28 July - Day 2 - Paris Summer Olympic Games

Another Migraine this morning had me off my game but I was able to kick it by 3 pm so I was able to watch all I wanted today.

Women's Mountain Bike Cross-Country:  What a gorgeous course!  It was just fantastic to watch and soak in the French countryside!  It's hard to believe that the course was an old sandstone quarry that was converted to a park and then a Cross-Country Mountain Biking course.  France had a lovely moment taking first and the Gold by quite a margin.  Way to go, Prevot!  It was a moment those present won't forget soon! Batten of Team USA fought hard and passed the Swedish rider at just the right time to then take second and the Silver medal.  This is the first medal for a TEAM USA woman rider in this event!  Sweden takes the Bronze.

Men's Waterpolo:  The men had a tough time today with Italy, losing the match 12-8.  Our Men need to step up their game!

Men's Basketball:  Team USA faced Serbia and made a statement!  They won soundly and are ready to compete!  LeBron and Durante are keeping the team on task.

Table Tennis and Badminton:  Team USA is holding its own!  We are still in the mix in both Men's and Women's Singles Table Tennis and in Badminton we are giving teams some hard matches and great volleys!  I'm not sure if we will make the podium in any of these events, but it is nice to see that we are in the mix.

Women's Street Skateboarding:  Team USA qualified two riders to the finals and they gave it a great fight but in the end, couldn't hold on during the tricks.  Japan qualified three riders for the finals and their youngest, at 14 years old, came away with the Gold.  Japan took Gold and Silver and Brazil put up a huge trick score and took the Bronze.

Women's Rugby 7s:  Team USA went up against Brazil and completely stomped them with a score of 22-5!

Men's Sculls:  Team USA took first place with their 4 Boat and move straight to the finals!

Women's Soccer:  Team USA played well today and soundly beat Germany 4-1.

Equestrian Eventing - Cross Country:  What a great way to see Versailles!  The course was absolutely beautiful and not so difficult as to have everyone getting penalties, as some courses in the past have been.  This event took a while to compete and saw Team USA do well but not great!  Team GB went into this round in first and kept their place.  Team Germany had a horse completely refuse which gave them a HUGE penalty and they are out of medals for Teams.  Japan looked good as well.  Last event is Show jumping which will be tomorrow.

Fencing:  Team USA faced Team USA in the Gold medal match for Women's Foil!  It was Kiefer v. Scruggs.  Kiefer led from the beginning and the veteran pulled out the win.  So great having Team USA take Gold and Silver!  Watching the match was really strange with both fencers having the same face protection and no coaches allowed since both fencers were from the same team.  Well done ladies!

Women's Beach Volleyball:  Team USA's Hughes & Cheng faced off against a really scrappy Czech team!  It was so strange to see our girls in bikinis and the Czech team all covered up!  Anyway...this match was so fun to watch with some really great volleys and proof that these girls never mind getting dirty!  Team USA wins the match in 2 games.  Very entertaining pair!

Men's Boxing 51kg - Roscoe Hill from Team USA faced off against a competitor from the Refugee team and soundly beat him with a very unusual style of boxing.  Roscoe moves onto the next rounds.

Swimming:  So the qualification rounds were a bit more difficult for us than I would have predicted.  In the Men's 200M Free, Hobson made it through but Guilliano (who was on the Gold Medal relay team last night) didn't make it to the finals.  In the Men's 400M IM, Carson Foster made it through but Kalisz (the defending Gold medalist) didn't make it through.  In the Women's 100M Breaststroke, Lily King made it through but Weber did not.   In Men's 100 Backstroke, Murphy and Armstrong made it through.  In the Women's 200M free, Weinstein and Gemmell made it through.

In the Semifinals for the night, Hobson, King and Murphy made it through.  Armstrong and Gemmell did not.

Then we had finals, and the story of the night was the Men's 400 IM.  France's Marchand beat Michael Phelps' world record back in 2023.  In qualifiers, he outclassed the field.  Rowdy and Michael called the swim and it did not disappoint.  Oh....and Carson Foster from Team USA was swimming too.  Marchand led from the beginning and had a fabulous swim, finishing about 3 body lengths before anyone else in the field!  So great that he could get the Gold with a hometown crowd!  Japan took Silver and Carson Foster came from behind and took the Bronze!

In Women's 100M Butterfly, Team USA dominated winning Gold (Huske) and Silver (G. Walsh) and China took the Bronze.  It was sooooo great to see our girls swim this race and win!  Watching them get their medals and hear the national anthem was a real treat!

In the Men's 100M Breaststroke, the Italian phenom kicked Peatty from Team GB off the top spot and took Gold.  Peatty actually tied Team USA's Nic Fink for Silver in a very fast race!

Surfing:  Team USA's men and women are leading the pack!

Women's Gymnastics Team Qualifiers:  Team USA did really well today.  Balance Beam gave us a little trouble but we got through.  Simone hurt her calf in floor warm ups but taped it up and finished the competition in First place!  She will rest and have the trainers tape her up for Tuesday.  Jade was sick today and it showed.  She had a horrible floor routine but was able to rally for vault and will compete in the event finals for it.  Jordan and Suni looked really good.  Hezly was a bit nervous but did well.  Team USA finished over 5 points above the next closest team, which was Italy.  We are positioned well for Tuesday's Team Finals.

I took some time today and watch some of the other teams.  Brazil looked great and is definitely one to watch on Floor!  Team GB had A LOT of falls and errors today.  Team Romania should count themselves lucky to have taken the #8 spot.  Team France had a horrible day and didn't make it to the finals.  China looked pretty good and Canada had a few great routines.  Japan had only 4 gymnasts compete and isn't a real threat right now.  

I have to say that Laurie Henandez did an excellent job calling Gymnastics and Snoop Dogg is doing a great job and is so much fun to watch.  There have been other stars that have shown up in Paris.  Flavr Flav is a women's waterpolo fan and Tom Cruise was at Gymnastics.  You can see what Snoop is up to over on X(aka Twitter) by searching #followthedogg

Tomorrow is my birthday and I'm hoping the Men of Team USA will bring home Team Gymnastic Gold!  More swimming, equestrian, gymnastics tomorrow.