Highlights!

Anika: Artistic Gymnastics! Nothing more needs to be said , really, it was an amazing week of gymnastics for both the men and women of international elite gymnastics. Simone Biles is the most amazing athlete I’ve ever seen, to be so much better than everyone at everything, she’s phenomenal, and incredibly charming:

The rest of the USA Women’s gold medal team are also just So Amazing. I’m thrilled for Madison’s, Aly’s, and Laurie’s individual silver medals, each an amazing achievement, and Aly’s triumphant return to the All Around competition was a highlight of my highlights.

But then there’s all the other women! In a sport historically dominated by the US, Russia, China, and Romania, medalists include Giulia Steingruber of Switzerland, Sophie Scheder of Germany, Sanne Wevers of the Netherlands, and Amy Tinkler of Great Britain. The women of Japan placed fourth in the team competition and celebrated like they’d won gold. Gymnasts from India, Brazil, and Venezuela finished in the top six. Everyone everywhere knew the US Women and Simone Biles were going to win everything and yet it was the most exciting competition to watch in years. And my favorite gymnast of all time, Aliya Mustafina of Russia, returned to successfully defend her All Around bronze, Team silver, and Uneven Bars gold.

Meanwhile then men’s competition was nail-bitingly dramatic. All Around Gold Medalist Kōhei Uchimura of Japan remains King but Ukraine’s Oleg Yuriyovych Vernyayev made sure he earned it and Great Britain’s Max Whitlock pushed them both. Plus Oleg and Max both earned their own individual gold medals and King Kohei finally won a Team Gold.

Sam: Martial arts! Combat sports! Whatever they’re called! I watch a little of everything in the Summer Olympics, but I look the most forward to Fencing, Judo, Tae Kwon Do and Wrestling. The US women were great across all those sports (Fencing and TKD a little less so) and also in Boxing, where Claressa Sheilds won her second gold medal (as Kayla Harrison did in Judo).  I don’t love Boxing as much as the other combat sports, but I do love watch Claressa Sheilds do her thing.

Combat sports are so typically male-dominated in the mainstream view that it’s nice to see women recognized by the media for the amazing feats of athleticism that they pulled off. And it wasn’t just the US Women that made these sports exciting. The wrestler Sakshi Malik won the first medal of the games for her country, India, and is only the fourth woman from the country to get any medal at all.

I was also excited to see Rugby in the games, and I watched way more Diving than I ever have before. That was super fun.

Lowlights!

Anika: Media coverage of these Olympic Games was terrible. It’s actually always terrible but this time it was needlessly cruel, overtly sexist, and the worst sin of all in sports entertainment: BORING. I gave up on prime time coverage after three days. And I don’t have cable so I could barely watch the live streams. Instead I refreshed twitter and tumblr to discover what was happening as it happened and then went to watch the clips on youtube after the fact. That was better than watching NBC’s hatchet job of footage and results in the evening. The amazing competitions in Men’s Artistic Gymnastics I mention above? NBC aired none of it because the Americans didn’t medal.

And of course, there’s this guy:

But he doesn’t deserve any more of our attention.

Sam: I’m sort of at the point where I like to pretend that the US Women’s Soccer Team just decided not to go to Rio at all. That Sweden game was so frustrating to watch, Sweden’s defense absolutely played the best strategic game (I understand Solo’s now-infamous comments, even if I don’t think they were appropriate… but also no worse than what a lot of ball players say after matches in major sports here… but also I digress). It really took a lot of my enthusiasm out of the games. On one hand, it’s exciting to see the women’s soccer world shaken up a bit (Germany won the gold?!) but on the other, women’s soccer is one of the few things where I’m super attached to our national team.

Spotlights!

Anika: Puerto Rico’s Monica Puig won Gold in Tennis and I cried with her.

The Bronze Medalist USA Women’s Fencing Team includes a Muslim who competed in a hajib and a Polish immigrant.

“I’m actually glad that we have such a diverse team because we are America,” Wozniak said. “This is sport. It doesn’t matter what hair color you have or what religion you are. The point is to go out there and be the best athlete that you can be and I think we’re the best explanation of what America is – a mix of so many different cultures and races.” (USA Fencing)

Sam: LESLIE JONES.  I’m sort of anti the whole “USA RULES EVERYTHING EVER” nationalism that can be brought out in even the best people during the Olympics, but her enthusiasm made some events I normally don’t like as much (track, beach volleyball) way more entertaining.

Basically the internet made most of the awful Olympics coverage bearable.

Bright lights, big city!

Anika: I think Rio pulled it off, but it’s very clear at this point that the Olympics are kinda destructive to the host city/nation. I think the IOC needs to revisit the model. But I respected Rio’s Opening Ceremony, and of course the scenery was stunning throughout.

Sam: Yeah, I simultaneously felt happy for Rio and concerned about everything happening around/outside the games… and what the future holds. I saw a recent picture of old Athens Olympic venues from 2004 being used to house refugees and I just felt like that was such a perfect, sad representation of our modern world.

Final Lights Thoughts

Anika: Eythora Thordottir should CLEARLY be a part of the MCU.

Sam: I AM SO EXCITED FOR TOKYO 2020