Sunday, August 11, 2024

Day 17 and Closing Ceremony












The USA men's water polo team beat Hungary 11-8 for bronze. Ben Hallock lead team USA with 2 goals. Serbia wins gold by beating Croatia 13-11 to win gold. Croatia wins silver.

American Kennedy Blades wins silver by losing to Yuka Kagami of Japan 3-1 in women's freestyle wrestling 67kg final. Kagami wins gold. 

The USA women's volleyball team lost to Italy 3-0, 18-25, 20-25, 17-25 to win silver. Italy wins gold. Brazil beat Turkey 3-1 for bronze.

American Jennifer Valente wins gold in the cycling track omnium points race. Daria Pikulik of Poland wins silver and Ally Wollaston of New Zealand wins bronze.

Note: Final medal could change due to FIG error in scoring with Jordan Chiles who upon getting her score on women's floor exercise found the start value to be 1 tenth of a point lower, the USA appealed it and the judges gave her the 1 tenth of a point moving Jordan Chiles from 5th on floor to bronze medal - 3rd, passing Romania's Ana Barbosu who was originally supposed to win bronze. Romania appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport where they ruled Jordan Chiles may have to give back her bronze medal because the appeal was 4 seconds late. USA gymnastics have proof the appeal was made within 47 seconds, which is under the 1 minute time limit for raising an appeal. Updates may follow.

The USA women's basketball team hung on to beat France 67-66 to win gold. France wins silver. Australia beat Belgium 85-81 to win bronze.  Halftime score was 25-25 then France scores 10 points in a row in the 3rd quarter to make it 35-25 and the USA came back to erase that deficit. Second half margin for USA was between 1 and 3 points. The USA led 67-64 with 3 seconds left in the game and Gabby Williams of France tried for a 3 but had her foot on the line and banked in 2 points to make the final margin just 1 point and seal the win for Team USA. The USA shot just 34 percent for the game but held France to 32 percent shooting. A'ja Wilson led team USA with 21 points and 13 rebounds. Kelsey Plum and Kahleah Copper each scored 12 points for team USA.


Final Medal count as of 7 pm Eastern time

USA                 40 gold, 44 silver, 42 bronze - 126 total
China               40 gold, 27 silver, 24 bronze - 91 total
Great Britain   14 gold, 22 silver, 29 bronze - 65 total
France             16 gold, 26 silver, 22 bronze - 64 total
Australia         18 gold, 19 silver, 16 bronze - 53 total


Closing Ceremony:

A mix of high tech and French music highlighted the closing ceremony. It started with legend French swimmer Leon Marchland putting out the hot air balloon torch and taking the flame to Stade Paris. The French National Anthem was played The flag bearers from every nation entered, followed by all the athletes. American swimmer Katie Ledecky and rower Nick Mead were flag bearers. There was a high tech segment where the Olympic rings were raised from the floor of the stadium. Organizers showed the highlights of the games, followed by the French band Phoenix playing 1901. Then the Olympic flag was handed off to Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass Bass handed the Olympic Flag to Simone Biles. Paris 2024 organizer Tony Estanguet spoke followed by IOC President Bach. The French band Her sang the Star Spangled Banner. Tom Cruise appeared at the top of the stadium with "Mission Impossible" theme played and dropped into the stadium. Simone Biles handed Tom Cruise the Olympic flag, then Tom Cruise rode off on a motorcycle with the Olympic Flag flying in the back. The motorcycle took Tom Cruise to a plane to the USA where Tom Cruise skydived out of the plane. Then the Olympic Rings were fastened to the Hollywood sign.  USA sprinter Michael Johnson took the flag and handed it off to USA skateboarder Jagger Eaton people were running with the Olympic Flag. Then in Long Beach, California the California band the Red Hot Chili Peppers were in concert along with Billie Eilish, Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre. The venue switched from Los Angles to Paris where IOC President Bach declared the games closed. My Way was sung by French Singer Yseult and fireworks went off at the top of the stadium as the closing ceremony ended live at 6;07pm.

An excellent closing ceremony! Looking forward to Los Angeles 2028.



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