It’s been confirmed again. And again. And will probably be confirmed again. Michael Phelps — part-time fish and full-time American — is the greatest marijuana-fueled Olympian ever.
Phelps won his 19th gold medal last night during the 400-meter relay. It’s Phelps's 23rd medal over all, but we don’t need to count the ones that aren’t gold. Phelps is in the water again today, competing in swimming’s most graceful race, the 200-meter butterfly.
But Phelps isn’t the only swim-beast from the east. Washington D.C. native and recent high school graduate Katie Ledecky has done more in her 19 years of life than most of us will ever do. She broke her own world record Sunday night and took home her second Olympic gold medal. Her first medal came at age 15. Katie will be swimming again today.
America’s first gold medal of the 2016 Olympic games came from 19-year old hot shot Virginia Thrasher. I had to double check, but that is indeed her real name. Virginia, a native of … Virginia, won Olympic gold in shooting. What else would you expect a Virginia native named Virginia to be good at? Ginny, as she’s known by, will be slinging her rifle again on Thursday during the 50-meter rifle event.
Sunday’s marquee event ended in a victory for Croatian basketball. The Croats beat Spain 72-70 after trailing by large margins throughout the game. Croatian and Brooklyn Net Bojan Bogdanovic scored 23 points in the game. Some people say Spain was favored, but Croatia will be looking for silver, behind the ever-dominant U.S. team, who beat China 119-62 Saturday.
But you think the men’s team is impressive? The U.S. women’s team defeated Senegal 121-56 on Saturday. Chances are, the U.S. women’s team could beat most men’s teams in the Olympics. This morning they proved their mettle once more, beating Spain 103-63. The men play Venezuela at 6 p.m. this evening.
Unbeknownst to all of us, the United States has been in a medal drought when it comes to fencing. Thankfully, we fixed that on Sunday when Alexander Massialas won silver, the first medal in men’s individual fencing since Peter Westbrook won a bronze in 1984. Good to know we can still compete in the world of sports that Americans don’t even watch.
So far, on this third official day of the 2016 Olympics, the United States leads in the medal count with 12 medals. China is second with eight, and the Italians with seven, and Aussies with six. Many more are expected. The U.S. has eyes for gold in basketball, soccer and gymnastics, just to name a few.
Speaking of soccer, the Brazil men's soccer team, lead by superstar Neymar, has yet to score a goal in the tournament. So far, they drew South Africa 0-0 and then drew the mighty Iraq 0-0 last night.
P.S. The U.S. women’s soccer team plays Colombia at 6 p.m. on Tuesday. Must watch.
This article appears in Aug 4-11, 2016.