Oh. My. God.
BMX racing, you are the best sport. All other sports need to stop trying (except baseball, hockey, football, basketball, tennis, and maybe badminton). This is a god damn video game. But real. I’m not exaggerating, look.
I 100 percent cannot tell the difference between the two. Kidding. Obviously, the difference is that the second one has motorcycles.
The Canadian Women’s Football team has won a bronze medal. After all that. Oh yeah, and the winning goal was scored by Diana Matheson in stoppage time. There’s some weird karmic angle to this. I’m sure this will be hammered home by, well, everybody but after the events of the semifinal match against the United States the odd poetic justice can’t really be ignored. I don’t think I need to recap that game’s events (and, seriously, would you even want to hear about it at this point?) but after being outplayed all game by France and then scoring the winning goal in stoppage time, well, it all seems relatively familiar at this point. Just the opposite.
France absolutely dominated Canada for the majority of the 93 minutes of play, outshooting the Canadians 25-4 (4-1 on target) and, not surprisingly, getting the majority of the chances. Canada looked drained and fatigued for most of the game and, until the last few minutes, the game felt very much like a hangover from the insanity that was the semifinals. But this is sports, so weird things happen. Canada got their chance and Matheson buried it into an open net, in stoppage time, to give the Canadians a deserved, yet totally undeserved, 1-0 victory.
It’s a nice capper to the team’s journey through these Olympics as at least they can take solace in the fact that they won something (also, I’ve long held that, in team sports, bronze is actually better than silver because you have to win your last game to get the medal). Regardless of result today, however, these women have made us all care about their sport and, with all due respect to the rest of our country’s athletes, have captured the defining moments of these games. At least I think so but I’m also an idiot so take that as you will).
High fives and respect nods all around for these women. You done us proud.
Oh yeah, one more thing. Go Japan. If my thoughts on bronze being better than silver in team sports holds true (and it totally does because deal with it), then an American defeat in the final would make Canada the real winner here. Well, in another, more accurate way, Japan would be the winner. But I’ll take it.
Here’s your rundown of the Olympics events you need to watch today. (All times Eastern)
Athletics
Canada’s Damian Warner looks to continue his amazing run in the Men’s Decathlon on Thursday. Action gets started with the 110m hurdles at 4:00 am. Discus throw (4:55 am), Pole vault (7:55 am), Javelin throw (1:30 pm) and the 1500m (4:20 pm) round out the competition. Warner sits in third heading into today’s final five events. At 3:00 pm the Men’s 800m final takes place. A triumvirate of Jamaicans look to sweep the Men’s 200m at 3:55 pm – Bolt, Blake or Warren Weir, who ya got?
Basketball
At 12:00 pm Australia and the United States face off in the first of two Women’s semifinals. Lauren Jackson versus Diana Taurasi, that’s going to be good. At 4:00 pm Russia takes on France in the second semifinal.
Beach Volleyball
The Men’s gold medal game takes place at 4:00 pm as Germany and Brazil battle for Gold.
Boxing
Three Women’s finals on Thursday. Fly final – Adams vs. Ren, which will be huge – at 11:30 am. Ireland’s Katie Taylor aims to make history in tehe Women’s Light final at 11:45 am. American phenom Claressa Shields goes for Gold in the Women’s Middleweight final at 12:15 pm.
Diving
The Women’s 10m platform final starts at 2:00 pm.
Football
Argh. Canada aims to leave London with a medal when they take on France in the Bronze medal game at 8:00 am. Japan and the United States go for Gold at 2:45 pm.
Volleyball
Women’s semifinals begin at 10:00 am with South Korea taking on the United States. Brazil and Japan battle at 2:00 pm in the second semi.
Water Polo
Gold is on the line at 3:00 pm for the Women as Spain faces the U.S.
Wrestling
Canada’s Tonya Lynn Verbeek (55 kg freestyle) faces India’s Geeta Geeta at 8:25 am in the quarterfinals. The final will take place at 2:03 pm. Leah Mariem Lorraine Callahan (72 kg freestyle) faces a wrestler from Mongolia in her quarterfinal at 8:25 am. That final goes at 2:48 pm.
For a full list of the events going on today, click here for the London 2012 Official Olympic Schedule
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A bit of a delay as the wrestling medal matches finally get underway. Apparently officials in London couldn’t find the wrestlers – experts indicate this is important. Canadians Huynh and Durgrenier each have a shot at Bronze medals. We’ll recap the events of these two matches as they happen.
First round
- Carol Huynh – she of the GOLD medal in Beijing – takes on Senegal’s Isabelle Sambou.
- Two minutes rounds make for a crazily intense sequence of events. The ref is a big part of round one, breaking up the opponents as both wrestlers look tentative. Analysis!
Second round
- Huynh gets on the board with a take down seconds into the second round. 1-0 Canada. An impressive ‘Canada’ chant emerges from the stands in ExCel arena – my favourite venue at these games. Wait: no point was rewarded. 0-0, Vic Ratuer’s confusion is completely unassuring.
- Huynh gets the blue ball for the second time in the match! This, apparently, means she gets to start a key, sudden death hold in favorable position.
- The Calgary native does it! Another Bronze for Canada. I’d by lying to you if I said I have a firm grasp on what exactly happened in the last few moments of the match. This I am certain: the blue ball was the turning point.
While it isn’t Gold, Huynh adds to her Olympic medal collection with a hard fought victory. Pan Am Games Gold last fall, four World Championship podiums and an Olympic Bronze. What a career for Carol Huynh.
Bronze medalist Carol Huynh: “I would have loved to been back (atop) the podium like Beijing. That was amazing.But today, I’m just so happy”
— Arash Madani (@ArashMadani) August 8, 2012
It’s teammate Martine Dugrenier’s turn for a shot at glory in the 63 kg Bronze medal match. She’ll take on Battsetseg Soronzonbold of Mongolia. The name is intimidating in itself. No matter what happens, Dugrenier has already improved on her fifth place showing in Beijing.
First round
- Not sure why the male referee is allowed to pat down the wrestlers. Very creepy.
- Both combabtants tumble out of bounds, Dugs looked to be in control, but the point goes to Soron. Note: Not implying the Mongolian wrestler is an evil wizard with use of that short form.
- Soron takes control, getting Dugs on her back for another point. The Mongolian takes round one, 2- 0.
Second round
- Another quick point for Soron. The ref blows the whistle with 1:10 left. Dugs will need a miracle.
- Excellent defense from the Mongolian as Dugrenier runs out of time.
Battsetseg Soronzonbold wins Mongolia’s first ever wrestling medal. Mongolia rejoice!
Spain beat France in the quarterfinals of the Men’s Basketball tournament this afternoon. The lasting memory from this game won’t be the Spanish victory – but rather Nicolas Batum’s venemous low blow on Juan Carlos Navarro. The intent is horrifyingly clear. Batum lost his cool:
Batum believes Spain threw their final prelim game against Brazil in order to get France in the final eight. With what we’ve seen re: match fixing during these games the claim doesn’t sound that farfetched. With that said – what Batum did was beyond gutless.
Somehow, the French forward avoided ejection. The Olympics – where no one’s testicles are safe.
Gif via @BuzzFeedSports
The article was scathing:
Women have struggled for decades to be appreciated as athletes. For the first time at these Games, every competing nation has sent a female participant. But Jones is not assured enough with her hurdling or her compelling story of perseverance. So she has played into the persistent, demeaning notion that women are worthy as athletes only if they have sex appeal. And, too often, the news media have played right along with her.
As I’m sure most of you know Jones is an attractive, religious virgin – much like that terrible ‘Quarterback’ in New York. The difference being Jones was a legitimate contender for a medal in London, not getting into San-bow (Teb-chez, if you prefer) here. Yesterday she finished fourth in the hurdles. Today, the NBC morning show trotted Jones out for another post mortem of her Olympic failure – she crashed on the ninth of ten hurdles in Beijing. Jones was extremely confident heading into the Olympics, a big reason for the huge media coverage she received Stateside. Today, she’s an emotionally hollowed out fourth place never was.
My census on the percentage of horrible people on the internet is struggling, but I’m going to maintain my initial hypothesis: the jackals outnumber the good. Lolo needed a medal to avoid being labelled another Anna Kournikova. At 29 the chances of Jones participating in another Olympics are slim – though not impossible. Jones is going to get hated on – even her track teammates appear to dislike her, like extremely dislike.
All of these things probably led to what happened in the interview above. It’s high school all over again – everyone hates the cool, good looking virgin. Possibly more Dawson’s Creek than a real high school, but the point remains.
Earlier today we had heard FIFA would need more time before deciding the punishment – if any – for comments made by Canadian coach John Herdman, Captain Christine Sinclair and others after Canada’s devastating extra time loss to the United States on Monday.
Seems like they’ll need at least a day more. From the CBC:
A FIFA spokesman said Wednesday that “further investigation will be needed” by the organization’s disciplinary committee, and that no decision will be made before the bronze-medal match against France on Thursday.
Based on FIFA’s prior track record, expect the penalties to be handed down sometime before hell freezes over. Clowns.
Disastrous is probably too strong a word. Strange. We’ll go with that. From the moment its athletes took to the track at Olympic Stadium during the parade of nations, India’s had a really strange time in London. There was the infamous – famous? – lady in red, a dancer in Danny Boyle’s mind bending production, storming – leisurely walking is more accurate – into London with the Indian athletes. An incident so severe the culprit, a graduate student from Bangalore, had to issue a public apology upon her arrival back in India.
Oh and the corruption claims! – the corruption claims. An incredibly shady boxing result deemed by the ESPN commentary team as “daylight robbery” saw Sumit Sangwan go down in the round of 32, despite an appeal. Krishan Vikas lost a bout he had already won after judges penalized the Indian for nine holding fouls during the fight. Manoj Kumar screamed “cheating” as he left the arena after losing to a Brit in dubious fashion. An Indian badminton team claimed the bizarre scandal that rocked the game of backyard kings had affected them directly – referring to the lose on purpose program implemented by some of the better teams in the tournament.
Then there were the jokes. Michael Phelps dominant performance in the pools of Athens, Beijing and London was contrasted with India’s futility by a freaking world renowned scientist:
Just an FYI: Michael Phelps has as many Medals in the
#Olympics – all time – as the country of India, with 1.2 billion people— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) August 3, 2012
It’s not racist – or some of the other vitriolic claims thrown at deGrasse Tyson and others – to point this out. A country with 1.2 billion people should have better results. Yes Cricket will always be number one – and more importantly, lack of funds and other government priorities play a large role.
Enough with the negative. M.C Mary Kom – easily the winner for best name at the games, move aside Dong² – is the best boxer you’ve never heard about. She’s a five-time Boxing World Champion and six time medalist – there have only been six Women’s Boxing World Championships. Hailing from Manipur, a tiny state in the northeast corner of India – Kom’s story is one of perseverance and passion. Her family didn’t want her to Box. Kom refused to stop, and successfully hid her love for the sport until she won the Manipur state championship in 2000. 12 years later Kom has 12 Gold Medals in international competition, twin boys and now, an Olympic Bronze.
Kom lost her Semifinal fight with Great Britain’s Nicola Adams this morning. After the fight the 5’2, 110 pound fighter apologized to her fans back home for failing to win Gold or Silver. Nonsense. Kom moved up in weight class for the London games. Her lack of size and reach would ultimately be her undoing against Adams.
A Bronze medal is a huge achievement. For thousands of amateur athletes in India the fact that people like Mary Kom exist is even bigger for girls who want to the play the same sports as their fathers, brothers and cousins.
The significance of Kom’s success may be seen in India’s embattled political scene. Manipur is home to an insurgency that has wracked the region for decades. Kom’s siblings worked in the fields to help their struggling farming family, she saved flood allowance money to buy her first pair of gloves. She doesn’t look like the majority of the Indian team, she didn’t get the big endorsements received by her compatriots and yet here is Kom, Bronze in hand. I hope the Indian Olympic Committee takes this to heart when reassessing where their money goes in preparation for Rio 2016.
As Chris Lund so eloquently stated on Monday, Adam van Koeverden had nothing left to prove. At 30, the Oakville, Ontario native’s future in competitive Kayaking is uncertain. If today’s K1, 1000 km was his last Olympic race, he’ll have another medal to cap off an incredible career.
After leading for most of the race – a 4:30 am start – AvK was overtaken by Norway’s Eirik Veras Larsen with 250m left in the race. Germany’s Max Hoff took Bronze. The CBC has words from the Silver medal man:
“Overall I am happy with my race,” van Koeverden said. “I tried to get as much air in my lungs and keep it going. Everybody is out there trying to win the race and I feel like my race plan went well. I was looking for a good finish. I can find the silver lining in silver.”
Four medals – one gold, two silver and one bronze – in three games. At just 22, van Koeverden won Gold in Athens. With that victory, expectations for future podium successes were not just anticipated – but expected. He never made it back to the top of his sport – several World Championships indicate that statement is flawed – but he handled expectations just about as well as anyone could.
15 minutes later, Burlington, Ontario’s Mark Oldershaw won Bronze in the men’s C-1 1000m canoe final. Oldershaw finished behind Germany’s Sebastian Brendel and Spain’s David Cal-Figeroa. A third generation Olympian – very cool – Mark is the only Oldershaw to make the podium.
13. Canada now trails their Beijing (18) medal count by five with five days to go.
Here’s your rundown of the Olympics events you need to watch today. (All times Eastern)
Athletics
Sultana Frizell will be the first Canadian in competition in the Athletics portion tomorrow when she participates in the women’s hammer throw at 5 am. Damian Warner is Canada’s lone male decathlete in these games and he will get things underway in the 100m dash at 5:10 am. Cameron Levins will be taking part in the first round of the men’s 5000m at 5:45 am. Jessica Smith and Melissa Bishop will both be in the first round of the women’s 800m at 6:35 am. Curtis Moss is the lone Canadian in the men’s javelin throw qualification at 2:05 pm. Hilary Stellingwerff and Nicole Sifuentes will both try to advance in the Women’s 1500m at 2:45 pm. Jared Connaughton and Aaron Brown will both try to advance to the men’s 200m final when they take part in the semis at 3:10 pm.
Basketball
The men’s elimination circuit is underway as Russia takes on Lithuania at 9 am to kick off the round. The United States will end the quarterfinal matches tomorrow at 5:15 pm when they take on Australia.
Canoe Sprint
Three medal opportunities for Canada in the medal sprint. Adam van Koeverden will look to bring home a medal in the men’s K1 1,000m at 4:30 am. Meanwhile, Mark Oldershaw will be looking for a medal in the C1 1,000m at 4:48 am.
Cycling – BMX
Tory Nyhaug will be the lone Canadian representative in the Men’s BMX seeding run.
Diving
Canada will have two divers in the women’s 10m platform preliminaries as Meaghan Benfeito and Roseline Filion will break up their synchro partnership and go for individual glory. That’s set for 2:00 pm.
Wrestling
Carol Huynh will represent Canada in the 48kg freestyle division when she takes on Thi Lua Nguyen of Vietnam at 8:25 am. Martine Dugrenier will represent Canada against Japan’s Kaori Icho at 8:25 am.
For a full list of the events going on today, click here for the London 2012 Official Olympic Schedule
