Well, that's a wrap on Rio 2016!
Today is always a terribly sad and depressing day for me. No more Olympics. No more nightly dose of Bob Costas. No more of my favorite news programs reporting from the games. No more chances to imagine thats me on the podium with the national anthem playing. Wait, did I just say that last one out loud? Oh, well. Tell me you haven't imagined that as well?! When they distinguish the Olympic flame it's like someone puts out the fire in my soul. However, my body (and soul) is looking forward to returning to more than five hours of sleep a night.
There were the various topics of worry leading into the games: Zika, crime, terrorism, traffic, water quality, etc. But as I will always point out, the media has to find something to talk about before the games start. It's ALWAYS something. Then the Olympics finally start and the focus is on the actual competition. Then you realize the Olympics are greater than everything else and all that surrounded it.
Rio put on a great Olympics. Were there some issues? Yes. There was traffic and some of the venues had some structural issues from time to time. But nothing to the extent that some people were elaborating on. And all the athletes that stayed home...they missed out.
The people of Rio and Brazil were very intent on putting on a great games and showing their home to the world. They took it seriously, which is why the false accounts from Ryan Lochte were such a big deal. To them, he was slandering everything they had worked towards.
I have a good friend from college who is a first-generation American. Her parents are Brazilian and most of her extended family still lives there (and in Rio specifically). She has always talked about Brazil with such fondness that it almost hurt me for her when I listened to all the various attacks on the country and city of Rio. She posted some very poignant thoughts prior to the start of the games that I thought was worthy to share.
"Rio de Janeiro is known as Cidade Maravilhosa - The Beautiful City. It is a place where each view is more breathtaking than the next; where colors and music fill the streets. In 2009, when Rio accepted the bid to host the 2016 Olympics Brazil was in the largest economic boom in its history. It was the sixth largest economy in the world. Now, seven years later, it is experiencing what is likely the worst economic downturn in its history and expected to provide the infrastructure for a massive global event that most well established economies struggle to meet. Imagine having to host a modern day Olympics during the Great Depression. It is easy to look down with disapproval on Rio from the perspective of an American who has never seen the poverty or corruption common in most South American countries. But I encourage you to remember that the US and Western Europe are exceptions to the rule when it comes to how most countries on Earth exist, and appreciate how a struggling nation came together as best it could during a time that is literally being called 'the crisis' to open its arms to the world."
I think this country did come together and open its arms to the world. And the world embraced it back. Time will tell what the long-term effects of the games will be on Brazil (good or bad), but I hope that the success gives the people a boost, knowing that the world enjoyed these 17 days and that 2016 will be remembered as a great Olympic games.
I will continue to post some more thoughts here when I get some time as I have a few more posts I'd like to share. But for the most part that's all for Rio! Only 535 days and counting until Pyeongchang 2018!
Monday, August 22, 2016
Sunday, August 21, 2016
Make Life Delicious
I mentioned previously a few of the reasons I was cheering for USA swimmer Simone Manuel during the games. The most important being that she's from Sugar Land and the second is her love of Shipley Do-Nuts.
While there's a good chance we have some other similar interests, the two aforementioned things might possibly be the only two things we have in common. I mean, she's an Olympian who goes to Stanford. I, well, write a blog about the Olympics. But I'm perfectly fine with all this.
To anyone reading this who has never had a chance to taste a delicious hot-out-of-the-oven doughnut from Shipley is missing out. Forget Krispy Kreme, Dunkin and any other doughnut place out there. I can easily ignore a doughnut from any of those places because I know Shipley is this best and it's not worth it to waste my time, or caloric intake, on any place else.
So, what did the four-time Olympic medalist (two golds and two silvers, btw) have to do when she got home to Houston? Get some Shipley of course! And can't we all agree she deserves it?!
While there's a good chance we have some other similar interests, the two aforementioned things might possibly be the only two things we have in common. I mean, she's an Olympian who goes to Stanford. I, well, write a blog about the Olympics. But I'm perfectly fine with all this.
To anyone reading this who has never had a chance to taste a delicious hot-out-of-the-oven doughnut from Shipley is missing out. Forget Krispy Kreme, Dunkin and any other doughnut place out there. I can easily ignore a doughnut from any of those places because I know Shipley is this best and it's not worth it to waste my time, or caloric intake, on any place else.
So, what did the four-time Olympic medalist (two golds and two silvers, btw) have to do when she got home to Houston? Get some Shipley of course! And can't we all agree she deserves it?!
What to Watch - Aug. 21
Today is the 17th and final day of the XXXI Olympiad with the closing ceremonies tonight.
The men's marathon takes off at 8:30 a.m. (EST) this morning. The Americans aren't really favored to medal even though Meb Keflezighi finished fourth in London. Galen Rupp, who typically competes in distance events on the track, qualified after running his first marathon at the trials in Los Angeles. Kenyan Eliud Kipchoge owns the top time in the world this year, running the 26.2 miles at 2:03:05.
At the same time, the U.S. men's volleyball team looks to follow the women's team's lead in the bronze medal match. Team USA faces Russia in the consolation game. Winner claims bronze. Loser gets nothing.
American Claressa Shields has made it to the finals in the 75 kg women's boxing division. She will defend her London gold against Nouchka Fontijn if the Netherlands at 1 p.m. (EST).
The U.S. women's basketball team won gold yesterday as the men look to do the same today. USA takes on Serbia, which is one of the teams that previously gave them trouble before, at 2:45 p.m. (EST). With all the talent on the roster, there's no question that the U.S. should win this game but that hasn't panned out in too many blowouts thus far. As long as they can remember tok play defense, they'll win gold for the third straight games. One other motivating factor, as if a gold medal wasn't enough, is that it's Coach K's last Olympic game as the Team USA head coach.
I haven't read much about the plans for the closing ceremony tonight. The closing ceremony is typically a "party" with lots of music and the athletes mixing with one another. This sounds right up Rio's alley. There is usually a part to give people a taste for the next summer games, in this case Tokyo, and the flame will be passed on to Pyeongchang, South Korea, for the 2018 winter games.
Simone Biles has been selected as the flag bearer for Team USA. This is not surprising. While the opening ceremony flag bearer is typically someone with success at previous Olympics, the one for the closing ceremony is often someone with a lot of success at that particular games. Since most the swimmers leave before the end of the games, Biles made it an easy decision between her and say Katie Ledecky. Hopefully the USA has some more medals to sport at the ceremony to cap off a great games!
The men's marathon takes off at 8:30 a.m. (EST) this morning. The Americans aren't really favored to medal even though Meb Keflezighi finished fourth in London. Galen Rupp, who typically competes in distance events on the track, qualified after running his first marathon at the trials in Los Angeles. Kenyan Eliud Kipchoge owns the top time in the world this year, running the 26.2 miles at 2:03:05.
At the same time, the U.S. men's volleyball team looks to follow the women's team's lead in the bronze medal match. Team USA faces Russia in the consolation game. Winner claims bronze. Loser gets nothing.
American Claressa Shields has made it to the finals in the 75 kg women's boxing division. She will defend her London gold against Nouchka Fontijn if the Netherlands at 1 p.m. (EST).
The U.S. women's basketball team won gold yesterday as the men look to do the same today. USA takes on Serbia, which is one of the teams that previously gave them trouble before, at 2:45 p.m. (EST). With all the talent on the roster, there's no question that the U.S. should win this game but that hasn't panned out in too many blowouts thus far. As long as they can remember tok play defense, they'll win gold for the third straight games. One other motivating factor, as if a gold medal wasn't enough, is that it's Coach K's last Olympic game as the Team USA head coach.
I haven't read much about the plans for the closing ceremony tonight. The closing ceremony is typically a "party" with lots of music and the athletes mixing with one another. This sounds right up Rio's alley. There is usually a part to give people a taste for the next summer games, in this case Tokyo, and the flame will be passed on to Pyeongchang, South Korea, for the 2018 winter games.
Simone Biles has been selected as the flag bearer for Team USA. This is not surprising. While the opening ceremony flag bearer is typically someone with success at previous Olympics, the one for the closing ceremony is often someone with a lot of success at that particular games. Since most the swimmers leave before the end of the games, Biles made it an easy decision between her and say Katie Ledecky. Hopefully the USA has some more medals to sport at the ceremony to cap off a great games!
Saturday, August 20, 2016
What to Watch - Aug. 20
Today is the last full day of competition in the 2016 Rio Olympics. Hold on, I need to go wipe my tears.
There's going to be a bunch of crazy people doing something called a triathlon in the morning. I have zero clue how on actually accomplishes this and I think they're all crazy. American Gwen Jorgensen, who finished 38th in London after a flat tire in her bike, is now one of the favorites to win. If she wins, she'd be the first athlete to win in that event for the U.S. at the Olympics.
It's been 116 years since medals were handed out in the Olympics for women's golf but that changes today. Inbee Park maintained her lead from the second round but has others nipping at her heel. World No. 1 Lydia Ko and USA's Gerina Piller are both two shots back to potentially make this a bit more exciting final than the men's tournament.
After a tough loss on Thursday, the U.S. women's volleyball team faces the Netherlands in the bronze-medal game today at noon (EST). These games are tough because if you lose that's it, you go home empty-handed.
At 2:30 p.m. (EST) the U.S. women's basketball team plays for its sixth straight gold medal. Team USA has won 48 straight Olympic games and is averaging a 38.4 point margin of victory over opponents in Rio. These blowouts include a 40-point win against the team's opponent in the final - Spain. If the U.S. lost, it would be the biggest upset in sports history. But the U.S. won't lose. It won't even be close.
Today is both the semifinals and finals for the men's 10m platform diving. Great Britain's Tom Daley is in the lead, after winning our bonze in London, followed by the pair of Chinese drivers, including Qiu Bo, who won the bronze in London, and Chen Aisen. Reigning Olympic champion, David Boudia currently sits in fourth with Steele Johnson just making the cut after the prelims.
In track and field, it's the men's and women's 4x400m relays, the men's 5,000m and 1500m final and the women's 800m and high jump final. The U.S. has its best chance at medals in both the relays. The U.S. men have won 17 of 24 times in the race but claimed silver behind the Bahamas tonight. The team had the second qualifying score behind Jamaica and ahead of Belgium. You can be sure they'll be careful of their handoffs after what happened in the 4x100 last night.
The U.S. women are the two-time defending U.S. champions and had the top prelims score followed by Jamaica and Ukraine.
There's going to be a bunch of crazy people doing something called a triathlon in the morning. I have zero clue how on actually accomplishes this and I think they're all crazy. American Gwen Jorgensen, who finished 38th in London after a flat tire in her bike, is now one of the favorites to win. If she wins, she'd be the first athlete to win in that event for the U.S. at the Olympics.
It's been 116 years since medals were handed out in the Olympics for women's golf but that changes today. Inbee Park maintained her lead from the second round but has others nipping at her heel. World No. 1 Lydia Ko and USA's Gerina Piller are both two shots back to potentially make this a bit more exciting final than the men's tournament.
After a tough loss on Thursday, the U.S. women's volleyball team faces the Netherlands in the bronze-medal game today at noon (EST). These games are tough because if you lose that's it, you go home empty-handed.
At 2:30 p.m. (EST) the U.S. women's basketball team plays for its sixth straight gold medal. Team USA has won 48 straight Olympic games and is averaging a 38.4 point margin of victory over opponents in Rio. These blowouts include a 40-point win against the team's opponent in the final - Spain. If the U.S. lost, it would be the biggest upset in sports history. But the U.S. won't lose. It won't even be close.
Today is both the semifinals and finals for the men's 10m platform diving. Great Britain's Tom Daley is in the lead, after winning our bonze in London, followed by the pair of Chinese drivers, including Qiu Bo, who won the bronze in London, and Chen Aisen. Reigning Olympic champion, David Boudia currently sits in fourth with Steele Johnson just making the cut after the prelims.
In track and field, it's the men's and women's 4x400m relays, the men's 5,000m and 1500m final and the women's 800m and high jump final. The U.S. has its best chance at medals in both the relays. The U.S. men have won 17 of 24 times in the race but claimed silver behind the Bahamas tonight. The team had the second qualifying score behind Jamaica and ahead of Belgium. You can be sure they'll be careful of their handoffs after what happened in the 4x100 last night.
The U.S. women are the two-time defending U.S. champions and had the top prelims score followed by Jamaica and Ukraine.
Friday, August 19, 2016
What to Watch - Aug. 19
While there were still 64 gold medals left to be handed out as of this morning, it's reached the point where there's not as much to show in primetime. So don't be shocked when there's a 30-minute break at 9:30/10:30 (EST) for NBC to air it's "Olympic episode" of the show Super Store. I've never watched the show and even with an Olympic-themed episode, I plan to fast forward through it on the DVR.
The U.S. men's volleyball team is on a four match winning streak, after losing its first two matches, and looks for a win in the semifinals against Italy. One of those early two loses came against Italy. The other semifinal match features Russia and Brazil.
Team USA is looking for a second straight gold in women's water polo as the team defend its title against Italy today at 2:30 p.m. (EST). Both teams are unbeaten so far in Rio.
Today the U.S. men's basketball team looks to assure a medal by winning its semifinal game against Spain at 2:30 (EST) to advance to the gold-medal game. The team finally put together a solid win against Argentina on Wednesday but Spain will still be a tough a test. Spain's biggest player (in name recognition) is six-time NBA all-star Pau Gasol. The winner faces the winner of the Australia/Serbia game for the gold and silver while the losers meet for the bronze medal.
I mentioned USA boxer Claressa Shields the other day who was fighting in the quarterfinals to defend her gold from London. She advanced and now meets Kazakistan's Dariga Shakimova in the semifinal. I don't know exactly how the tournament works but Shields has already guaranteed herself a medal, she's fighting now to find out what color it will be.
The men's 10m platform diving competition gets underway with USA's David Boudia looking to defend his 2012 gold and add another medal to his Olympic collection. China's Qiu Bo, who took silver in London, is still a three-time world champion. Steele Johnson, who won silver with Boudia in the synchro event last week, is also in the competition.
The women's golf tournament enters the third round today with notable Inbee Park of South Korea leading American Stacy Lewis by one stroke. The two golfers in third entering the day, Great Britain's Charley Hull and Canada's Brooke Henderson, are just two back. This is still anyone's tournament as "moving day" begins.
In taekwondo, American and Sugar Land native Steven Lopez is hoping to win his third gold and fourth overall medal at 37-years-old. He won his first gold 16 years ago in Sydney. The round of 16 goes throughout the morning with the gold medal matches tonight.
Today is everything for men's freestyle wrestling rolled into one - qualifying, eliminations, medal matches, etc. Team USA's Jordan Burroughs is the defending 74kg Olympic champion and three-time world champion. He wants to leave as the greatest freestyle wrestler of all time and has a good chance for that if he wins another gold.
Today is everything for men's freestyle wrestling rolled into one - qualifying, eliminations, medal matches, etc. Team USA's Jordan Burroughs is the defending 74kg Olympic champion and three-time world champion. He wants to leave as the greatest freestyle wrestler of all time and has a good chance for that if he wins another gold.
Medals will be handed out in track today in perhaps the best event of the entire meet - race walking. Everyone thinks this is a joke, and it kind of is, but these people move! They take power walking to a whole new level. Whoever said you have to move with both feet off the ground to get cardio is wrong.
Field finals tonight include women's pole vault and men's hammer throw, while it's the first rounds of both the men's and women's 4x400m relays.
The big events for tonight will be the men's and women's 4x100m relays. On the women's side, the U.S. is in the final but not without some issues. In the prelims yesterday, Allyson Felix missed the handoff, pretty much throwing the baton, in the second/third leg exchange. It looked like the U.S. was done but the team still finished the race. Turns out Felix was bumped, unintentionally, by the Brazilian runner next to her, which caused her to stumble and miss the handoff. Felix knew in that instant that if the team didn't finish the race there would be no chance at a protest to be reinstated. The team won the protest and had to run a time trial last night, alone on the track, to earn a spot in the final. They killed it, posting the best time of any team, and getting back the chance to defend their gold from London. The U.S. will have the most competition from Jamaica followed by Great Britain.
In the men's 4x100 all eyes are on Usain Bolt, I mean, Jamaica. If Jamaica wins, Bolt will have nine gold medals in nine Olympic races since 2008, a perfect 9-for-9. Does he have a chance? Uh, yeah. While, he "struggles" in the 100m, it's different for him in the relay. In the individual race it's hard for him to get out of the blocks because he's such a big guy but then his stride makes up for it mid-way through the race, taking less steps than the average competitor. In the relay he runs the anchor leg where he doesn't have to start in the blocks and then proceeds to blow past everyone else. The U.S. had the top qualifying time ahead of Japan, China, Canada and then Jamaica. But that doesn't mean much as teams like the U.S. and Jamaica didn't run all it's runner that will be in the final. Expect this to be between Jamaica and the U.S., if that.
Thursday, August 18, 2016
What to Watch - Aug. 18
Only four more days of competition (insert all the sad emotions I'm feeling here).
At noon (EST) is the second game of the women's volleyball semifinals. Team USA looks to return to the gold-medal match for the third straight Olympics but faces Serbia first tonight. These two played earlier in the tournament with the Americans winning the match, 3-1. The U.S. has lost both of those previous final matches to claim silver with Brazil getting the gold. If the Americans win today, they will not face the home country as China upset the favorites in the quarterfinals.
At 6 p.m. (EST), the U.S. women's basketball team plays in the semifinals against France. The question for the remainder of these games is not really if the U.S. will win, but by how much? The Americans will play wither Spain or Serbia in the final on Saturday.
Tonight is the night we'll see if Usain Bolt can win both the 100m and 200m in three straight Olympics with the men's 200m final.
Bolt had the best time in the semifinal but he barely beat Canada's Andre De Grasse. American LaShawn Merritt qualified in third behind those two but the shocking event was that Justin Gatlin failed to make it. Bolt may not have the luxury of slowing to look around in the race this time but he's still the absolute favorite to win.
American Ashton Eaton leads the decathlon after the first of two days of competition (5-of-10 events) ahead of Kai Kazmirek of Germany and Damian Warner of Canada. Today is the 110 hurdles, discus, pole vault, javelin and the 1500m.
Team USA qualified two for the women's 400m hurdle final with Dalilah Muhammad earning the top time and Ashley Spencer in fifth. The Czech Republic's Zuzana Hejnova, who qualified second, is the two-time defending world champion and is the first woman to win back-to-back world titles.
Finals are also happening today in the men's shot put and women's javelin and semifinals in the men's 1500m and women's 800m.
The women's 10m platform diving final begins this afternoon but will likely be shown in primetime. At last year's world championship, this was the one diving discipline (out of eight total) that the Chinese did not win. But after the prelims, the two Chinese divers sit in first and second. China has won gold in this event the last two Olympics. In third is American Jessica Parratto, while the other U.S. diver Katrina Young is in 12th. The person that claimed the world title last year, North Korea's Kim Kuk-hyang did not advance. Note: All of this is prior to the semifinal this morning.
At noon (EST) is the second game of the women's volleyball semifinals. Team USA looks to return to the gold-medal match for the third straight Olympics but faces Serbia first tonight. These two played earlier in the tournament with the Americans winning the match, 3-1. The U.S. has lost both of those previous final matches to claim silver with Brazil getting the gold. If the Americans win today, they will not face the home country as China upset the favorites in the quarterfinals.
At 6 p.m. (EST), the U.S. women's basketball team plays in the semifinals against France. The question for the remainder of these games is not really if the U.S. will win, but by how much? The Americans will play wither Spain or Serbia in the final on Saturday.
Tonight is the night we'll see if Usain Bolt can win both the 100m and 200m in three straight Olympics with the men's 200m final.
Bolt had the best time in the semifinal but he barely beat Canada's Andre De Grasse. American LaShawn Merritt qualified in third behind those two but the shocking event was that Justin Gatlin failed to make it. Bolt may not have the luxury of slowing to look around in the race this time but he's still the absolute favorite to win.
American Ashton Eaton leads the decathlon after the first of two days of competition (5-of-10 events) ahead of Kai Kazmirek of Germany and Damian Warner of Canada. Today is the 110 hurdles, discus, pole vault, javelin and the 1500m.
Team USA qualified two for the women's 400m hurdle final with Dalilah Muhammad earning the top time and Ashley Spencer in fifth. The Czech Republic's Zuzana Hejnova, who qualified second, is the two-time defending world champion and is the first woman to win back-to-back world titles.
Finals are also happening today in the men's shot put and women's javelin and semifinals in the men's 1500m and women's 800m.
The women's 10m platform diving final begins this afternoon but will likely be shown in primetime. At last year's world championship, this was the one diving discipline (out of eight total) that the Chinese did not win. But after the prelims, the two Chinese divers sit in first and second. China has won gold in this event the last two Olympics. In third is American Jessica Parratto, while the other U.S. diver Katrina Young is in 12th. The person that claimed the world title last year, North Korea's Kim Kuk-hyang did not advance. Note: All of this is prior to the semifinal this morning.
Wednesday, August 17, 2016
What to Watch - Aug. 17
Gymnastics is sadly over. Swimming is sadly over. And the events start getting fewer as the tournament style sports reach semifinals and finals here in Day 12.
Today the women's golf tournament begins today. Since about 99 percent of the world's top females are playing, they are pretty much the favorite. Lydia Ko (New Zealand), Ariya Jutanugarn (Thailand), Brooke Henderson (Canada), Lexi Thompson (USA) and Inbee Park (South Korea) are the current top five players in the world. I remember Lexi from when she was about 13-years-old and in braces. Crazy! Ko has been ranked no. 1 for the last 43 weeks and she's only 19! The other Americans in the tournament are Stacey Lewis (world no. 6) and Gerina Piller (world no. 15). Piller qualified in the very last tournament possible by reaching the 15th spot that allowed the USA to send three players.
First time I've mentioned boxing but here it is. American Claressa Shields boxes today in the women's 75kg quarterfinals. She's overcome a lot in her lifetime, being raped and molested as a child, and won gold in London. She wants to become the first American boxer, male or female, to win two golds.
The defending Olympic champion U.S. women's water polo team moves on to the semifinals today against Hungary with the match beginning at 11:20 (EST).
In men's volleyball, Team USA takes on Poland in the quarterfinals at 1 p.m. (EST). Watch out for Poland! And I mean that in a "don't meet them in a dark alley" type way. There was a near brawl between them and Iran in a prelim round last week that went to extra points in five sets. Luckily there was a net dividing the teams.
The men's basketball team needs to get it together and start playing some defense as they face Argentina in the quarterfinals at 5:45 p.m. (EST) today. The other most interesting quarterfinals game to watch is Spain vs. France at 1:30 p.m.
After the tough loss last night, Kerri Walsh-Jennings and April Ross return to the sand for the bronze-medal match in women's beach volleyball. Crazy that in four Olympic appearances that was Walsh-Jennings' first loss. She's never been in this position before, playing to where the loser doesn't get a medal. To make it even more difficult, they have to face the No. 1 ranked team in the tournament and it's a Brazilian team, Larissa/Talita. This Brazil team lost in an upset to a German team yesterday, making the gold final a pair of unexpected teams. The USA/BRA match is at 9 p.m. (EST).
In track and field, it's the finals for the women's 100m hurdles, the women's 200m and the women's long jump. We'll see Mr. Bolt again in the 200m semifinals, which is really his better event.
The decathalon also gets underway today to determine the "world's best athlete" with the 100m, long jump, shot put, high jump and 400m. USA's Ashton Eaton is the reigning Olympic champion, world record holder and heavy favorite to repeat. It's amazing how athletic these guys are and good at everything!
Americans Brianna Rollins and Kristi Castlin posted the top times in the first round of the 100m hurdles with the third American, Nia Ali, coming in sixth. Rollins is the world champion from 2013, while Ali won the indoor title (only 60m) this past year.
The women's 200m will be just as impressive as all the sprints. Dafne Schippers of the Netherlands is the reigning world champion and was the top time in the semis. American Tori Bowie qualified in second after winning bronze in the 100m the other day and won bronze at the world championships last year in this event. Jamaica's Elaine Thompson, the 100m champion, won the silver at worlds last year and qualified third.
Today the women's golf tournament begins today. Since about 99 percent of the world's top females are playing, they are pretty much the favorite. Lydia Ko (New Zealand), Ariya Jutanugarn (Thailand), Brooke Henderson (Canada), Lexi Thompson (USA) and Inbee Park (South Korea) are the current top five players in the world. I remember Lexi from when she was about 13-years-old and in braces. Crazy! Ko has been ranked no. 1 for the last 43 weeks and she's only 19! The other Americans in the tournament are Stacey Lewis (world no. 6) and Gerina Piller (world no. 15). Piller qualified in the very last tournament possible by reaching the 15th spot that allowed the USA to send three players.
First time I've mentioned boxing but here it is. American Claressa Shields boxes today in the women's 75kg quarterfinals. She's overcome a lot in her lifetime, being raped and molested as a child, and won gold in London. She wants to become the first American boxer, male or female, to win two golds.
The defending Olympic champion U.S. women's water polo team moves on to the semifinals today against Hungary with the match beginning at 11:20 (EST).
In men's volleyball, Team USA takes on Poland in the quarterfinals at 1 p.m. (EST). Watch out for Poland! And I mean that in a "don't meet them in a dark alley" type way. There was a near brawl between them and Iran in a prelim round last week that went to extra points in five sets. Luckily there was a net dividing the teams.
The men's basketball team needs to get it together and start playing some defense as they face Argentina in the quarterfinals at 5:45 p.m. (EST) today. The other most interesting quarterfinals game to watch is Spain vs. France at 1:30 p.m.
After the tough loss last night, Kerri Walsh-Jennings and April Ross return to the sand for the bronze-medal match in women's beach volleyball. Crazy that in four Olympic appearances that was Walsh-Jennings' first loss. She's never been in this position before, playing to where the loser doesn't get a medal. To make it even more difficult, they have to face the No. 1 ranked team in the tournament and it's a Brazilian team, Larissa/Talita. This Brazil team lost in an upset to a German team yesterday, making the gold final a pair of unexpected teams. The USA/BRA match is at 9 p.m. (EST).
In track and field, it's the finals for the women's 100m hurdles, the women's 200m and the women's long jump. We'll see Mr. Bolt again in the 200m semifinals, which is really his better event.
The decathalon also gets underway today to determine the "world's best athlete" with the 100m, long jump, shot put, high jump and 400m. USA's Ashton Eaton is the reigning Olympic champion, world record holder and heavy favorite to repeat. It's amazing how athletic these guys are and good at everything!
Americans Brianna Rollins and Kristi Castlin posted the top times in the first round of the 100m hurdles with the third American, Nia Ali, coming in sixth. Rollins is the world champion from 2013, while Ali won the indoor title (only 60m) this past year.
The women's 200m will be just as impressive as all the sprints. Dafne Schippers of the Netherlands is the reigning world champion and was the top time in the semis. American Tori Bowie qualified in second after winning bronze in the 100m the other day and won bronze at the world championships last year in this event. Jamaica's Elaine Thompson, the 100m champion, won the silver at worlds last year and qualified third.
Tuesday, August 16, 2016
What to Watch - Aug. 16
It's sadly the last night of gymnastics competition. It was somewhat shocking to not see Simone Biles at the top of the podium in the beam final yesterday. But that's why it's the beam. You never know. Nevertheless, she can close out the Olympics with another medal, likely gold, tonight. And she's still solidified as the "the best ever." Biles blew away the competition in qualifying with the top spot by half of a point over Aly Raisman in second. She bested the third spot by almost a point. It's easy to see Biles and Raisman going 1-2, once again, here. They are easily the best in the world on this event. If Biles wasn't in the competition, Raisman would win gold. Laurie Hernandez qualified in fourth, but of course is left out with two per country, and don't we all wish we could see that floor routine again? She could easily medal as well if allowed to compete. Italy's Vanessa Ferrari qualified in third and is a former world champion in the all-around and floor. At 25, she's considered a veteran as this is her third Olympics. Everyone else qualified at least a point behind Biles and a half a point behind Raisman.
We'll finally see another American male compete tonight, beginning with the parallel bars and Danell Leyva. He qualified sixth and won the silver at the world championships in the event two years ago. Ukraine's Oleg Verniaiev (we've seen a lot of him) has his best chance at finally winning a gold these games in this event. He qualified in the top spot and is the reigning world silver medalist after winning the title in 2014. Russia's David Belyavsky and Cuba's Manrique Larduet earned the second and fourth spots, respectively, in qualifying. The Chinese are great on this event and qualified three with only two getting to compete. Deng Shudi won bronze at worlds last year and qualified third, while Hao You qualified fifth as the reigning world champion
My favorite event, men's high bar, is also tonight. This is always so fun to watch because the gymnasts through everything out there with reckless abandon to try and win. The winning routines are always awesome! Both Leyva and Sam Mikulak will compete in the final with Leyva qualifying fourth and Mikulak sixth. Leyva won silver on the event at worlds in 2015, while Mikulak doesn't always qualify for this event. Mikulak took some of the skills he's struggled on out of the routine for qualifying and it paid off. We'll see if he sticks with that or put it all in there to go for it. On of the favorites is Germany's Fabian Hambuechen, who qualified first, and has won bronze and silver on the event in the last two Olympics. He is itching for that gold. Great Britain's Nile Wilson qualified in second but the other favorite is Netherland's Epke Zonderland who is the reigning Olympic champion and two-time world champion since then. There's also Brazilian Franscisco Barretto Junior and we'll see again Verniaiev (UKR) and Larduet (CUB).
At 1 p.m. (EST) the women's volleyball team faces Japan in the quarterfinals, while the USA women's basketball team looks to secure a spot in the semifinals by also taking on Japan at 5:45 (EST).
The final round of the men's 3m springboard takes place today. China's Cao Yuan, who finished third in the synchro event, is the leader after the prelims followed by Mexico's Rommel Pacheco. American Kristian Ipsen, who claimed bronze in the synchro in London, sits in third, while Michael Hixon, a silver medalist from synchro in Rio, is currently in sixth.
In track and field tonight is the finals for the men's high jump, the women's 1500m and the men's 110m hurdles, along with the first rounds of the men's 200m and more Usain Bolt. I don't have much information on the high jump or the 110 hurdles at posting time. Other than that one of the top Americans in the 110m hurdles is also a wide receiver at Oregon. But go USA!
Ethiopia's Genzebe Dibaba is the favorite in the women's 1500m with the top time in the semifinals. USA's Shannon Rowbury and Jenny Simpson qualified sixth and seventh, respectively, to the final and hope to best those placings as no American has ever finished higher than sixth in the event.
At the end of the night, we'll see Kerri Walsh Jennings and April Ross face their toughest test yet. Not only are they facing the top-ranked team but that team also happens to be Brazilian. This match against Agatha/Barbara determines who goes on to the gold-medal match.
We'll finally see another American male compete tonight, beginning with the parallel bars and Danell Leyva. He qualified sixth and won the silver at the world championships in the event two years ago. Ukraine's Oleg Verniaiev (we've seen a lot of him) has his best chance at finally winning a gold these games in this event. He qualified in the top spot and is the reigning world silver medalist after winning the title in 2014. Russia's David Belyavsky and Cuba's Manrique Larduet earned the second and fourth spots, respectively, in qualifying. The Chinese are great on this event and qualified three with only two getting to compete. Deng Shudi won bronze at worlds last year and qualified third, while Hao You qualified fifth as the reigning world champion
My favorite event, men's high bar, is also tonight. This is always so fun to watch because the gymnasts through everything out there with reckless abandon to try and win. The winning routines are always awesome! Both Leyva and Sam Mikulak will compete in the final with Leyva qualifying fourth and Mikulak sixth. Leyva won silver on the event at worlds in 2015, while Mikulak doesn't always qualify for this event. Mikulak took some of the skills he's struggled on out of the routine for qualifying and it paid off. We'll see if he sticks with that or put it all in there to go for it. On of the favorites is Germany's Fabian Hambuechen, who qualified first, and has won bronze and silver on the event in the last two Olympics. He is itching for that gold. Great Britain's Nile Wilson qualified in second but the other favorite is Netherland's Epke Zonderland who is the reigning Olympic champion and two-time world champion since then. There's also Brazilian Franscisco Barretto Junior and we'll see again Verniaiev (UKR) and Larduet (CUB).
At 1 p.m. (EST) the women's volleyball team faces Japan in the quarterfinals, while the USA women's basketball team looks to secure a spot in the semifinals by also taking on Japan at 5:45 (EST).
The final round of the men's 3m springboard takes place today. China's Cao Yuan, who finished third in the synchro event, is the leader after the prelims followed by Mexico's Rommel Pacheco. American Kristian Ipsen, who claimed bronze in the synchro in London, sits in third, while Michael Hixon, a silver medalist from synchro in Rio, is currently in sixth.
In track and field tonight is the finals for the men's high jump, the women's 1500m and the men's 110m hurdles, along with the first rounds of the men's 200m and more Usain Bolt. I don't have much information on the high jump or the 110 hurdles at posting time. Other than that one of the top Americans in the 110m hurdles is also a wide receiver at Oregon. But go USA!
Ethiopia's Genzebe Dibaba is the favorite in the women's 1500m with the top time in the semifinals. USA's Shannon Rowbury and Jenny Simpson qualified sixth and seventh, respectively, to the final and hope to best those placings as no American has ever finished higher than sixth in the event.
At the end of the night, we'll see Kerri Walsh Jennings and April Ross face their toughest test yet. Not only are they facing the top-ranked team but that team also happens to be Brazilian. This match against Agatha/Barbara determines who goes on to the gold-medal match.
Monday, August 15, 2016
My Olympic Bosom Buddy
I've found my Olympic spirit buddy! It's Saturday Night Live's Leslie Jones.
Jones is like most of us in that she loves watching the Olympics and cheering for the USA. Since she also happens to be famous, her various social media posts about it quickly became viral. Lucky for her, she happens to work for the same network broadcasting the Olympics. This tweet conversation between her and Jim Bell, NBC Olympics executive producer, ensued and she ended up in Rio.
If you don't get a chance to stay up for the late night Olympic show hosted by Ryan Seacrest, you might have missed this segment with Jones. I came across it just the other day while going through some recordings on the DVR.
It shows Jones meeting several notable Olympians and attending many events. I died laughing during so much of this. I think she reacts the same way I would meeting a bunch of these people. The difference is that she's also a famous comedian, she doesn't scare people as much as I would. I'd be that "psycho girl," while she's a "famous fan." But if she needed a non-famous buddy to go around with her maybe I could fill that slot. I think I would for sure be just as excited, be just as in to the events and love chanting U-S-A!
The great thing is that you can also tell her enthusiasm is genuine. Her reaction to Biles winning the all-around gold is so heart felt. Even without the cameras directly on her or her recording on her phone, you can see her enjoying cheering for Team USA.
Watch the segment here for some laughs. It's wonderful!
Jones is like most of us in that she loves watching the Olympics and cheering for the USA. Since she also happens to be famous, her various social media posts about it quickly became viral. Lucky for her, she happens to work for the same network broadcasting the Olympics. This tweet conversation between her and Jim Bell, NBC Olympics executive producer, ensued and she ended up in Rio.
If you don't get a chance to stay up for the late night Olympic show hosted by Ryan Seacrest, you might have missed this segment with Jones. I came across it just the other day while going through some recordings on the DVR.
It shows Jones meeting several notable Olympians and attending many events. I died laughing during so much of this. I think she reacts the same way I would meeting a bunch of these people. The difference is that she's also a famous comedian, she doesn't scare people as much as I would. I'd be that "psycho girl," while she's a "famous fan." But if she needed a non-famous buddy to go around with her maybe I could fill that slot. I think I would for sure be just as excited, be just as in to the events and love chanting U-S-A!
The great thing is that you can also tell her enthusiasm is genuine. Her reaction to Biles winning the all-around gold is so heart felt. Even without the cameras directly on her or her recording on her phone, you can see her enjoying cheering for Team USA.
Watch the segment here for some laughs. It's wonderful!
What to Watch - Aug. 15
During the day today is the men's beach volleyball quarterfinals. The U.S. team of Phil Dalhausser and Nick Lucena play against Brazilian favorites Alison, who appears to just go by one name, and Bruno Schmidt. Winner moves on to the semifinal with medal hopes close at hand. Loser goes home. While the match is at 3 p.m. (EST), they may replay it in primetime.
It's the second to last day of gymnastics competition, which starts to make me sad that the games are going by too quickly even though there are still seven days left. Today is the event finals in men's rings and vault and women's balance beam.
The USA doesn't have anyone in the rings final but China had two of the top three qualifiers in Yang Liu and Hao You. Greece's Eledtherios Pertounias qualified in second and is one of the favorites as the reigning world champion. Brazil's Arthur Zanetti is also in the final after qualifying in fifth and is the reigning Olympic champion. After his teammates won silver and bronze yesterday on floor, you can be sure he'll have everyone in the stands cheering for him.
No American in the men's vault final either. Jake Dalton just missed out by placing 10th in the prelims. North Korea's Ri Se-Gwang, yes, they send gymnasts to the Olympics, qualified in first and is the two-time defending world champion. He did not compete in London because North Korea was banned from gymnastics after the federation's age falsification of a female gymnast in 2008. Very close behind in second was Russia's Denis Ablyazin who won silver in 2012. Ukraine's Oleg Verniaiev, who missed out on all-around gold by the slimmest of margins, is in the final after qualifying seventh.
Simone Biles qualified in the top spot for the beam final and is obviously the favorite after going a perfect 3-for-3 in gold medals so far. Biles along with Laurie Hernandez, who qualified in second, both had qualifying scores that distanced them from the rest of the field. Aly Raisman and Gabby Douglas actually qualified as well but the two per country rule is once again keeping them out. I don't see much competition for the two Americans except for the fact that it's the beam. Brazil's Flavia Lopez qualified in third after a great routine in the prelims. She's tiny, smaller than Biles, and easily moves across the beam. If you watched the men's floor last night, you know how much the crowd is helping along it's home gymnasts. This could be another one of those instances. The other one to look out for is Romania's Catalina Ponor. She's the lone representative for the Romanian team at these games, which is a crazy thing to say after that country's history at success in the sport. The 28-year-old is in her third Olympics and won gold on this event back in 2004.
At the track tonight is the final of the women's 400m and the men's 800m. There will also be the
first rounds of the women's 200m.
Typically, you see American Allyson Felix in both the 200m and 400m. But it's just the 400m this time around as an ankle injury that still wasn't healed prevented her from claiming a spot on the team in the 200m to defend her Olympic gold from London. Instead, she gets a chance to defend the American title in the 400m (USA's Sonya Richards-Ross won in London). Felix ran the best time in the semifinals with fellow team members Natasha Hastings and Phyllis Francis finishing third and fifth, respectively. Jamaica's Shericka Jakson was second in the semis with the Bahamas Shaunae Miller in fourth.
Today also happens to be the opening rounds for the women's 200m. Tori Bowie, Jenna Prandini and Deajah Stevens race for Team USA, while new 100m champion Elanie Thompson of Jamaica is also in the field.
While Kenya's David Rudisha finished third in the men's 800m semifinal, he is the world record holder and defending Olympic champion. France's Pierre-Ambroise Bosse and Algeria's Taoufik Makhloufi took the top spots in the semifinal, while USA's Clayton Murphy and Boris Berian were fourth and sixth, respectively.
It's the second to last day of gymnastics competition, which starts to make me sad that the games are going by too quickly even though there are still seven days left. Today is the event finals in men's rings and vault and women's balance beam.
The USA doesn't have anyone in the rings final but China had two of the top three qualifiers in Yang Liu and Hao You. Greece's Eledtherios Pertounias qualified in second and is one of the favorites as the reigning world champion. Brazil's Arthur Zanetti is also in the final after qualifying in fifth and is the reigning Olympic champion. After his teammates won silver and bronze yesterday on floor, you can be sure he'll have everyone in the stands cheering for him.
No American in the men's vault final either. Jake Dalton just missed out by placing 10th in the prelims. North Korea's Ri Se-Gwang, yes, they send gymnasts to the Olympics, qualified in first and is the two-time defending world champion. He did not compete in London because North Korea was banned from gymnastics after the federation's age falsification of a female gymnast in 2008. Very close behind in second was Russia's Denis Ablyazin who won silver in 2012. Ukraine's Oleg Verniaiev, who missed out on all-around gold by the slimmest of margins, is in the final after qualifying seventh.
Simone Biles qualified in the top spot for the beam final and is obviously the favorite after going a perfect 3-for-3 in gold medals so far. Biles along with Laurie Hernandez, who qualified in second, both had qualifying scores that distanced them from the rest of the field. Aly Raisman and Gabby Douglas actually qualified as well but the two per country rule is once again keeping them out. I don't see much competition for the two Americans except for the fact that it's the beam. Brazil's Flavia Lopez qualified in third after a great routine in the prelims. She's tiny, smaller than Biles, and easily moves across the beam. If you watched the men's floor last night, you know how much the crowd is helping along it's home gymnasts. This could be another one of those instances. The other one to look out for is Romania's Catalina Ponor. She's the lone representative for the Romanian team at these games, which is a crazy thing to say after that country's history at success in the sport. The 28-year-old is in her third Olympics and won gold on this event back in 2004.
At the track tonight is the final of the women's 400m and the men's 800m. There will also be the
first rounds of the women's 200m.
Typically, you see American Allyson Felix in both the 200m and 400m. But it's just the 400m this time around as an ankle injury that still wasn't healed prevented her from claiming a spot on the team in the 200m to defend her Olympic gold from London. Instead, she gets a chance to defend the American title in the 400m (USA's Sonya Richards-Ross won in London). Felix ran the best time in the semifinals with fellow team members Natasha Hastings and Phyllis Francis finishing third and fifth, respectively. Jamaica's Shericka Jakson was second in the semis with the Bahamas Shaunae Miller in fourth.
Today also happens to be the opening rounds for the women's 200m. Tori Bowie, Jenna Prandini and Deajah Stevens race for Team USA, while new 100m champion Elanie Thompson of Jamaica is also in the field.
While Kenya's David Rudisha finished third in the men's 800m semifinal, he is the world record holder and defending Olympic champion. France's Pierre-Ambroise Bosse and Algeria's Taoufik Makhloufi took the top spots in the semifinal, while USA's Clayton Murphy and Boris Berian were fourth and sixth, respectively.
Sunday, August 14, 2016
What to Watch - Aug. 14
Swimming has officially concluded at the Rio games, with a dominating performance by Team USA, and most of the focus shifts to track and field while gymnastics begins to wrap up with event finals.
There's a lot going on during the day today to flip between if you're looking to enjoy a full day of Olympic action.
Medals in men's golf will be handed out for the first time in 112 years after the final round today. It looks to be a battle for gold and silver between Great Britain's Justin Rose and Sweden's Henrik Stenson. No surprise these two are at the top of the leader board. Americans Bubba Watson and Matt Kuchar look to have an outside shot at the podium as they start the round three and four shots back of third, respectively.
The women's basketball team faces China this morning after defeating them by 48 points in London. The women look to be easily cruising to yet another gold medal.
The men's team has struggled a bit more, winning its last two games by a combined 13 points. Was the three-point win against Serbia enough of a wake-up call? The team has another tough test today against France, which has several NBA players, in the final game of pool play.
Two gold medal matches for tennis today beginning with an assured gold and silver for USA in the mixed double finals. While Venus Williams fell early in both singles and doubles, she stayed alive with Rajeev Ram in mixed doubles. They'll face USA's Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Jack Sock. Reigning Olympic champion Andy Murray looks to defend his London gold in the men's final against Argentina's Juan Martin del Portro. While Murray has a major to his name this year, del Potro took down world No. 1 Novak Djokovic and No. 5 Rafael Nadal on his way to this gold-medal final.
In the last day of the group stage, the U.S. women's volleyball team faces China. The USA has won silver in the last two Olympics and China is a five-time Olympic medalist.
Happening during the day, but we'll see in primetime, is the women's diving springboard final and four gymnastics event finals.
China's two divers, Sho Tingmao and He Zi, are the reigning world gold and silver medalists and are the favorites. Zi is also the reigning Olympic champion. USA's Abby Johnston, who won silver in the synchro event in London, looks to continue her success.
In men's gymnastics is the men's floor and pommel horse final and the women have the vault and uneven bars final. There are Americans in each final, including, believe it or not, pommel horse. The top eight gymnasts on each event from the qualifying round last weekend advanced to the finals with the exception of the two per country rule, which mostly just effected the women's team.
On floor, USA's Sam Mikulak and Jake Dalton hope to claim the team's first medals of these games. The two qualified easily in first and second, while Japan's Kenzo Shirai is the favorite and the reigning world champion. Of course, never rule out "King Kohei" Kohei Uchimura of Japan.
American Alex Nadour competes on pommel horse after qualifying in seventh. Great Britain's Max Whitlock and Louis Smith are the favorites and they're really good at the event. They make the hardest event look easy and somehow keep you from getting nervous for them.
Simone Biles looks to add her third gold of the games on the vault and is easily the favorite. If she does exactly what she's been doing, she'll be the Olympic champion. But we also thought that with McKayla Maroney in London. The other interesting gymnast in this event is Ukraine's Oksana Chusovitina who is 41-years-old. She's been at every Olympics since Barcelona in 1992.
The uneven bars finals is where you'll see the most competition. Mostly because Biles is not in this event. American Madison Kocian qualified in the top spot and has a beautiful routine. She's one of the four that tied four the gold at worlds last year. Reigning gold medalist Aliya Mustafina qualified in second followed by Gabby Douglas and Russia's Daria Spiridonova (another on of the world gold medalists). No ties in the Olympics, so there will be a gold, silver and bronze medalist. Bars is my favorite event and I can't wait to see this one!
In field events, it's the final of the women's triple jump. That's really all I know about that one. In non final events, we'll see the semifinals of the women's 400m, featuring American Allison Felix.
The men's 400m final tonight features Grenada's Kirani James, who won his country's first ever medal (a gold) in London. He won the semifinal ahead of USA's LaShawn Merritt.
The marquee event tonight is the men's 100m. We'll see both the semifinal and final to find out if Usain Bolt is still the world's fastest man. He's been injured this year but analysts that have watched training in Rio say there's no sign of that there. He cruised in his prelim race yesterday. His main competition is fellow Jamaican Johan Blake and Americans Justin Gatlin and Tyson Gay.
Finally tonight, we'll see Kerri Walsh Jennings and April Ross in the quarterfinals as they face Australia's Bawden and Clancy.
There's a lot going on during the day today to flip between if you're looking to enjoy a full day of Olympic action.
Medals in men's golf will be handed out for the first time in 112 years after the final round today. It looks to be a battle for gold and silver between Great Britain's Justin Rose and Sweden's Henrik Stenson. No surprise these two are at the top of the leader board. Americans Bubba Watson and Matt Kuchar look to have an outside shot at the podium as they start the round three and four shots back of third, respectively.
The women's basketball team faces China this morning after defeating them by 48 points in London. The women look to be easily cruising to yet another gold medal.
The men's team has struggled a bit more, winning its last two games by a combined 13 points. Was the three-point win against Serbia enough of a wake-up call? The team has another tough test today against France, which has several NBA players, in the final game of pool play.
Two gold medal matches for tennis today beginning with an assured gold and silver for USA in the mixed double finals. While Venus Williams fell early in both singles and doubles, she stayed alive with Rajeev Ram in mixed doubles. They'll face USA's Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Jack Sock. Reigning Olympic champion Andy Murray looks to defend his London gold in the men's final against Argentina's Juan Martin del Portro. While Murray has a major to his name this year, del Potro took down world No. 1 Novak Djokovic and No. 5 Rafael Nadal on his way to this gold-medal final.
In the last day of the group stage, the U.S. women's volleyball team faces China. The USA has won silver in the last two Olympics and China is a five-time Olympic medalist.
Happening during the day, but we'll see in primetime, is the women's diving springboard final and four gymnastics event finals.
China's two divers, Sho Tingmao and He Zi, are the reigning world gold and silver medalists and are the favorites. Zi is also the reigning Olympic champion. USA's Abby Johnston, who won silver in the synchro event in London, looks to continue her success.
In men's gymnastics is the men's floor and pommel horse final and the women have the vault and uneven bars final. There are Americans in each final, including, believe it or not, pommel horse. The top eight gymnasts on each event from the qualifying round last weekend advanced to the finals with the exception of the two per country rule, which mostly just effected the women's team.
On floor, USA's Sam Mikulak and Jake Dalton hope to claim the team's first medals of these games. The two qualified easily in first and second, while Japan's Kenzo Shirai is the favorite and the reigning world champion. Of course, never rule out "King Kohei" Kohei Uchimura of Japan.
American Alex Nadour competes on pommel horse after qualifying in seventh. Great Britain's Max Whitlock and Louis Smith are the favorites and they're really good at the event. They make the hardest event look easy and somehow keep you from getting nervous for them.
Simone Biles looks to add her third gold of the games on the vault and is easily the favorite. If she does exactly what she's been doing, she'll be the Olympic champion. But we also thought that with McKayla Maroney in London. The other interesting gymnast in this event is Ukraine's Oksana Chusovitina who is 41-years-old. She's been at every Olympics since Barcelona in 1992.
The uneven bars finals is where you'll see the most competition. Mostly because Biles is not in this event. American Madison Kocian qualified in the top spot and has a beautiful routine. She's one of the four that tied four the gold at worlds last year. Reigning gold medalist Aliya Mustafina qualified in second followed by Gabby Douglas and Russia's Daria Spiridonova (another on of the world gold medalists). No ties in the Olympics, so there will be a gold, silver and bronze medalist. Bars is my favorite event and I can't wait to see this one!
In field events, it's the final of the women's triple jump. That's really all I know about that one. In non final events, we'll see the semifinals of the women's 400m, featuring American Allison Felix.
The men's 400m final tonight features Grenada's Kirani James, who won his country's first ever medal (a gold) in London. He won the semifinal ahead of USA's LaShawn Merritt.
The marquee event tonight is the men's 100m. We'll see both the semifinal and final to find out if Usain Bolt is still the world's fastest man. He's been injured this year but analysts that have watched training in Rio say there's no sign of that there. He cruised in his prelim race yesterday. His main competition is fellow Jamaican Johan Blake and Americans Justin Gatlin and Tyson Gay.
Finally tonight, we'll see Kerri Walsh Jennings and April Ross in the quarterfinals as they face Australia's Bawden and Clancy.
Saturday, August 13, 2016
What to Watch - Aug. 13
Tonight is the final night in the pool and it'll be closed out by two individual finals and two relays.
The men's 1500m free is the longest of the meet and takes almost 15 minutes. Trust me, they'll take a commercial break during the race. Italy's Gregogio Paltrinieri qualified in the top spot followed by Americans Connor Jaeger in second and Jordan Wilmovsky in third. The favorite was China's Sun Yang but he failed to make it out of the prelims. Good chances for the USA to medal in this race.
In contrast, we also have the shortest women's race of the meet in the 50m free. Simone Manuel is back after her surprise win in the 100m. She's not favored to win in this race either but is probably swimming with a lot of confidence. Denmark's Pernill Blue qualified in first followed by Australia's Cate Campbell and Netherlands Ranomi Kromowidjojo. Australia's Bronte Campbell qualified in fifth just ahead of Manuel. Again, in this race (aka the "Splash and Dash") you never know what will happen.
The meet will end with both the women's and men's 4x100 individual medley relays. Just a refresher, the medley relay is four swimmers each swimming 100m in a different stroke. Both U.S. teams are likely to win gold.
The women swam the "B team" of Olivia Smoliga, Katie Meili, Kelsi Worrell and Abby Weitzeil in the prelims and still qualified first. I suspect the final will consist of Kathleen Baker (backstroke), Lilly King (breaststroke), Dana Vollmer (fly) and Simone Manuel (free). All four of those swimmers won medals in their respective 100m races. Needless to say, the Americans are in a good spot to win.
Like the women, the men also swam its second team in the prelims with David Plummer, Kevin Cordes, Tom Shields and Caleb Dressel. The U.S. qualified in second behind Great Britain but GBR swam all its best swimmers in the prelims. I suspect the final lineup will be as follows - Ryan Murphy (backstroke), Cody Miller (breaststroke), Michael Phelps (fly) and Nathan Adrian (free). This will be Phelps last ever race (so he says) and a chance to win the 23rd gold of his career. He probably doesn't like having finished second in the 100m fly last night and will do everything to ensure the U.S. wins this race. I think Phelps ends his career on the top of the podium one last time.
At the track, we'll have one of the men's longest races and the women's shortest race. While medals will also be handed out in the women's heptathlon and the men's long jump.
In the long jump, China's Wang Jianan currently leads with American Jeff Henderson in second. The final includes 12 jumpers with each getting three chances to jump. I think that's the way it works. Honestly, I'm not too up on my long jumping rules.
In London, the men's 10,000m was one of the most exciting races. That was mostly because it was won by GBR's Mo Farah and the entire stadium was going crazy for him. Farah is back and so is American Galen Rupp who finished right behind him in 2012. The two train together and clearly make each other better. Could be another exciting finish this time around.
The "fastest woman in the world" will be crowned tonight. The semifinals will be happen today and I probably won't be around to watch, so I'll just go with all those that made the semis. Jamaica's Shelley-Ann Fraser-Price looks to win her third straight gold in the event. She'll be tested by teammate Elaine Thompson, who has the fastest time in the world this year. All three Americans - Tori Bowie, English Gardner and Tianna Bartoletta - all advanced to the semis. Gardner is the favorite among the Americans. Also of note is Dafine Schippers of the Netherlands.
The men's 1500m free is the longest of the meet and takes almost 15 minutes. Trust me, they'll take a commercial break during the race. Italy's Gregogio Paltrinieri qualified in the top spot followed by Americans Connor Jaeger in second and Jordan Wilmovsky in third. The favorite was China's Sun Yang but he failed to make it out of the prelims. Good chances for the USA to medal in this race.
In contrast, we also have the shortest women's race of the meet in the 50m free. Simone Manuel is back after her surprise win in the 100m. She's not favored to win in this race either but is probably swimming with a lot of confidence. Denmark's Pernill Blue qualified in first followed by Australia's Cate Campbell and Netherlands Ranomi Kromowidjojo. Australia's Bronte Campbell qualified in fifth just ahead of Manuel. Again, in this race (aka the "Splash and Dash") you never know what will happen.
The meet will end with both the women's and men's 4x100 individual medley relays. Just a refresher, the medley relay is four swimmers each swimming 100m in a different stroke. Both U.S. teams are likely to win gold.
The women swam the "B team" of Olivia Smoliga, Katie Meili, Kelsi Worrell and Abby Weitzeil in the prelims and still qualified first. I suspect the final will consist of Kathleen Baker (backstroke), Lilly King (breaststroke), Dana Vollmer (fly) and Simone Manuel (free). All four of those swimmers won medals in their respective 100m races. Needless to say, the Americans are in a good spot to win.
Like the women, the men also swam its second team in the prelims with David Plummer, Kevin Cordes, Tom Shields and Caleb Dressel. The U.S. qualified in second behind Great Britain but GBR swam all its best swimmers in the prelims. I suspect the final lineup will be as follows - Ryan Murphy (backstroke), Cody Miller (breaststroke), Michael Phelps (fly) and Nathan Adrian (free). This will be Phelps last ever race (so he says) and a chance to win the 23rd gold of his career. He probably doesn't like having finished second in the 100m fly last night and will do everything to ensure the U.S. wins this race. I think Phelps ends his career on the top of the podium one last time.
At the track, we'll have one of the men's longest races and the women's shortest race. While medals will also be handed out in the women's heptathlon and the men's long jump.
In the long jump, China's Wang Jianan currently leads with American Jeff Henderson in second. The final includes 12 jumpers with each getting three chances to jump. I think that's the way it works. Honestly, I'm not too up on my long jumping rules.
In London, the men's 10,000m was one of the most exciting races. That was mostly because it was won by GBR's Mo Farah and the entire stadium was going crazy for him. Farah is back and so is American Galen Rupp who finished right behind him in 2012. The two train together and clearly make each other better. Could be another exciting finish this time around.
The "fastest woman in the world" will be crowned tonight. The semifinals will be happen today and I probably won't be around to watch, so I'll just go with all those that made the semis. Jamaica's Shelley-Ann Fraser-Price looks to win her third straight gold in the event. She'll be tested by teammate Elaine Thompson, who has the fastest time in the world this year. All three Americans - Tori Bowie, English Gardner and Tianna Bartoletta - all advanced to the semis. Gardner is the favorite among the Americans. Also of note is Dafine Schippers of the Netherlands.
Friday, August 12, 2016
Simone(s)
Last night was a great night for anyone named Simone from Houston at the Olympics. In case you somehow missed it, Simone Manuel tied for the gold in the women's 100m free and Simone Biles finished the formality of becoming Olympic all-around champion.
If you didn't know, both Simones are from the Houston area! Manuel is my hometown girl from Sugar Land, while Biles lives in Spring. Both were amazing performances and for sure brought tears to my eyes. Pretty awesome night for the Bayou City!
Manuel was not considered a favorite in her race but it's also not a surprise that she won. Sprints like this are toss ups and it was a stacked field. All the focus was on Australia's Campbell sisters and neither one came away with a medal. Manuel really got the job done in the last 50m, chasing down Cate Campbell and touching the wall at the same time as Canada's Penny Oleksiak. Her reaction was priceless. Such a great Olympic moment. I loved her interview afterwards as well.
Manuel is the first woman of color to win an individual gold in swimming. She said this win isn't just for her but for all the other swimmers of color to come before her that paved the way. The tears coming down her face during her medal ceremony were genuine and you couldn't help but tear up as well. She made me cry multiple times last night. I hope she gets to celebrate with as many Shipley do-nuts as her heart desires!
She already has a silver as a member of the 4x100 free relay team earlier in these games and has two more shots at medals. A likely gold as a member of the 4x100 individual medley relay and the 50m free. Both are Saturday night.
There was never any question Biles would win the all-around. If you didn't know ahead of the NBC coverage what happened, like me, you could have let them trick you into thinking it was a close competition. But it never was. Yes, Biles was not in the lead after the second rotation but that was after her "worst" event with her two best left. She easily won. How easy? Her margin of victory was larger than the margin of victory for the last nine all-around champions...combined!
What's amazing is not just that she won. It's that she won with that much pressure on her and still delivered four (close to) perfect routines. That's why she is "the best ever."
Congrats, Simone(s)! You've done Houston, Texas and USA proud!
If you didn't know, both Simones are from the Houston area! Manuel is my hometown girl from Sugar Land, while Biles lives in Spring. Both were amazing performances and for sure brought tears to my eyes. Pretty awesome night for the Bayou City!
Manuel was not considered a favorite in her race but it's also not a surprise that she won. Sprints like this are toss ups and it was a stacked field. All the focus was on Australia's Campbell sisters and neither one came away with a medal. Manuel really got the job done in the last 50m, chasing down Cate Campbell and touching the wall at the same time as Canada's Penny Oleksiak. Her reaction was priceless. Such a great Olympic moment. I loved her interview afterwards as well.
Manuel is the first woman of color to win an individual gold in swimming. She said this win isn't just for her but for all the other swimmers of color to come before her that paved the way. The tears coming down her face during her medal ceremony were genuine and you couldn't help but tear up as well. She made me cry multiple times last night. I hope she gets to celebrate with as many Shipley do-nuts as her heart desires!
She already has a silver as a member of the 4x100 free relay team earlier in these games and has two more shots at medals. A likely gold as a member of the 4x100 individual medley relay and the 50m free. Both are Saturday night.
There was never any question Biles would win the all-around. If you didn't know ahead of the NBC coverage what happened, like me, you could have let them trick you into thinking it was a close competition. But it never was. Yes, Biles was not in the lead after the second rotation but that was after her "worst" event with her two best left. She easily won. How easy? Her margin of victory was larger than the margin of victory for the last nine all-around champions...combined!
What's amazing is not just that she won. It's that she won with that much pressure on her and still delivered four (close to) perfect routines. That's why she is "the best ever."
Congrats, Simone(s)! You've done Houston, Texas and USA proud!
What to Watch - Aug. 12
I'm always sad the next two days because there's a break from gymnastics. But we've still got some great races in the pool with the second to last night of swimming competition and track and field starts up.
First up today is men's basketball vs. Serbia. Some might say Team USA had a "scare" the other night against Australia but they still won by 10. I suspect they'll keep up the winning ways.
The women's soccer quarterfinals get underway as the U.S. faces Sweden. The headline of this game is that the U.S. is facing former head coach Pia Sundhage, who coached them to gold in 2008 and 2012, and is now the Swedish head coach.
We've reached the round of 16 in beach volleyball, which means lose and go home. Tonight Kerri Walsh Jennings and April Ross play at 11 p.m. (EST) against Italy's Marta Menegatti and Laura Giombini.
The majority of the remaining individual swimming races are tonight with two relays and two individual events left on Saturday.
The fastest race of the whole meet happens tonight with the men's 50 free. Seriously, blink and you'll miss it. Some of these guys swim the whole time without taking a breath. This is one of those races where picking a favorite doesn't matter because anyone can win. The 2012 gold medalist Florent Manaudou of France grabbed the top spot in the semifinal. American Anthony Ervin and Ukraine's Andrii Govorov tied in their semifinal heat and into the final with the exact same time in the second spot. Ervin is also a previous gold medal winner in this event even if it was in 2000. He is 35-years-old and still one of the best sprinters in the world. Qualifying in fourth is USA's Nathan Adrian, who won bronze in the 100 free Wednesday. It's crapshoot. Just pick your favorite and cheer!
The women's 200m backstroke gives Hungary's Katinka Hosszu (aka The Iron Lady) her fourth chance to win gold after claiming the 200 IM, 400 IM and the 100m backstroke in Rio. She qualified in the top spot ahead of Canada's Hilary Caldwell. USA's Maya Dirado, who has had an incredible meet in Rio, qualified third and looks to win her fourth medal of the games. This race will be missing both the defending Olympic champion in Missy Franklin and defending world champion in Australia's Emily Seebohm as both failed to make the final.
Tonight is the last time we'll see Michael Phelps swim for an individual medal in the men's 100m butterfly. Like the 200 IM, he's the three-time defending Olympic champion in this race. He became the first person to ever win the same event four times in the Olympics and could do that again tonight, adding just a little more to that legacy. Phelps qualified in fifth after finishing second in his semifinal heat. Don't let fifth spot fool you. That was really just because he'd had about 30 minutes between the 200 IM and this semi. He was dead last at the turn and finished second in the heat. He really is unreal.
Singapore's Joseph Schooling qualified into the top spot to the final. The 19-year-old won bronze at the world championship last year and swims collegiately in the states at Texas. We'll see if South Africa's Chad Le Clos decides to do anymore crazy antics in this race, but he does have a few more competitors than in the 200m. Hungary's Laszlo Cseh and USA's Tom Shields qualified in fourth and sixth, respectively.
They should probably just save the eight minutes it takes for the women's 800m freestyle and just hand the medal to Katie Ledecky. She's a bigger favorite in this race than any of her other races and she's the defending Olympic champion. She already holds the world record and set a new Olympic record in the prelims. Also in the race is American Leah Smith, who was also a member of the winning 4x200 free relay.
As swimming winds down, that means the lights come on at the track. It's the start of the track and field event with only one final tonight in the women's shot put. Michelle Carter is the top thrower for Team USA. We'll also see the heats for the women's 100m and the men's 400m.
First up today is men's basketball vs. Serbia. Some might say Team USA had a "scare" the other night against Australia but they still won by 10. I suspect they'll keep up the winning ways.
The women's soccer quarterfinals get underway as the U.S. faces Sweden. The headline of this game is that the U.S. is facing former head coach Pia Sundhage, who coached them to gold in 2008 and 2012, and is now the Swedish head coach.
We've reached the round of 16 in beach volleyball, which means lose and go home. Tonight Kerri Walsh Jennings and April Ross play at 11 p.m. (EST) against Italy's Marta Menegatti and Laura Giombini.
The majority of the remaining individual swimming races are tonight with two relays and two individual events left on Saturday.
The fastest race of the whole meet happens tonight with the men's 50 free. Seriously, blink and you'll miss it. Some of these guys swim the whole time without taking a breath. This is one of those races where picking a favorite doesn't matter because anyone can win. The 2012 gold medalist Florent Manaudou of France grabbed the top spot in the semifinal. American Anthony Ervin and Ukraine's Andrii Govorov tied in their semifinal heat and into the final with the exact same time in the second spot. Ervin is also a previous gold medal winner in this event even if it was in 2000. He is 35-years-old and still one of the best sprinters in the world. Qualifying in fourth is USA's Nathan Adrian, who won bronze in the 100 free Wednesday. It's crapshoot. Just pick your favorite and cheer!
The women's 200m backstroke gives Hungary's Katinka Hosszu (aka The Iron Lady) her fourth chance to win gold after claiming the 200 IM, 400 IM and the 100m backstroke in Rio. She qualified in the top spot ahead of Canada's Hilary Caldwell. USA's Maya Dirado, who has had an incredible meet in Rio, qualified third and looks to win her fourth medal of the games. This race will be missing both the defending Olympic champion in Missy Franklin and defending world champion in Australia's Emily Seebohm as both failed to make the final.
Tonight is the last time we'll see Michael Phelps swim for an individual medal in the men's 100m butterfly. Like the 200 IM, he's the three-time defending Olympic champion in this race. He became the first person to ever win the same event four times in the Olympics and could do that again tonight, adding just a little more to that legacy. Phelps qualified in fifth after finishing second in his semifinal heat. Don't let fifth spot fool you. That was really just because he'd had about 30 minutes between the 200 IM and this semi. He was dead last at the turn and finished second in the heat. He really is unreal.
Singapore's Joseph Schooling qualified into the top spot to the final. The 19-year-old won bronze at the world championship last year and swims collegiately in the states at Texas. We'll see if South Africa's Chad Le Clos decides to do anymore crazy antics in this race, but he does have a few more competitors than in the 200m. Hungary's Laszlo Cseh and USA's Tom Shields qualified in fourth and sixth, respectively.
They should probably just save the eight minutes it takes for the women's 800m freestyle and just hand the medal to Katie Ledecky. She's a bigger favorite in this race than any of her other races and she's the defending Olympic champion. She already holds the world record and set a new Olympic record in the prelims. Also in the race is American Leah Smith, who was also a member of the winning 4x200 free relay.
As swimming winds down, that means the lights come on at the track. It's the start of the track and field event with only one final tonight in the women's shot put. Michelle Carter is the top thrower for Team USA. We'll also see the heats for the women's 100m and the men's 400m.
Thursday, August 11, 2016
Schmitty
If you watched the women's 4x200m freestyle relay last night and NBC at all today, you've seen a lot of USA swimmer Allison Schmitt. She's a very positive and happy personality and it's great to see her back. And I mean that for many reasons.
She's been making the interview rounds after being a part of the gold medal winning relay team. She's available to do the media circus because she's done with the two events she was scheduled to compete in. Both of those events were relays were she qualified because of a third through sixth finish at the trials. This is a big difference from four years ago.
In London, Schmitt was the breakout star along with Missy Franklin. Like Franklin, Schmitt has gone through a lot of highs and lows since 2012. Unlike Franklin, her lows have not been physical due to injuries. She won five medals, including three golds, in London. Of those three gold medals one of them was the 200m free Olympic champion.
A year later, Schmitt failed to make the world championship team. I remember watching the meet and wondering where she was. In 2014, she didn't even make the national team. How could an Olympic gold medalist fail to make the national team?
On the inside, Schmitt was experiencing the dramatic drop off that many Olympic athletes go through after the games. Four years seems so far away and they want the high of the experience and competition again immediately. Schmitt sank into a deep depression, saying and doing all the right things on the outside but in a deep place on the inside.
It wasn't until close friend and training partner Michael Phelps said something in 2015 that she admitted she was struggling. Sadly, it took the suicide of a beloved younger cousin to for her to want to find her way out. Since then, she's truly sought help to get better and decided to use her platform to talk about young people, athletes and depression.
While she may not have qualified at trials to defend her individual title or compete in any individual event, she was voted co-captain by her fellow teammates. A big testament to the respect and faith everyone has in her. The lone gold she leaves the Olympics with this time around means more than just the swim race she helped win. She's back to being "Schmitty."
There's a great feature piece about her by ESPN that I recommend if you have time to read it here.
She's been making the interview rounds after being a part of the gold medal winning relay team. She's available to do the media circus because she's done with the two events she was scheduled to compete in. Both of those events were relays were she qualified because of a third through sixth finish at the trials. This is a big difference from four years ago.
In London, Schmitt was the breakout star along with Missy Franklin. Like Franklin, Schmitt has gone through a lot of highs and lows since 2012. Unlike Franklin, her lows have not been physical due to injuries. She won five medals, including three golds, in London. Of those three gold medals one of them was the 200m free Olympic champion.
A year later, Schmitt failed to make the world championship team. I remember watching the meet and wondering where she was. In 2014, she didn't even make the national team. How could an Olympic gold medalist fail to make the national team?
On the inside, Schmitt was experiencing the dramatic drop off that many Olympic athletes go through after the games. Four years seems so far away and they want the high of the experience and competition again immediately. Schmitt sank into a deep depression, saying and doing all the right things on the outside but in a deep place on the inside.
It wasn't until close friend and training partner Michael Phelps said something in 2015 that she admitted she was struggling. Sadly, it took the suicide of a beloved younger cousin to for her to want to find her way out. Since then, she's truly sought help to get better and decided to use her platform to talk about young people, athletes and depression.
While she may not have qualified at trials to defend her individual title or compete in any individual event, she was voted co-captain by her fellow teammates. A big testament to the respect and faith everyone has in her. The lone gold she leaves the Olympics with this time around means more than just the swim race she helped win. She's back to being "Schmitty."
There's a great feature piece about her by ESPN that I recommend if you have time to read it here.
Matthew McConaughey is Having the Best Time Ever at the Olympics
I haven't directly searched this title but I have to assume there's a BuzzFeed article out there with this same headline. If there isn't one, BuzzFeed can contact me regarding freelance work because I'm about to write the entire article for them.
Matthew McConaughey is at the Olympics and having a great time wondering around to the various events.
Matthew McConaughey is Having the Best Time Ever at the Olympics
Matthew McConaughey is at the Olympics and having a great time wondering around to the various events.
Here he is at women's rugby...
And at men's basketball...
And at swimming...
And walking around Rio with his Brazilian wife...
And he's patriotic too. Singing the national anthem...
Alright, alright, alright, Matthew. Let's keep up that team spirit! Hook'em Horns and Go USA!
What to Watch - Aug. 11
During the day today we have the start of the men's golf competition, some men's and women's beach volleyball, judo and then the men's volleyball team taking on Brazil tonight in primetime.
Tonight, we'll see if Simone Biles can make it 2-for-2 in gold medals in the women's all-around final. She's as much of a favorite to win as the U.S. was for the team gold medal. You've likely watched her by now and understand that the hype is real. She can easily win this even with mistakes but she rarely even makes those. A U.S. gymnast has won the gold in the last three straight Olympics. Biles looks to join that club with Carly Patterson (2004), Nastia Liukin (2008) and Gabby Douglas (2012).
Four years ago, Aly Raisman was robbed of a bronze in the all-around final. She tied for third but, for whatever reason, they break ties for medals. To break the tie they throw out the lowest score of the the four events for each person and then average the other three. Aliya Mustafina, who Raisman tied with, had fallen on beam and, lucky for her, that score was dropped and Raisman got bumped off the podium. She sites this as one of the motivating reasons to comeback for Rio. Now, Raisman is better than she was in London, even at age 22, and qualified in second with Mustafina in sixth. Raisman has also been so solid at these games and I expect that to continue. Tonight could very well end with the Americans going 1-2 for the second time in the last three Olympics.
The biggest swimming race of the night will be the men's 200m individual medley. This race will be Phelps vs. Lochte 4.0. Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte have traded off being the best in the world in this event for the last 12 years and they went 1-2 in the semifinals, respectively.
Phelps is the three-time reigning Olympic champion in the event and also the Olympic record holder. He's never lost this race in the Olympics. Phelps has certainly been busy in Rio with a lot on his schedule but that's never stopped him before. While he also has the 100m fly prelims and semifinal today, he knows how to manage it and get himself ready.
Lochte has won four world championship titles in the event and is the world record holder. He also has the second ever fastest time in this race as well. He won the race at last year's world championship (Phelps did not compete at worlds in 2015). In the last three Olympics, Lochte has gone silver, bronze and silver in the event. Lochte is well rested having only two events on his schedule in Rio. He helped USA to gold in the 4x200m free relay and this is his only individual event.
While previously the Phelps vs. Lochte rivalry was always chalked up as "friendly," you never actually believed it. However, both seemed to have changed a lot personally and grown up as they are both now in their 30s. It does legitimately seem like they have a friendship now and they are racing each other for fun. This final will likely be the last time we ever see these two race each other. The end of an era for sure.
Oh yeah, there are six other people swimming in the race too but they're kind of just along for the ride. There are three medals to be had in the race so someone else will be on the podium. Brazil's Thiago Pereira qualified third and will be the crowd favorite, while Japan's Kosuke Hagino qualified fourth and won the 400m version of this event.
Last night we had the men's 100 free and tonight is the women's 100m free. This event is stacked! For Australia, you have the sister duo of Cate and Bronte Campbell. Bronte won the world championship last year, while Cate won the semis and set a new Olympic record. For the USA, there's Simone Manuel, who won her semifinal heat and qualified third overall, and Abby Weitzel, who qualified in eighth. Pretty much anyone has a chance to medal. This also includes Canada's Penny Oleksiak, Sweden's Sarah Sjostrom and Netherland's Ranomi Kromowidjojo.
The men's 200m backstroke is shaping up to be a competitive race between several swimmers. U.S. and college teammates Ryan Murphy and Jacob Pebly have looked good in both the prelims and semifinal. Murphy won the 100m back and won his heat in the semis, qualifying fourth overall. Pebly was in the faster semifinal and qualified in third. Russia's Evgeny Rylov qualified in first and Australia's Mitch Larkin earned the second spot.
There's also the women's 200m breaststroke final. A U.S. swimmer has won gold in this event for the last three straight Olympics but that streak ends as no American qualified for the final. So if anyone still cares about the race, Australia's Taylor McKeown was the top swimmer in the semifinal. She might win but NBC probably won't show it for us to find out.
The semifinal races tonight are the men's 50m free (Nathan Adrian and Anthony Ervin), the women's 200m back (Missy Franklin and Maya Dirado) and the men's 100m fly (Phelps and Tom Shields).
Tonight, we'll see if Simone Biles can make it 2-for-2 in gold medals in the women's all-around final. She's as much of a favorite to win as the U.S. was for the team gold medal. You've likely watched her by now and understand that the hype is real. She can easily win this even with mistakes but she rarely even makes those. A U.S. gymnast has won the gold in the last three straight Olympics. Biles looks to join that club with Carly Patterson (2004), Nastia Liukin (2008) and Gabby Douglas (2012).
Four years ago, Aly Raisman was robbed of a bronze in the all-around final. She tied for third but, for whatever reason, they break ties for medals. To break the tie they throw out the lowest score of the the four events for each person and then average the other three. Aliya Mustafina, who Raisman tied with, had fallen on beam and, lucky for her, that score was dropped and Raisman got bumped off the podium. She sites this as one of the motivating reasons to comeback for Rio. Now, Raisman is better than she was in London, even at age 22, and qualified in second with Mustafina in sixth. Raisman has also been so solid at these games and I expect that to continue. Tonight could very well end with the Americans going 1-2 for the second time in the last three Olympics.
The biggest swimming race of the night will be the men's 200m individual medley. This race will be Phelps vs. Lochte 4.0. Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte have traded off being the best in the world in this event for the last 12 years and they went 1-2 in the semifinals, respectively.
Phelps is the three-time reigning Olympic champion in the event and also the Olympic record holder. He's never lost this race in the Olympics. Phelps has certainly been busy in Rio with a lot on his schedule but that's never stopped him before. While he also has the 100m fly prelims and semifinal today, he knows how to manage it and get himself ready.
Lochte has won four world championship titles in the event and is the world record holder. He also has the second ever fastest time in this race as well. He won the race at last year's world championship (Phelps did not compete at worlds in 2015). In the last three Olympics, Lochte has gone silver, bronze and silver in the event. Lochte is well rested having only two events on his schedule in Rio. He helped USA to gold in the 4x200m free relay and this is his only individual event.
While previously the Phelps vs. Lochte rivalry was always chalked up as "friendly," you never actually believed it. However, both seemed to have changed a lot personally and grown up as they are both now in their 30s. It does legitimately seem like they have a friendship now and they are racing each other for fun. This final will likely be the last time we ever see these two race each other. The end of an era for sure.
Oh yeah, there are six other people swimming in the race too but they're kind of just along for the ride. There are three medals to be had in the race so someone else will be on the podium. Brazil's Thiago Pereira qualified third and will be the crowd favorite, while Japan's Kosuke Hagino qualified fourth and won the 400m version of this event.
Last night we had the men's 100 free and tonight is the women's 100m free. This event is stacked! For Australia, you have the sister duo of Cate and Bronte Campbell. Bronte won the world championship last year, while Cate won the semis and set a new Olympic record. For the USA, there's Simone Manuel, who won her semifinal heat and qualified third overall, and Abby Weitzel, who qualified in eighth. Pretty much anyone has a chance to medal. This also includes Canada's Penny Oleksiak, Sweden's Sarah Sjostrom and Netherland's Ranomi Kromowidjojo.
The men's 200m backstroke is shaping up to be a competitive race between several swimmers. U.S. and college teammates Ryan Murphy and Jacob Pebly have looked good in both the prelims and semifinal. Murphy won the 100m back and won his heat in the semis, qualifying fourth overall. Pebly was in the faster semifinal and qualified in third. Russia's Evgeny Rylov qualified in first and Australia's Mitch Larkin earned the second spot.
There's also the women's 200m breaststroke final. A U.S. swimmer has won gold in this event for the last three straight Olympics but that streak ends as no American qualified for the final. So if anyone still cares about the race, Australia's Taylor McKeown was the top swimmer in the semifinal. She might win but NBC probably won't show it for us to find out.
The semifinal races tonight are the men's 50m free (Nathan Adrian and Anthony Ervin), the women's 200m back (Missy Franklin and Maya Dirado) and the men's 100m fly (Phelps and Tom Shields).
Wednesday, August 10, 2016
On The Tee...
I lamented earlier about the lack of participation by the world's best golfers in the sport's return to the Olympics for the first time since 1904. Well, it's time to forget about those that aren't there and focus on those that are playing as the tournament gets underway on Thursday!
Competing for the U.S. we have:
Bubba Watson
Rickie Fowler
Patrick Reed
Matt Kuchar
Other notable international players:
Henrik Stenson - Sweden
David Lingmerth - Sweden
Justin Rose - Great Britain
Danny Willet - Great Britain
Alex Cejka - Germany
Martin Kaymer - Germany
Sergio Garcia - Spain
Rafa Cabrera Bell - Spain
Emiliano Grillo - Argentina
Fabian Gomez - Argentina
Thongchai Jaidee - Thailand
Anirban Lahiri - India
Byeong Hun An - South Korea
Patraig Harrington - Ireland
Danny Lee - New Zealand
Thomas Pieters - Belgium
Nicolas Colsaerts - Belgium
Soren Kjeldsen - Denmark
Thorbjorn Olesen - Denmark
Bernd Wiesberger - Austria
Mikko Ilonen - Finland
David Hearn - Canada
Graham Deleat - Canada
Joost Luiten - Netherlands
Jhonattan Vegas - Venezuela
I think a good amount of these guys could have a shot at winning because it's such an unknown event and everyone has had about the same amount of time on the course. Stenson is probably playing the best out of everyone at the moment. Willet is another major winner (Masters) from this year, while Watson, Rose and Kaymer have all won majors in the past few years.
Side note: I knew Grillo and An as junior golfers and now they're Olympians. That's crazy to me!
I'm obviously cheering for one of the U.S. players to take home the gold and the rest of the medals as well. Reed tends to play really well in events that he's representing the USA. He just really gets behind the idea of playing for the flag and puts it all out there.
I love that Fowler has really been embracing the Olympic experience. He was the only one of the four Americans to march in the opening ceremony (the other three played in the PGA event last weekend) and has been attending a variety of events. He's posted photos/videos from table tennis, diving, swimming and other events. He's practicing during the day and taking in the experience at night. He was interviewed and asked the coolest moment so far. Without hesitation, he said being a part of the opening ceremony. I think he's doing a pretty good job of making all those who withdrew pretty jealous they're not there.
Competing for the U.S. we have:
Bubba Watson
Rickie Fowler
Patrick Reed
Matt Kuchar
Other notable international players:
Henrik Stenson - Sweden
David Lingmerth - Sweden
Justin Rose - Great Britain
Danny Willet - Great Britain
Alex Cejka - Germany
Martin Kaymer - Germany
Sergio Garcia - Spain
Rafa Cabrera Bell - Spain
Emiliano Grillo - Argentina
Fabian Gomez - Argentina
Thongchai Jaidee - Thailand
Anirban Lahiri - India
Byeong Hun An - South Korea
Patraig Harrington - Ireland
Danny Lee - New Zealand
Thomas Pieters - Belgium
Nicolas Colsaerts - Belgium
Soren Kjeldsen - Denmark
Thorbjorn Olesen - Denmark
Bernd Wiesberger - Austria
Mikko Ilonen - Finland
David Hearn - Canada
Graham Deleat - Canada
Joost Luiten - Netherlands
Jhonattan Vegas - Venezuela
I think a good amount of these guys could have a shot at winning because it's such an unknown event and everyone has had about the same amount of time on the course. Stenson is probably playing the best out of everyone at the moment. Willet is another major winner (Masters) from this year, while Watson, Rose and Kaymer have all won majors in the past few years.
Side note: I knew Grillo and An as junior golfers and now they're Olympians. That's crazy to me!
I'm obviously cheering for one of the U.S. players to take home the gold and the rest of the medals as well. Reed tends to play really well in events that he's representing the USA. He just really gets behind the idea of playing for the flag and puts it all out there.
I love that Fowler has really been embracing the Olympic experience. He was the only one of the four Americans to march in the opening ceremony (the other three played in the PGA event last weekend) and has been attending a variety of events. He's posted photos/videos from table tennis, diving, swimming and other events. He's practicing during the day and taking in the experience at night. He was interviewed and asked the coolest moment so far. Without hesitation, he said being a part of the opening ceremony. I think he's doing a pretty good job of making all those who withdrew pretty jealous they're not there.
Happy Birthday, Harper!
I have to give another birthday shoutout to Ms. Harper Shaw - my favorite (now) four-year-old. I love her sass, confidence and devotion to somersaults in her living room.
Harper arrived a good few weeks earlier in 2012, giving us all a scare, but she is one tough cookie. I also think she just wanted to be born during the Olympics.
Four years later, her mother talks about how much she loves gymnastics and the endless amount of energy she has for doing it in the living room. I've been told she makes sure to focus on a variety of skills, including forward rolls, backward rolls, bear walk, bunny hop and crab walk. She's also become resourceful in turning the couch arm into a balance beam and cushions into mats.
She's been told it takes a lot of practice and hard work to get to the Olympics and she's taken that to heart to practice constantly. Kristin, you need to make sure you save those videos because they'll be great footage for NBC in 2028!
And at that time, I'll be able to gloat that I always new she'd be an Olympian because I predicted it the day she was born here in my London blog.
Harper, I hope you have a wonderful birthday! And I demand you stop growing right now! You'll be a teenager before I ever get the chance to meet you in person.
Harper arrived a good few weeks earlier in 2012, giving us all a scare, but she is one tough cookie. I also think she just wanted to be born during the Olympics.
Four years later, her mother talks about how much she loves gymnastics and the endless amount of energy she has for doing it in the living room. I've been told she makes sure to focus on a variety of skills, including forward rolls, backward rolls, bear walk, bunny hop and crab walk. She's also become resourceful in turning the couch arm into a balance beam and cushions into mats.
She's been told it takes a lot of practice and hard work to get to the Olympics and she's taken that to heart to practice constantly. Kristin, you need to make sure you save those videos because they'll be great footage for NBC in 2028!
And at that time, I'll be able to gloat that I always new she'd be an Olympian because I predicted it the day she was born here in my London blog.
Harper, I hope you have a wonderful birthday! And I demand you stop growing right now! You'll be a teenager before I ever get the chance to meet you in person.
What to Watch - Aug. 10
Now that both team gymnastics competitions are over, the focus shifts to individual medals. Tonight is the men's all-around final. I'm not sure exactly how much of it they'll show. The USA has its maximum two competitiors in the meet in Sam Mikulak and Chris Brooks. Brooks doesn't really have a shot at a medal but Mikulak does. That is if he can but together a full meet. He has enough talent and difficulty to medal but he can't make any mistakes. The favorite is Japan's Kohei Uchimura, aka King Kohei. The guy has won six straight world all-around titles and an Olympic gold stuck in the middle there. He has a total of 19 wold championship medals and five Olympic medals. Even though he didn't qualify in first, after falling off the high bar, he's the unquestionable favorite. Unlike women's gymnastics, there are often very strong medal contenders in men's gymnastics that are from teams that didn't send full teams, didn't qualify for the team finals or are on teams that aren't in the medal conversation. So this might be the first time we see some of these gymnasts. Ukraine's Oleg Verniaiev earned the top spot qualifying followed by Uchimura, Russia's David Belavasky, China's Deng Shudi, Japan's Ryohei Kato and then Mikulak. Other names to watch include Great Britian's Max Whitlock and Cuba's Manrique Larduet. It would be great for Mikulak to medal tonight and help put the team forward moving on to event finals. I just hope they show it!
Tonight features one of the most exciting races in swimming - the men's 100m free. These guys are so fast! The reigning Olympic champion is USA's Nathan Adrian and his win in 2012 was one where you had to wait for the number to pop up to know he won. In the prelims, Adrian did not swim well. In fact, he barely made the semis, earning the last lane. He made up for that and killed it in the semifinal, looking like the champion he is, to qualify in first. A pair of Australians, Kyle Chalmers and Cameron McEvoy, will provide plenty of competition as McEvoy has the fastest time this year. The U.S. also has Caleb Dressel, another member of the 4x100 gold medal relay, swimming in the final after qualifying in fifth.
The USA's Cammile Adams and Hali Flickinger both had great swims in the 200m fly prelims and both looked slower in the semifinals. However, both qualified for tonight's final in two of the last three spots. But it doesn't matter. As they say, you just need a lane. Australia's Madeline Groves, who owns the top time in the world this year, qualified in first ahead of Spain's Mireia Belmonte.
The Americans have another shot at a medal in the men's 200m breaststroke. While Japan's Ippei Watanabe set a new Olympic record in the semifinals and Great Britian's Andrew Willis qualified in second, the USA's Josh Prenot qualified in third. American Kevin Cordes, who swam the 100m race as well, won the silver medal at worlds last year and earned the fifth spot in the final. Also of note is 19-year-old Russian Anton Chupkov, who qualified sixth, but had a great swim in the prelims.
The last race of the night will be the women's 4x200m free relay. While the U.S. has won four of the last five gold medals in the race and are still the favorites, it's not as sure of a thing as previous games. The only real competition will probably come from Australia. The U.S. qualified from the prelims easily with the team of Allison Schmitt, Missy Franklin, Melanie Margalis and Cierra Runge. Usually, the two swimmers that finished top two at the trials and compete in the event individually are held to swim in the final. In this case, that's Katie Ledecky and Franklin. The U.S. chose to swim Franklin in the prelims and hold Leah Smith, who finished third at the trials, for the final. It's assumed both Ledecky and Smith will race in the finals and likely Schmitt, who had a good split in the prelims. The fourth spot is kind of up for grabs. If this was four years ago, you'd immediately think it would be Franklin but she didn't have a great time in the prelims, nor did the other two. And by great, I just mean not outstanding. I've heard there's a chance someone like Maya Dirado could be added to the relay team to help round it out. No matter who ends up going out for the final tonight, I think the U.S. has a good chance of winning another gold.
In semifinal action tonight is the women's 100 free, men's 200m backstroke, women's 200m breaststroke and the men's 200m individual medley.
The women's 100m free features American's Abbey Weitzeil and Simone Manuel who were both on the silver medal 4x100 free relay team. I'm cheering hard for Manuel and that's mostly because she's from Sugar Land and appears to love Shipley Do-Nuts as much as I do.
Lilly King is back to swim the 200m breaststroke and win another gold. Guess who's also back? Russia's Yulia Efimova. Bring. it. on!
We'll be reverted back to four years ago in the men's 200m IM with Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte. Injuries and age have slowed Lochte down a bit and this is his only individual event at the games. However, these two were so far ahead of the rest of the field at the U.S. trials that there's a good chance they go 1-2 in this race.
Carrie Walsh Jennings and April Ross play their final match of pool play tonight against Switzerland's Isabelle Forrer and Anouk Verge-Depre. Their previous matches have started really late at 11 p.m. (EST) but this one is scheduled for 8 p.m. (EST), so I suspect we'll see this match first in primetime coverage tonight.
Outside of the NBC coverage tonight is a U.S. basketball doubleheader. The women's team plays Serbia at 2:30 p.m. followed by the men against Australia at 6 p.m. The men's game could be somewhat competitive since Australia has a number of NBA players. But let's be honest about the women - they'll win by roughly 50 points.
Tonight features one of the most exciting races in swimming - the men's 100m free. These guys are so fast! The reigning Olympic champion is USA's Nathan Adrian and his win in 2012 was one where you had to wait for the number to pop up to know he won. In the prelims, Adrian did not swim well. In fact, he barely made the semis, earning the last lane. He made up for that and killed it in the semifinal, looking like the champion he is, to qualify in first. A pair of Australians, Kyle Chalmers and Cameron McEvoy, will provide plenty of competition as McEvoy has the fastest time this year. The U.S. also has Caleb Dressel, another member of the 4x100 gold medal relay, swimming in the final after qualifying in fifth.
The USA's Cammile Adams and Hali Flickinger both had great swims in the 200m fly prelims and both looked slower in the semifinals. However, both qualified for tonight's final in two of the last three spots. But it doesn't matter. As they say, you just need a lane. Australia's Madeline Groves, who owns the top time in the world this year, qualified in first ahead of Spain's Mireia Belmonte.
The Americans have another shot at a medal in the men's 200m breaststroke. While Japan's Ippei Watanabe set a new Olympic record in the semifinals and Great Britian's Andrew Willis qualified in second, the USA's Josh Prenot qualified in third. American Kevin Cordes, who swam the 100m race as well, won the silver medal at worlds last year and earned the fifth spot in the final. Also of note is 19-year-old Russian Anton Chupkov, who qualified sixth, but had a great swim in the prelims.
The last race of the night will be the women's 4x200m free relay. While the U.S. has won four of the last five gold medals in the race and are still the favorites, it's not as sure of a thing as previous games. The only real competition will probably come from Australia. The U.S. qualified from the prelims easily with the team of Allison Schmitt, Missy Franklin, Melanie Margalis and Cierra Runge. Usually, the two swimmers that finished top two at the trials and compete in the event individually are held to swim in the final. In this case, that's Katie Ledecky and Franklin. The U.S. chose to swim Franklin in the prelims and hold Leah Smith, who finished third at the trials, for the final. It's assumed both Ledecky and Smith will race in the finals and likely Schmitt, who had a good split in the prelims. The fourth spot is kind of up for grabs. If this was four years ago, you'd immediately think it would be Franklin but she didn't have a great time in the prelims, nor did the other two. And by great, I just mean not outstanding. I've heard there's a chance someone like Maya Dirado could be added to the relay team to help round it out. No matter who ends up going out for the final tonight, I think the U.S. has a good chance of winning another gold.
In semifinal action tonight is the women's 100 free, men's 200m backstroke, women's 200m breaststroke and the men's 200m individual medley.
The women's 100m free features American's Abbey Weitzeil and Simone Manuel who were both on the silver medal 4x100 free relay team. I'm cheering hard for Manuel and that's mostly because she's from Sugar Land and appears to love Shipley Do-Nuts as much as I do.
Lilly King is back to swim the 200m breaststroke and win another gold. Guess who's also back? Russia's Yulia Efimova. Bring. it. on!
We'll be reverted back to four years ago in the men's 200m IM with Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte. Injuries and age have slowed Lochte down a bit and this is his only individual event at the games. However, these two were so far ahead of the rest of the field at the U.S. trials that there's a good chance they go 1-2 in this race.
Carrie Walsh Jennings and April Ross play their final match of pool play tonight against Switzerland's Isabelle Forrer and Anouk Verge-Depre. Their previous matches have started really late at 11 p.m. (EST) but this one is scheduled for 8 p.m. (EST), so I suspect we'll see this match first in primetime coverage tonight.
Outside of the NBC coverage tonight is a U.S. basketball doubleheader. The women's team plays Serbia at 2:30 p.m. followed by the men against Australia at 6 p.m. The men's game could be somewhat competitive since Australia has a number of NBA players. But let's be honest about the women - they'll win by roughly 50 points.
Tuesday, August 9, 2016
What to Watch - Aug. 9 (Part II)
The other part of tonight will be in the pool with four finals, including Michael Phelps, Katie Ledecky and a relay.
Ledecky looks to claim her third medal of the games and second straight gold in the women's 200m free and is also the reigning world champion. It looks to be a race mainly between Ledecky and Sweden's Sarah Sjostrom. Both have already set new world records in other events so far this Olympics. Also in the race is Italy's Federica Pellegrini who is the current world record holder and reigning Olympic champion. Unfortunately, Missy Franklin was unable to qualify in the final after finishing 13th in the semifinal.
The men's 200m fly was already primed to be a great race, but after last night it's got major headline potential. Four years ago, South Africa's Chad le Clos just barely beat Phelps for the gold medal. Phelps was less than pleased and has been itching to get back to the race at the Olympics to make up for it. Le Clos has talked a big game, especially since Phelps made his return, and stupidly just adding fuel to Phelps' fire. Last night, you could have cut the tension in the ready room with a knife as le Clos went through like a boxing scenario as Phelps just sat there. Once on the pool deck, le Clos decided it would be a good idea to just start starring down Phelps. In the end, Phelps qualified in second and le Clos in fourth. Hungarians Tamas Kenderesi and Laszlo Cseh qualified first and third.
We'll see the return of Hungarian Katinka Hosszu in the 200m IM final tonight. She easily won the 400 IM on Saturday and the 100m back yesterday. American Maya Dirado is the top swimmer for the U.S. in the race after claiming silver in the 400 IM. Great Britian's Siobahn-Marie O'Connor qualified first ahead of Hosszu and Dirado. Also of note in the final is China's Ye Shiwen, who won gold in the event's 200m and 400m in London, and Team USA's Melanie Margalis who qualified fourth and fifth, respectively.
We've got another relay tonight in the men's 4x200 freestyle relay. The U.S. has won gold in 16 of the 24 Olympics that this race has been contested, including the last three games. Team USA is a heavy favorite to win once again even after finishing second in qualifying. The U.S. won it's heat easily with Clark Smith, Jack Conger, Gunnar Bentz and Ryan Lochte before Great Britain finished a heat later just ahead of the Americans. However, the U.S. likely swam only two of the four that will race in the final. I say "likely" because there's a chance that Michael Phelps could swim in the final. But they don't really need him. Conor Dwyer and Townley Haas, who finished third and fifth in the 200m free final, respectively, will swim in the relay along with probably Bentz and Lochte who put up good times in the prelims. It's not that Phelps couldn't handle it, even with him having another final tonight, and it more than likely takes another gold of his resume but the U.S. is in good shape without him.
In semifinal races, we'll see Nathan Adrian in the men's 100m free (he barely qualified for the semi), along with the women's 200m fly and the men's 200m breaststroke.
We might also get some diving with the women's synchronized 10m platform. Maybe the U.S. team of Amy Cozad and Jessica Parratto will be inspired by the U.S. silver in the men's event last night to grab a spot on the podium. As always, the Chinese team is favored and has won every gold since the event began in Sydney in 2000.
Ledecky looks to claim her third medal of the games and second straight gold in the women's 200m free and is also the reigning world champion. It looks to be a race mainly between Ledecky and Sweden's Sarah Sjostrom. Both have already set new world records in other events so far this Olympics. Also in the race is Italy's Federica Pellegrini who is the current world record holder and reigning Olympic champion. Unfortunately, Missy Franklin was unable to qualify in the final after finishing 13th in the semifinal.
The men's 200m fly was already primed to be a great race, but after last night it's got major headline potential. Four years ago, South Africa's Chad le Clos just barely beat Phelps for the gold medal. Phelps was less than pleased and has been itching to get back to the race at the Olympics to make up for it. Le Clos has talked a big game, especially since Phelps made his return, and stupidly just adding fuel to Phelps' fire. Last night, you could have cut the tension in the ready room with a knife as le Clos went through like a boxing scenario as Phelps just sat there. Once on the pool deck, le Clos decided it would be a good idea to just start starring down Phelps. In the end, Phelps qualified in second and le Clos in fourth. Hungarians Tamas Kenderesi and Laszlo Cseh qualified first and third.
We'll see the return of Hungarian Katinka Hosszu in the 200m IM final tonight. She easily won the 400 IM on Saturday and the 100m back yesterday. American Maya Dirado is the top swimmer for the U.S. in the race after claiming silver in the 400 IM. Great Britian's Siobahn-Marie O'Connor qualified first ahead of Hosszu and Dirado. Also of note in the final is China's Ye Shiwen, who won gold in the event's 200m and 400m in London, and Team USA's Melanie Margalis who qualified fourth and fifth, respectively.
We've got another relay tonight in the men's 4x200 freestyle relay. The U.S. has won gold in 16 of the 24 Olympics that this race has been contested, including the last three games. Team USA is a heavy favorite to win once again even after finishing second in qualifying. The U.S. won it's heat easily with Clark Smith, Jack Conger, Gunnar Bentz and Ryan Lochte before Great Britain finished a heat later just ahead of the Americans. However, the U.S. likely swam only two of the four that will race in the final. I say "likely" because there's a chance that Michael Phelps could swim in the final. But they don't really need him. Conor Dwyer and Townley Haas, who finished third and fifth in the 200m free final, respectively, will swim in the relay along with probably Bentz and Lochte who put up good times in the prelims. It's not that Phelps couldn't handle it, even with him having another final tonight, and it more than likely takes another gold of his resume but the U.S. is in good shape without him.
In semifinal races, we'll see Nathan Adrian in the men's 100m free (he barely qualified for the semi), along with the women's 200m fly and the men's 200m breaststroke.
We might also get some diving with the women's synchronized 10m platform. Maybe the U.S. team of Amy Cozad and Jessica Parratto will be inspired by the U.S. silver in the men's event last night to grab a spot on the podium. As always, the Chinese team is favored and has won every gold since the event began in Sydney in 2000.
What to Watch - Aug. 9 (Part I)
I'm breaking this into two sections today since tonight is one of my favorite events - the women's gymnastics team final!
There's no chance the U.S. doesn't win gold. Absolutely none. Team USA dominated in the qualifying round. I watch gymnastics consistently. I've watch all the national and world championships, plus some other meets, in between Olympics. I know how good they are. But still, I've never seen anything like what they did on Sunday. It was unreal how much better they were compared to everyone else. It's like other teams didn't even arrive at the Olympics to try and compete with them.
The U.S. won the qualifying round by almost 10 points. Y'all, that's A LOT! You automatically lose one point if you fall/come off the apparatus. That means that the U.S. could have counted nine falls, there were only 12 total routines that night, and still qualified in first. But of course, no one fell.
I expect the U.S. to win by even more than that tonight. While the scores are all wiped clean, you send up only three gymnasts in each event in the team final and all three scores count. In qualifying, teams were able to drop the lowest score, i.e. falls, and count the other three. Tonight those teams have to count everything, including if gymnasts fall. If you had included all four scores of each event for each team in qualifying, the U.S. would have probably won by close to 20 points. In a sport that comes down to tenths and hundreths of points that's just unheard of.
The real competition tonight is for second and third place. I expect Russia and China to also be on the podium, as they traditionally are, but they both looked so unprepared in qualifying. Both teams put together good sets on the bars but that's all I saw that looked competitive.
Besides the fact that Romania did not qualify to the team finals at the wold championships last year, and consequently the Olympics, the other shocking fact at worlds was that Russia did not earn a team medal.
For the last six to seven years, Russia's top gymnast has been Aliya Mustafina. She's a gymnast with as big of an attitude to match her talent. She goes out and puts up some incredible routines sometimes, but other times you just watch her obviously quit on an event. She did this the other night on the beam. She didn't even try to fight and in turn it looked like she basically jumped off the beam. Even with a fall, she qualified in fourth to the all-around finals (technically third since Gabby Douglas can't compete). I think Russia's medal color depends on Mustafina's performance tonight.
China was so strong in Beijing in 2008. Eight years later it's clear they invested everything into peaking in front of their home crowd and winning gold then. They finished third in 2012 and have declined drastically over the last two Olympic games. However, China finished better than Russia in qualifying and claimed the second spot with Russia in third. Again, it starts fresh tonight but China got the favorable rotation spot as the second qualifier.
Great Britain won its first ever team medal at worlds last year with the bronze. The other spots on the podium are completely up for grabs, so GBR could easily end up there after qualifying in fourth.
Brazil qualified fifth. While they've never been very competitive as a team, the home crowd could easily help boost them to a medal.
Germany, Japan and Netherlands round out the eight teams in the final. Just over three points separated second place China from eighth place Netherlands, so really, it's anyone's meet.
Well, it's anyone's meet except for the fact that the U.S. will win. If this doesn't happen, there won't be a previous instance to compare it to as far as an upset. But I'm confident, along with everyone else, including the other teams, that Team USA will be wearing that gold medal.
There's no chance the U.S. doesn't win gold. Absolutely none. Team USA dominated in the qualifying round. I watch gymnastics consistently. I've watch all the national and world championships, plus some other meets, in between Olympics. I know how good they are. But still, I've never seen anything like what they did on Sunday. It was unreal how much better they were compared to everyone else. It's like other teams didn't even arrive at the Olympics to try and compete with them.
The U.S. won the qualifying round by almost 10 points. Y'all, that's A LOT! You automatically lose one point if you fall/come off the apparatus. That means that the U.S. could have counted nine falls, there were only 12 total routines that night, and still qualified in first. But of course, no one fell.
I expect the U.S. to win by even more than that tonight. While the scores are all wiped clean, you send up only three gymnasts in each event in the team final and all three scores count. In qualifying, teams were able to drop the lowest score, i.e. falls, and count the other three. Tonight those teams have to count everything, including if gymnasts fall. If you had included all four scores of each event for each team in qualifying, the U.S. would have probably won by close to 20 points. In a sport that comes down to tenths and hundreths of points that's just unheard of.
The real competition tonight is for second and third place. I expect Russia and China to also be on the podium, as they traditionally are, but they both looked so unprepared in qualifying. Both teams put together good sets on the bars but that's all I saw that looked competitive.
Besides the fact that Romania did not qualify to the team finals at the wold championships last year, and consequently the Olympics, the other shocking fact at worlds was that Russia did not earn a team medal.
For the last six to seven years, Russia's top gymnast has been Aliya Mustafina. She's a gymnast with as big of an attitude to match her talent. She goes out and puts up some incredible routines sometimes, but other times you just watch her obviously quit on an event. She did this the other night on the beam. She didn't even try to fight and in turn it looked like she basically jumped off the beam. Even with a fall, she qualified in fourth to the all-around finals (technically third since Gabby Douglas can't compete). I think Russia's medal color depends on Mustafina's performance tonight.
China was so strong in Beijing in 2008. Eight years later it's clear they invested everything into peaking in front of their home crowd and winning gold then. They finished third in 2012 and have declined drastically over the last two Olympic games. However, China finished better than Russia in qualifying and claimed the second spot with Russia in third. Again, it starts fresh tonight but China got the favorable rotation spot as the second qualifier.
Great Britain won its first ever team medal at worlds last year with the bronze. The other spots on the podium are completely up for grabs, so GBR could easily end up there after qualifying in fourth.
Brazil qualified fifth. While they've never been very competitive as a team, the home crowd could easily help boost them to a medal.
Germany, Japan and Netherlands round out the eight teams in the final. Just over three points separated second place China from eighth place Netherlands, so really, it's anyone's meet.
Well, it's anyone's meet except for the fact that the U.S. will win. If this doesn't happen, there won't be a previous instance to compare it to as far as an upset. But I'm confident, along with everyone else, including the other teams, that Team USA will be wearing that gold medal.
NBC, You Let Me Down
I have to say I'm very disappointed in NBC last night. They completely abandoned the men's gymnastics coverage without any mention of it until the very end.
All day it was advertised as one of the events that would be covered in primetime, including the program guide. Then it was not mentioned in the opening or at any point throughout the night. Immediately, I knew the outcome had not been good for the U.S. without watching a single routine. I understand not saturating the primetime slot with an event the U.S. didn't do well in, but at least mention that it'll be coming up later or show a little bit of it and move on.
The swimming is live and with the U.S. success in the pool, you have to show that. And I want to see it. I also understand you have to show commercials. But there were several times NBC would come back from a commercial break and show swimmers in the ready room or do a little talk about what was coming up. I've watched enough Olympics to know that you could have used that time to show other events. You also could have packaged the whole Phelps/le Clos interaction into a short little 30-second piece before the race.
I'm also not convinced NBC would have shown gymnastics at all if the Walsh Jennings/Ross volleyball match hadn't been a blowout. I think that's why they dropped the advertising of gymnastics at all throughout the night.
I fell asleep right after the volleyball match ended, knowing there was about 15 minutes or so of coverage left. I hoped they'd at least mention gymnastics. Even though by this point I had finally looked up what had happened. Looking back this morning, it looks like they showed a bit and then continued it into late night coverage. It makes me sad for all those little kids staying up around the country to watch the Olympics, specifically gymnastics, and then nothing.
I know NBC will show all the women's event tonight because there's no chance the U.S. loses. But I don't look forward to being tricked like that for any coverage throughout the rest of the games.
All day it was advertised as one of the events that would be covered in primetime, including the program guide. Then it was not mentioned in the opening or at any point throughout the night. Immediately, I knew the outcome had not been good for the U.S. without watching a single routine. I understand not saturating the primetime slot with an event the U.S. didn't do well in, but at least mention that it'll be coming up later or show a little bit of it and move on.
The swimming is live and with the U.S. success in the pool, you have to show that. And I want to see it. I also understand you have to show commercials. But there were several times NBC would come back from a commercial break and show swimmers in the ready room or do a little talk about what was coming up. I've watched enough Olympics to know that you could have used that time to show other events. You also could have packaged the whole Phelps/le Clos interaction into a short little 30-second piece before the race.
I'm also not convinced NBC would have shown gymnastics at all if the Walsh Jennings/Ross volleyball match hadn't been a blowout. I think that's why they dropped the advertising of gymnastics at all throughout the night.
I fell asleep right after the volleyball match ended, knowing there was about 15 minutes or so of coverage left. I hoped they'd at least mention gymnastics. Even though by this point I had finally looked up what had happened. Looking back this morning, it looks like they showed a bit and then continued it into late night coverage. It makes me sad for all those little kids staying up around the country to watch the Olympics, specifically gymnastics, and then nothing.
I know NBC will show all the women's event tonight because there's no chance the U.S. loses. But I don't look forward to being tricked like that for any coverage throughout the rest of the games.
Monday, August 8, 2016
Happy Birthday!
I want to take a minute to wish my wonderful Daddy a very happy birthday! I love sports because of him and would therefore probably not be writing this blog about the Olympics if it weren't for him.
For his birthday, he got what every 62-year-old wishes for - a National Parks Service lifetime senior citizen pass. This pass also allows up to three visitors to join him. Can't wait to go see some national parks in the future!
For his birthday, he got what every 62-year-old wishes for - a National Parks Service lifetime senior citizen pass. This pass also allows up to three visitors to join him. Can't wait to go see some national parks in the future!
The Anthem Gets Me Too, Ryan
If you stayed up late enough last night, you first saw the USA win the men's 4x100 free relay followed later by the medal ceremony. As the national anthem played, American Ryan Held could not hold in the emotion he was feeling. Standing there with a gold medal around his neck and the national anthem playing, he lost it.
Dude, I get it! I get the chills and emotional just from listening to the anthem sometimes too. And that's not because of anything I did or accomplished to get that song to play. I've often wondered what it's like to stand at the top of an Olympic podium and watch your flag rise while your anthem plays. I don't think my imagination could get even close because I have no idea what it's like to be that good at something.
Held's reaction on that medal podium was so pure and believable that you felt what he was feeling. It was a great moment.
Here he is on the Today Show this morning talking about it. It also shows his reaction during the medal ceremony.
Dude, I get it! I get the chills and emotional just from listening to the anthem sometimes too. And that's not because of anything I did or accomplished to get that song to play. I've often wondered what it's like to stand at the top of an Olympic podium and watch your flag rise while your anthem plays. I don't think my imagination could get even close because I have no idea what it's like to be that good at something.
Held's reaction on that medal podium was so pure and believable that you felt what he was feeling. It was a great moment.
Here he is on the Today Show this morning talking about it. It also shows his reaction during the medal ceremony.
It's the Unscripted
You might notice that most of my news content comes from NBC. This is for two reasons:
1) NBC broadcasts the Olympics
2) NBC is my main network choice for news
One of my favorite journalists at NBC is Harry Smith. He does some wonderful stories, including the one below. I don't really need to explain it because he says it all himself. But basically, it's the unscripted moments that you can't predict ahead of time that makes the Olympics so great. There's nothing else that makes the entire world come together like this. These 17 days are filled with beautiful moments that you can't get anywhere else.
Watch the beautiful piece by Smith here.
1) NBC broadcasts the Olympics
2) NBC is my main network choice for news
One of my favorite journalists at NBC is Harry Smith. He does some wonderful stories, including the one below. I don't really need to explain it because he says it all himself. But basically, it's the unscripted moments that you can't predict ahead of time that makes the Olympics so great. There's nothing else that makes the entire world come together like this. These 17 days are filled with beautiful moments that you can't get anywhere else.
Watch the beautiful piece by Smith here.
What to Watch - Aug. 8
It's finally a medal night for gymnastics! The U.S. men want to forget their disappointing fifth-place finish in London and win a team medal for the first time since 2008. The team qualified in second out of the eight teams that made the finals. They had several mistakes in qualifying, which is encouraging if they can fix those mistakes. However, the team has a history as of late of crumbling under pressure and a domino effect once one person falls.
China qualified in the top spot and is looking for its third straight team gold. The U.S. finished just .056 of a point behind the Chinese. Japan, who is the other favorite, didn't have the best scores in qualifying, but that is typical for them. They seem to struggle, but qualify, and then compete great in the finals, so don't let them qualifying in fourth foul you. Russia and Great Britain, who qualified third and fifth, respectively, are also hoping to medal tonight. Brazil had a great meet in qualifying and ended up sixth. While this is the first time Brazil has ever had a full men's team compete, don't underestimate the power of the home crowd. The GBR team had never medaled, or really come close to medaling, before London and finished third there. Now GBR is the reigning team silver medalists and have a good chance to claim a medal tonight. While not expected to medal, Germany qualified for the final after the help of Andreas Toba. Toba tore his ACL on the floor early on in qualifying but the team needed him to compete on the pommel horse to try and get that last spot in the final. Toba, winning the hearts of everyone, hobbled back onto the podium, nailed a solid routine and qualified his team. Unbelievable.
In the team final, only three gymnasts compete in each event and all three scores count. Very often, the team with the least mistakes wins. Not necessarily the best team or the team with the hardest skills/routines.
Back at the pool, there are finals in the men's 200m free, men's and women's 100m back and the women's 100m breaststroke.
The men's 200m free features several of the swimmers from the 400m, including Sun Yang of China and Kosuke Hagino of Japan, who qualified in first and second, respectively. American Conor Dwyer was not pleased about finishing fourth in the 400m and is clearly driven to medal in this race. He qualified in third and has been swimming really well. The other member of Team USA in the final is Townley Haas who finished sixth in the semis. I'm really hoping Dwyer medals tonight. I've heard a lot about how hard he's been training and the lifestyle changes he made to concentrate on this Olympics. Finishing just off the podium the other night had to really be tough.
While the 100m back usually features Missy Franklin, she didn't qualify out of the U.S. trials. Team USA's Kathleen Baker, a North Carolina native, won the semifinals and is one of the favorites. She'll have competition against Hungary's Katinka Hosszu, the winner of the 400 IM, and Australian Emily Seebohm. However, Baker has had all day to rest, while Hosszu swam in qualifying for the 200 IM heats earlier and also has the semi for that race tonight. American Olivia Smoliga did not have the best race in the semis but ended up qualifying in the eighth and final spot to race in the final tonight.
The USA has a great shot at two medals in the men's 100m backstroke. The two Americans, Ryan Murphy and David Plummer, qualified 1-2. Plummer is a great story. He's 30-years-old and at the Olympics for the first time. In fact, he's the oldest first time swimmer for the USA since 1904. He just barely missed on making the 2012 team (note: those two U.S. swimmers went on to finish 1-2 in London) and could have medaled if the U.S. could have sent three athletes. It would be pretty cool to watch him medal or even win! Australia's Mitch Larkin and France's Camille Lacourt will also provide competition in the race.
The women's 100m breaststroke features Russian swimmer Yulia Efimova who was just cleared of her second doping violation. This did not sit well with American Lilly King, who has said that she doesn't like cheaters, and edged Efimova to take over the top spot in the semifinals. Reigning Olympic champion Ruta Meilutyte of South Africa and American Katie Meili qualified in fourth and fifth, respectively, and will also build a good race.
We'll also see Michael Phelps again in the men's 200 fly semifinal and get our first look at Missy Franklin in the women's 200m free semifinal along with Katie Ledecky, again. There will also be the semifinal in the women's 200m individual medley.
In men's synchronized 10m platform diving, the Americans will try to medal this time around after a bronze in London. David Boudia, who won gold in the individual 10m platform event in 2012, was half of that bronze team and returns with new partner Steele Johnson. What a great name, huh? As always, the Chinese are the favorites to win this event.
Kerri Walsh Jennings and April Ross are back in action on the beach to face China's best team of Fan Wang and Yuan Yue. This will likely be the last event shown in the broadcast since the match isn't scheduled to begin until 11 p.m. (EST).
China qualified in the top spot and is looking for its third straight team gold. The U.S. finished just .056 of a point behind the Chinese. Japan, who is the other favorite, didn't have the best scores in qualifying, but that is typical for them. They seem to struggle, but qualify, and then compete great in the finals, so don't let them qualifying in fourth foul you. Russia and Great Britain, who qualified third and fifth, respectively, are also hoping to medal tonight. Brazil had a great meet in qualifying and ended up sixth. While this is the first time Brazil has ever had a full men's team compete, don't underestimate the power of the home crowd. The GBR team had never medaled, or really come close to medaling, before London and finished third there. Now GBR is the reigning team silver medalists and have a good chance to claim a medal tonight. While not expected to medal, Germany qualified for the final after the help of Andreas Toba. Toba tore his ACL on the floor early on in qualifying but the team needed him to compete on the pommel horse to try and get that last spot in the final. Toba, winning the hearts of everyone, hobbled back onto the podium, nailed a solid routine and qualified his team. Unbelievable.
In the team final, only three gymnasts compete in each event and all three scores count. Very often, the team with the least mistakes wins. Not necessarily the best team or the team with the hardest skills/routines.
Back at the pool, there are finals in the men's 200m free, men's and women's 100m back and the women's 100m breaststroke.
The men's 200m free features several of the swimmers from the 400m, including Sun Yang of China and Kosuke Hagino of Japan, who qualified in first and second, respectively. American Conor Dwyer was not pleased about finishing fourth in the 400m and is clearly driven to medal in this race. He qualified in third and has been swimming really well. The other member of Team USA in the final is Townley Haas who finished sixth in the semis. I'm really hoping Dwyer medals tonight. I've heard a lot about how hard he's been training and the lifestyle changes he made to concentrate on this Olympics. Finishing just off the podium the other night had to really be tough.
While the 100m back usually features Missy Franklin, she didn't qualify out of the U.S. trials. Team USA's Kathleen Baker, a North Carolina native, won the semifinals and is one of the favorites. She'll have competition against Hungary's Katinka Hosszu, the winner of the 400 IM, and Australian Emily Seebohm. However, Baker has had all day to rest, while Hosszu swam in qualifying for the 200 IM heats earlier and also has the semi for that race tonight. American Olivia Smoliga did not have the best race in the semis but ended up qualifying in the eighth and final spot to race in the final tonight.
The USA has a great shot at two medals in the men's 100m backstroke. The two Americans, Ryan Murphy and David Plummer, qualified 1-2. Plummer is a great story. He's 30-years-old and at the Olympics for the first time. In fact, he's the oldest first time swimmer for the USA since 1904. He just barely missed on making the 2012 team (note: those two U.S. swimmers went on to finish 1-2 in London) and could have medaled if the U.S. could have sent three athletes. It would be pretty cool to watch him medal or even win! Australia's Mitch Larkin and France's Camille Lacourt will also provide competition in the race.
The women's 100m breaststroke features Russian swimmer Yulia Efimova who was just cleared of her second doping violation. This did not sit well with American Lilly King, who has said that she doesn't like cheaters, and edged Efimova to take over the top spot in the semifinals. Reigning Olympic champion Ruta Meilutyte of South Africa and American Katie Meili qualified in fourth and fifth, respectively, and will also build a good race.
We'll also see Michael Phelps again in the men's 200 fly semifinal and get our first look at Missy Franklin in the women's 200m free semifinal along with Katie Ledecky, again. There will also be the semifinal in the women's 200m individual medley.
In men's synchronized 10m platform diving, the Americans will try to medal this time around after a bronze in London. David Boudia, who won gold in the individual 10m platform event in 2012, was half of that bronze team and returns with new partner Steele Johnson. What a great name, huh? As always, the Chinese are the favorites to win this event.
Kerri Walsh Jennings and April Ross are back in action on the beach to face China's best team of Fan Wang and Yuan Yue. This will likely be the last event shown in the broadcast since the match isn't scheduled to begin until 11 p.m. (EST).
Sunday, August 7, 2016
What to Watch - Aug. 7
Tonight will be a lot of swimming, some diving and the start of women's gymnastics!
The U.S. women will have no trouble qualifying to the team final on Tuesday night and will likely qualify in first. Really, the bigger implications for the team tonight is who will qualify for the two all-around spots and into the various event finals. If it were allowed, all five of these gymnasts could qualify in the top 24 for the all-around. However, it's that "two per country" rule. There are five members on the team and four compete in qualifying on each apparatus. To qualify for the all-around final you, obviously, have to compete in all four events in the qualifying round but at the same time the coaches have to put up the four best in each event to qualify the team. Each gymnast was picked specifically because of what she could do on certain events for the team not necesairly how they can compete individually.
There's no question Simone Biles will compete in all four events as she's favored to win the all-around after three straight world championships. The U.S. is certainly talented enough to go 1-2 in the all-around final, so there will definitely be another gymnast competing all four events. The question is who? I've read that it'll likely be Aly Raisman and Gabby Douglas, your two returners from 2012 who both claimed individual honors in London as well. But 16-year-old Laurie Hernandez finished second at the Olympic trials in the all-around and could easily place too. Even if bar specialist Madison Kocian competes only on one event that means that one other will be cut short an all-around spot tonight, But, really, it's more an issue of having too much talent for the U.S. opposed to other countries that are just trying to qualify.
As far as event finals, Biles is likely to qualify for three (vault, beam and floor), Kocian and Douglas on bars, Raisman on beam and floor, which would leaver Hernandez out due to the two per rule. I'm very interested to see what the lineup ends up being. It will then be cut to three in the team finals at which time all three scores will count, i.e. you can't drop a low score if someone falls.
One team you will not see in the competition is Romania. This is a big story in the gymnastics world because Romania, a team that has won a team medal the last 10 straight games, failed to qualify for the Olympics for the first time since 1976. Since 2004, the Romanian program has been in a slow decline, held up by a few talented gymnasts with not many fresh faces coming in strong on the scene. The team failed to qualify in its two last chances leading up to the games. It'll be interesting to see if the Romanians can get its program back together and competitive by 2020 or if we've lost that legacy forever.
In the women's 3m springboard synchronized diving event, while the U.S. claimed a silver in London, they did not qualify in this event. China, who won every gold handed out in 2008, has Wu Minxia looking to become the first diver to win five Olympic gold medals.
Lots of action in the pool tonight that will be highlighted by Michael Phelps and Katie Ledecky.
After being a part of the women's 4x100 free relay last night that won the silver medal, Ledecky is going after her first of many individual golds of these games. She set a new Olympic record and came very close to breaking her own world record in the prelims of the 400m free earlier today. Needless to say, she qualified in the top spot. She is considered a very heavy favorite in this event. Leah Smith, the other American in the race, qualified in third and also has a good shot at medaling. There will not be a defending champion in this event. Sadly, the 2012 gold medalist Camille Muffat from France died in a plane crash in 2015 while filming a French reality television show in Argentina.
The U.S. has both swimmers in the 100m breaststroke final in Cody Miller and Kevin Cordes. They are looking to take down world record holder Adam Peaty of GBR after Miller qualified in second and Cordes in fifth for the final.
Dana Vollmer looks to defend her gold from London in the women's 100m fly final. In 2012, she won gold by setting a new world record. Since 2012, she took some time off, became a mother 15 months ago and now says she's a #momonamission to win another gold medal. While she was out, Sweden's Sarah Sjostrom broke her world record and just broke Vollmer's Olympic record in the semifinals yesterday. Sjostrom qualified in first, while Vollmer qualified in fourth.
The fourth and final gold handed out tonight will be the men's 4x100m free relay. This is the one that was the epic race in Beijing where the U.S. came back to beat France in the last leg. The U.S. has won gold every time in this event except for 2000 and 2012 when Australia and France won, respectively. The USA looks to reclaim that gold after qualifying in second, beating both France and Australia in the prelims, with Jimmy Feigen, Ryan Held, Blake Pieroni and Anthony Erivin (a 35-year-old) earlier today. It's likely Nathan Adrian, Caleb Dressel and Phelps will swim in the final along with one of the swimmers from qualifying. In the last world championships in 2015, the U.S. had a very poor race in the prelims and did not qualify for the finals for the first time. This was considered a big disappointment, to say the very least. However, the team swam well earlier and has rebounded from the overall poor performance at worlds and is back in the medal hunt. This is always one of the best races of the Olympics. Australia, France, the USA and Russia all look to be factors in this race.
There will also be the semifinals for the men's 200m freestyle, women's 200m breaststroke, men's 100m backstroke and women's 100m backstroke.
The U.S. women will have no trouble qualifying to the team final on Tuesday night and will likely qualify in first. Really, the bigger implications for the team tonight is who will qualify for the two all-around spots and into the various event finals. If it were allowed, all five of these gymnasts could qualify in the top 24 for the all-around. However, it's that "two per country" rule. There are five members on the team and four compete in qualifying on each apparatus. To qualify for the all-around final you, obviously, have to compete in all four events in the qualifying round but at the same time the coaches have to put up the four best in each event to qualify the team. Each gymnast was picked specifically because of what she could do on certain events for the team not necesairly how they can compete individually.
There's no question Simone Biles will compete in all four events as she's favored to win the all-around after three straight world championships. The U.S. is certainly talented enough to go 1-2 in the all-around final, so there will definitely be another gymnast competing all four events. The question is who? I've read that it'll likely be Aly Raisman and Gabby Douglas, your two returners from 2012 who both claimed individual honors in London as well. But 16-year-old Laurie Hernandez finished second at the Olympic trials in the all-around and could easily place too. Even if bar specialist Madison Kocian competes only on one event that means that one other will be cut short an all-around spot tonight, But, really, it's more an issue of having too much talent for the U.S. opposed to other countries that are just trying to qualify.
As far as event finals, Biles is likely to qualify for three (vault, beam and floor), Kocian and Douglas on bars, Raisman on beam and floor, which would leaver Hernandez out due to the two per rule. I'm very interested to see what the lineup ends up being. It will then be cut to three in the team finals at which time all three scores will count, i.e. you can't drop a low score if someone falls.
One team you will not see in the competition is Romania. This is a big story in the gymnastics world because Romania, a team that has won a team medal the last 10 straight games, failed to qualify for the Olympics for the first time since 1976. Since 2004, the Romanian program has been in a slow decline, held up by a few talented gymnasts with not many fresh faces coming in strong on the scene. The team failed to qualify in its two last chances leading up to the games. It'll be interesting to see if the Romanians can get its program back together and competitive by 2020 or if we've lost that legacy forever.
In the women's 3m springboard synchronized diving event, while the U.S. claimed a silver in London, they did not qualify in this event. China, who won every gold handed out in 2008, has Wu Minxia looking to become the first diver to win five Olympic gold medals.
Lots of action in the pool tonight that will be highlighted by Michael Phelps and Katie Ledecky.
After being a part of the women's 4x100 free relay last night that won the silver medal, Ledecky is going after her first of many individual golds of these games. She set a new Olympic record and came very close to breaking her own world record in the prelims of the 400m free earlier today. Needless to say, she qualified in the top spot. She is considered a very heavy favorite in this event. Leah Smith, the other American in the race, qualified in third and also has a good shot at medaling. There will not be a defending champion in this event. Sadly, the 2012 gold medalist Camille Muffat from France died in a plane crash in 2015 while filming a French reality television show in Argentina.
The U.S. has both swimmers in the 100m breaststroke final in Cody Miller and Kevin Cordes. They are looking to take down world record holder Adam Peaty of GBR after Miller qualified in second and Cordes in fifth for the final.
Dana Vollmer looks to defend her gold from London in the women's 100m fly final. In 2012, she won gold by setting a new world record. Since 2012, she took some time off, became a mother 15 months ago and now says she's a #momonamission to win another gold medal. While she was out, Sweden's Sarah Sjostrom broke her world record and just broke Vollmer's Olympic record in the semifinals yesterday. Sjostrom qualified in first, while Vollmer qualified in fourth.
The fourth and final gold handed out tonight will be the men's 4x100m free relay. This is the one that was the epic race in Beijing where the U.S. came back to beat France in the last leg. The U.S. has won gold every time in this event except for 2000 and 2012 when Australia and France won, respectively. The USA looks to reclaim that gold after qualifying in second, beating both France and Australia in the prelims, with Jimmy Feigen, Ryan Held, Blake Pieroni and Anthony Erivin (a 35-year-old) earlier today. It's likely Nathan Adrian, Caleb Dressel and Phelps will swim in the final along with one of the swimmers from qualifying. In the last world championships in 2015, the U.S. had a very poor race in the prelims and did not qualify for the finals for the first time. This was considered a big disappointment, to say the very least. However, the team swam well earlier and has rebounded from the overall poor performance at worlds and is back in the medal hunt. This is always one of the best races of the Olympics. Australia, France, the USA and Russia all look to be factors in this race.
There will also be the semifinals for the men's 200m freestyle, women's 200m breaststroke, men's 100m backstroke and women's 100m backstroke.
Saturday, August 6, 2016
Carpool Karaoke
Prior to the London 2012 Olympics, USA Swimming made a wonderful lip sync video to the latest earbug "Call Me Maybe." It was a viral hit and I certainly watched it a few dozen times.
I wondered what they were going to do to back it up. They had to certainly try something. I think they ended up with a pretty entertaining follow up.
I wondered what they were going to do to back it up. They had to certainly try something. I think they ended up with a pretty entertaining follow up.
Just Keep Swimming
You may have read about one of the members of the Refugee Olympic Team (ROT) originally from Syria. Her name is Yusra Mardini and she's a swimmer. Her story is incredible and will make you feel very small in this world. What she has gone through to get to the Olympics, not to mention just being alive today, is amazing.
Opening Ceremony Recap
I actually don't have much to say about the opening ceremony. I got started almost two hours late after a long day working a golf tournament, so I knew the success of me staying awake to watch the whole thing was slim. I made through a good amount of the Parade of Nations, catching up to live TV, before starting to drift off. I'd wake up and countries were still marching in and then the Olympic flag was arriving and then it was finally time to light the cauldron.
I enjoyed the parts I was awake for and need to go back and re-watch it. Yes, it was a little different than some of the more recent opening ceremonies because Rio was not as set on creating a spectacle and over-the-top show. They also didn't have the money for it. But the goal of the opening ceremony is always to share yourself with the world and try to have people understand your culture. I think that was accomplished.
Yes, the Parade of Nations took forever. It always does. I'm not sure why people think that it'll ever be any different. Every Olympics more countries send delegations. It's not exactly going to get shorter. Yes, it was also a little tape delayed. This show doesn't have live bathroom breaks and the network has to take commercial breaks. That's how they make their money - advertising. They don't bid millions of dollars to for broadcasting rights not to earn it back through the advertisers. I read some comments on an NBC video, which were just hilarious, with people complaining about the amount of commercials and missing countries during the Parade of Nations. Ok, first, did you care that much about the entrance about Bhutan? And second, if you don't like commercials, get a DVR!
Then there was the Tongan flag bearer, who has become the latest viral sensation. Everyone talking about this guy!
I thought the lighting of the cauldron was nicely done and is a different look than some of the more recent Olympics. I like that someone who unfairly lost his chance for a medal was given the honor.
There were plenty of fluff pieces in the beginning that I love and will watch over again, several times. But my favorite part is always the excitement that the athletes show when marching in. I can only imagine what that feeling is like. The reception that the Refugee Olympic Team (ROT) gave me goosebumps but my favorite moment was the reaction from this Bolivian athlete. His emotions are exactly why I love the Olympics.
I enjoyed the parts I was awake for and need to go back and re-watch it. Yes, it was a little different than some of the more recent opening ceremonies because Rio was not as set on creating a spectacle and over-the-top show. They also didn't have the money for it. But the goal of the opening ceremony is always to share yourself with the world and try to have people understand your culture. I think that was accomplished.
Yes, the Parade of Nations took forever. It always does. I'm not sure why people think that it'll ever be any different. Every Olympics more countries send delegations. It's not exactly going to get shorter. Yes, it was also a little tape delayed. This show doesn't have live bathroom breaks and the network has to take commercial breaks. That's how they make their money - advertising. They don't bid millions of dollars to for broadcasting rights not to earn it back through the advertisers. I read some comments on an NBC video, which were just hilarious, with people complaining about the amount of commercials and missing countries during the Parade of Nations. Ok, first, did you care that much about the entrance about Bhutan? And second, if you don't like commercials, get a DVR!
Then there was the Tongan flag bearer, who has become the latest viral sensation. Everyone talking about this guy!
I thought the lighting of the cauldron was nicely done and is a different look than some of the more recent Olympics. I like that someone who unfairly lost his chance for a medal was given the honor.
There were plenty of fluff pieces in the beginning that I love and will watch over again, several times. But my favorite part is always the excitement that the athletes show when marching in. I can only imagine what that feeling is like. The reception that the Refugee Olympic Team (ROT) gave me goosebumps but my favorite moment was the reaction from this Bolivian athlete. His emotions are exactly why I love the Olympics.
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