Monday, July 30, 2012

I Am Watching the Olympics (Day 3)

Well, it's just the first Monday morning, and I already feel woefully behind in following the Olympics. I haven't out little paper flag standings updated in the living room. I haven't even yet turned on NBC today. I'm sure there are a bunch of medals being awarded today, but I haven't yet checked to see what they are and when they happen. Also, I have a hangover of straggling questions from the first weekend:



-- What are Claire Donahue and Lee Kiefer doing now?

-- Where is El Monte?

-- What's up with the women's soccer tournament now? What's up with the men's now that Honduras ensured that Spain can't advance?

-- What's up with Oberhof now?

-- What's up with Germany?

This out-of-control/behind-schedule feeling is pretty much what I feel along about the second Sunday of every Advent, too. 

Previous reports:

43 comments:

  1. Already today, in men's 10m air rifle: Romania gold, Italy silver and India bronze.

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    1. Another question: Why aren't there a bunch of Kentuckians in the shooting events?

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  2. I had the medal standings wrong, and I misspelled Azerbaijan.

    Sorry, Azerbaijan, and here are the current standings:

    1. China (6 gold, 4 silver, 2 bronze)
    2. United States (3, 5, 3)
    3. Italy (2, 4, 2)
    4. South Korea (2, 1, 2)
    5. France (2, 1, 1)
    6. North Korea (2, 0, 1)
    7. Kazakhstan (2, 0, 0)
    8. Australia (1, 1, 1)
    8. Brazil (1, 1, 1)
    8. Hungary (1, 1, 1)
    11. Netherlands (1, 1, 0)
    11. Romania (1, 1, 0)
    13. Russia (1, 0, 3)
    14. Georgia (1, 0, 0)
    14. South Africa (1, 0, 0)
    16. Japan (0, 2, 3)
    17. Great Britain (0, 1, 1)
    18. Colombia (0, 1, 0)
    18. Poland (0, 1, 0)
    18. Taiwan (0, 1, 0)
    18. Cuba (0, 1, 0)
    22. Belgium (0, 0, 1)
    22. Norway (0, 0, 1)
    22. Serbia (0, 0, 1)
    22. Canada (0, 0, 1)
    22. Slovakia (0, 0, 1)
    22. Ukraine (0, 0, 1)
    22. Azerbaijan (0, 0, 1)
    22. Moldova (0, 0, 1)
    22. India (0, 0, 1)
    22. Uzbekistan (0, 0, 1)

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  3. Moldova is a small country on the border between Romania and Ukraine. When we were kids, it was part of the USSR.

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  4. China does not accept the existence of "Taiwan," as that would imply that there is a nation called Taiwan that is distinct from China. By referring to the island as "Chinese Taipei," we make it sound more like a province of China -- which is what China insists that it is.

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    1. Full credit, Go Heath. Thanks.

      I'd forgotten the back and forth about the specific terms.

      I once went out on a first date at a California Pizza Kitchen in Durham (her idea) with a woman from Taiwan (her name). Anyway, I started asking her about the politics and history of her parents' native country, and she so quickly tired of the whole conversation. Then, a little later, she told me how she felt Friends would have to eventually end with Rachel and Ross getting married--that they were "perfect together" and all of that stuff. Of course, she was correct about how the show played out.

      There was no second date.

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  5. Judo (and I think boxing) give out two bronze medals because -- and I think this makes sense -- they don't want to force the guys who lost in the semi-finals to battle again for the bronze.

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    1. Totally makes sense. Women's lightweight judo medals: Japan gold, Romania silver, United States and France bronze.

      Congratulations, bronze-medalist Marti Malloy of Oak Harbor, Washington!

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  6. Men's synchronized 10m platform diving: China gold, Mexico silver, United States bronze.

    Hurrah for bronze-medalists David Boudia of Noblesville, Ind., and Nick McCrory of Chapel Hill, N.C.!

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    Replies
    1. And congratulations to Mexico on earning its first medal of the London games.

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  7. Men's lightweight judo: Russia gold, Japan silver, Mongolia and France bronze.

    First medal for Mongolia!

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  8. Women's 128-pound weightlifting: China gold, Thailand silver, Ukraine bronze. First medal for Thailand!

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  9. The men's gymnastics team final and a bunch of swimming is going on, but I'll stay away from watching for those results as I'm sure those events will be the focus of NBC's prime-time show.

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    1. Sorry, Eric. I hope you didn't click the link.

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    2. No problem! I appreciated that you didn't give any more detail than you did, and, truthfully, I was thrilled to see that I have good news coming later this evening!

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  10. Olympic table tennis is awesome. My only complaint is that the matches should be played in somebody's rec room or garage.

    And I would play the badminton matches in someone's back yard.

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    1. Excellent ideas, both. Actually, you could have both events played at the home of the richest individual in the host city/region. The United Nations should pass a law.

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  11. NBC Sports Network is wrapping up coverage of what has been a pretty good women's basketball game, pitting Brazil and Russia. It has been a close game until the last four minutes or so, but now Russia is up 12 wtih 18.9 seconds to play.

    Brazil won women's hoops silver in 1996 and bronze in 2000; Russia, bronze in 2004 and 2008.

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  12. Replies
    1. We have a wild, mysterious scene unfolding at the ol' fencing piste.

      A German and a South Korean have been competing in the women's individual epee. I, of course, know nothing about fencing, but apparently there's a big difference in the scoring and/or strategy of the foil and epee events because I turned in in the third of three five-minute periods and found the score tied at 2. (The Italian ran up her winning 15 points against Lexington's Lee Kaiser the other day all within the first scheduled period.) So, then the following plays out about once every 15 or 25 seconds for the remainder of the match:

      -- The two fencers bounce up and down and tap the ends of their swords (or whatever they're called).

      -- The German makes a mad lunge at the South Korean.

      -- Ringers start going off, and both competitors are awarded single points.

      -- The South Korean turns around to her coach and then the judges with arms extended at her side, apparently indignant with whatever just went on.

      So, we go to a minute of "ET," which is, presumably, "extra time," and the same sequence plays out again and again except in more rapid fashion. "0:01" remains on the clock for a couple and maybe three of these. There is no commentary, so I'm not sure. But I'm pretty sure it's not like some Soviet Union jive-clock situation like in '72 men's basketball; rather, it appears that they just leave that last second on the clock in ET until a victor is determined.

      Anyway, things come to a standstill when the South Korean takes off her mask, and her coach approaches the judges and starts berating them. Finally, the judges coax the South Korean woman into putting back on her mask. On the next resumption, the German is awarded a point. The crowd erupts, and she rips off her mask with a 2008 Michael Phelpsish bellow. The South Korean woman takes off her mask and weeps.

      Now both coaches and about 15 other people are all huddled around the judges' table. This has been going on for about 10 minutes. Neither fencer, meanwhile, has left the playing surface.

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  13. Apparently what you were witnessing were a series of doubles, where they both hit each other at the same time. The German needed to win the OT to make it through to the next round. There were three doubles then a score for the German in the last second. The Koreans are arguing the final point. Text coverage at Eurosport. http://eurosport.yahoo.com/olympics/specials/live/

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  14. The South Korean is still sitting on the stage, head down and helmet at her side ...

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    1. I swear I just overheard this announcement on NBC's live coverage: "... A South Korean official must lay down a sum of money for the appeal to be valid ..."

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    2. This feels a little like the last scene of Rollerball.

      But only a little.

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    3. And that's it. The bawling South Korean finally leaves the playing surface after, presumably, being told that her appeal is rejected. She now has to pull it together for a bronze-medal match.

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  15. South Korea's Shin ends up losing the bronze-medal match to a woman from China. And the semifinal-winning German ends up losing the gold-medal match to a Ukrainian.

    Nonetheless, Britta Heidemann--"Athlete, Author, Coach, Consultant, Motivational Speaker"--gives Germany its first medal of the London Olympics. Check out the little icon next to the URL at her web page.

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  16. Men's 137-pound weightlifting: North Korea gold, Colombia silver, Indonesia bronze. First medal for Indonesia!

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  17. The U.S. women's basketball team leads Angola 22-12 after the first quarter.

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  18. The U.S. women's basketball team leads Angola 41-18 after the second quarter.

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  19. OK, wrapping up today's action ...

    Men's 100m backstroke: Matt Grevers of Lake Forest, Ill., and Nick Thoman of Charlotte, N.C., take gold and silver! Japan scores bronze.

    Women's 100m backstroke: Missy Franklin of Centennial, Colo., takes gold! Australia silver, Japan bronze.

    Women's 100m breaststroke: Lithuania gold, United States silver, Japan bronze. Congratulations to Rebecca Soni of Plainsboro, N.J.! And Lithuania collects its first medal.

    Men's 200m freestyle: France gold, South Korea and China silver.

    Men's team gymnastics: China gold, Japan silver, Great Britain bronze.

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    1. Al Trautwig, who was obviously too busy to be watching the women's fencing drama this afternoon, was shocked to see one of the Japanese gymnastics coaches bringing cash to the officials along with the team's appeal of a score. Indeed, the appeal was upheld, and Japan was ratcheted into a second-place finish, dropping Great Britain to bronze and Ukraine out of the medals.

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  20. New medal standings:

    1. China (9 gold, 5 silver, 3 bronze)
    2. United States (5, 7, 5)
    3. France (3, 1, 3)
    4. North Korea (3, 0, 1)
    5. Italy (2, 4, 2)
    6. South Korea (2, 2, 2)
    7. Russia (2, 0, 3)
    8. Kazakhstan (2, 0, 0)
    9. Japan (1, 4, 6)
    10. Australia (1, 2, 1)
    11. Romania (1, 2, 0)
    12. Brazil (1, 1, 1)
    12. Hungary (1, 1, 1)
    14. Netherlands (1, 1, 0)
    15. Ukraine (1, 0, 2)
    16. Georgia (1, 0, 0)
    16. South Africa (1, 0, 0)
    16. Lithuania (1, 0, 0)
    19. Colombia (0, 2, 0)
    20. Great Britain (0, 1, 2)
    21. Poland (0, 1, 0)
    21. Chinese Taipei (0, 1, 0)
    21. Cuba (0, 1, 0)
    21. Thailand (0, 1, 0)
    21. Germany (0, 1, 0)
    21. Mexico (0, 1, 0)
    27. India (0, 0, 1)
    27. Belgium (0, 0, 1)
    27. Norway (0, 0, 1)
    27. Serbia (0, 0, 1)
    27. Canada (0, 0, 1)
    27. Slovakia (0, 0, 1)
    27. Azerbaijan (0, 0, 1)
    27. Moldova (0, 0, 1)
    27. Uzbekistan (0, 0, 1)
    27. Mongolia (0, 0, 1)
    27. Indonesia (0, 0, 1)

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