The Runners Tearing Up Rio’s Still-Rocky Road
The 💯 Hurdlers are our new favorite girl group—you?
These Games have been controversial from the start, and the past couple days have been no exception. The rumblings from Rio have come from a wide range of sources:
- The Brazilian legal system: A judge wants the passports belonging to Ryan Lochte and Jimmy Feigen seized, and Gunnar Bentz and Jack Conger were also detained as doubts have been cast on their robbery claims).
- The Twittersphere: Ellen DeGeneres Photoshopped herself hitching a piggyback ride on the latest Usain Bolt meme and the claims of racism grew so numerous that she eventually issued a personal response.
- The German Athletic Federation: Twin sisters Anna and Lisa Hahner found themselves finishing the marathon side by side, nowhere close to the lead, so they ran across the finish line holding hands, which was then construed by the GAF as a publicity stunt. We’ll buy sisterly love.
It appears some lessons can be learned from (most of) the female athletes in Rio, who’ve been redefining squad goals with consistent support and proof that the Shine Theory does indeed have some merit. We love it, and so it seems does the rest of the world — Katie Ledecky was mobbed at the airport upon her return home, Simone Manuel was met by a marching band, Abbey D’Agostino won the Olympics (even though she was unable to finish the 5,000m heats) after helping fallen rival Nikki Hamblin up—all with a torn ACL/torn meniscus/strained MCL.
And Vox reminded us of these portraits from November that were done by Marvel comic artists in collaboration with espnW and depict Ledecky, Simone Biles, Simone Manuel and Tamika Catchings as superheroes:
And now, to the actual results.
USA, USA, USA
On land and in the water, the U.S. enjoyed yet another successful day. Evan Jager won silver in the men’s 3000m steeplechase, the first U.S. man to medal in the event since 1984 and with the highest U.S. finish since 1952. The U.S. showjumping team also won silver, even after Beezie Madden had to withdraw because of an injury to her horse. The men’s volleyball team swept #2-in-the-world-ranked Poland in straight sets to move on to the semifinals, Kerri Walsh Jennings and April Ross earned a bronze medal in beach volleyball, and Claressa Shields is moving on to the middleweight boxing semifinals.
Ashton Eaton is sitting pretty in first place after the first five events of the decathlon, LaShawn Merritt qualified for the men’s 200m final (where he’ll face Usain Bolt tonight; Justin Gatlin lost his heat), Tori Bowie won bronze in the women’s 200m race, and the American women swept the 100m hurdles — Brianna Rollins, Nia Ali and Kristi Castlin all won their respective semifinal heats and finished the final in that order to nab gold, silver annnnd bronze.
The USA Women’s Basketball team continues to be dominant. Powerful. And pretty much ignored by the media. So let’s talk about how much butt they’re kicking! They beat Japan 110–64 and are on their way to the semi-finals Thursday eve. (Sue Bird has been listed as day-to-day with a knee sprain; here’s hoping she’s okay to play by tonight.)We’ll be watching!
Basketball player DeAndre Jordan said that an Olympic gold medal would mean more to him than an NBA championship ring, and the team got one step closer after overcoming a slow start to defeat Argentina 105–78 in the quarterfinal; they’ll face Spain next.
In the water, both Americans competing in women’s 10m diving advanced to the semifinal and the USA women’s water polo team defeated Hungary to move on to the gold medal game against Italy.
In Other Parts of the World…
Sweden’s women’s soccer team beat Brazil to advance to the gold medal final against Germany; Hope Solo’s comments may have just added fuel to their fire. The Brazilian men’s team, on the other hand, will advance to their final off of Neymar’s goal just 14 seconds into the game and will also play Germany.
This Chinese acro team featured in the gymnastics gala absolutely dazzled and made us wish this particular discipline was also an Olympic sport (make sure to watch to the very end of the video).
What to watch on Thursday, August 18 (all times ET)
But first, Sanya Richards-Ross says hi from Rio!
8 a.m.: Track and field, NBCSN
10 a.m.: Track and field, including the start of the men’s and women’s 400m relays and the men’s 400m hurdles final, NBC
Men’s triathlon, with the Brownlee brothers racing to defend medals, USA Network
Noon: Women’s volleyball, USA vs. Serbia for spot in gold medal game, NBC
2 p.m.: Women’s basketball, Spain vs. Serbia for spot in gold medal game, NBCSN
Women’s diving (delayed to prime-time show), 10m platform final, NBC
4 p.m.: Women’s wrestling, Adeline Gray and Helen Maroulis attempt to win USA’s first gold medal in the event, NBCSN
6 p.m.: Women’s basketball, USA vs. France for spot in gold medal game, NBCSN
8 p.m.: Track and field, men’s 200m final, featuring a battle between Usain Bolt and LaShawn Merritt, and shot put final, women’s javelin and 400m hurdles final, NBC
We’re serving up The Relish in your inbox, on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Follow along!
