https://goo.gl/e1prDF
Did everyone see the women’s swimming, in which Aurelie Muller was disqualified for climbing over Rachele Bruni. Really, it’s amazing that kind of thing doesn’t happen more often, though I guess it’s rare after 10km that two people are involved in a dash for the line.
Haile Gebreselassie was punched in the head once – it actually increases his momentum.
In the UK, we’re watching a piece with Jack Burnell, GB’s entrant in the marathon swimming – he’s a very impressive chap, and in with a genuine shot of gold, apparently.
“Does upstaging have to be Olympic?” asks Luke Richardson. “I offer Graham Dilley’s 2nd inns 50 at Headingley 1981, upstaging (and inspiring) Beefy.”
“I only moved to the ‘better side of the Atlantic’ from Canada a little less than four years ago,” emails Hubert O’Hearn, “so these are the first Olympics i have watched from a British and BBC perspective. To summarise the experience: I know BBC takes a lot of stick, but compared to what North America offers, this coverage is brilliant, mesmerising. What a joy to actually stick with an event to conclusion rather than hopping all over Olympic Park. British athletes are of course the focus, yet all winners are honoured and celebrated. I admire all the presenters (even John Inverdale?) I admire most of the presenters, although my late nights are emptier now that they aren’t filled with swimming’s Richard and Judy – Becky Adlington and Mark Foster. Oh, and I want Brendan Foster’s voice. God Bless the License Fee!”
Heh – I do love the BBC, though don’t think this has been their greatest effort. The star, in mine, is Mike Costello on the radio – he does athletics and boxing, and is easily the best commentator un the UK, I’d say. Check him here:
“The glory run again for Mo Farah!”
Spine-tingling #Olympics commentary.
Our team got excited on that final lap: https://t.co/oAIJ4fWSdg
— BBC 5 live Sport (@5liveSport) August 14, 2016
Are we all agreed that Wade van Niekerk’s performance was the best of the Games so far, yes? Do we think that Games takes a capital G?
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Oh, and back to Bolt, he’ll be on the track this afternoon for round 1 of the 200m. That’s at 11.50 local time. I think he might qualify.
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“Here in Sweden there is no coverage on the public service channels,” emails Olivia Skjöld. “There has been some discussion about it, since the leader of the Left party couldn’t watch Sarah Sjöström’s swimming in his summer cabin a week ago, and went out publicly and demanded change. But the Olympics are deemed too expensive for the public broadcasting company… At least last winter Olympics (same situation then) it made for some very peculiar viewing, when they had never ending shows about the skiing, but weren’t allowed to show any moving pictures at all… I haven’t watched those shows this year, though.
In fairness I think most swedes do have at least some of the premium channels that are broadcasting the games. I’ve been going over to my parents house a couple of evenings instead… I especially liked the team fencing. Russia coming up from behind on France in the foil event was great drama!”
That leader of the left, what a man of the people!
Something which occurred to me the other night: on two of Usain Bolt’s biggest nights – winning the 200m in London, and winning the 100m in Rio – he was upstaged by world records arguably even more staggering than any of his. Rudisha in the 800m in London and Wade van Niekerk in the 400m in Rio.
Any other classic upstagings?
Meanwhile, Ashley Redfearn emails about watching the Olympics in Portugal: “We’re visiting family in Portugal and it’s been incredibly frustrating watching the Olympics. We’ve one state broadcaster who do not have back to back coverage so it’s often interrupted with an hour’s news update or an episode of ‘The Price is Right’
Although such sports are supposedly popular here, we’re subjected to long coverage of handball matches – group stages – which do not even involve the national team. The commentators are based in a studio in Lisbon which means there isn’t the same ‘live experience’ you get with the BBC.
All round, quite frustrating – and quite a few Portuguese agree!”
Who doesn’t love the Price is Right? Provided it’s the Leslie Crowther version.
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“Laura Trott looked imperious in the opening three events of the Omnium yesterday,” emails Sam Trott. “What astounds me is that she seems to be the best in the field at both endurance riding and sprinting. We know that she is a specialist in the long, sustained, streamlined effort of the pursuit (having already won gold in the team pursuit); and sure enough she came first out of the 18 riders in that leg of the Omnium. She also won the elimination race, a sustained effort ramping up every two laps for a sprint. AND, she won the bunch sprint at the end of the points race to take second place (behind a rider who had already taken a lap over the field). Which other athletes, in any sport, consistently come out on top in disciplines with such different demands?”
Yes, agreed – I was lucky enough to be on the blog for that, and these ease with which she destroyed the field in that elimination race was awesome and bizarre.
It’s tricky to find a similar kind of all-rounder because not much demands as much as the omnium. David Rudisha – with whom you can read an interview here, and he really is exactly as he seems – has the sprint finish but decided to become a frontrunner as less can go wrong; Gary Sobers bowled in three different styles and was an incredible batsman and fielder ; there’s that football cliche, “if they wanted to fight, we’d beat them at that, if they wanted to play football, we’d beat them at that” – the first team I remember it being said of was Manchester United 93/94, but I recently heard Thierry Henry say it of France 2000; Georges Saint-Pierre and Jon Jones have outwrestled and outstruck pretty much everyone, without getting submitted; any more for any more?
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So, we have got:
9am – men’s 10km swin
9.08am – men’s canoe single 100m final
9.23am – women’s kayak double 500m final
9.30am – women’s 5,000m track, round 1
9.47am – women’s kayak single 200m final
9.50 – men’s triple jump final
Let’s leave it that – it’s the first hour of competition this morning, which begins at 1pm BST.
I literally do not know where to start with précising all that’s coming up, all the more so given my fascination with the word I’ve just learnt. So, what words have you learnt recently?
And, now that I’m about to start précising, was my “literally” above hyperbolic nonsense, or have circumstances just changed? As Willy Wonka once said: “So much time and so little to do. Wait a minute. Strike that. Reverse it. Thank you.”
Bon dia para todos. We have a quite absurd amount of live, elite sport to enjoy in this next little bit, so let’s get on with enjoying it.
Any thoughts or comments, please do send them to daniel.harris.casual@theguardian.com or @DanielHarris.
And that, my friends, is me. Thanks for your smashing company through the graveyard shift. It’s 8am in Rio now, which is time for Daniel Harris to walk out the middle and do what he does best. Remember to keep your Everything You Need tab open, and have an excellent day 11. See you tomorrow.
This is excellent. If you want to understand how wrestling world in the Olympics, as opposed the type where Donald Trump is in the hall of fame. Honestly, what a world. Anyway, check it out. As noted below, we have a couple of Greco Roman finals later on (68kg and 98kg). And they play for keeps.
Here are the things I am looking forward to today. Just my own preferences. I’m sure there’ll be plenty of other great stuff.
- Women’s 1500m final. Sure, it isn’t till 2:30am if tuning in from London, but the blue riband events are worth it. World champ 25-year-old Ethiopian Genzebe Dibaba goes in fave, as World Champ. Commonwealth Games winner, Kenyan Chepngetich Kipyegon, her main competition.
- Cycling track finals. Laura Trott is going to bliiiitz it in to win the omnium. I’m not even putting in a caveat. And her husband-to-be Jason Kenny can stitch up the men’s keirin a touch over an hour later. They’re on in prime time for Brits.
- This afternoon (1pm London) is the men’s marathon swim, the 10km. Third time up. Tunisian Oussama Mellouli won in the Serpentine last time around. This time, it’s at the Copa, Copa Copacobana. American Jordan Wilimovsky is the one the smart people fancy.
- Wrestling! Greco Roman Wrestling. More on that in a tic with a nice little explainer for you. Flick between the velodrome and this to catch the men’s 98kg div medal rounds. Armenian Artur Aleksanyan picked up bronze in London and has a couple of world champs since then. Iranian veteran Ghasem Rezaei won in London and he’s there too. Let’s hope they meet for gold.
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Last bit of this coverage topic before I start to throw us on forward to day 11. The sun is through in Rio, twitter suggests. Good signs.
Roger Kirby has some perspective on the whole topic:
“You ask us to tell you about watching these games on tv but what about Olympics pre Internet? Depending on time zone you might have had to wait 2 days to find out results of certain events not covered on tv by buying a newspaper, your only reference was the Guinness book of records and apart from the big events, you only saw the event once, if you missed it, you had missed it forever. The difference is so vast, how far we have come in 20 years is truly amazing.”
Poses an interesting question about how we gather to watch events. Is it a more meaningful experience going through it together in places like this and social media? Or are we missing a trick by not having to be somewhere at a certain time to emphasise the importance of what we’re tuning in for? Take that as a comment, like I said, forward looking from now.
Oh, and Polly – a Londoner in Australia – says nice things about the blog like “very funny” and “highly informative” (presumably in reference to Claire) before thinking about having a crack at the Australian TV but holding back. A piece on that from last week, via Russell Jackson.
Shifting gears. Here’s a piece from Dvora Meyers looking into the differences between men’s and women’s gymnastics in the context of the American fellas and their struggles at the Rio Games so far. Quite interesting, to those (like me, to be fair) who follow the sport once an Olympiad.
The mistake that Armour and many others have made is assuming that men’s and women’s gymnastics are directly comparable, when they’re barely the same sport. The men compete in six events, the women in four. There is only direct overlap on two apparatuses – the vault and the floor exercise – though in the latter, the women have dance requirements in addition to the tumbling. The uneven bars is similar to the high bar though not exactly the same, and the women don’t perform on any apparatuses like the pommel horse or rings.
Fair bit of feedback below the line on where GB might medal (it’s a verb now, I know, I hate it too) by week’s end. To collate:
- A sailing gold later today gets added on via Giles Scott
- Brownlee brothers in the triathlon on Thursday
- Nicola Adams in the flyweight boxing; her quarter final is tonight
- Modern pentathlon (good shout, GB always win this)
- Tom Daley…
- Mo’s 5000m defence
That’ll do for now.
Meanwhile, Gavin Coyle caught the London 2012 Games in Finland.
“We got exhaustive coverage of the javelin with each throw and warm up examined in intricate detail. As this took place at the same time as Mo Farah’s 5,000m final the only way we could work out what was going on was through brief hints as the runners went past in the background of a huge shouldered man preparing to throw. Also learned from the opening ceremony that Mr Bean is much more popular than the Queen and James Bond in downtown Espoo.”
Actually maybe another GB medal hope for later in the week? Sorry.
Team GB moved to second on the medals tally overnight, passing China. Remember this time last week when it was all “oh, this is a bloody mess / why can’t it be like London 2012 again!?”. I do. Anyway, if you’re British, you have plenty to be pleased about.
Jon Short, though, wants to know if this is sustainable. Principally, where the medals come from next?
“The news has been full of the fact that GB are ahead, in the medal table and total medals won, of where we were in 2012 – but where are the rest of the medals coming from in the last few days? Can you give us a run down on which GB athletes are in with a shout of medalling before the final ceremony?”
Well, what I do know is that Jason Kenny and Laura Trott – engaged to be married next year – are every chance of picking up a gold each tonight within 70 minutes of each other in the velo. Becky James and Katy Marchant could go 1-2 in the women’s sprint as well. So don’t get greedy. I say this as an Australian. We stopped winning medals (full stop) a couple of days ago.
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How do you watch your Olympics? It came up earlier when we given given a day in the life of the French broadcast. Tomi Málits has written in to tell me how they do it in Hungary:
“I thought I get in touch with you about my country, although presumably nobody really cares about our Olympic coverage, but you asked for it, so you might find it interesting.”
Tomi, mate, I care. I live for this.
“I am watching the Games on our two public media channels. The events with Hungarian athletes obviously have the greatest importance, and sometimes we miss spectacular live events to see Katinka Hosszú’s swimming world record and gold medals for the 228th time (a great achievement even on the 228th watch, but still, I would rather have watched the tennis final or cycling action – the final stage of the men’s road race was broadcast hours later).”
Clearly a global affliction.
“But the biggest letdown is that although they are sports channels, they are still public media, so the coverage is interrupted every half hour with the so-called “One Minute News”, with the usual topics of terrorism, migrant crisis, politics. Oh, and in at least every hour we are reminded that on 2 October Hungary will have a referendum about the EU’s compulsory migrant quotas, and that since the start of the migrant crisis, more than 300 people in Europe died in terror attacks. What’s that, if not true Olympic spirit?”
Fascinating. Keep ‘em coming. Maybe you were watching in Kenya as Rudisha went back to back? Or the Bahamas as Shaunae Miller launched herself over the line? You know the drill: Adam.Collins.Freelance@theguardian.com / @collinsadam.
Great coverage on the Olympics. Thank you very much. They’re the words of Alex Loucaides, and we thank them for it. And he come with a theory:
“I happened to be mulling the adage that TeamGB are traditionally good at sitting down. Clearly they still are with the fantastic results in cycling, rowing, sailing and horse antics.
However, I’ve noticed a new trend. We seem to have become very good at spinning around too. Obviously this started with the diving but has progressed to gymnastics and trampolining. What particularly caught my attention and made me think this is a trend was the stunning result by Sophie Hitchon in the hammer.
It can’t just be coincidence, surely?”
This feels pretty on point, as I think the kids say. Given I reached another year into my fourth decade yesterday, I feel comfortable with phrases like “as they kids say.” I also feel comfortable linking to Kylie Minogue to act as a theme to your hypothesis. Or if you prefer, how it was used in this scene. Probably better.
Okay, the below video doesn’t include the best punchlines. But you get the gist. It seems they have taken it down from youtube, which is a crime against comedy.
Also very amusing is the Claire Phipps daily briefing. This is really good stuff. If you want to know what happened on day ten, it’ll be here. What to watch for on day 11, it’ll be here as well. Lobs into your inbox at 7am each morning (London time). You won’t regret signing up.
I like it when the high-hurdles start because it is a timely reminder about the dimensions of a running track. No better illustrated than in this clip from the genius 1999-2000 series The Games. “How long is the 100 metres track?”
Bit of housekeeping. Make sure you have the medals and results tab open all day and all night. It’s a title that undersells the product somewhat, for mine. It basically ensures you don’t miss anything. Maybe that’s what it should have been called: The Don’t Miss Anything? Next time. Anyway, it’s essential.
While we were sleeping here in London David Rudisha did something very special, defending his 800m crown from 2012; the first Kenyan to win the same event twice. He had to turn it on in that second lap, too. A special moment from the stadium, documented for us by Sean Ingle.
It was the night before the Olympic 800m final, and the world’s greatest middle distance runner had a message for his nation. After three years of frustration and only occasional elation following keyhole surgery on a serious knee injury, that old unmistakable tingle had returned. And he was ready to show it.
And some lovely words on this topic from reader Tom Cameron about the lot in life of the 800 metre runner:
“Is the 800m the most gut wrenching of the track events? It surely is. I can recall meeting a nice fella who was the Australian 800 meter champion back circa 1996. He was the strapping boyfriend of a mate’s sister who I rowed first crew with back at Ballarat Grammar – so it goes. Anyway I’ve long forgotten his name but I remember him telling me success in the 800 meters is really about “the deep dig” because it’s quite simply just flat out, all the way round, two laps. The 800 is rare in that sense isn’t it. It’s all turbo but you have to reach right down into the bowels of human fortitude to find it, especially in that second lap. Hope that now middle ageing champion is doing well anyway, and watching Rio in happy comfort. They’re quite something those 800 metre specialists.”
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You know how I asked for your thoughts earlier? Reader Simon Darvill sent me four long paragraphs of them about watching the Olympics on TV in France. This is precisely what I’m talking about.
Here’s his (edited!) story:
“Up until 2012, the BBC was the only place I had ever watched the Olympics. I watched the London Olympics on TV in the USA and it has to be my single most disappointing sports viewing experience ever. Now I live in France and I have to say that I am rather taken by the way the French cover the Olympics on TV.”
Wall to wall coverage from getting up to going to bed, one never has to be without the Olympics. I have watched events I never even knew existed – the 25m rapid fire pistol final was gripping. And ones that I did, fencing, but had never watched – who knew you could do it as a team.
And don’t let anyone ever tell you that the French hate the British. They may call the athletes competing “l’anglais” most of the time (although they did call Andy Murray “l’escosse”) but they seemed to be genuinely happy when a British competitor wins, especially in the cycling, really caring about how “le Cav” was doing. They have seemed to be happy when Murray won the tennis, Rose won the Golf and Sir Bradley Wiggins (as they insist on calling him) won his gold. And we got a bi-lingiual interview with Mo Farrah after his win on Sunday morning, which he rather sweetly ended in French.
Right, I’m off to see how they have reacted to winning silver in the Mens Pole Vault and see what todays Brazilian “cooking with the presenters” recipe is (hey, its France).”
Where are you tuning in from? Tell me about your experience. Unless it’s to complain about Australia/US TV – we’re quite across those shortcomings.
Team GB’s sole gold on day ten came in the individual dressage (or horse dancing, as people now prefer). For Charlotte Dujardin that means… Back-to-Back! Back-to-Back!
Petter Higginson on this topic: “Don’t you find the Equestrian Dressage is the most mystical piece of judging since Solomon had to discern something about whose baby belonged to whom?” I feel as qualified to comment as [insert line about Donald Trump].
Here’s Barney Ronay’s bit, from the Equestrian Centre:
For Dujardin the result is the culmination of four years of transformative dressage during which she has raised the bar for the sport and confirmed her status as its great innovator and current all-round superstar. Valegro will now retire, severing a career-long partnership.
They will talk about this one for a while. Whether it was an intentional dive for the line or just a timely tumble, Bahamas’ Shaunae Miller will always be known for the result of it: a gold medal in the 400m. Knocking off Allyson Felix – a legit superstar of the sport – at the last available moment. Helluva thing. Here’s Les Carpenter from the stadium.
All she knew was that she had run the race of her life, the 400m at a blazing, beautiful pace and now she was staring at the stadium lights unsure what to think, just wanting lie of the cool wet track because she had no energy left. Then she heard her mother screaming from the stands. “Get up! Get up!” And this was how Shaunae Miller learned she had won Olympic gold. Later, there would be time for the details.
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Back to the, you know, sport. Mark Cavendish won a bloody medal last night! But… I think he subscribes to the old Nike commercial of the 1996 Games: ‘you don’t win silver, you lose gold’. Here’s Owen Gibson on his moodiness.
After Cavendish was left out of the victorious team pursuit quartet that delivered Wiggins his fifth gold, the Manxman suggested he had been frozen out. Now, he said, he was “super happy” for them. Yet even here in his moment of Olympic redemption, as the BBC asked him to hold on a minute before coming to air, he quipped: “You’d be straight on for Brad, wouldn’t you?”
Gotta say, I don’t mind it when athletes express disappointment at not winning. If these things didn’t hurt when they don’t work it, it wouldn’t make the elation as acute when they do. Or something like that.
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I slipped a cheeky Andrew WK reference into an early post, and he’s just retweeted the blog. So if you’re reading, you wonderful human, I hope you’re partying hard wherever you are.
Meanwhile… no brazilians in Rio. How the UK cyclists solved their saddle problems. Or had it solved for them. You can’t make this stuff up.
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Probably the best bit of my day when the photo gallery of the day before comes online. I’ve said it all before, but what an utter treat Olympic photography is. Enjoy.
Another day, another Olympics marriage proposal. Just what it says on the tin. Some people started kicking off about it the other day. All there in Elle Hunt’s story. Got a strong view? Hit me with it. My take: I liked it better when the it was fashionable to use sky-writers for these things. And what happened to sky-writing as an artform? I feel like it was a really big deal when I was a kid. These are thoughts that legitimately go through my head on a daily basis.
Here’s a video of Kiribati patriot David Katoatau’s dancing routine (sadly, for UK eyes only). What a ripper.
Peter Higginson has some views. He’s shared them with me on the email. You can too.
He says: “Early in the morning I know, but is it worth considering what the Olympics would be without precision clocks?”
Okay, I’m listening…
“The margins necessary to win are recorded in tenths and hundreds of seconds, which are time-scales a human being can’t actually live by- we guesstimate time by chunks of which a few seconds is the best we can guess. But the Olympics has a machine-like quality of measurement in micro-seconds which seems to make the achievements quite alien to normal people and closer to the realms of science than the art of life. Though the British successes are compelling, I can’t help feeling the margins of victory make the athletes untouchable, like global icons of machine-time (Jason Kenny) rather than estimable artists of the human past like Cassius Clay.”
Out there. I think I feel your philosophical point. But I’d take precision over the old days. Or maybe I wouldn’t? If i could have a time machine, the 1904 Olympic Marathon would definitely be right up there for things I’d want to see.
We’d been waiting for this. The dancing weightlifter, as he’s unimaginatively known, in action overnight. But it’s all a bit more serious than it appears. David Katoatau jives away after his lifts and it’s pretty much the everything; especially in the context of such an unhappy 2016 broadly speaking.
But it’s the ‘why’ he does it that’s less nice. Simply: his home nation of Kiribati is sinking. The Commonwealth champ lost his own house to a cyclone, and he wants to raise awareness of his homeland before it’s too late, concluding that his unique approach to competition will help with that mission.
“Most people don’t know where Kiribati is,” Katoatau told Reuters. “I want people to know more about us so I use weightlifting, and my dancing, to show the world. “I wrote an open letter to the world last year to tell people about all the homes lost to rising sea levels. I don’t know how many years it will be before it sinks.”
Olympism.
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More from China, a refreshing bit of honesty from Chinese swimmer Fu Yuanhui. She just called it as it is, saying her period contributed to underperformance in the medley relay.
Yuanhui is the same swimmer who gave this brilliant interview last week, finding out on live telly that she’d won a medal.
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I forgot something. It’s the middle of the night in Rio, so we should talk a bit. You know, get to know each other via hot takes and nonsense. Even some considered analysis? I’m open to any or all of it. Adam.Collins.Freelance@theguardian.com for the longer, @collinsadam the shorter. How’s that sound?
Not partying? China. Tom Phillips in Beijing reporting on expectations and reality not quite marrying up for the 2008 hosts.
“China expects 30-36 golds,” boasted the front page headline in the Global Times, a tub-thumping Communist party controlled tabloid, as the first Games to be held in South America kicked off on 5 August.
But less than a fortnight later those expectations are being downgraded as Chinese sports fans and their soft-power obsessed leaders come to terms with the fact that the Rio Games are unlikely to bear the fruits they had hoped for.
Some great lines in this. Team GB are getting some grief in the athletes village because when they like to party, they will party hard.
Owen Gibson has the skinny from Rio.
Let’s get out of the blocks with some highlights. Sorry to say you’ll only be able to watch this if in the UK. Includes the ridiccc end to the women’s 400m on the track.
Good morning from London
Day 11? Already? It’s this part of any Olympics when I get a bit of pre-emptive ennui. It’ll be over in a week, you know. Less than that. So best we embrace every moment. Adam Collins here, and I’m taking you three the brief hours in Rio where the city sleeps.
A bit of an odd day yesterday, as covered wonderfully below in the Claire Phipps Compulsory Reading Briefing. Rain, fire. Not many medals USA or China. Nor GB, but they’ve leapt to second place anyway. Meanwhile, Australia are having a rugged start to week two, not adding to their tally with a couple of fancied teams bundled out before the medal rounds.
But then we did have an epic end to the women’s 400m on the track, David Rudisha defended in his 800m crown in style, and the Olympic Record was knocked off in the pole vault. Most of which will it chucked it down with rain. Makes for some great highlights.
So we’ll get into all that as the words flow in from our corros on the ground, then throw forward to the day ahead. I look forward to your company.
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Day 11 briefing
Welcome back for day 11 as Rio’s athletes towel off the rain, primp their windswept hair and prepare for another day of action.
Your Guardian correspondents will do the same (even those of us miles from Rio) to keep you updated on what happened and what’s coming up.
The big picture
After the medal storm of day nine, day 10 was all about the weather. There was too much wind. There was too little wind. There was a lot of rain. There was a huge forest fire flicking ash over the hockey pitch. And in enthusiastic bursts between it all was some sport.
Whether it was prompted by a puddle, a stumble or a desperate effort to catapult herself across the line first, Shaunae Miller’s dive to win the women’s 400m – ahead of favourite Allyson Felix of the US, who was first to cross the line with her feet but ended up with silver – was the dramatic centrepiece of day 10.
Miller, of the Bahamas, later confirmed the lunge was not part of her training plan: “I’ve never done it before. I have cuts and bruises, a few burns. It hurts.”
An invigorating encore came courtesy of the men’s pole vault, pushed back into closing time by the weather but culminating just before midnight with a soaring win from Brazilian Thiago Braz Da Silva.
An Olympic record-busting 6.03m vault saw off the challenge from French favourite Renaud Lavillenie, who at least took the silver – and the boos from a partisan crowd – graciously. Just kidding: he compared it to Nazi Germany.
Renaud LAVILLENIE (FRA): “In 1936 the crowd was against Jesse Owens. We’ve not see this since. We have to deal with it.” #AT #pv #silver
— Olympic News Service (@ONS_Rio2016) August 16, 2016
The two late nailbiters threatened to drag attention away from a tremendous win by Kenya’s David Rudisha in the men’s 800m final. He adds to his London 2012 gold and to the googling of “synonyms for graceful” by athletics reporters.
There is headscratching in China, third in the overall medal table being an uncomfortable position for a country used to being a notch better than that. At the close of day 10, it held 15 gold medals (the tally at the same stage of the 2012 Games was 31). You can read about what’s inevitably being labelled the Great Fall of China here. Team China won’t be.
You kidding me? The country which has never finished above China is about to… pic.twitter.com/ejyIuwFoZ9
— Team China (@XHSports) August 16, 2016
You should also know:
- German canoe slalom coach Stefan Henze dies of injuries after car crash.
- Egyptian judoka sent home for refusing to shake Israeli opponent’s hand.
- Yuliya Stepanova ‘certain’ there are athletes doping at Rio Games.
- Aurélie Muller disqualification mars Olympic swimming marathon.
- Ireland’s Katie Taylor, 2012 winner of lightweight gold, goes out in boxing quarterfinals.
Team GB roundup
Take a moment to consider that a day that produced a gold, a silver and a bronze, and kept Britain in second spot overall, felt a bit quiet. Charlotte Dujardin was that gold-winner (along with Valegro: does the horse get a medal?), showing off a technically brilliant display that should put to rest any comparisons between dressage and that dog who won Britain’s Got Talent.
Mark Cavendish was, you know, fine with silver in the men’s omnium, his first Olympic medal confirmed when he escaped punishment for his part in a pile-up during the points race:
I have to be happy. I did everything I could in the race and ultimately I couldn’t have done any more. I have to be happy.
That bronze hangs round the neck of Sophie Hitchon and is Britain’s first Olympic hammer medal. The 25-year-old will no doubt now encourage countless young Brits to fling hammers around in the hope of securing the second. Legacy, people, legacy.
There are prospects spilling all over that shiny velodrome floor today, with Laura Trott, Becky James, Katy Marchant, Jason Kenny and Callum Skinner all in action again.
Divers Jack Laugher and Freddie Woodward will contest the men’s 3m springboard; and there are nailed-on medals for Joshua Buatsi (at least a bronze in the light-heavyweight boxing) and Giles Scott (a must-be gold in the Finn sailing). Marcus Ellis and Chris Langridge take on China’s Fu Haifeng and Zhang Nan in the badminton men’s doubles semifinal.
- Great Britain’s women hockey team beat Spain to progress into semi-finals.
- Team GB asks partying competitors to keep noise down in Olympic village.
Team USA roundup
Heartbreak for America’s best female sprinter, Allyson Felix, in the 400m, pipped at the line by a tumble from Shaunae Miller. In truth it was an underwhelming day, if one is allowed to be underwhelmed by the overall medal leaders. It was silver (Laurie Hernandez) and bronze (Simone Biles) – and not the predicted gold – for Team USA in the women’s balance beam.
The women’s hockey team are out, losing 2-1 to Germany in the quarter-finals.
There were track and field bronzes for Emma Coburn in the women’s 3,000m steeplechase; for Clayton Murphy in the men’s 800m; and for Sam Kendricks in that taut men’s pole vault final. But no golds. U ok hun?
No men’s basketball today, but news that Team USA will face Argentina in the quarter-finals. The men’s volleyball team reached the same stage with a 3-0 win over Mexico.
Australia team roundup
Tom Burton sails today – probably, depending on the right amount of wind – for gold in the men’s laser, after another weather delay meant a second day without medals for Australia, still lodged in ninth position in the overall table.
Team captain Anna Meares battled home 10th in what she labelled a “brutal” women’s individual sprint, and immediately found herself fending off questions about retirement. “Give me a week or two and I’ll let you know,” said Meares, who’d just cycled eye-blinkingly fast around a treacherous velodrome and probably needed to think about breathing first.
The women’s water polo and hockey teams both waved goodbye at the quarter-final stages. But there was a stronger showing from discus thrower Dani Samuels, who lobbed her way into the final with a throw of 64.46m.
Keep an eye on the canoe sprints on Wednesday morning: Murray Stewart qualified fastest for the men’s K1 1,000m final, which will charge off at 11.12am AEST. Alyce Burnett and Alyssa Bull also scooped a place in the final of the women’s K2 500m event.
Picture of the day
Team GB cyclist Mark Cavendish double-checking his silver medal for the men’s omnium.
Diary
All times below are local to Rio: here’s the full timetable tweaked for wherever you are. Or add four hours for UK, add 13 hours for eastern Australia; subtract one hour for east-coast US and four for west coast.
There are 27 golds available today, including the two sailing finals held over from day 10 (please just assume I’m appending “weather permitting” to any outdoor events, so I don’t have to keep cutting and pasting it).
- Back on track (and field) with athletics and the morning session kicks off at 9.30am, with the men’s triple jump final at 9.50am and the women’s discus final at 11.20am. Heats for the men’s 200m – Usain Bolt and Justin Gatlin again, plus Team GB’s Adam Gemili – start from 11.50am.
- The evening session offers the men’s high jump final at 8.30pm (Australia’s Brandon Starc qualified fourth), the women’s 1,500m final at 10.30pm and the men’s 110m hurdles final at 10.45pm. Unbanned Russian athlete Darya Klishina will appear in the women’s long jump heats at 9.05pm.
- Another big day in the velodrome where there are three track cycling golds in play and Team GB have their eye on all of them: the women’s omnium (three rounds: 10.57am, 4.10pm, 5.05pm; Laura Trott leads the way), the women’s sprint at 5.44pm (Becky James and Katy Marchant are pushing for an all-British final), and the men’s keirin at 6.20pm (team sprint gold-winners Jason Kenny and Callum Skinner race again).
- In diving, Britain’s synchronised winner Jack Laugher goes solo in the men’s 3m springboard semifinal at 10am and – let’s be positive – the final at 8pm.
- More gymnastics, with finals in men’s parallel bars at 2pm, women’s floor at 2.47pm (Team USA’s Simone Biles goes for a fourth gold) and men’s horizontal bar at 3.34pm: Britain’s Nile Wilson qualified second here.
- Weather delays mean there are four sailing finals due: the women’s laser radial at 1.05pm; the men’s laser at 1.50pm (Australia’s Tom Burton is assured a medal); the men’s finn at 2.35pm (we already know Britain’s Giles Scott will get the gold); and the Nacra 17 mixed at 3.30pm. Probably.
- In boxing it’s Brazil v France in the final of the men’s lightweight at 7.15pm, but watch out earlier for British favourite and defending champion Nicola Adams, who pops up at 11am in the women’s flyweight quarter-final. Teammate Joshua Buatsi is guaranteed at least a bronze from his light-heavyweight semifinal at 6.30pm.
- British pair Marcus Ellis and Chris Langridge face China in the badminton men’s doubles semifinal at 10.40am.
- Four to-the-minute finals in the canoe sprint: the men’s canoe single 1,000m at 9.08am; the women’s kayak double 500m at 9.23am; the women’s kayak single 200m at 9.47am; and the men’s kayak single 1,000m at 10.12am – Australia’s Murray Stewart was fastest qualifier.
- The men’s 10km open water swimming splashes off at 9am; and there’s a synchronised swimming gold for the duets at 2pm.
- The women’s table tennis final is at 7.30pm, with China unable (rules, eh?) to take on China so instead battling Germany.
- The weightlifting men’s +105kg final is at 7pm; and there are two golds going in the Greco-Roman wrestling: in the men’s 66kg and the men’s 98kg.
Underdog of the day
Because anyone up against all-conquering gymnast Simone Biles is an underdog of sorts, gold for Sanne Wevers of the Netherlands on the balance beam was a double triumph. The 24-year-old – ancient in gymnastic years, ridiculously – became the oldest beam champion since Eva Bosakova in 1960, and takes home the first Dutch gold in women’s artistic gymnastics since a team win at the home Games in 1928.
Just deal with it of the day
Chinese swimmer Fu Yuanhui – she of her hilarious “Whoooaah! I was so fast!” post-race interview fame – has broken what is apparently a big Sports Taboo, saying she’d not been at her best in the women’s 4x100m medley relay because she had her period.
It’s a dead heat in the candour stakes with news from Team GB’s cycling strategists, who brought in vulval specialists to sort out saddle-sore female cyclists. Tilting the seat and banning waxing are the answer, it turns out.
Tweet of the day
Last week this 10-year-old photo resurfaced of a nine-year-old Katie Ledecky meeting her swimming hero Michael Phelps (then with a tiny haul of six Olympic gold medals to his name). Now the world-record-holding and gold-winning Ledecky has returned the favour, saying she was “more than happy to sign a poster for the greatest Olympian of all time”.
A lot can change in 10 years! @katieledecky with @MichaelPhelps in 2006 and today in Rio! #Rio2016 #RioTODAY pic.twitter.com/cYwUyz3PZO
— TODAY (@TODAYshow) August 15, 2016
If today were a song
It would be anything by Earth, Wind and Fire. Or Wet Wet Wet.
And another thing
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