I’d talk
more about the men’s tennis final, but it may be over by the time you read
this. I will say that if Andy Murray wins, Wimbledon will go crazy.
Tonight will
be the men’s floor exercise and pommel horse and the women’s vault. American
Jake Dalton is in the mix on a packed final on the floor exercise, as is
all-around champion Kohei Uchimura and runner up Marcel Nguyen. Qualifying first
was the defending champion Zou Kai of China, but all eight gymnasts qualified
within 0.4 points of each other. Floor should be one of the more exciting
finals for the men.
Great
Britain has one of its best chances for a gold in gymnastics in the pommel
horse final in Louis Smith. Smith qualified in first with a great routine and
won the bronze in Beijing. The reigning world champion, Krisztian Berki of
Hungary, qualified fifth but is probably the favorite.
McKayla
Maroney made the U.S. team purely to land vaults to help the team to gold. She
did that and now has the chance to get herself an individual gold. If Maroney
puts up a vault like she did on Tuesday, she will undoubtedly be the Olympic
champion. She is the reigning world champion and the best vaulter in the world.
Even with her step on the vault in qualifying she still put up an amazing
score. If I remember correctly, the gymnasts will compete two vaults and the
average of the two scores will determine the winner. The vaults have to be from
“two different families”, basically meaning that they can’t do the same vault
twice and have to prove that they really are the best by nailing two different
kinds of vaults. Also in contention is Germany’s Oksana Chusovitina, who is
competing at the ripe gymnastics age of 37 and is the reigning silver medalist.
Everyday
from here on out I’ll give you the laundry list of track events that will be
handing out medals for the day. They’ll show several heats and semis in
primetime as well, but not all will have finals the same night. Today is the
women’s marathon, women’s triple jump, men’s hammer throw, men’s steeplechase,
women’s 400m and the most popular race of the games – the men’s 100m.
Jamaica
defended its title in the women’s 100m yesterday and looks to remain the home
of both the fastest man and woman in the world. There’s a very good chance this
will be the case. Usain Bolt amazed all of us in Beijing with both his runs but
is not the favorite because his teammate, Yohan Blake, defeated him in the
Jamaican Olympic trials. Blake is the current world champion because Bolt false
started in that race last year. It’s important to note that no one is allowed a
false start anymore. If you go before the gun, you are out, which is what
happened to Bolt at worlds. Also in the race are Americans Justin Gatlin and
Tyson Gay. Gatlin won the gold medal in the event in Athens but was not in
Beijing due to a four-year ban from the sport because of doping. He’s back, and
I assume clean, but he’s never been in an Olympic race with Bolt. Gay was in
the race in 2008, but claims a hamstring injury was the reason he was not able
to compete with Bolt. Gay is one of two guys in the race, along with Blake,
that have ever defeated Bolt at 100m.
The women’s
400m looks to be a race of redemption for the USA’s Sanya Richards-Ross. She
was the heavy favorite in 2008 and was leading after 200m before her hamstring
tightened. She ended up finishing third but came back to lead the 4x400m team
to gold. Great Britain’s Christin Oburugu is back to defend her Olympic title
and will obviously have the home crowd behind her. Two other Americans, Dee Dee
Trotter and Frencent McCorory, are also in the final. Side note: Richards-Ross
is married to NFL player Aaron Ross and they are sure to have the most athletic
children in the world. Hopefully, they’ll follow in their parents’ footsteps
and go to Texas (or switch it up and maybe go to Mizzou). Either way - Hook’em
Sanya!
Tonight will
show another match featuring Misty May-Treanor and Carrie Walsh Jennings. They
continue on to the quarterfinals in the elimination round of beach volleyball.
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