The Starting Five

(Getty Images)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

New world-record holders of the 4 x 100 relay event

The Games of the XXX Olympiad began with the anticipation of Michael Phelps becoming the most decorated Olympic athlete ever and concluding with Usain Bolt appropriately anointing himself as a legend for all time and LeBron James cementing himself as the best player in the world.

In between those watershed moments, the women athletes of the United States were the story of the 2012 London Olympics.

(Kyle Terada/US Presswire)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The U.S. women also sprinted to gold in the 4×400 relay

The female contingent of athletes from the United States could stand on their own in the Rio Games in 2016.

They were that dominant.

The women captured 58 medals of the 104 total medals won by the United States including 29 of  46 gold medals. Their total medal count was more than every country combined with the exception of China and Great Britain.

Whether is was on land or sand, court or clay, the women of the United States flexed their muscles to the tune of world records and unprecedented performances. In my opinion, the most impressive feat was accomplished by the women’s 4×100 relay team that scorched a world record that stood for 27 years.

The team of Allyson Felix, Carmelita Jeter, Tianna Madison and Bianca Knight shattered the previous record of 41.37 seconds set by the German team in 1985 by finishing the heat in 40.82 seconds. The race ended with Jeter pointing at the clock symbolically announcing the arrival of a new world record. The victory gave the United States consecutive golds in that event for the first time since the 1996 Games. The women also won gold in the 4×400 relay and in several individual events.

There was the dominance of the Williams Sisters on the clay as Serena would win the women’s singles gold and pair with sister Venus to win the doubles gold medal.

Gabrielle Douglas surpassed expectations leading the women’s gymnastics team to a team gold before winning the women’s individual all-around competition. Douglas was the sweetheart of these Olympics and the new face of U.S. women’s gymnastics.

U.S. women’s soccer won their third consecutive gold medal defeating Japan 2-1 in a thrilling match. The U.S. women’s swim team, like their track counterparts set a new world record in the 4×100 medley. In the individual events, the women tallied six gold medals.

Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh Jennings completed an unprecedented gold medal three-peat in women’s Beach Volleyball. The women’s Water Polo team also won gold.

(ESPN.com)

The most forgone of conclusions during these Olympic Games

The invincibility of the women’s basketball team was clear heading into the games, the only question heading into each of their games was, “By how many?”. The women responded by a margin of more than 35 points per game ending the games with their fifth consecutive gold and 41 straight wins. Setting a bar that may not be approached, let alone equaled.

The most shocking development and biggest disappointment of the Games was the U.S. men’s boxing team’s failure to medal for the first time in their history.

Not so for the women.

(Yahoo.com)

Shields is a block in a building women’s boxing program

Middleweight Clarissa Shields (17 years old) and flyweight Marlen Esparza won the gold and bronze medal in their respective weight classes to save the boxing team from being completely shut out. Women’s boxing made its debut in these Olympics and the United States has a great building block in Shields. Expect an overhaul of the men’s program as the current point system will be replaced with a pro scoring system. There is also the possibility of headgear being removed. I don’t believe that proposal will build enough backing to be passed.

In the year that we celebrate the 40th anniversary of Title IX, the banner year of the female athlete continues.

Congratulations Ladies. Sisters/Sistahs are doing it for themselves.

The Lineup:

Beware of the hype (Salon.com).

Jarrett Adams was falsely jailed for 7 years awarded law scholarship (Innocence Project).

Here is your list of 2012 Presidential Candidates (Mother Jones).

NFL’s worst kept secret, the Jets using the Wildcat offense (Pro Football Talk).

Stan Van Gundy blames Magic brass, not Howard (Real GM).

Miami Dolphins cut Chad Johnson (Wild Thing Football).

Best catch I’ve seen in a long time (Yahoo).

Lil’ Kim does an essay for Ebony (Ebony).

Spike Lee says we expected too much from President Obama too soon (Vibe).

Occupy the corners to end gun violence (Black America Web).

 

Right on time for the Ladies…

This entry was posted on Monday, August 13th, 2012 at 2:44 pm and is filed under Blogroll. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.