Paris 2024 features 329 events, and medals had been awarded in 162 of them through Sunday. So, we’re pretty much halfway home:
1. United States 19 gold, 26 silver, 26 bronze (71 total)
2. China 19, 15, 11 (45)
3. France 12, 14, 18 (44)
4. Australia 12, 11, 8 (31)
5. Great Britain 10, 12, 15 (37)
6. South Korea 10, 7, 7 (24)
7. Japan 9, 5, 10 (24)
8. Italy 7, 10, 5 (22)
9. Netherlands 6, 5, 4 (15)
10. Germany 5, 5, 2 (12)
11. Canada 5, 4, 8 (17)
12. Hungary 3, 3, 2 (8)
13. Romania 3, 3, 1 (7)
14. Ireland 3, 0, 3 (6)
15. New Zealand 2, 4, 1 (7)
16. Sweden 2, 3, 2 (7)
17. Ukraine 2, 1, 3 (6)
18. Croatia 2, 1, 1 (4)
19. Belgium 2, 0, 3 (5)
20. Hong Kong 2, 0, 2 (4)
T21. Azerbaijan 2, 0, 0 (2)
T21. Philippines 2, 0, 0 (2)
T21. Serbia 2, 0, 0, 2)
24. Brazil 1, 4, 5 (10)
T25. Israel 1, 4, 1 (6)
T25. Individual Neutral Athletes 1, 3, 0 (4)
26. Spain 1, 2, 5 (8)
27. Georgia 1, 2, 1 (4)
28. Switzerland 1, 1, 4 (6)
T29. Kazakhstan 1, 1, 2 (4)
T29. South Africa 1, 1, 2 (4)
T31. Taiwan 1, 0, 2 (3)
T31. Uzbekistan 1, 0, 2 (3)
T33. Czech Republic 1, 0, 1 (2)
T33. Guatemala 1, 0, 1 (2)
T35. Algeria 1, 0, 0 (1)
T35. Argentina 1, 0, 0 (1)
T35. Chile 1, 0, 0 (1)
T35. Dominica 1, 0, 0 (1)
T35. Ecuador 1, 0, 0 (1)
T35. Norway 1, 0, 0 (1)
T35. Saint Lucia 1, 0, 0 (1)
T35. Slovenia 1, 0, 0 (1)
T35. Uganda 1, 0, 0 (1)
T44. Jamaica 0, 2, 1 (3)
T44. Mexico 0, 2, 1 (3)
T44. North Korea 0, 2, 1 (3)
47. Greece 0, 1, 4 (5)
48. Poland 0, 1, 3 (4)
T49. Kosovo 0, 1, 1 (2)
T49. Turkey 0, 1, 1 (2)
T51. Armenia 0, 1, 0 (1)
T51. Denmark 0, 1, 0 (1)
T51. Ethiopia 0, 1, 0 (1)
T51. Fiji 0, 1, 0 (1)
T51. Mongolia 0, 1, 0 (1)
T51. Tunisia 0, 1, 0 (1)
T57. India 0, 0, 3 (3)
T57. Tajikistan 0, 0, 3 (3)
T59. Dominican Republic 0, 0, 2 (2)
T59. Moldova 0, 0, 2 (2)
T61. Austria 0, 0, 1 (1)
T61. Cape Verde 0, 0, 1 (1)
T61. Cuba 0, 0, 1 (1)
T61. Egypt 0, 0, 1 (1)
T61. Grenada 0, 0, 1 (1)
T61. Indonesia 0, 0, 1 (1)
T61. Lithuania 0, 0, 1 (1)
T61. Malaysia 0, 0, 1 (1)
T61. Portugal 0, 0, 1 (1)
T61. Slovakia 0, 0, 1 (1)
2. China 19, 15, 11 (45)
3. France 12, 14, 18 (44)
4. Australia 12, 11, 8 (31)
5. Great Britain 10, 12, 15 (37)
6. South Korea 10, 7, 7 (24)
7. Japan 9, 5, 10 (24)
8. Italy 7, 10, 5 (22)
9. Netherlands 6, 5, 4 (15)
10. Germany 5, 5, 2 (12)
11. Canada 5, 4, 8 (17)
12. Hungary 3, 3, 2 (8)
13. Romania 3, 3, 1 (7)
14. Ireland 3, 0, 3 (6)
15. New Zealand 2, 4, 1 (7)
16. Sweden 2, 3, 2 (7)
17. Ukraine 2, 1, 3 (6)
18. Croatia 2, 1, 1 (4)
19. Belgium 2, 0, 3 (5)
20. Hong Kong 2, 0, 2 (4)
T21. Azerbaijan 2, 0, 0 (2)
T21. Philippines 2, 0, 0 (2)
T21. Serbia 2, 0, 0, 2)
24. Brazil 1, 4, 5 (10)
T25. Israel 1, 4, 1 (6)
T25. Individual Neutral Athletes 1, 3, 0 (4)
26. Spain 1, 2, 5 (8)
27. Georgia 1, 2, 1 (4)
28. Switzerland 1, 1, 4 (6)
T29. Kazakhstan 1, 1, 2 (4)
T29. South Africa 1, 1, 2 (4)
T31. Taiwan 1, 0, 2 (3)
T31. Uzbekistan 1, 0, 2 (3)
T33. Czech Republic 1, 0, 1 (2)
T33. Guatemala 1, 0, 1 (2)
T35. Algeria 1, 0, 0 (1)
T35. Argentina 1, 0, 0 (1)
T35. Chile 1, 0, 0 (1)
T35. Dominica 1, 0, 0 (1)
T35. Ecuador 1, 0, 0 (1)
T35. Norway 1, 0, 0 (1)
T35. Saint Lucia 1, 0, 0 (1)
T35. Slovenia 1, 0, 0 (1)
T35. Uganda 1, 0, 0 (1)
T44. Jamaica 0, 2, 1 (3)
T44. Mexico 0, 2, 1 (3)
T44. North Korea 0, 2, 1 (3)
47. Greece 0, 1, 4 (5)
48. Poland 0, 1, 3 (4)
T49. Kosovo 0, 1, 1 (2)
T49. Turkey 0, 1, 1 (2)
T51. Armenia 0, 1, 0 (1)
T51. Denmark 0, 1, 0 (1)
T51. Ethiopia 0, 1, 0 (1)
T51. Fiji 0, 1, 0 (1)
T51. Mongolia 0, 1, 0 (1)
T51. Tunisia 0, 1, 0 (1)
T57. India 0, 0, 3 (3)
T57. Tajikistan 0, 0, 3 (3)
T59. Dominican Republic 0, 0, 2 (2)
T59. Moldova 0, 0, 2 (2)
T61. Austria 0, 0, 1 (1)
T61. Cape Verde 0, 0, 1 (1)
T61. Cuba 0, 0, 1 (1)
T61. Egypt 0, 0, 1 (1)
T61. Grenada 0, 0, 1 (1)
T61. Indonesia 0, 0, 1 (1)
T61. Lithuania 0, 0, 1 (1)
T61. Malaysia 0, 0, 1 (1)
T61. Portugal 0, 0, 1 (1)
T61. Slovakia 0, 0, 1 (1)
Previous reports:
It's so exciting to see Eric back in charge!
ReplyDeleteThank you!
DeleteI want to say that Hailey Van Lith and the U.S. 3-on-3 team did better than I expected.
ReplyDeleteIt's really bothering my wife that Wendy's is calling its chicken-nuggets products, "Nuggs." "I don't need a whole new way to Nugg," she just said, after a commercial promised that Wendy's would provide us a whole new way to Nugg."
ReplyDeleteLive men’s volleyball on USA Network … Team USA vs. Brazil in the quarterfinals … the Americans lead the match, 2 sets to 1, but Brazil leads the fourth set, 4-2 ...
ReplyDeleteThis is the last of the quarterfinals. Winner gets Poland on Wednesday, and the other semi will pit Italy and France.
ReplyDeleteThe Tokyo 2020 men's indoor-volleyball medalists were France (gold) and Argentina (bronze). Argentina was in Pool C with the United States in the Paris 2024 tournament, but it lost all three of its matches and failed to advance to the knockout stage. Team USA was undefeated in pool play.
ReplyDeleteNow 6-6 in the fourth set …
Super Wikipedia:
ReplyDeleteVolleyball has been part of the Summer Olympics program for both men and women consistently since 1964. ...
The volleyball Olympic tournament was originally a simple competition, whose format paralleled the one still employed in the World Cup: all teams played against each other team and then were ranked by number of wins, set average and point average. One disadvantage of this round-robin system is that medal winners could be determined before the end of the games, making the audience lose interest in the outcome of the remaining matches.
To cope with this situation, the competition was split into two phases: a "final round" was introduced, consisting of quarterfinals, semifinals and finals. Since its creation in 1972, this new system has become the standard for the volleyball Olympic tournament, and is usually referred to as the "Olympic format" ...
Team USA 12, Brazil 11 ...
ReplyDeleteMen's tournament history from super Wikipedia:
ReplyDeleteThe first two editions of the volleyball Olympic tournament were won by the Soviet Union team. Bronze in 1964 and silver in 1968, Japan won gold in 1972. In 1976, the introduction of a new offensive skill, the back row attack, helped Poland win the competition over the Soviets in a very tight five-setter.
In 1980, many of the strongest teams in men's volleyball belonged to the Eastern Bloc, so the American-led boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympics did not have as great an effect on these events as it had on the women's. The Soviet Union collected their third Olympic gold medal with a 3–1 victory over Bulgaria. With a Soviet-led boycott in 1984, the United States confirmed their new volleyball leadership in the Western World by sweeping smoothly over Brazil in the finals. In that edition a minor nation, Italy, won their first medal, but Italy would rise to prominence in volleyball in later decades. A long-awaited confrontation between the US and Soviet volleyball teams came in the 1988 final: powerplayers Karch Kiraly and Steve Timmons pushed the United States to a second gold medal setting the issue in favor of the Americans. ...
Gold medals appear to be more evenly distributed in men's volleyball than in women's: the former Soviet Union (three titles), United States (three) and Brazil (three) are the only teams to have won the tournament more than once. The remaining six editions were won each by a different country. Despite having been a major force in men's volleyball since the 1990s and never missing a tournament since 1976, Italy are the only volleyball powerhouse that lack a gold medal at the Olympic Games.
So this quarterfinal at Paris 2024 is huge. Now Team USA 23, Brazil 19 ...
ReplyDeleteMatch point for the Americans ...
ReplyDeleteYES!
ReplyDeleteTeam USA is on to Wednesday's semifinals.
ReplyDeleteUSA Network commentator: "Olympic volleyball is a journey."
Wife, still hating: "Everything is a journey these days."
All-time medals leaders in indoor volleyball (men’s and women’s events combined and various Soviet Union/Russia/Russian Olympic Committee cheating iterations disregarded):
ReplyDelete1. Brazil 5 gold, 4 silver, 2 bronze (11 total)
2. United States 4, 3, 4 (11)
3. Japan 3, 3, 3 (9)
The shooting events at Paris 2024 are over, but I do hope all of those athletes are hanging out in France through Sunday, enjoying the sights are rooting on the others. I like to think that everyone arrives for the opening ceremonies and stays through the closing. This is, of course, not true, but I still go ahead and pretend that is true.
ReplyDeleteFor example, I like to imagine that Vincent Hancock is at some Paris bistro with outdoor seating, staging skeet-shooting exhibitions for customers awaiting their orders of cassoulet.
ReplyDeleteIn the last couple of Olympics, China has been cutting into Team USA's all-time leading shooting gold medals. But it's not Vincent Hancock's fault.
ReplyDeleteFor the second straight Olympics and fourth time in the last five, Vincent Hancock won gold in men's skeet. No other athlete has ever repeated as skeet gold medalist, and Hancock has now done it twice--and he's only 35.
ReplyDeleteWikipedia:
ReplyDeleteWith his gold at the 2024 Olympic Games, Hancock became one of only eight athletes in history to win four Olympic golds in the same individual event. ...
Hancock resides in Fort Worth, Texas, with his wife and two daughters. He is an owner of Northlake Shooting Sports, a youth-oriented range focused on clay shooting where he has coached fellow Olympic medalist Conner Prince. In 2024, Hancock expressed an interest in shifting attention from Olympic training to the business side of sport shooting and plans to open multiple shooting ranges in the United States, though after winning at Paris he has said he plans to compete in the 2028 games. ...
Hancock (who was born in Port Charlotte, Florida, and grew up in Eatonton, Georgia) also won silver in mixed team skeet, with Austen Smith of Keller, Texas.
ReplyDeleteFinal medals leaders in the Paris 2024 shooting competitions:
ReplyDelete1. China 5 gold, 2 silver, 3 bronze (10 total)
2. South Korea 3, 3, 0 (6)
3. United States 1, 3, 1 (5)
All-time Olympic shooting medals leaders:
1. United States 58, 34, 29 (121)
2. China 31, 18, 28 (77)
3. Italy 17, 18, 12 (47)
The old Soviet Union and Russia have been awarded shooting medals, too, but you can't take any of those seriously. They cheat like crazy. What a ridiculous way to be! You're not going to believe this, but they had everybody over to Sochi for the Winter Olympics in 2014 and had us all watch on TV and root and all of that stuff--and they still cheated!
It’s a wrap for Paris 2024 badminton, too. Viktor Axelsen, a 30-year-old from Odense, Denmark, just polished off 23-year-old Kunlavut Vitidsarn of Chonburi, Thailand, for the gold on USA Network tape delay. In spite of the final result, this must've been a thrilling event back in Thailand, as that country had never medaled in badminton before Paris 2024.
ReplyDeleteChina again dominated the medals in the sport in these Olympics, but men’s singles has become the domain of Axelsen. With Denmark's red-and-white-cross flag fluttering over his head, Axelsen just took off running with glee around Porte de La Chapelle Arena (and, for some reason, NBC elected to send someone with a handheld camera to bounce along behind him--I thought I was going to be sick). This was the second gold and third Olympic medal in a row in the event for Axelsen.
Wikipedia:
ReplyDeleteAt six years old, his father introduced him to badminton, playing the games at the Odense badminton club. He lived with his father after his parents divorced, and then lived alone in Copenhagen at the age of 17 and joined the national team. His father ran a small advertising agency for a number of years, but now works full time as a manager for his son. His mother has a shop in central Odense with a hairdressing salon, cosmetics, and fashion clothing. ...
In August 2021 Axelsen decided to leave the Danish national team in Copenhagen and move with his family from Denmark to Dubai. There he could train at the NAS Sports Complex (Nad Al Sheba Sports Complex). Axelsen himself stated several reasons for the move to Dubai; for instance shorter travel time to most events in Asia, which allows him more remaining time to rest or warm-up. Another reason was the health factor since he suffers from asthma and acute rhinitis. This makes it more comfortable in Asia than in Europe, especially Denmark, which tends to be cooler and where his allergy can be triggered faster by things such as flower pollen, dust, or animal dander.
All-time Olympic badminton medals leaders:
ReplyDelete1. China 22, 15, 15 (52)
2. Indonesia 8, 6, 8 (22)
3. South Korea 7, 8, 7 (22)
Wikipedia: "The 1972 Summer Olympics saw the inaugural staging of badminton, as a demonstration sport. Two decades later the sport was officially introduced to the Olympics in 1989, and debuted in competition at the 1992 Games.”
And, yet, the United States still has never won an Olympic medal in the sport, and it didn’t come close at Paris 2024. The Team USA competitors in men’s singles, men’s doubles, women’s doubles and mixed doubles won exactly zero of their 12 matches in these Olympics, which makes the performance of Beiwen Zhang positively Bilesesque ...
ReplyDeleteThe 34-year-old who lives in Las Vegas entered the Paris 2024 tournament at No. 9 in the Badminton World Federation rankings. She won both of her Group K matches to advance to the round of 16 before losing to Spain’s Carolina Marin (who ended up losing the bronze-medal match) ...
ReplyDeleteFour points from Beiwen Zhang's Wikipedia page that intrigue me:
ReplyDelete1. "Zhang was born in China and moved to Singapore at the age of 13 in 2003, under the Foreign Sports Talent Scheme, and played with the Singapore National Team until 2012."
2. "In 2011, her contract with the Singapore Badminton Association (SBA) was not renewed after a reported falling out with then-singles head coach Luan Ching over a curfew."
3. "In 2013, Zhang moved to Las Vegas with her parents and continued playing the sport."
4. "In 2016, Zhang started to compete in the Danish Badminton League, for Vendsyssel Elite Badminton."
It's getting late in Madisonville (and up into the Tuesday morning in Paris), so I'm going to confine my Wikipedia-ing here to only the first of those curiosities:
ReplyDeleteThe Foreign Sports Talent Scheme (FST), initially known as Project Rainbow, was a scheme used by sports officials and organisations in Singapore to scout and facilitate the migration of non-Singaporeans deemed to possess sports talent to play in Singapore colours in sporting events. ...
As of November 2009, 4.6 per cent, or 39 athletes, of the total number of national athletes in Singapore are foreigners who are brought in through the scheme. The majority of the foreign sports talent are 19 for badminton and 11 for table tennis.
The achievement of Singapore's women's table tennis team in winning a silver medal at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, the country's first Olympic medal since 1960, reignited debate over the Foreign Sports Talent Scheme. Some critics said that the Singapore Table Tennis Association (STTA) has relied too much on it, as the team comprised three China-born players, Feng Tianwei, Li Jiawei and Wang Yuegu.
A day earlier, STTA president Lee Bee Wah had said: "It doesn't mean that we should look at them [foreign-born table tennis players] differently because they're not born and brought up in Singapore. The important thing is that they have embraced Singapore and want to be a part of it. And they wanted so badly to win a medal for our country. We should not be harping on where they are born. I hope mindsets change." In addition, during his Mandarin National Day Rally speech on 17 August, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said: ...
And the Wikipedia page on Singapore's Foreign Sports Talent Scheme/Project Rainbow just scrolls on and on.