The only thing better than winning a silver medal is a gold medal. The only thing better than a gold medal is, well, a diamond.
Chinese diver He Zi expected only a silver medal for her performance in the woman’s 3-meter diving event on Sunday, but she received a diamond to go along with it. Fellow diver and long-time boyfriend Qin Kai presented He Zi with a diamond ring while asking her to marry him on the podium where she was given her medal. Luckily, even though Qin Kai only won a bronze medal in his own diving event, she said yes in front of millions of people around the world. No pressure there.
Sunday also saw the uglier side of the Olympics. Gold-medalist swimmer and part-time douchebag Ryan Lochte was reportedly robbed at gunpoint by men dressed as police officers. Lochte can easily be mistaken as a member of a boy band, but it goes to show even the athletes are vulnerable. Lochte’s Twitter account assured his fans that he was OK, complete with #hashtags and all.
The troubles continue only 10 miles from the Olympic village, where a brush fire is burning, hindering the mountain biking and canoe slalom events. Ash was scraped off the field hockey field before it was allowed to begin, but reports say no one noticed because who watches field hockey?
Several spectators were taken to local hospitals when the suspension cables snapped on an Olympic camera, which dropped 60 feet to the ground. Everyone who was injured is expected to be alright, so it shouldn’t be inappropriate to say I can’t wait to see the footage shot by the falling camera.
While fires blaze, cameras fall, and rampant poverty persists, the world’s number one priority went off without a hitch and the sports kept sporting.
U.S. gymnastic deity Simone Biles begrudgingly took a bronze medal in the balance beam competition. She did pretty well for herself considering she slipped and still came out with a medal. Teammate Laurie Hernandez took the silver.
Donald Trump let out a sigh of relief when no Mexican athletes medaled — or even competed in — the pole vaulting event. His imaginary wall just got a little shorter. American Sam Kendricks took the bronze medal in the event.
Croatia and Serbia will face each other in the quarterfinals of the basketball tournament Wednesday, proving sports transcends borders and politics, while the U.S. men and women will be facing Argentina and Japan, respectively.
The United States leads the medal count with 75 total medals, but is it fair that we have over 300 million people in our country’s talent pool to pick from? Sure, China has over 1 billion and only 46 medals, but to make this fairer, who has the most medals per capita? That honor would go to Grenada, with one medal per 106,825. Right behind them are New Zealand, Slovenia, and Hungary. To catch up to Grenada, we would need to win about 2,400 medals. The U.S. needs to step up its game.
This article appears in Aug 11-18, 2016.