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Olympic Review – August 7th

August 8, 2012 Jon Green Leave a comment

Athletics

First in the women’s javelin throw qualification round the US failed to get a competitor in the final as Brittany Borman (15th – 59.27m), Kara Patterson (31st – 56.23m) , and Rachel Turkovich (24th – 57.92m) couldn’t reach the top 12 (60.11m).

First on the track was the men’s 110m hurdles. Jason Richardson (1st – 13.33), Jeff Porter (3rd – 13.53), and Aries Merritt (1st – 13.07) all advanced to the semifinals on Wednesday.

Then in the men’s triple jump qualification Will Claye (7th – 16.87m) and Christian Taylor (1st – 17.21m) reached Thursday’s final. Taylor had the best jump of the day while only going once, he’s a definite favorite to medal on Thursday.

Next on the track was the women’s 5000m 1st round. In the first heat Julie Culley (5th – 15:05.38) advanced while Molly Huddle (5th – 15:02.26) advanced from the 2nd heat. Kim Conley(12th – 15:14.48) was unable to advance from the 2nd heat. The final is on Friday.

The morning session ended with the men’s 200m 1st round. Isiah Young (3rd – 20.55), Maurice Mitchell (1st – 20.54), and Wallace Spearmon (2nd – 20.47) all moved into the semifinals on Wednesday.

The men’s high jump final started off the afternoon session at 2 PM. Erik Kynard ended up winning the silver by being one of only two to clear 2.33m, Jesse Williams finished 9th clearing 2.25m, and Jamie Nieto finished 6th clearing 2.29m, but missing out on bronze because it took him two tries.

In the women’s long jump qualification round the US did quite well with Brittney Reese (9th – 6.57m) and Janay Deloach (2nd – 6.81m) advancing to the final while Chelsea Hayes (16th – 6.37m) just missing out on Wednesday’s final.

The rest of the action was on the track. First in the women’s 100m hurdles semifinals Dawn Harper (1st – 12.46), Lolo Jones (3rd – 12.71), and Kellie Wells (1st – 12.51) all made the final later that afternoon.

Next in the men’s 800m semifinals both Nick Symmonds (3rd – 1:44.87) and Duane Solomon (3rd – 1:44.93) both made Thursday’s final.

Then in the women’s 200m semifinals Carmelita Jeter (2nd – 22.39), Sanya Richards-Ross (1st – 22.30), and Allyson Felix (1st – 22.31) all made Wednesday’s final.

Then there was the final of the women’s 100m hurdles with Dawn Harper (12.37) winning the silver medal and Kellie Wells (12.48) finishing with the bronze. Lolo Jones finished in 4th (12.58). The winner, Sally Pearson of Australia, finished in an Olympic record time of 12.35.

The day ended with the men’s 1500m final. Leonel Manzano finished 2nd in 3:34.79 and won the silver, the first American man to medal in the 1500 since 1968. Matthew Centrowitz finished 4th in a time of 3:35.17.

Basketball

The women’s basketball team began the knockout round with a 91-48 victory over Canada in the quarterfinals. The dominating win featured 15 points from Diana Taurasi and 12 a piece from Candace Parker and Sylvia Fowles. The US will now face Australia in the semifinals on Thursday.

Beach Volleyball

The women’s beach volleyball competition was down to the semifinals on Tuesday. First Misty May-Treanor/Kerri Walsh Jennings took on Chen Xue/Xi Zhang of China. Despite both sets being extremely close the US duo closed things out in straight sets 22-20, 22-20. Then April Ross/Jennifer Kessy took on Larissa Franca/Juliana Silva of Brazil and found themselves down a set after losing the first set 21-15. They rallied back though and forced a 3rd set by winning the 2nd 21-19. They won the match in the 3rd set when they beat the Brazilians 15-12. The final score was 15-21, 21-19, 15-12.

The two American teams will now face off the gold medal final on Wednesday at 4 PM.

Boxing

The final men’s boxer for the US, Errol Spence, fought Andrey Zamkovoy of Russia in the quarterfinals. In what is a trend in London a lot of US boxing fans though Spence was the better fighter but he lost the bout 16-11 to end his Olympics.

Canoeing

In the women’s K-1 500m sprint Carrie Johnson was in the 1st heat and finished 4th in 1:53.983 to reach the semifinals later Tuesday. In the semifinals Johnson finished 6th in her heat in 1:54.628 and was eliminated from the competition.

Cycling

In the women’s omnium Sarah Hammer beat Laura Trott by just over a second to stay in 1st after the individual pursuit. In the scratch race Sarah Hammer finished 2nd but was again one spot ahead of Laura Trott to open up a two-point lead heading into the time trial. Needing a 3rd place finish to atleast be tied for the lead Hammer came up about a .5 second short and finished 4th while Trott finished 1st by .03 seconds. Those two results combined to give Trott a one point victory over Hammer.

Diving

In the men’s 3m springboard semifinal both Troy Dumais and Chris Colwill were both in great position heading into the 5th dive, but Colwill had a disastrous dive and finished in 18th. Dumais avoiding any major mistakes and finished 5th to make the final. In the final Dumais once again finished 5th, missing out on bronze by around twenty five points.

Equestrian

In the equestrian grand prix special the US had three riders going. Tina Konyot on Calecto V finished in 25th with a 70.651 while Jan Ebeling on Rafalca finished in 28th with a 69.302, neither will make the final. Steffen Peters on Ravel did much better and finished 7th with a 76.254. Peters will be in the final on Thursday. The US finished 6th as a team with a 72.435.

Gymnastics

First in the women’s balance beam final Gabby Douglas struggled and finished 7th with a 13.633 while Aly Raisman initially finished 4th with a 14.966. After inquiry the score was raised to 15.066 and Raisman won the bronze on a tiebreaker for better execution score. Then in the men’s horizontal bar final Danell Leyva and Jonathan Horton both had good routines but not good enough to medal as Leyva finished 5th with a 15.833 and Horton finished 6th with a 15.466. Finally in the women’s floor final Jordyn Wieber had some mistakes and finished 7th with a 14.500 while Aly Raisman was spectacular and won her 2nd gold medal with a 15.600.

Sailing

In the men’s 470 competition Stuart McNay/Graham Biehl finished their competition with races 9 (7th place) and 10 (4th place). They finished in 14th place overall.

The women’s 470 competition held races 7 and 8 and Amanda Clark/Sarah Lihan had a great day. They finished in 3rd and 9th to move into 7th overall, 17 points clear of 10th. If they can have good finishes in races #9 and #10 on Wednesday they should make the medal race.

Finally in the elliott 6m quarterfinal with Finland the US lost the 1st race by a minute and the 2nd by three seconds. They now trail the match 2-0 and need to win all three remaining races on Wednesday.

Synchronized Swimming

In the synchronized swimming final Mary Killman/Mariya Koroleva finished11th overall with a score of 87.770.

Triathlon

In the men’s triathlon Hunter Kemper finished a couple minutes off the pace in 14th (1:48:46) while Manuel Huerta finished 51st (1:53:39).

Volleyball

In the women’s volleyball quarterfinals the US dominated the Dominican Republic in a straight sets win, 25-14, 25-21, 25-22. The result moved the US into a semifinal matchup with Korea on Thursday. The US beat Korea 25-19, 25-17, 20-25, 25-21 in the first match of the Olympics.

Water Polo

In the women’s water polo semifinals the US was up 9-8 with just a second left against Australia when they called timeout without the ball. The resulting penalty shot allowed Australia to tie it up and the two teams headed for extra time. In extra time the US dominated play and scored twice in the first half of extra time to go on to an 11-9 victory and move into the final on Thursday against Spain, who the US drew 9-9 with in the group stage.

Wrestling

In the final day of the greco-roman wrestling tournament and Justin Dashaun Lester was the last hope for the US. In the round of 16 he defeated Tsutomu Fujimura of Japan 3-0, 3-1 to move into the quarterfinals. In the quarterfinals Lester lost to Tamas Lorincz of Hungary 0-2, 1-0, 2-0. He earned a chance at bronze as Lorincz made the final (winning silver) and so he faced Frank Staebler of Germany in the repechage. Staebler won that match 5-0, 5-0 to end any chance of Lester medaling.

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Olympic Review – August 6th

August 6, 2012 Jon Green Leave a comment

Athletics

None of the Americans were able to make the discus throw final as Jason Young (62.18m – 18th), Jarred Rome (59.57m – 31st), and Lance Brooks (61.17m – 21st) were not able to reach the top 12 (63.55m).

In the women’s 100m hurdles 1st round Kellie Wells (12.69-1st), Dawn Harper (12.75-2nd), and Lolo Jones (12.68-1st) all advanced from their heats to the semifinals on Tuesday.

In the women’s shot put qualification round Michelle Carter advanced to the evening final as her 18.63m throw was 8th best. Jillian Camarena-Williams finished 16th (18.22m) and Tia Brooks finished 20th (17.72m).

Next in the men’s 800m 1st round Khadevis Robinson failed to advance (4th-1:47.17), while Nick Symmonds (1st-1:45.91) and Duane Solomon (1st-1:46.05) both advanced to Tuesday’s semifinals.

Then the women’s 1500m 1st round,where Shannon Rowbury (7th – 4:06.03), Jennifer Simpson (6th – 4:13.81) and Morgan Uceny (2nd – 4:06.87) all advanced to Wednesday’s semifinals.

In the women’s pole vault final next week Becky Holliday only made it to 4.45m and was eliminated there. Jennifer Suhr was excellent as the competition progressed and only missed one jump before missing all there at 4.8m. She won the gold as she and Yarisley Silva both cleared 4.75m but Silva had more misses overall.

In the women’s shot put final Michelle Carter was able to make the top eight and earn three more throws but only finished 6th with 19.42m.

In the women’s 200m 1st round heats. Allyson Felix (1st – 22.71), Carmelita Jeter (1st – 22.65), and Sanya Richards-Ross (1st – 22.48) all won their heats to advance to Tuesday’s semifinal.

Then in the semifinals of the women’s 400m hurdles. T’Erea Brown (3rd – 54.21), Lashinda Demus (1st – 54.08), and Georganne Moline (2nd – 54.74) all advanced to the final on Wednesday.

Next in the men’s 400m hurdles the US earned a medal as Michael Tinsley ran a personal best 47.91 to earn the silver. Angelo Taylor finished 5th in 48.25 and Kerron Clement finished in 8th at 49.15.

Finally in the women’s 3000m steeplechase Emma Coburn finished 9th with a a personal best 9:23.54 and Bridget Franek finished 14th in 9:45.51.

Basketball

the US finished 1st in their group and continued their mostly strong play by dominating Argentina en route to a 126-97 victory. The US now faces Australia in the quarterfinals on Wednesday.

Beach Volleyball

The US will not medal in beach volleyball as their final team of Jacob Gibb/Sean Rosenthal lost to Martins Plavins/Janis Smedins of Lativa in the quarterfinals 19-21, 21-18, 15-11. They nearly had the 2nd set but a late run by the Latvians tied it at one set a piece for the Latvians stormed out to an early lead in the 3rd set and never looked back.

Boxing

The Americans finally had some more success in boxing on Monday as Marlen Esparza beat Karlha Magliocco of Venezuela 24-16 in the flyweight quarterfinals while Claressa Shields beat Anna Laurell of Sweden 18-14 in the middleweight quarterfinals.

Both are now guaranteed medals as both semifinalist losers will get a bronze medal. Esparza will be in a semifinal against Cancan Ren of China while Shields will face Marina Volnova of Kazakhstan. Bout bout will be on Wednesday.

Cycling

Sarah Hammer had a fantastic first day of the omnium and finds herself in a tie for 1st place with Laura Trott of Great Britain with 12 points each as they head to the 2nd day and the final three events. Hammer came in 5th place in the 250m “Flying Lap” time trial with a time of 14.369. She scored 25 points in the points race to finish 5th as well. Finally in the elimination race she was 2nd only to Laura Trott. Tomorrow she’ll be in the individual pursuit, scratch race, and time trial.

Diving

Chris Colwill and Tony Dumais were in the preliminary round of men’s 3m springboard diving on Monday and both advanced easily. Dumais finished in 3rd with 486.60 points and Chris Colwill finished 7th with 461.35 points. They are in the semifinals on Tuesday now.

Equestrian

On the 3rd day of equestrian jumping the US had both of their individual competitors slip up but still qualify for the individual jumping final. Rich Fellers on Flexible picked up 8 penalties and now is in 11th overall while McLain Ward on Antares had 8 penalties to reach 12 total and is in 26th. Others on the team were Beezie Madden on Via Volo who had 4 more penalties to reach 8 and Reed Kessler on Cylana who had 12 penalties to finish with 20 total. The US thus ended up with 28 total penalties through the 2 days and finished 6th.

Field Hockey

The US won’t be advancing to the women’s field hockey knockout round and they finished the group stage in horrible fashion losing 7-0 to South Africa. The US ended up last in the group despite being the only team to beat 1st place Argentina they will face Belgium in the 11-12 match on Friday.

Gymnastics

In the women’s gymnastics uneven bars final Gabby Douglas had an off day and Gabby Douglas finished 8th with a score of 14.900. In the men’s gymnastics vault final Samuel Mikulak finished 5th with a score of 16.050.

Sailing

In the men’s 470 Stuart McNay/Graham Biehl finished 6th in race #7 and 18th in race #8. They are now in 17th with 97 points, 31 points behind 10th with two races left on Tuesday.

In the 49er Erik Storck/Trevor Moore finished 8th in race #14 and 17th in race #15. They finished in 15th overall with 157 points, 22 behind 10th.

Finally Paige Railey finished 6th in the laser radial medal race and ended up in 8th overall.

Shooting

In the men’s 50m rifle 3 position qualification round Matthew Emmons finished 2nd with 1172 points to make the final while Jason Parker finished 30th with 1159 points. In the final Emmons was in silver position with one shot left when he shot a 7.6 to finish 3rd. It was another disappointment for Emmons but he does at least get a medal in the event finally.

Women’s Soccer

In the women’s soccer semifinals the US engaged in an epic semifinal with Canada. Christine Sinclair got the Canadians off to a 1-0 lead in the 22nd minute. The US would be behind for quite a while but got the 2nd half off to a good start when Megan Rapinoe scored directly from a corner kick in the 54th minute. Canada answered with a Christine Sinclair header in the 67th minute. The US struck right back when Rapinoe scored AGAIN with a great shot rifled from just inside the box. The Canadians scored a 3rd time when Sinclair completed a hat trick in the 73rd minute on another header. In the 79th minute the US got a controversial indirect free kick inside the box and drew a penalty for hand ball after they shot. Abby Wambach converted the penalty and we went to extra time tied at three. In the extra time both teams traded attacks but Alex Morgan provided the winning goal in the 3rd additional minute of the 2nd half of extra time when she headed in a cross to send the US to the gold medal final against Japan on Thursday.

Synchronized Swimming

The US duo of Mary Killman/Mariya Koroleva managed to finish in 10th and make the final, just 2 points ahead of the Brazilian duo.

Volleyball

The men’s volleyball team easily defeated Tunisia 25-15, 25-19, 25-19 to win their group in the group stage. They will now face Italy in the quarterfinals on Wednesday.

Water Polo

In the men’s water polo group stage the US ended their round with another disappointing performance as they lost to Hungary 11-6. They finished 4th in the group and will face undefeated Croatia in the quarterfinals on Wednesday.

Wrestling

The US had three wrestlers going on Monday. Edward Charles Betts took on Keitani Graham of Micronesia in the 84kg division qualification round and won 6-0, 1-0 to move on to the round of 16. In the round of 16 he faced Pablo Enrique Shorey Hernandez 1-0, 1-0 to end his Olympics.

Ellis E Coleman took on Ivo Serafimov Angelov of Bulgaria in the 60kg division qualification round and lost 1-0, 7-1 to end his Olympics.

Dremiel Deshon Byers took on Muminjon Abdullaev of Uzbekistan in the 120kg round of 16 and won 1-0, 2-0 to move into the quarterfinals. In the quarterfinals he lost to Riza Kayaalp of Turkey to end his Olympics.

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Olympic Review – August 5th

August 5, 2012 Jon Green Leave a comment

Athletics

In the women’s marathon this morning the US saw Shalane Flanagan and Kara Goucher hang with the leaders for most of the race. As the marathon came down to it’s final miles though the leaders pulled away and left Flanagan and Goucher to finish 10th and 11th. American Desiree Davila really wanted to start and did, but she pulled out quickly after that with the injuries she’s been dealing with lately.

In the women’s 400m hurdles in the afternoon the US got all three of their athletes, T’Erea Brown, Lashinda Demus, and Georganne Moline into the semifinals scheduled for Monday.

All three Americans qualified for Tuesday’s men’s high jump final on Sunday. Erik Kynard and Jesse Williams jumped the highest height reached, 2.29m, while Jamie Nieto jumped 2.26m without missing to reach the final in a tiebreaker with the others that didn’t clear 2.29m.

Then in the men’s 1500m Andrew Wheating and Leonel Manzano were in the first heat and we saw Leonel Manzano come on late to finish 4th and qualify for the final. Andrew Wheating finished 9th and was eliminated. In the second heat Matthew Centrowitz pulled into position late and finished 5th to qualify for the final. Manzano and Centrowitz will be in the final on Tuesday.

In the men’s hammer throw final Kibwe Johnson’s best throw of 74.95m in the first three was just shy of the 8th place distance, 75.84, and saw him eliminated in 9th place.

The Americans only had two competitors in the men’s 400m semifinals. The men’s 400m is an event the US has dominated for years. Today was not their day though… in the 1st round LaShawn Merritt had been injured and unable to complete his race. In the 2nd heat today Tony McQuay couldn’t keep up down the stretch and finished in 4th. Then in the 3rd heat Bryshon Nellum nearly went quick enough. However his 45.02 was .03 slower than necessary to get him into the final and the Americans were shutout. This is remarkable considering in Beijing and Athens the US swept the men’s 400m medals. Excluding the boycotted Moscow games in 1980 the last time the US didn’t have the gold medalist in the event was 1976. The last time the US didn’t have a medalist at all was 1920. And the last time the US didn’t have a finalist… well that had never happened until today.

The US did stack the field in the women’s 400m final with DeeDee Trotter, Sanya Richards-Ross, and Francena McCorory. In the end it was Sanya Richards-Ross that flew down the track the quickest and won the race in 49.55. DeeDee Trotter finished third in 49.72 to give the US two medals in the event.

After that in the 3000m final Evan Jager and Donald Cabral led a lot of the way but late on they faded and finished 6th (Jager) and 8th (Cabral) within 8 seconds of the leader.

The final event of the day was the men’s 100m final. Having qualified Tyson Gay, Justin Gatlin and Ryan Bailey it wasn’t clear who would challenge Usain Bolt, but the Americans had a few that could try. In the end they weren’t able to beat Bolt, but then again no human has ever ran as fast as he did, other than himself. His 9.63 was an Olympic Record and overshadowed great runs of 9.79 by Justin Gatlin (3rd and a personal best), 9.80 by Tyson Gay (4th and a season best), and 9.88 by Ryan Bailey (5th and a personal best).

Basketball

The US women take on China in their final group stage game and after being close early they blew the Chinese out of the gym, winning 114-66 to lock up 1st place in their group. They will face Canada in the quarterfinals on Tuesday.

Beach Volleyball

The beach volleyball competitions had the quarterfinals today and it was a great day for the Americans. First Misty May-Treanor/Kerri Walsh Jennings solidly beat Greta Cicolari/Marta Menegatti of Italy 21-13, 21-13 to move into Tuesday’s semifinals. Their opponent on Tuesday will be Chen Xue/Xi Zhang of China. Later April Ross/Jennifer Kessy beat Kristyna Kolocova/Marketa Slukova of the Czech Republic 25-23, 21-18 in a really close match to move into the semifinals on Tuesday. At least one of these two will medal at this point.

Boxing

The US saw their first female boxer get underway on Sunday and saw her tournament come to an end as Queen Underwood was defeated 21-13 by Natasha Jonas of Great Britain in the lightweight round of 16.

Cycling

In men’s cycling Bobby Lea wrapped up the omnium by finishing 11th in the 4km individual pursuit, 7th in the 15km scratch race, and 13th in the 1km time trial. This left him in 12th at the end of the omnium with 61 points.

In the men’s sprint Jimmy Watkins lost twice to Shane Perkins of Australia in the quarterfinals, ending his chance at a medal. Instead he was in the 5th-8th place race and finished to end the individual sprint competition in 6th place.

Diving

There were high hopes today that Christina Loukas or Cassidy Krug could add another medal to the US’s already successful diving haul in London, both those hopes were dashed as both women has some disappointing dives and ended up finishing 7th (Krug) and 8th (Loukas).

Equestrian

In the equestrian competition the 2nd day of jumping took place. McLain Ward on Antares and Beezie Madden on Via Volo both finished with 4 penalties. Ward now has 4 overall and is 17th in the individual competition while Madden was eliminated from the individual competition on Saturday in the first round. Reed Kessler on Cylana had a few problems and finished with 9 penalties, placing her in 47th and eliminating her from the individual competition. That meant Rich Fellers on Flexible needed a great ride to keep the US in the team competition by placing them in the top eight. He had a perfect ride and it was just enough as the US ended up in 8th, 2 points clear of 9th place Mexico. All four riders will ride tomorrow in the team jumping final while Fellers and Ward will hope their scores keep them in the top 35 in the individual competition to make the individual 4th round.

Fencing

In men’s team foil the US started off slow against France falling behind 20-13 after four matches. They steadily came back and were down 30-24 when Gerek Meinhardt turned things around with an 11-1 bout win to give the US a 35-31 which they never relinquished en route to a 45-39 victory in the quarterfinals. Things didn’t go as well after that as the US lost 45-24 to Italy in the semifinals and 45-27 to Germany in the bronze medal match and finished 4th overall.

Gymnastics

Two Americans were involved in individual apparatus competitions on Sunday. Jacob Dalton finished 5th overall in the men’s floor final with a score of 15.333 while McKayla Maroney finished 2nd in the women’s vault final with a score of 15.083 after she fell on her 2nd vault attempt’s landing. It was a disappointing finish for Maroney who was a heavy favorite in the event.

Sailing

In the women’s RS-X competition Farrah Hall finished her event by finishing in 16th in both the 9th and 10th races. She ended up with 173 points and finished in 20th place.

Her counterpart, Robert Willis, finished in 11th and 30th in the 9th and 10th races and finished in 22nd overall with 179 points.

In 49er racing Erik Storck/Trevor Moore were 10th entering Sunday’s race but placed 20th and 17th in the 12th and 13th races to really hurt their chances of making the medal race. They are in 15th with 132 points and would need to climb to 10th (117 points) during the final two races on Monday.

In the women’s 470 Amanda Clark/Sarah Lihan were in 4th heading into Sunday’s races but finished 19th and 20th (out of 20) to fall to 8th place with a total of 41 points. Races 7 and 8 will be on Tuesday.

Mark Mendelblatt/Brian Fatih took part in the star’s medal race. They finished in 6th place and ended the competition in 7th overall.

Shooting

In the men’s 50m pistol qualifying round Sunday morning Nickolaus Mowrer finished 15th with 558 points and Daryl Szarenski finished 28th with 550 points. Mowrer had a great final round to end up within one point of being involved in the tiebreaker for the final spot in the final.

Tennis

The US went for three medals at Wimbledon on Sunday. First Serena Williams/Venus Williams took on Andrea Hlavackova/Lucie Hradecka of the Czech Republic for the women’s doubles gold. The sister had a bit more trouble than Serena did in her single’s final, but still won the match 6-4, 6-4 to take home their 3rd doubles gold medal.

Liezel Huber/Lisa Raymond faced Maria Kirilenko/Nadia Petrova of Russia for the women’s doubles bronze. After winning the first set 6-4 they lose the 2nd set 6-4 and lost the 3rd set 6-1 to miss out on medaling in London.

Finally the mixed doubles bronze medal final between Lisa Raymond/Mike Bryan and Sabine Lisicki/Christopher Kas of Germany took place and Lisa Raymond ended up with a medal after all as they beat the Germans 6-3, 4-6, [10]-[4].

Volleyball

The US women had already locked up the top spot in their group but they finished it in style beating Turkey in straight sets (27-25, 25-16, 25-19). The US will now face the Dominican Republic in the quarterfinals on Tuesday.

Water Polo

The US women won their quarterfinal matchup fairly easily against Italy, 9-6 and now they will face Australia in the semifinals on Tuesday. Australia finished 3-0 atop their group but struggled to beat 0-3 China today in the quarterfinals.

Weightlifting

There were two women competing for the US in +75kg weightlifting today. Holley Mangold lifted 105kg in the snatch and 135kg in the clean and jerk for a total of 140kg, placing her 10th. Sarah Robles lifted 120 kg in the snatch and 145kg in the clean and jerk, placing her 7th overall with 265kg.

Weightlifting

In men’s 55kg greco-roman wrestling Spenser Thomas Mango advanced from the qualification round by beating Abouhalima Abouhalima of Egypt 3PP-1. Then in the round of 16 he lost to Rovshan Bayramov of Azerbaijan 3PO-0. Because Bayramov made the gold medal final Spenser Thomas Mango got into the repechage bracket and faced Mingiyan Semenov of Russia but lost 3PO-0.

In the men’s 74kg greco-roman wrestling Benjamin Provisor beat Cuba’s Bel Alexei 3PP-1 in the qualification round. He was then eliminated by Zurabi Datunashvili 3PO-0 in the round of 16.

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Olympic Review – August 2nd

August 2, 2012 Jon Green Leave a comment

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.

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Olympic Review – July 31st

July 31, 2012 Jon Green Leave a comment

Archery

Jacob Wukie was the first archer to begin the day for the US. He took on Jayanta Talukdar of India in the round of 64. In that match Wukie was victorious 6-0 (27-22, 30-26, 29-28). Next Wukie took on Baard Nesteng of Norway in the round of 32. Wukie took a 2-0 lead by winning the first set 28-24 but then lost 3 straight to lose 6-2 (24-28, 29-28, 29-27, 29-26).

Next up was Jennifer Nichols who took on Chekrovolu Swuro of India. The two traded sets and had to go to a shoot off to decide it. In the end Nichols won 6-5 (24-27, 27-25, 25-25, 26-29, 28-25, 9-9 (closet)). In the round of 32 Nichols faced Bishindee Urantungalag of Mongolia. Nichols ended up losing 6-4 (27-27, 26-27, 26-26, 26-25, 28-25).

Basketball

Then USA men took on Tunisia on Tuesday and was only up 21-15 at the end of the 1st quarter and 46-33 at the half. The second half, and in particular the 3rd quarter, was where the US shown and after outscoring Tunisia 39-14 in the 3rd quarter the US went on to win 110-63. Kevin Love and Carmelo Anthony led the US with 16 points a piece.

The win helped keep the US atop the table in group A where the US is the only team that is 2-0. The US will next be facing 4th place Nigeria on Thursday.

Beach Volleyball

The first match of the day saw Phil Dalhausser/Todd Rogers take on Gavira Collado/Herrera Allepuz of Spain. Both teams had won their set in straight sets and were fighting for the top of the group. With a 19-21, 21-16, 15-13 win the US duo moved into 1st place. They face Petr Benes/Premsyl Kubala of the Czech Republic on Thursday. If they win a single set they will guarantee they aren’t passed in the group and will advance to the quarterfinals. A win would win them the group.

In the 2nd match of the day April Ross/Jennifer Kessy took on Marleen Van Iersel /Sanne Keizer of the Netherlands. The win kept the US on top of the group by points ratio and guaranteed they will advance from the group stage. The only thing left to settle is who will win the group. Ross/Kessy or the team they play on Thursday, Elsa Baquerizo MicMillan/Liliana Fernandez Steiner of Spain.

Boxing

In the boxing competition on Tuesday Jamel Herring took on Daniya Teleussinov of Kazakhstan in the round of 32 of the men’s light welterweight competition. Jerring was behind from the start and lost 19-9 (8-5, 7-3, 4-1).

Equestrian

Tuesday was the last day of the eventing competition, both team and individual. In the first part of the day the first showjumping routines were run. Boyd Martin had to pull out of the competition after an injury to his horse was discovered. Two of his teammates, Tiana Coudray and Will Coleman, were out of the running for the individual title. Coudray ended up with a score of 11 penalties in the jumping qualifier and a total of 88.6 penalties, placing her in 40th place. Will Coleman had a score of 2 penalties in the jumping qualifier and ended up with a score of 84.7 penalties to finish in 37th place. Philip Dutton was in contention for a spot and had a run featuring 23 penalties. He was able to advance despite his score of 70.1 being in 27th due to the limit on each country of only having three riders in the final. Karen O’Connor was in contention as well and seized the 16th spot by having a perfect ride in the qualifier, giving her 53.8 total penalties. Coleman, Dutton, and O’Connor combined to give the US the 7th spot in the team competition with a total of 208.6.

In the eventing individual final Philip Dutton started off with a run with 11 penalties. That gave him a total of 81.10 and placed him in 23rd place. Karen O’Connor did much better and another perfect run left her in 9th with 53.8 penalties. O’Connor was only 9 penalties off of the bronze medal.

Fencing

The first competitor to get the day underway for the US was Miles Chamley-Watson who took on Alaaeldin Abouelkassem of India in the round of 32. Chamley-Watson hung around for a while but lost 15-10 (4-2, 8-6, 3-2). The next competitor for the US was Alexander Massialas who faced off against Etienne Lalonde Turbide of Canada in the round of 32. Massialas had a great match and won 15-6 (11-3, 3-4). Massialas then moved on to the round of 16 where he was defeated 15-6 (8-3, 7-3) by Alexey Cheremisinov of Russia. The final competitor for the US was Race Imboden who defeated Guilherme Toldo of Brazil in the round of 32 by a score of 15-5 (12-5, 3-0). Imboden then moved on to the round of 16 where he was defeated 15-9 (9-5, 6-4) by Andrea Baldini of Italy.

Field Hockey

The US had a hugely important game against Argentina in the group stage of field hockey on Tuesday. After losing 2-1 in their first match the US needed a win to try and stay in the group. Only the top two teams advance, so there isn’t any room to spare. The US got the win they needed by defeating Argentina 1-0 in a continuation of their Pan-American rivalry. The win moved the US into a tie for 2nd with Argentina, Australia, and Germany. The US is in 4th due to goal differential. Their score will be improved a lot after they face South Africa (who Argentina defeated 7-1). The US next faces 3rd place Australia on Thursday. Another win there would give the US an even better shot at the medal round.

Gymnastics

Brilliance. Beauty. Dominance. All of those words perfectly describe the US performance in the women’s team final on Tuesday. With the Russians breathing down their necks for 3 of the 4 apparatus the US answered the questions and didn’t flinch. When Russia made mistakes on the floor routine the US didn’t back down and put up a great score to blow Russia away and win the gold by over 5 points. How dominate was the US? Consider their apparatus rankings. In vault they were first. On the uneven bars they were third. On the balance beam they were first. On the floor routine they were third. They had the three best vault scores in the competition. The first, third and fourth best floor routines. The fourth, fifth and seventh best balance beam routines. Even on the US’s weakest apparatus, the uneven bars, they finished sixth, eight, and 11th out of 24 competitors. The US improved their score from the qualification round, even with all the pressure. Needless to say it was a routine that will go down in history. The US’s first women’s team gold since 1996 and a set of routines that demonstrated how gold medals are meant to be won: in clear dominant fashion. There was no doubting this one, no relying on someone else to help you out. The US flat out won this medal all by themselves, no one was going to top these girls.

Judo

Travis Stevens was the US competitor in the 81kg judo competition on Tuesday. He started things off in the round of 32 by defeating Aljaz Sedej of Slovenia by getting an ippon with 45 seconds left in the match. Then in the round of 16 he defeated Avtandil Tchrikishvili by getting an ippon at the 1:37 mark of a golden score period. In the quarterfinals Stevens took on Leandro Guilheiro of Brazil and defeated him by scoring a waza-ari half way through the match and holding on to that lead til the end.

In the semifinals Travis took on Ole Bischof of Germany. The match went scoreless the entire eight minutes and the judges ruled Bischof the winner. I’m no judo expert, so my opinion can’t say much about how close it was. However from the comments I’ve seen from Stevens and his coach and others, it was a surprise they ruled for Bischof. Stevens tried to rally for a bronze but in a match with Antoine Valois-Fortier of Canada he gave up an early yuko and never could get a score to overcome it. It was disappointing that he couldn’t get a medal after such a good run.

Rowing

In the first rowing event of the day the women’s double sculls crew of Margot Shumway/Sarah Trowbridge were able to make the final by finishing in 2nd place of their repechage by 1.31 seconds. They will now be in the final on Friday.

In the next event the women’s lightweight double sculls crew of Kristin Hedstrom/Julie Nichols made the semifinals by finishing 1st in their heat of the repechages. They are now in the semifinals on Thursday.

Next up was the men’s single sculls quarterfinals. The US finally got some disappointment as Ken Jurkowski finished 5th, a full 16+ seconds out of 3rd and will not make the regular semifinals. Jurkowski will be in the semifinal C/D on Wednesday to help determine rankings.

In the women’s single sculls quarterfinals Genevra Stone rowed a great race and finished 2nd in her quarterfinal to advance to the A/B semifinals on Thursday.

In the final US event on Tuesday the lightweight four crew was not able to advance to the final as they finished in 5th place, 3.5 seconds out of 3rd place. They will race in the B final on Thursday.

Sailing

In the men’s 49er event on Tuesday Erik Storck and Trevor Moore finished in 16th in race 3 before winning race 4. Their total score is now 33 points as they are in 9th place and they are only 7 points behind 3rd place. Races 5 and 6 will be on Wednesday.

In the laser radial event Paige Railey finished in 12th in race 3 and 17th in race 4. She is now in 9th place with 42 points. That places her 24 points behind the 3rd place spot. Races 5 and 6 will be on Wednesday

In the finn event Zach Railey finished 2nd in race 5 and 8th in race 6. Zach is now in 12th place with 48 points and is 25 points behind 3rd place. Races 7 and 8 will be on Thursday.

In the men’s RS-X event Robert Willis finished in 7th in race 1 and in 10th in race 2. His combined total is 17 and that puts him in 7th place, 11 points behind 3rd place. Races 3 and 4 will be on Wednesday.

In the star event Mark Mendelblatt and Brian Fatih finished in 8th in race 5 and 9th in race 6. Their total is now 30 and that puts them in 6th place, just 13 points behind 3rd place. Races 7 and 8 will be on Thursday.

In the women’s RS-X event Farrah Hall finished in 22nd in race 1 and 18th in race 2. She is in 21st place with a total score of 40, 33 points out of 3rd. Races 3 and 4 will be on Wednesday.

In the elliott 6m event the US defeated Finland by two seconds and France by five seconds to move to 4-2 in the event. They are tied for 3rd place. They will face 6th place New Zealand (3-3) and 3rd place Russia (5-1) tomorrow.

In the laser event Rob Crane finished race 3 in 30th place and race 4 in 28th place. His score of 135 places him 36th and is 120 out of 3rd place. He will have races 5 and 6 on Wednesday.

Shooting

Frank Thompson and Vincent Hancock competed in the qualification period of the skeet competition. Vincent Hancock set an Olympic record hitting 123 of 125 and led the group heading into the final. Frank Thompson hit 119 of 125 and was tied for 7th. Only six make the final, so he was JUST outside that group. In the final Hancock was perfect hitting 25 of 25. His total of 148 is a new Olympic record and he won gold for the 2nd straight Olympics. No man had ever won two skeet golds before, let alone in a row. An amazing accomplishment for a very talented shooter.

Soccer

The US defeated North Korea on Tuesday by a score of 1-0 led by an Ally Wambach first half goal. The result gave the US the top spot in Group G and sent them into a quarterfinal matchup with New Zealand on Friday. The US caught a big break as Sweden, France and Japan, the other three quarterfinalists in the last World Cup, along with Brazil, who the US beat in the quarterfinals of that World Cup, are all on the other half of the bracket. Beating New Zealand would earn the US a semifinal matchup with Canada or Great Britain.

Swimming

In the Men’s 100m freestyle Nathan Adrian finished 1st in the heats and Cullen Jones finished 9th, a 100th of a second behind 8th. Adrian did great in the semifinals winning his heat and finishing 2nd overall, but Cullen Jones was only 14th, missing the final by .22 seconds. Adrian will swim in the final tomorrow.

Next in the women’s 200m butterfly Kathleen Hersey finished 1st and Cammile Adams 8th in the heats to move on to the semifinals. In the semifinals Hersey finished 1st but Cammile Adams was in a slower heat and just made the final finishing in 7th, .36 ahead of 9th. They will swim in the final on Wednesday.

Then in the men’s 200m breaststroke Clark Burckle and Scott Weltz went 6-7 in the heats to qualify for the afternoon semifinals. In the semifinals Weltz finished 4th and Burckle 6th to make the final. Weltz was .79 seconds behind leader Michael Jamieson of Great Britain in the semifinals. They will swim for gold on Wednesday.

In the women’s 200m freestyle Allison Schmitt zoomed into the lead after the 1st turn and never looked back. She blew away the field and finished 1.97 seconds ahead and set an Olympic record with a time of 1:53.61. Missy Franklin was just out touched at the wall and finished 4th by .01 seconds.

In the men’s 200m butterfly final Michael Phelps swam a great race and appeared to have it won, but was beaten to the touch by Chad le Clos of South Africa. Phelps seemed to try to coast in while le Clos finished strong. It was almost a mirror image of Beijing. Phelps did pick up the silver, just .05 seconds back, his 18th career medal, tied for the most all-time. Tyler Clary was well back in 5th place in the race.

In the women’s 200m individual medley Shiwen Ye came on in the final 50m and blew the field away and to overtake Caitlin Levernez. Leverenz had been in 1st at the final turn but came in 3rd to win the bronze. Ariana Kukors was another .88 seconds behind her in 5th place. Ye sat an Olympic record in the event.

In the men’s 4x200m freestyle relay the US team of Charlie Houchin, Matthew McLean, Davis Tarwater, and Conor Dwyer swam a time 2.43 seconds better than the 2nd place team, France, to put the US into the final. In the final the US turned to a team of Ryan Lochte, Conor Dwyer, Ricky Berens, and Michael Phelps to win the gold. They led the entire race and Michael Phelps led it home to win his 19th medal, a new Olympics record. Incredible story for Phelps, one of the greatest athletes ever. They were over 3 seconds ahead of France at the end.

Tennis

There was some good news and some bad news for the US on Tuesday. In the women’s singles round of 32 Venus Williams defeated Aleksandra Wozniak of Canada 6-1, 6-3 to move on to a round of 16 match against 7th seed Angelique Kerber of Germany. Varvara Lepchenko was knocked out by Julia Georges of Germany, 6-3, 7-5 in a round of 32 match.

In men’s singles Andy Roddick saw his tournament come to an end as he lost 6-2, 6-1 to 2nd-seeded Novak Djokovic of Serbia in the round of 32.

In women’s doubles top-seeded Liezel Huber/Lisa Raymond defeated Agnieszka Radwanska/Urszula Radwanksa of Poland 6-4, 7-6 in the round of 16 to move on to a quarterfinal against 6th-seeded Ekaterina Makarova/Elena Vesnina of Russia tomorrow. Venus and Serena Williams were victorious over Angelique Kerber/Sabine Lisicki 6-2, 7-5 in the round of 16 to move on to a Wednesday quarterfinal against 2nd-seeded Sara Errani/Roberta Vinci of Italy.

Finally in men’s doubles top-seeded Bob Bryan/Mike Bryan defeated Nikolay Davydenko/Mikhail Youzhny of Russia in the round of 16 to move on to the quarterfinals. Their match will be on Thursday against a yet to be determined opponent.

Volleyball

The men’s volleyball team continue their dominant play as they bounced Germany in three sets (25-23, 25-26, 25-20) to stay atop the group. They and Brazil are 2-0 with all six sets won but the US has a slightly better point ratio. That tie will be broken when the two countries meet on Thursday.

Water Polo

The US men got a huge victory over Romania on Tuesday as they knocked Romania from the top of the group and moved up to 2nd. The US is only behind Serbia who has a goal differential of +18 largely thanks to beating Great Britain by 14 on Tuesday. The US will get a chance to build theirs up on Thursday when they face the British.

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Olympic Review – July 29th

July 29, 2012 Jon Green Leave a comment

Archery

In the women’s team competition on Sunday the US women started off by facing China in the quarterfinals. That is where their day ended as they were upset 218-213. It was a disappointing outing for a US after a 2nd place team qualification. The women will now focus on the individual competitions, beginning on Monday.

Badminton

In badminton Howard Bach and Tony Gunawan had their 2nd group stage match as they facted Koo/Tan of Malyasia. Koo/Tan won 21-12, 21-14. That combined with Jae-sung/Yong-dae’s victory on Sunday means the US has been eliminated from the competition. They will have one final match tomorrow against Kawamae/Sato of Japan. Both teams are 0-2.

Basketball

The US men’s basketball team only led by a point after the 1st quarter but led by 16 at the half and went on to win 98-71. Kevin Durant led the way with 22 points and the US put themselves atop the group with a point differential of +27, 4 better than Argentina. They will next face Tunisia. 4th in the group, on Tuesday.

Beach Volleyball

The US women’s duo of Jennifer Kessy/April Ross won their match 21-11, 21-18 over Gallay/Zonta of Argentina. The US went into the group lead since they won in straight sets while Baquerizo/Fernandez won in three sets. They will next face Keizer/van Iersel (currently 3rd) of the Netherlands on Tuesday.

The men’s pair of Phil Dalhausser/Todd Rogers won 21-15, 21-16 over Asahi/Shiratori of Japan. The US men are in 1st on points ratio and will face 2nd place Gavira/Herrera of Spain on Tuesday.

Boxing

In lightweight boxing, Jose Ramirez had a strong bout against Rachid Azzedine of France and hung on in the last round to win 21-20 and advance to a round of 16 bout with Fazliddin Gaibnazarov of Uzbekistan on Thursday.

Errol Spence messed around a little less and was dominant against Myke Ribeiro de Carvalho of Brazil, winning 16-10 and advancing to a round of 16 bout with Krishan Vikas of India on Friday.

The US is now 4-0 in boxing and has just two men left in the round of 32. Ten boxers are in the round of 16 for the US in the various competitions.

Canoeing

In the men’s C1 Casey Eichfeld put up a run of 97.04 in his 1st run but saw that time slide back as run 2 went on. He needed to improve on it but couldn’t and that run ended up being the 14th best, so he missed out on the semifinals by 2 spots.

In the men’s K1 Scott Parsons saw a similar fate develop. A good first run was getting passed and a mistake on the 2nd kept him from improving it. He finished 16th in the end and only the top 15 moved to the semifinals.

Cycling

The women’s road race saw the US nearly get a medal again with Shelley Olds falling a bit short in 7th place. Evelyn Stevens finished 24th, Kristin Armstrong 35th and Amber Neben 36th.

Diving

Diving was an amazing event for the US today as Kelci Bryant/Abigail Johnston had a great afternoon and exceeded expectations with a score of 321.9 and picked up the silver medal, the first US medal in diving since 2000.

Equestrian

In the equestrian the US wrapped up the dressage portion of the eventing competition on Sunday. Will Coleman scored a 46.3 to finish in 26th while Phillip Dutton led the way with a 44.3 to finish 19th. Of the competitors from Saturday Karen O’Connor’s was best with her 48.2 placing 29th. Those three combined to score 138.8 placing the US in 7th as a team. The other two competitors were Boyd Martin who is in 36th with a 50.7 and Tiana Coudray who is 42nd with a 52.

All competitors will take part in the cross country portion tomorrow.

Fencing

The US had three men going in the individual sabre competition today. James Williams lost to Nikolay Kovalev of Russia 15-12 in the round of 32. Daryl Homer won his round of 32 bout 15-11 over Tiberiu Dolniceanu of Romania and won his round of 16 bout 15-14 over Aleksey Yakimenko of Russia. In the quarterfinals Homer lost 15-13 to Rares Dumitrescu of Romania.

Tim Morehouse won his round of 32 bout 15-6 over Veniamin Reshetnikov of Russia before beating Dmitry Lapkes of Belarus 15-13 in the round of 16. In the quarterfinals Morehouse was beaten 15-9 by Diego Occhiuzzi of Italy.

These three will be back in the team sabre competition on Friday.

Field Hockey

In field hockey the US had a tough evening but still played pretty valiantly losing 2-1 to Germany after being down 2-0 21 minutes in. The US now finds themselves 4th in their group heading into a match with group leader Argentina on Tuesday.

Gymnastics

The US was superb in the women’s qualification round and placed 1st overall with a score of 181.863. The Russians came in second just over 1.4 points behind, China a distant 5th. The ramification of this was a extraordinarily tight race between the three main gymnasts for the two indvidual all around spots. The first spot went to Alexandra Raisman (60.391) who finished 2nd overall behind Victoria Komova (60.632). The 2nd spot went to Gabby Douglas who is 3rd overall (60.265). That meant that despite finishing 4th overall Jordyn Wieber (60.032) will not be in the individual all around final. The defending world champion is OUT!

In the vault McKayla Maroney, in her only event, blew the field away with a score of 15.8 she’ll be in the vault final and looks the heavy favorite to win gold. On the uneven bars Gabrielle Douglas scored a 15.333 and was the 6th qualifier for the uneven bars final. Douglas also qualified for the balance beam final with a score of 15.266, good for 3rd place. Alexandra Raisman will join her after finishing 5th and posting a score of 15.1. Kyla Ross lost out to her teammate despite finishing 6th with a score of 15.075. On the floor routine Alexandra Raisman led the way with a score of 15.325 while Jordyn Wieber finished 6th with a 14.666 mark. Both of them will be in the final.

Rowing

The men’s lightweight four crew had a great Sunday as they improved upon their time from yesterday and smoked the field to qualify for Tuesday’s semifinals out of their repechage.

The women’s lightweight double sculls got underway with the US finishing 3rd in their heat. Unfortunately only the top two go straight to the finals so they will face a repechage on Tuesday.

Finally the women’s eight crew had a great race and finished 1st in their heat to qualify directly for Wednesday’s final.

Sailing

Zach Railey finished 10th and 15th in the first two finn races. That combined score of 25 leaves him in 15th at this point. He will have races three and four on Monday.

Mark Mendelblatt and Brian Fatih finished 5th and 14th in their two star races. Their combined score of 19 ranks them 10th. Races three and four will be on Monday.

The US women’s elliott 6m crew beat Denmark by 5 seconds before losing to Spain by a minute and five seconds. The US is one of five crews tied for 4th at 1-1 after the first day. The US will face Portugal (0-1) and Australia (2-0) on Monday.

Shooting

The women’s 10m air pistol for Sandra Uptagrafft saw her finish 28th in the qualification round with a score of 378. She was only seven points out of qualification despite a 91 in her 2nd set of 10 shots.

On the other hand was Kimberly Rhode. She set an Olympic record hitting 74 of 75 in the skeet qualification round. The final was never really in doubt and she hit all 25 shots to win the gold with a Olympic record score of 99. That tied the world record. She has now won a medal in her 5th straight Olympics and has three golds over two different events. When they took away the double trap after 2004, where she won gold, she turned her attention towards skeet. She moved from 5th (91) in 2004 to 2nd (93) in 2008 and then to gold this year (99). Amazing athlete.

Swimming

The swimming competition will be busy on Sunday with eight events going, four of them ending in medals.

First at 5 AM the women’s 100m backstroke will get us underway with Rachel Bootsma in heat 5 and Missy Franklin in heat 6. They will be looking to be in the top 16 to advance to the afternoon semifinals.

Next at 5:20 AM the men’s 200m freestyle will feature Ricky Berens and Ryan Lochte head-to-heat in heat 5 both just needing a top 16 spot to move on to the afternoon semifinals.

Then at 5:43 AM the women’s 100m breaststroke will start. American Breeja Larson is in heat 5, and American Rebecca Soni is in heat 6. Again in this competition all that is necessary is a top 16 for a spot in the afternoon semifinals.

A similar story is true at 6:03 AM when Nick Thoman in heat 4 and Matthew Grevers in heat 6 will look for the top 16 spots to advance to the afternoon semifinals in the men’s 100m backstroke.

Finally a more urgent race will take place at 6:23 AM when the women’s 400m freestyle heats take place. Chloe Sutton is in heat 3 and Allison Schmitt is in heat 5. Only the top eight move on to the afternoon final.

The morning session will end with the dazzling men’s 4x100m freestyle relays. The US is in heat 2 and will be looking to finish in the top eight to lock up a spot in the afternoon final.

In the afternoon at 2:30 PM the women’s 100m butterfly final will take place with Claire Donahue and Dana Vollmer both in the final. Vollmer has been dominant so far and is the gold medal favorite.

Next at 2:37 PM we’ll see the men’s 200m freestyle semifinals, likely featuring Ricky Berens and Ryan Lochte. The top eight will move on to the final on Monday.

Then at 2:50 PM we’ll see the women’s 100m breaststroke semifinals with Breeja Larson and Rebecca Soni the Americans in competition. The top eight will move on to the final on Monday.

At 3:11 PM we’ll see another final as the men’s 100m breaststroke will take place with American Brendan Hansen just squeaking into the field.

Next at 3:18 PM the women’s 400m freestyle final will start possibly featuring Americans Chloe Sutton and Allison Schmitt.

The first of 2 more semifinal events will start at 3:28 PM with the men’s 100m backstroke, Nick Thoman and Matthew Grevers the Americans vying for a top eight spot and a trip to Monday’s final.

The second is the women’s 100m backstroke held at 3:49 PM. This is where Missy Franklin might shine and Rachel Bootsma should also be in the field. The top eight will move on to Monday’s final.

The afternoon will end with the 4 PM final of the men’s 4x100m freestyle relay. It should be an incredibly fast race and will be very entertaining.

Swimming will be covered on tape delay from 11-11:45 AM and 1:30-2 PM (heats) and the afternoon session will be shown during primetime 7 PM-12 AM. All of it will be tape delayed.

Women’s 100m Backstroke – Rachel Bootsma finished 11th and Missy Franklin 2nd in both the heats and the semifinals. Bootsma did not move on to the final but Missy Franklin did advance to Monday’s final.
Men’s 200m Freestyle – Ricky Berens qualified 8th and Ryan Lochte 2nd for the semifinal. In the semifinals Lochte advanced in 5th position but Ricky Berens finished 9th, just missing Monday’s final.
Women’s 100m Breaststroke – Rebecca Soni and Breeja Larson went 2-4 in both the heats and the semifinals to advance easily to Monday’s final.
Men’s 100m Backstroke – Matt Grevers and Nick Thoman went 1-3 in the heats and 1-5 in the semifinals to qualify for Monday’s final.
Women’s 400m Freestyle – Chloe Sutton missed out on the final finishing 10th in the morning but Allison Schmitt qualified in 2nd. In the final Schimtt lost out on the gold but set an American record while grabbing the silver.
Men’s 4x100m Freestyle – After qualifying in 2nd the men’s team had the lead most of the way during the final but gave it up in the final 50m to lose the gold to the French. US settles for silver.
Women’s 100m Butterfly – In the final it was Claire Donahue in 7th, but the headlines belong to Dana Vollmer who finally smashed the world record and took home the gold medal.
Men’s 100m Breaststroke – After qualifying for the final in 8th Brendan Hansen swam an amazing race in what might be his final individual race to win the bronze and improving his time by .29 seconds over the semifinals.

Table Tennis

Ariel Hsing was able to advance in her first match of the day in the 2nd round, beating Ni Xialian of Luxembourg 11-9, 10-12, 11-9, 11-5, 10-12, 12-10. In the 3rd round she faced #2 Li Xiaoxia of China and really gave it a great fight before losing 11-4, 9-11, 11-6, 6-11, 11-8, 11-9.

All the singles are out for the US but the women’s team will start play against Japan on Friday.

Tennis

Only one match actually started for the US. Varvara Lepchenko took on Veronica Cepede Royg and won set 1 7-5 before losing set 2 7-6 (8-6 tiebreaker). She will have to finish the match on Monday, the time unclear but probably sometime around 6:30 AM. All the other matches were rained out without beginning.

Volleyball

The US men won their first match against Serbia 25-17, 25-22, 25-21 but are only in 3rd in their group because Russia and Brazil had more dominant wins (point ratio). The US will next take on 5th place Germany on Tuesday.

Water Polo

The US water polo team won 8-7 over Montenegro on Sunday. They took a 4-2 lead to the half and hung on late to get the win. They are currently 3rd in their group by goal differential. They next face Romania on Tuesday. Romania currently leads the group.

Archery, Badminton, Basketball, Beach Volleyball, Boxing, Cycling, Daily Olympic Reviews, Equestrian, Fencing, Gymnastics, London 2012, Olympics, Rowing, Shooting, Soccer, Swimming, Table Tennis, Tennis, Volleyball

Olympic Review – July 28th

July 29, 2012 Jon Green Leave a comment

Archery

The men’s team competition was a huge success for the US on Saturday. In the quarterfinals they fell behind Japan but rallied to win 220-219. Then in the semifinals they pulled off a huge upset as the Koreans faltered and the US took advantage to win 224-219. The clutch shooting down the stretch in the semifinal was amazing to watch.

In the final the US fell behind to Italy and rallied late to have a chance at winning. It came down to the final arrow and Italy hit a ten to win the gold medal 219-218. It was tough to lose the gold after knocking off Korea, but the silver was a good result for the US still.

Badminton

In badminton the US team of Howard Bach/Tony Gunawan lost their doubles match to Jae-sung/Yong-dae of Korea 21-14, 21-19. The result leaves the US team in 3rd in their group of four (top two advance).

The next badminton match is against Koo/Tan of Malaysia on Sunday.

Basketball

The US women’s basketball team won their first game against Croatia 81-56 and now is sitting atop the group thanks to the 25 point margin of victory.

The next basketball game is against Angola on Monday. Angola lost 72-50 to Turkey on Saturday and is 2nd to last in the group.

Beach Volleyball

In beach volleyball the pair of Josh Gibb/Sean Rosenthal defeated Chiya/Goldschmidt 21-10, 21-11 to start off their group stage. The pair of Misty May-Treanor/Kerri Walsh had a much closer match but defeated Cook/Hinchley 21-18, 21-19 to start their group stage.

Gibb/Rosenthall next face Fijalek/Prudel of Poland while May-Treanor/Walsh face Kolocova/Slukova of the Czech Republic, both matches on Monday.

Boxing

In boxing Joseph Diaz Jr. started off his bout with Pavlo Ishchenko with an early lead and dominated throughout to win 19-9. Later in the day the middleweight contender, Terrell Gausha took on Andranik Hakobyan. After a couple of rounds where Gausha was just behind Hakobyan he came out firing in the 3rd and with 10 seconds left took complete control knocking Hakobyan down twice and leading to the bout being stopped. Diaz Jr. advances to face Lazaro Alvarez of Cuba on Wednesday while Terrell Gausha will face Vijender Singh of India on Wednesday.

Cycling

In the men’s road race Taylor Phinney nearly got a medal as he finished in 4th. The rest of the competitors were back in the field. Timmy Duggan-88th, Tyler Farrar-33rd, Chris Horner-93rd, and Tejay van Garderen-104th.

Equestrian

In the 1st day of Equestrian Eventing Karen O’Connor was the top US competitor with a score or 48.2. Boyd Martin was next with a score of 50.7, and Tiana Courdray was after that with a score of 52. Those scores are on the better half of scores so far.

Fencing

In women’s individual foil the US saw Nzingha Prescod fall 15-10 to Aida Mohamed and Nicole Ross fall 15-8 to Ines Boubakri, both in the round of 32. Lee Kiefer knocked off Monica Patterson of Canada 15-10 in the round of 32 and Gil Ok Jung of Korea 15-13 in the round of 16. Kiefer lost to Arianna Errigo 15-10 in the quarterfinals.

Gymnastics

The US men had a great afternoon in gymnastics and qualified 1st for the team finals with a score of 275.342. Danell Leyva qualified for the individual all-around in 1st with a score of 91.265 while John Orozco was 4th with a score of 90.597. Four Americans made individual apparatus finals: Jake Dalton in floor, Jonathan Horton in horizontal bar, Danell Leyva in horizontal bar and Sam Mikulak in vault.

Rowing

In rowing the US had mixed success.
Men’s Single Sculls – Ken Jurkowski qualified for the quarterfinals on Tuesday.
Men’s Pair – Tom Peszek/Silas Stafford failed to qualify for the semifinals and are in the repechage on Monday.
Men’s Lightweight Four – The crew failed to qualify for the semifinals and are in the repechage on Sunday.
Men’s Quadruple Sculls – The crew failed to qualify for the semifinals and are in the repechage on Monday.
Men’s Eight – The crew won their heat and qualified for the final on Wednesday.
Women’s Single Sculls – Generva Stone qualified for the quarterfinals on Tuesday.
Women’s Pair – Sara Hendershot/Sarah Zelenka qualified for the final on Wednesday.
Women’s Quadruple Sculls – The crew failed to qualify for the final and are in the repechage on Monday.

Shooting

In the men’s 10m air pistol competition neither competitor made the final. Daryl Szarenski finished 23rd with 575 points and Jason Turner finished 34th with 569 points.

In the women’s 10m air rifle position both competitors finished with 397 points and qualified for the final. In the final Jamie Gray performed slightly better and finished 5th with a score of 499.7. Sarah Scherer finished 7th with a score of 499.

Soccer

The US dominated Colombia and won 3-0 behind goals by Rapinoe, Wambach, and Lloyd. This puts the US atop the group with six points and a goal differential of +5. The US has locked up a spot in the quarterfinals, but could still finish 2nd or 3rd in the group if North Korea beats them and France wins. Then it would come down to goal differential to rank the teams.

Next up is North Korea on Tuesday.

Swimming

Men’s 400m Individual Medley – Ryan Lochte grabbed the gold while Michael Phelps missed out on a medal in 4th.
Women’s 100m Butterfly – Dana Vollmer set an Olympic record in the heats and qualified first for the final. Claire Donahue qualified for the final in 5th.
Men’s 400m Freestyle – Peter Vanderkaay finished with the bronze medal while Conor Dwyer finished 5th.
Women’s 400m Individual Medley – Elizabeth Beisel set an American record while grabbing the silver, Caitlin Leverenz finished 6th.
Men’s 100m Breaststroke – Brendan Hansen grabbed the 8th qualifying spot for the final, Eric Shanteau didn’t advance to the final.
Women’s 4x100m Freestyle Relay – The US finished with the bronze medal.

Table Tennis

In table tennis Timothy Wang’s tournament ended in the preliminary round with a loss to Kim Song-Nam 11-5, 11-4, 11-7, 11-4. Lily Zhang lost her match in the 1st round to Cornelia Molnar 11-6, 11-8, 11-7, 11-5.

Ariel Hsing won her 1st round match over Yadira Silva 11-5, 11-8, 11-3, 11-5 and will face Ni Xialian of Luxembourg on Sunday in the 2nd round.

Tennis

Ryan Harrison – lost 7-5, 6-3 to Santiago Giraldo
John Isner – won 7-6, 6-4 over Olivier Rochus, will face Malek Jaziri next in round of 32
Donald Young – lost 6-4, 6-4 to Andreas Seppi
Bob Bryan/Mike Bryan – won 7-6, 6-7, 6-3 over Bellucci/Sa
Andy Roddick/John Isner – lost 6-2, 6-4 to Melo/Soares
Christina McHale – lost 6-4, 7-5 to Ana Ivanovic
Serena Williams – won 6-3, 6-1 over Jelena Jankovic, will face Urszula Radwanska next in round of 32

Volleyball

The US beat Korea 25-19, 25-17, 20-25, 25-21. They are 2nd in the group behind China based off of points won ratio (1.338 to 1.159). They next face Brazil on Monday.

Archery, Daily Olympic Reviews, London 2012, Olympics

Olympic Review – July 27th

July 27, 2012 Jon Green 1 Comment

The only event today was the archery ranking rounds, where both the US men’s and women’s teams competed to seed themselves for the team competitions in addition to forming the individual seedings for those competitions.

The US men went first and posted a very solid score of 2019, good enough for a tie for 3rd. Unfortunately the US lost the tiebreaker on bullseyes and thus will be the 4th seed for the men’s team tournament tomorrow. On the positive side of things the US still gets a bye to the quarterfinals and will face the winner of #5 Japan/#12 India. On the negative side of things, the 4th spot means a semifinal matchup with #1 South Korea looks likely. South Korea was incredible today blowing away the world record of 2069 by scoring a 2087. It will take a big effort by the Americans tomorrow to have a chance to knock them off. The US was really close to 2nd and 3rd (obviously) so a medal is a definite possibility.

Individually Brady Ellison led the way with 676 in 10th place. Jacob Wukie finished in 12th with 673 and Jake Kaminksi was 18th with 670. All are very respectable scores and leaves most of them with real chances to reach the top 16. Kaminski will have to beat one of the Koreans if they advance (who finished 1-2-3) in the round of 16, but the other two will avoid them until the quarterfinals (Ellison) or the semifinals (Wukie). Wukie’s draw in particular is appealing. He would only have to upset two competitors who finished 5 and 6 points ahead of him to get to the semifinals and earn a medal shot.

The round of 64 and 32 will be held on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. Here are the round of 64 matchups and the likely round of 32 opponents.
Round of 64:
#10 Brady Ellison – #55 Mark Javier (Philippines)
#12 Jacob Wukie – #53 Jayanta Talukdar (India)
#18 Jake Kaminski – #47 Dan Olaru (Moldova)

Likely round of 32:
#10 Brady Ellison – #23 Taylor Worth (Australia)
#12 Jacob Wukie – #21 Bard Nesteng (Norway)
#18 Jake Kaminski – #15 Yu Ishizu (Japan)

As for the women, they actually had better results than the men! The women’s team came back late to finish 2nd with a score of 1979, giving them both the round of 16 bye and a path to the final that doesn’t involve facing Korea. The US will face the winner of #7 China/#10 Italy in the quarterfinals and then likely #3 Chinese Taipei in the semifinals.

As for the individuals the top score for the US belongs to Khatuna Lorig who put up a fantastic 669, just two points off of the lead and good for 4th place. Lorig can definitely shoot with the top competitors and is a big threat to medal. Miranda Leek and Jennifer Nichols went 14-15 with scores of 656 and 654 respectively. The only downside to their finish is those positions will force them to have likely round of 16 battles with the 2nd and 3rd place finishers instead of having those matchups in the quarterfinals. The good news is they are in different sections than each other and in a different section than Lorig. If they were going to medal they probably needed to defeat those competitors at some point, so why not in the round of 16!

The round of 64 and 32 will be held on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. Here are the round of 64 matchups and the likely round of 32 opponents.
Round of 64:
#4 Khatuna Lorig – #61 Sherab Zam (Bhutan)
#14 Miranda Leek – #51 Kateryna Palekha (Ukraine)
#15 Jennifer Nichols – #50 Chekrovolu Swuro (India)

Likely round of 32:
#4 Khatuna Lorig – #29 Marie-Pier Beaudet (Canada)
#14 Miranda Leek – #19 Pia Lionetti (Italy)
#15 Jennifer Nichols – #18 Bishindee Urantungalag (Mongolia)

Daily Olympic Reviews, London 2012, Olympics, Soccer

Olympic Review – July 25th

July 26, 2012 Jon Green Leave a comment

The only sport the US participated in on Wednesday was women’s soccer where they started their group stage. The US fell down 2-0 against France in the first 15 minutes after giving up two goals in three minutes. That lead didn’t last for long as Amy Wambach answered answered just five minutes later to cut the lead in half and Alex Morgan equalized in the 32nd minute. Eleven minutes into the 2nd half Carli Lloyd let loose a beautiful strike and gave the US their first lead and in the 66th minute Alex Morgan added a 2nd to provide the final 4-2 margin.

It was a fantastic game for neutrals, lots of action and obviously the six goals. If the two teams did meet in the final, I’d definitely enjoy seeing it again.

The US was probably going to have to go through Brazil or Japan to reach the final anyways, so the best thing to hope for is probably to avoid one of those matchups until the semifinals (where a loss would mean a chance at the bronze medal still). The win on Wednesday went a long way towards that goal by putting the US in the driver’s seat to win the group and get a quarterfinal against the 3rd place team from group E or F (currently New Zealand).

The US next plays Colombia on Saturday and could lock up a spot in the quarterfinals with a win and one of six other scenarios happens.