Gymnastics, Swimming, T&F, Team USA highlights, Other Country stories – everything you need to know from the first full week of the Olympics

Olympic Sports:

• We had 9 golds given out in 100 minutes between the pool and track in Saturday. Literally the weekend was called the Gold Rush and Golden Hour.

Soccer:

• Team USA beat AUS although it was close and hotly contested. The AUS HC got a yellow card after he challenged the USA goal in the 43 min. That wasn’t the only one. Team USA loses one of their best midfielders to an accumulation of yellows. Also first touch of the game off the bench, Albert gets a yellow but she redeemed herself after getting a goal with just 13 minutes to go. AUS scored late but it wasn’t enough to get the draw they needed to guarantee their spot in the knock out round. Speaking of the knock out round, the USMNT made it for the first time since…. But they got knocked out in the Quarterfinals by MAR losing 4-0. It was ugly.

Swimming:

• W100 Back was literally a final of 2 swimmers from USA, CAN, FRA and AUS. McKweown upsets the Americans who end up 2-3 with Regan Smith then Burkoff. A couple of days later, McKweown wins the 200 Back as well and again Regan Smith wins silver. She has a collection of those (5). That makes McKweon the most decorated female AUS swimmer. Another USA swimmer, Phoebe Bacon was .04 seconds off the podium. Ireland’s Wiffen takes the gold in the 800 free despite Bobby Finke’s best effort to chase him down at the end. 100 years anniversary of Ireland competing in Olympics.
• Israel and JPN tied for 8th so there were 9 teams in the M4x200 Free Relay. This was the first final in this event for ISR. But Team GBR was too good. They were on paper and in the water. USA held on for silver which is the 600th medal for swimming.
• SWE and 30 year old Sarah Sjostrom wins the 100 free at her 5th Olympics. Upsetting the AUS and USA Huske gets silver. Sjostrom would go on to win the 50 Free as well. She is a 5x Olympian and all over her medals are individual events. Team USA was off the podium by .01.
• No American in final of M200 Fly. FRA Marchand wins again and no FRA had ever gotten gold or silver in this event. He would also get the OR to boot. Then a couple hours later comes back and wins M200 Breast in OR pace over 2 previous Olympic champions. 3rd gold of these games and he is a hometown hero for sure.

• USA’s Katie Ledecky continues dominance in 1500 Free and breaks her own OR. That is her 8th gold medal. She won by 10 seconds.
• We had two men in the M100 Free but no one on the podium. Finally we see a WR go down although it is by CHN’s Pan. He beats his own WR by .4 and won by over a second which in a 100 is insane!
• Ryan Murphy misses the M200 Back and just hasn’t looked himself. Hun wins their first gold in M200 Back with Klos.
• Kate Douglass, one of the favorites for Team USA in these games, wins her first Olympic gold in the W200 Breast. She broke the American Record on top of it.

• FRA Marchand goes 4 for 4 as he wins the 200 IM with another OR and just off Ryan Lochte’s WR by .06 seconds. This will go down as one of the best swimming performances of an Olympic games in history. To do so at a home Olympics, absolutely incredible. He is just the 4^th swimmer of all time to win 4 individual golds at the same Olympics.
• Caleb Dressel failed to qualify for the final in the 100m Free to defend his gold. He has not held up to his normal standard in his individual races. Speaking of USA not qualifying, for the first time ever that no American has made the final in the 100 fly since it started in 1968.

• Katie Ledecky won her 4th straight in 800 free over Titmus. She is the first woman to win 4 Olympic golds in any event in any sport. Her win was closer than usual as Titmus stayed with Ledecky til about 200 to go. USA’s Paige Madden (5 second pr) gets bronze for a US gold and bronze.

• It was a golden night for Team USA. The Mixed Medley Relay for the USA wins with only the 2nd WR of these games to boot! Torri Huske held on to win in the final leg by just .12 over CHN.
• Americans again for 2-3 in the 200 IM after CAN Summer McIntosh takes another gold – truly the summer of Summer. Alex Walsh had a half second lead at the final turn but Summer caught her as did Kate Douglass at the wall. And then after the race was over, Alex got DQ’d on her backstroke (she rolled over too early). So USA just gets silver here.
• The final 4 finals were on Sunday in the pool and Team AUS is in front of the USA by 1 gold. Bobby Finke may have lost out to the Gold in the 800m but he would not be denied in the 1500m Free. He led wire to wire and came in under WR time! Just the 3^rd WR to go down. He successfully defended his gold in this event. The final two events were the 4x100m Medley Relays for the men and women. Team USA had never not won the Medley relay since it became an event in the 1960s…until today. They took silver to CHN. On the flip side of that, the women completely crushed the field. CHN held on as much as they could. AUS was nowhere to be found and Team USA wins in WR fashion – the 4th and final of these games. Fittingly Torri Huske was the last American in the pool as she was a hero of these games with 3 golds to her name. That ends action in the pool!

Gymnastics

• We start back in the Women’s team after the men won bronze. ITA medals in women’s team gym for the first time since 1928. BRA gets the silver for their first medal ever! That was a nice comeback for them after one of their gymnasts, Flavia hit herself in the face with her knee giving herself a black eye. But the USA was way too much winning by 5.8 points and that is with a fall from Jordan Chiles on beam! With that, Biles passes Shannon Miller has the US gymnast with the most Olympic medals at 8 with the team gold. And more to come…
• The US men were nowhere to be found on the podium for the men’s all-around. They did well but not even close. Fredrick Richard fell on pommel and that set the tone for the day.
• The women were a different story. Simone continued her redemption tour. She was in the lead after rotation 1 (vault – which is one of the best events). However BRA Rebecca Andriade made it up in the uneven bars. Then we had Simone’s two best events with Beam which she nailed and it looked like she was so relieved. Then we had floor. Andriade stepped out of bounds and you kinda knew that was it. Simone then absolutely killed her routine and wins gold. Suni Lee holds on for Bronze – an absolute amazing feat after all she’s been through (kidney disease).
• In the event finals, for the women we started with Vault (one of Simone’s best). And she went out there and proved it. She would win by almost a full .4 points over you guessed it Rebecca Andriade. Jade Carey snuck in for Bronze after tripping in Tokyo to take her off the podium. Lets the redemptions continue! We then had the Uneven Bars today and Suni had said all along that she wanted a medal. She crushed her routine with a 14.8 to get the Bronze. Africa gets its first medal in gymnastics with Nemour from ALG winning gold in uneven bars with a 15.7.

• On the men’s side: Team USA has only had 1 man in finals so far and that was Pommel’s Steve Nedoronscki. First man to ever win Olympic gold for PHI was Yulo in the m floor with a score of 15.000. He would also go to win the Vault finals a couple of days later. Rhys McClenaghan gets IRE’s first medal in men’s gym. First medal for KAZ in the same event as silver. And viral sensation USA Nedoronski gets the bronze. All three above 15.3.

Track & Field – aka Athletics

• Action started day 1 for Team USA. Grant Fisher wins bronze in the 10,000m and only lost out on the silver by .04 seconds. He is the fourth American man to get a medal in this event ever for the USA which is usually dominated by African countries. Team USA broke the WR in the prelims of the Mixed 4x400m Relay! Killer anchor leg by Kalyn Brown as she wanted to show that she should be in the final. And with the added drama of the handoff from leg 1 to 2 was almost in the wrong zone. After the excitement in the preloms, you knew the final wouldn’t let us be bored and it lived up to expectations. All the teams were much closer than the other day as they all had their A-teams. Team USA did not replace a single runner from prelims. I knew when she got the stick that NED Femke Bol was too close to the Americans. She does exactly what I thought she would and passes in the final 100 in the 4x 400 m mixed relay. Kalyn Brown ran a 49.2 but Bol’s 47.93 split!!! USA gets silver.
• CAN Dec and gold medal favorite Damian Warner no heighted in the PV meaning his 10 events are done for his medal chances. He was in first. NOR Rooth PRs in 4 events to win Olympic gold in a big upset over GER Lingebauer. Lindor gets bronze. This is NOR’s first Decathlon gold in more than a century. They hope it will not be their last gold at these games with other gold medal favorites to follow.

• For the first time since 2012, American get all 3 women in 100m final. But Texas alum and Saint Lucia Julien Alfred was too much for them from the start – literally. She went on to win the gold. It wasn’t close. Terrible start for ShaCarrie but Alfred turned it on the in middle. First Olympic medal for Saint Lucia ever! Sha’Carrie gets silver and Melissa Jefferson gets bronze. All three on the podium are first time Olympians. First time since 1996 that USA gets two on podium.

• Women LJ wins first Olympic medal for Dominica and it’s gold! Jasmine Moore won very first medal for the USA in Olympic competition with bronze. Last jump event for the Americans to have never won a medal.

• After a crazy year of injuries, USA Ryan Crouser was iffy but still the favorite to win gold in the M shot put. He won with multiple throws over 22ms. Even more clutch, USA Joe Kovacs came back on the final throw to get passed the 22m mark and capture silver.

• The M100m was on Sunday night and it certainly lived up to the hype. The hype that is Noah lyles that is. He did all the talking before we got to Paris but then got beat in his prelim and semifinal heat. He didn’t have a great start but no surprise there. And JAM Thompson looked great from the beginning. They all cross the line and we all knew it was close but we didn’t realize how close. I thought Thompson had it with a .01 off his WL time this year but upon further inspection of the photo finish, Noah Lyles outleaned him to take the gold away by .005 seconds. In a huge upset and shock! Fred Kerly got Bronze. That is half of the double for Noah Lyles and the harder half too.

Team USA other stories:

• Team USA women won their first medal in 7s rugby ever with the Bronze with an amazing match against AUS. It looked like the Americans had lost with just 12 seconds left when AUS scored but then the Aussies missed the kick. Team USA ran it back on the next play to tie it up and just needed the kick to win. They nail it! One of the best finishes in a rugby game to date.
• USA men lead wire to wire in men’s fours to win Americans lone gold in rowing for the first time since 1960.

• Team USA wins the fencing women’s Foil Team gold! We had never won gold before that!
• Only missed 1 jump across 4 riders as the Team USA wins silver in equestrian
• Brady Ellison won his fourth Olympic medal as we won Bronze in team archery.

• Quelle une surprise – Scottie Scheffler won another golf tournament and this time gets a gold medal for his trouble. He went on an absolute tear in the final day with a 62 round. He started that day with 3 straight birdies and ended it with 4 of the last 5. This is the first Olympic gold for an American in golf. Tommy Fleetwood and Hideki Matsuyama finished out the podium. ESP Jon Rahm was on the flip side absolutely falling apart in the final 9. He had 4 bogeys and a double down the back nine to give up his run at the gold.

• Vincent hancock won his 4th gold in men’s skeet shooting for team USA. His protégé, Connor Prince, took home silver for USA as well
• Team USA took home silver in men’s doubles Austin krajicek and Rajeev ram. We also took silver in the Jumping Team in Equestrian as well.

Tennis:

• Coca Gauff lost on Tuesday in straight sets to CZE Donna Vekic. She would then lose her doubles and mixed doubles the next day and her Olympics are done. Andy Murray survives again in doubles over BEL in tie breakers but finally loses to the American doubles team. That is the end of his career.

Other country stories:

• CHN sweeps the synchro diving again. There is only 1 event in the last 50 that they have ever lost and that was back in 2004 Athens. MEX wins silver and only lost to CHN by .2 in the men’s synchro springboard. Expect that dominance to continue in the single dives. CHN is better at that according to the expert Cynthia Potter! This was her last Olympics as an announcer and she is truly the voice of diving.
• TUR Yusuf Dikec won silver in air pistol team event with nothing fancy compared to other teams (he wore earplugs and his normal glasses). He just ripped it. What a legend at 51 years old.
• North Korea wins their first Olympic diving medals in 10 platform synchro.
• French sweep the BMX racing podium. The last French sweep ever was the last time Paris hosted in 1924.
• Djokovic wins his first gold. That was the one title he hadn’t won. He beat Alcaraz 7-6 7-6 in a close game. He now joins Serena Williams, Nadal, Agassi and Graf with a career golden slam. He collapsed to the ground after winning that’s how much this meant to him.
• Battle ridden UKR put 2 on the W HJ podium including the WR holder, Mahuchikh. Both her and AUS Olyslager cleared 2m but it cam down to misses.

As of Sunday night Team USA is finally tied for 1^st in the gold medal count with CHN at 19 gold apiece. USA is dominating the total medal count with 71. No other country has more than 50.

Olympic Schedule this week:

Basketball:

• Mon 8/5
  • 3×3 Basketball: W Gold then M Gold @ 3pm
• Tues 8/6
  • MBB Quarterfinal @ 4am, 7:30am, 11am, 2:30pm
• Wed 8/7
  • WBB Quarterfinal @ 4am. 7:30am, 11am, 2:30pm
• Thurs 8/8
• Fri 8/9
  • WBB Semifinal @ 10:30am and 2pm
• Sat 8/10
  • MBB Bronze Medal Game @ 4am
  • MBB Gold Medal Game @ 2:30pm
• Sun 8/11
  • WBB Bronze Game @ 4:30am
  • WBB Gold Medal Game @ 8:30am

Golf:

• Thurs 8/7
  • Olympic – Women: Round 1 @ 2am
• Fri 8/8
  • Olympic – Women: Round 2 @ 2am
• Sat 8/9
  • Olympic – Women: Round 3 @ 2am
• Sun 8/10
  • Olympic – Women: Final Round @ 2am

Soccer:

• Mon 8/5
  • Soccer: M Semifinal @ 11am & 2pm
• Tues 8/6
  • Soccer: W Semifinal @ 11am & 2pm
• Wed 8/7
• Thurs 8/8
  • Soccer: Bronze Medal Match @ 10am
• Fri 8/9
  • Soccer: W Bronze Medal Match @ 8am
  • Soccer: M Gold Medal Match @ 11am
• Sat 8/10
  • Soccer: W Gold Medal Match @ 10am

Olympic Sports:

• Mon 8/5 – Olympics
  • Triathlon: Mixed Relay @ 1am
  • Shooting: 25m M Rapid Fire Pistol @ 2:30am
  • Badminton: W Singles @ 2:45am
  • Gymnastic Finals: M Parallel Bars, W Balance Beam, M Horizontal Bar, W Floor @ 4:45am
    • W Beam: Simone Biles and Suni Lee
    • W Floor: Simone Biles and Jordan Chiles
  • Badminton: M Singles @ 7:30am
  • Shooting: Skeet Mixed Team @ 8am
  • Canoe Slalom: W&M Kayak Cross @ 9:43am
  • Soccer: M Semifinal @ 11am & 2pm
  • Water Polo: M Group Play: USA vs CRO @ 11:30am
  • Athletics Finals: M PV, W Discuss, W 5000m, W 800m @ 12pm
  • Cycling Track: W Team Sprint @ 12:46pm
  • 3×3 Basketball: W Gold then M Gold @ 3pm
• Tues 8/6 – Olympic
  • Equestrian: Jumping Individual @ 3am
  • MBB Quarterfinal @ 4am, 7:30am, 11am, 2:30pm
  • Sailing: W&M Dinghy @ 7:43m
  • Diving: W Platform @ 8am
  • Skateboarding: W Park @ 10:30am
  • Soccer: W Semifinal @ 11am & 2pm
  • Wrestling: M Greco-Roman 60kg, 130kg, W Freestyle 68kg @ 11:15am
  • Athletics Finals: W Hammer, M LJ, M 1500m, W 3000m Steeple, W 200m @ 12:55pm
  • Cycling Track: M Team Sprint @ 12:55pm
  • Boxing: W 60kg @ 2:06pm
• Wed 8/7
  • Athletics: Marathon Race Walk Mixed Relay @ 12:30am
  • WBB Quarterfinal @ 4am. 7:30am, 11am, 2:30pm
  • Sport Climbing: W Speed @ 5:54am
  • Sailing: Mixed Multihull, Mixed Dinghy @ 7:43am
  • Weightlifting: M 61kg @ 8am
  • Skateboarding: M Park @ 10:30am
  • Cycling Track: M&W Team Pursuit @ 11:04am
  • Athletics Finals: W PV, M Discuss, M 400m, M 3000m Steeple @ 12pm
  • Artistic Swim: Team Acrobatic @ 12:30pm
  • Weightlifting: W 49kg @ 12:30pm
  • Wrestling: M Greco-Roman 77kg, Greco-Roman 97kg, W Freestyle 50kg @ 12:55pm
  • Taekwondo: W 49kg, M -58kg @ 2:19pm
  • Boxing: M 63.5kg then M 80kg @ 3:34pm
• Thurs 8/8
  • Marathon Swimming: W 10km @ 12:30am
  • Sailing: M&W Kite @ 5:13am
  • Sport Climbing: M Speed @ 5:54am
  • Canoe Sprint: M Canoe Double, W&M Kayak Four @ 6:20am
  • Diving: M Springboard @ 8am
  • Weightlifting: W 59kg @ 8am
  • Soccer: Bronze Medal Match @ 10am
  • MBB Semifinal @ 10:30am and 2pm
  • Wrestling: M Greco-Roman 76kg, M Greco-Roman 87kg, W Freestyle 53kg @ 11:15am
  • Hockey: M Gold Medal @ 12pm
  • Cycling Track: W Keirin & M Omnium Points @ 12:01pm
  • Weightlifting: M 73kg @ 12:30pm
  • Athletics Finals: W LJ, M Jav, M 200m, W 400h, M 110h @ 1pm
  • Taekwondo: M -68kg, W -57kg @ 2:19pm
  • Boxing: M 51kg & W 54kg @ 3:34pm
• Fri 8/9 – Olympic
  • Marathon Swimming: M 10km @ 12:30am
  • Sport Climbing: M Boulder & Lead @ 5:35am
  • Canoe Sprint: W Canoe Double, W&M Kayak Double & M Canoe Single 1000m @ 5:40am
  • Rhythmic Gymnastics: All-Around @ 7:30am
  • Diving: W Springboard @ 8am
  • Soccer: W Bronze Medal Match @ 8am
  • Table Tennis: M Team @ 8am
  • Weightlifting: M 89kg @ 8am
  • Volleyball: M Bronze @ 9am
  • WBB Semifinal @ 10:30am and 2pm
  • Soccer: M Gold Medal Match @ 11am
  • Cycling Track: M Sprint, W Madison @ 11am
  • Athletics Finals: W 4x100m Relay, W Shot Put, M 4x100m Relay, W 400m, M TJ, W Heptathlon, W 10,000m, M 400h @ 12:30pm
  • Weightlifting: W 71kg @ 12:30pm
  • Wrestling: M Freestyle 57kg & 86kg, W Freestyle 57kg @ 12:55pm
  • Hockey: W Gold @ 1pm
  • Beach Volleyball: W Bronze @ 2pm
  • Breaking: B-Girls @ 2:15pm
  • Taekwondo: W -67kg, M -80kg @ 2:19pm
  • Boxing: M 71kg, W 50kg, M 92kg, W 66kg @ 2:30pm
  • Beach Volleyball: W Gold @ 3:30pm
• Sat 8/10 – Olympic
  • Athletics: M Marathon @ 1am
  • Golf: W Individual @ 2am
  • Handball: W Bronze @ 3am
  • Table Tennis: W Bronze @ 3am
  • Water Polo: W Bronze @ 3:35am
  • MBB Bronze Medal Game @ 4am
  • Weightlifting: M 102kg @ 4:30am
  • Sport Climbing: W Boulder & Lead @ 5:35am
  • Canoe Sprint: W Kayak Single, M Kayak Single 1000m, W Canoe Single 200m @ 5:40am
  • Volleyball: M Gold @ 6am
  • Rhythmic Gymnastics: Group All-Around @ 7am
  • Diving: M Platform @ 8am
  • Handball: W Gold @ 8am
  • Table Tennis: W Gold @ 8am
  • Water Polo: W Gold @ 8:35am
  • Weightlifting: W 81kg @ 9am
  • Soccer: W Gold Medal Match @ 10am
  • Volleyball: W Bronze @ 10:15am
  • Modern Pentathlon: M Individual @ 10:30am
  • Cycling Track: M Madison @ 10:59am
  • Athletics Finals: M HJ, M 800m, W Jav, W 100h, M 5000m, W 1500m, M 4x400m Relay, W 4x400m Relay @ 12:10pm
  • Artistic Swim: Duet Free @ 12:30pm
  • Wrestling: M Freestyle 74kg, M 125kg & W 62kg @ 12:55pm
  • Weightlifting: M +102kg @ 1:30pm
  • Beach Volleyball: M Bronze @ 2pm
  • Breaking: B-Boys @ 2:15pm
  • Taekwondo: M +80kg, W +67kg @ 2:19pm
  • MBB Gold Medal Game @ 2:30pm
  • Boxing: W 57kg, M 57kg, M 75kg, M +92kg @ 2:30pm
  • Beach Volleyball: M Gold @ 3:30pm
• Sun 8/11
  • Athletics: W Marathon @ 1am
  • Handball: M Bronze @ 2am
  • Water Polo: M Bronze @ 3:35am
  • Modern Pantheon: W Individual @ 4am
  • WBB Bronze Game @ 4:30am
  • Weightlifting: W +81kg @ 4:30am
  • Wrestling: M Freestyle 65kg & 97kg, W Freestyle 76kg @ 5:45am
  • Cycling Track: W Sprint, M Keirin, W Omnium Points @ 5:45am
  • Volleyball: W Gold @ 6am
  • Handball: M Gold @ 6:30am
  • Water Polo: M Gold @ 7am
  • WBB Gold Medal Game @ 8:30am