8 August - Day 13 - Paris Summer Olympic Games

 

Thursday proved to be quite the day at the track and on the courts.  Here's what happened today:

Women's Marathon Swim:  The Marathon Swim was held in the Seine so the swimmers were benefitted by it on the way out but had to swim against it on the way back.  The water wasn't choppy or anything though, so the conditions were better than some passed competitions.  Team USA had a couple swimmers in the mix but ended up unable to keep up with the leaders and came in 14th and 15th.  The Netherlands won the Gold.  Australia won the Silver.  Italy won the Bronze.

Men's Basketball:  Team USA faced Team Serbia.  Serbia almost got the best of our guys controlling most of the third period!  Team USA dug deep and came back in the fourth ultimately winning 94-91.  Way too close for comfort!

Women's Water Polo:  Our women are the defending Gold medalist and have been for the last 3 Olympics.  Today...that ended.  The Aussies fought hard and took the match to a shoot-out (just like our guys!).  This time...the Aussies did better than we did.  Team USA will play the Netherlands for Bronze.  

Women's Volleyball:  Team USA faced off against Team Brazil.  After 5, heart-pounding sets and a bit of deja-vu, our women pulled out a win!  They will go for Gold on Sunday!  Way to go, Ladies!

Women's Climbing - Boulder & Lead:  Lead qualifying was contested and Team USA has at least one climber (Rabatou) in the mix.  

Men's Speed Climbing: Sam Watson for Team USA holds the World Record at 4.75.  Today he slipped in his semi-final and went for Bronze where he bested his world record, setting the new one at 4.74!  Sam gets the Bronze for Team USA.  Indonesia wins Gold and China wins the Silver.

Rhythmic Gymnastics started today with the qualifier.  Team USA's Evita performed well but not well enough to continue. She finished in 18th.  You needed to be top 10 to continue. Thanks for the artistry Evita!  Italy, Germany, Bulgaria, and Ukraine qualified highest.

Men's Springboard Final:  China got their act together and pulled out some great dives with the older diver and the defending Gold medalist winning Gold again.  His younger teammate taking the Silver.  Team Mexico took the Silver thanks to a wonderful 4th round dive!  Team USA's Tyler came in 4th and that's okay.  He did a really good job and will be back.  He competes in Platform next.

Men's Wrestling:  The guys must have been feeling the heat with all our girls doing so well.  Lee in the 57kg class, worked his way through the rounds and will go for Gold!  Good job!

Track & Field:

Qualifiers:

Women's Shotput:  Ross and Saunders are both through.  Chase Johnson kept fouling out and did not make the qualifying distance.  She is out.

Women's 4 x 100 Relay:  Team USA qualified for the finals!

Men's 4 x 100 Relay:  Team USA qualified for the finals!  WooHoo!  Remember we didn't make it in the Tokyo Olympics so we made SURE we were making it this time.  You know who didn't make it though?  Team Jamaica!  

Men's 800 Repechage:  Miller made it through.

Semis:

Women's 1500M:  St. Pierre and Hiltz made it through to the final but Mackay did not.

Heptathlon: This event will be contested over two days.  The athletes will do 4 events today and 3 events tomorrow.  Team USA sent three to Paris for this event with Anna Hall being our #1.  Chari Hawkins and Taliyah Brooks are our other two contenders.  The day started with the 100 M Hurdles where our ladies did okay but Anna was off her game a bit.  

Next came High Jump were Chari Hawkins failed to make her first height which means she got no marks for this event which basically ended her Olympics.  Anna jumped well and Brooks was middle of the pack.  Thiam of Belgium is a great jumper and moved herself into the lead.  

Next was Shot Put and our girls got marks which is all they were looking to do.  Team GB's KJT threw her best by like 2 feet!  

Last event was the 200 M, Anna ran well but so did Thiam and KJT.  They are the top three going into Day 2

Finals:

Men's 200M:  This was suppose to be Lyles' race but I knew something was up when they showed him the the Ready area and he was wearing a mask.  He lined up for the race though so I thought I must have been wrong.  Then the signal gun went off and he wasn't in first!  Botswana and Team USAs Benarek were duking it out up front and Lyles was behind them.  I kept waiting for him to pull out that other gear but he didn't!  Botswana wins Gold.  Benarek wins Silver and Lyles wins Bronze for Team USA.  Lyles had to be attended to at the edge of the track by medical personnel.  A few minutes later, he came out and interviewed with Lewis.  He has COVID-19.  He ran that race with COVID!  When Lewis asked about the relay, Lyles said that he thought the Team would be able to handle that without him.  I hope he will be okay.  Still an amazing feat!  Congrats to Botswana and to Kung-Fu Kenny Benarek for the wins!

Women's Long Jump:  Team USAs Davis-Woodhall and Moore were in the mix for a medal from the start.  Davis-Woodhall had a monster jump and ended up taking the Gold.  Germany took the Silver and Jasmine Moore won the Bronze.  Nice Job, Ladies!

Women's 400 Hurdles:  Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone looked like she wasn't even trying.  It was like watching Katie Ledecky swim....but on land!  She finished so far ahead of everyone else that they weren't in screen when she crossed the finish line!  I had to rewind and see who came in second and third!  Sydney wins the Gold, Team USA's Cockrell wins the Silver, and Bol from the Netherlands wins Bronze.

Men's 110M Hurdles:  Team USA's Roberts had a great start but the lead was quickly claimed by Holloway who just dominated the field!  Gold and Silver to Team USA with Jamaica taking the Bronze. WooHoo!

Beach Volleyball:  The medal rounds have been decided.  Remember, Team USA didn't make it to the semis.  In the Men's tourney, Sweden will face Germany (who beat NORWAY!) for the Gold.  Norway will face Qatar for the Bronze.  On the Women's side, Canada will face Brazil for the Gold and Australia will face the Swiss for Bronze.