Athletics
Things started with the men’s pole vault final on Friday. Brad Walker skipped the 5.50m height but then went 0-3 at the 5.65 meter height to finish in 13th with no mark in the final.
In the women’s 4x400m relay 1st round the US put up a time of 3:22.09 in the 2nd heat which was the best of the round. The US has now qualified for Saturday’s final. The team on Friday consisted of Keshia Baker, Francena McCorory, Diamond Dixon and DeeDee Trotter.
In the men’s 4x100m relay 1st round the US set a national record with a time of 37.38 and were the fastest in the round by .01 seconds over Jamaica. Things will be different tomorrow when Usain Bolt steps into the team, but the US will have a stronger team as well. The 1st round team consisted of Jeffery Demps, Darvis Patton, Trell Kimmons and Justin Gatlin.
In the women’s 5000m final Molly huddle finished in 11th (15:20.29) while Julie Culley finished 14th (15:28.22).
Next in the women’s 4x100m relay the US team of Tianna Madison, Allyson Felix, Bianca Knight, and Carmelita Jeter smashed the world record enroute to a gold medal winning 40.82!!
In the women’s 1500m final Shannon Rowbury finished in 6th with a time of 4:11.26. Morgan Uceny had a heartbreaking night as she tripped with a lap to go and did not finish the race.
In the men’s 4x400m relay final the US had a season best time of 2:57.05 but the team of Bryshon Nellum, Joshua Mance, Tony McQuay and Angelo Taylor came in 2nd to a surprising Bahamas team.
Basketball
The US reached the final on Friday when they defeated Argentina 109-83. The US will now face Spain on Sunday for their second consecutive gold medal.
Canoeing
In the men’s K-1 200m competition Tim Hornsby advanced out of the heats with a 36.560, the fastest time among the three sixth-place kayaks. In the semifinals he finished last in his heat, just 1.5 seconds out of 4th. He will be in the B Final on Saturday.
Carrie Johnson was in the women’s K-1 200m on Friday and finished 6th in her heat as well to move into the semifinals. In the semifinals she also finished last, ending her Olympics.
Cycling
In the women’s BMX semifinals Brooke Crain used a 5th, 4th, and 5th place finish to propel her into 3rd overall in her heat and into the final while Alise Post crashed on the last run and missed out on 4th by three points, finishing 6th overall. In the one-run final Crain finished last. Still this was a result she never could have imagined when the Olympics started.
In the men’x BMX semifinals Connor Fields got 4th on his 1st run but won the next two to move into the final. David Herman started off well with a 3rd place finish but two 6th place finishes after that, including getting taken out on the last run, left him in 5th with 15 points, four behind fourth. In the men’s final Connor Fields crashed and finished 7th, 25 seconds after the leader.
Diving
In the preliminary round on Friday Nichols McCrory finished in 8th with 480.90 while David Boudia had to sweat it out and finished in 18th with 439.15. Both qualify for the semifinal on Saturday.
Field Hockey
The US women ended their Olympics with more disappointment as they couldn’t hold an early 1-0 lead and fell 2-1 to Belgium in the 11-12 Classification match. The US finished the Olympics in 12th.
Gymnastics
Julie Zetlin scored 24.250 with the ribbon and 24.225 with the clubs to score a 96.675 for the competition and finish in 22nd.
Sailing
Amanda Clark/Sarah Lihan finished last in the women’s 470 medal race, but still ended the Olympics in 9th place.
Swimming
Alex Meyer had a good swim in the men’s 10km open water swim and finished 10th in 1:50:48.2, less than a minute behind the winner.
Taekwondo
The US had disappointment early in taekwondo on Friday when Steven Lopez lost 3-2 to Ramin Azizov of Azerbaijan in the 80kg preliminary round. Azizov lost in the quarterfinals so Lopez did not get a chance at bronze. Paige McPherson started things off with a 5-1 win over Sarah Stevenson of Great Britain in the 67kg preliminary round. She then lost 6-1 to Nur Tartar of Turkey in the quarterfinals, but got a repechage chance when Tartar made the final. In the repechage McPherson beat Andrea St. Bernard of Grenada 15-2 and then defeated Franka Anic of Slovenia 8-3 to win a bronze medal!
Water Polo
In men’s water polo the US lost a tight match to Spain 8-7 in the 5-8 semifinals and will now face Australia on Sunday to determine the 7-8 classification.
Wrestling
Samuel Hazewinkel started Friday vs. Daulet Niyazbekov of Kazakhstan in the 55kg round of 16. Hazewinkel suffered a tough 3-1, 2-0 loss and was eliminated when Niyazbekov failed to make the final. In the 74kg round of 16 Jordan Burroughs beat Francisco Daniel Soler Tanco of Puerto Rico 4-0, 6-0 to move into the quarterfinals. The quarterfinals were a bit more challenging but Burroughs beat Matthew Gentry of Canada 2-1, 1-1 to move into the semifinals. In the semifinals Burroughs faced a real challenge in two-time world champion Denis Tsargush of Russia. The match went three rounds but Burroughs pulled it out 3-1, 0-2, 2-1 to reach the final. In the final Burroughs claimed a gold with a tight 1-0, 1-0 victory over Sadegh Goudarzi of Iran.
