Showing posts with label Maya Dirado. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Maya Dirado. Show all posts

Friday, August 12, 2016

The Olympics: Day 7 Rio

Maya Dirado was not favored in this event, and nevertheless, here she is, with another Gold! I have a feeling that a lot of people are going to be begging Dirado not to retire after these Games and ride into the sunset. She upset Katinka Hosszu who was the favorite and won a couple of Golds earlier this week.

Women's 200m Backstroke

1. Maya Dirado, USA, 2.05.99
2. Katinka Hosszu, Hungary, 2.06.05
3. Hillary Caldwell, Canada, 2.07.54

Eight year ago, a teenage Joseph Schooling from Singapore met Michael Phelps before he went to the Beijing Games. Fast forward to 2016, and a grown up Joseph Schooling not only swan against Phelps but beat him and a group of veterans. Phelps took home the third silver of his career, an honor which this time he shared with long time rivals Chad Le Clos and Laszlo Cseh.

Men's 100m Butterfly

1. Joseph Schooling, Singapore, 50.39 Olympic Record
2. Michael Phelps, USA, 51.14
2. Chad Le Clos, South Africa, 51.14
2. Laszlo Cseh, Hungary, 51.14

Katie Ledecky not only defended her Gold in the 800m Freestyle, but she shattered the World Record that belonged to her. She finished the race almost 13 seconds after everyone else.

Women's 800m Freestyle

1. Katie Ledecky, USA, 8.04.79 World Record/ Olympic Record
2. Carlin Jazz, Great Britain, 8.16.17
3. Boglarka Kapas, Hungary, 8.16.37

Lastly, the 50m Free, the splash and dash as it's called by swimmers had quite the surprise. It came in the form of 35 year old Anthony Ervin from the US. Ervin won this event 16 years ago in 2000 at the age of 19. He and Gary Hall Jr of the US tied for Gold. This time around it was just Ervin. Favorite in the event Florent Manaudou of France won the Silver and Nathan Adrian of the US hung on for the Bronze.

Men's 50m Freestyle

1. Anthony Ervin, USA, 21.40
2. Florent Manouodou, France, 21.41
3. Nathan Adrian, USA, 21.49



Thursday, August 11, 2016

The Olympics: Day 5 Rio

The big surprise in the Olympic pool tonight was that we had a group of unlikely winners. None from the US Team.

Dmitriy Balandin won Kazakhstan's first ever Olympic Gold in the Men's 200m Breaststroke, but that wasn't the only headline. Josh Prenot won a silver for Team USA, no American man had won a medal in this event since 1992 when Mike Barrowman won Gold in 1992 and Brendan Hansen won bronze in 2004.

Men's 200m Breaststroke

1. Dmitriy Balandin, Kazakhstan, 2.07.46
2. Josh Prenot, USA, 2.07.53
3. Anton Chupkov, Russia, 2.07.70

Mireia Belmonte Garcia of Spain added a Gold to her Bronze from earlier this week.

Women's 200m Butterfly

1. Mireia Belmonte Garcia, Spain, 2.04.85
2. Madeline Graves, Australia, 2.04.88
3. Natsumi Hoshi, Japan, 2.05.20

At only 18 years of age, Australian swimmer Kyle Chalmers captured Gold in one of the marquee swimming events, the 100m free last night. It's the first Australian Gold in the event since 1968, and what's even more impressive is that Chalmers beat several veteran swimmers to do it. This included US swimmer and defending champion, Nathan Adrian who just made it onto the podium with a Bronze. Adrian said he still felt great about getting another medal.

Men's 100m Freestyle

1. Kyle Chalmers, Australia, 47.58
2. Pieter Tmmers, Belgium, 47.80
3. Nathan Adrian, USA, 47.85

Another relay Gold for the US Team was achieved in the pool last night. This time it came from Allison Schmitt, Leah Smith, Maya Dirado, and Katie Ledecky. Ledecky has added more hardware to her already successful Rio Games. Dirado now has one of each medal from Rio.

Women's 4x 200m Relay

1. USA 7.43.03 (Team USA: Allison Schmitt, Leah Smith, Maya Dirado, and Katie Ledecky)
2. Australia 7.44.87
3. Canada 7.45.39

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Meanwhile, the Men's All Around in Gymnastics took place on Wednesday night and the winner was no surprise. Kohei Uchimura from Japan who has dominated his sport since the 2008 Olympics in Beijing repeated as the All Around Champion. "King Kohei" as he is called sealed the deal with a near flawless high bar routine, 15.8. Uchimura is always humble and said that a team medal means far more to him than an individual medal, and so when his team did just that, one could tell that his happiness was genuine. Silver went to Oleg Verniaiev of Ukraine who led several times during the event. Verniaiev said that Uchimura is one of the gymnasts he admires most, and the two posed for photos together. Max Whitlock from Great Britain became the first British man to win an All Around Medal at the Olympics.

Men's Individual All Around

1. Kohei Uchimura, Japan, 92.365
2. Oleg Verniaiev, Ukraine, 92.266
3. Max Whitlock, Great Britain, 90.641







Tuesday, August 9, 2016

The Olympics: Day 4 Rio

I still don't know what this team is going to call themselves, but whatever they decide on, they're incredible. The team of five women's gymnasts that make up the US team, Simone Biles, Aly Raisman, Gabby Douglas, Laurie Herandez, and Madison Kocian dared to go there. They took chances, executed to near perfection, and in the end, won by a margin of over 8 points.

Women's Gymnastics Team Finals

1. USA 184.897
2. Russian Federation 176.688
3. China 176.003
4. Japan 174.371
5. Great Britain 174.362
6. Germany 173.672
7. Netherlands 172.447
8. Brazil 172.087

Update! They have given themselves the name, The Final Five because they are Marta Karolyi's last team, and in Tokyo in 4 years, Teams will consist of four members instead of five.

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Katie Ledecky is three for three for medals at these Games and two for two in individual Golds at these Games. Katie said she definitely felt the pressure and has never lost a race on an international stage in her whole career. She said this is the closest to throwing up she has ever felt in any race. She is favored to win in the 800m Freestyle later this week. Ledecky beat out Sarah Sjostrom who was favored to win.

Women's 200m Freestyle

1. Katie Ledecky, USA, 1.53.73
2. Sarah Sjostrom, Sweden, 1.54.08
3. Emma McKeon, Australia, 1.54.92

Last night Chad Le Clos shadow boxed in front of Michael Phelps in the ready room. It also looked like he shook his body in front of him, maybe even danced. Phelps stared ahead, headphones on, looking super Darth Vader. Tonight, Phelps put it all out there, and left everything he had in the in pool. He always does though. Some may have doubted this come back. He had a lot of competition in this race: Le Clos, Cseh, and Kanderesi, but at the end, Phelps won his 20th Gold Medal!

Men's 200m Butterfly

1. Michael Phelps, USA, 1.53.36
2. Masato Sakai, Japan, 1.53.40
3. Tamas Kenderesi, Hungary, 1.53.62

and Le Clos, for the record, finished out of the medals.

The Iron Lady, Katinka Hosszu won her third Gold at these Games. Hosszue has made a lot of notable changes to her training regimen including firing her old coach and hiring her husband as her coach. Maya Dirado of the US Team who made her debut at these Games, won a bronze. She previously announced that she would retire at the end of these Games to pursue her career as a business analyst.

Women's 200m Individual Medley

1. Katinka Hosszu, Hungary, 2.06.58 Olympic Record
2. Siobhan Marie O'Connor, Great Britain, 2.06.88
3. Madeline Dirado, USA, 2.08.79

Make it 21 Golds for Phelps, 25 career medals, and for Ryan Lochte, not too shabby either, Olympic medal number 12. The US men were unbeatable in the Men's 4x 200m relay. They finished more than 3 seconds ahead of second place finisher Great Britain. Michael Phelps swan the anchor leg and as he was getting ready his swim cap broke, and Conor Dwyer quickly handed his swim cap to Phelps who quickly put it on and made it efficiently off the blocks.

Men's 4x 200m Freestyle Relay

1. USA, 7.00.66 (Team USA: Conor Dwyer, Francis Haas, Ryan Lochte, Michael Phelps)
2. Great Britain, 7.03.13
3. Japan, 7.03.50