2012 Olympics Watch-Mixed News Day For The Williams Sisters

Yesterday in the Olympic tennis tournament being played at the All England Club was a mixed bag news day for my favorite tennis playing siblings.

Venus was in a third round match with Germany's Angelique Kerber, but had a bad day and it cost her as she lost 6-7(5-7),6-7(5-7) to end her chance to win the London singles gold medal   .

Big Sis had a 5-4 lead in the first set against Kerber with triple set point but failed to convert them and ended up in a tiebreaker.  She had a 5-1 lead at one point in the first set tiebreaker but lost six consecutive points to lose the tiebreaker and the first set.  .

Venus regrouped and charged out to a 3-1 second set lead but Kerber charged back to eventually force another tiebreaker and win the match.   Venus' usually reliable serve took a vacation at the wrong time as well double faulting twice in the second tie breaker to set Kerber up with match point..

“I made a few errors and she hit a few winners, and things can go quickly in tennis,” Williams said.

Her quest for a fourth tennis gold medal is still alive because she and Little Sis are still in the mix for a repeat doubles title.

Speaking of fourth seeded Little Sis, she had a better day.  The roof was closed on Centre Court and that was bad news for her opponent, Russia's Vera Zvonareva.  Serena took only 51 minutes to execute a dominating 6-0, 6-1 win in which she unleashed 12 aces on Zvonareva and hit 32 winners to move to the quarterfinals.   

Serena faces eight seeded Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark later today and then teams with Big Sis to play a doubles quarterfinal match with the number 2 ranked Italian duo of Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci.

TransGriot Update: Serena knocked off Caroline Wozniacki 6-0,6-3 to get to the semifinals against Victoria Azarenka of Belarus

2012 Olympic Watch-USA Women's Teams Continue To Win

In this Olympic Games which is being contested during the 40th anniversary year of Title IX, it's been interesting to note how well the USA women's team sports are doing vis a vis their male counterparts.  

This is the first ever USA Olympic team that has more female than male competitors, and one of the reasons for it was there were American women's teams that qualified for field hockey and soccer and our men's teams fell short of doing so.

That's a nice segue into doing some updates on how the various women's team sports are doing.  

The USA women's soccer team clinched Group G with a 1-0 over North Korea at Manchester United's  iconic home park of Old Trafford thanks to Abby Wambach's 141st international goal in the 25th minute and her seventh in Olympic play.   It was the first women's soccer match played there in 23 years and going into the match Team USA already had their August 3 quarterfinal spot clinched due to their two wins over France and Colombia    It was just a matter of whether they would do so as group champs or the runner ups..

They will play New Zealand in Newcastle in that quarterfinal knockout round match Friday. 

At 'The Mattress', AKA the Basketball Arena the USA women rolled to a 90-38 win over Angola to go to 2-0 in Group A play and take their Olympic winning streak to 35 games. 

The Angolans stayed close to Team USA in the first quarter and were only trailing by 10 points until Team USA went on a 11-0 run that broke the game open along with holding Angola to only six points in the second quarter to take a 41-18 halftime lead.

Team USA outscored Angola 28-11 in the third quarter thanks to 8-0 and 12-0 runs and by the time they reached the 4:06 mark all eleven available players had scored.  Sylvia Fowles didn't play in this game and next up is Turkey at 4:15 PM CDT.

Over at Earl's Court, the USA women's volleyball team is still rolling along unbeaten in Pool B play as well.  They knocked off number 2 ranked Brazil in four sets 25-18, 25-17, 22-25, 25-21 to go 2-0 in pool play and now face number 3 ranked and unbeaten 2-0 China for the outright lead.   

2012 Olympics Watch-Great Day For The Williams Sisters

It was a great day at the All England Club for the Williams Sisters in the London Olympic tennis tournament and a bad one for their haters.  

Venus Williams got her quest for a fourth overall Olympic tennis gold medal started properly by taking only 63 minutes to beat ninth seeded Sara Errani of Italy in straight sets 6-3, 6-1 in her first round match that was postponed a day due to Sunday's heavy rain. 

She faces Canada's Aleksandra Wozniack in a second round match that will determine whether she joins Serena in the round of 16.

Just to remind y'all, Big Sis was the 2000 Olympic singles champ at the Sydney Games in addition to capturing the Olympic doubles titles with Little Sis in 2000 and 2008.

Speaking of Little Sis, Serena Williams took only one hour and 13 minutes to win in straight sets her second round match with Poland's Urszula Radwanska 6-2, 6-3.   Fourth seeded  Little Sis wasn't playing with Agnieszka's baby sis in this match.  She served up 8 aces and hit 26 winners to complete to her July sweep of the Radwanska sisters and move on to play Russia's Vera Zvonareva in the Round of 16. 

Serena beat Zvonareva for the 2010 Wimbledon ladies' singles title, just you give you haters something else to chew on. .

My fave tennis playing siblings then headed to Court 2 a few hours later and successfully got their quest for a third Olympic doubles title off to a winning start.   They opened the defense of the Beijing doubles title by beating the Romanian duo of Sorana Cirstea and Simona Halep 6-3, 6-2 to advance to their second round doubles match versus fifth seeded Angelique Kerber and Sabine Lisicki of Germany.

TransGriot Update: Venus Beat Wozniack 6-1, 6-3 to move to the round of 16 and face Angelique Kerber of Germany.

more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2012/07/30/4674900/williams-sisters-win-opening-olympic.html#storylink=cpy

2012 Olympics Watch-USA Women's B-Ballers Take On Angola

The USA women's basketball team gets their second Group A game at the Basketball Arena that has been dubbed 'The Mattress' (for the way it looks from the outside) when they take on Angola later today.

While the Angolan men have long been dominant on the FIBA Afrobasket scene and perennial Olympic qualifiers, they surprisingly didn't make it to London this year, but the Angolan women did. . 

This is the first ever international competition ever for the Angolan women, and they will have their hands full trying to play with the four time defending gold medalists and the FIBA world number one ranked USA squad coming off a sloppy (for them) win on Saturday versus a scrappy Croatia squad.

That means look out, Team USA will probably be focused from the opening tipoff of this game.

Team USA will be focused on the tasks of keeping  their Olympic win streak alive and stretching it to 35 consecutive wins since the 1996 Atlanta Games, keep an unblemished record in Group A play, and making sure they improve on Saturday's game.

Should be fun to watch at 4:15 CDT to see if they accomplish all three tasks.

The Olympian I Know

I look forward to watching the Olympics and  rooting for the athletes representing my country and others in various sports  

The intensity and interest goes up another notch when you actually have a personal connection with the person you're watching compete for Olympic glory

When I first started watching my then roommate pick up a sabre and start participating in various fencing tournaments inside the Kentucky Division and the Great Lakes Region, in the process of supporting my homegirl Dawn I got to meet some of the wonderful people who are part of US Fencing in that part of the world.

In addition to meeting the families, parents and friends of fencers, the 'Baby Vets' and the 'Senior Mama's, the gang at LFC, Maestro Stawicki, various officials and referees in US fencing, I also got to meet some of the up and coming US fencers when I was the announcer for the Super Youth Regional tourney that was held in Louisville in 2010.  

One of the fencing families I got to know during my time in Kentucky were the Kiefers.  Lee, her sister Alex and her baby brother are all foil fencers and pretty darned good ones.   Lee was already fencing on the international cadet level when I met them and their proud parents a few years ago.

When Dawn and I used to discuss Lee's tremendous talent or her  chances to be on or selected for a USA Olympic fencing team, we never used the word 'if' when discussing her, but 'when'  

Dawn and I along with everyone else in the Kentucky Division expected her to be in London, and here she is competing at age 18 with a 2011 Pan Am Games gold medal and a raft of cadet and junior championship medals in hand.  She also has the distinction of being only the second American woman to ever earn a medal at the senior World Fencing Championships when she picked up a bronze last October. . 

Lee made it to the quarterfinals of her first Olympic foil tournament before being ousted by the eventual silver medalist Arriana Errigo of Italy.   Lee is also a smart, super sweet person in addition to having serious fencing ability and talent.

I was up early to watch her match yesterday morning, and while I was sad she fell just short of the medal round, she made some fencing history in the process.  I have no doubts I will be seeing her again in Rio four years from now and she'll be standing on the medal platform when she competes in that 2016 tournament.

She still has the team foil event to go in a few days (August 2), so if things break her way, she may head back to Kentucky with a London Olympic medal after all.   

Congrats Lee.  It's an honor to have a personal connection with an Olympic athlete and know firsthand the levels of hard work, determination and effort it took for you to be standing on that London Olympic strip.

I'm one more person who is immensely proud of you

2012 Olympics Watch-Great Day For USA Women's Olympic Sports Teams

Saturday was the first official day of competition of the 2012 London Games and to paraphrase an old Ice Cube rap song, today was a good day for the USA's women's Olympic sports teams. 

The USA women's basketball team started on the road to a fifth consecutive gold medal by getting Group A pool play started in the Basketball Arena with an 81-56 win over a scrappy Croatia team that has been zooming up the FIBA basketball rankings lately.

Croatia trailed 11-4 after the first quarter but sloppy USA play, early shooting woes and turnovers kept Croatia close.  Croatia started lighting it up from three point range in the second quarter after attempting and failing to score inside and were rewarded with a shockingly brief second quarter lead and visions of a ginormous upset dancing in their heads until Diana Taurasi launched back to back threes of her own that gave Team USA a narrow 31-28 halftime lead.

Team USA went to work expanding that narrow lead to a six point cushion by the end of the third quarter thanks to Angel McCoughtry coming off the bench to provide an offense and defensive spark.

A 16-0 fourth quarter run secured their 34th consecutive win in Olympic b-ball play since the 1996 Atlanta Games.   Next up is Angola, and you can bet Team USA will be ready for that game.

While the USA roundballers were getting their Olympic pool play wakeup call,  the Team USA soccer players were in Glasgow, Scotland's Hampden Park playing in a rough and tumble match with a scrappy Colombia that featured 30 fouls and goals from Megan Rapinoe, Abby Wambach and Carli Lloyd.

Wambach's goal in the 74th minute was her 140th career international one and her sixth in Olympic play to pass Mia Hamm and Tiffeny Milbrett on the USA all time Olympic goal scoring list.

The had fought 3-0 win guaranteed that Team USA would make it to the quarterfinals, and they can capture Group G with a win or draw against North Korea at Old Trafford in Manchester, England on July 31.

The world number one ranked USA women's indoor volleyball team is attempting to win our first ever Olympic gold medal.  

They got their Olympic tournament started at Earl's Court in a positive manner with a 3-1 Group B win over South Korea and a dominating performance by Destinee Hooker.  

Team USA took the first two sets by 25-19 and 25-17 scores before the South Koreans clawed their way back into the match by taking the third set 25-20.  Team USA regrouped and with the score at 15-14 in that fourth set went on a 7-1 run to take a 22-15 lead to put them on the way to clinching the set and eventually a hard fought 25-21 win  


Their next Group B match will be on July 30 against number two world ranked Brazil.  Like Team USA, Brazil is considered a gold medal favorite and have been traditionally strong in the sport.   Brazil held the FIVB number one world ranking for four years until the USA took it over at the end of 2011.

After the July 30th volleyball tussle with Brazil Team USA has matches remaining with China, Serbia and Turkey and must finish in the top four teams in their group to move on to the medal round.

But Saturday was a great step in the right direction for the USA women volleyballers and the other USA women's team sports that have gold medal dreams.
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2012 Olympics Watch-Yo Haters, Serena Wins First Round Olympic Singles Match

The 2012 London Olympics tennis tournament got started at the All-England Club with an unusual sight. color.   It is the tennis venue for these Games, and the usual mostly all white clothing rule has been waived.

Not only did the players take advantage of it by wearing clothing in their national colors, the Wimbledon courts were decorated with the purple colors and bunting of the London Games.

But since this is 'Williams'-don, one thing didn't change.  This is still Serena Williams' house, and the 2012 Wimbledon singles and defending 2008 Olympic gold doubles champ sent that message loud and clear while First Lady Michelle Obama was watching the action from the front row of Serena's box.  

The best server in women's tennis has it dialed in once again.  The fourth seeded Little Sis hit eight aces, lost  only 10 service points and faced no break points in beating Jelena Jankovic of Serbia in straight sets 6-3, 6-1.   She got her pursuit of her first Olympic singles medal off to a rousing start and advanced to her second round match against Urszula Radwanska sf Poland.   Yep, she's the sister of Agnieszka Radwanska, who Little Sis beat in the 'Williams'-don singles final a few weeks ago.

Speaking of sisters, Venus Williams will take on Italy's Sara Errani in her first Olympic singles match July 29   My fave tennis playing siblings and reigning 2012 Wimbledon doubles champs will also begin the pursuit of their second consecutive Olympic doubles title on July 29 with their opening match against Romania's Sorana Cirstea and Simona Halep

2012 Olympics Watch-The Games Open

After the spectacular opening ceremony Beijing pulled off four years ago, the world was watching to see what London would do when it was their turn to host the Games for a record third time. 

Well, it was spectacular.  It weaved in elements of British history, culture and iconic images from Mary Poppins to James Bond and Queen Elizabeth II.  

And yeah Beijing, you didn't have JK Rowling, Sir Paul McCartney, the Beatles or Soul 2 Soul's 'Back 2 Life' as part of the music track.

Did I mention the image of the Queen and James Bond skydiving from a helicopter over the stadium?

The torch lighting even had London homeboy David Beckham involved. 
He drove a speedboat up the Thames to his old neighborhood where the Olympic Park now stands

Yeah London, you definitely get two thumbs up for that opening ceremony and the interesting way you lit the torch.   Now it's time to settle in and watch the competition over the next two weeks.

USA Women's B-Ballers Playing For Respect

The USA women's basketball team has won four consecutive gold medals, is ranked number one in the FIBA world rankings, are the FIBA world champions, have won 33 straight games in Olympic competition going back to the 1996 Atlanta Games are heavily favored to take an unprecedented fifth one here in London but get no love at home compared to the men.

But on the TransGriot electronic pages, they will.

"I think it's funny," Diana Taurasi said. "We're a team that's won four gold medals in a row and yet we're still fighting for respect in our own country. I think it's a little sad. That's a heck of a motivator for all of us in the gym. Our level is so high, it becomes normal and even to the public `it's they should win the gold medal. If they don't it's a terrible year."

USA Head Coach Geno Auriemma also wants to make it a big deal

"If we win another gold medal it's not going to be a huge story," he said in an ESPN interview. "I want to make it a huge story because the respect that Dee's talking about that these kids deserve for having done what they've done and been able to do it the way they do it should be appreciated. Greatness should be appreciated and not taken for granted.

"People take us for granted."

Some US fans may take a 'ho hum, they're supposed to win' attitude toward the women ballers, but their opponents definitely don't.  They get their opponents A game every time they play, and they still since 1996 have only had one team come within single digits of them during this historic run.

The Team USA average margin of victory during this streak has been 29 points, and the only blemish in international competition since 1996 was a 75-68 semifinal loss in the 2006 FIBA Women's World Championships in Brazil against Russia

This team is also experienced.  It's funny to think of Maya Moore, Asjha Jones, Tina Charles, Lindsay Whalen and Angel McCoughtry as rookies on this 2012 Olympic squad but that's exactly what they are since this is their first Olympics even though they have years of international basketball playing time under their belts.

For example, Maya Moore has been involved in USA basketball since she was 17, and has won international titles as a member of the FIBA U-19, World University Games, and FIBA world championship teams.  Now she gets an opportunity to add an Olympic gold medal to that list.

You also add these Olympic rookies to a team that has veteran Olympic ballers such as Sylvia Fowles, Seimone Augustus, Sue Bird, Swin Cash, Tamika Catchings, Diana Taurasi and Candace Parker and it's going to be a fun one to watch.

They start Olympic Group A play July 28 against a Croatian team that has been surging in the FIBA women's ranking lately, then face Angola on Monday, July 30, Turkey on Wednesday, August 1, a 2010 FIBA world championship game rematch with the Czech Republic on August 3 and close out group play on
Sunday, August 5 with China.

The Drive For Five and the respect of the American sporting public begins after the Olympic flame is lit.later today.

Why I Love The Olympic Games

"The most important thing is not to win but to take part, just as the most important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle. The essential thing is not to have conquered, but to have fought well."  Pierre De Coubertin

Tomorrow I get to park in front of the television and watch the opening ceremonies.herald the start of another Olympic Games.

Ever since the Grenoble winter games of 1968 and the summer ones in Mexico City later that year I have looked forward to watching the Olympiads and their drama filled stories unfold.

I love the opening ceremonies and how each host nation puts their interpretation on it.  I love the Olympic flame eventually being lit and discovering along with everyone else in the stadium what Olympic athlete from the host nation's Olympic sporting past gets the honor of doing so.

Conversely, when the two to three weeks of competition is over, I'm a little sad when the Olympic flame gets extinguished because it means it'll be another four years before the world gathers again for summer (or winter games) competition.

I like watching the various competitions in sports I rarely see on television such as fencing, team handball, archery, and countless others being contested on an Olympic stage. 

The ones I do get to watch on a regular basis such as basketball, soccer, boxing and athletics take on another high stakes meaning when the competing teams are playing for not only national pride, but to stand on the highest step of the Olympic victory platform and hear their nation's national anthem played with a gold medal around their neck.

There are all the dramatic storylines that develop during the various Olympic competitions that play our during that Olympiad.   You'll have the athlete who need the performance of a lifetime to win a medal and does just that..  The person who comes seemingly out of nowhere to become the Olympic champion.  The favorite who stumbles just short of Olympic glory.   The team that fails to qualify for the medal round in their sport or the unheralded squad that does so and makes a deep run in the medal rounds to do so.

There's also the persons who through their performances and their expressive personalities become international stars or conversely villains because of nekulturny behavior or poor sportsmanship.

The moments when you get to see the slice of life stories featuring the host nation and the scenic parts of it, the interviews of medal winning athletes and life in the Olympic Village for every one of us who ever dreamed as kids of being Olympians but didn't quite have the talent to make it happen.

It's also the knowledge that while you're watching the Olympic games, for the two weeks you're watching this sporting extravaganza unfold that has its roots in the ancient Greek festival, so is everyone else on the planet.    

I think the major reason I love the Olympic Games is that the world during those two weeks feels a little more unified during the time the Olympic flame is burning. 

2012 Olympics Watch-Team USA 4-2 Comeback Win!

The 2012 women's Olympic soccer tournament started play today with the defending Olympic champions facing off in a Group G match against France, the nation all our conservafools love to hate in Glasgow, Scotland.

They had more reasons to hate after the first 14 minutes.  A sluggish, nervous start led to scores from Gaetane Thiney in the 12th minute and Marie-Laure Delie two minutes later that put Team USA in an 0-2 hole.

This was not a good sign for those of us who have watched Team USA in Olympic play over the years because they had never come back to win from an 0-2 deficit.


After the French wake-up call was delivered, Team USA struck back in the 19th minute with an Abby Wambach goal off a Megan Rapinoe corner kick to begin the comeback and Alex Morgan sprinting to catch up to a long Hope Solo punt that led to the tying goal at the 32 minute mark.

It was broken open in the 58th minute by Carli Lloyd's blast that rocketed past French goalkeeper Sarah Bouhaddi and found the back of the net.   Alex Morgan scored again in the 66th minute on a open net tap-in to cap the comeback, get three valuable points and the 4-2 win against their toughest opponent in the group.

Team USA plays Colombia on Saturday before finishing Group G play against North Korea on July 31. 

2012 Olympics Watch-US Women's Soccer Team Starts Play

The opening ceremonies for the London Games aren't until Friday, but the FIFA world number one ranked US Women's national soccer team begins their quest for an Olympic threepeat at 12 noon EDT.

In case you're wondering TransGriot readers how the USA women's team has done in Olympic opening matches, they are 3-1-0 all time. 

The USA defeated Denmark 3-0 in their first Atlanta Olympic match in 1996 and eventually won gold in the inaugural women's Olympic soccer tournament.  Four years later they defeated Norway 2-0 in their first Sydney 2000 match but lost the rematch in the gold medal match in sudden death overtime 3-2.   In 2004 they defeated host Greece 3-0 in their first game in Athens to began another gold medal run.   In 2008 Team USA dropped their first Beijing match 2-0 to Norway, but still went on to win the group and eventually the gold medal over Brazil in the final..

They take the pitch at Hampden Park in Glasgow, Scotland in their opening Group G match against FIFA number 6 ranked France in their first ever meeting in Olympic competition.  

It's also the first ever match France has played in Olympic women's competition and will probably have revenge on their minds.  Team USA beat France 3-1 in last year's FIFA Women's World Cup semifinal in Germany and have a 12-0-1 all time record against France.   

The match will be telecast on the NBC Sports Network and the NBC Olympic Soccer Channel and if you're not near a television right now you can follow the match via ussoccer.com’s MatchTracker and on Twitter @ussoccer_wnt

Following today's match against France, the US Women's national team continues Group G play against Colombia at 12 PM EDT on Saturday, July 28, at Hampden Park and will then travel to Old Trafford in Manchester, England to face North Korea at 12:15 PM EDT on Tuesday, July 31.

2012 Team USA Has More Female Olympians Than Men

It's fitting that in this 40th anniversary year for the groundbreaking Title IX law , for the first time ever the United States will send an Olympic team to the Games with more female competitors on it than their male counterparts.  We transfolks were hoping we'd get a man on it, but he fell just short of making his Olympic dream happen.

But this post is all about the sporting ladies. Out of the 530 people that will march into London's Olympic Stadium for Friday's opening ceremonies in their Made in China Ralph Lauren gear, 269 will be women and 261 will be men.

To highlight what US Olympic CEO Scott Blackmun called a 'true testament to the impact of Title IX', the oldest and youngest US Olympians are also women.  54-year-old equestrian rider Karen O'Connor will be the oldest US Olympian while the youngest is 15-year-old swimmer Katie Ledecky. 

The USA sporting girl power will be evident as American women are medal threats in both team and individual competitions from our world number one ranked basketball and soccer squads to gymnastics, volleyball, athletics.and other sports on the Olympic program.

And yeah, just thought I'd remind you peeps my favorite tennis playing siblings Serena and Venus Williams will be back on British soil playing in the Olympic tennis singles and doubles competitions that will be contested at 'Williams'-don starting July 28-August 5   The Williams Sisters are the defending 2008 Olympic doubles gold medalists and 2012 Wimbledon doubles champs
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The FIBA number one world champion ranked USA women's b-ballers are seeking their fifth consecutive gold medal and start Group A play on July 28 against Croatia.

The USA women's soccer squad is seeking its third consecutive Olympic gold after their heartbreaking penalty kick shootout loss to Japan in the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup final in Germany with play starting on July 25 versus France.

We even have US women competing in the first ever women Olympic boxing competition.   One I will have my eye on during the upcoming games is my Houston area homegirl Marlen Esparza from Pasadena, who is a medal favorite and Cover Girl makeup spokesmodel in the inaugural women's boxing flyweight competition.

Semenya To Carry South African Flag During Olympic Opening Ceremony

When the 2012 Summer Olympic Games kick off on July 27, one of the parts of the ceremony I look forward to is the Parade of Nations and which athletes have been given the honor of carrying their nation's flag into the Olympic Stadium.

When the South African team marches into London's Olympic Stadium, the South African flag will be carried by now 21 year old Caster Semenya, who beat out double amputee 400 meter runner Oscar Pistorius for the honor. 

"It's such a privilege for me to do such a big thing like that," Semenya said in an audio message. "To carry the flag for the team, it's such a big thing."

Yes, it is considering the drama she went through three years ago when she exploded onto the world scene and won the 800 meter world championship in the fifth fastest time ever run in Berlin.

She was sidelined for 11 months as the IAAF ran controversial gender tests on her, and she fought through injuries to win silver at the 2011 IAAF World Championships in Daegu last year.  

She's considered one of the favorites to take home a gold medal from these games, and after all the drama she went through, I'll be rooting for her to do just that.

And The Last FIBA Olympic Mens B-Ball Qualifiers Are...

Russia, Lithuania and Nigeria.

Nope, that isn't a typo.   The Nigerian men qualified for the Olympics while Angola, the perennial Afrobasket champions and African continent Olympic representatives will be watching the London Games tournament at home on television..

In our last episode of 'As The Olympic Basketball Bounces' the Men's FIBA Olympic Qualifying tournament in Caracas was in the quarterfinal stage.  

Greece suffered their first loss in the tournament at the worst possible time to Nigeria 80-79 while the Russians rolled over Angola 80-65.  In the other bracket Lithuania beat Puerto Rico 76-72 and the Dominican republic rolled over Macedonia 86-76 to get to the semis

In the semifinal action that took place on July 7 the winners of those games would get two of the Olympic slots while the loses would play the next day for the final London Olympic berth.

Russia finished the tournament unbeaten with a 4-0 record and clinched one of the Olympic spots with a 85-77 victory over Nigeria.  Their Lithuanian next door neighbors rolled over the Dominican Republic 109-83 to claim the second Olympic berth. 

That left Nigeria and the Dominican Republic to battle it out for the final Olympic spot on July 8.  Nigeria dribbled their way to an 88-73 win to punch their ticket to London.

After the three final Olympic qualifying teams were determined, a draw was held to see which groups the qualifying tourney teams would play in when the men's Olympic basketball tournament prelims start on July 29.

Lithuania and Nigeria ended up in Group A with the USA, Argentina, France, and Tunisia  while Russia ended up in Group B with Australia, Brazil, China, Spain and Great Britain. 

Should be fun to watch... .  

2012 FIBA Men's Olympic Qualifying Tourney In Quarters

The 2012 FIBA Men's Olympic Qualifying Tournament being contested in Caracas, Venezuela is in the knockout stage. 

The twelve teams that started the tournament been whittled down to the eight teams still left with a chance to grab the last three spots for the London Games men's basketball tournament..

To the chagrin of the local fans Venezuela wasn't one of them.    They were in the closely contested Group B in which all three teams finished group play with 1-1 records, but Lithuania and Nigeria advanced thanks to +12 and +4 point differentials. 

The same thing happened in Group D with Macedonia and Angola advancing after the tiebreakers were applied.

In today's quarterfinals Group A winner Greece will face Group B runner up Nigeria and Group C winner Russia will take on Group D runner up Angola.   In the other bracket Group B winner Lithuania will face Group A runner up Puerto Rico and Group D winner Macedonia will face Group C runner up Dominican Republic      

Winners move on to the semifinals on July 7, and the winners of those semifinal games get the first two London Olympic tournament spots.  The semifinal losers will play July 8 for the final Olympic spot 

Gabby Douglas Makes US Olympic Gymnastics Team

While I was flipping through the cable channels last night discovered there were two African-American gymnasts competing for spots on the US Olympic Gymnastics team.  One of them was 16 year old Gabrielle Douglas of Virginia Beach, VA  and the other was Elizabeth Price of Coopersburg, PA.  

I ended up watching the rest of the trials from the point I stumbled upon it because Gabrielle was leading the Olympic trails competition with two rotations to go over Jordyn Wieber, the current world champion.  

Douglas has been compared in gymnastics circles to Olympian Dominique Dawes, who was the first African American to not only make a US Olympics gymnastic team but won an individual gymnastics gold medal in floor exercise and a team gold as part of the 'Magnificent Seven' at the 1996 Atlanta Games. 

Douglas won gold at last year's Pan Am Games and hopes to make history by repeat the feat in London.   She eventually won one of the two automatic spots on the team by holding on to her lead over Wieber.   Elizabeth Price made the team as a replacement athlete as well.

It also gives me a heads up on another event and athlete I'll be keeping my eyes on when the London Games get started on July 27. 

Canadian Women B-Ballers Headed To London!

It's next stop London for the Canadian women's basketball team.

Two days after being upset by Croatia in the quarterfinals, they had to do it the hard way and on Canada Day no less, but for the first time since 2000 the Canadian women's basketball team will be taking part in the women's Olympic basketball tournament.

They knocked off Argentina 58-41 yesterday to get to today's final.  Courtney Pilypaitis scored 21 points and handed out six assists in the 71-63 win over Japan to clinch the final berth available in the FIBA World Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Ankara, Turkey.

The Canadians shot 48% for the game and lit it up from three point range, knocking down 9 of 19 attempts from behind the arc.

They get to savor their win for a few days and contemplate what life will be like in the Olympic Village before preparing for tough Group B Olympic competition that will include games with 2008 silver medalists Australia, Brazil, 2008 bronze medalists Russia,  2010 FIBA Women's World Championship runner-up Czech Republic and host nation Great Britain.   

2012 FIBA Women's Olympic Qualifying Tourney In Quarterfinals

The 2012 FIBA Women's World Olympic Qualifying Tournament tipped off in Ankara, Turkey June 25 with our FIBA number 11 ranked Canadian neighbors being amongst the femme roundball teams trying to dribble their way into the London Olympic basketball tournament that starts a few weeks from now

Out of the 12 nations that started their quest for the five remaining spots to go to London only eight remain after they survived group play.  The host nation Turkey won Group A and will play Group B runner up and FIBA number 12 ranked Argentina. Group B winner and FIBA number 4 ranked Czech Republic will play Group A runner up and FIBA number 15 ranked Japan.  

Canada was in Group D with FIBA number 8 ranked France and Mali and got their tournament off to a rousing start June 25 by crushing Mali 89-23.  

The next day against France they brought their bricklayers union cards and got off to a slow start that resulted in a 57-46 loss and a 1-1 record in Group D play.  

Despite the loss they were still in great shape to qualify for the quarterfinals because of the blowout win over FIBA number 19 ranked Mali.   The only way they would be knocked out of the tournament is if Mali upset France and beat them by a 65 point margin in doing so. 

Umm no. France routed Mali 88-37 on June 27 to win the group with Canada finishing as the runner up.  France will play Group C runner up and FIBA number 9 ranked Korea for one of the Olympic spots.

The Canadians will play Croatia, the group C winner that has jumped 23 spots in the FIBA rankings to number 31 with a spot in the Olympics going to the winner and the loser moving on to play June 30 the loser of the Turkey-Argentina game.   The losers in the Czech Republic-Japan and France-Korea games would also battle it out on June 30 in the semis.

The winners of the June 30 semifinals would play July 1 for the final Olympic berth.  

I would think the Canadian women's b-ballers would rather handle their business today and be celebrating on Canada Day a trip to London rather than playing a nerve racking two additional must win games tomorrow and on Canada Day to get the final Olympic berth.

Keelin's Olympic Quest Is A Big Fracking Deal

I was disappointed about hearing the news that Keelin didn't qualify for the Olympic team in hammer throw despite his lifetime best throw of 231 feet 11 inches and finished fifth in the US Olympic Trials. 

So unless a trans athlete somewhere else on the planet makes their nation's Olympic team, we will not see a trans athlete marching into London's Olympic Stadium in a few weeks.

When I started writing about Keelin Godsey's quest to make the US Olympic team in the hammer throw, I got conflicting comments from elements of the trans community people about it.  Some were bothered by the fact he was a transman competing in a women's hammer throw event.  Others I don't know what their problem was but I suspect was jealousy.

"I've still done more than many people who are trans have," Godsey said in an interview. "I've competed at the highest level. I couldn't be prouder."

And I'm proud of you as well Keelin along with other trans people who see the big picture.

Bottom line is that Olympians are considered elite athletes and the dedication and hard work required just to make an Olympic team is nothing to be dismissed.  Keelin came 11 agonizing inches from making his Olympic dream come true and making trans and sporting history in the process.   

So yes haters, Keelin's attempt to compete in the Olympics is a big fracking deal.

When my people were fighting for their human rights coverage in the last century, it was Jesse Owens quadruple gold medal 1936 Berlin Olympic performance and continued success of black athletes in Olympic competition that was a building block in the eventual breaking down of Jim Crow segregation in the United States and garnering support for African Americans from people fence sitting on the issue.

You also have to take note of the fact that when Keelin began his transition, the NCAA had no policies in place concerning trans athletes.   Thanks to Godsey coming out at the Division III level in 2005 and later Kye Allums at the Division I athletic level, the NCAA now has implemented policies covering transitioning athletes.  

In addition, various international athletic governing bodies such as the International Olympic Committee and countless others are adapting their policies so that they open the doors for transpeople who wish to compete in their sports.

That's important for our trans younglings who are now entering middle and high school and would like to play sports like their peers or have Olympic dreams of their own.   Because the various state high school athletic governing bodies are in sync with or mirror NCAA rules, these trans younglings who have sporting dreams now have the ability to pursue them.

They also have role models in Keelin, Kye and others to look up to as well.   I also see participation in sports by transpeople as a way to help us get over those shame and guilt issues we struggle with.

Transpeople are on the verge of a tremendous wave of human rights success as the decades old smear and fear tactics and lies of our opponents are debunked and discredited.   The more we are seen doing ordinary things, as part of the culture, and doing what we can to uplift ourselves, our communities and the countries we inhabit as we strive to participate in the greater society, the better. 

Athletic participation has been the road other marginalized groups have used as a pathway to greater visibility and human rights coverage, and it's past time we transfolks did so as well.