With the Olympics winding down, there are more and more medals given out each day as many events come to a close. Here’s a breakdown on the notable achievements in the last day or so:
American Lolo Jones stumbles over second-to-last hurdle in 100-meter event. Teammate Dawn Harper takes the gold.
Lolo Jones was the favorite to take this race. Her time of 12.43 seconds in the semifinal was the best recorded by any female hurdler in this event this year. If you watched this semifinal race, you would have witnessed Swedish runner Susanna Kullur clip the first hurdle, brutally tumbling to the surface, and failing to finish. Unfortunately, this poisonous energy followed Jones, who fell in the final, so close to nabbing the gold she deserved. To put her disappointment in perspective, Dawn Harper, who captured the gold, clocked in at a personal best 12.54 seconds. That’s 0.11 seconds slower than what we’ve seen Jones do. In terms of tragedy, Jones’ mishap is in not unlike Alicia Sacramone’s mistake on the vault. After four years of rigorous training and their uncertainty of being able to compete in another Olympics, watching replays of their misfortune is tough to stomach.
American Henry Cejudo wins the gold medal in men’s freestyle 55-kilogram wrestling.
The 21 year-old from Los Angeles beat Japan’s Tomohiro Matsunaga in each of the first two rounds in the best-of-three format. One of six children born to Mexican immigrants, his “rags to riches” story is one of the most heart-warming of these Games.
Shawn Johnson wins gold on the balance beam.
The perpetually smiling Shawn Johnson finally got her first gold medal, narrowly edging out teammate Nastia Liukin, who received the silver. China’s Cheng Fei grabbed the bronze. Although the undeniable star in these events has been Liukin—her five medals tying her with Mary Lou Retton and Shannon Miller as having the most for a U.S. woman in a single Olympics—it was nice to have the women’s competition finish with a Johnson gold. Amidst the dismay of nonsensical tiebreakers, inexperienced judges, and seemingly latent favoritism for the sometimes-sloppy Chinese women, watching Johnson listen to our country’s anthem with a gold medal around her neck was enough to ease the frustration.
Jonathan Horton’s daredevil horizontal bar performance earns him the silver.
Sure, the Chinese men won seven of the eight gold medals available. Sure, Zou Kai’s routine was a tad cleaner and warranted the gold medal. But Horton was much more exciting and on more than one occasion it looked as if his sheer momentum would launch him, bar in hand, straight into the fully occupied Bird’s Nest. This was the last gymnastics event of these Olympics, and perhaps the most entertaining.
U.S. women’s soccer team advances to gold medal match.
But I doubt you knew. They will play Brazil today (broadcast late at night in the United States), the country that beat them in the World Cup semi-finals. However, this is a very different U.S. team; they don’t have Mia Hamm, Julie Foudy, and Brandi Chastain. The team’s best player, Abby Wambach has been sidelined because of a broken leg. A gold medal win should turn a few of these unknowns into household names.
U.S. women’s water polo team will battle the Netherlands today for gold.
The United States edged Australia in a 9-8 semifinal victory. That was the 15th meeting between the two teams in what has become the Yankees-Red Sox equivalent of a rivalry in water polo. The U.S. is still sore about their controversial loss to the Aussies with 1.3 seconds remaining in their gold medal match in Sydney eight years ago. A win versus the Netherlands represents American redemption.
U.S. softball team will compete in the sport’s final Olympic game.
With the American’s 19th straight victory, they have now outscored their competition 57-2 in Beijing. Their recent win against Japan put them in the gold medal game. Both baseball and softball have not been renewed for the 2012 Olympics in London, so imagine what these American women are feeling.
Both U.S duos will have a shot at gold in beach volleyball.
Todd Rodgers and Phil Dalhausser quickly dismantled Georgia in 41 minutes. They play Brazilians Marcio Araujo and Fabio Magalhaes for the gold on Friday. Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh hope to continue their flawless Olympic performance in the gold medal match against China, broadcast as a part of NBC’s primetime coverage tonight.
This sex fest was not limited to Barcelona: the same thing happened in Sydney in 2000, my second Olympics as an athlete, and is happening right here in Beijing, where this time I’m a commentator. I spoke to an Aussie table tennis player this week to check out the village vibe and he launched into the breathless patter common to any Olympic debutant: “It is unbelievable in there; everyone is totally crazy once they are out of their competitions. God knows what it is going to be like this weekend. It is like a world within a world.” A British runner (anonymous again: athletes are not supposed to talk to journalists unaccompanied by a PR type, least of all about sex) said: “The swimmers finished earlier in the week and it was like there was an eruption.”
