Sorry for the cheesy title, but I couldn't resist. For some reason, I'm really excited about that Spice Girls reunion during the Closing Ceremony on Sunday. But it's also an appropriate description of how these Olympics have gone. Perhaps appropriately in the first Olympics where the women outnumber the men on the U.S. team, the girls have been kicking ass so far...and leaving the boys in their wake.
Let's start in track & field, which is usually the domain of the American team. More specifically, let's go to the sprints. In the three sprint events (100, 200, 400), the U.S. men won a grand total of one medal. Of course, Usain Bolt and Yohan Blake had a lot to do with that, but this marked the first time in Olympic history that no American man was in the final of the 400 meters. Shut out in the 400 meter hurdles, too, after sweeping the event in Beijing. Fortunately, Aries Merritt and Jason Richardson salvaged some American diginity by going 1-2 in the 110 hurdles. Those will be the only sprint medals for the American men pending the relays.
Now let's compare that to the women. In the same five events, the women's team won eight medals. Allyson Felix and Sanya Richards-Ross got their Olympic gold medals at long last, while Carmelita Jeter won medals in both the 100 (silver) and 200 (bronze). Meanwhile, Dawn Harper (the defending Olympic champion), Kellie Wells and Lolo Jones went 2-3-4 in the 100 hurdles and Lashinda Demus won a silver in the 400 hurdles that would've been gold if the race was five meters longer. (Overall, this has been an incredibly successful Olympics across the board for the entire U.S. track team, but that's a different post for a different day.)
The women were mighty impressive in the pool, too. In 16 events, the U.S. women's swim team won 14 medals, including eight gold. Missy Franklin became a star with four golds and five medals overall, capping it off with a world record in the 200 backstroke. Allison Schmitt, meanwhile, won three golds and a silver, and 15-year-old Katie Ledecky set an Olympic record in the 800 freestyle. Rebecca Soni (200 breaststroke) and Dana Vollmer (100 butterfly) set world records in their gold medal-winning swims, then got together with Franklin and Schmitt to set another in the medley relay.
And how about that gymnastics team! They were supposed to win the team gold medal, and they did. The fact that they were the best team in the world was made even more clear when Jordyn Wieber didn't make the all-around despite finishing fourth in qualifying because Gabby Douglas and Aly Raisman were second and third. Douglas then won the all-around and McKayla Maroney was disappointed with a silver medal in the vault. But the star turned out to be Raisman. She left London with three medals, picking up an individual gold in the floor exercise and a bronze on the balance beam.
On the beach, there was no stopping Kerri and Misty's date with destiny. The surprise was that gold medal No. 3 came after an All-American final against the equally awesome Jen Kessy and April Ross, who upset the top-ranked Brazilians in an incredible semifinal. Likewise, Serena Williams continued her dominance at the lawns of Wimbledon. A month after winning her fourth Wimbledon title, Serena won Olympic gold by demolishing Maria Sharapova on Centre Court. She added doubles gold with Venus, their third in as many trips to the Olympics.
The U.S. men's boxing team had its worst performance in history, coming home without a single medal. It's a good thing they added women's boxing to the Olympics this year, then. Because Claressa Shields and Marlen Esparza picked up the slack. Shields won the middleweight title, while Esparza got a bronze in the flyweight division. Meanwhile, Kayla Harrison won the U.S.'s first-ever gold medal in judo.
But the story has really been the team sports. Within a few minutes of each other this afternoon, the U.S. won gold in both women's soccer and women's water polo. The soccer team has captured America's hearts all over again with that thrilling semifinal win over Canada, then getting a measure of revenge for last year's World Cup final by beating Japan for the gold medal. The U.S. has won four of the five Olympic gold medals in women's soccer, including the last three. The theme of these Games is "Inspire a Generation." Alex Morgan and Abby Wambach were in the studio with Dan Patrick yesterday, and Alex agreed with Dan's assessment that her generation was inspired by the 1996-99 team, just like this year's team will do the exact same thing.
The women's water polo team has medaled at every Olympics since the sport was introduced in Sydney, but this was their first gold. (NBC totally needs to create a professional water polo league just so they can have Doc Emrick call the games during the middle of the afternoon.) And the U.S. women are guaranteed to pick up two more medals on Saturday. Diana Taurasi and Co. seem like a lock for the fifth straight U.S. gold in basketball. They've made it look easy while extending the Olympic winning streak to 40. And the top-ranked volleyball team will try to win America's first ever gold in a rematch of the 2008 final against Brazil.
It's fitting that these Olympics fell in Title IX's 40th-anniversary year. American women are dominating the Olympics. Because they've gotten opportunities at home. And it doesn't look like that's going to change anytime soon.
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