Olympic Update: Day 10
The Olympics are always about the purity of sport and the amazing athletes that compete but no sports fan can help to make it a competition between countries. As people represent their countries in the biggest sporting event in the world the natural competition is between the athletes. In each competition these athletes represent their country and not only in that sport but for the entire Olympics. This is one of the biggest competitions in the Olympics every year as everyone looks to the medal table to see who is winning the Olympics. Realistically nobody wins the Olympics as the games are about the best of amateur athletics with the true winners those who come out and perform their best to win a Gold Medal. There is no official winner of the Olympics and it is not announced at the end of the game who had the most medals but it is still one of the things that is followed. For many it is a measure of how well their country has done in the Olympics and who they are better than. The medal table in every Olympic games is divided between many different types of countries. There are the small countries who participate that are happy to earn only a few medals and any medal for them is great. Then there are the countries who do not expect to be at the top of the list but have their specialties. These countries are great at one or two sports and they expect medal hauls in these sports but not for the overall medal standings. The next level of countries are the ones who are good in multiple sports and always hope they can get to the top of the standings. These countries are generally larger countries who have a bigger investment into sport and look for top medal counts every Olympics. The final grouping of countries involve the very few who invest more than anyone else in sport and see the repercussions of this. These are the countries that seemingly are medal favorites in every single event and win a medal in almost every event. With these countries at the top the concentration become less on the total medal count and more on the Gold medals they have earned. In London the competition between these groups is in full swing as countries continue adding to the medal count through Day 10. The battle lines have been drawn after the first week with two real battles raging as two teams fight for the top spot and a number of teams battle for third. At the top it has become a two-horse race as the USA and China have once again separated themselves from the pack. The USA has been at the top of the medal table for years as one of the best sports countries in the world. China is much different though as they were rarely at the very top of the standings and instead were among the many other countries in the top 10. When Beijing earned the 2008 Olympic Games everything changed as they began focusing more on sport. This new commitment has launched them to the top of the standings alongside the USA. Now it has become the battle of every Summer Olympics as the USA and China separate themselves from the rest of the countries with both at totals that almost double the next closest country. With both of these countries so close the battle also turns to the amount of Gold either have earned. It will be the battle of the Olympics as it seems every day the top spot in the medal table changes hands between the two who sit only a few medals away from each other. As these two countries fight it out for the top spot there is another great battle racing for the third place spot. In this spot right now is the home team Great Britain who have seen an amazing performance in front of their home crowd in every aspect of the games. Right behind them is the Russian team who have been contenders in the Olympics for decades and are now fighting for the third spot. On the outside of this battle is the Japanese team and the French team who need to do a lot more to get back into the race for third. The British and Russians will be another fight to watch as both teams look to finish as high as they can, they will not catch USA or China. As the medal count continues to rise there is less than one week left for any of these countries to build their medal count. It is possible for a late surge as well with sports still looking to start in this second week and many sports looking to finish with medals possible for many countries. It will be one of the things to watch throughout the last half of these Olympics as USA and China continue to fight for first while Great Britain and Russia looking for third.
The Canadian Story
Canada Throws Everything at the USA
The Canadian Women’s Soccer Team would take on the top ranked USA team and in the semi-final game the Canadians gave their everything going up three times in the game but it wasn’t to be as the USA team scored a goal in the dying minutes of the second extra time half
Spencer Leaves Empty Handed
Mary Spencer came into the Olympics as one of the faces of the Canadian Olympic team as a two-time world champion boxer but after a bye in the first round Spencer could not get going as she lost her first fight and was eliminated from the tournament.
Qualifying Day for Canada
Day 10 was not a day of much accomplishments for Canada as the two-day medal drought continued but a few athletes did move on to the next round including Adam van Koeverden, Mark Oldershaw, and Jessica Zelinka
Day 10 Medal Results
Artistic Gymnastics:
Men’s Rings
Gold- Arthur Nabarrete Zanetti (Brazil)
Silver- Yibing Chen (China)
Bronze- Matteo Morandi
Women’s Uneven Bars
Gold- Aliya Mustafina (Russia)
Silver- Kexin He (China)
Bronze- Beth Tweedle (Great Britain)
Men’s Vault
Gold- Yang Hak-Seon (South Korea)
Silver- Denis Ablyazin (Russia)
Bronze- Igor Radivilov (Ukraine)
Athletics:
Women’s Pole Vault
Gold- Jenn Suhr (USA)
Silver- Yarisley Silva (Cuba)
Bronze- Yelena Isinbayeva (Russia)
Women’s Shot Put
Gold- Nadezhda Ostapchuk (Belarus)
Silver- Valerie Adams (New Zealand)
Bronze- Gong Lijiao (China)
Men’s 400m Hurdles
Gold- Felix Sanchez (Dominican Republic)
Silver- Michael Tinsley (USA)
Bronze- Javier Culson (Puerto Rico)
Women’s 3,000m Steeple Chase
Gold- Yuliya Zaripova (Russia)
Silver- Habibi Ghribi (Tunisia)
Bronze- Sofia Assefa (Ethiopia)
Men’s 400m
Gold- Kirani James (Grenada)
Silver- Luguelin Santos (Dominican Republic)
Bronze- Lalonde Gordon (Trinidad and Tobaga)
Cycling:
Men’s Sprint
Gold- Jason Kenny (Great Britain)
Silver- Gregory Bauge (France)
Bronze- Shane Perkins (Australia)
Equestrian:
Team Jumping
Gold- Great Britain
Silver- Netherlands
Bronze- Saudi Arabia
Sailing:
Women’s Laser Class
Gold- Xu Lijia (China)
Silver- Marit Bouwmeeseter (Netherlands)
Bronze- Evi van Acker (Belgium)
Men’s Laser Class
Gold- Tom Slignsby (Australia)
Silver- Pavlos Kontides (Cyrpus)
Bronze- Rasmus Myrgren (Sweden)
Shooting:
Men’s 50m Rifle 3 Postions
Gold- Niccolo Campriani (Italy)
Silver- Jonghyun Kim (South Korea)
Bronze- Matthew Emmons (USA)
Men’s Trap
Gold- Giovanni Cernogoraz (Croatia)
Silver- Massimo Fabbrizi (Italy)
Bronze- Feeaid Aldeehani (Kuwait)
Weightlifting:
Men’s 105kg
Gold- Oleksiy Torokhtiy (Ukraine)
Silver- Navab Nashirshelal (Iran)
Bronze- Bartiomiej Bonk (Poland)
Wrestling:
Men’s 60kg Greco-Roman
Gold- Omid Haji Noroozi (Iran)
Silver- Revaz Lashkhi (Georgia)
Bronze- Ryutaro Matsumoto (Japan)
Bronze- Zaur Kuramagomedov (Russia)
Men’s 120kg Greco-Roman
Gold- Mijan Lopez (Cuba)
Silver- Heiki Nabi (Estonia)
Bronze- Johan Euren (Sweden)
Bronze- Riza Kayaalp (Turkey)
Men’s 84kg Greco-Roman
Gold- Alan Khugaev (Russia)
Silver- Karam Ebrahim (Egypt)
Bronze- Danyel Gajiyev (Kazakhstan)
Bronze- Damian Janikowski (Poland)
Day 11 Medal Events:
Artistic Gymnastics:
Men’s Parallel Bars Final (9:00 am)
Women’s Beam Final (9:47 am)
Men’s Horizontal Bars Final (10:37 am)
Women’s Floor Exercise Final (11:23 am)
Athletics:
Men’s High Jump Final (2:00 pm)
Men’s Discus Throw Final (2:45 pm)
Women’s 100m Hurdle Final (4:00 pm)
Men’s 1,500m Final (4:15 pm)
Cycling:
Men’s Track- Keirin Final (12:57 pm)
Women’s Track- Omnium Final Race (11:53 am)
Women’s Track- Sprint Final (12:26 pm)
Diving:
Men’s 3m Springboard Final (2:00 pm)
Equestrian:
Team Dressage- Grand Prix Special (5:00 am)
Sailing:
Men’s RS-X Class Medal Race (8:00 am)
Women’s RS-X Class Medal Race (9:00 am)
Synchronized Swimming:
Women’s Duets Final (10:00 am)
Table Tennis:
Women’s Team Bronze Medal Match (6:00 am)
Women’s Team Gold Medal Match (10:30 am)
Triathlon:
Men’s Triathlon (6:30 am)
Weightlifting:
Men’s +105kg Final (2:00 pm)
Wrestling:
Men’s 66kg Greco-Roman Bronze Medal Matches (12:45 pm)
Men’s 66kg Greco-Roman Gold Medal Match (2:03 pm)
Men’s 96kg Greco-Roman Bronze Medal Matches (12:45 pm)
Men’s 96kg Greco-Roman Gold Medal Match (2:48 pm)
|
Medal Table |
|||||
|
# |
Country |
Gold |
Silver |
Bronze |
Total |
| 1 | China |
31 |
19 |
14 |
64 |
| 2 | USA |
29 |
15 |
19 |
63 |
| 3 | Russia |
7 |
17 |
18 |
42 |
| 4 | Great Britain |
18 |
11 |
11 |
40 |
| 5 | Japan |
2 |
12 |
14 |
28 |
| 6 | France |
8 |
9 |
9 |
26 |
| 7 | South Korea |
11 |
5 |
6 |
22 |
| 8 | Germany |
5 |
10 |
7 |
22 |
| 9 | Australia |
2 |
12 |
8 |
22 |
| 10 | Italy |
7 |
6 |
4 |
17 |
| 12 | Canada |
1 |
3 |
6 |
10 |
The Sport Addiction 