Tag Archives: Silver

USA Still Golden

13 Aug

The Olympics have come to an end. And although I will not miss my daily does of water polo and Subways constant avocado promotions, I am sad to seem them go. The Olympics remind us of how truly amazing the human body is and what we can overcome to achieve. And what better way to pump up our egos than celebrating the fact that the US took home more gold medals than any other country. So let’s take a moment and enjoy our gold before we are forced to hand it over to China.

  1. United States, 104 (46 gold, 29 silver, 29 bronze)
  2. China, 87 (38, 27, 22)
  3. Russia, 82 (24, 25, 33)
  4. Great Britain, 65 (29, 17, 19)
  5. Germany, 44 (11, 19, 14)

    -M

What’s With All the Groin Punching?

10 Aug

This Olympics in basketball may inspire future Olympians to invest in some serious groin armor. First it was Team USA’s Carmelo Anthony who was struck in the groin during a jump shot by Argentina’s Pablo Campazzo. More recently French player Nicolas Batum punched Spain’s Juan Carlos Navarro in the groin on Wednesday. The move was a calculated foul by France who wanted to regain control of the ball with only 23 seconds left in the game. There was also speculation that France thought Spain had lost a previous game just to avoid playing Team USA.

Despite the painful foul Spain beat France, 66-59. Then today Spain went on to beat Russia, 67-59. Now Spain, the defending silver medal winners, will go on to play Team USA on Sunday. Team USA will play Argentina today to secure their gold medal spot for Sunday. But I think we all know how that game will turn out.

-M

The Greatest Athletes in the World

9 Aug

While Usain Bolt was prancing around proclaiming himself to be the best athlete in the world . . . Ashton Eaton and Trey Hardee were busy getting medals for actually being the world’s greatest athletes. For the first time in 56 years the US has won gold and silver in the decathlon. Eaton took home the gold with 8,869 points. Hardee (one of the hottest Olympians) finished second with 8,671 points. The points are accumulated over 10 events over two days. The events include: 100 meters, long jump, shot put, high jump, 400 meters, 110 meter hurdles, discus throw, pole vault, javelin throw, and 1500 meters.
This is the first medal for 24-year old Eaton who got the Olympic record in the trials with a score of 9,039 points. Hardee was more than happy to get silver after fouling out in the pole vault in Beijing. It was a truly great accomplishment for both men.

-M

 

 

Beware the Media Beast Might Bite You

9 Aug

We all know in today’s media centric world it is easy to go from everyone’s favorite to everyone’s least favorite. It is especially easy if you don’t live up to their expectations. Lolo Jones has been feeding the media beast ever since her sit down interview where she revealed she’s a 30-year old virgin. It didn’t take long for the media to follow her every move. But putting yourself in the spotlight has it pitfalls. Jones failed to medal in Tuesday’s 100-meter hurdles. Two days before the competition even started the New York Times was comparing her to Anna Kournikova saying she was known for her looks and not her talent.

I have to admit I am constantly annoyed at female sports celebrities like Nascar’s Dana Kilpatrick who gets more coverage than equally talented male counterparts just for having boobs. The over coverage of Jones, who finished 7th in the 2008 Beijing Olympics, seemed a little crazy. I mean should we really be interested in someone because they are a hot virgin?

Although I am sad that Jones is experiencing this downfall in the media. I kind of think you bring it on yourself. I mean how many sponsorship deals did Jones get for making herself into a celebrity. I definitely saw way more of Jones in the lead up to London than fellow American hurdlers- Dawn Harper and Kellie Wells. Harper won silver in the 100-meter hurdles and Wells won bronze. And despite that the media is still talking about Jones. Wells even revealed her troubling past about being raped by her mother’s boyfriend who was later killed in a car accident along with Wells’ mother and the media still didn’t latch on. I guess a 30-year old virgin is more interesting than a girl who overcame rape to go to the Olympics.

-M

 

 

 

You Would Cry Too

6 Aug

I know that everyone in the world knows now that USA gymnast McKayla Maroney failed to get the gold medal on the vault despite being the best in the world. On her second vault Maroney landed on her butt. She lost the gold medal to Sandra Raluca Izbasa of Romania. But still ended up with silver. After which Maroney was noticeably not happy. When Izbasa went to hug her Maroney looked like it was causing her physical pain. At age 16 Maroney failed to in the eyes of many to lose with grace. In every photo of the event she either looks upsets or very confused.

I think we can all imagine the frustration. Knowing that you are the best at something but when the moment comes instead of rising you literally fall on your ass. Not only that but studies have shown that bronze medal winners are happier than silver medalist. There is something about coming so close to gold only to end up with silver that overshadows the accomplishment.

NPR reported what researchers discovered when comparing bronze and silver medalist, “The psychologists guessed it was because silver medal-winners compare themselves to the athletes who won gold and feel they came up short. By contrast, bronze medal-winners seem to unconsciously compare themselves to people who didn’t win a medal at all.” (http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetorch/2012/08/03/157835076/would-you-rather-win-silver-or-bronze-be-careful-what-you-wish-for)

So there you have it. Regardless of age you would probably cry too if you were Maroney. You can watch her vault below.

-M

White Men Can Run

4 Aug

I have to admit when the 10,000(6 miles for us Americans) meters race started I was doubtful that USA’s Galen Rupp had a chance in hell. In a reverse racist move on my part, I was thinking really USA we are running a white dude. But shockingly Rupp came in second behind his British training partner Mo Farah. It was beautiful moment to watch Farah win for Great Britain. Farah ran the 25 lap race in 27 minutes and 30.42 seconds. To give you some perspective it would take me about an hour to run 6 miles.

For the US Rupp he brought home the first medal in the race since 1964 when Billy Mills won gold. If only NBC had interviewed him right after instead of cutting away to beach volleyball. Finishing with the bronze was Tariku Bekele of Ethiopia.

So there you have it, I should have never doubted Rupp.

-M