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The second week proved the schedule masters knew what they were doing. Who found track and field events slightly more dramatic than swimming? Combine that with the finals in the team sport competitions (water polo, handball, field hockey, volleyball, basketball, and world football/soccer) and you have a fun-filled final week, marred only by the American coverage of the events courtesy of NBC and its affiliate networks. What follows is a brief look at a few highlights and lowlights of the second week in London.
Sunday, August 5: In athletics, Usain Bolt of Jamaica clobbered the men's 100-meter field with a 9.63 time, third fastest in history. He holds the world record as well. Skepticism of Jamaican sprinters and the possible use of PEDs, though denied by the sprinters themselves Lance Armstrong style, continues. In the women's 400-meter, USA's Sanya Richards-Ross won gold in 49.55 seconds. Iran's Hamid Soryan won gold in 55 kg wrestling, virtually assuring himself of celebrity, if not fortune, on the homefront. Great Britain's Ben Ainslie won his fourth consecutive gold medal in finn sailing. Impressive.
In the most predictable result on Sunday, an Ethiopian and a Kenyan finished one-two in the women's marathon. Only slightly less predictable was China capturing gold in men's singles and doubles badminton. In the biggest surprise, Great Britain's Andy Murray defeated all-time great Roger Federer of Switzerland in men's tennis singles, 3-0 (6-2, 6-1, 6-4), in a match that took less than two hours. Perhaps Federer is saving himself for the U. S. Open. Perhaps Murray's work ethic is finally paying off. Perhaps Roger just had a bad day.
The most interesting event of Sunday had to be the men's 3000-meter steeplechase, where competitors ran, jumped hurdles, and jumped atop walls before landing in a pool of water. Kenyans captured gold and bronze. Terrific!
Monday, August 6: Best remembered as a Reagan-era military victory of moral, if not strategic, significance, Grenada claimed its first gold medal when Kirani James out-paced the Dominican Republic' Luguelin Santos (silver) and Trinidad and Tobago's Lalonde Gordon (bronze) in the men's 400-meter run. In the women's pole vault, USA's Jenn Suhr took the gold with a vault of 15 feet, 7 inches. She defeated Cuba's Yarisley Silva on less misses, and two-time defending champion Yelena Isinbayeva of Russia, who only cleared 15 feet, 5 inches. The event again displayed the athletic progress of women, for there was a time in the not too distant past when women were considered too physically weak to ever consider a pole vault event. Of course, those who considered them weak were aging patriarchs of the IOC.
In team equestrian, Great Britain captured the gold in front of an ecstatic crowd. The Netherlands took silver and Saudi Arabia took bronze.
Embarrassing events included USA's win over Canada in a women's soccer semifinal, 4-3, thanks to some dubious officiating, and USA's 29-point drubbing of Argentina in group competition.
Tuesday, August 7: Again, the home team, Great Britain, shined in cycling, as Chris Hoy won his sixth lifetime gold medal with a victory in keirin cycling. The host nation won its seventh gold out of ten track cycling events of 2012.
In the men's 1500, Taoufik Makhioufi of Algeria won gold, while Robert Harting of Germany took the gold in the men's discus. In the men's high jump, Ivan Ukhov captured the gold over Erik Kynard of the USA with a jump of 7 feet, 9 3/4 inches. In the women's 100 hurdles, Sally Pearson of Australia took the gold, while Alistair Brownlee of Great Britain took the gold in the men's triathlon.
In team dressage, an equestrian event that is the rough equivalent of watching grass grow to casual onlookers, Great Britain grabbed another gold to cheers from those in the crowd still awake at the awards ceremony.
In windsurfer sailing, Dorian van Rijsselberge of the Netherlands and Marina Alabau Neira of Spain won gold for the men and women, respectively.
The most predictable gold medal of the day went to China's duo for doubles table tennis.
In unwatchable events, artistic gymnastics and synchronized swimming awarded several gold medals.
Wednesday, August 8: In a nice twist, Allyson Felix of the USA beat Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce of Jamaica in the women's 200-meter sprint. In the women's long jump, American Brittney Reese beat Russian Elena Sokolova with a jump of 23 feet, 4 1/2 inches.
Other highlights of the day included Aries Merritt of the USA taking gold in the men's 110-meter hurdles, Natalya Antyukh of Russia taking gold in the women's 400-meter hurdles. Additionally, Kerri Walsh Jennings and Misty May-Treanor of the USA captured their third career gold medal in women's beach volleyball.
In another non-surprise, Steve Guerdat of Switzerland took gold in the men's individual equestrian jumping event. And China took gold in men's doubles table tennis.
In lowlights, Croatia pummeled the USA in a men's water polo quarterfinal match, 8-2, and Italy slammed the USA, 3-0, in a men's indoor volleyball quarterfinal contest.
Thursday, August 9: In the 200-meter sprint, Usain Bolt of Jamaica won going away in a time of 19.32 seconds to become the first man in Olympic history to be a repeat winner in both the 100- and 200-meter sprints. His attitude matches his speed. In the men's decathlon, American Ashton Eaton won the gold. Fellow American Trey Hardy took the silver to create the first USA 1-2 finish in that event since 1956, when America really was the greatest and richest country on the planet. Christian Taylor of the USA won the men's triple jump gold medal with a combined jumps total of 58 feet, 5 1/4 inches, while David Rudisha of Kenya took gold in the men's 800-meter run with a world record time of 100.91 seconds. In the women's javelin, Barbora Spotakova of the Czech Republic took the gold medal, out-hurling two Germans in the process.
In women's water polo, USA beat Spain for the gold, 8-5. In women's world football/soccer, the USA beat Japan for the gold, 2-1, before putting on another media-friendly obnoxious victory celebration. Great Britain fattened its medals coffers with a gold and a bronze in the women's individual dressage competition at the equestrian arena.
Friday, August 10: The USA women's 400-meter relay team set a world record of 40.82 seconds to capture the gold in front of the Jamaican team. Turkey's Asli Cakir Alptekin won the women's 1500-meter run, giving her country its first track and field gold medal. Renaud Lavillenie of France jumped 19 feet, 7 inches to take the gold in the men's pole vault event. The Bahamas team captured gold in the men's 4x400-meter relay, beating the makeshift USA team diminished by injury to two of its stars.
In the least surprising results of the day, a Russian won the women's hammer throw and Ethiopians captured gold and bronze in the women's 5000-meter run (to nobody's surprise, a Kenyan took the silver).
In women's field hockey, the Netherlands beat Argentina for the gold, while Great Britain took the bronze.
Saturday, August 11: The biggest surprise of the day was Mexico upending Brazil, 2-1, to win the gold medal in men's world football/soccer. Jamaica, anchored by wunderkind Usain Bolt, won the men's 4x100-meter relay, setting a new world record of
In team sport's competition, USA trounced France, 86-50, in women' s basketball to take the gold, while the favored American women were upset by Brazil in the indoor volleyball final, 3-1.
Even after ten days of viewer conditioning (and air conditioning during the West's major heatwave), certain sports remained unwatchable. Rhythmic gymnastics are the worst of the prissy sports, though synchronized swimming and synchronized diving aren't far behind. On the other end of the spectrum, weightlifting, wrestling, and women's boxing are only appealing if you enjoy watching elbow joints blow out, men appear to be engaging in West Hollywood sex acts, and cuts and welts collect on female faces. I don't.
Another low point was the USA women's soccer team perform another rehearsed celebration after winning the gold medal match against Japan. The t-shirts they quickly threw on commenting about their "greatness" was another chapter in "The Ugly American" book for non-American spectators and viewers. Note to the soccer team: humility is a virtue. Even LeBron and Kobe did the right thing in press conferences after clutching the men's basketball team for Team USA. [UNDER CONSTRUCTION...TO BE CONTINUED]
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