End of Day 6: Revitalized

google icon. you're forever in the wrong sports aren't you! all i want to see is swimming! *biased much*

I'm typing this as the 100m semifinals is going on; not sure whether to stay on for Lochte's birthday song or not. :p  2 hours ago, I actually got ready for my goodnight post:


Hello. It's Day 6 and its not 4.30am or 5am. It's just 2, I'm not that tired, the coffee in the afternoon work wonders. The yoggroupie/olympic fish has decided to hit the sacks early for a change. Here's her big face and there's Gabrielle Douglas beating Viktoria Komova to win gold in Women's All-Round Artistic Gymnastics. :)))


 [insert picture here ]


[which i will not do because it doesn't make sense anymore]


So! Today is another historical day. I thought I would be less excited about swimming, but still hoping for that Phelps miracle, I stayed up for a bit. Here's what happened:


1. Rebecca Soni is the first person to successfully defend a title. Took her breaking 2 world records to do so. But at the next match, another American did so too...
2. Phelps won his gold. First man to ever successfully defend an olympic title 3 times in a row. Phelps is back and I'm glad. And then a few minutes later...
3. He finished first in the 100m semifinals. Looks like he performs best when he's tired/stressed.
4. First silver for a Japanese swimmer in this games! Satomi Suzuki got a little cheer when she received her medal today. :)
5. First Belarus swimmer to ever win a medal.


That's really all. I need to go to bed now. :) 


xoxo

Women's 100m Freestyle Finals

Gold: Kromowidjojo (Ned) olympic record
Silver: Herasimenia (Blr)
Bronze: Tang Yi (Chn)

Remember Tang Yi from Yog? She picked up her third bronze medal at this games today. Herasimenia is the first person from Belarus to ever win a medal in the swimming events! :))

Women's 100m Freestyle Finals

Gold: Kromowidjojo (Ned) olympic record
Silver: Herasimenia (Blr)
Bronze: Tang Yi (Chn)

Remember Tang Yi from Yog? She picked up her third bronze medal at this games today. Herasimenia is the first person from Belarus to ever win a medal in the swimming events! :))

Men's 200m Individual Medley Finals

Gold: Clary (Usa) olympic record
Silver: Lochte (Usa)
Bronze: Ryosuke Irie (Jpn)

Just after Lochte's Bronze medal race, you can see him practicing in the training pool. Peireira, Cseh are all in this as well. Lochte led from start to finish. Well-deserved win.

Women's 200m Backstroke Semifinals

Beisel (Usa)
Nay (Aus)
Zueva (Rus)
Franklin (Usa)
Conventry (Zbw)
Russell (Can)
Castel (Fra)
Simmonds (Gbr)

(not in any order)

Zevina from Ukraine, yog champion is also here. :) Missy Franklin, already with 2 gold medals is here too! I really want her to win, she's too fast. Conventry looks like she's going to swim with her life for a medal. I'm guessing this would be her last games, and she would really want a nice swansong. :))

Men's 200m Backstroke Finals

Gold: Tyler Clary (Usa) olympic record

Silver: Ryan Lochte (Usa)

Bronze: Ryosuke Irie (Jpn)

Only the second Israeli swimmer to be in the finals, my yog bias Toumarkin! See you in Rio 2016. :)) Another underdog story today with Tyler Clary. Love them underdog stories. 

Women's 100m Breaststroke Finals

Rebecca Soni is the only swimmer to ever successfully defend a title at these games! And for the first time Japan is getting a silver instead of bonze! First women to ever swim under 2:20s, she's the only person who can do this. Congrats!

Gold: Rebecca Soni (Usa) world record

Silver: Satomi Suzuki (Jpn)

Bronze: Efimova (Rus)

Men's 50m Freestyle Semifinals

Cesar Ceilo (Bra)

Cullen Jones (Usa)

Anthony Ervin

Eamon Sullivan (Aus)

Fratus (Bra)

Schoeman (Rsa)

Bovell (Tri)

Manadou (Fra)

(not in any order)

2 times world champion, Ceilo won in the first round. Another Brazillian Also in the race is YOG star Andrei Goborov is here as well. He almost broke WR last time at Singapore Sports School here. James Magnussen failed to make it into the finals. Still affected from that lost? :( Finals is happening 2 games later.

Sculls!

Sculls! Sculls! Sculls!

What can I say about this one? 

I have never seen these things before. I have never seen such narrow....boats. The water is so calm, the river so narrow, the grass so flowy and green. The spectators so cute, some of them running. And the press (I suppose) on their bikes, keeping up with the rowers. I want to row a scull too!

Women's All-Round Artistic Gymnastics Finals

I thought that USA coach looked familiar. He's Liang Chow, the coach that was made famous by coaching world champion Shawn Johnson. Received another education from my younger self here. I actually look forward to seeing Shawn get that gold back then. I didn't realize how short-lived their careers are and could only make it to at most (normally), 2 olympics. One before their peaks and one during their peak. And the turn over rate for women is quicker. 

Gabrielle Johnson is just one precarious child. From the start, she never rests. She kept on stretching, jumping around, her head in the game. She didn't even look at the cameras, didn't glance at the leader boards too much. My mum decided after seeing her at her first apparatus that she would win gold, and went to sleep. How spot on! 

Also in the competition is Viktoria Komova, who shined in Youth Olympic Games and is hot favourite to become champion. An article I scanned 2 years ago (I was so much more crazier then) predicted that she will be the future olympic star. Both of them are 17 years old this year. She led from the qualifiers but lost to Douglas in the end...I think both of them are maybe, equally great. But Douglas won that mental bit. She was more composed, more calm. 

I had goosebumps after seeing Komova mouthing 'oh my god', with tears glistening in her eyes. She's still as calm as always. She's such a fighter, she lives with a host family in another state just so she could train with Liang Chow. Komova broke down upon receiving the results. :(( Aww.

Men's All-Round Artistic Gymnastics Finals

My family and I don't understand the sport at all, no matter how the commentator helped. We just watched. We praise good steady landings, because that's the only thing we laymen can see. Kohei Uchimura finally won gold. I thought his name sounded familiar. Received an education from my 17 year old self here ; he made his name known in 2008, became the first man to ever win 3 consecutive world championships in 2009, 2010 and 2011. This fighter kept up, become better, maintained...all the hard work paid off when he finally got a taste of sweet victory. Now he can step down in style or continue to shake the world. I''m so happy for you!