The Olympics: Rio Day 1

Lots of surprises came in day one of competition at the 31st Olympic Games in Rio. I expected much more US dominance in the pool. They did walk away with three silver medals, but why did I feel like there would be so much more? The Australians bounced back from a dismal performance in swimming at the London Games and walked away on night one with two golds in the Men's 400m Freestyle and the Women's 4x100m Relay.

Chase Kalisz grew up watching Michael Phelps. Phelps sees Kalisz like a little brother. The 400m IM, Kalisz said, is all about legacy, and so even though silver is nothing to be upset about, you couldn't help but see the look on Kalisz's face knowing that the gold slipped away.

On the Women's side, Katinka Hosszu was absolutely dominant in the Women's 400m IM shattering a World Record and Olympic Record. She's known as the Iron Lady for a reason, look for her to continue this dominance during the Games.

Results:

Men's 400m IM
1. Kosuke Hagino Japan, 4.06.05
2. Chase Kalisz USA, 4.06.75
3. Daiya Seto Japan, 4.09.71

Men's 400m Freestyle
1. Mack Horton Australia, 3.41.55
2. Yang Sun China, 3.41.68
3. Gabriele Detti Italy, 3.43.49
4. Connor Dwyer USA, 3.43.42
5. Connor Yaeger USA, 3.45.37

Women's 400m IM
1. Katinka Hosszu Hungary, 4..26.36 World Record, Olympic Record
2. Madeline Dirado USA, 4.31.15
3. Mireia Belmonte Garcia Spain, 4.32.39

Women's 4x100m Relay
1. Australia 3.30.65 World Record, Olympic Record
2. USA 3.31.89 (Team USA: Simone Manuel, Abbey Weitzeil, Dana Vollmer, Katie Ledecky)
3. Canada 3.32.89

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In Gymnastics was the Men's Qualifying for the Team, All Around, and Individual Apparatus Competitions. The US Men looked to redeem themselves from their performance in London.

Here are the eight teams competing in the Team Competition:

1. China 270.461
2. USA 270.405
3. Russian Federation 269.612
4. Japan 269.294
5. Great Britain 268.670
6. Brazil 268.078
7. Ukraine 263.002
8. Germany 261.518

In the All Around, only two athletes per team can be sent. From Team USA, Sam Mikulak and Chris Brooks will compete.

The US Men did not qualify for the Still Rings and Vault, but did qualify for the following:

Floor Exercise: Sam Mikulak and Jake Dalton
Pommel Horse: Alex Naddour
Horizontal Bar: Danell Leyva and Sam Mikulak
Parallel Bars: Danell Leyva

I cannot wait to see how they do!