Olympic Thoughts - Parte Dois

And my last thoughts about the Rio Olympics....

• I think that the swimming competition is still going on!
• Speaking of swimming; lessoned to be learned from Ryan Lochte for all high school and college athlete (especially college athletes) - Tell the truth the 1st time asked, no matter how dumb/stupid/embarrassed/expensive/consequences/repercussions may be.  College age kids do stupid stuff but when they lie about it, try to cover it, it only makes things much much worse because, and tell this to your daughter/son...the coach always finds out.
• Usain Bolt is one fast human...3rd Olympics and still no other runner is within leaning distance of him at the finish.
• Speaking of Track - Strange to see the stands with so many open seats; the track venue used to packed for every event at the Olympics. As I wrote in my 1st Olympic Post, me thinks the combination of ticket prices and the Brazilian economy has kept the locals away.
• And now volleyball..
• A bit of a down year for the US Volleyball continent overall.
• Men's Beach made the Quarterfinals but did not seem a credible threat for a medal.
• Women's Beach got the Bronze, but could well be seen as a let down down after the Gold Medal expectations of Jennings and Ross.  The other USA team did not win a match in their Rio trip.
• Tough loss for the Women's Indoor team - 13-15 in the 5th, and after being up late in the game.  
• Can't miss serves late in the 5th game; beyond the free point for the other team, a missed serve late can just jilt the momentum of the team pushing to finish.
• Honestly, and please don't hate on your favorite volleyball website for writing this, Serbia as a nation will appreciate their win more than the USA would have.  
• Serbia has 7 million people and volleyball is a primary sport of their country; their populace will remember a Gold/Silver for generations and cherish this team as heroic.  A USA Gold would have been forgotten the opening weekend of the college football season.
• Speaking of population (I obviously like using "Speaking of" in this post) - China should be the Olympic Gold Medalist and World Champion each competition.
• Congrats to the USA Men's team for rallying; better to lose early than lose late!  
• There have been some individual acts of violence against athletes (robberies, assaults) but nothing massive or comprehensive has occurred in the Rio games.  Good for everyone involved and good for the country of Brazil.
• Men's basketball is on a different planet of support - I saw a brief spot about the Men's team on a NBC piece and they have taken over the Flamingo Sports Club gym (famous sports club in Rio with very good volleyball program and I have been in the gym they are using).  Not only are they using the gym, they put up massive banners, sign boards, huge wall banners and floor signs all saying USA Basketball and Good Luck.  It looked like a USA Basketball practice facility in the states; I could barely see anything that said Flamingo.  
• I don't know what is more motivating to get in better physical condition - Seeing the world's best athletes going full tilt (unleash your inner Olympian) or watching all the pharmaceutical commercials with their listing of side effects.
• Great Britain is top 3 in the medal count - Hanging with the massive populations of USA, China and Russia!
• There should be a Big Spash competition in the High Dive; I would definitely watch that.