Olympics Day 12 (8/6): Gabby Thomas and the 200m Final
Also, the women's soccer semis!
Peacock, and a favorable time difference, has enabled me to watch SO much more of the field competitions and they’ve all been gripping — none more so, of course, than MONDO:
Armand “Mondo” Duplantis had his gold medal for pole vault well in the bag, but everyone there stuck around to see if he could break the Olympic record (yes) and the world record, which is already his, but why not try. AND HE DID IT. (So now that’s the Olympic record also.) American Sam Hendricks won silver, but he hung around to play hype man; in fact, the bronze medalist from Greece, Emmanouil Karalis, helped tape Mondo’s hands. The mutual respect everywhere was great, in fact, including when the 800 meters ended and the women all embraced. Unfortunately, a tangled tussle during the 5000 meters between Faith Kipyegon and Ethiopia’s Gudaf Tsegay resulted in Kipyegon being disqualified, but in the eyes of non-experts (our chat) and experts alike, it seems unfair — and sure e…