We have reached the end of these 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris! We made it! So much to cover, and no way I could cover them all, so just the big ones, inspiring stories, major upsets and interesting things (I am still trying to find out what it really means when i see the word "steeplechase!). Let's wrap up these Paris Summer Olympics 2024!
Friday's Action: A crucial mistake in the relay and a gold for an athlete who has had to go thru a juggernaut of bullying.
Diving: In the women's 3m Springboard final, China once again took the gold (and bronze), leaving just the men's 10m Platform left for another clean sweep.
Speaking of the men's 10m platform, in the preliminaries, American Carson Tyler finished just out of the top 18, coming in at 19th; Tyler had two weak dives that hurt his chances of moving onto the semis. Meanwhile, Brandon Loschiavo, who six weeks ago after the American trials, considered retired after the US Diving team was told they could only send one diver (Tyler), found himself scrambling to get a ticket to Paris, after another diver had dropped out. Fortunately Loschiavo had a couple of weeks to practice, and was able to make into the semis, finishing in 13th place. All scores wiped and start fresh for the semis, same for the finals, btw.
Men's Water Polo: Team USA lost to Serbia in the semi's, and will now play for the bronze against Hungary for the bronze on Sunday.
My Mens waterpolo crush, Adrian Weinberg- get that bronze on Sunday! (Spoiler- he did!)
Men's Soccer: Spain defeated France, 5-3 to win the gold medal, and this is the first team to win both the Olympic gold AND the Euro Cup in the same year since France did it back in 1984!
Men's Volleyball: Team USA won the bronze medal as they swept Italy in three sets; The medal ties Team USA with Brazil and the Soviet Union for the most men's volleyball hardware of any country.
My favorite player on the USA Volleyball team, Eric Shoji! Btw, he's in white and his #22 in the video below with the amazing shoulder point! And yes, you can still view it if you don't have twitter!
Women's Basketball: Team USA cruised to an easy victory over Australia, winning 85-64 and moving onto the finals to play.....France!
This will be the first time in Olympic basketball history that two teams (USA/France) will be facing off against each other in both the men's and women's tourneys! Let the chants begin!
Women's Boxing: First off, not a fan, at ALL of this sport, but I felt I should cover this as this boxer has been put thru the wringer both mentally and emotionally while trying to compete by the transphobes and misogynists questioning her gender. I'm speaking of boxer Imane Khelif, FEMALE boxer from Algeria. I want to first give a little background on how Khelif got to these Olympic games: She sold scrap metal in her home city of Tiaret to pay for her boxing training. She is also a UNICEF Ambassador. And after today's match, you can now call her an Olympic GOLD MEDAL champion!
Shutting up all the haters by winning the gold medal DOES make it extra special, Imane!
Here are a few of the comments she made after the match, courtesy of ESPN:
"For eight years, this has been my dream, and I'm now the Olympic champion and gold medalist," Khelif said through an interpreter. Asked about the scrutiny, she told reporters: "That also gives my success a special taste because of those attacks.
"We are in the Olympics to perform as athletes, and I hope that we will not see any similar attacks in future Olympics."
She continued: Khelif noted that she has boxed in IBA competitions since 2018 but now "they hate me, and I don't know why."
"I sent them a single message with this gold medal, and that is that my dignity and honor are above all else," she said.
Khelif had her country, and the stadium (Roland-Garros) on her side thru the match, and did a victory lap around the stadium on her coach's shoulders to thunderous applause from the fans. I don't like this sport, but my heart is bursting with joy with Imane's win! Track and Field: Rai Benjamin is another track athlete who had one thing missing from his track career resume: An Olympic gold medal. Rai not only won the gold, but was the only one in the men's 400m hurdles to do it in under 47 seconds! I just read when Rai is not running and jumping hurdles, his passion is home cooking-I'm guessing he going to be cooking up a storm for friends and family when he returns home!
Team USA had two more gold medal chances left on this night with both the men's and women's 4x100 relay. One had a great result, the other not so much! I like to finish on a positive note, so let's rip the band-aid off.
The men's relay team was disqualified on a bad hand-off of the baton between the first and second runners, s the baton was passed, but outside the "handover zone". Devastating loss for the Americans; Canada took home the gold.
Now the good news! The fantastic four team of Sha'carri Richardson, Gabby Thomas, Melissa Jefferson and Twanisha Terry won the gold, with Sha'Carri, and her long nails, blowing the field away in the last leg of the race. She even gave a side eye to the runner not very closest to her as she neared the finish line-that's swaggy!
Saturday's action: Super Saturday with 32 gold medals at stake. I will not be covering all of them! DRAMA in the men's high-jump!
Women's Soccer: After a long drought, the American women finally got that gold medal, beating Brazil, 1-0 in a tough match that was tense through-out. It's the women's 5th gold medal since 2012!
Track n Field: DRAMA ALERT!
High-Jump: Italy's Gianmarco Tamlin, who has a rough Olympics due to kidney problems, almost pulled off a miracle, competing in the final HOURS after leaving the ER and just hours before the competition, but it was not to be for the Italian, as he failed to clear the bar in his final jump. For the gold, USA's Shelby McKwen and New Zealand's Hammish Kerr ended up in a tie, and they could choose either to take the tie or a jump-off...and jump-off it is! On the third jump, Kerr wins it, giving the Kiwi's their first ever medal in this competition! McKwen takes the silver.
Kiwi gold for Hamish Kerr!
Masai Russell of Team USA won the 400M sprint in a literal photo finish against France's Serena M ....who claimed their first medal in track and field.
Grant Fisher makes USA history as he races hard in the last 50 meters to snag the bronze in the 5000M, adding to his gold medal in the 10,000M medal he won in that race earlier in the week! He is the only American to win both long distance running bronze medals!
Men's 4x400 was a fast relay, and unlike last night, Team USA ran a clean, fast race, with Rai Benjamin as the anchor, sprinted to the gold with Botswana's Tobongo taking the silver in one of the fastest relays seen in Olympic history!
No baton problems for this relay group-gold it is for team USA!
Women's 4x400 relay and it wasn't even close, as Team USA blew away the competition, winning the gold by about the length of a city block!
And that wraps up the track and field of these 2024 Summer Olympics, and Team USA dominated, with 11 gold medals and 35 overall medals!
Diving: Those of you who betted on the big Big Red Machine on the complete 8 for 8 sweep by China, please go and collect your winnings, as China won the men's 10m platform to have another perfect Olympics Games. Cao Yuan won the gold for China, with Rikito Tamai of Japan with the silver and Noah Williams snagging the bronze (Noah was Tom Daley's partner when they medaled in synchro) . Cao Yuan doing all sorts of record-breaking- has won back to back golds in diving, and in these Paris Olympics, has a gold medal in all four men's diving events, the only other diver to accomplish that? Greg Louganis in 1984! Tamai makes history by bringing home the first medal in men's diving for Japan.
Cao Yaun making diving history all over the pool in Paris!
Golf: Lydia Ko of New Zealand not only won the tourney, and the Olympic gold, but having already snagged a silver and bronze in previous Olympics, along with her wins in her pro career, has completed ladies golf's "Golden Slam" and is now only the 17th member to make the LPGA Hall of Fame! Congrats Lydia!
US Men's Basketball: Round one of the USA/France doubleheader, Team USA defeated France 98-87 to take home the gold. LeBron James has set an Olympic record with four Olympic appearances in basketball and was named MVP of these Games. Steph Curry cooked in the 4th quarter, dropping his trademark threes, and now has his resume complete with an Olympic gold medal! It is also Team USA's fifth consecutive gold medal! Golden State Warriors head coach did a great job coaching this team through the tourney to secure the gold!
Hang this shot of Curry dropping a 3 pointer over a player that is 7 feet tall, in the Louvre!
Breakdancing: The first, and only time this competition will be part of the Olympics, and in the men's final, it was Canada, France and USA taking the medals in that order. I know nothing about this sport, so that's all you gonna get! :)
I'll close out this post (one more to go!) with this clip of Elmo and friends hitting Paris for the Olympics...there is actually a lot more video clips as Elmo GOT AROUND, almost as much as Snoop Dogg (the rapper). His sing-a-long with the USA gold medal rowing team of , well you can guess which song, is effin adorable! If you find it, post it on my Facebook! :)
Sunday action- Final day/medals!
Women's basketball: An absolute nail biter, France ad USA took this game down to the final seconds, but it was Team USA who squeaked out the victory, 68-67! Now eight Olympic gold medals over the last four Summer Olympics, 61 wins in a row, a powerhouse team indeed! Aj'a Wilson was named MVP of these games, and let's not forget that 2 years ago, Brittney Griner was in a Russian prison, and today, she is a gold medalist!
Women's Indoor Volleyball: Italy completed it's dominant run thru the the brackets, the Italian women's team got their first ever medal in volleyball, and made that medal gold, defeating the USA team in straight sets!
Men's Water Polo: One of my new favorite team sports saw Team USA defeat Hungary to win the bronze, and put the Americans' back on the podium since 2008! My boy Adrian made 16 blocks!
Women's Marathon: It had been four decades since an athlete attempted to compete in the 5,000-meter, 10,000-meter and marathon races at the same Olympic Games. And seven decades since an athlete medaled in all three. When an athlete wins all three, it's called a treble, and on the last day of these 2024 Summer Olympics, Sifan Hassan of the Netherlands is that athlete to accomplish the treble when she won the women's marathon! What a feat!
Final Medal Standings:
Post Olympics News: Openly out and proud gay British diver Tom Daley has officially announced his retirement from diving. Daley is in rarefied Olympic air, having medaled in all five Summer Olympics Games, becoming a member of athletes who have achieved this goal. Final Eye Candy deservedly features Daley, front and center, leading his straight fellow British divers in a lil dance routine! The video clip link is from Daley's Instagram account. If you don't have Instagram, the video is part of the OutSports story!
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