1. United States 30 gold, 38 silver, 35 bronze (103 total)
2. China 29, 25, 19 (73)
3. Australia 18, 14, 13 (45)
4. France 14, 19, 21 (54)
5. Great Britain 13, 17, 21 (51)
6. South Korea 13, 8, 7 (28)
7. Japan 13, 7, 13 (33)
8. Netherlands 11, 6, 8 (25)
9. Italy 10, 11, 9 (30)
10. Germany 9, 8, 5 (22)
Previous reports:
Yesterdaywise, that men's basketball game must've been something. Per the Yahoo Sports AM newsletter, "this is the most fun I've had in a very long time," said Steph Curry, and, ""I'm really humbled to have been a part of this game," said Steve Kerr.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, yes, the newsletter producers are in their 30s.
Meanwhile, switching platforms, I plan to sit down at various points over the course of today to check out David Aldridge's big Athletic history of breaking, which debuts today at Paris 2024.
ReplyDeleteSo The New York Times bought The Athletic? I missed that (assuming it's true). I just saw the domain in the URL.
Live women's round-robin breaking on E ... B-girl Logistix of Team USA blasts B-girl Raygun of Australia in a unanimous decision ...
ReplyDeleteNow Japan's B-girl AMI vs. Italy's B-girl Ant ... one of the E commentators pointed out that a big key in breaking is to appear confident and intentional in what you're doing; you don't want to seem as though you're struggling to figure out your next move ... no small challenge, given that the breaking competitors don't know what song they're dancing to until they get on stage ... Ant is my choice here; she's a tremendous athlete ... alas, Ami was the winner on 17 of 18 judges' ballots, so that's a huge, huge win in Group C ...
ReplyDeleteMorocco's B-girl Elmamouny and China's B-Girl Ying Zi ... got to root for Elmamouny here; China was back within one gold medal of Team USA in the overall standings going into Day 14 ... E commentator imagines this is the first time Morocco and China have met head-to-head on a breaking stage ... "Yes, this is amazing," notes the other commentator ... OK, I clearly don't know what's going on here (huge shocker); I thought Elmamouny was the best dancer we'd seen so far, in terms of graceful transitions from move to move ... but the judges go 18-0 for Ying Zi ...
ReplyDeleteJapan's B-girl Ayumi vs. Ukraine's B-girl Stefani ... OK, Stefani is great; if she doesn't win here, I know nothing about breaking ... OH, MY GOSH! ... Ayumi 10, Stefani 8 ... well, that was the closest round-robin matchup I've seen so I feel a little vindicated, anyway ...
ReplyDeleteUkraine's B-girl Kate vs. France's B-girl Carlota ... "The presentation of your ideas is really important," notes an E commentator ... to which, my wife remarks, "Isn't the whole thing the presentation of your ideas?" ... now this is, of course, a valid point, but I've got a feeling it's just the start of an increasingly cynical third commentary to my specific broadcast of the women's breaking round robin ... I'm fortunate these women don't wear the same uniforms that the competitors wear in women's beach volleyball ... Kate 15, Carlota 3 ... both my daughter and I are perplexed by this judging ...
ReplyDeleteNow Group A ... China's B-girl 671 vs. Team USA B-Girl Sunny ... 671, the commentator tells us, is "known for explosive power moves" ... "A lot of this competition is mockery or attacking your opponent--either their character or their moves. But at the end of the day, it's all love." ... 671 16, Sunny 2 ... sadly, that feels correct ...
ReplyDeleteTeam Lithuania's Nicka vs. Team USA's Logistix ... so we've moved on to the second round of round-robin competition ... also, it's not that there are 18 judges; it's that there are nine judges, who each score each of the two rounds of a given competition, and then scores are all added up ... Nicka 13, Logistix 5 ... this was a total ripoff deal ...
ReplyDeleteAustralia's B-girl Raygun vs. France's B-girl Syssy ... "they are playing some bangers," one of the E commentators notes of the music; this particular song features North Carolina prominently in the chorus ... Syssy 18, Raygun 0 ...
ReplyDeleteMy ranking of the judged Olympic sports (none of which would be in the Olympics with an IOC of all me):
ReplyDelete1. Gymnastics
2. Skateboarding
3. Surfing
4. Breaking
5. Artistic swimming
6. Equestrian
7. Diving
By the way, I was nosing around Peacock this morning and happened on the third round of the women's golf tournament just in time to see a Team USA competitor roll in a 25-or-30-foot putt for eagle to move into a four-way tie for the lead at 7-under. How lucky was that!
ReplyDeleteJapan's B-girl Ami vs. Morocco's B-girl Elmamouny ... "You can't stay in any one world too long; you've got to show variety" ... I think Elmamouny is an outstanding dancer, but apparently the commentator's underlying criticism is apparently Elmamouny's limitation ... Ami 18, Elmamouny 0 ...
ReplyDeleteChina's Ying Zi vs. Italy's Anti ... "strong freezes" are a big deal in the judging, apparently ... interestingly, the first-round scores appear on a scoreboard visible to the competitors before they start breaking in the second rounds of a given competition, so apparently that helps them make strategic choices ...Ying Zi 16, Anti 2 ...
ReplyDeleteOK, well, I think I get the gist of this. I think we all get the gist of this. Breaking's fine. I may or may not read David Aldridge's story.
ReplyDeleteI will say that. if an IOC of me caved to the judged-sports people and had breaking in our Olympics, I would schedule it in the same late-night slots as beach volleyball--maybe putting one in the first week, the other in the second. Something like that. This would be a lot more fun with athletes from other sports in the stands supporting the B-girls and B-boys from their countries. Snoop Dogg is at this event, and that helps. Though Snoop Dogg is at so many things that I'm starting to think he's an AI Snoop Dogg like the AI Al Michaels who is doing daily recaps for Peacock.
ReplyDeleteI will also say that, if you were introduced to breakdancing as so many of us in Generation X by 1980s MTV videos, you grew up with the (mistaken) impression that breakdancers who were better than all of these Olympics people could be found on any street corner in New York and Los Angeles at any hour of the day. Consequently, I find myself a little nonplussed by the performances, which is silly, of course. These are (somewhat) extemporaneous dances performed live, as opposed to wholly choreographed dances fine-tuned in take after take. But I think this is one of the key reasons that this sport is not going to quite immediately blow up in the way that NBC might be hoping in commissioning Snoop Dogg to come in and validate the whole affair.
ReplyDeleteWell, this broadcast continues to merit comment. One E commentator just said that the "motto" of breaking is, "Peace, Love, Unity and Having Fun;" to which, the other E commentator then said that the "mantra" of breaking is, "Hip-Hop All Day."
ReplyDelete"This is a great sport," says my daughter.
ReplyDeleteCrushing. Neither Bgirl Sunny nor B-girl Logistix advanced to the quarterfinals, eliminating Team USA from first-ever medal contention in women's breaking.
ReplyDeleteThere are three rounds per match in the quarterfinals, which means, of course, that stamina is a big deal later into the competition. And the entire competition is today--round robin, quarters, semi and medal finals. So it's going to be a day's work at the ol' Place de la Concorde in downtown Paris.
ReplyDeleteThe fix apparently is not in. First quarterfinalist eliminated is France's B-girl Syssy, by Japan's Ami, which surprised both the E commentators and all three viewers in my house.
ReplyDeleteNow we have B-girl India from the Netherlands (tricky) against B-girl Ayumi from Japan ... India finishes her third round with a whole slew of athletic flips and turns ... she's only 16; she wears braces on her teeth ... Ayumi is 41 ... the judges gave Ayumi the first round, but then India's second- and third-round routine emphasized her athleticism--and the judges rewarded her with wins in both rounds ... on to the semis for India of the Netherlands ...
ReplyDeleteB-girl 671 of China over B-girl Kate of Ukraine in the second quarterfinal ...
ReplyDeletePlace de la Concorde, per Wikipedia:
ReplyDelete... is the largest square in the French capital. It is located in the city's eighth arrondissement, at the eastern end of the Champs-Élysées ...
The square was originally designed to be the site of an equestrian statue of King Louis XV, commissioned in 1748 by the merchants of Paris, to celebrate the recovery of King Louis XV from a serious illness. The site chosen for the statue was the large esplanade, or space between the revolving gate, the Tuileries Garden and the Cour-la-Reine, a popular lane for horseback riding at the edge of the city. At the time, the Concorde bridge and the Rue de Rivoli did not exist, and the Rue Royale was a muddy lane that descended down to a marsh beside the Seine.
The architect Ange-Jacques Gabriel made a plan for the site and the square was finished by 1772. It was in the form of an octagon, bordered by a sort of moat twenty meters wide, crossed by stone bridges, and surrounded by a stone balustrade. At the eight corners Gabriel placed stone stairways to descend into the square, which was divided into flowerbeds. In the center of the gardens was the pedestal on which the statue stood. The statue, by Edmé Bouchardon, depicted the King on horseback as the victor of the Battle of Fontenoy, dressed as a Roman general, with a laurel wreath on his head. On the four corners of the pedestal, designed by Jean Chalgrin, are bronze statues by Jean-Baptiste Pigalle, depicting the virtues of great monarchs; Force, Justice, Prudence, and Peace.
The statue was dedicated on 20 June 1763, but by this time the King had lost much of his popularity. A few days after its dedication, someone hung a placard on the statue, proclaiming: "Oh, the beautiful statue! Oh, the fine pedestal! The Virtues are under the feet, and Vice is in the saddle!" ...
B-girl Nicka of Lithuania over China's B-Girl Ying Li to advance to the semis ...
ReplyDeleteBeginning in 1789, the square was a central stage for the events of the French Revolution. On 13 July 1789, a mob came to the Hôtel de la Marine and seized a store of weapons, including two old cannon, gifts from the King of Siam, which fired the first shots during the storming of the Bastille on 14 July 1789. On 11 August 1792, the statue of Louis XV was pulled down and taken to a foundry, where it was melted down. A few months later, a new statue, "Liberty", by the sculptor François-Frédéric Lemot, took its place; it was a figure wearing a red liberty cap and holding a lance. The Place Louis XV ("Louis XV Square") became the Place de la Revolution ("Revolution Square"). ...
ReplyDeleteFirst semifinal: Japan's B-girl Ami vs. Netherlands' B-girl India ... nearing 9 p.m. in Paris, so we are going to have something of a late-night crescendo here ... last sun is glowing; sunset is 9:16 in Paris tonight ... "without the DJs, we are nothing," comments one of the E guys; I've recognized parts of almost every song but not one full song, but the commentators have noted many times that the songs have been "classic bangers" ... I haven't a clue, of course, who is doing better than the other in any of these dance-offs or break-offs or whatever these are called, but they certainly are compelling ... Japan's Ami advances and will compete for a medal ...
ReplyDeleteIn October 1792, the first executions by guillotine in the square took place. The two people who were executed were thieves who had stolen the royal crown diamonds from the Hotel de la Marine. On 21 January 1793, King Louis XVI was executed there, followed in the same year on 16 October by Queen Marie Antoinette. As the Reign of Terror commenced, the guillotine was set up again on 11 May 1793, midway between the Statue of Liberty and the turning bridge at the entrance to the Tuileries Garden, and remained there for thirteen months. Of the 2,498 persons guillotined in Paris during the Revolution, 1,119 were executed on the Place de la Concorde, 73 on the Place de la Bastille and 1,306 on the Place de la Nation. Besides Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, others executed on the same site included Charlotte Corday and Madame du Barry. During the later days of the Reign of Terror in 1794, Georges Danton, Camille Desmoulins, Antoine Lavoisier, Maximilien Robespierre, and Louis de Saint-Just were executed there. The last executions, those of the Prairial riot participants, were carried out on the Place de la Concorde in May 1795.
ReplyDeleteSecond semi goes to B-girl Nicka of Lithuania over B-girl 671 of China ... Nicka is met by her mom on her way off the stage ... one of the E commentators says he sees her at all of the big competitions; that's sweet ... by the way, these individual competitions are called "battles" ...
ReplyDeleteIt was also the site of great national celebrations, including the victory celebrations of the end of the First World War and the Liberation of Paris in the Second World War. It experienced violent confrontations. A far-right demonstration in 1934 turned violent, with eleven deaths and two hundred injured. It also hosted triumphant celebrations of sporting events such as the French national team's victory in the 1998 FIFA World Cup.
ReplyDeleteOK, for the bronze, it's the Netherlands' B-Girl India against China's B-Girl 671 ... Both of the b-girls, when not dancing, have been signaling to the judges when they perceive various mistakes or repeated moves by their opponents ... "It's our duty to create movement," says one of the E commentators, who clearly are feeling the emotion of the first-ever medal decision upcoming ... The dancers seemed pretty darn testy with one another during the competition, but they hold hands and take a bow together as 671 is named the bronze-medal winner ... "They're all friends. It's all love," insists one of the commentators.
ReplyDeleteAnd now we have Japan's B-girl Ami, who I think might've was the third-seeded performer entering the event, vs. Lithuania's B-girl Nicka, who I think was second, for the gold medal (China's B-girl 671 was the top seed, if I'm deciphering NBC's data correctly) ... Nicka is competing for Lithuania's first gold medal of Paris 2024 ... "She slows down with the music. You have to show that you're listening to the music." ... Interesting. The gold-medal battle song samples "A Horse With No Name" by America." ... Gold to Japan's B-girl Ami; silver to Lithuania's B-girl Nicka ... Japanese fans in the crowd are weeping, weeping ...
ReplyDelete"This expression of dancing that we call breaking is really about community. It's really about family. It's really about love."
ReplyDeleteWell, this is really sweet.
China's up to at least 35 gold medals last night; they just won a men's weighlifting medal live on Peacock's GoldZone. Moments before, Team USA just missed gold in women's rock climbing and rowing of some sort. Tough sequence for us yank medals-table watchers.
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile, Paris Expo Porte de Versailles is ready to explode with France on fourth match point for men's volleyball gold, as Poland serves ...
ReplyDeleteThat's it! France sweeps Poland to win its second straight gold medal in men's indoor volleyball. Team USA swept Italy yesterday for the bronze.
ReplyDeleteHuge get for the home team here, as it leapfrogs France ahead of Great Britain in the medals standings.
DeletePer me right now:
ReplyDelete1. China 35-27-23 (85)
2. Team USA 33-41-39 (113)
3. Australia 18-16-14 (48)
4. Japan 16-8-13 (37)
5. France 15-20-22 (57)
6. Great Britain 14-20-23 (57)
DeleteArgh! Women's bronze-medal final in women's water polo: Netherlands 11, Team USA 10. The Dutch scored the last four goals of the game, including the game winner with 1 second on the clock. Brutal.
ReplyDeleteTeam USA at Paris 2024 was striving for its fourth-straight gold medal in women's water polo. Instead, it's the first time in the history of Olympic competition in the event that the Americans failed to medal at all.
ReplyDeleteBulgaria's rhythmic-gymnastics women are live on GoldZone, gracefully hula-hooping their defense of gold. There are pensive faces among the Bulgarians in the crowd, and the five women in sequined leotards with embroidered roses do not appear happy as they leave the stage. There was a hoop drop late in the performance, and that could open the door for--you guessed it--China!, which currently leads the gold-medal final.
ReplyDeleteMen's basketball bronze-medal final: Serbia 93, Germany 83.
ReplyDeleteI've got it on mute, but Roger Goodell is in studio (the Connecticut studio, I think) on the NBC main feed.
ReplyDeleteI can only imagine that he's talking about the Dolphins' 20-13 victory over the Falcons in the NFL25 preseason opener for both teams, as, back in the United States on Friday night, Miami rookie Jaylen Wright electrified a nation with 55 rushing yards and a touchdown on 10 carries.
DeleteDiving Is the Olympic Sport for Which I Am Least Thankful™, and, for a moment both the NBC mothership and GoldZone are simulcasting China’s closing in on a sweep of the gold medals in the dozens and dozens of events contested in the discipline. Fortunately for me, whoever’s got the finger on the GoldZone button has similar enthusiasm for diving, and now we’ve moved on to a men’s +80kg taekwondo quarterfinal: Jonathan Healy of Spring, Texas vs. Cheick Sallah Cissé of Bouaké, Cote d'Ivoire ...
ReplyDeleteWelp. Team USA could've used a win here, but the Ivory Coast dude outpunched the American with his hands and feet.
DeleteIvory Coast has not medaled at Paris 2024, so I'm going to roll Cheick Sallah Cissé Nation the rest of this tournament. But I am crestfallen to see Team USA's last hope for its fourth-ever taekwondo gold has been snuffed.
ReplyDeleteWith both the Paris 2024 medals in both the men’s and women’s heaviest weight classes still to be awarded, here are the all-time Olympic medals leaders in taekwondo:
ReplyDelete1. South Korean 16 gold, 3 silver, 7 bronze (24 total)
2. China 7, 3, 5 (15)
3. United States 3, 2, 7 (12)
4. Thailand 3, 2, 3 (8)
Team USA’s lone medal winner in Paris 2024 taekwondo is Kristina Teachout, an 18-year-old from Palm Bay, Florida. Reports Wikipedia, "In Paris, she competed in the 67 kg event and defeated Magda Wiet-Hénin in the round of 16, but lost to eventual gold medal winner Viviana Márton in the quarter finals. Teachout then defeated Ruth Gbagbi in the repechage match, and advanced to the bronze medal contest where she faced Song Jie. She defeated Song and won a bronze medal."
ReplyDeleteChina comes out on GoldZone for its floor routine in rhythmic gymnastics, and, instead of hula hoops, they come out with the ribbons on sticks and reflective balls for which this sport is more known. The GoldZone crew tells us China is closing in on its first-ever gold medal in this event, and it's all smiles among the Chinese fans and competitors as the performance closes. Indeed, the judges' scores reinforce China's lead, and it'll be up to Bulgaria, Italy and Israel to execute a huge comeback if China is to be denied what I count would be its 36th overall gold medal* of Paris 2024.
ReplyDelete*Wikipedia still has China at 34 total golds, but I think Wikipedia's GoldZone feed my be on the blink.
DeleteLydia "Lyds" Ko, a 27-year-old from Seoul who competes for New Zealand, made the turn in the final round of the women's golf tournament with a five-stroke lead.
ReplyDeleteGoldZone is now showing six sports at once--golf, diving, rhythmic gymnastics, handball, table tennis and water polo--and each of the rectangles on the screen are too small for me to see what's going on in any of them. But the audio feed is from the table tennis, and there we have women's doubles. Japan is threatening to upset China in the team event, and GoldZone appears to have decided this match might turn out to be key to Team USA's fading hopes of winning the overall Paris 2024 medals standings.
ReplyDeleteBulgaria will not repeat as gold medalist in rhythmic gymnastics. Italy also will not win gold. "Barring a miracle by Israel, the gold medal will go to China," says a GoldZoner, and confirmed that GoldZone is making its choices in emphasis based on Team USA chances in the overall medals standings.
ReplyDeleteOne of the stud China divers splashes his way out of medal contention, and the play-by-play commentator on that feed (probably situated in Connecticut) can hardly conceal his hope in noting, "I don't believe I've ever seen a Chinese diver melt down like that." That last sentence nearly merited an exclamation point, but he did a good enough job of tamping his rooting interest to earn the period.
ReplyDeleteThere's a long wait for judges' scores of Israel after the final rhythmic-gymnastics performance of Paris 2024, and GoldZone has gone to full-screen coverage. Israel comes through with its first-ever medal in this sport, but it's only silver. China wins gold; Italy, bronze.
ReplyDeleteBulgaria Update: Fourth place and hula-hoop heartbreak.
Wow! I am surprised to discover that "Bulgaria Month" was celebrated in June 2009, and, therefore, is part of HP prehistory, as this blog didn't launch until June 2010. Give me 14 more years, and I'll start mistaking stuff we wrote about Jack Haskins for the high-school newspaper as actually stuff for this Heath Post.
DeleteGoldZone takes a nervous survey of Team USA's dwindling hopes in the medals standings and fires up a feature previewing today's men's breaking competition. B-boy Victor, our nation turns its lonely eyes to you!
ReplyDeleteGreg Louganis is the only other man to have ever done it, and he's on hand to watch Cao Yuan, a 29-year-old from Changsha, China, attempt to win his fourth diving gold medal ... Now Greg Louganis *was* the only man to have done it. Yuan wins men's 10 metre platform, and China sweeps the eight Paris 2024 diving events ...
ReplyDeleteFinal Paris 2024 diving medals leaders:
ReplyDelete1. China 8 gold, 2 silver, 1 bronze (11 total)
2. Great Britain 0, 1, 4 (5)
T3. Mexico 0, 1, 1 (2)
T3. North Korea 0, 1, 1 (2)
Team USA’s lone medal is silver in women’s synchronized 3m springboard--way to go, 27-year-old Sarah Bacon of Indianapolis and 29-year-old Kassidy Cook of The Woodlands, Texas.
All-time diving medals leaders:
1. China 55 gold, 26 silver, 11 bronze (92)
2. United States 49, 47, 46 (142)
3. Sweden 6, 8, 7 (21)
GoldZone appears to be signing off its coverage for Paris 2024. They're bringing out various behind-the-scenes personnel. This is just like the 10 p.m. news on Channel 6 on Christmas Eves, which always made me emotional.
ReplyDeleteSports is the best!
ReplyDeleteSo are TV and the Internet.
ReplyDeleteFinal from Group A round-robin breaking live on USA Network: Team USA's B-boy Victor 15, China's B-boy Lithe-ing 3!
ReplyDeleteUSA Network, meanwhile, is showing the men's marathon (tape delay, I think), and the marathon is always a fantastic opportunity to see the city where the Olympics are taking place. Paris is fantastic to see. Did I mention that I had a client who invited me to join them on a Zoom during the pandemic for a tour around Paris with a live bicycle guide? That was so nice of that client!
ReplyDeleteGOLD! TEAM USA WOMEN'S SOCCER WINS GOLD!!!
ReplyDeleteHURRAH!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteTeam USA 1
ReplyDeleteBrazil 0
"They're back, baby!" says the Brit doing play-by-play on Channel 6.
Perfectly timed, perfectly pitched Premier League advert to Iggy Pop's "Lust for Life" plays upon first commercial break after the victory.
ReplyDeleteParis 2024 medals in women's soccer: Team USA gold, Brazil silver, Germany bronze.
ReplyDeleteI don't know enough about soccer to say who played great out in the field, but even I know the Team USA goalkeeper, 36-year-old Alyssa Naeher of Bridgeport, Connecticut, was a star. She made a leaping left-handed stab save of an on-target rocket about seven minutes into stoppage time of this game, and there was still five more minutes of action after that. One hundred two minutes of scoreless defense! It was only the second time that team was held scoreless in a women's soccer gold-medal final. Amazing!
The men’s soccer medalists were Spain (gold), France (silver) and Morocco (bronze). So that brings the all-time Olympic medals standings leaders to …
ReplyDelete1. United States 5 gold, 2 silver, 2 bronze (9 total)
2. Hungary 3, 1, 1
3. Great Britain 3, 0, 0
Paris 2024 overall, per Wikipedia:
ReplyDelete1. China 37, 27, 24 (88)
2. Team USA 34, 41, 39 (114)
3. Australia 18, 17, 14 (49)
GOLD! Masai Russell, a 24-year-old from Potomac, Maryland, who ran at the University of Kentucky, just won gold in the women's 100m hurdles!
ReplyDeleteShe finished one one-hundredth of a second over second-place Cyréna Samba-Mayela of Champigny-sur-Marne, France. That's the first athletics medal for France, and it comes in front of President Emmanuel Macron, in attendance at Stade de France. Jasmine Camacho-Quinn of Puerto Rico takes bronze.
Paris 2024 overall, per Wikipedia:
ReplyDelete1. China 37, 27, 24 (88)
2. Team USA 35, 41, 40 (116)
3. Australia 18, 17, 14 (49)
GoldZone is still happening. Apparently, that was one particular crew of GoldZoners signing off for their Paris 2024 work. Sorry for the mistake.
ReplyDeleteLive on NBC: Last four laps of the men's 5000m ... Team USA's Grant Fisher is running third-fourth-third-fourth behind two runners from Ethiopia and one from Belgium ... Norway fifth ... looming Kenyans behind them ... two laps to go ... Ethiopia-Ethiopia-Ethiopia now ... Norway fourth ... Fisher sliding back ... final lap ... NORWAY TO FIRST ... HERE COMES GRANT FISHER! ... NORWAY FIRST! Grant Fisher bronze! ... Medals: Norway gold, Kenya silver, Team USA bronze ... Grant Fisher, 37, of Grand Blanc, Michigan, becomes the first American ever to medal in both the 5000m and 10000m.
ReplyDeleteGrant Fisher is 27, not 37. Sorry.
DeleteTwenty gold medals to be awarded in the next three hours, teases GoldZone ...
ReplyDeleteParis 2024 overall, per Wikipedia:
ReplyDelete1. China 37, 27, 24 (88)
2. Team USA 35, 41, 41 (117)
3. Australia 18, 17, 14 (49)
Oh, good ... Scott Hanson tells us that Stade de France will host the closing ceremonies tomorrow. That's good news. I didn't go crazy about the opening ceremonies for any of the reasons that so many people were going crazy about it, but what I didn't care for was that the athletes from different countries were kept so separate from one another. That's always the way (at least in recent Olympics)--the athletes march in to the Olympics in groups by nation, then come into the closing ceremonies all mingled together. I think that's beautiful and correct. But what I didn't care for the Paris 2024 opening ceremonies is that the various boats that brought in the athletes per nation were even more separated than usual. I think that was probably the artist's intent, and maybe that means it was good art. But I didn't enjoy it so much, and I will be hoping to see everyone jumbled together tomorrow night.
ReplyDeleteWomen's 1500m: Faith Kipyegon, 30-year-old from Bomet, Rift Valley Province, Kenya, wins her third-straight Olympic gold in the event and breaks the Olympic record. Australia and Great Britain take silver and bronze.
ReplyDeleteMen's high jump: Shelby McEwen, a 28-year-old from Abbeville, Mississippi, is among the last four competitors. ... It's McEwen, along with athletes from Qatar, Italy and New Zealand, competing for the medals. At 2.34 meters, McEwen missed his first two tries but then cleared the bar to stay alive and become the last to advance to the competition at 2.36. ... Now he becomes the first to clear the new high! Hamish Kerr of New Zealand joins McEwen at clearing 7 feet, 9 inches ... The competitors from Qatar and Italy will have up to two more tries each at this height ... The Italian competitor misses his third try at 2.36; the Qatar passes on his third try at the height, but he gets to compete with McEwen and Kerr at 2.38 meters--but he gets only one try, while they each get up to three ... The competitor from Qatar, Mutaz Barsham, was one of two gold medalists in this event at Tokyo 2020 ... He's out! Didn't make it ... This leaves Kerr and McEwen to compete at 2.38 for gold and silver! ... McEwen will go first ... Miss ... Kerr ... Miss ... Up to two more attempts each for McEwen of Team USA and Kerr of New Zealand ... McEwen no ... Kerr no--very close ... Last try each coming for McEwen ... If they both miss, New Zealand and Team USA both get gold medals ... McEwen will go first ... No ... Either Kerr of New Zealand will get the gold, or he will share gold medals with McEwen of Team USA ... No ... In fact, he didn't even make it to the bar ... Dives under the bar ... WAIT! NO! Kerr and McEwen consult and decide to do a jumpoff for gold ...
ReplyDeleteThis happened at Tokyo 2020, and the final two competitors decided to share the total. McEwen and Kerr will now jump again at 2.38 ... Neither made it in three tries previously ...
DeleteMcEwen miss ...
DeleteKerr miss ...
DeleteThe bar now reverts to 2.36 meters ...
ReplyDeleteMcEwen no ...
DeleteKerr no ...
DeleteOh, for Pete's sake ... 2.34 ...
ReplyDeleteOK, NBC had picked up the men's high jump for a while, but now they have shifted to the men's 4x400m relay, which is about to stop ... The falling action in men's high jump is on pause ... Here we go in men's 4x400m ... Now the penultimate runners are on the track ... Team USA takes lead ... Botswana closes ... Last runners ... Team USA trying to hold off Botswana ... It's a Team USA guy, Benjamin, who won hurdles ... GOLD MEDAL TEAM USA! GOLD MEDAL!!! YESSSSSS!!!!
ReplyDeleteBack over to the men's high jump ... McEwen missed his try at 2.34, and then Kerr gets it ... Gold medal to New Zealand's Kerr, silver to McEwen ...
ReplyDeleteQatar bronze.
DeleteMen's 4x400m medals: Team USA (gold), Botswana (silver) and Great Britain (bronze). Way to go, Christopher Bailey, 24, of Atlanta; Rai Benjamin, 27, of Mount Vernon, New York; Bryce Deadmon, 27, of Missouri City, Texas, and Vernon Norwood, 32, of New Orleans!
ReplyDeleteParis 2024 overall, per Wikipedia:
ReplyDelete1. China 37, 27, 24 (88)
2. Team USA 36, 42, 41 (119)
3. Australia 18, 18, 14 (50)
OK, now live on NBC: Women's 4x400m relay ... It's the last Paris 2024 race on the track at Stade de France ... Here we go ... The first runner for Team USA is Shamier Little, whose mom played guard on the basketball team at Eastern Kentucky U in the early 1990s(!) ... Jamaica leads at the first handoff ... "Phenomenal first leg aby Shamier Little" ... Team USA blasts wayyyy ahead in the second leg ... Jamaica has stopped running! ... Team USA is seriously like a quarter of the long length of the oval ahead of the field ... Final leg for Team USA ... The lead is three sections of grandstands, as NBC expertly depicts ... GOLD FOR TEAM USA! GOLLLLLLLDDDDDDD!!!!!
ReplyDeleteWay to go, Alexis Holmes, 24, of Hamden, Connecticut; Shamier Little, 29, of Louisville(!); Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, 25, of New Brunswick, New Jersey, and Gabby Thomas, 27, of Atlanta!
DeleteAnd now we get the gold-medal game in men's basketball: Team USA vs. France. This is phenomenal. GoHeath was so right about the Paris 2024 Olympics being huge.
ReplyDeleteWe get both the U.S. and French national anthems with both teams in lines on the court at Bercy Arena, and this is stirring! The place is, of course, packed. I could never explain this in such a way to convince anyone else, but I do believe in my whole heart that this sort of thing where a bunch of humans get together in one place and have fun with one another (even if the competition gets a little heated) makes God very happy.
ReplyDeleteParis 2024 leaders, per Wikipedia:
ReplyDelete1. China 38, 27, 24 (89 total)
2. United States 37, 42, 42 (121)
3. Australia 18, 18, 14 (50)
4. Japan 18, 12, 13 (43)
That additional bronze for Team USA is courtesy of B-boy Victor! That's Victor Montalvo, a 30-year-old who was born in Orlando, Florida, to parents from Puebla, Mexico. He grew up in Kissimmee, Florida, and today he's married to B-girl Kate from Ukraine! Way to go, B-boy Victor, putting Team USA on the board in the all-time Olympic breaking medals standings:
ReplyDeleteT1. Canada 1 gold, 0 silver, 0 bronze (1 total)
T1. Japan 1, 0, 0 (1)
T3. France 0, 1, 0, (1)
T3. Lithuania 0, 1, 0 (1)
T5. China 0, 0, 1 (1)
T5. United States 0, 0, 1 (1)
So, to summarize, a first-generation U.S. citizen of Mexican heritage, who is married to a woman from Ukraine, won a bronze medal for breakdancing, at an Olympics from which invading/cheating Russia was banned from competing, on a stage installed over a site where more than 1,000 guillotine executions took place during the French Revolution.
DeleteIf you think you know what's going to happen in this world, boy, you're kidding yourself.
President Macron has moved over to Bercy Arena, and I think he has been joined there by Doug Emhoff, second gentleman of the United States!
ReplyDeleteAlso, former Washington Wizard Tyronn Lue is one of Steve Kerr's assistant coaches for Team USA!
China in a decision over Panama in a gold-medal match in women's boxing.
ReplyDelete1. China 39, 27, 24 (90)
2. United States 37, 42, 42 (121)
3. Australia 18, 18, 14 (50)
4. Japan 18, 12, 13 (43)
5. France 16, 23, 22 (61)
DeleteGOLD MEDAL, TEAM USA, IN MEN'S BASKETBALL!
ReplyDeleteNBC color commentator Dwyane Wade: "Can I just say, this is the best basketball we've ever seen being played in the world?"
ReplyDeleteTeam USA 98, France 87. Terrific game. France was terrific. Victor Wembanyama was terrific. Terrific defense and rebounding by Anthony Davis. Terrific ferocity and leadership from LeBron James. The best shooting you're ever going to see, by Steph Curry.
"The best shooter of all time," says Mike Tirico. "I know there've been a lot of great ones--none better than that guy."
Steph Curry on his shooting: "You have a lot of faith in it, and you live with the results."
DeleteTirico again: "It matters to these guys. You can see it. It matters to these guys as much as it matters to the athletes in the sports we don't pay attention to outside of the Olympics."
ReplyDeleteThat is a terrific, terrific point.
Paris 2024 overall, per Wikipedia:
ReplyDelete1. China 39, 27, 24 (90)
2. United States 38, 42, 42 (122)
3. Australia 18, 18, 14 (50)
4. Japan 18, 12, 13 (43)
5. France 16, 24, 22 (62)
A little past 1 Sunday afternoon in Paris ...
ReplyDeleteMinute to go in the bronze-medal game in women's basketball ... Australia 81, Belgium 78 ...
ReplyDeleteAustralia miss ... Belgium gets a left-corner 3 attempt ... Blocked! ... Clean block ...Out of bounds to Belgium ... Timeout, 24.6 seconds ...
ReplyDeleteThis is the indoor/5x5 kind of basketball where they have coaches ... Oh, my, not sure what happened--I've got it on mute, as the women are still asleep--but there was some sort of violation on the offense. Turnover to Australia ... Belgium fouls ... Australia makes, and that should do it ...
ReplyDeleteFinal: Australia 85, Belgium 81. The bronze medal in women's basketball goes to Australia.
ReplyDeleteThe gold-medal final--Team USA vs. France--is scheduled for 1530 Paris/8:30 a.m. northern Madisonville, Kentucky.
Meanwhile, Channel 6 about 15 minutes ago flipped the switch from an episode of The Cooking Lady to the main NBC feed from Paris Expo Porte de Versailles: Team USA vs. France for gold in women's volleyball. This is huge.
ReplyDeleteIt's Italy, not France, that Team USA is playing in women's volleyball. Sorry for my mistake.
DeleteParis 2024 overall, per Wikipedia:
ReplyDelete1. China 39, 27, 24 (90)
2. United States 38, 42, 42 (122)
3. Japan 19, 12, 13 (44)
4. Australia 18, 18, 15 (51)
5. France 16, 25, 22 (63)
Long before I've gotten to this point in any Olympics, I've remembered how unsatisfying it is for me to follow the medals table like a scoreboard. That urge is legitimate. I'm a sports fan, and this is a sports festival, and, therefore, it's completely legitimate for me to look up to the skies to the Jumbotron to see who's leading now. But down on the ground, the Olympics are giving out 350 or so gold medals for various diving events and two in basketball. It's maddening.
ReplyDeleteBut by the point I remember, I've gotten myself pretty tightly wound around the habit of following the big board, and it's too late to turn back. There were Olympics where I started driving myself crazy trying to imagine a more satisfying way to serve my way of watching the games. But, evidencing that a person can actually learn from experience and adjust behavior accordingly, I have in the last few Olympics instead just rolled with it best I could. I follow the medals standings (I prefer the sort-by-golds-then-silvers-and-so-forth approach) for what they are, and I respect the "Faster, Higher, Stronger Together" crowd and the value of their influence on me and my experience of the games. They're good for me. Without them, and with access to GoldZone, Wikipedia, Yahoo Sports AM, etc., I probably wouldn't sleep for two and a half weeks. I certainly wouldn't work.
ReplyDeleteYou might've noticed that Japan edged past Australia for third in the medal standings since we signed off last night in the USA ...
ReplyDeleteThat's because, earlier today at the Grand Palais Éphémère in Champ de Mars, Kotaro Kiyooka, a 23-year-old from Kōchi Prefecture, whipped an Iranian in the final of men's freestyle 65 kilograms and brought Japan's gold-medal total to 19 (one more than Australia).
ReplyDeleteWrestling could yield one last gold for the Japanese, as 22-year-old Yuka Kagami of Yamagata will compete for gold in just a bit. Here's her Instagram. I like the picture of her in the grocery.
Kagami's opponent in the final will be 20-year-old Kennedy Blades of Chicago ...
ReplyDeleteDang. Final: Kagami 3, Blades 1. Gold in women's 76kg goes to Japan, silver to Team USA.
ReplyDeleteInteresting match. I think could get into wrestling.
It was 0-0 for the longest time. Then Blades was flagged for passivity and given 30 seconds to score--or Kagami current world champion, would be awarded a penalty point. The GoldZone acommentators noted that Blades elected to not make some crazy move to avoid the penalty point and potentially leave herself vulnerable for a larger score by Kagami.
ReplyDeleteThe strategy seemed to work when, after falling behind 1-0 on the penalty, Blades almost immediately seized upon some unsteady step by Kagami and pushed her out of the circle for a leveling point, which actually has greater value had it come to a tiebreaker. After the first of two 3-minute periods, the bout was 1-1, with tiebreaker priority! ...
But Yuka Kagami is no joke. She's the current world champion at this class. She trains at big-deal Toyo University, and Kagami was identified as such an up-and-coming star that she was selected to bear the Japanese flag at the 2018 Summer Youth Olympics (Buenos Aires 2018!) ...
ReplyDeleteKagami seemed to simply wear down Blades in the second and final period. She's a shorter, more stout athlete than Blades, who spreads out her 168 pounds or so over 6 feet as opposed to Kagami's 5 feet, 6 inches. With about a minute to go, Kagami got leverage under Blades, pushed the American out of the circle and into a fall. That meant two points for the Japanese favorite, and Blades could never get much going in the last seconds ...
ReplyDeleteI find Blades's Wikipedia page to be fascinating:
ReplyDeleteShe and her younger sister, Korina, started taking Brazilian jiu-jitsu classes when she was four years old. She later switched to wrestling at age seven, joining a small club in the area. As there were not many girls she could wrestle against, she often trained against boys. She won several championships competing against boys, including becoming the first female to win the IKWF Illinois state title, in 2016.
Blades and her sister, also a wrestler, attended Wyoming Seminary in Pennsylvania, the first American high school to have a girls wrestling program. She said that "because there weren't any women's high school wrestling teams in the nation, we had to travel around the world to get competition" – while in high school, she competed against wrestlers from countries including Japan, Russia, Estonia, Austria and Sweden. Blades won the U.S. cadet national championship in 2018, and the U16 national championship, U17 national championship, and junior national championship in 2019.
At age 17, Blades finished runner-up at the U.S. trials for the 2020 Summer Olympics, losing to Tamyra Mensah-Stock, who went on to win the Olympic gold medal. After she graduated from high school, she joined the wrestling club Sunkist Kids in Arizona and enrolled at Arizona State University. Blades was the gold medalist at the 2021 U20 world championship and later won silver at the 2023 U23 world championship. She also won gold at the 2023 Ibrahim Moustafa Tournament. In 2024, she defeated 2020 Olympic medalist Adeline Gray at the U.S. Olympic trials, thus qualifying for the 2024 Summer Olympics.
Now, at this point in the Olympics--the last day, when we're down to just a few medal presentations, and then going back to the village dorm rooms to get our bags packed before the closing ceremonies--I convince myself that I'm going to start following the Olympics all of the time. I'm going to give up the NFL and 1977 and UK basketball and everything else and start intensely following all of the boutique competitions in Olympic sports. I'll be doing HP posts with headlines like, "2027 Ibrahim Moustafa Tournament Update" and so on, and, when we get to Los Angeles 2028, I'm going to know about all of the Kennedy Bladeses and Yuka Kagamis coming together from around the world ...
ReplyDeleteBut the truth is that by the end of this week, I'm going to have moved on from women's wrestling and redirected my HP attention to Tua or Bob Griese or Mark Pope or the tree in my front yard.
ReplyDeleteThis is good for me, too.
But I'm glad I tuned in this morning. Women's 76kg on GoldZone turned out to be a lot more interesting than women's volleyball on Channel 6. Italy beat Team USA in three straight sets, and it looked like they might've won 100 straight sets if they needed to.
ReplyDeleteTeam USA tips off for women's basketball gold in about a half hour (they really are playing France), and maybe that'll get us tied with China in gold medals. At that point, the House of Representatives would throw the whole works in favor of Team USA because we've got them clobbered in silvers.
ReplyDeleteParis 2024 overall, per Wikipedia:
ReplyDelete1. China 40, 27, 24 (91)
2. Team USA 39, 44, 42 (125)
3. Japan 20, 12, 13 (45)
4. Australia 18, 19, 16 (53)
5. France 16, 25, 22 (63)
China's extra gold since our last update came from Li Wenwen, a 24-year-old from Anshan, Liaoning, in women's +87 kg weightlifting. That result just about threw me into despair until I saw Channel 6 put on women's omnium cycling. Ah, there's our old friend, 29-year-old Jennifer Valente of San Diego, California. GOLD! The first U.S. woman to ever win a gold medal in track cycling, at Tokyo 2020, did it again at Paris 2024--GOLD in women's omnium! Amazing.
ReplyDeleteParis 2024 has now awarded 328 of its 329 gold medals. Women's basketball will be No. 329 ...
ReplyDelete