Archive | 12:35 pm

Poor Jordyn Wieber

29 Jul

I think it is easy to forget how much pressure Olympic athletes are under. The story of 17 year-old Jordyn Wieber is the perfect example of this. She came in as an Olympic favorite and the new face of USA gymnastics. Wieber is the reigning all-around world champion and was expected to easily move onto the Olympic all-around finals. But alas she failed to get a high enough score to move on. In fact it was the lowest score she had ever gotten.  And she was beaten by her BFF and roommate Aly Raisman. Raisman came in first with a score of 60.391 points, right behind her was Gabby Douglas with 0.126 less, and lastly Wieber scored  0.359 points behind. It is crazy when you think she just lost out by 0.359 points. But there can only be two finalist from each country.

Now she must pull it together to participate for team gold. Losses like this are truly devastating to athletes who depend on winning to make money from sponsors. Just look at Michael Phelps. Subway wouldn’t want to be in business with him if he were the second place finisher.

-M

 

 

Shocker: USA beats France in Basketball

29 Jul

For those of you up early enough to watch Team USA kick Tony Parker’s France’s ass in basketball, it was an okay game. USA won the game, 98-71. France was seen a more viable competitor because of Tony Parker’s presence but alas it wasn’t enough to move past the Dream Team Status Quo Team. In his first appearance at the Olympics Kevin Durant was the star. Durant scored 22 points and had 9 rebounds. Despite the star power it was a clumsy game with 14 turnovers and 26 fouls. Team USA has one big advantage- the best bench ever. When your bench players are Anthony Davis you know you are in a good place.

Durant was definitely more motivated since his loss with the Oklahoma City Thunder in the NBA Finals. LeBron James finished the game with 9 points, 8 assists, and 4 rebounds. Although James’ stats don’t sound amazing . . . he did only play for 24 minutes.

France was lucky to even have Parker who almost missed the game after the Chris Brown glass in the eye incident. To protect his eyes Parker was forced to sport some nerd chic goggles. Parker not only had to go through eye surgery but also was confined to a hotel room for a week so that probably affected his game.

The highlight of the game for some was the hug and pat on the back from First Lady Michelle Obama. The next game Team USA plays is against Tunisia(it’s in the northern part of Africa) on Tuesday.

-M