Archery
Khatuna Lorig took part in the women’s individual competition on Thursday starting with the round of 16. In the round of 16 she took on Ming Cheng of China. She got out to a 3-3 tie after three sets before winning the final two to advance 7-3 (29-26, 27-27, 26-28, 30-28, 26-25). She moved into the quarterfinals where she took on Berengere Schuh of France. After trading sets to start Khatuna Lorig seized control and won the match in sets three and four. She advanced 6-2 (27-25, 25-26, 26-29, 25-24). In the semifinals Lorig took on Bo Bae Ki of Korea. Lorig gave it a great try and only lost the total score 107-105 but lost the match 6-2 (28-28, 29-28, 23-23, 27-26). Relegated to trying to win a bronze medal Lorig took on Mariana Avitia of Mexico. Avitia was up 4-0 quickly but Lorig almost got a comeback going before being derailed by a 6 in set 4. She lost 6-2 (30-27, 24-22, 24-25, 26-24). It was a tough result for Lorig who came close to a medal in her 5th Olympics but ended up just short.
Basketball
It was a record setting night for the US in basketball. The US set records for 3 point field goals (29) and points by a US player (37 by Carmelo Anthony) in an Olympic record 156-73 victory over Nigeria. The 83 point win is not an Olympic record (100) but is astounding. The US has an incredible +157 point differential after 3 games. They next face 4th place Lithuania on Saturday.
Beach Volleyball
In the first match of the day April Ross/Jennifer Kessy took on Baquerizo McMillan/Fernandez Steinerl of Spain. The two teams were 1-2 in the group and guaranteed of advancing to the knockout round. They played an extremely competitive game that should prepare both teams for the knockout round. Ross/Kessy advanced after being tested, 21-19, 19-21, 19-17.
In the second match Phil Dalhausser/Todd Rogers took on Petr Benes/Premysl Kubala of the Czech Republic. The US needed a win or a high scoring loss to advance to the knockout round. They did just that winning 21-13, 21-15 to go 3-0 in the group stage and win group B.
Boxing
Jose Ramirez got things underway for the US on Thursday when he faced Fazliddin Gaibnazarov of Uzbekistan in the lightweight round of 16. He fought a hard match and didn’t fold but was defeated 15-11. Next in the middleweight round of 16 Terrell Gausha took on Vijender of India. Guasha fell behind by a point in the 1st round and drew the two remaining rounds to lose the match 16-15. He brought a lot of energy to the match and it’s sad to see him exit this quickly.
Equestrian
The only US rider to compete in the dressage competition on Thursday was Jan Ebeling on Rafalca. Ebeling had a good routine and scored a 70.243, good enough for 13th after day 1.
Fencing
In the women’s team foil event on Thursday the US didn’t really have many close matches. In their first match they took on Korea in the quarterfinals and were soundly beaten 45-31. That sent them into the classification bracket for 5th through 8th spots. The US beat Japan 44-22 in the first match before losing to Poland 45-39 in the 5-6 Placement match. They finished 6th in the competition.
Field Hockey
In a crucial game in the group stage of field hockey the US gave up a first half goal to Australia and never could score despite several opportunities. The loss knocked the US to 1-2 and put them in a tight situation when it comes to qualifying from the group. The US is now in 5th with 3 points while Argentina, New Zealand, Australia and Germany all have 6 points. Even with two wins from their remaining two games the US will probably come up just short unless some ties happen. They next play New Zealand on Saturday.
Gymnastics
The women’s gymnastics individual all-around was Wednesday and Gabby Douglas and Alex Raisman were the US gymnasts who took on the Russians. In a battle for the top Gabby Douglas and Victoria Komova made very few mistakes as they traded great routines. It all came down to the floor routine. Needing a score over 15.3 Victoria Komova put on what has to be the floor routine of her life, it was a beauty. It wasn’t quite enough though and she lost the gold medal to Gabby Douglas. The other battle was between Alex Raisman and Aliya Mustafina. Raisman came out and put up decent scores on both the uneven bars and balance beam, dropping points for some mistakes on the balance beam. She seemed to be in position to win the bronze though, and was until the floor routine. On the floor routine, needing 15.133 to tie, she hit a 15.133 after leaving a move out of her final pass. She did not get a bronze medal though as the tiebreaker is the total after dropping the worst score. Mustafina’s score was marred by falling off the balance beam so she won the tiebreaker for 3rd and got the bronze.
Judo
It was a historic day for the United States in judo. Early on Kyle Vashukulat faced Ramziddin Sayidov of Uzbekistan in the 100kg round of 32. Vashukulat was beaten by an ippon for Sayidov to end the American’s day pretty early.
Attention then turned to Kayla Harrison is in the women’s 78kg event. She started things off in the round of 16 against Vera Moskalyuk of Russia getting an ippon in just 56 seconds. In the quarterfinals she took on Abigel Joo of Hungary. After falling behind when Joo got a Waza-ari, Harrison rallied when Joo seemed to be injured. Joo was limping around the ring but Harrison couldn’t afford to take mercy on her and didn’t, getting an ippon to end the match.
Next in the semifinals Harrison faced Mayra Aguiar of Brazil and sought to become the first American woman to ever appear in the women’s judo final. Harrison picked up a yuko and held on to that lead before getting an ippon late to advance to the gold medal final. In the gold medal final against Gemma Gibbons of Brazil Kayla won two yukos and held that score til the end, defeating the Brit to win the first ever gold medal in judo for the United States.
Rowing
The first boat in competition on Thursday was the US men’s lightweight four crew in Final B. The US game in 2nd among the six boats to finish in 8th place overall.
The second boat was the men’s four. The four boat was in semifinal A/B 2 on Thursday and rowed great,winning their heat, to advance to Final A on Saturday.
Next the US team of Kristin Hedstrom/Julie Nichols in the women’s lightweight double sculls finished 4th in their heat by around 2.5 seconds to Germany. They will now be in Final B on Saturday.
Then Genevra Stone was in Semifinal A/B 2 of the women’s single sculls competition. Stone finished 4th in her heat by a little over 6 seconds and will be in Final B on Saturday.
Finally the women’s eight team went out and won themselves a gold medal with a great row in the final. They held off a late challenge by Canada to win by over a second and become Olympic champions!
Sailing
Finn – Zach Railey finished 12th and 8th in races 7 and 8. Now in 12th with 68 points, 5 behind 10th and 34 behind 3rd. Races 9 and 10 are on Friday.
Men’s 470 – Stuart McNary/Graham Biehl finished 17th and 22nd in races 1 and 2. Now in 21st place with 39 points, 17 behind 10th. Races 3 and 4 are on Friday.
49er – Erick Storck/Trevor Moore finished 20th and 18th in races 7 and 8. They are now in 13th place with 71 points, 10 behind 10th and 30 behind 3rd. Races 9, 10, and 11 are on Friday.
Star – Mark Mendelblatt/Brian Fatih finished races 7 and 8 in 5th and 10th. They are now in 6th place with 45 points, 23 behind 3rd. Races 9 and 10 are on Friday.
Women’s RS-X – Farrah Hall finished races 5 and 6 in 20th and 22nd. She is now in 20th place with 96 points, 48 behind 10th. Races 7 and 8 are on Saturday.
Men’s RS-X – Robert Willis was black flagged in race 5 and finished race 6 in 28th. He is now in 18th place with 81 points, 22 behind 10th. Races 7 and 8 are on Saturday.
Elliott 6m – The US beat the Netherlands by 3 seconds in a race on Thursday. The US is now 6-3 and in 4th place. They next race last place Sweeden (0-9) and 5th place Great Britain (5-4) on Saturday.
Shooting
The two US in the double trap competition on Thursday came up short in their bid to reach the final. Joshua Richmond scored 131 and finished 16th while Walton Eller scored 126 and finished 22nd. The cutoff score was 137 to be in the top 6.
After day 1 of 25m rapid fire pistol qualification Emil Mielv finds himself in 7th with 292 points and Keith Sanderson is 14th with 288 points. 6th place is currently sitting at 293 points.
Swimming
In the men’s 50m freestyle Anthony Ervin and Cullen Jones had fantastic days. They both moved into the semifinals easily and then in the semifinal swam a great race to finish 1st (Jones) and 3rd (Ervin). They will swim for gold tomorrow.
In the women’s 800m freestyle Katie Ledecky took an early heat and put up a great time and watched it stand. Her time of 8:23.84 was 3rd fastest on the day and got her into Friday’s final. Kate Ziegler has been fighting sickness since she got to London and finished 21st.
In the men’s 100m butterfly Tyler McGill and Michael Phelps made the semifinals and then Michael Phelps swam a statement race, winning the semifinals with a time of 50.86 and finishing .56 seconds ahead of 2nd. Tyler McGill ended up 3rd at 51.61. They will swim for gold on Friday night.
In the women’s 200m backstroke Elizabeth Beisel and Missy Franklin were dominant and moved on easily from the heats and went 1-2 in the semifinals where Elizabeth Beisel went 2:06.18 and Missy Franklin was only .66 seconds behind her. They race for gold on Friday night.
In the afternoon four medals were contested. First of all in the women’s 200m breaststroke final Rebecca Soni swam for history and wrote her name on the record books. She became the first woman ever to break 2:20 in the 200m breaststroke as she finished in 2:19.59. Her time was 1.13 seconds better than 2nd place as she dominated the field to win gold. Micah Lawrence was no match for her teammates speed and finished 6th.
In the men’s 200m backstroke final Tyler Clary and Ryan Lochte went head-to-head for a medal. Lochte has been getting all the attention but Ryan Lochte backed up his 1st place time from the semifinals by swimming an Olympic record time of 1:53.41. He won the gold by .37 seconds and Lochte was another .16 seconds back with the bronze medal.
Next in the men’s 200m individual medley final Ryan Lochte dueled with Michael Phelps. Phelps showed why he is considered the greatest ever in this race. There was a lot of speculation that Phelps wasn’t ready for these games and that Lochte was the one to beat. Not so fast. Phelps led wire to wire and beat Lochte by .63 seconds to win the event for the 3rd straight Olympic games!
Finally in the women’s 100m freestyle final the US couldn’t reach the medal stand as Missy Franklin finished 5th, .2 seconds behind bronze, and Jessica Hardy finished 8th.
Tennis
The US was busy on Thursday with five matches across five events. In men’s singles John Isner took on Roger Federer in the quarterfinals and lost 6-4, 7-6 in a game where he was broken for the first time in London. In men’s doubles Mike Bryan/Bob Bryan won a quarterfinal match against Jonathan Erlich/Andy Ram of Israel 7-6, 7-6 including a long 2nd set tiebreak that turned several times. They will now take on Julien Benneteau/Richard Gasquet of France in the semifinals on Friday.
In women’s singles Serena Williams crushed it against Caroline Wozniacki to win 6-0, 6-3 in the quarterfinals. Serena advanced to the semifinals where she will face Victoria Azarenka of Belarus. In women’s doubles Venus Williams/Serena Williams beat Sara Errani/Roberta Vinci of Italy 6-1, 6-1 to move into a semifinal on Friday against Maria Kirilenko/Nadia Petrova of Russia.
Finally in mixed doubles Liezel Huber/Bob Bryan were defeated 7-6, 6-7, 1-0 in a round of 16 match with Sabine Lisicki/Christopher Kas of Germany to end their run in the tournament.
Volleyball
In men’s volleyball the US came back from a dropped first set to defeated Brazil 3-1 (23-25, 27-25, 25-19, 25-17). The win leaves the US alone on top of the group with a 3-0 record. On Saturday they will take on 3rd place Russia who are 2-1.
Water Polo
In water polo the US men emerged from Thursday alone in first place thanks to Serbia tying Montenegro 11-11. The US did their part too of course, winning 13-7 over Great Britain. Now alone a top the group at 3-0 the US will take on Serbia on Saturday with the US remaining on top with a win or a draw.
