THE FINAL DAY.

The final day kicked off with a heartfelt press conference by the Canadian Olympic Committee, spilling over with pride and gratitude for the nation’s support and the Olympic spirit of our team, their drive and determination. Canada’s goal was to finish Top 12 in the medal count and they finished 10th. With 22 total, Team Canada also tied the most medals won at a non-boycotted games. Mission: Accomplished, for now.

COC president, Tricia Smith, acknowledged the unprecedented medal haul by Canadian women at the games and called for the continued pursuit for equality in sports.

This comes a day after Brazilian soccer phenom, Marta, made an emotional plea after Brazil’s Bronze medal loss to Canada.  Please don’t give up on us, the women’s team. Keep supporting us. The Brazilian women’s team, a team that is largely ignored by arguably the biggest soccer nation in the world, was given regard when Neymar and the men’s team failed to produce results early on in the tournament.

It’s sad to see that after an amazing tournament, this is one of the first thoughts in Marta’s mind following the game. Here’s hoping a generation has been inspired.

Speaking of inspiring a generation, Curt Harnett, Chef De Mission, announced Penny Oleksiak as Canada’s Closing Ceremony flag bearer. A 16 year old, part of that next generation, already inspiring the next. The truth came out this afternoon that Penny was actually back in the Greater Toronto Area for a few days, and got a new kitten named Rio, before heading back to Brazil.

On to the final day of competition:

MEN’S BASKETBALL
It seems the more exciting game to end the men’s tournament was actually the Bronze medal game between Spain and Australia. Spain led by 2 points at the half. The score would stay close until the end when Spain took the bronze medal by 1 basket, 89-88.

In the Gold medal game, USA beat Serbia 96-66.

WOMEN’S BOXING – 69-75kg

USA’s Claressa Shields was the champion back in London at 17 years old. Today, she defeated the Netherlands to win back to back Gold Medals.

MEN’S HANDBALL

Denmark are Olympic champions for the first time in history, keeping the 2-time champion French team at bay 28-26. Germany took the Bronze medal.

MEN’S MARATHON

In the traditionally, most prestigious event of the summer Olympics, over 150 men hit the streets of Rio. Kenya’s Kipchoge took the Gold medal by over 1 minute. Ethiopia’s Lilesa had a bobble towards the end of the race, but recovered and kept his Silver medal placing. USA’s Rupp ran a PB to earn the Bronze medal. For Canada, it was Eric Gillis finishing Top 10, the first Canadian in 40 years to finish Top 10! The second Canadian, Reid Coolsaet, finished 23rd. Both Canadians in the Top 25 is pretty awesome!  

MEN’S VOLLEYBALL

In the Bronze medal match, Russia led the USA 2 close sets (25-23, 25-21) to none, but the Americans rallied back to even it up with 2 decisive sets (25-19, 25-19) and finally took the 5th set 15-13.

In the Gold medal match, the home team did not disappoint, sweeping Italy 25-22, 28-26 and 26-24!

WRESTLING

The Men’s 65kg Bronze Medal bout was an interesting one. Mongolia’s Ganzorig vs. Uzbekistan’s Navruzov. In the dying seconds, Mongolia was up 7-6 and was already celebrating as he danced around the mat. His coaches joined him on the mat to celebrate, but as that was happening, UZB launched a protest for failure to engage. That made it 7-7. As the rules go, the last wrestler to win a point is the winner of the match, making UZB the winner. The Mongolian coaches protested in their own manner at this point, pulling off their shirts, shoes and one also pulled off his pants in protest. Ganzorig would shake Navruzov’s hand and give him a congratulatory bro-hug, but a couple times, refused to stand on the mat for the ref to raise Navruzov’s hand in victory. The judges awarded an 8th point to Navruzov to make their point.

And finally, our favourite moments of the Rio Olympics, in no particular order:

1. Women’s Rugby 7s – a fierce sport, and a fierce Canadian team
2. Deanne Rose playing huge for Canada in the Women’s Soccer Bronze Medal win
3. John Herdman’s dancing celebrations
4. Canadian Swimmers reminding us that we don’t have to be quiet, polite Canadians; and Mark Tewksbury’s in-studio reaction to the medals.
5. Penny – not just the fact that she won 4 medals, but rather that she left her heart in the pool and was genuinely shocked every time she looked up at the scoreboard.
6. Syrian refugee swimmer Yusra Mardini being too mature beyond her years and swimming to give others HOPE.
7. Two marriage proposals – one on the rugby pitch, one in the diving pool.
8. Usain Bolt’s Triple Triple, but more importantly, his Bromance with Andre De Grasse, and De Grasse’s 3 medals… and Donovan Bailey’s reactions to the sprint races.
9. Sweden’s Women’s Soccer coach cleverly rebutting the American goalkeeper many times.
10. The joy of Canadian marathoners, both men and women
11. Brazil vaulting to the top in Men’s pole vault
12. The commercials: “I’m part of tomorrow’s Team Canada”
13. Playing with LEGO with my Wife

ELBOWS UP!

WOMEN’S MTB – CROSS COUNTRY

Canadian women, Catharine Pendrel and Emily Batty, were looking for redemption. At London 2012, Pendrel crashed and Batty broke her collarbone BEFORE the competition, still competed and finished 24th. This time around, Pendrel crashed early on, but picked herself up to continue.

Pendrel picked up a Bronze medal 1:26 behind the leader from Sweden, while Batty picked up the bittersweet 4th place 2 seconds later. She’s happy for her teammate, but it sucks coming 4th! Poland won silver.

TRIATHLON – WOMEN’S EVENT

Today and the last few days, I witnessed a lot of strategy and contact in various running events like I’ve never seen before. Triathlon is no exception.

The Women’s Triathlon came down to a foot race. USA’s Gwen Jorgensen (the 2014 and 2015 ITU World Triathlon Series champion) rivaled Switzerland’s Nicola Spirig Hug (London 2012 Olympic Triathlon Champion) for the entire running portion after a grueling bike ride. It was an interesting final 1.5 laps as Spirig and Jorgensen were playing cat and mouse, zig zagging, trying to lose one another. At one point, there was a lot of yapping with a frustrated Jorgensen gesturing to Spirig and probably said something along the lines of,  “You want to go? Go run! Quit stepping on my heels!”

With just over a half lap to go, Jorgensen said, “See ya later” to Spirig and went as hard as she could for the rest of the race. She ended up beating Spirig for the Gold by 40 seconds. Jorgensen’s gold medal is the first Triathlon Gold for the USA. Spirig managed to hold on for the Silver, with no less than 5 seconds later, GBR’s Vicky Holland out-sprinted her teammate Non Stanford for Bronze.

In 5th, from Chile, was Barbara Riveros. Riveros is a story that echoes the power of sport and development. With no athletes to train with in her own country, the ITU identified her as one of several athletes around the world to receive coaching and training opportunities that they would otherwise not have had. Riveros has a ton of international experience with high placings, including world cup wins.

BASKETBALL – WOMEN’S MEDAL ROUND

USA met Spain in the Gold Medal final. It was a close game to start as the teams were within a couple baskets of each other part way through the 2nd quarter. Then….USA dropped a few three pointers and blew the gates wide open. They defeated Spain 101-72.

In the bronze medal game, Serbia beat France 70-63.

CANOE / KAYAK

In the men’s K1 200m, Canada’s Mark De Jonge (Bronze in London), raced a great race performance-wise, however not results-wise, as he put it, finishing 7th. GBR took the Gold, with France behind by 0.2s, and Spain and Germany tied for the Bronze medal.

In the Women’s K4, 500m, Canada finished 8th.

MEN’S INDIVIDUAL 10m PLATFORM DIVING

The water was blue again!

China’s Chen Aisen won his second Gold of the games (his other gold in synchro). Mexico’s Sanchez ripped for a silver and David Boudia settled for Bronze this time around.

Canada’s Vincent Riendeau was only designated as a reserve for the final found after finishing in 14th in the semifinal (top 12 advanced).

WOMEN’S GOLF

It wasn’t meant to be this time around for 18-year old Canadian Brooke Henderson. She tied for 7th while South Korea’s Inbee Park took Gold, NZ’s Lydia Ko Silver and China’s Feng Shanshan in Bronze.

HANDBALL

In the Women’s Gold medal match, Russia physically manhandled France to win 22-19. The Russian goalie often came up big for her team, stunning France on a number of sure-goal situations. Norway won the Bronze over the Dutch.

MEN’S SOCCER

Gold medal game – Brazil has finally done it. Their first ever gold medal in soccer. It must have been a little extra sweet that the win came against Germany, who brutally embarrassed the hosts at the World Cup a couple years ago. This game went to a shoot out. The Brazilian goalie guessed the correct way every shot, though was not able to save any until the very last German kick. Brazil, who had scored on the first four shots, had the final shot. It was up to Neymar to be the hero. That he did! He was reduced to tears almost immediately with the win. Not a bad finish for the team that was booed through nearly the whole preliminary round.

Nigeria held off Honduras 3-2 for the Bronze medal, but definitely didn’t celebrate as though they had.

TRACK AND FIELD

Women’s High Jump – Spain’s Beitia won Gold after 20 years of competition making her the oldest ever winner of a jumping event at the Olympics. Bulgaria took Silver and Croatia the Bronze.

Men’s Javelin – Germany’s Thomas Rohler took the gold with a throw over 90m – wow, that’s nearly the whole track! Not take anything away from the decathletes, but they were throwing maximum low-60s, for comparison purposes. Kenya’s Julius Yega came Silver and Trinidad and Tobago’s Walcott took Bronze.

Men’s 1500m – It was a slow run from the start, in the context of 1500m running. Again, there was a lot of jostling. USA’s Centrowitz won the gold, the first USA champion since 1908. Algeria’s Makhloufi came Silver despite legally tripping a Kenyan and also muscling Canadian Nathan Brannen. Brannen was the lone Canadian to qualify for the final and finished 10th. New Zealand’s Willis won Bronze.

Women’s 800m – South African renewed powerhouse, Caster Semenya, set a National record on her way to the Gold medal. Burundi’s Niyonsaba earned Silver and Kenya’s Wambui edged out Canada’s Melissa Bishop in the last several meters. A heartbreaker for the Canadian as she set a new national record. She was so close to a medal after working hard to position herself in the pack and around the bends throughout the race.

Men’s 5000m – It was a repeat Golden moment for GBR’s Mohamed Farah, but a disappointment for Canada’s Ahmed Mohammed. In fourth place, it was Canada’s best ever finish in the event. He bounced back from a terrible 10,000m race, felt solid for the 5k race, endured bumping, was subject to disqualification along with Silver medal winner USA’s Chelimo and original 4th place finisher Ethiopia’s Edris, then was reinstated with Chelimo, while Edris remained DQ’ed. In the end, Chelimo got his Silver medal back, Ethiopia’s Gebrhiwet remained Bronze, and Mohammed bumped up to 4th place.

4x400m Relay – Women’s

USA took the gold medal by over Jamaica with USA’s Felix anchoring. She has won 9 Olympic medals in her career, tied for most Track medals by a US Woman.

Both USA and Jamaica finished with season’s bests.

Canada was running in 3rd for a large portion of the race but lost it on the 3rd leg. GBR took the lead and never gave it back to capture Bronze. Sage Watson ran Canada’s final leg and made up some ground, missing bronze by just over half a second.

4x400m Relay – Men’s

For the final gold of the night up for grabs

In the men’s event, Botswana put up a big fight, nearly hitting the podium. Botswana was right on USA’s heels heading into the final lap. Unfortunately, their anchor could not maintain their pace and in the last 50 meters, was passed by a surging Jamaica, as well as Bahamas and Belgium.

USA took Gold, Jamaica Silver and Bahamas Bronze.

VOLLEYBALL

In the final day of the women’s tournament, USA defeated the Netherlands for Bronze. China matched Serbia in the final, with China starting off jittery and losing the first set. They easily shook that off and took the match 3-1 with the winning point coming from a China spike after an overbump by the Serbia.

The final day of the Olympics will feature a lot of men. The men’s marathon, men’s MTB, men’s volleyball, men’s basketball. Closing Ceremonies start at 6pm EST!

More Bronze Medals!

SOCCER – Women’s Final Round

Bronze Medal Game – Canada vs. Brazil

Probably one of the toughest things to do is come so close to a gold medal chance, only to have to prepare yourself for a bronze medal showdown (and against the host national at that). Canada opened the scoring in the first half after an amazing crossfield headman pass from deep in the defensive end up to Ashley Lawrence near half. Lawrence took one look, then blitzed up the wing with the ball, outrunning her marker and drawing the other Brazilian defence to her. With her head up, Lawrence spotted 17-year-old teammate Deanne Rose charging to the net. A beautiful cross and Rose found the back of the net with a one-time to put Canada up 1-0!

In the second half, Captain Canada, Christine Sinclair, found the back of the net early on to add a buffer to their lead. It would prove to be the winning goal in her 250th Canadian appearance.

Brazil would add some suspense to the game in the 79th minute by slipping one past Labbe, but Canada would hold on to win 2-1 for their second bronze medal, the only Canadian team to earn back to back medals at the Summer Olympics.

In the Gold Medal game, Germany accepted Sweden’s own goal as one of theirs to go up 2-0. Sweden would manage to recoup one, but it wouldn’t be enough as Germany won 2-1 earning their first-ever gold medal in women’s soccer.

EQUESTRIAN – INDIVIDUAL JUMPING

There was a 6-way tie for first place, sending the Finals to a Jump off for the second equestrian medal in a row. Eric Lamaze and Fine Lady 5 knocked off one bar (the only one of their competition) at the end of their run, putting the gold medal out of reach. Lamaze settled for a bronze medal while GBR’s Nick Skelton took Gold and Sweden’s Peder Fredricson took silver.

FIELD HOCKEY – WOMEN’S MEDALS

GBR met the Netherlands in the gold medal final. After a 3-3 tie, the match went to a shootout. Shooters are given 8 seconds, they can carry the ball in, shoot, and rebound until the time runs out. It was GBR who was victorious in the end as they scored 2/5 in the shootout. Germany defeated New Zealand for the bronze medal.

CYCLING – BMX

Tory Nyhaug was looking for the podium today in the men’s BMX, but despite great heats and an okay semifinal, Tory came 5th in the final, Canada’s best finish ever.

TRACK AND FIELD

Men’s 50km Race Walk – Canada’s Evan Dunfee was looking to be in great stride, he even encouraged a French competitor to keep moving. Towards the end of the race, Dunfee was in 3rd place when he was jostled by the 4th place Japanese walker. He side stepped only slightly but that was enough to break his momentum as he threw his hands up in frustration. He ended up finishing 4th while setting a Canadian record!

Soon after the completion of the race, it was announced the Japanese walker would be disqualified and Dunfee was awarded the Bronze medal. But, soon after that, the Japanese coaching team appealed and the Bronze was reinstated!

Dunfee decided not to appeal again as he felt that the Japanese athlete did not intentionally knock him (though, still not sure why there wasn’t more effort on the Japan athlete’s part to pass without making contact when the lane is so large).

Women’s Pole Vault – Greece’s Stefanidi, and USA’s Morris matched each other’s highest jump, however both reaching the same max height, the tiebreaker was to go back through the last jump and note who took fewer tries to reach the height. Greece took it. New Zealand took Bronze.

Women’s 4x100m – USA, fresh from their re-run to qualify for the final, took the gold medal over Jamaica; both set Season’s Bests. Great Britain set a national record and took the bronze medal. Canada was trailing in last place but made a surge near the end to beat out Nigeria.

Men’s 4x100m – The Big Man has done it! Achieved his desired Triple Triple (3 events, 3 golds, 3 back to back Olympics). I wasn’t even watching Bolt cross the line as he was so far ahead. Instead, the focus was on the fight for 2nd and 3rd. Canada didn’t have a fast third leg and lost some ground that they had, but as soon as De Grasse grabbed the baton, he was off! He made up a lot of ground and rivaled for the bronze and silver position. Had he another meter or two, he certainly could have overtaken the USA and Japan. Still, the Canadians broke the 20-year old Canadian record (from 1996).

It was Jamaica, Japan and USA celebrating for squeezing out Canada. But, many minutes later, it was Canada who was celebrating a Bronze as the USA was disqualified for an illegal handoff at the first bend.

And, this is why you run your very best until the very end – you never know what will happen!

More Bling For Canada!

BASKETBALL – Women’s Semis:
The women’s tourney continued without Canada in the final four. Spain defeated Serbia 68-54 and the Americans did not romp France, but still won 86-67.

BEACH VOLLEYBALL – Men’s Medal Round
In the Gold medal match, it was World Number 1 Brazil (Oscar Schmidt and Cerutti) vs the Italian team of Nicolai and Lupo. The World #1 took the Olympic Gold Medal in straight sets, with the final point being an awkward call by the ref. Italy wasn’t happy, but let’s be real, they weren’t going to beat Brazil!

CANOE/KAYAK
In the Men’s Kayak Double (K2) 200m final, it was a fight to the finish. The Spanish Duo of Craviotto and Toro edged out GBR’s Heath and Schofield, who in turn beat the Lithuanian team of Lankas and Ramanauskas by a hair.
Places 1 and 5 all finished within 0.5s of each other! Check out the times here:
http://olympics.cbc.ca/canoe-kayak/event/flatwater-kayak-double-200m-men/phase=cfm122100/index.html?v=20160818134852&intcmp=[#]-schline-result
Canada’s Cochrane and Fournel finished in 8th, 1.3s behind the Spanish paddlers.

CYCLING
Bring on the BMX!
Coquitlam, B.C.’s Tory Nyhaug won his heat and will continue into the semis tomorrow.

DIVING – Women’s 10m Platform
China continues to rule the sport of diving. China took Gold and Silver as 15 year old Qian Ren one-upped her diving teammate Yajie Si. Not too far behind was Canada’s Meaghan Benfeito, winning herself a SECOND BRONZE MEDAL for the games. Benfeito’s synchronized diving teammate, Roise Filion finished a close 6th place but finished with an amazing rip entry to cap off what will likely be her last Olympics.

Men’s 10m diving is Friday.

GOLF
Canadian Brooke Henderson made up huge ground today as she is now tied for 3rd place and only 2 behind the leader. Still Round 3 and 4 to go! Teammate Alena Sharp is tied for 32nd.

HANDBALL – Women’s Semis
Two close semi matches: France over Netherlands 24-23, and Russia over Norway 38-37.

MEN’S FIELD HOCKEY
Argentina defeated Belgium 4-2 for the gold medal as Germany beat the Netherlands for the Bronze.

WRESTLING
In Women’s 75kg Freestyle Wrestling, Canadian Erica Wiebe became the third Canadian woman in history to win OLYMPIC GOLD in a wrestling event. This was over Kazakhstan’s Guzel Manyurova, a world champion.
The best part was when Erica lifted her coach on her shoulders in celebration of her Gold and did a victory lap around the mat.

TRACK AND FIELD
Women’s 4x100m Qualifying
In their heat, USA had a stumble, fall and an attempt in desperation to whip the baton at her teammate’s back. It was later determined that the Brazilian team interfered and USA was awarded a solo time trial race: run the relay again, for a time, and if they beat the last place qualified (China), they have a spot in the final. And, so, they did it and beat the last time by 1 whole second! Canada qualified for the final, too.

Men’s Decathlon
These ultimate athletes finished up the decathlon today with the Discus, Pole Vault, Javelin and the 1500m race.
USA’s Ashton Eaton carried the lead for nearly the whole competition and became the third man in history to win back to back Olympic decathlon gold medals.
Bronze medal winner, Canada’s Damian Warner entered the day in 2nd place, he didn’t clear a very high pole vault, allowing France’s Mayer to move ahead. In the Javelin, Warner’s final throw was huge with a Season’s Best 63.19m. That would give him a stronghold on Third place as the group entered the final event, the grueling 1500m.

Mayer would have only been able to catch the Gold had he beaten Eaton by at least 40 meters in this final race. Alas, the leaders simply had to keep a good pace to keep their podium spots. Eaton would earn his 2nd Gold medal, with Mayer taking Silver, and Warner the BRONZE.

Women’s 400m Hurdles
USA’s Dalilah Muhammad led the race from the start. Teammate Ashley Spencer was close by, but Denmark’s Sara Slott Petersen broke through in the final stretch to snatch the Silver medal. Of the field of eight, 5 Personal/Seasonal/National Best records were set.

Men’s 200m Final
The moment many had been waiting all day for. Another Bolt – De Grasse match up. Bolt, probably a little annoyed at De Grasse’s semifinal run, showed the whole field who is boss. He was the only one in the field to break 20s and also set a season’s best with 19.78. Bolt and De Grasse each crossed the line quite easily, but it was the Bronze medal that went down to a photo finish. The Dutch runner Martina looked to have the bronze in his hands, but it would be France’s Lemaitre who would lean his chest forward first, and actually GBR’s Gemili slipped into 4th place ahead of Martina!

Not too shabby for his first Olympics, De Grasse has two medals so far to haul home with him. A Gold in the relay would complete his Rio collection
Usain, on the other hand, has so far pulled off a triple double, capturing a third consecutive gold medal in his second event. He’ll go for the Triple Triple with the 4x100m relay, slated for Friday.

Props and Editing By: Yvo

CANOE / KAYAK – Flatwater

Men’s Canoe C1 (200m) – Mark Oldershaw was in action again today for the sprint. He finished fourth in his heat and had to race the semi final where he did not fare his best. Unfortunately, he did not place high enough to move onto the final. Brazil’s Quieroz had the fast time in the semi and will have the preferred 5th lane in tomorrow’s final.

Men’s Doubles Kayak K2 200m:

Canada’s Ryan Cochrane and Hugues Fournel raced the heats and finished third in the semis to make it to the Finals!

Women’s Kayak K1 500m:

Hugues’ oldest sister, Emilie, made it to the semis but didn’t have enough in the tank to make the Final.

Finals are Thursday morning.

BEACH VOLLEYBALL – WOMEN’S FINALS:

In the Bronze medal match, USA’s Walsh Jennings and Ross capped off their Olympic campaign with a hard-fought win over Brazil #2 in 3 sets (17-21, 21-17, 15-9).

The Gold Medal match featured Brazil #1 vs. Germany (#1 in the world); Germany showed why they are number 1 as they took the match in straight sets (21-18, 21-14). Unfortunately, the winning point was a serving fault by Brazil!

BOXING UPDATE:

Women’s Fly – Yesterday I mentioned Canadian Boxed Mandy Bujold was knocked out out of the quarterfinal. Today I learned that Mandy was battling a case of stomach flu, lost 5lbs in 5 hours, removed her IV and went from the hospital straight to the arena to fight her quarterfinal. What a trooper.

DIVING

Women’s 10m Platform qualifying round was held today. Canada’s synchro silver medallists, Rosie Filion and Meaghan Benfeito, have both qualified for the semifinals (Wednesday 9am). Hoping they also make the 3pm final!

EQUESTRIAN

Team Canada tied Germany for third in the final round of jumping, however the competition went to a jump off, where Germany won the bronze medal. Here’s how I think it works: In a jump off, the horse with the fewest errors wins. However, if those ‘error points’ still have the teams tied, then the fastest horse to complete the course, wins. So, you have to balance speed with accuracy and control (like many sports).

France and USA took Gold and Silver.

GOLF:

Women’s Individual Stroke Play is underway and Canada’s Brooke Henderson (#2 in the world) is 5 strokes back heading into Round 2.

HANDBALL – MEN’S QUARTERFINALS:

Looks like France, Germany, Denmark and Poland heading to the semifinals.

FIELD HOCKEY – WOMEN’S SEMIS

Germany took on the Dutch today, only to lose in a shoot out; meanwhile, Britain decisively defeated New Zealand 3-0.

MEN’S SOCCER – SEMIFINALS

Brazil has their jitters out, and they’re no longer being booed as they downed Honduras 6-0. In the other semi, Germany got the upperhand on Nigeria 2-0. The final matches are on Saturday at noon and 4:30pm.

TRACK AND FIELD

Men’s Decathlon –

Who is Brianne cheering for? The world wants to know. She’s cheering for her husband and friend, of course! Team North America. Backstory HERE. 

What I think I love most is that he called out all non-native Americans, kindly and subtly reminding them that their lineage is not rooted in North America.

Canadian #2 in the world, Damian Warner is looking to get the better of Eaton this time around. Through the 100m, Long Jump, Shot Put, High Jump and 400m events today, Eaton is in first, Germany’s Kazmirek is in 2nd, ever so slightly ahead of Warner in 3rd.

Tomorrow’s events: 100m Hurdles, Discus Throw, Pole Vault, Javelin Throw, 1500m.

Men’s 200m Semifinals –

Seriously, we all love the Bolt/De Grasse Bromance, right? Adorbs.

In Heat 2, Bolt and De Grasse easily led the way. Bolt was letting up near the end as De Grasse turned on the jets. Of course, Bolt couldn’t let lil bro win and crossed the line 0.02s quicker. I think De Grasse just wanted to nip at Bolt’s heals a bit to remind him of his presence and capability, but not to stir the giant by beating him in the semis. Save that for the final.

One thing is certain, these two are pushing each other to be better and better. Usain set a season’s best 19.78s and Degrass set a new Canadian record with 19.80.

USA’s Gatlin ran in the 3rd heat and failed to make top 2. His time was not good enough to make the cut.

Final is Thursday night.

Women’s 200m Final:

Elaine Thompson of Jamaica showed again that she is the new queen of sprint. It was a close race with Dutch Runner Dafne Schippers (reigning World Champion) making up ground in the last several meters. She was closing in but could not catch Thompson who set another Season’s Best while capturing the Gold medal. Schippers also set a Season’s Best with her silver medal performance. USA’s Tori Bowie came in Bronze.

Women’s 100m Hurdles Final:

A USA sweep! Brianna Rollins (12.48), Nia Ali (12.59) and Kristi Castlin (12.61). Canada’s Phylicia George had trouble with the first hurdle which threw her off her rhythm. She finished 8th. When asked if she’ll continue running (being on leave from med school):

“I want to be there in 2020… I know I have a PB in me…Keep your eyes out for me, cause it’s coming” – Phylicia George

(Lucy, only champions get ice cream)

*SPECIAL EDITION*

Tonight on the ice, The Young Guns played a double-header in the Oakville Women’s Competitive Division Playoffs. The short bench split the games 1-1, but it was the second game (the win) that really mattered. A win in the second game would put off complete elimination from the league championship. After a pep talk (yelling) from Coach Janet, the girls were tight on the backchecking, forechecking and general heads up play. The scoreboard looked a bit like a yo-yo, with the Guns going up 2-0, then 2-1, then 3-1, and finally 3-2. Keeper Heather kept us in the game, as always. Remarkably, two goals were scored by the Defense, Kaila and Laura, but the grittiest goal was the winning goal scored by Marlie as she pressured the opposing defence at centre ice, blocked a dumping attempt with her shins and kept chasing the puck on a breakaway from the blue line. Hard and low, to the back of the net, nothing fancy, just a game-winning goal #GWG. The Guns live to play another week.

Back to Rio…

CANOE/KAYAK – Flatwater

Adam van Koeverden went flat out and won the K1 1000m B Final (likely his last Olympic race) with a time of 3:31.872, which was actually fast enough for a Silver medal in the A final, and close to the Gold Medal time, 3:31.447, set by Marcus Walz of Spain. Czech Republic’s Dostal took silver and Russia’s Anoshkin won bronze.

BEACH VOLLEYBALL

Men’s and Women’s semis action today.

Women’s side – Brazil 2 vs. Germany (World Champs): Germany took it in straight sets. They will now face Brazil 1 (Bednarczuk Rippel and Seixas De Freitas) who upset USA’s Walsh Jennings and Ross in the other semi. It would have been cool to have an all-Brazil women’s final (would have been cooler to have an all-Canadian final, actually).

Men’s Side – Brazil 1 knocked out Netherlands and Italy knocked out Russia. Both games went to 3 sets.

Finals are Wednesday and Thursday 9pm.

BOXING – Women’s Fly

Kitchener’s Mandy Bujold ended her Olympic run today in the Quarterfinals with a loss on points to China’s Cancan Ren.

In the Men’s Light division (60kg), Brazilian Robson Conceicao defeated France’s Sofiane Oumiha to win the home country’s 3rd Gold medal.

BASKETBALL – Women’s Quarterfinals

All women’s quarterfinals were played today, and all were tight games (except the US vs Japan, which was 110-64). Serbia edged Australia 73-71, while Spain finished a basket up on Turkey 64-62.

For the Canadian women, hoop dreams will remain dreams for another 4 years. The first quarter lead would be the only lead they would hold over France. The fourth quarter had to be the one that counted, but Canada couldn’t drain the field goals, going 6 for 22 (or close to that) in the fourth quarter. Canada was able to bring the game within a basket a couple times in the last two minutes, but small errors would cost them as France took the win 68-63. It’s the end of the road for Canada.

SOCCER – Women’s Semifinals

Sweden and Brazil were held scoreless through regulation and extra time. It would be Brazil’s second shootout in as many games. The goalies came up huge with Sweden’s goalie, Lindahl, shining again, making two huge saves in the penalty shootout (i.e. guess the right way, be fast, and have strong enough hands to stop the ball).

Canada played Germany in the second semifinal. Sigh. I really thought it was our year. The Canucks started off with some pizzazz but Buchanan, known for playing tough, took a poor penalty on a tackle inside the 18yd box. She could have outrun the German to steal the ball from her, but Buchanan’s style is to attack (and she is usually successful). Unfortunately for Canada, Germany was awarded a penalty kick and Melanie Behringer made no mistake as she sent a rocket to the back of the net.

Canada would have its chances to connect with the back of the German net, but for the most part, Germany was able to keep them at bay. Every pass attempt seemed to be picked off by a German jersey. Germany found the back of the net again in the second half with a shot from the top of the box that hugged the post, just out of reach of Labbe.

Canada will put that 2-0 loss behind them to get ready for a bronze medal game against the host nation (Friday Aug 19 at noon). Gold medal match between Sweden and Germany is at 4:30pm. I think I’ll cheer for Sweden.

DIVING – Men’s 3m Springboard Final

18 year old Canadian Philippe Gagne qualified for the Final, but would not be able to rival the Chinese Gold Medallist Cao Yuan (who was out of reach of all competitors). GBR took Silver, Germany took Bronze.

TRACK AND FIELD

MEN’S 110m Hurdles –

Canadian Johnathan Cabral was 8th in the semifinals, earning him a spot in the Finals! USA’s Ash Ronnie DQ’ed in the final – what heartbreak as there’s no second chance! Cabral came 6th!

WOMEN’S 1500m

Kenya took gold, Ethiopia took Silver and USA Bronze.

Canada’s Nicole Sifuentes did not move past the semifinal, finishing 18th.

MEN’S HIGH JUMP –

Derek Drouin! While jumping a season’s best at 2.38m (that’s approximately  7’10”!), the World Champion became the first Canadian Male to win a Rio Gold medal.

Silver went to Qatar’s Barshim (2.36m) and Bronze to Ukraine’s Bondarenko (2.33m).

This was Canada’s first gold medal in high jump since 1932.
p.s. hope this video will make up for the lack of other sports today!

p.p.s. First time using iMovie on iPhone and it keeps auto zooming photos. Since it’s 1:30, I’ll see if I can fix it for keeps later

We are into the double digit days now!

CANOE/KAYAKING (FLAT WATER)

Today marked the beginning of flat water canoeing and kayaking – no rapids to worry about. But it wasn’t meant to be for the Canadian paddlers today.

Mark Oldershaw (Men’s Canoe Single (C1) 1000m), Genevieve Orton/Kc Fraser (Women’s Kayak Double (K2) 500m), Andreanne Langlois (Women’s Kayak Single (K1) 200m), and Adam van Koeverden (Men’s Kayak Single (K1) 1000m) all had to paddle in a semifinal (no bye to the final) but none were able to crack the top spots required to earn spots in the medal  Finals.

We’ll see these paddlers on Wednesday as they compete in their next events.

TRACK CYCLING

Men’s and Women’s Omnium took place today. It’s like a heptathlon, but with six events, not seven, and on bikes. High speed collisions are not unlikely in the ‘everybody on the track’ events, much like what happened to Canadian rider Allison Beveridge during the Scratch Race when a German rider cut in, clipped wheels and they both went flying down the track bank with tens of fixies trying to avoid a pile up. The Women’s Omnium concludes tomorrow. Beveridge is in 14th place.

On the Men’s side Italy’s Viviani took the Gold medal, followed by GBR’s Mark Cavendish for Silver and Denmark’s Hansen

DIVING – MEN’S 3M SPRINGBOARD

Canada’s Philippe Gagne has qualified for the Semifinal.

GYMNASTICS

More individual apparatus finals today.

Women’s Beam – Simone Biles (USA) picked up another medal, this time Bronze. Teammate Hernandez took Silver and Dutch gymnast Wevers took the Gold medal.

Men’s Rings – Greece’s Eleftherios Petrounias scored a perfect 16.000 to take the Gold! Brazil’s Zanetti was a ‘distant’ Silver with 15.766, Russia’s Abliazin earned Bronze.

Men’s Vault – Russia’s Abliazin was a double medalist today, winning the Silver medal in the vault. North Korea’s Ri Se Gwang won Gold, and Japan’s Kenzo Shirai won Bronze.

SWIMMING – Women’s 10km Open Water

Any worries that the swimmers had about the water quality were put to the back of their minds as 26 women withstood flailing arms, kicks and swells, battling each other for 10km. The Netherlands’ van Rouvendaal touched the finish line with little pressure in 1:56:32.1, though not far behind her, French swimmer Muller was stroke for stroke with Italy’s Bruni and Brazil’s Okimoto. At the last reach, Muller (who slightly veered off course right at the end), tried to get her position back, reaching over/tackling Bruni to slap the board first. However, upon review, Muller was disqualified, moving Bruni into Silver and Brazil’s homegirl Okimoto into Bronze!

Canadian Stephanie Horner finished 23rd, touching at 1:59:22.1

TRACK AND FIELD

Women’s 400m Hurdles – Tonight was the qualification round. Canada will be well-represented in the semis by Sage Watson and Noelle Montcalm. Unfortunately, Chanice Chase went down hard on the final hurdle, but picked herself to finish her race. Her comments after the race, “I’m not going to let this affect me, [I’ll be back better than ever]”

Men’s 110m Hurdles – The hurdlers had to endure a downpour of rain. Organizers eventually postponed Heat 3, but not before Canadian Johnathan Cabral made it through to the semis by finishing top 4 in Heat 2. Semis and Finals continue Tuesday night.

Pole Vault –

Scary things about Pole Vault:

1. Launching yourself high into the air
2. Relying on your trusty pole, hoping it won’t snap
3. Falling near the edge of the mat on the way down
4. Stalling in the air and barely making up the depth to get over the bar
5. Having the bar fall 6m down onto you while you lay on the mat

Canadian Shawn Barber was favoured by Sports Illustrated to win gold, but missed three times on his second height of 5.65m. He successfully vaulted over 5.50m

The big story was Brazil’s Thiago Braz da Silva. da Silva gave defending Olympic champ Renaud Lavillenie (France) a run for his money. da Silva set a new national record of 5.95m. Lavillenie then set a new Olympic record at 5.98m, da Silva skipped the 5.98m, opting for the bar to be moved up – if he was going to vault a height he’s never done before, it was going to be for gold! Lavi missed, da Silva missed, Lavi missed, da Silva MADE IT! A New Olympic record: 6.03m! Lavi had one more shot and requested for the bar to be moved up to 6.08m (again, these guys are going for the win!). And… he missed!

22 year old, 12th place at the World’s and now Olympic Champion and hometown hero: Thiago.

USA’s Sam Kendricks earned Bronze with 5.85m.

Women’s 400m Final – Bahamas Shaunae Miller (running Lane 7) was leading around the final bend and in the final straightaway, she was being closely rivaled by USA’s Allyson Felix – it was neck and neck until the end when Miller made a last ditch effort and dove across the finish line, edging Felix (49.51) with a time of 49.44, to set a PB. Felix set a season’s best. Jamaica’s Shericka Jackson came third.

VOLLEYBALL – INDOOR MEN’S

Canada vs. Italy in the final round robin match. Not much to say, except that Canada continues to upset the competition, including Italy, the number 1 team in their group! Canada is guaranteed to move onto the next round.

TOMORROW:

• Boxing – Women’s Fly Weight (Canadian Mandy Bujold looking to move past the quarterfinals) – 10am
• Women’s Soccer Canada vs. Germany – 3pm
• Equestrian – All Canadians have made the jumping finals

Women’s Singles competition continued today at Riocentro. Canada’s Michelle Li faced World #10 Sindhu Pusarla from India. After splitting the first two games, Pusarla worked up a large lead and only briefly let Li back into the match before taking the final game 21-17. Li will have to await the final group standings to move on.

DIVING:

Women’s 3m Springboard – Today was another day for China to again assert their dominance in diving. Canada’s Jennifer Abel, favoured to podium, traded positions with Italy’s Cagnotto through the 5 Rounds. Abel was third place heading into the final round, but the combination of Cagnotto ripping her dive, and Abel having an ever so slight falter left Abel in 4th place, and Cagnotto with the Bronze. China’s Shi Tingmao showed what diving near-perfection looks like and won the Gold medal over teammate He Zi in Silver medal position. He Zi may have ‘only’ won the silver medal, but her real prize for the day was received immediately after the medal ceremony: a marriage proposal from fellow Team China diving counterpart, Qin Kai! (He previously won a bronze in the Men’s 3m Springboard). See it HERE!

This is the second marriage proposal of the Rio Games with the first being on the Women’s Sevens Rugby pitch after Brazil’s final game where volunteer Marjorie Enya proposed to long time girlfriend and member of Team Brazil, Isadora Cerullo.
Check it out HERE and HERE!

In other news, the pool is still green and apparently it’s because a worker dumped in Hydrogen Peroxide, neutralized the Chlorine, leaving nothing to combat the algae…but still, how did that much algae develop in the the pool so quickly?

GOLF:

Golf has made its return to the Olympics and the first Olympic Golf medal awarded in over 100 years was to GBR’s Justin Rose. Sweden’s Henrik Stenson won Silver and USA’s Matt Kuchar won Bronze.

Women’s individual stroke play starts on the 17th.

TENNIS:

Bronze Medal Match – ATP 7th ranked Kei Nishikori (the only Japanese player to ever be ranked inside the top 10) gave Nadal a workout, defeating him 6-2, 7-6, 6-3.

Gold Medal Match – Del Potro was looking for yet another upset while Andy Murray was looking to become back to back Olympic champion AND Wimbledon champ in the same year. Del Potro looked quite tired, but somehow kept it close. Murray and Del Potro kept breaking each other’s serves, but often could not win their own service games. #2 in the world, Murray figured something out over the >4 hour match as Del Potro conceded defeat by hitting a final ball into the net. Murray has become the first player ever to win back to back Olympic tennis titles

BEACH VOLLEYBALL

Women’s Quarters today:

Canadian duo Bansley and Pavan took on World #1 Germany (Ludwig and Walkenhorst). The German takedown was calculated with a match win in straight sets 21-14, 21-14. That’s it for Canadian Beach.

The other exciting match of the day was between Brazil’s (Rocha and Franca Maestrini) vs. Swiss Heidrich and Zumkehr. The only thing separating these two teams was a net. The sets were extremely close with the second set going on for 30 min (total game time 70 minutes). A questionable call by the ump in favour of Switzerland in the 3rd set looked like it might cost Brazil, but they maintained their composure and put the game away (12-23, 27-25, 15-13).

TRACK AND FIELD

Women’s Marathon

Today marked the prestigious marathon competition for women. It proved to be a huge day. Kenya was incredibly delighted as Jemima Jelagat Sumgong became the first Kenyan woman to win an Olympic marathon and also became the country’s first female gold medallist! Her coach could not contain his excitement and exclaimed how proud Kenya would be.

Other notables:

• It was the first time in 20 years that Canadian women participated in the marathon. Lanni Marchant placed 24th and Krista Duchene placed 35th
• Estonia sent identical triplets (two of the Luik sisters finished 97 and 114, the other DNF )
• Germany had a set of near identical twins (the Hahner sisters finished 81 and 82, 1 second apart – I’m sure they tried to cross together, and Sister #1, Anna, got her chip foot forward first)

400m Men’s Final – The rivalry was between USA’s Lashawn Merritt and Grenada’s Kirani James, however it was South Africa’s Wayde van  Niekerk who ran blind in lane 9 and ended up breaking Michael Johnson’s 1999 World Record with a time of 43.03.

Van Niekerk is the first runner to break 10 seconds in the 100m, 20 seconds in the 200m and 44 seconds for the 400m.

Kirani James took silver and Lashawn Merritt took the bronze, each of them posting a Season’s Best. Cedenio (4th) of Trinidad and Tobago and Khamis (6th) of Bahrain each posted a National Record and 5th place Sibanda of Botswana managed a Season’s Best.

100m Men’s Final

The much anticipated David and Goliath matchup between 6’5” Usain Bolt and 5’9” Canadian Andre De Grasse was an exciting semifinal itself. But, let’s be real here, it’s not a David and Goliath relationship. It’s clear there’s a brotherhood between these two.

Andre and Bolt earned direct qualification into the final by posting a PB and SB respectively. USA’s Justin Gatlin also won his heat to earn a spot in the final, along with Usain’s teammate Yohan Blake who came 2nd in the heat.

On to the actual final:

It’s hard to imagine that everything can be over in less than 10s. Over here, I was just hoping that the cable box didn’t do its daily reset and we’d have to practice our stair-flight-sprint up to the second TV, outside the Olympic Den (i.e. basement).

Good news – the cable box stayed on and we saw the whole thing! Everything from Gatlin’s booed entry, to Bolt’s thunderous cheerful reception, to Gatlin’s quick start out of the blocks, his slow down, Bolt catching up, then breaking away, De Grasse seemingly in 5th or 6th place, then exploding ahead to his top speed, wondering if he was going to overtake Gatlin in the last milliseconds…*gasp!*

…It would be Bolt making history, 3-peating back-to-back-to-back as an Olympic 100m champion and breaking his Season’s Best (that he just set an hour ago in the semis) with a time of 9.81. Gatlin ran 9.89 for Silver and De Grasse broke his PB (again, that he just set in the semis) with 9.91 to earn Bronze (his first medal at his first Olympics).

Other amazing feats surrounding the 100m final:

• As Bolt kept running the bend in celebration, a cameraman sprinted backwards to keep bolt in his viewfinder, then pivoted with perfection to run forwards to keep up with the world’s fastest man.
• Donovan Bailey’s reaction during the race
• Bolt photobombing the Women’s Heptathlon podium; selfies galore with Brianne Theisen Eaton, Ennis-Hill (GBR) and Gold Medalist Thiam of Belgium!

We’ll see many of these guys in the Men’s 200m on Tuesday and Men’s 4×100 on Thursday.

ROWING:

Men’s Single Sculls – In the A Final, the grueling sub-7 minute bout was full of “OMG!” New Zealand’s Drysdale was at times in third place with half a boat behind the Croatian leader, Martin. But by the 1500m mark, Drysdale was leading by nearly a boat. No lead was safe in this race, Martin made a sprint push in the last 300m to challenge. It came down to a photo finish!

0.001 separated gold from silver, and it was New Zealand who took the win by a hair! That makes it back to back Olympic Gold medals for Drysdale. Czech Republic’s Synek grabbed the bronze.

Women’s Single Sculls – Australian Kim Brennan, who hasn’t lost a single sculls race since 2014, unsurprisingly took the Gold medal. USA’s Stone and China’s Duan followed with Silver and Bronze.

Women’s Eight – Canada had a fast start out of the block and led the race for the first 1000m, but the other teams turned on their jets to pull back into contention. USA pulled far ahead to take their third consecutive rowing title, GBR was two seconds behind for Silver (their first medal in Women’s 8). Romania took Bronze. Canada ended up in 5th.

SOCCER – MEN’S QUARTER FINALS

Germany cracked Portugal 4-0, Brazil beat Colombia 2-0, Nigeria advances over Denmark 2-0 and Honduras kept South Korea at bay 1-0.

SWIMMING

Women’s 50m Freestyle – Denmark’s Pernille Blume took the top honours by 0.02s over Simone Manuel. Belarus’ Aliaksandra Herasimenia took the bronze.

Men’s 1500m Freestyle – Italy took home the Gold and Bronze, while USA took the Silver. Canada’s Ryan Cochrane finished in 6th place.

Women’s 4×100 Medley – In the final women’s indoor swimming event of Rio, it looked like Canada was pushing their way onto the podium. But, in the end, USA took the gold, Australia silver, and 0.01s later, Denmark touched for Bronze. Canada finished 5th.

Men’s 4×100 Medley – USA set an Olympic record to take the Gold. GBR won silver, Australia Bronze

TENNIS

The Olympics are really interesting. Puerto Rico’s Monica Puig (unseeded) got in the way of Kerber’s gold medal hopes in the women’s tennis final. Puig won 6-4, 4-6, 6-1)!

TRACK:

The Olympics are about to get even more exciting!

Steeplechase heats – Canadian record holder Genevieve Lalonde set a new national record and qualified for the Final! Meanwhile, Ethiopia’s Diro threw her shoe away after being held up and then having someone stepping on her heel. She had 2.5 laps remaining and DID continue with only one shoe on!!! She has qualified for the final based on performance (which, I don’t quite understand beyond the fact that the officials look at the circumstances affecting runners and take action from there).

Heptathlon – Belgium’s Thiam, GBR’s Ennis-Hill, and Canada’s Theisen Eaton rivaled each all day.

After today’s events (Long jump, Javelin Throw, 800m), this was the exact order of their final standings. Canada will be taking home another Bronze! Way to go Brianne!

Women’s 100m – This event happened so fast that I didn’t even know I was watching the final!

A new Olympic champion was crowned, and the successor to Jamaica’s Fraser-Pryce. While Fraser-Pryce still took Bronze, the future of Jamaica women’s track, Elaine Thompson, took the Gold Medal, with USA’s Tori Bowie won silver. 0.03 seconds separated Bronze and Silver.

BADMINTON:

Women’s singles – In preliminary action, Michelle Li took down Laura Sarosi of Hungary (21-11, 21-8).

BEACH VOLLEYBALL:

Bansley and Pavan, undefeated in the preliminary round, took on their fellow Canadians Broder and Valjas in the Round of 16. B&P took B&V in straight sets (21-16, 21-11) although the first set started out close. Next up, B&P will have a tough fight with Germany.

On the Men’s side, it was unfortunately the end of the road for the men’s team Schalk and Saxton as they were defeated in straight sets (21-12, 21-15) by Netherlands’ Brouwer and Meeuwsen.

TRACK CYCLING:

Women’s Team Pursuit – GBR set a world record already in the first round, then went on to face Team USA in Gold Medal matchup.GBR defeated the USA by 2s, and Canada beat New Zealand for the Bronze medal.

DIVING

Women’s 3m Springboard – Today was the semifinal. Both Pamela Ware and Jennifer Abel have qualified for the final tomorrow (Sunday) at 3pm EST.

A Trio of Medals for Canada today!

ROWING:
The weather was so-so today in Rio as the rain came down, but the show must go on and as long as the wind is down and the water is flat, we can row!
There was a large South African presence with teams in all finals today. Who knew they were rowers?!

Women’s Lightweight Doubles Sculls
The Canadian pair of Lindsay Jennerich and Patricia Obee were looking for redemption from their disappointing 7th place finish in London 2012 (Jennerich and Tracy Cameron). They were trailing for the first portion of the race (4th/5th position), then powered back into contention and overtook the Chinese boat. Netherlands took Gold, Canada Silver, China Bronze. (South Africa finished 5th).

Men’s Lightweight Doubles Sculls
Gold for France, Silver for Ireland and Bronze for Norway (South Africa finished 4th)

Men’s Four
GBR won their 4th Olympic Gold Medal in a row for this event, and it was their third time defeating Australia (who came in Silver). Italy won Bronze. Canada lost steam and finished 6th. (South Africa finished 4th)

Women’s Pairs
GBR continued their streak for Rio and also took this event. NZ won Silver and Denmark – Bronze. (South Africa finished 5th)

TRAMPOLINE
The preliminary round consists of two runs, scores are combined to place the athletes. The top 8 make the final; trampoline gymnasts only get one shot during the final.
Canada’s flag bearer Rosie MacLennan was looking to achieve another great performance (not looking to defend a gold medal, as she puts it). Even though she still finished third in the prelim round, Rosie was admittedly a little shaky on her routines. But, in the final round, she had huge flight time, solid tucks and kickouts and even when she bounced out of the centre rectangle (points deducted), she recovered flawlessly as if she meant to bounce out that way (personally, I was less concerned about points being deducted, and more concerned about Rosie rebounding off balance). That slight ‘migration’ was her only fault and she earned a first place score! With two more bouncers still to go, Rosie was guaranteed a medal! But what colour?

China’s Li Dan was next up and favoured to win the event. She had a flawless routine and I thought she would take over 1st or 2nd place. But, Li would have to settle for 3rd, surprisingly. Belarus’ Tatsiana Piatrenia was the final bouncer (1st in prelim) and unfortunately had a couple large errors including travelling way outside the rectangle which also caused her to lose flight time. That would do it!

Rosie won Canada’s 2nd Gold Medal of Rio! Bryony Page of GBR took Silver, and she could not believe it! Page was on the floor reduced to tears when she knew she had clinched a medal. Rosie was right there trying to comfort her – such spirit.

With her gold medal, Rosie joins the club of back-to-back gold medal winners, which includes Catriona Le May Doan (1998, 2002 speed skating) and Alex Bilodeau (2010, 2014 moguls).
She also has broken the “Curse of the (Summer) Olympic Flag Bearer.” Previous Summer athletes have not had gold medal performances after leading Team Canada into the Opening Ceremonies. Winter athletes, on the other hand, haven’t had a problem (e.g. Clara Hughes, Hayley Wickenheiser, Catriona Le May Doan, Danielle Goyette).

SWIMMING

Women’s 200m Backstroke:
Another Bronze Medal for the Women’s Canadian swim team, specifically Hilary Caldwell this time! Hilary swam several spots back until the last couple of lengths where she made up lots of ground, duking it out with Russia’s Ustinova. Caldwell won the fight for Bronze as USA’s Madeline Dirado chased down the favourite, Hungary’s Katinka Hosszu, and just beat her to the touch! What an upset!

Men’s 100m Butterfly:
The legendary match up between Le Clos and Phelps, again. But, it would be neither of them! Time to pass the torch on to 21-year-old Joseph Schooling from Singapore. He set an Olympic record (50.39s) and is the first of his country to win a gold medal. It is also the first medal for Singapore in swimming. 2nd place was just as exciting with a 3-way tie – 51.14s.

Women’s 800m Freestyle:
USA’s Katie Ledecky absolutely crushed the competition. She took Gold (her fourth of the games) and a new World Record (beat the last record in the order of ~10s or more). The actual race was behind Ledecky, for silver and bronze. It would be GBR’s Jazz Carlin (8:16.17) over Hungary’s Boglarka Kapas (8:16.37).

Men’s 50m Freestyle:
Anthony Ervin became the oldest man to win a swim event when he took the Gold Medal tonight. Last time he won a medal, he sold it on eBay for $17,000 for hurricane relief. Not sure what he’s going to do with this one. France’s Manaudou finished in Silver by 0.01s, and USA’s Adrian won Bronze.

TRACK AND FIELD
Athletics are underway! Some of my favourite events! Heptathlon is underway and Canada’s cheers are largely directed to Brianne Theisen-Eaton. She currently sits in 5th place after the 100m hurdles, High Jump, Shot Put, and 200m; next up: Long Jump, Javelin Throw, and 800m! Theissen had a season’s best in the high jump portion while a couple competitors (German Thiam, and GBR’s Johnson-Thompson) jumped 1.98m (a world heptathlon best).

Women’s 10,000m by the numbers:
– 37 Runners
– 1 World record (totally obliterating the previous one)
– 6 National Records
– 5 Seasonal Bests
– 1 African Record
– 10 Personal Bests
– 2 DNFs
– Running under 32 min is considered a good time, so this was an especially fast group of runners!

World Record was obliterated by Ethiopian runner, Almaz Ayana (29:17.45)
Kenya’s Vivian Jepkemoi Cheruiyot took Silver (29:32.53), Ethiopia’s Tirunesh Dibaba took Bronze (29:42.56).

SOCCER – WOMEN’S QUARTERFINALS
Today was do or die for the top 8 women’s soccer teams of the Olympics.
Germany beat China 1-0; Australia and Brazil went late into the night and eventually it was Brazil who appeased their hungry fans with a win in a 7-6 penalty shootout.

Canada took on France this evening and let’s get straight to it – Canada prevailed 1-0!

France was looking for revenge after their London 2012 loss to the Canucks in the Bronze medal match. The first half was quiet with a few attacks here and there (mostly by France). There were a few calls let go on both sides, but Canada seemed to have the most forgiveness, especially in the box. Looks like Buchanan was better off getting a card in the second game (to sit out the third match). The ref was itching to give Buchanan a card and finally did in the 49th minute. Had she not been carded in the 2nd game, her latest yellow would have added and put her out of the semifinal match vs. Germany. Belanger was not as fortunate and will miss the semifinal after receiving a yellow in the 83’. Belanger had subbed into the game early on as Allysha Chapman had a hard collision defending the box and had to leave the game.

There were some trying moments as France pressured Canada every chance they could, but Canada knew how to capitalize. 10 minutes into the 2nd half, Janine Beckie had a beautiful three-touch play: receive the ball, pop it over the French defender to herself, then centre it to Sophie Schmidt, who was driving to the net. Schmidt – one touch, midair – she found the back of the net. That would be the winning goal!.
On the return, a France free kick went off Christine Sinclair’s head, over Stephanie Labbe’s stretch, and off the Canadian crossbar. Labbe came up big again through the second half as Canada tightened up their defense. Labbe = Player of the game, if you ask me!
Christine Sinclair’s post game emotion said it all. You could tell the Captain was so proud of her teammates, and Labbe in particular.

Earlier in the day, USA vs. Sweden. One second, I need to take a breather and calm myself down on this one. Team USA had more of the possession throughout the game, but Sweden had an advantage. Their coach, Pia Sundhage, was the Team USA coach for 5 years. While Sweden played great defense, they drew first blood fifteen minutes into the second half. It was a beauty feed up the middle to a breaking Stina Blackstenius, who split the D, kept on the ball and placed her shot low and hard past the outstretched hand of US Goalie Hope Solo.
Nearly 20 minutes following, the Swedish keeper cleared a ball from the goal area. As it soared through the air, US Rapinoe and the Swedish forward both challenged for the ball. Unfortunately, the Swede got Rapinoe’s cleats in the groin and went down. This is typically a yellow card; even if it was unintentional you can’t challenge with your cleats up! There was no call and the US turned the ball upfield, sent it towards the goal area, off a US head, off a Swedish face, right to the charging foot of Alex Morgan. Tie game 1-1.

Extra time solved nothing – Off to shootouts we go! Swedish keeper, Hedvig Lindahl, stunned Alex Morgan and Team USA by saving the very first shot. After that, the goals kept coming for both teams until Solo stopped a swedish shot on #3. USA’s Press had shot #5 and missed the mark, sending it over the bar. A goal for Sweden would seal the victory…but, we’d have to wait while Solo had to change her gloves. Couldn’t she do it while she was sitting off on the side? Nope, let’s just delay the game another few minutes. Don’t you wish someone was standing there counting “mississippi”s? We’re still not sure the reason of changing the gloves. It could have been superstition as she had a hand on the previous ball that ended up in the back of the net. Anyway, none of that mattered. Sweden put it away! They upset the US!

Of course, at least one player had to mouth off about the loss; and, of course, that player was Hope Solo:
She called Sweden cowards for playing so defensively – um, that’s called knowing your opponent and preparing for the match
She said the better team did not win today – you know, it’s like my coach would say, “the better team won, and today you weren’t the better team”
She said the US team played with courage – Not to discredit these athletes. They are in amazing shape physically and mentally. But, that doesn’t take courage to be great and gifted at sport; swimming for three hours to save your life takes courage.

OTHER EVENTS:
– Archery – Men’s Individual – South Korea completed the sweep! This time, Ku Bonchan took the gold
– Basketball – (Women’s) Canada lost to undefeated USA
– Track Cycling – (Women’s) China Gold, Russia Silver, Germany Bronze
– Track Cycling – Men’s Track Team Pursuit – GBR set a world record, Australia Silver, Denmark Bronze
– Pospisil and Nestor were no match in the Bronze medal match vs. USA.

SATURDAY:
– Rowing 7am
– Beach Vball 11am (Women’s: Canada 1 plays Canada 2; D’oh!)
– More Track!
– Men’s Golf continues

LEGO Credit: Yvonne
Tidbit: My beach lego set is worth over $100! (that’s probably just inflation of what it had cost back in 1992)