Saturday, August 4, 2012

I Am Watching the Olympics (Day 8)

Overnights:











Previous reports:





61 comments:

  1. Hurrah! Jamie Beyerle Gray of Lebanon, Pa., wins gold in women's 50m rifle, 3 position! Silver goes to Serbia, bronze to the Czech Republic.

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  2. Nicola Spirig of Bülach brings home Switzerland's first medal of the games, in the women's triathlon. Her hometown looks as Switzerlandy as I could possibly hope.

    Silver goes to Sweden, bronze to Australia.

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  3. In men's basketball, the United States has taken the floor against Lithuania. After one minute, the U.S. leads 4-2.

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  4. Here are the other men's basketball results so far today:

    Tunisia 69 - 73 France
    Russia 77 - 74 Spain

    That was a huge win for Russia over Spain, which has been the strongest European team in recent years.

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  5. Lithuania is the only place that likes basketball as much as Kentucky does, so my guess is that today's game with the United States is their highlight of the Summer Games. So far they have played very well -- shooting 54 percent from 2-point range and 50 percent from 3-point range. But they still trail 33-25 after one quarter.

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  6. Carmelo Anthony, who had 37 points in 14 minutes against Nigeria, has 10 points already today. He would agree with me that the NBA should adopt FIBA rules.

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  7. Lithuania remains very hot. With 3:04 to go in the first half, the United States leads 51-42.

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  8. Lithuania 50 - 55 United States (54 seconds left in first half)

    So far, Lithuania is 16-29 from 2-point range and 4-7 from 3-point range. As usual, the United States cannot stop a well-drilled European offense. To win, we will have to outscore them.

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  9. Lithuania 51 - 55 United States (Halftime)

    A great, great performance from Lithuania. I think the United States is playing better than most people will assume, given the score. But they are cold from the outside (only 6-19 from three-point range) and that always makes it more difficult.

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    1. OK, here's what happened in the second half.

      First, I decided I was jinxing the U.S. team by live-blogging the game, so I stopped that.

      Then, I realized I was watching the game on the wrong television -- I was watching the TV where UK lost to West Virginia, not the TV where UK won the national championship.

      So with a few minutes to go, and the U.S. trailing 86-84, I went down to the basement to fire up the Championship TV. The U.S. hit a three to go up 87-86, and then on the next possession LeBron hit a three to put us up 90-86. Then we got a steal, which turned into a slam for LeBron. And then LeBron made two fantastic one-on-one plays where he managed to pick his way through the Lithuanian defense without getting called for a charge.

      That run gave the U.S. the lead it needed, and we hung on for a 99-94 victory. There will be some panicking over this result, but this is what happens when the U.S. goes 10-33 from three-point range, and only 19-31 from the line. Personally, I'm happy with the result and I'm glad our guys stayed calm against a red-hot Lithuanian team.

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    2. Good job getting yourself to the right TV.

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  10. Women's team epee fencing ... bronze-medal match pits United States and Russia ... I'm watching because my not watching didn't help our woman archer the other day ...

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    1. It's 12-9, Russia, through three matchups ... first to 45 wins ... Russians have just made what the emcee in the arena called "a tactical substitution" ...

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    2. 23-23 ... it's a white-knuckler at the ol' fencing piste this afternoon!

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    3. 30-30 ... "PUSH! PUSH! PUSH!" yells the American coach. "BE READY FOR HER!" yells an American teammate. "YOU CAN DO THIS!" Coach: "YOU ATTACK NOW!"

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    4. Five "bouts through ... score leveled at 30.

      I really, really like, "YOU ATTACK NOW!" I think I'm going to start yelling that at myself at my desk once a day.

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    5. Oh, pardon me! No wonder they were going so nuts. It was high score after five bouts apparently. It ended up going to a sudden-death dealio, AND THE UNITED STATES TAKE THE BRONZE!

      YOU ATTACK NOW!

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    6. The three U.S. teammates and their coach burst into a flash of celebration that drew the momentary ire of the official. Quickly, the sudden-death-winning U.S. competitor returned to the piste, picked up her helmet that she had thrown to the floor in jubilation, nodded a tacit apology to the official and shook her vanquished Russian foe.

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    7. Women's team epee fencing: China gold, South Korea silver, United States bronze.

      The bronze-medal winners are Courtney and Kelley Hurley of San Antonio, Texas; Maya Lawrence of Teaneck, N.J., and Susan Scanlan of Saint Paul's, Minn.

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  11. Meanwhile, at Wimbledon, Serena Williams just whipped two fierce returns at her and sister Venus's Russian doubles foes, and, on the second, the whole world seemed to bow to Serena's power, excellence and will. That completed a 7-5 first-set win in the women's doubles semis.

    Earlier this morning, Serena lost one game and required a minute and three seconds to beat Russia's Maria Sharapova, 6-0 and 6-1, for the singles gold.

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    1. Women's singles medals: United States gold, Russia silver, Belarus bronze.

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    2. Bob and Mike Bryan of Camarillo, Calif., meanwhile, won the men's doubles gold earlier today. Hurrah! France settles for silver--and also picks up bronze.

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    3. Roger Federer of Switzerland and Andy Murray of Great Britain play tomorrow for men's singles gold. Juan Martin del Potro of Argentina and Novak Djokovic of Serbia will vie for bronze.

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    4. Great Britain has advanced to tomorrow's match for mixed-doubles gold. Germany will play for bronze. Mike Bryan and Lisa Raymond of the United States are playing Victoria Azarenka and Mirinyi Max of Belarus to fill out the pairings. The Americans won the first set, 6-3.

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    5. The Williams sisters now lead Maria Kirilenko and Nadia Petrova of Russia, 4-3, in the second set of the women's doubles semi.

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    6. 5-4, Williamses ... no service breaks in this second set ...

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    7. "U! S! A!" rises from the stands--then quelled by official.

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    8. Williamses vs. the Czech Republic for women's doubles gold tomorrow morning Central.

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    9. Liezel Huber of Cypress, Texas, and Lisa Raymond of Norristown, Pa., will play Russia's Kirklenko and Petrova for bronze.

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    10. In mixed doubles, Bryan and Raymond lost to the pair from Belarus and will play a German duo Sunday for bronze.

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  12. Men's four rowing medals: Great Britain gold, Australia silver, United States bronze. Congratulations to the bronze winners, Charlie Cole of New Canaan, Conn.; Scott Gault of Piedmont, Calif.; Glenn Ochal of Philadelphia, and Henrik Rummel of Pittsford, N.Y.

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  13. Women's trampoline: Canada gold, China silver, China bronze.

    Women's doubles badminton: China gold, Japan silver, Russia bronze.

    Women's singles badminton: China gold, China gold, India bronze.

    Women's single sculls rowing: Czech Republic gold, Denmark silver, Australia bronze.

    Women's trap shooting: Italy gold, Slovakia silver, France bronze.

    Women's 50m freestyle swimming: Netherlands gold, Belarus silver, Netherlands bronze.
    Women's lightweight doubles sculls: Great Britain gold, China silver, Greece bronze.

    Men's lightweight doubles sculls: Denmark gold, Great Britain silver, New Zealand bronze.

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  14. Women's team-pursuit cycling (sorry I missed this): Great Britain gold, United States silver, Canada bronze. Will have to find out the silver medalists later this evening, as I'm going into radio silence in preparation for tonight's episode of The Bob Costas Show!

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  15. Men's 20km walk: China gold, Guatemala silver, China bronze. (Yes, walk.) Erick Barrondo of San Cristóbal Verapaz brings home Guatemala's first medal of the games!

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  16. A few thoughts on the early stages of the evening NBC programming:

    -- If I was USA Beach Volleyball (or whatever USA Basketball's beach-volleyball equivalent is called), I'd try to hire Josh Harrellson away from the Houston Rockets.

    -- Watching Usain Bolt is a stone-cold delight. I loved how he appeared to be looking around the stadium as he pulled away in his heat tonight.

    -- If Mitt Romney ends up naming Jim Nantz as his running mate and they end up taking the White House (it's going to be very close!®), CBS should hire Tom Hammond to host the Masters.

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  17. HURRAH! STAND UP AND CHEER! The U.S. women wins their closing relay tonight, and that means Claire Donahue, the first Western Kentucky University athlete to represent the United States in an Olympics, is a gold-medal winner!

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    1. Women's 4x100 medley relay: United States gold, Australia silver, Japan bronze.

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  18. Women's 100m: Jamaica gold, United States silver, Jamaica bronze. Sherry-Ann Fraser-Pryce becomes the first-ever woman to twice win Olympic gold in the 100-meter dash.

    "I hope I made everyone at home proud," Carmelita Jeter, the silver-medal winner, says on NBC.

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    1. I misunderstood what they were saying on NBC about Fraser-Pryce ...

      NBCOlympics ‏@NBCOlympics
      Wow what a finish! With her win, Fraser-Pryce becomes the first woman to repeat in the 100m since American Gail Devers in 1992 & 1996.
      9:49 PM - 4 Aug 12

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    2. First medals for Jamaica in this Olympics.

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    3. Hooray for Carmelita Jeter of Torrance, Calif.

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  19. Replies
    1. Men's 4x100 medley relay: United States gold, Japan silver, Australia bronze.

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