2012 Olympics Review

As the 2012 Summer Olympic Games came to a conclusion earlier tonight, the world was witnessed to tons of shining moments throughout the 2 weeks of competitions that were held in London. The games have officially ended with the handing over the Olympic Flag to Brazil, who will host the Summer Games in 2016. I was intrigued with the games, and 85% of my DVR is loaded with content from the Olympics that I have enjoyed. Here are some of my thoughts of the Olympic Games.

1) We'll start with swimming and the USA did extremely well for both genders. Michael Phelps is the most decorated Olympic athlete on record, with 22 medals total (18 of them Gold). He won 6 medals total at the 2012 games, including all 3 relay events as well as winning the 100m & 200m Butterfly events and the 200m Individual Medley. Teammate Ryan Lochte also won 6 medals, but did get the Gold in the 400m Individual Medley and Bronze in the 200m Backstroke events. On the women's side, Missy Franklin (in her first Olympic games) took home 5 medals. In addition to 2 Gold & 1 Bronze in the relay events, she also won the 100m & 200m Backstroke events. Teammates Allison Schmitt, Rebecca Soni & Elizabeth Beisel also contributed big to the USA Swimming team as well.

2) Gymnastics was also big and dominated by the USA team, mostly on the women's side. The Fab Five was like the Magnificent Seven of the '96 Games, winning the Team All-Around competition, while Gabby Douglas went on to win the Individual All-Around Competition as well. For Individual events, McKayla Maroney won Silver on the Vault and Aly Raisman won Gold for Floor Exercise & Bronze for Balance Beam. We'll hope to see some of these 5 in Rio come 2016. The men on the other hand, didn't fare well, finishing 5th in the All-Around competition, but Danell Levya received a Bronze for the Individual All-Around event. Definitely always a fun event to watch, even without a Champions Gala, something that was dropped from this year's program.

3) Soccer has proven to be more exciting than ever, especially in this year's Olympics. The USA Women's team had a challenging road to a Gold Medal game. In the Semifinal match against Canada, Team USA bounced back 3 times to tie the game at 3-all going into Extended time, thanks to an Abby Wambach penalty shot which created an all-new game. Canada's Christine Sinclair scored all 3 goals for Canada. In Extended Time, it was Alex Morgan, who scored the winning goal in the 123rd Minute which prevented a shootout to determine the winner. In the Gold Medal Game, Carli Lloyd scored 2 goals which were the end result to repeat as Champions. On the Men's Side, Mexico surprised the World, winning the Championship over Brazil 2-1. The team is young and they will definitely be a favorite in the 2014 World Cup and even in the 2016 Olympic Games as well. The USA Women's Semifinal & Final games were definitely exciting and were considered to be the best matches of the games.

4) The USA Men's & Women's Basketball teams have excelled and were dominant before and throughout the games. The Men's team featuring players like Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, Chris Paul and Deron Williams, went 13-0 (5-0 in exhibition play) throughout the last month, cruising past Tunisia, France and Nigeria, got a scare against Lithuania and eventually winning the Gold Medal Game against Spain 107-100. The Women's team, coached by Geno Auriemma and featuring players like Candace Parker & Maya Moore, easily won the Gold Medal and were never a threat to any opponent. Just shows the USA was the best in the sport.

 5) The 2nd Week of competition mostly focused on Track & Field. Usain Bolt is still the fastest man on the planet, winning the 100m in 9.63 seconds and 200m in 19.32 seconds. He also won a Gold for the 4x100m Relay event, and he will be back in Rio come 2016. On the Women's side American Allyson Felix will definitely be a name to remember, winning the 200m race and coming 1st in 2 relay events. She will also be back in Rio, as well as Sanya Richards-Ross & Carmelita Jeter.

 6) Water Polo is getting big in the USA. The Women's team went 2-1 in Group Play (tied w/ Spain) and eventually winning their first ever Gold Medal in the Olympics. An intense sport which requires alot of energy and treading water, the Americans were confident and played very well. The men's side, however had difficulty, losing to Croatia in the Quarterfinals and placing 8th overall. Thing is both teams will get better in the future.

7) One of the first medals handed out in the 2 week competition was Men's Cycling Road Race event. Mark Cavendish, Bradley Wiggins and Tom Boonen were some of the favorites poised to win the nearly 6-hour race in a sprint finish. Instead, it was nearly 40-year old Alexander Vinokourov (in what could be his last ever race) who finished 8 seconds head of the Peloton. As far as other cycling goes, it was Great Britain who dominated on the track (8 Gold Medals total) and 2012 Tour de France winner Bradley Wiggins won the Individual Time Trial. On the women's side, it was American Kristin Armstrong winning Gold in the Time Trial.

8) The dominance of Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh-Jennings in Beach Volleyball continued in London, winning every match, but lost their one and only set of their career against the Schwaiger sisters in a Quarterfinal match. They cruised past their other opponents and winning big against the new Americans, Jen Kessy & April Ross in the Finals. Look out for Kessy & Ross because they will be the super-stars come in 4 years.

9) Serena Williams is still in great form as she is the 2nd woman in Tennis ever to win all 4 majors and an Olympic Gold Medal and has accomplished the Golden Grand Slam feat, defeating Maria Sharapova in the Final 6-0, 6-1. Serena only lost 17 games in 6 matches and never lost a set in the Olympics this year. Serena & Venus also won Gold in the Doubles event, defeating Hlavackova/Hradecka 6-4, 6-4. On the Men's side, we finally got see Andy Murray win a big event/major, winning the Gold Medal after defeating Roger Federer in straight sets. Only 2 days prior to the final, Federer and Juan Martin del Potro's match lasted over 4 hours which is an Olympic record and his fatigue caused him to get the Silver, while Del Potro got Bronze. The matches at Wimbledon were exciting.

10) Indoor Volleyball is also big in the USA and the Men's Gold Medal game is always one of the last events of the 2-week event. The Men's team lost in 3 sets to Italy in the Quarterfinal and the Italians went on to win Bronze. The Women's team, never won a Gold Medal had their chance to accomplish that feat, but their efforts came up short losing to Brazil 3-1 in the Final.

11) There are so many events I can talk about like Equestrian, Archery, Fencing, and Shooting which were all exciting to watch. These events created names like Kayla Harrison, winning the first ever Gold Medal in Judo, Brady Ellison leading Team USA to a Silver in the Team Event in Archery. Claressa Shields winning the first ever Gold Medal in the Premiere event of Women's Boxing. Vincent Hancock & Kim Rhode winning Gold in the Skeet events, while Jamie Lynn Gray also won Gold for the Women's 50m Rifle 3 Positions event, all for Shooting. These are always under-rated events that are mostly seen during Daytime programming, but it was very interesting to watch for me.

12) The last thought I have is about the Media coverage. NBC and its sister networks NBC Sports Network, MSNBC, Bravo & CNBC all did a great job televising these Olympic games, starting at 4:00am and not stopping til midnight, there was always something entertaining to watch. 75 percent of the events shown from 4am to 7pm were shown Live, but the primetime events were all taped, due to London's curfew. The daytime portion was always fun to watch because it was something that was exciting and didn't have to watch it online. The primetime events like Swimming would've been more better if they were shown Live to attract even a bigger audience. 18 Months to Sochi, I can't wait. Definitely been a fun 2 weeks, now time to focus on Football, especially since my Red Sox are out of playoff contention.