Team USA had a pretty great Tuesday, although there was at least one noticeable blip in our domination: Serena Williams lost her third-round singles match, so now Serena is completely out of the Olympics. She’s won two golds in London in 2012, for singles and doubles (with Venus), but Rio was not good for the Williams sisters. They lost their first round in doubles, Venus lost her first round in singles, and now this. Poor Serena. I hope she rests up and destroys at the US Open. I still believe in Serena!
As for the domination, Katie Ledecky won another gold medal, and it was in a race that was supposed to be her weakest. Ledecky won gold in 200m freestyle, and Sweden’s Sarah Sjöström won silver. It was nice to see Sarah and Katie embrace afterwards! It was also great to see Team USA’s basketball team sitting in the stands, cheering on Ledecky and waving their little American flags. I actually teared up a little! Yay, America!
Ready for @katieledecky and @MichaelPhelps?
Yeah, @KDTrey5, @deandrejordan6 and @usabasketball are too 🇺🇸 #TeamUSA pic.twitter.com/Ngvs33OkNT
— The Players' Tribune (@PlayersTribune) August 10, 2016
After Ledecky, Michael Phelps swam the 200m butterfly… and he won gold! He took home silver in 2012, losing to South African Chad le Clos. Le Clos and Phelps have been boy-beefing ever since, and one of the big reasons why Phelps came back after his “retirement” was to win this race. Not only did Phelps win, but Chad le Clos didn’t even medal!! Guess that #PhelpsFace worked after all, huh? Oh, and after that, Phelps and Team USA won another relay! So two more golds for Phelps. He now has 21 golds. Crazy.
A single photo captures Michael Phelps' sweet revenge over Chad le Clos https://t.co/hFAvsz1PDt pic.twitter.com/cIdgnTzr7M
— Mashable (@mashable) August 10, 2016
When Le Clos doesn't medal 🙃 pic.twitter.com/yEl7Udlw2r
— Morgs (@reitz_morgan) August 10, 2016
USA hoopers reacting* to Michael Phelps' 20th Gold https://t.co/6hUXRzEwfL
— Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) August 10, 2016
Awesome tradition of USA men's basketball team coming to watch the swimming finals!! Thx for the support guys!! 🇺🇸🏀 pic.twitter.com/kOGdd5ROzK
— Dana Vollmer (@danavollmer) August 10, 2016
Photos courtesy of Getty.
There’s a quote on twitter on how Ledecky training with the boys has left them “shaken” and “depressed” because she often outdid them. Some were even removed from the sessions by their trainers because it was demoralizing. Their poor, poor masculinity 🙁
I think I read that article too, it was in Time or something similar, right?
Ledecky is certainly something special, and she’s opted not to go pro to boot!
wow We live in a sad society where a woman’s success is still seen as a threat. Go, Hillary!
Poor fragile little boy-flowers. I hope they all recover from the “demoralizing” experience of being bested by a lady.
This Olympics is alllll about the swimmers and glorious shade and sweet victory. The finger wag seen round the world. Don’t forget my hero Lilly King who set the tone of dominance!
Lilly is amazing and her shade–first rate!
–TheRealPinky
The best tweet of the one with Chad looking at Michael was this one:
Pilar Clark (@daspilar) tweeted at 9:25 PM on Tue, Aug 09, 2016:
Best life lesson ever: Winners focus on winning. Losers focus on winners. Chad le Clos got SCHOOLED.
Ledecky is amazing but she has not dominated the women’s competition. That title goes to Hosszu and her 3 gold medals, her new world record and two new olympic records. The relay and the big Phelps race last night were so exciting and Phelps very nearly didnt make it home first in the latter. Very proud of the British boys for coming in silver, they deserved that after all their hard work. The dry land drama has been amazing this year, absolutely loving it.
Umm I beg to differ… Ledecky has two more races and probably two more golds coming up (as well as a few records). Hosszu is fantastic, don’t get me wrong, but women’s swimming belongs to Ledecky at the moment. She’s completely unstoppable.
Well, well…. Ledecky has two gold medals so far, hosszu ‘s got 3… So who’s “dominating” ? I guess it depends entirely on where the commenter’s from, hehe.
I thought Pheps behavior was really immature and unsportsmanlike. He needs to follows Ledecky’s example for winning graciously.
His behavior? You mean him ignoring Le Clos’ antics in the ready room and on deck? Or do you mean him celebrating a win? I don’t see a problem with either of those behaviors. The first was top notch and the second was something all the guy winners do. I think you are holding Phelps to a different standard than others are held too which is highly unfair.
Note to le Clos: Do not wake the sleeping tiger. Those mind games he tried to play with Michael kind of backfired there.
And look at Katie and her medal—pure joy on her face. My voice is hoarse this morning from rooting her and Michael on!
They definitely backfired, he only psyched himself out.
I’m so sad for Chad though, I know him and he is a lovely boy but he has come across really badly in this. Hopefully he can focus on his own race in the 100m fly on Friday.
I don’t know where to say that but I was blown away by the performance of US gymnastic team last night. Such talented ladies!
They were amazing to watch… the floor routines especially. Laurie Hernandez put a smile on my face every time she came onscreen.
I love the Olympics. I’m getting no sleep these two weeks.
Since the news in the US is exceptionally depressing, it’s nice to see Team USA doing so well in Rio.
Doesnt it get boring for yall? Winning so much? Give the rest of us a chance lol
Idk why but I’m SO happy for Phelps! I always liked him and felt bad when the whole weed/bong thing went down and he retired. So glad he made a comeback. He’s soo talented.
I don’t know much about his personal life, but that man is poetry in water.
Fallon that was beautifully phrased!