Rio 2016 Olympic Update (Day 2)
The sports world has grown to something else in the last decade as major leagues are getting bigger and bigger every year.
The money in these sports continues to grow while athletes continue to become bigger stars.
The Olympics is no different than many of the professional leagues that are continuing to grow.
They have always been one of the biggest events on the sports calendar but lately, it has become a bigger business than ever before.
The cost to host is growing with every games as more sports means more event space and more impressive aspects of the games push future hosts to think of their own special pieces.
The Olympics themselves are becoming more businesslike with television rights getting more expensive every time they come up.
Sponsorship deals are only getting bigger as well with more money flowing into the IOC every two years.
The Olympics are becoming big business but that big business is not translating to the athletes who participate in the games.
The Olympics have always been an amateur competition although there are the rare professional athletes who do participate.
These amateur athletes all do what they do for the love of competition and sport as they give at least four years of their lives to participate in the Olympics.
Not all of them will be remembered as great Olympians and even some medal winners may not all be remembered as medalists.
They will strive to achieve a dream and in the process, some will get there and have that sense of accomplishment throughout their lives.
There are the rare athletes though that find themselves slipping into the other side of the world of sport.
The handful of athletes who translate success in whatever they do into stardom outside of that sport.
These athletes become household names and even after they finish their careers they are considered superstars for their accomplishments.
The majority of these come from the one place that produces more stars from every walk of life, the USA.
Chief among these stars is Michael Phelps who has become the face of the Olympics for the USA.
Phelps came onto the scene in 2000 when seemingly out of nowhere this 15-year-old kid from Baltimore qualified for the Olympics.
In that Olympics, he didn’t win any medals but he was impressive as the youngest member of the American team while also making the finals of the 200m butterfly.
Then he began to come into his own and started to win in major tournaments as he headed towards the 2004 Olympic Games.
When he came to Athens he entered a total of eight events and in most of them he had a good shot of winning gold medals.
It truly became is coming out party as he took home six gold medals in one Olympic Games coming in just behind Mark Spitz, who won seven golds in 1972.
Phelps was there and his expectations began to grow with Americans looking at him as one of the most dominant athletes in the Olympic Games.
His name became known as one of the best in the pool and in the Olympics in general.
Then came 2008 when he swept the gold medals in all eight events that he entered becoming the most dominant athlete in a single Olympic Games in the history of the games.
Along with the medals, Phelps set world records in all but one of the events he was entered in as his stardom simply grew.
Phelps became the face of the games and in 2012 he continued his dominance winning four gold medals and two silvers.
After 2008 he began to struggle though as his love for swimming disappeared and he began to get into drugs.
He was not in a good place when he went to London, which somewhat explains his lesser performance in 2012.
Now he enters his fourth games and it will be his last as he is set to retire after these games.
He wants to go out on top though and with a renewed attitude and after a stint in rehab he seems ready to add to his record medal total.
Already with one medal this year in the 4x100m Freestyle Relay he is on the right path.
When his games end it will be the end of an era where an Olympian became one of the most well-known athletes in the world.
It is what every athlete hopes for but not many get as Phelps will always be known as the most decorated athlete in the games, at least until someone can break that record.
The Canadian Story:
Starting Young
Canadian swimming has not been as good as it once was but there seems to be a lot of promise on the team with 16-year-old Patty Oleksiak taking Canada’s second medal of the games with a silver in the Women’s 100m butterfly
Staying Alive
The Canadian Women’s Rugby Sevens team was expected to get a medal this year after being one of the best teams in the world over the last few years but they almost came up short until a great comeback put them into the semi-finals
Showing Up
Canadian Indoor Volleyball has not been a part of the Olympics since 1992 but they made it this year and were looking to just be in many of their matches until they went out and took on the defending World Champion USA and beat them 3 games to none for an opening upset
Day 2 Medal Results:
Archery
Women’s Team
- South Korea
- Russia
- Chinese Taipei
Cycling
Women’s Road Race
- Anna van der Breggen (NLD)
- Emma Johansson (SWE)
- Elisa Longo Borghini (ITA)
Diving
Women’s Synchronized 3m Springboard
- M.X. Wu & T.M. Shi (CHN)
- T. Cagnotto & F. Dallapé (ITA)
- M. Keeney & A. Smith (AUS)
Fencing
Men’s individual Foil
- Daniele Garozzo (ITA)
- Alexander Massialas (USA)
- Timur Safin (RUS)
Judo
Men’s 66kg
- Fabio Basile (ITA)
- An Baul (KOR)
- Rishod Sobirov (UZB)
- Masashi Ebinuma (JPN)
Women’s 52kg
- Majlinda Kelmendi (XKX)
- Odette Giuffrida (ITA)
- Misato Nakamura (JPN)
- Natalia Kuziutina (RUS)
Shooting
Women’s 10m Air Pistol
- Zhang Mengxue (CHN)
- Vitalina Batsarashkina (RUS)
- Anna Korakaki (GRC)
Women’s Trap
- Catherine Skinner (AUS)
- Natalie Rooney (NZL)
- Corey Cogdell (USA)
Swimming
Men’s 100m Breaststroke
- Adam Peaty (GBR)
- Cameron van der Burgh (RSA)
- Cody Miller (USA)
Men’s 4x100m Freestyle Relay
- USA
- France
- Australia
Women’s 100m Butterfly
- Sarah Sjöström (SWE)
- Penny Oleksiak (CAN)
- Dana Vollmer (USA)
Women’s 400m Freestyle
- Katie Ledecky (USA)
- Jazmin Carlin (GBR)
- Leah Smith (USA)
Weight Lifting
Women’s 53kg
- Hsu Shu-Ching (TWN)
- Hidilyn Diaz (PHL)
- Yoon Jin-hee (KOR)
Day 3 Medal Events:
Diving
Men’s Synchronized 10m Platform
Fencing
Women’s Individual Sabre
Gymnastics
Men’s Team All-Around
Judo
Men’s 73kg
Women’s 57kg
Rugby Sevens
Women’s Rugby Sevens
Shooting
Men’s 10m Air Rifle
Men’s Trap
Swimming
Men’s 200m Freestyle
Men’s 100m Backstroke
Women’s 100m Backstroke
Women’s 100m Breaststroke
Weight Lifting
Women’s 62kg
The Sport Addiction 