The Singapore swimmer is a sophomore at UT!!!
Women’s soccer - what a great quarter final between Brazil and Australia! Halftime in extra time! Are they going to penalties?! 0-0.
I hate PKs. 
I’m watching, too - this is awesome! :)>-
Singapore was to of the list paying athletes for a gold medal. That swimmer is going to get $750,000 for his gold medal.
Lots of countries pay a bonus to their winning athletes. So what? The athletes still had to earn it.
Thailand paid for fans to cheer. Hilarious WSJ article:
http://www.wsj.com/articles/thailands-state-sponsored-olympic-super-fans-1470952069
Each team with 4 straight converted PKs. Then each fails on last one.
“At least somebody is making America great again!”
http://www.newyorker.com/cartoons/daily-cartoon/friday-august-12th-simone-biles?intcid=mod-latest
Brazil wins on 8th PK. Host country goes crazy.
What a game! Happy for Brazil!
Wooho Brazil! I hope they win it all…
Canada is the only team that was in the semi-finals in London in 2012 and will return to the semi-finals in Rio. They are also the only undefeated team of the four. It would be great to see them in the gold medal game against Brazil.
I should clarify my comment above. Brazil had a tie. I should have said that Canada is the only one to have won all four games.
Hope Solo = Ugly American. She is an embarrassment to the team. Have disliked her for so long, especially after her 2007 World Cup “I would have made those saves” comments throwing teammate under the bus. Retire already. Or better yet, how about including character in decisions about who to include on the team?
Going back to earlier discussion about how the Olympics is all about $$$ and the sponsors and the IOC and not the athletes, it’s reported that the athletes cannot get a cup of coffee anywhere in the Olympic Village because Coke is the sponsor of all beverages there. That is so incredibly crazy. Think of the schedules some of the swimmers and track athletes have when doing multiple events, not to mention just how many people drink coffee!
Maya DiRado - what a great swim last night! Such an impressive young lady. The US backstrokers overall - awesome.
Classy (3-way tie for) silver medal performance by Michael Phelps last night. Had a hunch he wouldn’t win that one… (reference crazy schedule above… for a 31-yr old). Happy for the Singapore swimmer, though. Phelps will pick up #23 gold in the medley relay though (I think tonight?). Unlike some other posters, I have tremendous respect for this athlete. Of course he is immensely physically talented but he works so hard both mentally and in/outside the pool to prepare for and peak at meets. Single mom, absent dad, has made some bad mistakes, but took the better road to get back to this place. Good for him.
35-yr old Anthony Ervin apparently not bothered by age though! Great 50 free final last night for Nathan Adrian (classy guy as well) and Ervin.
Missy Franklin will be fine. She will use this tough meet as incentive to go back to the basics and try to put aside all the outside distractions. We’ll see her win a medal in 2020. (And even if we don’t, she is a great representative of this sport).
I love when they show the swimmers & coaches in the ready room watching those in the pool win a medal. Speaking of coaches, I am so impressed at how the swimming coaches have gotten their athletes to such a peak performance for the Olympics. Records smashed, unknowns peaking at just the right time to come out of nowhere and win medals. This seems to happen every Olympics. The coaches don’t get enough credit!
Not so happy for Brazil women in soccer, though I understand the pull for them as home team (who I believe have never won the Olympics before). Just not a fan of the nasty way they play the game … they have such talented players it’s a shame they resort to the physical play (and playing the referees and “injury” card) when they could accomplish the same thing just playing the “beautiful game.” Qualifier - I didn’t watch the game yesterday, I am basing my comments on watching them play over the years. I will watch the next game and retract my comments if I see things differently!
Yay for Simone, Aly, and the women’s gymnastics team!! Can’t wait to see them in the event finals later this week.
Also impressed with Brazil, Canada, the Netherlands, and Great Britain in women’s gymnastics! I think we’re starting to see some rising gymnastics powerhouses to offset the reigns of China and Russia in the sport. And of course there’s the amazing Chusovitina from Uzbekistan- competing the world’s hardest vault at age 41!! Don’t watch men’s gym much, but Uchimura and Vernaiev will always impress!!
Glad for men’s team archery which won silver.
I played Olympic handball in 7th grade gym. It was fun!
These 100m heats are fun to watch!
By winning her individual gold medal Maya Dirado has put all the pieces in place to become America’s darling of these games if she chooses to pursue it. I saw her interviewed on the Today Show this morning,along with Anthony Ervin - both wearing all their Rio medals. And she said all the right things, endlessly flashed that smile, and basically exuded star power. She can be the next Janet Evans or Summer Sanders if she wants it. But she may not want it. She may go ahead and ride off into the obscurity of that business consulting job in Atlanta.
In one humorous moment Katie Ledecky (who had been interviewed earlier) interrupted the Dirado/Ervin interview by bringing them a large fresh pizza to pig out on now that their races are over.
Speaking of Janet Evans, she was also on the Today Show and still looked and sounded great. She is head of the committee trying to bring to games to LA in 2014.
Ledecky is a beast of a athlete! So unusual to be great at distance and be also great at the short races. They put her in the relays which is a rarity for a distance swimmer. She is the best swimmer in freestyle we have ever had and she is only 19. She has never come in second in a championship race. She won gold in her races as a 15 year old during the last olympics, even Phelps did not do that as a 15 year old. If she stays healthy, you will see her for years to come.
I don’t understand why they don’t have a mile race for woman in the olympics. It is by far her best event and she is the world record holder in that as well.
She is such a nice person, she is the whole package.
Super pleased with the Nadal/Lopez Gold medal win! 