Whew! US Boxers not shut out…

This about sums up US boxing this Olympics:

But there was one bright light.

Deontay Wilder versus Mohammed Arjaoui (Morocco) came down to acceptance points; Wilder got a huge assist from Arjaoui being assessed for a warning for keeping his head down (2 points for Wilder), and Wilder got the nod.

It was 23-22 on acceptance scores.

But that was the only bright spot for the US

there was acrimony, as a talented team continued to pick at its wounds for a final time before most of them head off in separate directions toward the pro ranks.

Much of the ire has been directed toward head coach Dan Campbell, with the entire U.S Boxing program also coming under attack.

Flyweight Rau’shee Warren, a pre-tournament favorite and world champion who lost in the first round, let rip at Campbell in an interview with Yahoo! Sports outside the venue on Sunday night.

Warren was furious that his coach, Mike Stafford, was only allowed to attend the residency program in Colorado Springs for two weeks over the past year, and insisted that both the program and Campbell’s methods had damaged his hopes of Olympic glory.

“I felt like the whole year away from home, my coach should have been there from the start to the end,” said Warren, who will now turn professional. “I feel like both the system and the coaching was to blame for what has happened. We were in camp for a year and just did the same basic thing over and over. It was limited.

“I felt like we didn’t get shown anything new and that if my coach was there he could have straightened me out.”

Welterweight world champion Demetrius Andrade lost to Kim Jungjoo of South Korea on Sunday and was another who refused to accept the total authority of Campbell.

Andrade regularly looked to his father, Paul, in the stands during the fight but also listened to Campbell in the corner between rounds.

“I hope the advice he was getting from me was the same as what he was getting in the corner,” said Paul Andrade. “I don’t know if it was, but I sure hope so because that is what was best for him.”

Andrade showed a high work rate yet was unable to close the gap on his opponent in the fourth and final round, losing 11-9.

“I combined both sets of advice I was getting,” Andrade said. “Sometimes I would use my father’s and sometimes from the corner. My father has been my coach ever since I was small, so I am always going to look to him first.”

Luis Yanez, a light flyweight, conflicted regularly with Campbell and totally ignored his advice during his defeat on Saturday.

The parents of medal contender Gary Russell Jr. were also highly critical of the coach after their son collapsed while attempting to make weight

For his part, Campbell believes parents, friends and personal coaches were too quick to “interfere” with the attempts to build a winning team, and that the fighters were too willing to listen to the noises from back home.

“A lot of guys reverted back to what they do domestically,” said Campbell. “That just doesn’t work here. They hear a lot of things from their personal coaches and people from home, and that kind of interference can cause a loss. I don’t blame anybody. There is a maturity process that has to happen. But most of the coaches have never been to an international event, let alone the Olympics. It causes problems. The kid gets caught in between.

“It is all about whether they can trust you. But nine times out of 10 they are going to go back to the guy they have always been with.”

Complaints about the scoring of the judges could not mask that this has been a truly woeful Olympics for the U.S. boxing team, regardless of whether Wilder goes on to win the gold.

Campbell claimed he was so frustrated with the external influences that he believes future U.S. squads may be better off not including the best fighters available but instead choosing lower-rated prospects who are more likely to listen to advice.

Ironically, Wilder is the only member of the squad whose personal coach, Jay Deas, stepped aside to let Campbell exert his full influence without compromise.

Wilder has boxed for just three years and insisted he was happy with both Campbell and the program. But he said his teammates “have their own opinions, and I respect that.”

As Wilder came through to talk to the media, his opponent, Mohammed Arjaoui, was in fits of tears a few yards away while being harangued by Moroccan television.

Wilder took a look at Arjaoui and the reporters trying desperately to get a legible response from him and gave a shrug that indicated his bemusement.

One of the more entertaining fights was between Rakhim Chakhkeiv of Russia and John MBumba of France. This slugfest (no finesse, few jabs) was 10-9 going into the final round; Chakhkeiv was nailed and took an 8 count only to comeback and take the lead.

In the final round, Chakhkeiv’s pressure finally wore MBumba down and overwhelmed him 8-0; it ended with an 8 count being issued to MBumba.

The medal fights in the heavyweight (91 kg) division should be very, very entertaining.

(photos from here)

Olympic thoughts: an Idea for Olympic Swimming?

1. I like CNBC’s boxing coverage. I hate the scoring system. I am enjoying the quarterfinal rounds as I type this.

The USA has not done well; it appears the coaches have no control over this team. As far as which punches score: the Cubans do awfully well; my guess is that they focus on throwing the type of punches that get credit. It appears to me that they rely on straight hands rather than looping ones.

In short, teams like Cuba have adjusted to the scoring system; their boxers throw punches that get counted. Teams like the USA have not adjusted; hence we are roadkill.

2. NBC’s regular coverage sucks. No, I don’t care if the athlete has a dog or a teddy bear. I tune in to watch sports. And, if I see more video of a certain swimmer’s mom, I’ll vomit.

No, I have nothing against the lady but I tune in to see swimming. 8 gold medals in one Olympics is exceptional (though there are other great performers as well). A doting mom is NOT exceptional.

3. Swimming: way too tilted toward the sprinters. How about adding a 800 for the men and a 1500 for the women? I love it that they added a 10K open water event.

And speaking of events: how about forming a 400 medley relay team to take on the Klingon team. Here is my line up:

Backstroke: Aaron Peirsol, United States

Breaststroke: Kosuke Kitajima, Japan.

Kitajima’s 400 medley leg still blew me away; he got Japan into the lead! This is one guy who dominates his event.

Butterfly: Michael Phelps, United States.

He won’t have to worry about the final touch on this team.

Freestyle: Alian Bernard, France.

Yes, he isn’t the world record holder, but he came through in the Olympic finals.

Wouldn’t it be fun to watch this relay team just torch the world record? But of course, they need someone to race against, so here is my team to push them to the limit.

This latter team matches the above team man to man, with the exception of the breaststroke slot.

Backstroke: Matt Grevers, United States

Breaststroke: Alexander Dale Oen, Norway.

Butterfly: Milorad Cavic, Serbia.

Let’s just say that this 100 fly leg is well matched.

Freestlye: Eamon Sullivan, Australia (world record holder, fastest time in 2008 Olympics)

Ok, which team would you bet on?

Sunday 17 August: 5K trial

I decided to do a 5K pool time trial today: the time was 1:37:11 (a bit off my best of 1:36:49) but I hung in there.

My splits: 9:11, 8:47, (17:59) 8:39, 8:32, (35:11) 8:42, 8:48, (52:43) 8:53, 8:53, (1:10:30) 8:51, 8:57, (1:28:19) 8:52

I then cooled down with 500 of different strokes.

Last year:
1:36:51 for 5500 yards; 1:14 at 4250; first 1000 was 18:06. (april 6)

1:36:49 for 5500 yards (PR). 1:14:32 at 4250 (ironman), slowest 500 was the first (9:08), then 8:49, 41, 42, 38, 38, 43, 46, 50, 53, 56. (march 11)

What happened is that I a swimmer jumped in my lane to split it (acceptable etiquette here) and I sped up to lap him as many times as I could. Note that this 1000 yards was faster than any other 1000 yard segment.

At times my mind wandered and I had to bring it back.

Afterwards, I walked 7 miles in beautiful sunshine; to be honest I’d almost rather have a bad weather day as good weather brings out the 10 mile per hour cyclists and the 20 minute a mile walkers who say “oh, Hiiiiiiii” at me when I am starting to hurt.

When I get tired, I get grumpy, though I think that I keep it to myself.

Last night, I enjoyed the women’s marathon.

BEIJING – The weather was a factor in the Olympic women’s marathon Sunday _ just not in the way the runners feared.
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Instead of muggy and pollution-choked air, the field raced 42 kilometers (26.2 miles) through the streets of China’s capital in conditions that gold medalist Constantina Tomescu-Dita of Romania glowingly described as giving her a boost.

If this was the first big track and field test of these Olympics, Beijing passed easily.

The 38-year-old Romanian won in 2 hours, 26 minutes, 44 seconds. Kenya’s Catherine Ndereba, the reigning world champion who entered as one of the favorites, finished in 2:27:06, one second ahead of China’s Zhou Chunxiu.

“The weather helped me a lot,” said Tomescu-Dita, the 2005 world championship bronze medalist who lives and trains in Boulder, Colorado. “I’m very happy because it’s not very, very hot.”

Injuries were a bigger factor than anything else.

World record-holder Paula Radcliffe of Britain had to stop several times to work out pain in her legs _ she decided to race in her fourth Olympics only earlier this week even though she’s recovering from a stress fracture in her thigh. She settled for 23rd place, nearly six minutes back.

They showed film clips of Radcliffe winning the New York Marathon and in those she looked downright emaciated (e. g., the way that good marathon runners look when they are in shape). But at the games, Radcliffe looked, well, maybe more like a fit 5000 meter runner (oh so slightly less emaciated).

The race for sliver was tight:

Tomescu-Dita entered the 91,000-seat Bird’s Nest to applause, but the crowd saved its loudest cheers for Zhou’s back-and-forth scramble with Ndereba for second.

They entered together and Zhou, seemingly propelled by the energy in the stadium, briefly pulled ahead. When Ndereba passed her in the final 50 meters, the crowd fell silent.

“My aim wasn’t to beat the Chinese or any other nationality,” said Ndereba, who won her second Olympic marathon silver in a row. “We were fighting at the finish line.”

Unfortunately, I missed the men’s 10,000 meter:

BEIJING (AP)—Kenenisa Bekele has successfully defended his Olympic 10,000 meters title in a games record, leading teammate Sileshi Sihine again in an Ethiopian 1-2 finish.

Bekele hit the front 450 meters from the finish Sunday and crossed in 27 minutes, 01.17 seconds to beat the record he set at Athens four years ago.

Sihine, who was second at the Athens Olympics and at the last two world championships, took silver at 27:02.77, and Kenya’s Micah Kogo won the bronze medal in 27:04.11.

Haile Gebrselassie, 35, who won the 10,000 at the 1996 and 2000 Games, faded to finish in sixth place. He switched to the marathon after the Athens Olympics, where he finished fifth in the 10,000, but opted against competing at the marathon in Beijing because of pollution concerns.

Photos from here.

Men’s 1500 meter swim final

What if I told you that Grant Hackett would swim a 14:38 and leave the 2008 games with the Olympic record? You’d say “oh, he won the gold”.

Well, that didn’t happen: he did swim well and won the silver medal, but the winner of the men’s 1500 meter swim gold medal is Oussama MELLOULI of Tunisia with a time of 14:40.84.

Hackett’s Olympic record of 14:38 was set in the preliminary round.

For the first two thirds of the race, Hackett and bronze medalist Ryan COCHRANE (Canada) stayed close and traded the lead; but at 1100 meters Mellouli made his move and opened a body length lead.

Hackett made up .2 seconds on the last 50 meters but it wasn’t enough and he finished in 14:41.53. He did hold off Cochrane (14:42.69) and Yuriy PRILUKOV of Russia 14:43.21.

Larsen Jensen swam well to finish 5′th in 14:48.16.

You can see the results with 50 meter splits here.

Note that Mellousi swam the last 500 meters in 4:50.43 and the last 400 in 3:51.59.

(photos from here)

Update: the last event (400 Medley Relay): USA, Australia and Japan (thanks Kitajima! ) The Japanese moved to first after the breast stroke leg but Phelps put the US in first after the butterfly leg.