The five things you should know if you were only going to know five things about yesterday at the Olympics.听
1. Bradley Wiggins the first man to win the Tour de France and follow that up with a gold medal in the same year. The 32-year-old Brit won his fourth gold and seventh total medal鈥攎aking him the most decorated British Olympic athlete ever鈥攚ith a dominant performance in the cycling time trial, beating World Champion Tony Martins by 42 seconds. His sideburns were each offered a half-gold medal鈥攌ind of like those broken-heart necklaces鈥攂ut they declined.
2. An American woman, 38-year-old Kristin Armstrong, her second-straight gold in the women鈥檚 time trial鈥攂ut you, the average Olympic watcher, probably wouldn鈥檛 know it. Cycling鈥檚 a sport Americans tend to care about when an American does well. And when that American is a repeat winner鈥攁nd a 38-year-old winner, no less鈥攚e tend to care even more. Except鈥攕igh鈥攚hen that winner is a woman.
3. The best men鈥檚 gymnast of all time won his first gold medal? Or did he become the best men鈥檚 gymnast of all time once he won his first gold medal? I 诲辞苍鈥檛 really know, but everyone鈥檚 that 23-year-old Kohei Uchimura of Japan, who all-around gold yesterday, is the greatest men鈥檚 gymnast ever, so sure. How much better is he than everyone else? He wiped out on his floor routine, but still won by 1.5 points. American Danell Levya won bronze, while is also a pretty big deal.
4. American Nathan Adrian won the 100m freestyle, edging out Australia鈥檚 James 鈥淭he Missile鈥 (more like MISS-ile, right?) Magnussen by one one-hundredth of a second. Adrian becomes the first American to win gold in this event since 1988. The bigger point, though, is that Australia has yet to win an individual gold in swimming. “It is a pretty tough time to learn you are human,” Magnusson after the race. Maybe if you all stopped naming yourselves after things that kill humans (the 鈥淭horpedo鈥), that wouldn鈥檛 be a problem.
5. The quarterfinals are set for men鈥檚 and women鈥檚 soccer. For the men, pre-tournament favorites Spain (as previously mentioned here) and Uruguay have been eliminated. If Brazil doesn鈥檛 win gold, it鈥檒l be a big deal. We should all probably root for Egypt since they technically even have a professional soccer league right now.
On the women鈥檚 side, all the favorites are still alive, and the big quarterfinal match will be Japan, defending World Cup champs, against Brazil. The U.S. should beat New Zealand in the quarters and could meet Great Britain in the semifinals, which would be must-watch because the Olympics are actually taking place in London, which is in Great Britain. (Yes, the game would be played in Manchester, but that鈥檚 also in Great Britain, smart person.)