One More Voice

     I write this not because you will learn anything new, or likely, anything that hasn't been said before, but "Lochtegate" is the story of these past few days, so here goes:


   Getting drunk, staying out late, causing a ruckus and trying to cover it up is not news.


   It does not merit two helicopters flying above a Rio gas station 4 days after the fact.  It does not merit our national evening news broadcasts leading with a reporter standing at the gas station.


   Did Lochte lie?  It seems so.  Did the four swimmers collude a story to try to save face?  It seems so.


   It is interesting to me that the city of Rio can see fit to remove American citizens from a plane and detain them, but has no official response to the media bus taking gunshots last week.  I suppose it would be really easy for me to say, "Clean up the favelas!"  Every major city in the world has slums, and quadrennially, those slums are right next door to an Olympic event.  It happens. 


   Lochte and pals made a really stupid mistake.  I'm not in the business of determining what the appropriate punishment is -  I believe Lochte has done himself irreparable harm in the way of endorsement dollars.


   We have three days left.  Let's finish strong, everybody.

One Foot...

   A track coach once said, "I like it (track) because everyone can do it.  Put one foot in front of the other."


   "Athletics" competitors are doing that these days in Rio, on a blue track in a stadium that looks huge, on TV.  on the biggest stage in the world, runners have the spotlight at the Games.


   Yesterday, three American women made history by sweeping the 100 meter hurdles event.  Ashton Eaton performed well enough in the first day's decathlon events to position himself for a shot at gold.  Justin Gatlin's sideways glance may have cost him a place in the 200 meter final.


   The thing that I'm really jazzed about is the steeplechasers.  In what may be the throw-away event of the Track and Field competition, Americans medaled on both the women's and the men's side.


    First, Emma Coburn set an American record for the 3000 meter race at 9:07.63, and won bronze.  Coburn led significant portions of the race, a strategy which proved valid when Ruth Jebet employed her well known finishing kick.  If Coburn doesn't work to put herself out front, she probably does not hold on for third.  Jebet is from Kenya - the middle and long-distance breeding ground of the world, but competed in Rio for Bahrain, a practice that has become more and more common in the last three or four years.


   On the men's side, Evan jager ran an 8:04 to get silver.  this is the first time Americans of both genders have medaled in Steeplechase.  I will point out once again that this USA squad is being led by it's women, who represent more than half of the 554 competitors in Rio.


   You may have heard about the hair tie - shortly before the beginning of the women's race, Coburn found herself without a hair tie, and so, borrowed Jager's.  Jager wore the same time in his race....that is the most decorated hair tie in history.  Find that thing on eBay.  I'll bid on it!
    
   

Two Busy Days

   How's your Wednesday looking?  I have three meetings -  fairly light, that will give me the opportunity to catch on a Secure ftp issue, get with my team members and refresh the projects list, and, like that.


   Here's someone's else's day:


   8:30AM -  100m dash - at which you need to run a 10.5 or better.  (Jesse Owens won the 1936 100 meter dash in 10.3)
   9:35AM - Long Jump - better jump at least 7.8 meters (25 feet, 7 inches)  (Willie Steele won the long jump in '48 with a leap of 7.825)
   11:15 - Shot Put - need to throw at least 15.6 meters (51 feet) (Leo Sexton won in LA in '32 with a 16.00 throw)


   Then you get a break, but don't make big plans, you need to be back on the track for:


   4:45PM - High Jump -  just do a quick 2.15 meters (7'1") (The legend, Valeri Brumel, won in '64 in Tokyo, with a 2.16)
    8:20pm - 400m - 0:48 or so. (Eric Liddel won in Paris in '24 with a :47.6)


    Go rest up....tomorrow is harder.


     The parenthetic winning times and distances are for the open event itself, not the decathlon......


     Best of luck to Ashton Eaton, and all the competitors of the decathlon.

Games

      Many years ago, Sports Illustrated offered a board game based on the Olympic decathlon.  Aptly named  "Decathlon", the game allowed players to replicate, at the roll of dice, the performances of true Olympic decathletes.


     If memory serves, the game came to me as a gift from my godfather, Joe Fox, one of two decent NYC High School track coaches I know.  The detail in the game was pretty amazing.  It also took a good two and a half hours to play, in order to get through all ten events.  My father often chose to play as Bill Toomey, who won the Olympic decathlon in 1968 in Mexico City.


    Being a young punk, I countered this paly to compete as Vasily Kuznetsov, because , after all, communism is a great theory, right?  Kuznetsov won bronze twice, in '56 in Melbourne, and in '60 in Rome.  (Remind me to tell you about Abebe Bekila in the Rome Games one day.)


   I currently live with someone silly enough to humor me and play the game.  I wonder who she will choose as a player?  I get the feeling Megan might like Rafer Johnson, and Bee might side with a classic, Jim Thorpe.  I found the game on eBay recently, but the set doesn't have the dice.  As a sort of precursor to Gygax' Dungeons and Dragons, you cant play this game without the dice.  I'll find it, one day.


   The decathlon in Rio will be contested beginning tomorrow, American Ashton Eaton has a very good chance to be at the top of the podium.  Some like Damien Warner from Canada, but I do not believe he can compete at the top level in all events.  That's why we watch!


   Note:  readers of this blog are encouraged to give a listen to NPR's All Things Considered today, or to link later from their site, www.npr.org/programs/all-things-considered  for a discussion on intersex athletes.  The timing seems appropriate, given that the decathlon begins tomorrow, and we are reminded of Caitlyn Jenner's win in Montreal in 1976.

Judoka

    Ever heard of the Fearless Foundation?


    Kayla Harrison won Gold in her class in Judo, in the London Games, in 2012.


    She returned to the Olympics in Rio, hoping to defend her title, as all Olympic champions would. Harrison competes in the 78kg class, equal to just under 172 pounds.  For women, this is about as heavy as the competition gets.

   Based on seeding, Harrison had a first round bye, and fought Zhehui Zhang of China, and won on an ippon.  An ippon by definition is a "perfectly executed technique", and results in a match score of 100- 0.  Following that elimination Round of 16 match, she took on Abigel Joo, of Hungary, and won, 100-0, on an ippon.  On to the semi-finals.


   Facing Anamari Velensek of Slovenia, Harrison won the match.....100-0, on an ippon.


   Sensing a trend?


   I think the reason I have an affinity for this fighter is because her best move is an arm bar.  I've nearly perfected my bar arm, but that's different. 


   In yesterday's Gold medal match, Harrison fought Audrey Tcheumeo of France, the second-ranked judoka in the world in her class.  Harrison won the match with six seconds remaining - on an ippon.


   But it all might not have happened.


   After the London Games, Harrison created the Fearless Foundation, a nonprofit that works to aid victims of sexual abuse through education and sports.  Following an attack as a teen by a former coach, Harrison was close to giving up sports - and found judo to be a place where she belonged, and could excel.


   Congratulations to Kayla Harrison, two-time Olympic champion.  Thank you to Kayla Harrison, helper and hero.

Busy, Busy

  How would you like to be the transportation coordinator for this:


  Golf -  6:30AM - 6:30PM
  Badminton - 7:00AM - 11:20AM
  Rowing - 7:30AM - 1:15PM
  Archery - 8:00AM - 9:44AM
  Shooting - 8:00AM - 12:00PM
  Fencing - 8:00AM - 1:15PM
  Water Polo - 8:00AM - 1:20PM
  Handball - 8:30AM - 12:00PM
  Volleyball - 8:30AM - 12:05PM
  Table Tennis - 9:00AM - 11:00AM
  Beach Volleyball 9:00AM - 12:20PM
  Equestrian - 9:00AM - 9:00AM
  Hockey - 9:00AM - 2:15PM
  Judo - 9:00AM - 11:34AM
  Boxing - 10:00AM - 12:56PM
  Tennis -  10:00AM - 10:30PM
  Rugby Sevens - 11:30AM - 7:30PM
  Swimming - 12:02PM - 2:07PM
  Sailing - 12:05PM - 3:35PM
  Artistic Gymnastics - 3:00PM - 4:55PM
  Cycling - 3:00PM - 5:29PM


  I like how Equestrian is allotted one minute, or less....that's interesting.


 I have listed only the earliest session of any discipline from the official schedule for today.  Beach volleyball, handball and volleyball have three sessions each.  Today is a very busy day in Rio.  They all are, so that 10,500 athletes can compete. 


  In golf, a discipline in the Games for the first time in more than 100 years, 60 men begin play at the crack of dawn on a course our intrepid Orlando blogger points out has capybaras running around on it.  That'll make approach shots challenging.


  Game On!

Flip, Splash

    That the U.S. Women's gymnastics team would do well in Rio was pretty much foregone.  But, after the first day of team competition, when the lead was just under 10 whole points, people began comparing the distance between the U.S. team and the rest of the competing nations to other contests.  The lead was said to be "30 points at halftime of a basketball game."  "Like a five touchdown lead."  Etc, etc.  And so, I got nervous.


   Haven't we seen people fall from the balance beam?  Haven't we seen disaster strike on the uneven bars?


   Well, there was little need for all that concern, the "Final Five" as they're getting to be known, completed their appointed rounds and won Gold, for some God, and country.


   As we move toward the individual competition, I'd like to tip my cap to the two lesser-known women on the team, Lauren Hernandez and Madison Kocian.  To me, those two are the glue, the guts, the people you need on your team to truly make it a team.


   Simone Biles is the new star, and rightfully so, she's going to be the best in the world, if she isn't, already.  Aly Raisman is a steady veteran.  Her Amanar vault was pretty much perfect.   Gaby Douglas, is, well, Gaby Douglas and if you haven't been under a rock, you know that name.


   Hernandez made the team based on the strength of her performance in the last two events at Trials, and deserves to be in Rio, no doubt.  She matched her best score of the year on bars yesterday, when it really mattered.


   Kocian is the story. 


   The 19 year old from Dallas may be the surprise of the individual all-around competition.  Her bars score during the team event was the highest on the team, and while she may not be at that level on floor, the vibe here is that she might just show the world a thing or two on vault and beam.  And this is after breaking her foot in February.  She is the only member of the team who maintains NCAA eligibility, and intends to matriculate at UCLA in the fall.


   I love me some Olympics.
___________________________________________________________


  Last night one of the guys in my "Great Satan" Olympics pool (I'll tell you later) sent a one word note.   "Katinka!"


  He refers, of course, to Hungary's finest, Katinka Hosszu.  The 27 year old has swum to Gold three times already, this Olympiad, dropped an event yesterday, and still has entries in three more events.


  200m IM, Gold.  Olympic record.  100m backstroke, Gold.  400m IM, Gold, Olympic record, World record.


   Michael who?

Words, Times, Wishes

     Every two years, the Olympic games bring to mind some words that we don't often use at other times.


    Repechage -  literally, "fishing out" or "rescuing", it is used in rowing events (and others).  If an event is scheduled to allow the top two finishers in a heat to advance to a following round, the best third place finishers by time are placed in the repechage, with a second chance to move forward.


    At the office, by boss suggested that I could repechage my first effort at the team's vacation calendar.


  Piste -  as in, "I'm piste off I have to do the calendar again."   Actually, a fencing word that refers to the mat that fencers stand on when they battle, but etymologically comes from a word to refer a ski run of compacted snow.  How a run down the Alps looks anything like a blue rubber mat, I don't know, suffice to say, it is French.


   Dressage - "the art or method of training a horse in obedience and in precision of movement."  In the Games, obviously, it isn't the method, it is the competition between individuals, horses and teams to show that your particular dressage method is the best.  A horse has to step from foot to foot in one event, and land in exactly the same spot.  Think those funky "compulsories" in figure skating drawing that same figure 8....to use an Olympic analogy.


    Grand amplitude -  a Greco-Roman wrestling throw where the thrower is underneath the throwee.  The feet of the wrestler being thrown go over the head of the thrower.  It is rare.


    Code of Points -  it is the book that defines the rules for artistic gymnastics.  Degrees of difficulty, multipliers, deductions, etc.


    There are probably at least a dozen more, but I'm not going to stoop so low as to mention either "clean and jerk" or "snatch."

A Full Sutarday!

    Why are you reading this?  You're missing rowing! Or handball! Swimming, soccer, rugby.....and lots more.

      So.  What did you think of the Opening Ceremonies?  Pretty cool, I'd say.  I liked the non-Wright Brothers guy, I had not heard of him, but I have to assume it was probably cooler to fly over Copacabana than Kitty Hawk, no offense to our Carolinian readers.
     What I saw of the Ceremonies was nice.  I really thought the environmental aspect was smart, but I can't get out of my mind the articles I have read about the pollution issues in the water right in Rio.  The Games have been known to be a catalyst for change in the past.  Any effort to plant ten thousand trees is good, by me.

      A Rio actress named Regima Case said, "look for similarities, and celebrate differences," which sounds like a really good idea, to me.  A recent Advocate article named 40-some-odd Out athletes at these Games, and I would bet the true number is way higher.  At a point in time where LGBT concerns are pretty high, I applaud anybody who makes a strong decision to speak up.

     If you get a chance, check out the sport of handball.  It is a lot bigger in Europe and Asia and South America, but what a fast, cool game!  I will be pulling for the Netherlands against France today, the women play in just over an hour, as this is being written.  23 year old left back Lois Abbingh of Groningen is today's CoubertinsRings featured Gamer.  Go Orange!

    I miss Murtha, a lot.  I think I'll go to Disney.

Here We Go (Really!)

     Our guest blogger, Megan Lawrence, offered information on "local" Olympians.....local to her, at least.


     This has inspired me to do a bit of the same.  Wait.  There's something about that word....


    Anyway, Western New York has sent a significant contingent to Rio, and today, competition begins for one individual.


     Archery is the only sport on the docket today, and the Team competition includes a man from Elma, New York.  I live about two miles from a sign that reads "Welcome To Elma", but, if you keep driving, you wont stay in Elma very long.  Jake Kaminski knows that his hamlet is pretty small, but that has not stopped him from rising to the top of the archery world. 


     Kaminski is currently the 26th highest ranked archer in the world, he was a member of the three man team that took silver at the Games in London.  Best of luck to Jake and his teammates, Zach Garret and Brady Ellison.


    More archery news will follow, you've got to hear about Matt Stutzman!


   Looking forward to seeing some fruit on people's heads tonight.


   Over/under for the timing of the complete Parade of Nations -  2 hours, 53 minutes.


    8/4 Recap -  men's soccer kicked off (!) and lots of squads like kissing their sister.  I predicted three matches, and all of them ended in ties.  I'm still 3-5.


   Today's Guess: -  U.S.Mens Archery 3 man team wins bronze.

By The Numbers

    One kind reader said they enjoyed the trivia of the Games.  Herewith, our first such installment:


    

They are officially known as The Games of the XXXI Summer Olympiad.

They are the first games ever held in South America.

It is estimated that there will be $5.4 billion lost in productivity at work (outside of Brazil) by people watching the Games.  Although estimates differ, I am only responsible for $800 million of that total.

There are 10,500 athletes competing, from 207 nations.  Also, some refugees will be competing under the Olympic flag, I plan to address that in another post.

About 500,000 tourists are expected to visit Rio and the surrounding area during the Games.

There will be 2,084 hours of coverage across all the networks of NBC Universal.  With my six daisy-chained DVR’s, I’ll be finished watching on December 8^th.  But I’m skipping women’s weightlifting, and almost all the slalom rowing events.

As for Team USA:

 555 competitors, 191 of whom have participated in a previous Olympiad, four of those are in their fourth Games.

The youngest US Olympian is Kanak Jha, who is 16, he plays table tennis.  The oldest US Olympian is Phillip Dutton, who is 52.  He is an equestrian.

California leads the list of US representatives with 125.  Only 4 states do not have an Olympian…..Montana, North Dakota, West Virginia and Wyoming, three of which I’m not sure really exist.

The scuttlebutt says that the last torch bearer in the relay, and therefore the cauldron-lighter, will be soccer (football) legend Pele.

8/3 Recap:

Team Canada's soccer women lollygagged for all of 19 seconds before scoring the quickest goal in Olympic history.

Carli Lloyd picked up where she left off in the World Cup, scoring Team USA's first goal, on a header. 

The host nation got off to a good start, beating China, 3-0, again in women's soccer.

I made predictions for 5 soccer matches and got 3 correct.

Today's guesses, in men's soccer:

Denmark over Iraq, Brazil over South Africa, Germany over Mexico.

Orlando's Olympians

  Guest Article by Megan Lawrence


  

In the past year I have become an ex-pat of sorts from the Western New York area, and have been living in Orlando, Florida. Recently, I decided to get to know the City Beautiful's hometown heroes, and if you will all indulge me I'll keep you posted on their work in Rio over the next few weeks.

 

Marvin Bracy hails from the city of Orlando, and will be competing in Track and Field. He played football for FSU from 2011 to 2013, at which point he left the team to pursue track professionally. During the trials at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon Bracy placed third in men's 100m sprint with a time of 9.98, just .05 off from his personal record. Bracy will begin competition on August 13th when preliminaries and early rounds take place.

 

Katelin Snyder will be leading USA Rowing's highly favored Women's Coxed 8 as coxswain this year. She began rowing at Winter Park High School, just outside of the city of Orlando and went on to cox for the University of Washington. Snyder has four gold medals from the Rowing World Championships; Rio will be her first Olympic appearance. Snyder is also engaged to Nareg Guregian, who will be rowing for the US in the men's coxless pair.

 

Matt Kuchar, also from Winter Park, is spending the end of this week competing in the Traveler's Championship before heading to Rio. Kuchar has been a professional golfer since 2000 and is ranked 20th overall in the official world golf ranking. He has seven PGA titles, and will be joined by on the men's team by Bubba Watson, Rickie Fowler, and Patrick Reed as golf returns to the Games for the first time in 112 years. Fun fact: the course that will be used in Rio is located on a piece of land that is home to 30-40 capybaras, as well as a host of other wildlife.

 

We look forward to keeping up with Marvin, Katelin, and Matt in the upcoming weeks, as well as the rest of the players of the XXXI Olympiad.

 

--

Megan Lawrence

   

Here We Go!

   When some graphic designer gets the idea that an emerging country's flag should be a combination of purple and pink, we're in trouble.  Not for the general esthetic questions of flying those colors over an embassy, but because athletes from that country are going to be, in a sense, all alone.


    The colors of the rings of the Olympic flag - Blue, Black, Red, Yellow and Green were chosen so that at least one color of every flag in the world is represented.  So, new Caribbean nation:  as much as it might bolster the tourism, no teal flag, please.


    The Nigerian men's basketball team arrives in Rio today - they are at the same time the African continent champion, and the lowest ranked team in the competition.  They scrimmaged the USA's latest Dream Team edition and kept it close - a 110-66 final.  Why bring this up?  The Nigerian's coach, Will Voigt, is a native of the state of Vermont.  He hopes that his team's play will inspire more young Nigerian men (and women) to take up basketball.  The D'Tigers have a small chance to make it out of group play, we'll be noting their results here on the blog.  They open against a very talented Argentina squad on August 7.


   One blog reader may be interested to learn about an American athlete named Ibtihaj Muhammad.  She is a fencer, a 30 year old, from Maplewood, New Jersey.  She was named an All American three times, during her fencing career at Duke.  She becomes the first American athlete who will compete while wearing a hijab.  What say you, @realDonaldTrump?


   Predictions for today:


   Women's soccer:


    Brazil over China
    South Africa over Sweden
    Germany over Zimbabwe
    USA over New Zealand
     Columbia over France

When My Baby Smiles At Me....

      If you have not heard the question yet, you likely will:  When do the Olympics start?

       There are several answers. 


        They begin Friday, the 5th.  That's when the Opening Ceremonies are to be held.
        They begin Wednesday, the 3rd, that's when actual competition begins, there are several soccer matches that day.
         They've already begun, they never really end, municipalities and athletes are always preparing for the Games of some Olympiad.


          Finally, there could be a case made that they don't really begin until September 7th, when the Paralympic Games open.


         Whatever your choice, here come the Games!


         In this corner, we see the games as a good thing.  We look forward to the competition, the pageantry, the fun.  We try to keep in mind that the Games are one way to bring young (and not-so-young) people together to showcase their talents.  Can that really be bad?


         Yes, the Games are an expensive proposition, and the money could be "better spent."  Yes, Rio itself has significant poverty issues to address.  Yes, there are doping scandals and there will be cheaters and we can only pray that spectators and competitors alike remain safe for the next five or six weeks in Brazil.  All very true.


      But we can also marvel at the Equestrian from Great Britain who guides her massive horse over obstacles, fault-free.  We can gasp when a seventy-pound gymnast somersaults on the four-inch wide balance beam.  Marathon.  Swimming.  Cycling.  Table tennis.  Archery.  Badminton.  Golf, for God's sake, for the first time in more than 100 years!


     Baron Coubertin wrote the athlete's oath, still recited at the opening of each Olympiad:


     "In the name of all competitors, I promise that we shall take part in these Olympic games, respecting and abiding by the rules that govern them, in the true spirit of sportsmanship, for the glory of sport and the honor of our teams."


     Not bad, Phil.  Not bad, at all.


*  The title of the blog entry comes from "Go To Rio", a 1976 song by Peter Allen, later covered by rock legends Pablo Cruise.