Vicious Rants of an Angry Yellow Man

Now that the Olympics are over, it is time for my medal awards.   First, the bad ones. 

The Ugly American award:  bronze goes to all the golfers who boycotted Rio due to zika virus.  This medal is shared by the American golfers with those from other countries and some tennis players as well.  Silver goes to Hope Solo, enough said about her.  Gold goes to Ryan Lochte and friends.  I am sure everyone knows what they did to embarrass the U.S.  Lochte is especially guilty because he is a veteran of the Olympics and thirty two years old.  I would give a 18 year old rookie a pass on this but not someone who is so experienced in international travel and supposedly a leader of the team.

Most disappointed countries:  Bronze goes to Brazil.  As host nation it should get a bump in medals.  While it did get 7 golds compare to 3 in 2012, the total medal count only increased from 17 to 19.  This is way below expectation.  They were favored to win women beach and indoor volleyball and failed.  They were favored in women soccer once the U.S. was eliminated but they didn't even get a medal.  They did salvaged some pride with men volleyball and most important a pk victory over Germany in soccer.  Silver goes to Russia.  Not unexpected since they were banned from track and field and lost athletes in other sports, they finished with 26 less medals.  Gold:  China.  Twelve less gold and 18 less medals overall than 2012.  They were terrible in gymnastics winning only two bronze in team and no individual medals.  They also did worse than expected in shooting and badminton, two sports that supply reliable medals.  In swimming they only got one gold medal:  Sun Yang in the 200 free.  He did not even make the finals in his specialty, 1500 free.

Now some good awards.

Most happy countries.  Bronze goes to Singapore.  It won its first gold ever and only its 5th medal of any kind.  Joseph Schooling beat Michael Phelps in Phelps' last individual race.  I am sure that thrilled the country to no end.  Silver goes to Japan.  It only improved from 7 to 12 golds but it finally beat rival China in men gymnastics.  And surprisingly it got silver in the 4x100 relay in track.  It actually beat the U.S. in sprints!  And they were even with Jamaica until Bolt took over the last leg.  China was supposed to contend in this race but Japan ended up stealing the thunder.  But it is shocking that two Asian teams can be contenders in a race that they were never remotely close in the past.  Gold goes to Great Britain.  In 2012 GB finished third in the medal standing behind the U.S. and China.  People said that was due to a big home field boost.  This year they got about the same amount of gold and overall medals even though they are not the host this time.  They in fact beat China 27 to 26 in gold for second and only 3 less than China in total medal.  I think that is a great achievement for the Brits and partially made up for its loss to Iceland in soccer.

Top individuals:  Bronze goes to Katie Ledecky.  What a talent, she is taking over for Phelps as the face of U.S. and world swimming.  Silver goes to Simon Biles, probably the greatest female gymnast of all time.  Gold goes to Usain Bolt. Unbelievable, nine for nine.  The best ever in his sport.

Special award goes to U.S. female athletes who help the U.S. beat London's haul of medals by 17.  I think Title IX helped women athletes become dominant in the world stage.  They outclassed the men in glamour sports such as swimming, track and field and gymnastics.  Even in basketball, they were more dominant than the NBA all stars that make up the men's team.  While the rest of the world is catching up to a certain extent to the NBA, the gap seemed to be widening in women basketball.  In four years, we may not win baseball in Tokyo but I am confident that we will win softball!