Rio Olympic Reflections

Rio is history and I must say it was and enjoyable Olympics to watch.  So I suppose I should reflect now on some of the many interesting moments from the Rio Olympic Games. Here are a few of my personal favorites.

* The Au Natural medal- This one goes to Two Mongolian coaches who stripped their clothes off after their wrestler Ganzorigiin Mandakhnaran lost the bronze medal match after the judges awarded a penalty point to a Uzbekistan wrestler.  With all the rigged "voting" by crooked judges in gymnastics, boxing, judo and more I love this direct approach to  dishonest judges. I wish those coaches would have gone all out and dropped their underwear too.

* The Honest Big Baby medal- U.S. bantam weight boxer Shakur Stevenson flipped his shirt over his head and bawled non stop after losing the gold medal decision to his Cuban opponent. Shakur just doesn't believe in the " be a good loser" thing. While being interviewed by  TV after the fight he kept crying and mumbling, "I wanted to win, I wanted to win". After a few minutes of that, and unsuccessful attempts by the announcer to have Shakur remove the crying towel covering his head he announcer simply told Shakur "thanks' and ended the interview. No word on whether Shakur is still bawling.

* Gritty Comeback medal- Rio gets this for pulling off a nearly problem free Olympic Games. Going into the Olympics the narrative was that the sky was falling in polluted, crime ridden unprepared Rio. But the Rio Games had virtually no problems or complaints. I guess you can put lip stick on a pig and make her look like Ms. Universe.

* The He's The Greatest And We All Love Him medal- That one goes to Usain Bolt, the world's and Olympic Games best ever sprinter. Usain took his athletic prowess to another level with an almost Muhammad Ali charisma that endeared everyone to him.

* The Good Sports Person award-  When two 5000 meter runners, Abbey D'Agostino of the U.S. and New Zealand's Nikki Hamblin, collided and tumbled on the track,  D'Agostina, with a badly injured knee, quickly arose and did not continue to run her race. Instead, she stopped and helped Hamblin up, encouraging her to continue the race. She did, finishing last. Hamblin said it best after the race, That girl is the Olympic spirit right there. I'd never met her before. Isn't that just so amazing." Two gold medals for those two athletes, understanding what is most important in life.

* Favorite Winner award- A tie between the least likely of Gold Medal winners, Monica Puig of Puerto Rico (Gold Medal in Tennis) and Ahmad Abughaush of Jordan
(Gold Medal in Judo). Not only were they the only medals their country produced, but their unlikely fete charmed everyone in the crowd and made the concept of winning and losing what the ideal should be.

* The They Win Too Many Medals award- Are you as tired as I that the same countries dominate the same events at every Olympics? I find myself rooting against them sometimes. I speak of the swimming and basketball dominance of the U.S.; the table tennis, shooting, and diving of the Chinese athletes;  Kenya and Ethiopia in the long distance track races; Russian and former Soviet Union wrestlers; German rowers and equestrian competitors; Cuban boxers; Italian and French fencers; British sailors; and Japanese judo athletes. Hmmmm Maybe we don't need to watch the Games. The winners are a forgone conclusion.

* The He/She award- Caster Semenya of South Africa easily won  the 800 meter track and field event. Problem is, she was born with both female and male sexual characteristics, has super high testosterone that makes her run "like a man", and has the appearance and features of a man. Many athletes who compete against her have complained about the unfairness of allowing her to compete as a woman.  When Caster won her gold medal the crowd was deafeningly quiet and non supportive, the losing athletes barely recognized her and the debate about the fairness of unisex athletes competing as females continues.

* The Cheaters Will Be Embarrassed award- U.S. swimming star Lilly King  loudly challenged the fitness of allowing Russian cheater Yulia Efmova, who, just hours before her competition with King, was mysteriously reinstated to the Rio Olympics despite being a two time confirmed drug cheat. There is justice though,  because King stared down the Russian, denounced her presence in the competition and then and defeated her, wining the gold medal while the tearful Efmova was booed by the crowd in finishing second in the 100 meter breaststroke event. Let's hope we have more denunciations of drug assisted athletes.

In the end I hope that all the medals of the winners never tarnish.