Doping
I wrote only yesterday that I see no point in commenting any further on doping among Russian athletes. But then I woke up to this “breaking news” on CBS This Morning:
[D]oping expert Thomas Hoberman, who is based at the University of Texas, believed the IOC chose not to ban the entire Russian team because Russian President Vladimir Putin spent more than $50 billion on the Sochi Olympics, a record amount.
Except that there’s nothing breaking or newsworthy about this expert’s insight.
After all:
Putin and his cronies used the $51-billion Sochi Olympics as an egregious kickback scheme. Nothing betrays this fact quite like Sochi already looking like a crumbling, desolate North-Korean settlement just weeks after the end of the Games.
(“Prokhorov, Russian Owner of NBA Nets, Exposed,” The iPINIONS Journal, March 26, 2014)
And:
Putin probably has each IOC member on videotape accepting millions in bribes to award Russia the Sochi Olympics. If so, it would amount to professional suicide for the IOC to defy/betray him in this spectacular fashion.
(“Clarion Call to Ban All Russian Athletes from Rio Olympics for Doping,” July 18, 2016)
Enough said?
Swimming
With that off my chest, it had to have been the most anticipated race of these Games: A London 2012 rematch between Michael Phelps of the USA and Chad le Clos of South Africa in the Men’s 200m Butterfly. Recall that le Clos shocked the world when he won that race by his fingernails. And he has seized every opportunity since to rub it in Phelps’s face.
Well, here’s to Phelps’s redemption – as if he needed it.
- Michael Phelps of the USA won gold in 1:53.36; Masato Sakai of Japan, silver; and Tamas Kenderisi of Hungary, bronze.
That’s right; le Clos did not even make the podium. Having placed a disappointing 4th, he’ll be heading back to South Africa, with his tail between his legs, to eat a whole lot of humble pie.
Incidentally, in my Day 2 commentary, I hailed Katie Ledecky as the latest female Michael Phelps. Therefore, I would be remiss not to acknowledge that she is actually living up to that acclaim with a spectacular swim in the Women’s 200m Freestyle.
- Katie Ledecky of the USA won gold in 1:53.73; Sarah Sjostrom of Sweden, silver; Emma MCKeon of Australia, bronze.
In fact, Ledecky is competing with Katinka Hosszu of Hungary for acclaim as the most decorated female competitor at these Games.
Speaking of Hosszu, in my Day 1 commentary, I insinuated that her swimming at these Games seems as fueled by performance-enhancing drugs as Marion Jones’s running at Sydney 2000 turned out to be.
After cruising to victory in the Women’s 400m Individual Medley on Day 1, and again in the Women’s 100m Backstroke on Day 2, she continued her dominating ways tonight in the Women’s 200m Individual Medley.
- Katinka Hosszu of Hungary won gold and set a new Olympic Record in 2:06.58; Siobhan-Marie O’Connor of Great Britain, silver; and Madeline Dirado of the USA, bronze.
What’s more, NBC analyst Rowdy Gaines insisted that she would have won gold in the Women’s 200m Butterfly too. But Hosszu started tongues wagging this morning when she failed to show up for the preliminary round. The media are still trying to determine why.
Gaines, who won three gold medals in Swimming at Los Angeles 1984, speculated that she decided to forego gold in this event to ensure gold in the 200m Individual medley. But this makes about as much sense as Michael Phelps deciding to forego gold in one event at Beijing 2008 to ensure gold in another, and being satisfied with seven instead of his record-breaking eight gold medals.
Interestingly enough, Gaines also speculated that Phelps would forego gold in tonight’s Men’s 4x200m Relay to ensure gold in the 200m Butterfly. He did not, and raised his Olympic haul to 21 golds.
- Team USA (with Conor Dwyer, Francis Haas, Ryan Lochte, and Michael Phelps) won gold in 7:00.66; Team Great Britain, silver; Team Japan, bronze.
Frankly, I suspect Hosszu was just trying limit media scrutiny about her enhanced performance; scrutiny that increases with each improbable win. Alas, only time will tell if my insinuation about her jonesing was justified.
Never mind that her muscle-bound husband/coach is already imputing guilt by relationship. I urge you to watch one of Hosszu’s races; because he’s truly something to behold.
He seems to think fans are more interested in watching his roid-rage antics in the stands than her (allegedly) drug-fueled swims in the pool.
In fact, fans at every meet invariably complain about his “violent behavior.” Yet one can hardly blame him; after all, NBC covers him almost as much during her races.
Except that it was this coverage that compelled me to wonder if Hosszu developed her sudden speed the way he developed his antic rage. Especially as I listened to NBC commentator Dan Hicks credit him as:
The guy responsible for turning his wife into a whole different swimmer.
If that isn’t an unwitting insinuation of doping, I don’t know what is. Yet the only thing Hicks has been forced to clarify is its plainly sexist implication.
Equestrian
I appreciate that many of you don’t know Dressage from corsage. And I lost much of my fondness for horse riding years ago after my horse, forebodingly named Spectre, threw me and I nearly broke my neck. I know: you’re supposed to get right back on. But images of a paralyzed Christopher Reeve proved too inhibiting.
Nevertheless, I really enjoy watching Eventing, which includes Dressage, Cross Country, and Jumping. But I enjoy watching Polo too. It is not an Olympic sport, however. And, for the same reason, I don’t think Eventing should be: it’s a rich man’s sport.
More to the point, success depends almost as much on the nature of the horse as it does on the skill of the rider. The mere fact that one has to be rich or have a patron to participate makes a mockery of the egalitarian spirit of the Olympics.
This in part is why I argued in my Day 1 commentary that, instead of adding sports, like Golf, the IOC should get rid of some, like Equestrian.
That said, given how much I enjoyed watching, I feel obliged to acknowledge that the first medals were awarded today. They came in Eventing Team Jumping:
- Team France won gold; Team Germany, silver; Team Australia, bronze.
Gymnastics
I could heap no higher praise on the USA women’s team than to hail it as heir apparent to the once-dominant Romanian women’s team – as I did in my Day 2 commentary. I also wrote that the only thing worth commenting on for the rest of these Games is its medal haul.
Accordingly, here is how this team fared tonight in the Women’s Team event:
- Team USA won gold by a record margin; Team Russia, silver; and Team China, bronze.
This is the first USA team (women or men) to win back-to-back gold. And now its members will pursue individual gold and glory in the All-Around and Event finals.
Meanwhile, the USA men’s team duly vindicated my decision to ignore them:
While the United States women remain a shining example of gymnastics in their sport, the men continue to fall short of the global elite.
After an inconsistent Sunday, the United States men’s gymnastics team couldn’t rally to medal during the final competition on Monday.
The U.S. has not medaled in men’s team gymnastics since the 1996 Games in Atlanta, and haven’t won gold since 1984 in Los Angeles.
(CBS, August 9, 2016)
They placed 5th.
Table Tennis
I thought I was pretty good at Table Tennis. But watching these Olympians (men and women) play made me realize that my game is to tricycle as theirs is to bicycle (if not motorbike).
China dominates Table Tennis the way it dominates Diving; so much so that the best players on many other teams, including Team USA, are of Chinese descent.
But a little suspense is afoot. Because Ai Fukuhara of Japan is poised to disrupt China’s dominance in Women’s Table Tennis at the Games the way David Boudia of the USA disrupted its dominance in Men’s Diving at London 2012.
In fact, she’s rolling over players like no Chinese player ever has. I watched her dispatch Feng Tianwei of Singapore in four-straight games today to continue her remarkable streak of matches without losing a single game.
She faces a Chinese player in semifinal 2 tomorrow, and would likely face another Chinese player if she continues on to the final tomorrow night. Go Ai!
Water Polo
You’d be forgiven for thinking that the Marathon, Triathlon or Cycling Road Race is the most grueling Olympic sport. But Water Polo must be a bona fide contender.
Players must not only have the stamina those sports demand (with non-stop swimming or treading water), but also be able to take the physical blows sports like Boxing, Wrestling, and Judo inflict. And the women seem every bit as durable and physical as the men.
Like Basketball, Soccer, and Volleyball, which have preliminary rounds and single elimination, medals in this sport will be awarded over the last days of these Games.
MEDAL COUNT: USA – 26; China – 17; Japan – 14