The FIBA U19 World Cup

Since 1979, FIBA has hosted 17 iterations of the Under-19 World Championship.  The latest iteration took place last week in Lausanne, Switzerland.  The Americans won the title.  It was their ninth win in 17 tries, and their sixth in the last nine.  It was a pretty easy tournament for the Americans, who were challenged only by Canada.  Here are the scores from the knockout stage:

ROUND OF SIXTEEN:

New Zealand 99, China 86

Switzerland 86, France 79 (OT)

Canada 100, Mali 75

United States 140, Jordan 67

Slovenia 81, Argentina 80

Israel 86, Cameroon 82

Germany 92, Serbia 83

Australia 106, Dominican Republic 96

QUARTER-FINALS:

New Zealand 84, Switzerland 70

United States 108, Canada 102

Slovenia 79, Israel 55

Germany 80, Australia 67

SEMI-FINALS:

United States 120, New Zealand 64

Germany 84, Slovenia 72

FINAL:

United States 109, Germany 76

XI Olympic Winter Games, Sapporo 1972

The Internet Is Amazing™, really. I don't know how it took me this long, but I just came across Sports-Reference.com's Olympic Sports site. And I am disappointed to discover the following:

We are sorry to inform you that due to a change to our data licensing agreement we are shutting down our Olympic site sometime in the future..  

The providers of our dataset are working with another publisher to create an extensive site chronicling the history of the Olympic Movement. We will provide information here when that site is available. 

But I am heartened to read that was posted Dec. 16, 2016, so I'm hopeful plans changed or something.

In any event, for however long it is available, this site looks very good. I ran across it after being charmed by the floppy plastic "FINISH" sign and nearby traffic in the background of the following YouTube discovery:

Our new rings-head friends at Sports-Reference.com have an excellent and detailed report on this race, which begins thusly: "The cross-country relay was expected to be a close duel between defending Olympic Champion Norway and the reigning 1970 World Champion, the Soviet Union ..." Spoiler alert: Americans Tim Caldwell of Brattleboro, Vermont; Mike Gallagher of Yonkers, New York; Larry Martin of Glennallen, Alaska, and Mike Elliott of Durango, Colorado, finished 12th.

Here’s how the overall medal standings came out at Sapporo 1972:

1. Soviet Union 8 gold, 5 silver, 3 bronze

2. East Germany 4, 3, 7

3. Switzerland 4, 3, 3

4. Netherlands 4, 3, 2

5. United States 3, 2, 3

6. West Germany 3, 1, 1

7. Norway 2, 5, 5
8. Italy 2, 2, 1

9. Austria 1, 2, 2

10. Sweden 1, 1, 2

11. Japan 1, 1, 1

12. Czechoslovakia 1, 0, 2

13. Poland 1, 0, 0

14. Spain 1, 0, 0

15. Finland 0, 4, 1

16. France 0, 1, 2

17. Canada 0, 1, 0

And by the same sorting (golds, then silvers, then bronzes), here were the winners by sport at these games: alpine skiing, Switzerland; biathlon, Norway and Soviet Union; bobsleigh, West Germany; cross-country skiing, Soviet Union; figure skating, Soviet Union; ice hockey, Soviet Union; luge, East Germany; Nordic combined, East Germany; ski jumping, Japan, and speed skating, Netherlands.

But, of course, our old friends at Wikipedia note:

The advent of the state-sponsored "full-time amateur athlete" of the Eastern Bloc countries further eroded the ideology of the pure amateur, as it put the self-financed amateurs of the Western countries at a disadvantage. The Soviet Union entered teams of athletes who were all nominally students, soldiers, or working in a profession, but many of whom were in reality paid by the state to train on a full-time basis.[24] Nevertheless, the IOC held to the traditional rules regarding amateurism.

#SMH ... upon further review, congratulations, Switzerland.

Previous reports:

-- I Olympic Winter Games, Chamonix 1924
-- II Olympic Winter Games, Saint Moritz 1928
-- VIII Olympic Winter Games, Squaw Valley 1960
-- XII Olympic Winter Games, Innsbruck 1976 
-- XVII Olympic Winter Games, Lillehammer 1994
-- XXII Olympic Winter Games, Sochi 2014
-- XXIII Olympic Winter Games, Pyeongchang 2018

Oh, Kentucky

For example, one of the fights that bubble up at farmers markets is around rules (or lack thereof) regarding where vendors can source the produce that they sell. Adair County is, per (awesome) ColumbiaMagazine.com, apparently one of the hardliners on this point. Note the all caps and italics on "EXCLUSIVELY" in this report. (Fortunately for sweet-corn fans near Sano, etc., the king is a local.)

Everything about this fantastic story by Kristina Smith in Corbin's Times-Tribune fascinates me. Everything--the woman from Jackson County who was traveling through Switzerland, the hotel receptionist with whom she fell in love, his becoming a police officer, their coming back to Kentucky every year, his meeting a Laurel County sheriff's deputy at a Harley-Davidson dealer. EVERYTHING! (Note the all caps and italics.)

"Feedback from our families would indicate that the regimented selection offered under the federal guidelines, along with the austere portion sizes, have forced many families to pack lunches in order to achieve both the desired selection and portion sizes that their students need."

"The number one reason is Kentucky's stubborn insistence on redistributing far too much of its wealth from the areas with the most population and occupational activity to rural areas."

"If ever there was a compelling reason to secure education beyond high school, this report says it all."

Per Tracys at WKU and William and Mary, Kentucky spends the same amount on gifted education that it did in 1990.

Jails are jammed around central Kentucky.

Low unemployment among Kentucky's 120 counties: Boone. High: Jackson.

Good jobs news from Bowling Green and Hopkinsville.

I totally understand the folks in Pike County who are anxious to drive the new U.S. 460. Before I-24 opened all the way through western Kentucky, Dad a few times got out and drove it in the wee hours of the morning before the work crews were on site. It was fun.

The Ky. 214 ferry barge over the Cumberland River in Monroe County is not yet back in business.

The 1991 Class 3A and 2008 Class 4A KHSAA football champs are getting ready.

Rest in peace, Wallace Clayton "Wah Wah" Jones (1926-2014), Harlan native, former Fayette County sheriff and All-American under both Bear Bryant and Adolph Rupp at UK.

World Cup Update -- 9 Games to Go

Again, no time to do full team lists.  Two pretty boring games tomorrow unless you are a fan of one of the teams.  The Brits will give you odds of 2 to 9 that Argentina will get past Switzerland, and they will give you odds of 4 to 9 that Belgium will take out the USA.  So two more big favorites tomorrow.

Here's the tale of the tape for the four competitors:

ARGENTINA:
Population:  41.7 million
2014 GDP (est.):  $404.5 billion (29th)
Per capita GDP:  $9,640
Fun Fact:  Argentina's name comes from a legendary treasury of silver thought to be hidden in the mountains of South America.

SWITZERLAND:
Population:  8.0 million
2014 GDP (est.):  $693.5 billion (20th)
Per capita GDP:  $86,145 (4th)
Fun Fact:  Perhaps the most famous line in English about Switzerland is from Orson Wells's character in The Third Man:  "You know what the fellow said – in Italy, for thirty years under the Borgias, they had warfare, terror, murder and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and the Renaissance.  In Switzerland, they had brotherly love, they had five hundred years of democracy and peace – and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock."  While the rest of the movie was written by Graham Greene, that line was written by Wells himself.

BELGIUM:
Population:  11.1 million (76th)
2014 GDP (est.):   $534.8 billion (23d)
Per capita GDP:  $47,787 (17th)
Fun Fact:  Officially, the British entered World War I because they were defending the neutrality of Belgium, just as they had promised in a treaty of 1831.  Belgium had been invaded by Germany because that was the fastest way for German troops to reach Paris.  (This fact isn't really "fun," but it is interesting.)

UNITED STATES:
Population:  318.3 million (3d)
2014 GDP (est.):  $17.5 trillion (1st)
Per capita GDP:  $54,980 (9th)
Fun Fact:  The United States currently holds the Olympic Gold Medal in men's and women's basketball, the Olympic Silver Medal in women's hockey, the Curtis Cup in women's amateur golf, the President's Cup in men's professional golf, the Olympic Gold and Silver medals in the decathlon, and the Olympic Gold Medal in Ladies' Gymnastics.  But we stink at curling.

XXII Olympic Winter Games, Sochi 2014 (Day 8)

Medals table:

1. Germany 7 gold, 3 silver, 2 bronze

Five of the Germans' 12 overall medals and four of their golds have come in the luge. Otherwise, Germany has scored a couple of medals in alpine skiing and one each in biathlon, cross-country skiing, figure skating, Nordic combined and ski jumping.

2. Switzerland 5, 1, 1

A couple of golds each in alpine and cross-country skiing and one in snowboarding have Switzerland on track for its best-ever Olympic Winter Games medals-table performance. The Swiss have also earned a silver in biathlon and a bronze in alpine skiing.

3. Canada 4, 5, 2

Freestyle skiing has been Canada's area of dominance: three gold, two silver and one bronze. The other Canadian gold was in short-track skating. There also have been a couple of silvers in figure skating and one in speed skating and a bronze in snowboard.

4. Netherlands 4, 3, 6

The Dutch have a bronze in short track skating. Other than that, it has been a lackluster Olympics for the Netherlands … oh, except the speed skaters have four gold, three silver and five bronze.

4. Norway 4, 3, 6

Cross-country skiing is the Norwegians' thing: three gold, one silver, three bronze. The biathlon (cross-country skiing with guns) has yielded a gold and silver, too, for Norway. Otherwise, there's a silver in snowboard and a bronze each in alpine skiing (cross-country skiing, only the country is sloped downward), Nordic combined (cross-country skiing, plus ski jumping) and ski jumping.

4. United States 4, 3, 6

Five of Team USA's medals (including one of the golds) have been in freestyle skiing; four (including the other three golds) have been in snowboarding. The other medals have come in skeleton (silver), alpine skiing (bronze), figure skating (bronze) and luge (bronze).

7. Russian Federation 3, 6, 5

Good medal distribution for the home team: three (and two gold) in figure skating, three (and one gold) in short track, two in biathlon, two in luge, two in speed skating, one in freestyle skiing and one in skeleton.

8. China 3, 2, 0

The Chinese have scored two gold medals and a silver in short track, a gold in speed skating and a silver in freestyle skiing.

9. Belarus 3, 0, 1

Belarus has two golds and a bronze in biathlon and a gold in freestyle skiing. Surely, Darya Domracheva--who has two golds in her two biathlon events so far in Sochi, with two to go--must be a national sports hero.

10. Austria 2, 4, 1

Four of the medals (two gold, a silver and a bronze) have come in alpine skiing, and then the Austrians have a silver each in biathlon, luge and ski jumping.

11. France 2, 0, 2
12. Poland 2, 0, 0
13. Sweden 1, 5, 2
14. Japan 1, 2, 1
15. Slovenia 1, 1, 2
16. South Korea 1, 0, 1
17. Great Britain 1, 0, 1
18. Slovakia 1, 0, 0
19. Italy 0, 2, 3
20. Czech Republic 0, 2, 1
21. Finland 0, 2, 0
21. Australia 0, 1, 1
21. Croatia 0, 1, 0
24. Latvia 0, 0, 2

25. Kazakhstan 0, 0, 1
25. Ukraine 0, 0, 1

Previous reports:

-- XXII Olympic Winter Games, Sochi 2014 (Day 7);
-- XXII Olympic Winter Games, Sochi 2014 (Day 6);

-- XXII Olympic Winter Games, Sochi 2014 (Day 5);

-- XXII Olympic Winter Games, Sochi 2014 (Day 4);

-- XXII Olympic Winter Games, Sochi 2014 (Day 3);

-- XXII Olympic Winter Games, Sochi 2014 (Day 2);

-- XXII Olympic Winter Games, Sochi 2014 (Day 1);

-- XXII Olympic Winter Games, Sochi 2014 (Day 0);

-- XXII Olympic Winter Games, Sochi 2014 (Day a);

-- XII Olympic Winter Games, Innsbruck 1976;

-- II Olympic Winter Games, Saint Moritz 1928, and

-- I Olympic Winter Games, Chamonix 1924.

XXII Olympic Winter Games, Sochi 2014 (Day 7)

The Swiss have stirred this morning to seize the first two gold medals awarded today. In the men's 15-kilometer classic race, Dario Cologna, a 27-year-old from Santa Maria Val Müstair, scored his second gold of the Sochi Games and third in his Olympic career in cross-country skiing. And now, in men's super combined alpine skiing, Sandro Viletta, a 28-year-old from Graubünden, rallied in the slalom for gold. This has put Switzerland in position for its most decorated Olympic Winter Games ever. The previous best performance on the medals table for the Swiss was third at Saint Moritz 1948, Sapporo 1972 and Calgary 1988.

Medals table:

1. Germany 7 gold, 2 silver, 1 bronze

2. Switzerland 5, 0, 1

3. Canada 4, 4, 2

3. Norway 4, 3, 6

3. Netherlands 4, 3, 5

3. United States 4, 2, 6

7. Russian Federation 2, 5, 4

8. China 2, 1, 0

9. France 2, 0, 2

10. Poland 2, 0, 0

11. Austria 1, 4, 0

12. Slovenia 1, 1, 2

13. South Korea 1, 0, 1

14. Belarus 1, 0, 0

14. Slovakia 1, 0, 0

16. Sweden 0, 5, 2

17. Italy 0, 2, 2

18. Czech Republic 0, 2, 1

18. Japan 0, 2, 1

20. Australia 0, 1, 0
20. Croatia 0, 1, 0

20. Finland 0, 1, 0

23. Latvia 0, 0, 2

24. Great Britain 0, 0, 1

24. Ukraine 0, 0, 1

Previous reports:

-- XXII Olympic Winter Games, Sochi 2014 (Day 6);

-- XXII Olympic Winter Games, Sochi 2014 (Day 5);

-- XXII Olympic Winter Games, Sochi 2014 (Day 4);

-- XXII Olympic Winter Games, Sochi 2014 (Day 3);

-- XXII Olympic Winter Games, Sochi 2014 (Day 2);

-- XXII Olympic Winter Games, Sochi 2014 (Day 1);

-- XXII Olympic Winter Games, Sochi 2014 (Day 0);

-- XXII Olympic Winter Games, Sochi 2014 (Day a);

-- XII Olympic Winter Games, Innsbruck 1976;

-- II Olympic Winter Games, Saint Moritz 1928, and

-- I Olympic Winter Games, Chamonix 1924.