Paris Olympics 2024 Monday and Tuesday 7.29 and 7.30

7.29.24 Monday-- 

The BIG news of Monday was that the US Men won a bronze in the Team Gymnastics event!!! It is the first time they have medaled in this event since 2008. The whole competition, they say was very much in the spirit of an NCAA meet which is about the brotherhood and cheering each other on. The men on the team could be heard routing for each other throughout the competition. Their energy was different. What was particularly touching for me was seeing the men with their loved ones after they won their medals. Each of them has such special stories and I loved seeing how proud their families are. I felt a great sense of pride watching as an American. 

The Japanese team beat China to win the gold. 

Men's Gymnastics Team Competition

1. Japan, 259.594
2. China, 259.062

3. USA, 257.793 (Asher Hong, Paul Juda, Brody Malone, Stephen Nedoroscik, Frederick Richard) 

Total Team Effort! 

Paul Juda: 

Floor Exercise-- 14.2, Vault-- 14.666, Pommel Horse-- 13.9, Horizontal Bar-- 13.366

Frederick Richard: 

Floor Exercise-- 14.466, Parallel Bars 14.566, Rings-- 14.033, Horizontal Bar-- 14.833

Brody Malone:

Pommel Horse-- 13.700, Vault-- 14.533, Parallel Bars 14.433, Rings-- 14.166, Horizontal Bar-- 14.166

Asher Hong:

Floor Exercise-- 14.133, Vault-- 14.833, Rings 14.533, Parallel Bars-- 14.400

Stephen Nedoroscik:

Pommel Horse-- 14.866 

29 year old Ryan Murphy wanted to medal in the backstroke in three Olympics. He snagged a bronze, but he got more than that, he also got a gender reveal from his wife who revealed that they're having a girl on a poster as she sat in the stands with his family. It was Italy's Thomas Ceccon who is the current world record holder to win the gold. 

Men's 100m Backstroke

1. Thomas Ceccon, Italy 52.00

2. Jiayu Xu, China 52.32

3. Ryan Murphy, USA 52.39

from People magazine:

There was nothing more dramatic than the Men's 200m Freestyle. Look how close the standings were.....

It's like everyone touched in the same second!!! 

Men's 200m Freestyle

1. David Popovic, Romania 1:44.72

2. Matthew Richards, Great Britain 1:44:74

3. Luke Hobson, USA 1:44:79 😱😱😱

In the Women's 400m Individual Medley the US ladies did it again, but this time they went 2, 3. Katie Grimes just out touched Emma Weyant by a second and a half. The real news... Summer Mcintosh at 17 from Canada won gold in the event. Her mother was also an Olympic swimmer. 

Women's 400m Individual Medley

1. Summer Mcintosh, Canada 4:27:71

2. Katie Grimes, USA 4:33:40

3. Emma Weyant, USA 4:34:93

7.30.24 Tuesday--

Simone Biles called this "the redemption tour", and that it was. She can be confident now and close that chapter called "Tokyo". Biles, along with Jordan Chiles, Suni Lee, Jade Carey, and Hezly Rivera became the fourth American team to win an Olympic gold medal. They won in BIG form over 5 points ahead of Italy in second place. Italy got it's first Olympic medal in 96 years snagging silver, and Brazil won it's first ever team medal in history taking the bronze. This brought Simone's medal count to 8 (including five gold!), and she passed Shannon Miller as the most decorated gymnast. Fitting for the career that Simone has had. Her husband and parents watched proudly from the stands along with the other families cheering her on every step of the way. 

Women's Team Gymnastics 

1. USA, (Simone Biles, Jade Carey, Jordan Chiles, Suni Lee, Hezly Rivera) 171.296

2. Italy, 165.494

3. Brazil, 164.497

Team Scores: 

Simone Biles: 

Vault-- 14.9, Uneven Bars-- 14.4, Balance Beam-- 14.366, Floor Exercise-- 14.666

Jade Carey:

Vault-- 14.8

Jordan Chiles:

Vault-- 14.4, Uneven Bars-- 14.366, Balance Beam-- 12.733, Floor Exercise-- 13.966

Suni Lee:

Uneven Bars-- 14.566, Balance Beam-- 14.6, Floor Exercise-- 13.533

This US swim team has been struggling with grabbing golds thus far this Olympics.... 

Tuesday's results were not disappointing by any means, just not what we're used to from Team USA. 

Robert (Bobby) Finke, Katie Ledecky's training partner came through with a silver medal in the Men's 800m Freestyle. Daniel Wiffen of Ireland won the first gold medal ever in swimming for Ireland. 

Men's 800m Freestyle

1. Daniel Wiffen, Ireland 7:38:19

2. Robert Finke, USA 7:38:75

3. Gregorio Paltrinieri, Italy 7:39:38

Australia continued their swimming dominance this Olympics with a gold in the Women's 100m Backstroke. The US women took silver and bronze respectively. 

Women's 100m Backstroke

1. Kaylee McKeown, Australia 57.33

2. Regan Smith, USA 57.66

3. Katharine Berkoff, USA 57.98

Lastly, the Men's 4x200m Freestyle Relay was all the usual suspects! 

Men's 4x200m Freestyle

1. Great Britain 6:59:43

2. USA 7:00:78 (Luke Hobson, Carson Foster, Drew Kibler, Kieran Smith)

3. Australia 7:01:98 

The Olympics: Day 8 Rio

It was the final night of swimming at these Olympics. It was perhaps the last time we will see Michael Phelps race. It's very clear how much Michael loves swimming, competing, his teammates, his fans, and it will be, no doubt, different without him. He is a true legend and inspiration, and I think that's not going to go away any time soon.

Denmarks Pernille Blume won Denmark's first gold in swimming. Simone Manuel continued to impress at these Games, picking up another medal, this time Silver.

Women's 50m Freestyle

1. Pernille Blume, Denmark, 24.07
2. Simone Manuel, USA, 24.09
3. Aliaksandra Herasimenia, Belarus, 24.11

In the Men's 1500m, Gregorio Paltrinieri had the lead for almost the entire event and his teammate won the Bronze. Conor Jaeger improved from sixth place to second place,

Men's 1,500m Freestyle

1. Gregorio Paltrinieri, Italy, 14.34.57
2. Connor Jaeger, USA, 14.39.48
3. Gabriele Detti, Italy, 14.40.86

There was absolute dominance by the US Team in relays. This team has a lot to be proud of in terms of performance. More than ever, they have proven that the US is a force to be reckoned with in swimming and so many other sports.

Women's 4x 100m Medley Relay

1. USA, 3.53.13 (Team USA: Kathleen Baker, Lilly King, Dana Vollmer, Simone Manuel)
2. Australia, 3.55.00
3. Denmark, 3.55.01

Men's 4x 100m Medley Relay

1. USA, 3.27.95 (Team USA: Ryan Murphy, Cody Miller, Michael Phelps, Nathan Adrian) Olympic Record
2. Great Britain, 3.29.24
3. Australia, 3.29.93

The Oympics: Day 6 Rio

Destiny fulfilled. Simone Biles won the Women's All Around today. Biles has been undefeated in three consecutive World Championships and tonight completed what has been a long journey. She was unstoppable and untouchable finishing two points ahead of her teammate Aly Raisman.  And it was redemption indeed for Aly Raisman who won the silver. I would argue that she is better today than she was four years ago. This marks the first time US Gymnasts have gone 1, 2 in the All Around since 2008 when Nastia Liukin and Shawn Johnson did it in Beijing. Mustafina who won the Bronze 4 years ago repeated as Bronze medalist today.

Women's All Around Finals Gymnastics

1. Simone Biles, USA, 62.198
2. Aly Raisman, USA, 60.098
3. Aliya Mustafina, Russian Federation, 58.665

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No Americans made it to the finals in the Women's 200m Breaststroke, a rarity during these games. Rie Kaneto of Japan won the gold. It was the first time in 3 Games that an American did not win. In 2004, Amanda Beard won Gold and in 2008 and 2012 Rebecca Soni took the Gold. Controversial swimmer from the Russian Team, Yulia Efimova improved to Silver from Bronze 4 years ago in this same event.

Women's 200m Breaststroke

1. Rie Kaneto, Japan, 2.20.30
2. Yulia Efimova, Russian Federation, 2.21.97
3, Shi Jinglin, China, 2.22.28

There is a new king in the Backstroke, and it's Ryan Murphy. At 21 years of age and making his Olympic debut, Murphy swept the Backstroke events winning Gold in both and keeping the US streak alive at 6 in a row in Olympic Games. He beat out Mitch Larkin who is the 2015 World Champion in this event.

Men's 200m Backstroke

1. Ryan Murphy, USA, 1.53.62
2, Mitch Larkin, Australia, 1.53.96
3. Evgeny Rylov, Russian Federation, 1.53.97

This was one of the events I was looking forward to during this entire Olympics. After all, it may be the last time that Phelps and Lochte go head to head in an Olympic event. I honestly expected them to go 1, 2 in this event. It's always been Michael and Ryan, but tonight for some reason, it just was not to be. It's like only half the story ended as it should have. Ryan was even leading at one point. Michael pulled ahead, like so many times before, and never looked back, the only difference is that this time Ryan was not right behind him.

Men's 200m Individual Medley

1. Michael Phelps, USA, 1.54.66
2. Kosuke Hagino, Japan, 1.56.61
3. Wang Shun, China, 1.57.05

5. Ryan Lochte, USA, 1.57.47

Wow Simone Manuel! You are a firecracker! Simone became the first African American woman to win an individual swimming medal, and go figure, it was Gold! And she died for an Olympic record with Penny Oleksiak of Canada. This is the first Olympics for Manuel and Oleksiak who beat out sisters and favorites in this race from Cate and Bronte Campbell from Australia. Sarah Sjostrom who won a couple of Golds earlier in the week took a silver.

Women's 100m Freestyle

1. Simone Manuel, USA, 52.70 Olympic Record
1. Penny Oleksiak, Canada, 52.70 Olympic Record
3. Sarah Sjostrom, Sweden, 52.99  

The Olympics: Day 3 Rio

I forgot to make mention yesterday that Olympian Wu Mingxia won her fifth Gold medal for Diving yesterday in the Women's 3m Springboard. Unheard of in her sport! Wu looks to make even more history by competing in other events during these Games. As expected, she is a favorite to medal!

Women's 3m Synchronized Springboard

1. Shi Tingmao and Wu Mingxia China 345.60
2. Tania Cagnotto and Francesca Dallape Italy 313.83
3. Maddison Keeney and Anabelle Smith Australia 299.19

Today was the Men's 10m Synchronized Platform Diving event. Gold medalist from the London Games, 27 year old, David Boudia had a new partner this time around in 20 year old Olympic newcomer Steele Johnson. Johnson says he is fortunate to get to train with a Gold medalist in his sport, but to dive with him, and be on the same team, even better. He says Boudia is not only a mentor but a friend. It was so great to watch them win Silver in this event. It was the Chinese Team though, with a score that could not be beat, who won Gold.

Men's 10m Synchronized Platform

1. Chen Aisen and Lin Yue China 496.98
2. David Boudia and Steele Johnson USA 457.11
3. Thomas Daley and David Goodfellow Great Britain 444.45

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Tonight, the Olympic pool was full of success and medals for the US Team. How consistently excited I've been watching these athletes compete and show the best of what they have to offer. Everyone has such a great story.

Conor Dwyer looked to redeem himself after a tough finish in the 400m Freestyle. He finished in 4th, just out of the medals. The 200m was his chance and when he looked up at the times, he finished in third. Sun Yang from China finished in first, and Chad Le Clos from South Africa finished in second, Mack Horton fron Australia who won the 400m called Yang from China a cheat, and said he hoped his sport would clean up these types of occurrences and that those caught would be punished.

Men's 200m Freestyle

1. Sun Yang, China, 1.44.65
2. Chad Le Clos, South Africa, 1.45.20
3. Conor Dwyer, USA, 1.45.23

Rookie to the Games, Ryan Murphy kept the US legacy alive in the 100m Men's Backstroke on Monday night. The US Team has won the Gold in this event dating all the way back to the 1996 Games in Atlanta. Not only did Murphy win but he set a new Olympic record. Fellow American, David Plummer won the Bronze and made history of his own becoming the oldest medalist in this event, 30 years 304 days.

Men's 100m Backstroke

1. Ryan Murphy, USA, 51.97 Olympic Record
2. Xu Jiayu, China, 52.31
3. David Plummer, USA, 52.40

Katinka Hosszu is continuing her gold streak at these games picking up her second Gold. She has come to two Olympics prior to this and never won a medal before Rio. What a story! Meanwhile, US team member, Kathleen Baker picked up a silver and couldn't be more ecstatic in her post race interview.

Women's 100m Backstroke

1. Katinka Hosszu, Hungary, 58.45
2. Kathleen Baker, USA, 58.75
3. Kylie Masse, Canada, 58.76
3. Fu Yuanhui, China, 58.76

There's been a war of words brewing between Lilly King and Yulia Efimova. The only thing is, King did all the talking.  King voiced that she felt anyone who had been caught doping from Russia past or present should be banned. Efimova previously served a 16 month suspension for testing positive. King's win was a major statement and in her post race interview, she said she stood by her words and her stance on the doping issues surrounding these and so many other games.

Women's 100m Breaststroke

1. Lillia King, USA, 1.04.93 Olympic Record
2. Yulia Efimova, Russian Federation, 1.05.50
3. Catherine Meili, USA, 1.05.69

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Disappointment in the Men's Team Final as the US Men finished out of the medals. Alex Naddour and Danell Laeva struggled last night on multiple events. For what should have been a happy night for the US Men's Team instead was frustration. 

Men's Team Final Artistic Gymnastics 

1. Japan 274.094

2. Russian Federation 271.453

3. China 271.122

4. Great Britain 269.752

5. USA 268.560

6. Brazil 263.728

7. Germany 261.275

8. Ukraine 207.028