally annihilated the second place Russians and third place Chinese.  In fact, the Chinese team was paired with the Americans, and after having had their guts torn out by the Americans in routine after routine, vault after parallel bars, just completely succumbed to the pressure and the talent of the U.S. team on the floor exercise, and fell to third place.  With Aly Raisman and Simone Biles left to compete on the floor, Tim Daggett looked at the score and said that for the U.S. to win all Raisman and Biles have to do is "not injure themselves".  Raisman and Biles did much more than that with two scintillating performances, which lead to a great individual floor exercise competition, not to mention the all-around.

Gabby Douglas and Aly Raisman become the first American gymnasts to win three gold medals, although they both have a chance to add to the total, with Simone Biles - who no less an authority than Mary Lou Retton said was the most talented gymnast ever - likely to at least tie that number in her first Olympics.

For thoroughly decimating the competition, the story of the day is ... Captain Aly Raisman, Simone Biles, Laurie Hernandez, Gabby Douglas, and Madison Kocian.