Today was an incredible day of drama at the 2012 Summer Olympic Games in London. From Alex Morgan's 122nd minute header to Kirani James winning the first medal in tiny Grenada's history, today was an unbelievable day in the United Kingdom. There were a few events that I want to delve a little deeper into and that really caught my attention today. Those include both the women's soccer semifinals, the men's trap final, the 400 meter men's final, and the USA men's basketball team taking on Argentina.
The women's soccer semifinals were both sights to see on this Monday in both London and Manchester. The first semifinal pitted France against the reigning World Cup champion Japan. Japan took a fairly early lead with a goal from Yuki Ogimi in the 32nd minute and then another from Mizuho Sakaguchi in the 49th minute. France appeared under duress, but combatted with a 76th minute goal from Eugenie le Sommer. It was a beauty and it looked like the French might have found an edge. Almost immediately after the first French goal, in the 79th minute, Mizuho Sakaguchi committed a foul inside the box and France was looking at a penalty kick for the tie. Elise Bussaglia missed the penalty and from then on out it was France attacking voraciously with no avail. The Japanese would come out on top and earn a spot into the gold medal game. The second semifinal was played between the border rivals in North America, Canada and the United States. Before the game Canada's coach, John Herdman, had called out the Americans for playing a dirty style of football and he wanted to make it clear that his team would not put up with it. Canada would go on to play by far its best game of the tournament and would see Christine Sinclair rack up a hat trick with goal in the 22nd, 67th, and 73rd minutes. The United States would get two goals from Megan Rapinoe in the 54th and 70th minutes and would also add another from Abby Wambach on a penalty shot to even the score in the 80th minute. Alex Morgan's game winning 122nd minute header will always go down in history as one of the greatest uses of the head in United States Women's Soccer Olympic history. In a rematch of the World Cup, Japan and the United States will be facing off on August 8 for the gold medal.
The men's trap final was a pressure packed affair with Giovanni Cernogoraz of Croatia taking home the gold medal in the end. At 29, he was by far the youngest competitor who had made it this far in the competition and broke down in tears when he realized he would be fighting for the gold. His opponent was Massimo Fabbrizi of Italy who was the defending world champion. Cernogoraz put on an incredible display of courage and held together very well for only a 29 year old in his first Olympics. This really impressed me and showed me what the Olympics is really about.
Kirani James is only 19 years old and hails from the tiny Caribbean island of Grenada. His country had never won an Olympic medal let alone an Olympic gold and that was his goal from day one. He was already a hero in his native country yet after today's win, he will forever go down in history as the first Grenadian to win an Olympic gold. He bested Luguelin Santos of the Dominican Republic by .52 seconds and broke the 44 second threshold with a time of 43.94. James had shown an act of kindness when he traded bibs with Oscar Pistorius of South Africa after their semifinal race yesterday.
The last topic I want to touch on is the United States men's basketball team's last pool game against Argentina. Without Pablo Prigioni, Argentina put up a valiant fight but ended up falling pretty short losing 126-97 to the Yanks. There was a little bit of barking going on between Carmelo Anthony and Facundo Campazzo and between Luis Scola and Coach K. This could add some drama to a possible semifinal rematch between the two teams. If Prigioni comes back healthy you never know. Argentina is really solid with Manu Ginobili and Carlos Delfino on the wings and Scola down low. This could be an interesting storyline to follow over the next few days and I will definitely keep tabs.
Tomorrow should be another action packed day and I'm excited to continue experiencing a brilliant Olympic Games so far.
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