Polite trash talk from PM Trudeau:
Watching some of the Breaking right now, IMO this is way more physically impressive to watch than most of the Gymnastic events.
Very similar to the semifinal match against Australia. US led by two goals late in the fourth period, but Australia tied it and won in the shootout.
US had won the previous three gold medals.
Everyone was; they were 40-1 or 50-1 underdogs in every betting market.
I get the sense this was based on the individual runners and their recent 100m performances, which were not at the top of the field - no Canadian made the 100m final. But a relay is not just four guys running 100m; the baton handoffs are a huge, huge part of it, and even a small delay can cost you a medal. The difference between gold and fourth was .17 of a second, so the slightest technical hitch in a transfer and you lose.
Canada’s team is famously good at the transfer, and that almost certainly is why they won the gold in such a tight race. Great transfers can easily get you a half second over just good ones.
It might not even have been the fastest anchor leg in that race. De Grasse ran a great leg but he also had a head start on his competitors. Frustratingly, I can find no list of yesterday’s individual legs.
If so, that’s an indication that the bettors aren’t very smart, just focussing on the individual runners, and not a different, important part of the competition.
Perhaps after this event, where the US lost because of the poor transfer, they might start to take it into account.
Watching the women’s soccer gold medal match now. I don’t recall if it was WC or Olympics, but my main memories of the USA vs Brazil rivalry were Brazil beating the US badly after the coach inexplicably refused to play Hope Solo and Scurry gave up a bunch of really soft goals. Pretty sure Marta scored at least one of them.
Women’s soccer USA vs Brazil. This is what soccer is supposed to look like, Lots of skill and energy.
Yeah, intensive match so far. Brazil looking a notch better.
It’s not the first time this has happened. If they didn’t learn from it in the past, what makes you think they’ll learn from it this time?
They reportedly did spend some extra time practicing the transfer.
But there are of course nuances. The US is the only team that had competitors in the relay that had finalists in the individual 200m. And among the few teams that had different rosters between the first round and the finals (the women in the 4x100 used the same 4 all the way). Do you risk fatigue using the same sprinters? Or potentially not using your fastest runners by designating a team early on?
That’s no excuse, but it does mean they should consider how they approach the relay races in future.
The US front 3 seem to be a fair bit faster than the Brazil defense, but other than the one Swanson shot haven’t had the chance to show it much.
Germany has traditionally done well in the 4x100 m relay, especially the women, although we never stood a chance against the top sprinter nations like the USA, Jamaica, Great Britain and so on in terms of individual times. But the national teams use to practice the transfers meticulously, ad nauseam, before big events, and that often compensates for deficits in actual speed. And German commentators often have pointed out that the US teams use to neglect that practice. Maybe it has to do with how track and field is organized differently in both countries.
US hoping to survive until half time.
referees are old school. There aren’t going to be any academy awards given out for falling.
Yeah, a different ref awards Brazil a penalty and the US has a yellow for a professional foul. Could to take something serious to get a card out.
Surprised no changes for the US at half. Was expecting Lavelle.
Nice goal for the US and it was confirmed.
That’s a striker; wide open pass, but Swanson picked her corner and wasn’t going to do anything else.
Brazil falling apart a bit. Swanson (she might not be as fast as I though. Brazil RB just slow?) had another golden opportunity, Rodman maybe should have scored, and now consistent US pressure for the past 5 minutes.
I expected better visual compensation for the shadow.