No real rhyme or reason to any of these, just wanted to share:

Artistic Swimmers Acting Like Animals

That’s apparently the new name for Synchronized Swimming. I don’t love it but don’t hate it either. I watched maybe 20 minutes this morning and the team from Liechtenstein did an animal themed routine. You can watch the entire competition here, animals start around 35 minutes!

High Jump Friendship

Qatar’s Mutaz Essa Barshim and Italy’s Gianmarco Tamberi both had zero misses until the very last height which they both failed on all 3 attempts. Gianmarco even did a basketball “swish” after one of his jumps and brought out his old cast from a previous injury because why not. Traditionally they would have gone to a jump-off to decide who gets gold and who gets silver. BUT THEY CHOSE FRIENDSHIP. If you watch this recap it looks like the official was not even giving them that option (I’m pretty sure he said “possible” in the same way I tell most guys there will be a second date) but friendship always prevails. Great wins for both gentlemen.

Badminton dudes stripping…?

Gratuitous abs aside, this was actually an awesome match to watch and an even greater celebration. To set the stage, Men’s singles Badminton is traditionally dominated by Asian countries, especially China. But Denmark is also oddly good. This year’s gold medal match was 2016’s Gold Medalist Chen Long from China versus Bronze Medalist Viktor Axelsen from Denmark. It was a good match but clearly it was Viktor’s day and he was overcome with emotion when the birdie fell for the last time. Viktor and Chen decided to switch jerseys in a mutual show of respect in another moment of joy for me. And it answered one of the greatest mysteries of life: do badminton players have washboard abs.

A Very Cool Mare

That is how Julia Krajewski of Germany describes her horse Amande De B’neville. And now they both are gold medalists and Julia is the first female champion in Equestrian Olympic Eventing history. I know nothing about how this sport actually works but this seems long overdue. Cue Beyoncé.

First, just want to say that I created an Olympic Logo with my nephew’s blocks while I was on vacation…no big deal.

But to give a quick analysis of the Tokyo Mascot, it’s name is Miraitowa. You can find more information here. It’s just a repurposed Pokémon right? I grew up with a manageable 151 in the original Gameboy games but now I think they are up to at least 700 and there is no way Miraitowa is not in the Pokedex right now with slightly different colors. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. I just need to know its attacks. Does it throw Javelins? Does it spike volleyballs? A Karate kick? Maybe it uses the Olympic rings as a weapon like the dude in the new marvel movie? Lean in Tokyo and get it a trading card.

And no, I’m not ignoring the other mascot, it is for the Paralympic games which I will cover when they start.

I’m not going to try to recap all the swimming because it gets more than enough coverage but I will share my top moments.

Lydia Jacoby’s Gold Medal

There is nothing better than a young athlete defying expectations to win a Gold Medal and lead the charge of a new generation of amazing US swimmers. She was so shocked by her win and her story is amazing, only 1 Olympic pool in the state of Alaska! (we are not talking about goggles though, just her first final)

And watching her high school get so fired up, probably the best reaction video of the games so far.

STAND UP ALASKA!

17-year-old Lydia Jacoby WINS GOLD, and everybody's celebrating! #TokyoOlympics x @USASwimming

📺: NBC
💻: https://t.co/GFrdWbcFoO
📱: NBC Sports App pic.twitter.com/leYOC2Mzju

— #TokyoOlympics (@NBCOlympics) July 27, 2021

Caeleb Dressel Getting Emotional (and all his golds)

You know all he accomplished at these games (and how handsome he is). It was his reactions to winning gold, to breaking records, to seeing his family that really pushed it over the edge for me into making him one of my favorite people at the games so far. Must be something in that Florida water that makes him so great?

Ahmed Hafnaoui’s Victory for Tunisia

He pulled a major upset from Lane 8 to win the 400m freestyle for Tunisia. He wasn’t even talked about as a threat in that final. And what really stuck out to me was when they were showing the athlete’s cheering sections near the end. Australia was filled with other athletes and coaches. Ahmed had a single coach jumping around and screaming his heart out. It made his victory all the more impressive.

Anything Katie Ledecky

Again, I don’t need to write out everything that happened during these games regarding Katie Ledecky since you’ve probably heard it already. She did so much to try and help the US bring home as many medals as possible. And maybe now she will be switching to Archery to bring home golds in a different sport? And we all knew the moment was going to come when Katie doesn’t win every single race she enters. It happens to all our favorite athletes but maybe the fact it was Australia, our eternal rival in swimming, that made it sting a little bit more but she still showed why she is the queen of the pool by the end of the games.

Bobby Finke’s Final 50 meters

His electrifying finishes are what the Olympics are all about. It is never over until someone crosses the finish line/touches the pool wall (do you think swimmers ever get jealous of runners for having a “finish line)? The reason I like Finke so much is he swims the way I like to try to run, saving something in the tank for the end. After seeing what he could do in the 800 I think the 1,500 got a lot more attention and people watching to see if he could do it again, and he did!

There are so, so, so many more amazing swimmers and moments from these games but there are so many hours in the day to google pictures of swimmers so had to stop after 5.

My natural ability to wake up at 4:00am finally coming in handy! I’m very nervous about this game because we did not look that great during the quarterfinal. Kind of lackluster overall so I’m hoping we can turn it around for this game and get some of that fire back. Just turned it on 40 minutes into the game and it’s 0-0 so could be better, could be worse. Here we go!

First half is over and the only thing of real importance is that Alyssa Naeher is out with an injury after landing awkwardly on her leg. She was really the hero of the shoot-out against the Netherlands so let’s hope the US picks up the offense in the second half.

60 minutes into the game….still not much to actually say. I don’t really watch soccer outside the Olympics so maybe there is a lot happening and I’m just missing it? I also feel like Megan Rapinoe should have gone with a new hair color to fire everyone up.

Penalty Kick for Canada and they score…this is not good.

The US never had a response and we are going to the bronze medal match. I think this is exactly what we were all worried would happen based on their previous games. Definitely not what we were all hoping for but at least we still have a shot at a medal. I think that might be a general theme of the games so far for the US, getting medals but not getting to the top of the podium as much as hoped.

I think we all know what this team needs…..

I don’t want to ignore this entirely but also feel there are already too many people pretending to be experts and “weighing in”. So what I will say is that I hope the conversations about mental health started during these games actually continue after the world quickly moves past the Olympics the second the closing ceremony ends. I also hope the media seriously examines their own role. There are so many athletes competing in the Olympics who have interesting and inspiring stories to tell.

So I hope these conversations about mental health will lead to athletes like Sha’Carri being able to use a non performance enhancing plant to relieve stress if they need to. I hope athletes like Simone can enter the next games at the peak of their physical and mental health. And I hope there are less athletes who seem to have a tough time after their Olympic days are over.

That’s all I’ve got.

Most changes to the Olympic games because of COVID are necessary but unfortunate and really take away from the athlete and viewer experience. Take the small or nonexistent live audience for example, it’s odd for us watching on TV but it has to be downright eerie and disappointing for the competitors. Watching a high jumper try to get the 50 socially distanced coaches in the stadium to do a slow clap is the same awkward level as when you are waiting for a subway on the platform with 2 other people and realize the guy playing a guitar finished a song and you are the only one without headphones so are going to have to give a golf clap and hope the next train arrives soon.

And I don’t think I even have to go into the number of unused condoms because of COVID….they have about 48 hours from the time their event ends and the time they have to leave the country. I’m sure some will still be used, and I really hope there are the “band kids” of the Olympics like Archery or Trampoline who just go for it, but all of these athletes are being deprived of a very well earned chance to celebrate and party together.

BUT, one thing that has changed that I think is better than before are the medal ceremonies for any team events. Watching the athletes put the medals on each other is so much more touching and meaningful and often funny than it could ever be by some stuffy official. I’m not sure who started it, I saw it first during a rowing medal ceremony, but I think they should be allowed to continue that well into the future.

Also, there have got to be some gold medal athletes that are grateful for the mask during their national anthem. I feel like all of them have had this type of conversation in their head in the past:

am I supposed to sing along, will I look unpatriotic if I don’t sing?

but what if I mess up a word, the internet would notice so fast and I don’t feel like defending myself on Twitter

maybe I’ll just move my mouth along to the last line and hope the other medalists don’t notice I’m not saying any words

shit, people are clapping, it’s already over? well, hopefully I looked like I was holding back tears of joy and not trying to remember the lyrics

now that I’ve got my medal, where are those free condoms again?

You need to watch a full, un-edited weightlifting final. The 2 minute replays during primetime coverage don’t do it justice. I’m currently watching the Women’s 76kg final. USA’s Katherine Nye is going for a medal.

What makes watching the full competition exciting is the fact the format is similar to high jump and pole vault where the athletes pick what height/weight they want to enter the competition. They only get 3 lifts total in the Snatch and 3 in the Clean & Jerk so there is a surprising amount of math, tactics and drama involved. Especially when someone enters at a higher weight and they miss their first 2 lifts and have to decide to try that weight again or buy themselves some more recovery time and go for the next highest weight all while worrying about not making any lifts and being eliminated from the competition all together!! Gets your heart going.

Obviously not as much as the athletes themselves who seem to be in constant danger of blacking out and blowing out their knees and elbows and then in danger of dropping hundreds of pounds of metal on their heads. Pretty casual sport overall….

Back to the current competition, Kate Nye wins Silver!!! She is only the fourth American woman to win a weightlifting medal. She did great and just looked so proud after the competition ended.

Also, the gold medal winner Neisi Dajomes from Ecuador bringing some style to weightlifting and the first ever medal for Ecuador in the sport.

What you should watch

You should cheer on USA’s Wesley Kitts in the 109kg category on Tuesday morning starting at 6:50am. It will be a couple of hours but just put it on the background as you start your day.

Or just watch the replay of USA’s Harrison Maurus getting fourth last week since he kind of looks like Aquaman.

My sincere apologies for ghosting this blog during the first week of the Olympic Games. I was on family vacation and while we watched a lot of Olympics the lake house had a lot of rules. You can see from the signs below that there was absolutely no time left over for updates after all of the other things I had to be doing. I had to chill, I had to laugh often, I had to make sure there were always wet towels, I had camp fires to make and I had to constantly be on the look out for Wimpy’s Hamburger Stand (never found it).

And worst of all? What happened at the Lake had to stay at the lake. So if I blogged at the Lake it would have disappeared when I left anyway.

But do you know something that isn’t going to stay at the lake that I’m incredibly proud of and is more important than blog updates? Getting my nephews into the Olympics. I answered HUNDREDS of questions from them about all the sports, all the countries, all the medals and all the athletes. We watched the traditional sports like swimming, gymnastics, soccer and softball but also the unique ones like badminton, handball and archery. And they LOVED IT.

There is also still time for the youngest nephew to pick a niche sport in America like Modern Pentathlon and get me in one of those amazing family reaction videos.

So, I’m back in Boston and will be playing some catchup. I’ll do my best. Just like all our athletes.

when the preworkout kicks in #TokyoOlympics pic.twitter.com/xkU7zyF0gG

— #TokyoOlympics (@NBCOlympics) July 26, 2021

But will fully admit I’m doing nothing on this blog right now since I’m on family vacation and I don’t have 8 hours of “work” to do “business things” like writing blog posts. I’m going to try to get back into it this week but it might have to be a lot of recaps from week 1 followed by intense coverage of week 2. Sorry in advance.

Before I write anything…..big congrats to 20 year old Jagger Eaton from Meza, Arizona for getting the bronze medal in this inaugural competition.

But to summarize my thoughts:

There has always been disparity in the perceived athleticism between competitors of different events in the Olympics. If you watched….let’s say…..archery or shooting and then the 145 mile bike race from day 1 you will know what I mean. This event was definitely in the former category for me.

“That was kinda cool, I guess, but why are so many people falling?” was a frequent thought in my head watching this competition and I wish I left thinking “wow, that’s awesome, great addition to the Olympics”. That might happen more with the other skateboarding event in the abandoned pool (park) but why were their runs only 45 seconds long, why did so many people end up with “0”s on individual tricks and should any summer Olympic event involve so many airpods and cargo pants?

Maybe the announcers needed to explain things more along the way, like what makes certain tricks hard to do. Maybe 45 seconds is an incredibly long time in the world of street skateboarding, but it sure makes it hard for a casual viewer to get into it and appreciate it. Maybe they should just make the park smaller so it doesn’t look like they should be using more of it when they all seemed to stay in the middle?

Convince me otherwise but I’m going to say just watch the 5 minute recap of this event and call it a day.

But to end on a positive note…10/10 in style points for Jagger Eaton’s outfit.