Thursday may be remembered as the day that three Americans who are the greatest Americans ever in their sport, had their signature moment. Kayla Harrison on the judo mat is now not only the only American to ever win gold, she’s won it twice in a row. Simone Biles became the first American woman to win the Olympics all-around and the World Championships all-around (and she has three of those!). And finally in the pool Michael Phelps became the first swimmer ever to win the same event in four straight Olympics and has *22* gold medals now.
Only two golds on Wednesday in the Olympics as the US started the day with an early morning gold in the women’s road time trial thanks to 37-year-old Kristin Armstrong and won a gold to end the day in the women’s 4x200m freestyle relay thanks to 19-year-old Katie Ledecky. While the US won two other medals in swimming they also added their second silvers in both diving and fencing.
The US nearly matched their five gold medals from the first three days of the Olympics on Tuesday as some of the biggest names on the team – Gabby Douglas, Simone Biles, Katie Ledecky, Michael Phelps, and Ryan Lochte all added a gold medal to their resumes. There was the first silver medalist in men’s just since 1992 and the oldest member of the US team won a bronze medal in equestrian at the young age of 52.
Sunday was another strong day for the US with US coming close to gold in both fencing and shotgun before picking up medals. Cycling teased the country with a US rider not even a quarter kilometer from gold, and then swimming brought the house down in the evening with four pairs of swimmers reaching tomorrow night’s finals and, two gold medals, and three other medal. The weather was not great in Rio affecting several events and cancelling the rowing entirely for the day. Catch up on it all and preview Monday in our daily update.
Sunday was another strong day for the US with US coming close to gold in both fencing and shotgun before picking up medals. Cycling teased the country with a US rider not even a quarter kilometer from gold, and then swimming brought the house down in the evening with four pairs of swimmers reaching tomorrow night’s finals and, two gold medals, and three other medal. The weather was not great in Rio affecting several events and cancelling the rowing entirely for the day. Catch up on it all and preview Monday in our daily update.
In a busy day on Saturday US athletes got their Olympics underway in a large range of sports. Medals were up for grabs in a few one-day events and the US didn’t wait long to win their first gold. The first medal of the Olympics for the US was gold and it belonged to Ginny Thrasher, a 19-year-old West Virginia sophomore who had won NCAA championships this spring and ended an incredible six month by winning Olympic gold in the women’s 10m air rifle on the first day of the Olympics. The US would have more chances at gold later in the day but would only take home silver in three swimming events as well as men’s team archery. Continue reading Rio 2016 Daily Update – August 6th→
Judo has been a part of the games since 1972 and women’s judo was added in 1992. Ever since women’s judo was added there has been an equal number of men’s and women’s events. Judo will be contested in the Barra zone in the Carioca Arena 2. Qualifying was based on the IJF rankings at the end of May with athletes qualifying directly instead of earning spots for their country. Continue reading Rio 2016 – Judo Preview→
With the Olympic judo spots already decided no Americans felt it was worth traveling to central Russia for the grand slam event in Tyumen this weekend. The same story was true last weekend in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia for the judo grand prix event. Three American women had competed in the Mongolian event last year and two men in the Russian event but the incentives are a bit different this year with a month to go until Rio.
The next Judo Grand Prix event is after the Olympics in Zagreb, Croatia from September 23rd through the 25th. The judo competition in Rio will take place from Saturday, August 6th through Friday, August 12th with the US judoka competing each day from Sunday through Thursday.
2012 gold medalist Kayla Harrison won her first gold in three Judo Grand Prix/Slam events this year as she took top honors in the women’s -78kg division in Budapest, Hungary. Harrison needed 11 seconds to get an ippon over Slovenia’s Klara Apotekar in the quarterfinals but over three minutes to score a similar result over the Netherlands’ Karen Stevenson in the semifinals. Harrison won the final over Slovenia’s Anamari Velensek with only a yuko on the board. Harrison has now won a gold, silver, and bronze between her three events this year in Budapest, Havana, and Paris.
Things didn’t go so well for the two American men. Travis Stevens competed in the men’s -90kg division instead of his traditional -81kg division, except he didn’t really compete. He was entered in the draw but did not take to the mat against Hungary’s Gabor Ver. Colton Brown had a first round bye but lost to Great Britain’s Max Stewart on a yuko.
The next Judo Grand Prix event is in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia next weekend starting Friday and running through Sunday.
2012 bronze medalist Marti Malloy seems to be in good form with less than two months remaining until the Olympics in Rio as she won a bronze medal in the women’s -57kg division this weekend at the Judo Grand Prix event in Budapest, Hungary. Malloy has now won three medals in her three grand prix/grand slam events this year. Malloy needed just six seconds to score an ippon in her quarterfinal match against Sappho Coban of Germany but lost her semifinal to Japan’s Momo Tamaoki on shido penalties 2-1. Tamaoki went on to win the gold. Malloy won bronze by defeating another German, Johanna Mueller, on shido penalties 1-0 in her bronze medal match.
Angelica Delgado had her most successful grand prix event of the year winning her opener with a waza-ari against Uzbekistan’s Diyora Keldiyorova to reach the quarterfinals. A yuko allowed Romania’s Larisa Florian to advance to the semifinals and Delgado lost on a yuko again in the repechage bracket to France’s Astride Gneto. It was the first finish inside the top 32 for Delgado this year. Adonis Diaz also posted a season best finish reaching the round of 16, though it was from a bye. Diaz might have gone further but he ran into eventual gold medalist Dai Aoki of Japan and that match lasted only 17 seconds before Aoki had secured an ippon.
Sunday World Masters gold medalists Travis Stevens and Kayla Harrison, will compete in the men’s -81kg division and the women’s -78kg division. Also competing in the men’s -90kg division will be Colton Brown who finished seventh in the last grand prix event in Almaty, Kazakhstan.
