2016 Olympic Games

The Olympics may be over, but many of us are still basking in the ambiance of what turned out to be a fabulous show put on by the people of Brazil.  There were a lot of great performances that earned LOTS of recognition.  The Final Five of the U.S. Women’s Gymnastics team; Katie Ledecky and Michael Phelps on the swim team; Simone Manuel who became the first Black woman to ever win an individual Olympic swimming gold medal.

And of course there’s “Mr. Olympics” himself, Usain Bolt, whose accomplishments are almost too many to name.  Allyson Felix, who became the most decorated woman in Olympic track and field ever.  But with all of this, there was one who flew completely under the radar and is almost forgotten.

Dalilah Muhammad.  She was a star at USC where she was a 4-time All-American.  She burst onto the scene as a tremendous talent in the women’s 400m hurdles.  Since graduating from USC she has struggled.  Injuries and waning confidence had her questioning her talent.

Last year she was hampered by a quad injury that kind of derailed her training and prevented her from going at it full speed.  Entering this season she was still hesitant and worried about the quad injury and in the back of her mind she wasn’t sure if it would rear its ugly head again.

At the Olympic Trials in Eugene, OR, all of those worries were put to bed.  Over the multi-day event Muhammad put up some of the best times in the world, including a personal best for her in the final.  Heading to Rio she was the clear favorite, winning the majority of her races this year by a WIDE margin.

In the Olympic final, Muhammad did not disappoint, jumping out to an early lead, making up the stagger on much of the field before getting to the first hurdle.  As they turned for home, it was obvious who the winner was going to be.

But check this out.  This is the first gold medal for the U.S. in this event in history!  Think about that.  The U.S. has some of the greatest athletes in the HISTORY of track and field, and yet they have NEVER won this event.  Where was the fanfare regarding the historical significance of this event?  She’s not household name, but this accomplishment really deserved some shine.

So Dalilah, we thank you for finally breaking through for the U.S. in this event, for persevering through so many ups and downs in your career, for keeping the faith and putting it all together at just the right time.  You are a PHENOMENAL WOMAN who gave a PHENOMENAL PERFORMANCE!  Bravo Dalilah, bravo!!!

After 17 days of some of the most intense athletic competition in history, the 2016 Olympic Games came to a close last night.  Going into it, there were all kinds of question marks as to whether or not Brazil would actually be able to pull off these games.  For 17 days the world watched, and witnessed some fantastic performances.

Among those performances was that of the U.S. women’s 100m hurdlers.  Brianna Rollins, Nia Ali, and Christi Castlin accomplished the first ever sweep in that event by collecting gold, silver and bronze!  Going into the race, it was deemed possible, but did not become a reality until it was determined by photo that Castlin had in fact edged out one of her rivals for the bronze.  BRAVO LADIES!!!

In the women’s 4x100m relay, it was a surreal experience to say the least.  In the qualifying rounds the women actually dropped the baton during he 2nd exchange between Allyson Felix and English Gardner.  As it turns out, Felix was bumped by a Brazilian runner while trying to make the pass.

As a result, the Brazilian team was DQed and the U.S. was given a 2nd chance.  But instead of being automatically placed in the final, the U.S. women had to run on the track by themselves and beat the #8 qualifier, China, in order to get in the final.  Needless to say, they did it and successfully defended their title from the 2012 London Olympics.  As a result, Allyson Felix won here fifth Olympic gold medal, the most by any woman in Olympic track and field history.  But she wasn’t done yet.

In the women’s 4x400m relay, the women were attempting to win their 6th straight Olympic final in this event.  And the team of Courtney Okolo, Natasha Hastings, Phyllis Francis, and Allyson Felix were definitely up to the task.  Felix took the baton with the lead on the anchor leg with Jamaica hanging close.  But as she made the turn for home, she turned on that finishing kick and anchored the team to the gold medal.

That victory gave Allyson Felix her 6th gold medal and 9th overall in the Olympic games.  Felix says that this is probably her last Olympic games.  She will go down in history as the most decorated female in Olympic track and field history.

After not receiving any medals in the men’s 200m event, the men’s 110m high hurdles, the men’s 4x100m relay team finishing 3rd and then subsequently being DQed for making a pass outside the zone, it was up to the men’s 4x400m team to make up for a lackluster performance on the track.  The team of Arman Hall, Tony McQuay, Gil Roberts and LaShawn Merritt did just that.

After losing to the Bahamas in 2012, in an event that the U.S. has virtually owned for 3 decades, it was revenge time.  Arman Hall started it off, and the team never looked back.  Giving Merritt a sizable lead that he stretched even further is he powered home down the stretch.

The U.S. Women’s basketball team won gold for the 6th consecutive time, destroying every challenger on the way.  When you talk about dynasties, you have to bring up U.S.A. Women’s basketball.  What began in 1996, doesn’t seem to be slowing down anytime soon.

After routing their first 2 opponents and then struggling with the last 3 in the preliminary rounds, the U.S. men’s basketball team finally got it together, winning their 3rd straight gold medal in a route of Serbia.  This was considered by many to be the “B” team, but in the end, they are still the best players in the world.

If you love track and field, last night was must see TV in Rio!  Last night featured finals in the men’s 400m and 100m.

The 400m race featured the last 2 Olympic champions in LaShawn Merritt of the USA (2008) and Kirani James of Grenada (2012), and last year’s world champion Wayde Van Niekerk of South Africa.  Merritt was unable to defend his title at the 2012 Olympics due to suffering a hamstring injury in the preliminary heats. So this was a much anticipated showdown.

After seeing how good the 3 were running through the rounds it was fairly obvious that it would take a world record effort to win. And young Van Niekerk did not disappoint.

The young South African set a blistering pace from lane 8. Meaning that he could not see anyone, he was essentially running blind. When the came off the last turn into the home stretch the 3 favorites, Van Niekerk, James and Merritt were right with each other, but Van Niekerk proceeded to throw it into overdrive and began pulling away. The result was a gold medal for South Africa, and the obliteration of the world record set by Michael Johnson 17 years ago.

In the featured even, the men’s 100m final, it was billed as a showdown between Usain Bolt and the USA’s Justin Gatlin. Bolt of course was attempting to win gold for the 3rd consecutive Olympics, and Gatlin, who won 100m gold in 2004 in Athens was attempting to avenge his 0.01 sec loss to bolt in last year’s world championships.

 Gatlin got out to a fabulous start and at 50 meters appeared to have the upset in hand, but Bolt has probably the best top end speed in the history of the sport. He was able to reel in Gatlin and claim 100m gold for the 3rd consecutive Olympiad. Gatlin took silver, with Canada’s Andre DeGrasse taking bronze.

Even though Gatlin did not win, joins Bolt in an exclusive club. They are the only 2 to ever win 3 medals, in 3 different Olympiads in the 100m. This will no doubt solidify Bolt’s position as the greatest sprinter of all time.

This weekend marked the beginning of the track and field events at the 2016 Olympics in Rio.  And the first big final took place Saturday night in the Women’s 100m dash.  Among the notable finalists were Elaine Thompson and Shelly Ann Fraser-Pryce of Jamaica, Tori Bowie and English Gardner of the United States, and Dafne Schippers of the Netherlands.

Fraser-Pryce was attempting to become the first woman in history to win gold in the 100m at three straight Olympic Games.  Her fellow country woman Elaine Thompson was peaking at the right time and posted some of the fastest 100m times of the season.  English Gardner and Tori Bowie of the U.S. were participating in their first Olympic Games, and hoping to bring gold back to the U.S. for the first time since Gail Devers took gold in Atlanta in 1996.

Going into the final the favorites were Thompson and Fraser-Pryce of Jamaica, as they ran identical 10.88 sec times in their semi final heats.  At the start, Fraser-Pryce got out to her typical fast start, but so did Thompson.  Thompson, as if being shot out of a cannon quickly took the lead.  Tori Bowie of the U.S. showed off her fabulous top end speed and narrowed the gap.  Fraser-Pryce was desperately trying to hold on to the silver medal spot, but was overtaken by Bowie at the tape.  English Gardner had a great start but began to tie up about 20 meters from the finish line taking her out of medal contention.

In the end it was Elaine Thompson taking gold for Jamaica, with Tori Bowie winning the silver for the U.S. and Fraser-Pryce getting the bronze.  Collectively, this was the fastest women’s 100m Olympic final in history with 7 of the 8 runners finishing in under 11 seconds.

Next up will be the men’s 100m final where Usain Bolt attempts to defend his title as “World’s Fastest Man”, and will also be going for the unprecedented triple in the 100m.

Where to begin is the question. Last night the U.S. Women’s gymnastics team of Simone Biles, Gabby Douglas, Ally Raisman, Laurie Hernandez, and Madison Kocian pulled off the repeat by winning the gold medal in the team competition in blow out fashion. In doing so they became only the 3rd U.S. Team to do so, and the first to repeat.

They also unveiled a new nickname, ” The Final Five”. It holds a two-fold significance in that it marks the final team that Martha Karolyi will coach, as this is her final Olympic Games, and going forward the teams will now consist of 4 members instead of 5. What a way to send off your coach.

At the pool, Michael Phelps and Katie Ladecky continued their dominance. Phelps avenged his 2012 loss in the 200m butterfly, his favorite event, by putting away the competition as he added to his unprecedented medal count, winning his 20th gold medal.

Later, he added to that total by anchoring the 4x200m freestyle relay team (Connor Dwyer, Townley Haas, Ryan Lochte, Michael Phelps) to gold. They simply obliterated the entire field from start to finish.

Katie Ledecky added to her legend and unbeaten string by winning gold in the women’s 200m freestyle.  This was gold medal number 2, with an anticipated 3 more opportunities to come. And to top it off, she has not lost a major international race since the 2012 Olympic Games in London.

Then there’s the disappointment of what happened to Serena Williams. The #1 women’s tennis player on the planet, and defending Olympic gold medalist was upset in straight sets by the Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina.

It was painful to watch as Serena struggled with her serve and overall mechanics all match. It has led some to speculate whether she was playing through injury. But Serena, not one to make excuses, released a statement saying that she is looking forward to her next outing and wants to put this disappointment behind her.

Last night in Rio was marked by its fair share of controversy. The women’s 100m breaststroke featured the United States’ Lilly King matching up against Russia’s Yulia Efimova.

What made this matchup so special is the underlying doping issues that Russian athletes have been facing. Efimova was one of several Russian athletes that tested positive for banned substances and did not know until the previous day, prior to 100m breaststroke prelims that she would even be allowed to swim.

Min the semi final round King and Efimova swam in separate heats, but the challenge had been thrown down as Efimova swam to victory in semi final heat #1, waving the #1 sign with her finger afterward.

Moments later in semi final heat 2, King bested Efimova’s time by .01 seconds, and flashing her own #1 finger. This set up a much anticipat s final with the 2 swimmers right next to each other in the center of the pool.

As the 2 closed for home in the final, King out touched Efimova to take home the gold and set a new Olympic record in the process. Afterward, as if winning was not a big enough statement, King spoke to NBC’s Michelle Tafoya stating that you can still swim fast and set records if you are clean.

After the first weekend at the 2016 Summer Olympics the favorites have established themselves by smashing all comers!  Before the games were officially opened, the USWNT opened up the soccer tournament with a 2-0 victory over New Zealand, basically continuing what they did during last years Women’s World Cup.

Not to be overlooked, the USA men’s basketball team opened the tournament by destroying China 119-62, and it really wasn’t even that close.

And not to be outdone, the USA women’s basketball team broke their own record by scoring 121 points against a defenseless team from Senegal.  Senegal managed only 9 points in the first quarter, so as you can imagine, this was like a Mike Tyson fight, if you missed the introductions, you missed everything.

And last but not least, the fierce 5 of the U.S. Women’s gymnastics team (Simone Biles, Gabby Douglas, Ally Raisman, Laurie Hernandez, and Madison Kocian) put the hammer down in the qualifying round of the team all-around title.  Simone Biles just continues to show and prove that she is the best in the world, while her fellow teammates are more than holding their own.

As far as the individual all-around title goes, the U.S. had the top 3 after the first night of competition (Simone Biles, Ally Raisman, and Gabby Douglas), but only 2 get to go to the all-around final.  Unfortunately that means that the young lady in 3rd place, which happens to be the defending champ Gabby Douglas, will not get to defend her title.  This shows you how deep this team is.

As the week progresses, the action will get even better.

To say that I’m surprised would be a blatant untruth. But doping violations were uncovered by the IOC against Russia. The allegations are so deep and widespread that the entire Russian track and field team has been banned from the 2016 Rio games.

It’s not uncommon for athletes to be banned for doping or PED usage, but when you have an entire group of athletes being banned from the Olympic Games, you’re in unprecedented territory.

According to reports the doping started in 2011, after the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver and reached critical mass at the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, that were hosted by Russia. A report recently issued states that the scandal was similar to what you’d see in an espionage type movie. Through the use of trapped doors and secret compartments, blood and urine samples taken from Russian athletes were replaced with clean samples.

As mentioned earlier, the IOC has already banned the Russian track and field athletes, a ban that was recently upheld through an appeals process launched by the Russian Olympic committee. Now the IOC is considering a ban of the entire Russian delegation.

As if Rio is not having enough problems with the Zika virus, water pollution, and security concerns, add this to the pile and you have a formula for what could be the WORST Olympic Games ever. The quandary that the IOC faces is that they have no idea who on the Russian team is actually clean, and not on the juice.

The eastern bloc nations have a long history of doping and PED usage dating back to the late 70s and early 80s when the former Soviet Union and East Germany dominated Olympic type sports by using what amounted to “sports factories” producing “super” athletes who were stronger, faster, and could jump higher than anyone on the planet. I thought those days were long gone, and Olympic sport was finally enjoying some much needed fair play. I guess I was wrong.

Athletes are continuing to pull out of the Rio Olympics due to fears concerning the Zika virus.  From the men’s PGA tour the top 4 golfers in the world have decided not to participate in the Rio Games.  Names such as Jason Day, Dustin Johnson, Rory McIlroy, and Jordan Speith,

In tennis, Romania’s Simona Halep, a Wimbledon semi-finalist, Canadian Milos Raonic, a men’s singles finalist at Wimbledon, and Czech’s Tomas Berdych have all decided not to participate due to health concerns.

Now the first thought by many is that golf and tennis are not your high profile Olympic events, but who doesn’t want the opportunity to win an Olympic gold medal?  While winning gold is a once in a lifetime opportunity, it’s not worth risking your health.

Most of us are familiar with the NBA stars that opted out either due to injury or fatigue, but with the games now just 20 days away, who else will decide not to participate.  For the most part, all the teams are solidified as of now, but will there be some cold feet as showtime approaches?

After 9 days of intense competition at Hayward field in Eugene, OR, the team that will represent USA track & field in Rio is now set.  The team his highlighted by athletes such as Justin Gatlin, and Allyson Felix.  Justin, who will be going to his 3rd Olympic games at the age of 34, won the 100m at the Athens games in 2004 and has had 2 phenomenal seasons on the world circuit.  Allyson will represent in the women’s 400m and is participating in her 4th Olympic games.

Other highlighted athletes include LaShawn Merritt, who will attempt a double in the men’s 200m and his specialty the 400m, Tori Bowie will represent in the women’s 100m and 200m, Brianna Rollins leads the way in the women’s 100m hurdles, 16 year old first time Olympian Sydney McLaughlin earns a spot in the women’s 400m hurdles, Kerron Clement makes his 3rd Olympic team in the men’s 400m hurdles, along with a host of other well deserving athletes.

While there was joy, like Bernard Lagat defying father time and making the men’s 5000m team at the ripe old age of 41, there was also some heartbreak.  The defending Olympic champ in the men’s 110m hurdles, Aries Merritt did not make the team.  He is 12 months removed from kidney transplant surgery and finished 4th in the final.  Keni Harrison, the current American record holder in the women’s 100m hurdles, also failed to make the team by finishing a disappointing 4th in the final.  Another shocker is defending women’s Olympic 400m champ Sanya Richards-Ross failed to make the team as well.  And in what is probably the biggest surprise of these trials, defending Olympic 200m champion, Allyson Felix fails to make the team in what most consider her better event, the women’s 200m.  While she will compete in the women’s 400m she finished 0.01 seconds behind 3rd place finisher Jenna Prandini.

Even with some of the surprises, there is a lot to look forward to in Rio.  Team USA has a very good mix of rookies and veterans.  I’m sure everyone is looking forward to the showdown in the men’s 100m between Gatlin and Usain Bolt, and LaShawn Merritt will look to avenge his loss to Kirani James in the men’s 400m.  Opening Ceremonies are August 5th.  LET THE GAMES BEGIN!!!