Team USA had
a great night in team qualifying on Saturday and has a really good chance to
win its first gold in men's gymnastics since 1984 and its first ever gold in a non-boycotted
Olympics. The biggest surprise in qualifying is not that China and Japan
faltered but that Great Britain beat both of them. GBR qualified in third
behind USA and Russia. So the U.S. is in really good position to win gold,
right? Well, yes and no. The Americans looked better than any team out there in
qualifying and if they do that again they have a good shot. However, all scores
are erased and each team starts with a clean slate in finals. Japan made a lot
of mistakes Saturday, but since the scores clear they are still the favorites.
China would be up there too but their qualifying was disastrous and they have
some injuries, which probably does help the U.S. The arena should be very pro
GBR with the home country team in the finals. Hopefully that and some pressure
from the Americans will make Japan falter in finals as well.
Yesterday in
the women’s synchronized springboard Kelci Bryant and Abby Johnston became the
first American divers to win a medal since Laura Wilkinson in 2000. Tonight is
the men’s chance to be the first U.S. male medalists since 1996 and the first
in the synchronized events. David Boudla and Nick McCrory will compete in the
men’s synchronized platform event. The Chinese are near impossible to beat so a
silver medal is almost like winning the gold these days in diving. Great
Britain has a great diver in Tom Daley, so expect a good atmosphere at the
pool.
It looks to
be a big night in the pool for Team USA as Americans have a great chance to win
all four medal events tonight.
Ryan Lochte
has a chance at medal number three of these Olympics tonight at it comes in the
200m freestyle. I’m guessing he’s very disappointed in his finish as the anchor
in the 4x100 last night. He didn’t necessarily have a terrible race but the
U.S. still finished second when they had the lead as he entered the pool. I
said yesterday that I thought Michael Phelps would swim well in the 4x100 and
he did. I think tonight Lochte will swim will in this 200m. He is the favorite
in this event because of Phelps. That’s because Phelps actually won this event
at the U.S. trials but dropped it to take his program down to seven events. However,
it’s not like Lochte isn’t good at this race. He is the world champion after
all.
The women’s
100m breaststroke should be a great race. Lithuania’s Ruta Meilutyte has
breezed through the qualifying and is possibly the favorite. However, she
hasn’t been in the pool at the same time as Americans Rebecca Soni and Breeja
Larson. Soni is the silver medalist from Beijing and the world champion, while
this is Larson’s first trip to the Olympics but she beat Soni at trials. The
only problem I have with Larson is that she’s an aggie. So I’m cheering on Soni
for the gold and Larson for the silver.
The
Americans are favorites to win both the men’s and women’s 100m backstroke. Matt
Grevers has had two great swims leading up to the finals and is looking very
strong. On the women’s side, Missy Franklin goes for her first individual medal
and has certainly impressed in the prelims and semifinals. Look out for
Australia’s Emily Seebohm who came close to breaking the world record in
prelims and some consider her the favorite.
No comments:
Post a Comment