Archive for August 6th, 2012

WATERCOOLER CHAT: MCKAYLA GETS SILVER, RICHARDS ROSS GUNS IT, BOLT WINS THE GOLD

OLYMPICS

After the Americans won both the team and individual competitions in the Olympics, it was time to focus on individual events. McKayla Maroney is regarded as the best vaulter in the world. She is on this Olympic team… merely to vault. Her vault during the team competition was awesome and flawless, so she was likely to win gold in the specific ‘vault’ competition. She had a fantastic first jump, but on her second jump, McKayla sadly fell down. With all those hundreds and hundreds of jumps she did in practice, it is extremely disappointing for her that she didn’t land on her feet. With the fall, McKayla finished with the silver medal with the gold going to Romania. A bummer for Maroney, but she should still hang her head high by her overall performance in these Olympics.

In track, it was the gold medal race of the women’s 400m. This is a tricky race, because it’s about speed and strength. Unlike the 100m, it’s not about giving it all you got right away. A runner has to pace himself/herself. Sometimes you have to start out slow, save your energy, and then speed burst down the final 100m. Well, that apparently was the plan for USA’s Sonya Richards Ross. She was behind for most of the way, then gunned it for the final 100m and surged past the crowd. She came to the Olympics to nab her first gold medal, and that goal has been achieved. The practice takes years, and the actual event takes just a minute. But when you’re sitting there in first place after the race — it’s all worth it.

 

And finally, Sunday held one of the most anticipated events of the Olympics. It was the Men’s 100m final, which dictates “the fastest man in the world”. The favorite was of course Usain Bolt, the hero of the 2008 Olympics who set a World Record. Bolt has been ‘the guy’ for the past 4 years, but recently, Bolt has been slipping. He raced poorly in the Jamaican qualifiers, losing to his training partner Johan Blake. Plus, Justin Gaitlin from the United States was super focused on beating Bolt. Everyone thought that Bolt was vulnerable.  It was a three-way tie for most the race between Bolt, Blake, and Gaitlin, but in the end, Bolt turned on the jets and pulled way ahead of the competition. And for the second Olympics in a row, Jamaica is home to the fastest man in the world. And now, with Shelly Ann Fraser-Pryce winning the women’s 100m, they also have the fastest woman in the world. That’s one fast country.

Share
No comments