I do not pretend to be a huge fan of the Olympics. I never have been, and I never will be. Going into these 2016 games in Rio, the buildup was almost entirely negative. Water conditions, health concerns, security issues, living conditions of the athletes and other problems seemed to be stealing most of the headlines. While the games went off pretty well, some of these issues did arise, but now that the games are over, we will still remember 2016 more for the competitions than the conditions.
Like I said, I never really watch a ton of the Olympics, whether it be summer or winter, and that was the case over the past month. I watched some basketball, some soccer, some swimming, a bit of cycling, and a bit of water polo. That was it. I just kind of turned the games on when I had a chance, and those were the events that happened to be on when I watched. There were very few events that I planned on watching and then did actually watch. It was pretty much whatever was on when I tuned into the coverage. Therefore, I know that I should be considered a casual fan at best, but I still felt like I have a few things to say about the 2016 games, whether they happened during or away from competition.
First off, I will start with the good.
Michael Phelps: After going through some personal problems since the 2012 games, Phelps ended his Olympic career in style in Rio. Six events, five gold medals, one silver medal. Not much has to be said after that. It is impossible to mention the greatest Olympians of all time without including Phelps in the discussion. Whether or not you have him at the top of the list is up for debate, but he is near the top without question.
Phelps has won an astonishing 23 gold medals at the Olympics, and 28 overall. People that somehow want to discredit his accomplishments by pointing to the fact that there are more swimming events than any other sport are kidding themselves. Phelps dominating so many events proves that he is far more than a one-trick pony.
Adam LaRoche can hit a ton of home runs and bat under .200. Jason Kidd can lead the league in assists but average less than ten points per game. Only the very best can dominate throughout all of the categories, and Phelps has now firmly established himself as one of the very best.
He says his Olympic career is over, but at age 32 it may not be. Maybe a few years from now he will get the urge to compete once again. We have seen this happen with athletes time and time again, so I would not rule it out just yet. Even if his career is officially over though, Phelps is one of the greatest Olympians ever.
Usain Bolt: Before mentioning any of his accomplishments, I have to say that because of what he does, Usain Bolt is absolutely the best name in the history of sports. Walter Payton had a great nickname, Ted Williams always wanted to be known as the "greatest hitter that ever lived," and there have been others as well. However, for a legendary sprinter, it does not get better than Usain Bolt. And that is only the beginning.
For the third consecutive Olympic games, Bolt won the 100 meter, 200 meter, and 4x100 meter races. Like Phelps, he is both dominant individually and in team events. However, unlike Phelps, Bolt has a charisma and flair about him that very few athletes have ever had. What this man does on the track is not only dominant, but it is as fun to watch as it gets.
All Bolt has to do is step into the starting blocks and the eyes of the world are on him. Somehow, he makes the 100 meter race seem like a marathon. You would think that in a race that only lasts between nine and ten seconds, the man with the best start would win almost all of the time. With Bolt that is not the case. Multiple guys will come out of the blocks faster than he does, but he will glide past them in what seems like an effortless fashion. No matter who starts the fastest, Bolt always finishes the race smiling at the camera and finishing first. I have never before seen an athlete make being so dominant so easy. All it takes is ten seconds for him to captivate millions of people. Like Phelps, this may be Bolt's final Olympic games, but also like Phelps, Bolt is without question one of the greatest Olympians ever.
Katie Ledecky: This was a new name coming into 2016. If this lady walked down the street one month ago, no one would know who she was. After what she did in the pool though, she came out of these games as an up and coming superstar. Like Phelps, she won multiple gold medals in multiple events, but what she did in the 800 meter individual freestyle race was the stuff of legends. 12 seconds may not seem like much in our daily life, but during the women's 800 meter swimming final, it seemed like a year. In 16 laps back and forth through the pool, she won the race by so much that she was swimming one direction and the other seven were swimming in the opposite direction because they had not even reached the wall she had already turned off of. It was like lapping someone in a long distance race except it was even more dominant. Picture lapping someone in a race around a track, turning around and running the opposite direction, and then passing everyone before they even make it halfway to the finish line you already reached. Ledecky did it with class, style, and dominance, and she was absolutely one of the stars of the games.
USA Basketball: Following a bronze medal in 2004, the U.S. men's basketball team underwent a total upheaval that was led by Jerry Colangelo and Mike Krzyzewski. Since that happened, Krzyzewski has led the team to 88 wins in 89 games, and a third straight gold medal. There were a few close games during the tournament, but even without superstars like Russell Westbrook, Stephen Curry, and LeBron James, our basketball team won the gold medal in a 30 point win over Serbia.
As if the men didn't dominate enough, the women were just as good, and probably better. With Geno Auriemma leading a squad that seemed like a UConn alumni All-Star team, the women cruised to gold just like the men, firmly establishing the United States at the top of the world in basketball, no matter the gender.
The medal count: I know I only mentioned the marquee names here, but in totality, the United States absolutely dominated the 2016 games. We won 121 medals overall, 46 of which were gold. China finished second overall in the medal count with 70. So outside of basketball and swimming, we cannot forget how dominant our team was from top to bottom. Whether it be wrestling, beach volleyball, field hockey, or any other sport, the United States clearly established itself atop the overall leaderboard.
Yes, there was a whole lot to be proud of as Americans coming out of the past month. However, there were still a few things that did not sit well with me. Some of them had to do with other nations, but most of them had to do with our nation.
Conditions in Rio: I do understand that these games went off much more smoothly than it seemed like they would. However, that does not mean that they went off perfectly. There were a few athletes getting sick because of the water conditions. There were some very subpar living conditions in the Olympic Village. There was an indoor pool that somehow mysteriously turned green one day. There were some instances of crime. It may not have been as bad as expected, but the conditions were still not ideal for a worldwide event that had everyone watching.
Ryan Lochte: I knew of Lochte's name going into these games, but his name was elevated into the international spotlight about a week ago, and it was for all the wrong reasons. I knew Lochte as a swimmer, and he did swim at these games. However, no one cared about that after he and two of his teammates got drunk, destroyed a bathroom at a gas station, urinated on the floor of it, and then lied about it all.
I understand that Lochte was originally scheduled to leave the games the day after it happened, so I am not calling him out for leaving Brazil before his teammates like some people are. His teammates were scheduled to stay in Rio after he left, so none of their schedules changed. However, after he lied about being held up at gunpoint and robbed when in reality he just got drunk and vandalized a bathroom at a gas station, I have zero sympathy for Lochte. Yesterday he explained to Matt Lauer that he was sorry for what he did. I'm sorry for not feeling sorry for you, Mr. Lochte. I just will never be able to feel that way.
And now, last but surely not least...
Hope Solo: I love soccer and I love the United States. Now that that is out of the way, let me address what Solo did and said. After losing in the semifinals to Sweden in a shootout, Solo called the Swedish team cowards for the way that they played the game. This was coming from a woman with a history of not only saying negative things about our soccer federation, but also with a history of drunken domestic violence.
Solo attacked family members with weapons while intoxicated, and after losing to Sweden, she came up with comments that were completely classless. The United States is a better team than Sweden on paper. Therefore, in order for Sweden to beat the United States, they decided to play in a compact style. They succeeded in doing so and then won the game in a shootout. Immediately after the match, Solo referred to Sweden's style of play as cowardly, and I was not the only one who found her comments full of spitefulness and bitterness.
I know that the talent you possess gives you a longer leash when it comes to bad behavior, but I would be perfectly fine with Solo never taking the field again in a U.S. uniform. The problem with that is, I am not sure that we have a viable replacement for her. If we can find one before the next World Cup, then I am all for getting her off the field. If we cannot, then I will cheer for our team, but it will be despite her.
Solo has outlasted her welcome on our national team because of multiple bad incidents that have added up to a mountain that she will never be able to climb, and I am sure that I am not the only American soccer fan who feels the same way.
Overall: My overall analysis of the 2016 games is a pretty good one. Despite the negativity going into the games, I think the event went off rather well. The United States dominated the medal count, and I am happy for all of our athletes that contributed to that. The Ryan Lochte and Hope Solo stories will fade away soon, and I think that a decade from now, these Olympics will mostly be remembered for another chapter in the dominance of Phelps, Bolt, and U.S. basketball. Maybe if Ledecky repeats her performance in 2020, this could be the jumping off point for her Olympic career, but I have no idea if that will happen.
This was not the 1992 Olympics with the Dream Team or the 1996 Olympics with Muhammad Ali lighting the torch. However, it was still a month that we can celebrate because our country achieved great success at the highest levels of all different kinds of competitions.
Daily Diamondbacks Update: After Robbie Ray was masterful on Saturday, Arizona followed that up with a 9-1 loss yesterday. The lowly Braves come to town starting tonight in a battle of bottom feeders in the National League.
Daily Giants Update: The Giants looked very bad in pretty much all facets of the game this past weekend against the Buffalo Bills, and Josh Brown has been suspended for the first game of the regular season. Some of the additions on defense have seemed to be good in a very small sample size, but I still have huge concerns about the offensive line. Preseason games do not count, but they do matter. With the regular season getting closer and closer, it would be nice to see the Giants put some good football together next week.
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