These Olympics are flying past, and even though Australia hasn't done as well as we'd hoped - but about as well as media reports suggested we might do - there's this undeniable pulling power associated with the Olympics. We are sad, of course, that our own athletes aren't going so well and involved in a veritable gold rush, but there is so much sport, even obscure stuff, and people, at least according to Twitter, Facebook, message boards and word of mouth, are lapping it up. I know I am! It's great, and having it only once every four years helps preserve the excitement of the event.
My biggest take-away out of the early days of competition comes from the pool. Australia seems to do wonderfully in heats and semi-finals - Seebohm, the men's 4x100m final, Bronte Barratt to name just a few - and then bomb out something shocking in the finals, when it really counts. If only there was some way that this trend could be reversed. Sub-par effort in the heats, just make the final, blitz then when you're going for it all. Remember Atlanta 1996? Kieran Perkins barely made the 1500m final, but absolutely brained them when it counted. There's a blueprint if ever there's been one.
Congratulations to Bronte Barratt, who finished third in the final of the women's 200m freestyle final behind the American Allison Schmitt and the Frenchwoman Camille Muffat. America and France beating us in the pool? It's been like a broken record for much of this swimming meet. Regardless, a good swim by Barratt, and another medal to keep Australia hovering inside the Top 15 on the overall table.
Oh hey, that guy, James Magnussen! You might've heard of him. They called him The Missile until a few days ago, and then you might've heard jokes about how The Missile misfired and all of that. Well, despite, or maybe because of, the country's reaction, that man has seemingly run the gauntlet of emotions since failing to do anything particularly spectacular in the first final of his first Olympics, the 4x100m freestyle relay, and came out on the good side. He wasn't exactly feted by the masses after a somewhat sluggish heat swim in the men's individual 100m freestyle event, but now that The Missile's through to the final as the fastest qualifier, you can bet that the nation's love affair - and particularly that of the media contingent - is back on. Good for the kid. His acceleration was incredible, and I have a feeling he'll be installed as favourite, for all that that means. I'm apparently in the minority here, because I hold the opinion that we need to support our athletes, regardless. I mean, the guy had a bad swim. He didn't disgrace our country by urinating on the Horse Guards or anything along those lines. Give him a break. Looking forward to the final. A win really shuts some people up.
Congratulations to Alicia Coutts, who picked up another Silver medal for Australia at the pool, coming home behind the emerging Chinese sensation Ye Shiwen - remember her, the sixteen-year-old swimmer whose 100m individual medley freestyle split was faster than that of American champ Ryan Lochte - in the women's 200m Individual Medley. Australia's Stephanie Rice finished fourth. Coutts was right in the hunt in the final lap, but the incredible finishing speed of the Chinese swimmer in the last half-lap of the evebt unfortunately meant she had to settle for second place. If this girl, Ye Shiwen, is completely clean, she's an amazing phenomenon.
It must be said - and it is something that I didn't think would be said - but the great American Michael Phelps isn't the same swimmer that we saw in Beijing four years ago. Sure, he's broken a record, snatching up his 18th Olympic medal, and is still a brilliant swimmer, but even in his pet events, the American superstar doesn't look quite as polished and smooth so far this Olympics. Case in point, the final of the 200m butterfly, which used to just about belong to Phelps. He can lay claim to the four fastest times in history and his world record in that event is more than one second faster than the second-best performer in history. That's just crazy, but it didn't help him in the final this morning, where he was beaten by the South African, Chad le Clos, who came like there was no tomorrow, a scintillating final lap - unless you were Phelps, then you probably didn't like it all that much - to win Gold, with the Japanese swimmer Takeshi Matsuda in third. Who knows? Maybe the incredible weight of expectation has finally gotten to the guy. He and The Missile should get together for a chat!
Once again, the Australian men's basketball team have fallen, this time 82-70, and this time at the hands of Spain, a team filled with a bevvy of NBA players and favourite to reach the Gold medal game but, of course, to finish with the Silver behind the mighty Team USA. The Boomers had the same problems in this game as they did against Brazil, their Olympic opener. They had problems shooting from beyond the arc and clearly lacked another NBA-caliber big man. Still, a brave effort from the Boomers, who seem to go missing for long stretches - Spain opened up the second quarter on an 8-2 run - which you just cannot do against quality opposition. Joe Ingles and Brad Newley were highest scorers for the Boomers with 12. Patty Mills, still sporting the bright yellow sneakers, was a force, too. Just not quite enough talent to match it with the big boys of world basketball, unfortunately.
If you think Channel Nine's TV coverage has been bad, NBC, who insist on tape-delaying all the big events to show hours later in prime time, had an embarrassing gaffe last night. The final ad in the last block before the final of the women's 100m backstroke was a promo for the following morning's "Today" show, which, the ad said, would feature an interview with Gold medal-winning backstroker Missy Franklin. The Gold medal winner of the race that was about to be broadcast on the network after that block of advertising. I don't get how NBC can continue to hold back events when social media spoils results on a regular basis. It's weird that one of the biggest nations in the world still doesn't get the big Olympic events live as they happen.
Really enjoying the London 2012 Results iPhone app. Keeps me up to date with everything going on around the Olympics, and the times can be tailored either for London time or your local time, making catching events on TV much easier. Nice work.
Australia's medal tally: 1 Gold, 3 Silver, 2 Bronze. Total: 6. Rank: 12. Still 9 places ahead of Great Britain.
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