Day 13
of the London Olympics was full of history. Many medals were awarded, records
went down, new faces emerged as champions and old faces maintained their
supremacy over the competition. There was plenty to be excited about on Day 13
and we have the highlights for you here on the futuristic blog.
David Rudisha breaks his own record for 800m GOLD
There
are quite a few trackstars that have gotten a lot of media hype in these
Olympic games like Usain Bolt, Sanya Richards-Ross, Allyson Felix etc.... but
there is one runner (800m runner David Rudisha of Kenya) that has been
overlooked and honestly I don't understand why. I know everyone is obsessed
with the short sprints but anybody who has a lot of track experience will tell
you that the 800 meters is arguably the hardest event in the sport. It is a half-mile
sprint that requires a lot of speed and endurance. Rudisha has been the
undisputed king of the 800m since 2010, absolutely dominating his opponents in
every race. In August of 2010 Rudisha broke Wilson Kipketer's 800m record of
1:41.11 with a time of 1:41.09. This was a record that no one expected to be
broken for a very long time but Rudisha wasn't trying to hear that and he
obviously wasn't satisfied with only breaking it by a hundredth of a second so
he came back the following weekend and broke his own record with a time of
1:41.01. Rudisha has been undefeated since and came into London as the heavy
favorite. He did not disappoint as he breezed through the first two rounds and
won the finals with another record breaking time, this time he went 1:40.91.
Rudisha is not someone that is talked about much but he is on something like a
34 meet win streak. Rudisha is not just a one-dimensional runner either; he has
a personal best of 45.50 in the 400m, which would've got him to at least the
semi-finals in these Olympics. Rudisha is probably the second most dominant
track and field athlete behind Usain Bolt. Let me remind you that Rudisha ran
this world record time leading from start to finish with nobody to help him
with the pace which is very hard to do when you're running over 400 meters.
After the race he said he feels like he can run faster and even his coach made
a bold prediction back in late 2010 that he thinks David will run 1:38 before
his career is over (did I mention he is only 23 years old?). After witnessing
his solo effort of 1:40.91 I wouldn't put 1:38 beyond him, and if he does that
he will go down as arguably the greatest Track & Field athlete ever. Also
not to be over looked were the guys who finished 2nd and 3rd in that race. 18
year old Nigel Amos of Botswana ran an unbelievable 1:41.73 for silver and
Rudisha's fellow Kenyan teammate 17 year old Timothy Kitum ran his personal
best of 1:42.53 for the bronze. What a historic 800m race.
Bolt gets his second gold, Warren Weir steps up as
the Jamaicans sweep the 200m Dash
It's
not often you see one nation sweep the medals in one event during the Olympics
but on day 13 of the Olympics we witnessed it happen in emphatic fashion. When
the competitors took to their starting blocks in the 200 meter dash we had a
feeling Usain Bolt and Yohan Blake were going to take the gold and silver but
the bronze medal was up for grabs. We watched Bolt and Blake run away from the
field and battle it out for first, and as they hit the tape it was Bolt then
Blake then GASP!!!! Another Jamaican? Yes that's right Warren Weir was not
about to be that one Jamaican that couldn't shine on the big stage and he gave
the people of the island nation a reason to party for the rest of August. Their
times, Bolt 19.32, Blake 19.44, and Weir 19.84 ABSOLUTELY AMAZING STUFF. They
made sure to celebrate with flair after the race too which seems to be Jamaican
tradition. Bolt briefly borrowed a camera from a media personnel and pretended
to take some pics of the cameramen and the crowd. Jamaica's population of 2.8
million people would rank it at number 35 amongst the U.S. states but even the
United States can't find a single person amongst it's over 300 million citizens
to beat Jamaica's speedsters. To be honest it's really not fair. First it was
Asafa Powell who was hard to beat, then Bolt came on and dominated the sprints,
and at this point every other nation is trying to find someone to beat him.
Then comes Blake, and now Weir? C'mon Jamaica have some mercy on the rest of
the world. I don't think they will even take that request into consideration
though. Congrats to them, I wish I could join that party in Kingston.
Carli Lloyd, Hope Solo are heroes in U.S. women's
soccer gold medal victory
It was
just a little over a year ago when the U.S. women's soccer team was drowning in
their own tears after a heartbreaking defeat to Japan in the FIFA World Cup
final. They instantly turned their focus on these Olympics and started their
preparation to return to the top. When they saw that Japan beat France to move
on to the final they made sure to beat Canada in what was a thrilling 4-3 match
that went 120 minutes. They got their rematch and took advantage of it. Carli
Lloyd got them off the mark within the first 10 minutes by connecting her head
onto an Alex Morgan cross and putting it in the back of the net. Lloyd struck
again within the first 15 minutes of the second half with a strike of the
highest quality from right outside the 18 yard box, putting the ball in the far
top corner well out of the Japanese goalkeeper's reach. Japan got one back
right as they entered the last 20 minutes of the game to put some pressure on the
U.S. it took a couple spectacular saves from goalkeeper Hope Solo to deny Japan
an equalizer. The U.S. women held on to the 2-1 lead to secure the gold and get
revenge on the team that broke their hearts last summer.
Those
were the main highlights of Day 13 but here are some other highlights from an
exciting day at the games;
Ashton
Eaton of the U.S. took gold in the men's decathlon. Eaton also broke the world
record in this event 2 years ago when he was in college at the University of
Oregon.
Hungarian
swimmer Eva Risztov won gold in the women's open water competition. The
significance of this is that Risztov had retired from the sport in 2004 but
returned to achieve her dream of Olympic gold.
Katie
Taylor of Ireland took gold in the women's lightweight boxing competition. This
was Ireland's first gold medal of the competition and just their second medal
overall in these Olympic games.
U.S.
runner Manteo Mitchell broke his left fibula halfway through his lead off leg of
the 4x400m relay but managed to still finish with a split of around 45 seconds.
The U.S. made it to the final round but their 4x4 squad is heavily depleted
with stars like Jeremy Wariner and LeShawn Merritt already out due to hamstring
injuries.
The games
continue to get better and better and promises to have many great moments. Stay
with us as we bring you more updates and highlights of all the action.
Thanks
for reading and don't forget to follow us on twitter. @EJPOnTheBeat @AGuleed
-Stay
in shape
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