Almost decided against a "Best & Worst" for Rio.
After all, what haven't I already said in my EIGHTEEN posts centered (mostly) on the Olympic Games in Rio?
So maybe that's where I'll begin---by bragging (or moaning!!) about my 18 Rio posts!
Best Rio Post on This Blog
These are my PERSONAL favorites, not necessarily the "best"!
I was most proud of my "As Rio (& Life) Go On".
No results (as I recall!), but said what I wanted to say, in the way I wanted to say it---boldly & honestly!
Next up is "Historic 10K Rewrites Record Book".
Because I LOVE being able to write about multiple records being smashed in ONE race!!
And because such a race actually happened!!
Honorable Mentions go to my Place Records posts--because I've never had a post devoted solely to my Place Records before!
Also liked the "Four Fabulous Finals"---as I got to describe at length the Women's Marathon and Heptathlon!!
Best Title was the one with numbers---"17:10.02 & 236-3"
A bit mysterious, which gave me reason to explain it!
Worst Rio Post on This Blog
Probably my 4 Predictions posts---because I got so much WRONG!!
Now let's deal with some numbers!
Which gender performed best?
The WOMEN!!
Out of 8 categories, the Men led just one!!
Most World Records Broken-----------Women broke 2, the Men 1.
Most American Records Broken------A shutout for the Women--4 to ZERO!!
Most Place Records Broken-----------A wipe-out for the Ladies--30 to 8!!
Most Age Records Broken------------13 to 5, the Women win!
Most non-US National Records Broken----Women over the Men, 43 to 33!
The Men, as noted, did prevail in one---
Most Olympic Games Meet Records Broken--They got 5 to the Women's 3.
As for Marks that made my DDD (Top 24 Performers) lists, or improved on marks already on the lists---
For the US DDD's, the Women win by a 10 to 5 margin!
On my World DDD's, Women get 22 to the Men's 13!
Overall, the Women prevailed by a 127 to 70 score!!
Thus, 197 (!!) revisions were made in my T&F Record Book in the 10 days of Rio!!
Best Event?
The Women's 10000!!
The Worst?
The Women's High Jump!!
Best Series in the Throws or Horizontal Jumps?
Ryan Crouser for the Men.
He broke the MR 3 times, as well as his PR!
The Women's award goes to Anita Wlodarczyk, for basically the same reasons!
She twice broke her PR, which happened to have been the WR!!
(Although the 2nd breaking came AFTER she'd already shattered her WR!! Nothing like adding more icing to the icing!!)
Worst Shocks
Probably have to give it to those EXPECTED to win, but who failed to do so, and even failed to make the final!!
Give this one to Pawel Fajdek!
HM's go to Robert Harting and Olga Saladukha!
Best Event where Women Outperformed the Men
That 10K, and the Long Jump!
And Vice Versa?
The 400!
A WR wins over a close race---even with a 9.7 point dive!!
How did I do in my Predictions?
Not so good!
I got 40 (out of 72 possibles) for the Men!
I was a bit better with the Women---42 (of 69) correct!
Oh, BTW, the above numbers (of correct picks) were NOT specific as to Medal---just getting the NAMES of the Medalists right---in whatever order!!
The one's I got all three (names!) right were (for the Women) the 5000, 3000SC 20K Walk, and the 4X400 Relay!
I scored 100% for the Men in the 400, 3000SC, and the PV!
On the actual Gold Medalist, I got 10 Men's Gold's right, and 8 Women's---if you believe Melissa Bishop won that 800!!
Best Shocking Result
This goes to Sara Kolak for her win in the JT!!
I'd never even heard of her before the Games---and NO ONE (prior to August 12th!) picked her---even for their Top 10 Formcharts!!
I'll give Michelle Carter's 6th round win in the SP over Valerie Adams Honorable Mention!!
Best Excuse for a Poor Performance
Jenn's Suhr's mysterious illness!
Just saw an update from Rick! They went directly to an ER on returning home, but found no specific disease!!
She's getting better, but says she's in no shape to perform!
But Rick said she had PLANNED on a post-OG meet!
Best Improvement
There's several this award could go to!
Wayde Van Niekerk, going from 43.48 to 43.03.
Ryan Crouser's massive SP's!
Almaz Ayana's 10K WR---about 50 seconds faster than her PR.
(Molly Huddle's 34 second PR!!)
But---I'm giving this one to Keturah Orji!!
She's young (20), a college student, and is an American in an event where Americans haven't been very good of late!
For breaking through to the 48 foot realm, this gal wins!!
Best Heat or Semi or Qualifying Round where the mark was better than in the final
Lalita Babar's 9:19.76 National Record for India in the Heats of the 3000SC!!
Should have saved something for the final!!
OK, time for the Best & Worst by Event Groups!!
Men first.
Best Sprint Event-----------400 (Obvious!)
Worst Sprint Event----------200 (Blah!)
Best Distance Event--------800 (Not London, but still the best!)
Worst Distance Event------1500 (Come on, guys, RUN!!)
Best Jumping Event--------PV (Good battle, and a super popular winner!!)
Worst Jumping Event------LJ (Where were those LONG Jumps???)
Best Throwing Event------SP (For Crouser, and for depth!)
Worst Throwing Event----HT (Fajdek missing from the final!)
Best Walking Event-------50000 (Lead changes and defeat of the WR holder!)
Best Relay------------------4X400 (Great depth, and a good race for Gold!)
And for the Women---
Best Sprint Event---------100 (Good times!)
Worst Sprint Event-------200 (Yeah, I know, it was good! But just not AS good as it could've been!!)
Best Distance Event-----10000 (Did you really have to ask??!!)
Worst Distance Event----1500 (Those Metric Mile folks need to learn how to run their event!!)
Best Jumping Event------LJ (Great competition! And good marks!)
Worst Jumping Event----HJ (Worst of the entire meet! See above!!)
Best Throwing Event----SP (An AR, and a shocking 6th round upset!!)
Worst Throwing Event--DT (Perkovic won. Ho hum.)
Worst (AND Best!) Relay-----4X100 (That solo time trial, and the finals result!! Oh, and the FUCK UP that led to all that!!)
And for Best Multi?
Close to a TIE!! But I'll give the edge to the Women's Heptathlon--for it being a good battle, and for the surprise winner!
If Ashton Eaton had BROKEN---instead of tied!--the MR, I might have given it to the Dec!!
Best NON-Medalist?
How about Bernard Lagat?
He placed 5th, but smashed his own Age 40 & Over record by about 8 seconds in the 5000!
Also goes to Molly Huddle's 6th place in THAT race---for her American Record, as well as the Age 31 record!
Best Uniforms
Great Britain!!
Loved the pictures on the jerseys!!
Much better than those dull one-color jobs!
Best Shove It Up the ASS of Nike and Rule 40
Goes to Emma Coburn, for her removing her NEW BALANCE shoes, draping them (tied together) over her shoulder, then doing her victory lap, American Flag waving in the breeze!!
Here's an easy one!
Worst Decision by the IAAF
Two of them, actually!
For Banning ALL Russians---including INNOCENT ones!!
(Except for Darya Klishina!)
And for allowing Caster Semenya, Francine Niyonsaba, and Margaret Wambui to compete!!
Best Moments that went Viral on the Internet, and around the World!
The Abbey D'Agostino and Nikki Hamblin Show!!
Such a sweet, wonderful, POSITIVE story!!
Also, the story behind Feyisa Lelisa's arm-crossing pose when crossing the Marathon finish line for the Silver!!
He's still in Brazil, hoping to go to the US, but still a "Man Without a Country"!!
Finally, the Marriage Proposal by Will Claye to Queen Harrison!
He'd just taken Silver in the TJ, then went to the stands, where long-time girlfriend Harrison was sitting!
He proposed---and she accepted!!
In relation to the above--
Best Mile Ever Run with Multiple Leg Injuries
To Abbey D, for her courageous and heartwarming finish to her 5K race!
She's headed to surgery, and possibly 6 months of recovery!!
Best Entertainers
Chaunte Lowe DANCED her way into my heart!!
She should go on DWTS!!
And her partner should be---
Usain Bolt!!
That man has MOVES!!
Best (or my Favorite!) Names
Besides that oldie, Mujinga Kambundji, I also like Dane Bird-Smith, the Brit who took the 20K Walk Bronze!!
Add Konstanze Klosterhalfen---aka KK---who's fast, is very pretty, AND has a great memorable name!!
Best Performance by a Teenager
Eliza McCartney, by at least 15 feet 9 inches!!
Tied her PR (and Age 19 record!), and won the Bronze!!
Ruth Jebet, for her 3000SC win!
She won Gold, and broke her own Age 19 record!!
Worst Nightmare Scenario on Speed-Dial
This "award" goes to the United States 4X100 Relay teams!!
The DQ's!
Then having to run a Time Trial.
Then being relegated to Lane One---the Worst lane for a sprinter!!
Word of Advice---
Watch the movie "Fast Girls" for some baton passing lessons!!
LOL
Best Book Title Brought to Life by its Author
This goes to Shalane Flanagan, who just had published her (& Elyse Kopecky's) cookbook---"Run Fast, Eat Slow".
Don't think she ate anything while racing to 6th place in the Marathon, but she sure did "Run FAST"!!
BTW, in its 1st week out, it made 143rd place on USA Today's "150 Best Selling Books" list!
And they begin a National Book-Signing tour soon!!
How about the Best Stoic Face After Smashing a WR??
Goes to Almaz Ayana!
She crosses the line, and only began smiling a minute or so later---when she got some cameras shoved in her face!!
(As opposed to Jenny Simpson going bonkers, screaming after winning the 1500 Bronze in a SLOW time!!)
Event with the Most Hyphenated Names
Easy!
The Heptathlon!
BTE, JEH, KJT, LIA, HMK, and GZF.
(Did I miss any??)
Worst Performance by the Crowds
BOOING Justin Gatlin and Renaud Lavillenie!!
Compare to Eugene, where the Duckies get the loudest cheers, but EVERYONE gets their due respect and love!!
Best Brazil Moment
Thiagi Braz Da Silva's shock win over Renaud Lavillenie in the PV!!
Stunned the crowd, and got the loudest & longest cheers!!
Worst Brazil Moment
The NO HEIGHT of Fabiana Murer---who was supposed to match what Da Silva did!!
And----
Best Unplanned Serendipitous Moment??
That my 300th (!!!) blog post was the one describing & detailing the Women's 10K!!
Which, as noted above, is also one of my personal favorites!!
See you all soon with some DL results!!
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