More Olympic Gold for the Irish

[Drinking The Green Koolaid]

2017 ND grad Lee Kiefer won a gold medal today in women's fencing, in the foil. It is her SECOND Olympic gold medal; she also won the gold in the foil at the 2021 Olympics in Japan.

Way to go Lee!

The ND fencing team has been a juggernaut for many years, winning 13 NCAA team championships and 41 individual championships. I know next to nothing about fencing, but I know that is pretty damn impressive. Here is a factoid from Wikipedia about the unmatched dominance of ND's fencing program:

"From 1975 to 1980, the Irish won 122 straight regular season matches, surpassing John Wooden's 88 consecutive basketball wins to set the NCAA varsity sports winning streak record, a record not broken for over a decade. (Interestingly, UCLA lost to Austin Carr's Notre Dame team in 1971, then went undefeated until Adrian Dantley's Notre Dame team in 1974). The Irish won their first national championship in 1977 and again in 1978; Mike DeCicco led them to NCAA championships again in 1986, 1987, and 1994. The Irish now hold 13 national championships, including three consecutive championships in 2021, 2022, and 2023."

I know Marcus Freeman likes to check in with other coaches; as he explained, you can learn something watching other coaches coach. Maybe the fencing team coach, Gia Kvaratskhelia, has some secret sauce that he can share with Marcus.

 

[BGI User 1596]

2017 ND grad Lee Kiefer won a gold medal today in women's fencing, in the foil. It is her SECOND Olympic gold medal; she also won the gold in the foil at the 2021 Olympics in Japan.

Way to go Lee!

The ND fencing team has been a juggernaut for many years, winning 13 NCAA team championships and 41 individual championships. I know next to nothing about fencing, but I know that is pretty damn impressive. Here is a factoid from Wikipedia about the unmatched dominance of ND's fencing program:

"From 1975 to 1980, the Irish won 122 straight regular season matches, surpassing John Wooden's 88 consecutive basketball wins to set the NCAA varsity sports winning streak record, a record not broken for over a decade. (Interestingly, UCLA lost to Austin Carr's Notre Dame team in 1971, then went undefeated until Adrian Dantley's Notre Dame team in 1974). The Irish won their first national championship in 1977 and again in 1978; Mike DeCicco led them to NCAA championships again in 1986, 1987, and 1994. The Irish now hold 13 national championships, including three consecutive championships in 2021, 2022, and 2023."

I know Marcus Freeman likes to check in with other coaches; as he explained, you can learn something watching other coaches coach. Maybe the fencing team coach, Gia Kvaratskhelia, has some secret sauce that he can share with Marcus.

Can any one of them play WR….the Lacrosse kid saved the position last year!

 

[Drinking The Green Koolaid]

More Olympic gold for Lee Kiefer. Yesterday she led the US team to the gold medal in team foil, beating the top-ranked Italian team. (Don't ask me what exactly that is.) This was the first time ever that the USA won a gold in a team fencing event, so it evidently was a pretty big accomplishment.

Lee now holds THREE Olympic gold medals. Great job, Lee.

I know this is a football forum, but it is always nice to recognize the accomplishments of other current or former ND athletes.

 

[sjb75]

Simone Biles is an amazing athlete.

 

[NDSMC78]

More Olympic gold for Lee Kiefer. Yesterday she led the US team to the gold medal in team foil, beating the top-ranked Italian team. (Don't ask me what exactly that is.) This was the first time ever that the USA won a gold in a team fencing event, so it evidently was a pretty big accomplishment.

Lee now holds THREE Olympic gold medals. Great job, Lee.

I know this is a football forum, but it is always nice to recognize the accomplishments of other current or former ND athletes.

Considering the subject matter, I think this is more than acceptable.

 

[Drinking The Green Koolaid]

Simone Biles is an amazing athlete.

She is indeed.

 

[Irishjohn68]

Simone Biles is an amazing athlete.

Did she go to ND?

 

[sjb75]

She is indeed.

I would break my neck doing what she does.

 

[Drinking The Green Koolaid]

The men's 1500 yesterday was one for the ages. Down the stretch American Cole Hocker ran down and outkicked the favorites, Norway's Jakob Ingebrigtsen and Great Britain's Jacob Kerr, to take home the gold. American Yared Nuguse--a 2021 graduate of Notre Dame--took home the bronze, almost running down Kerr to take the silver. It is the first time two American men have medaled in the 1500 at the Olympics since 1912! The last 100m of the race were phenomenal. I don't closely follow middle distance running, but apparently Ingebrigtsen, the gold medalist in the 1500 at the 2021 Olympics, is quite the trash talker and he and Kerr have developed a pretty bitter rivalry. It had to be a bitter pill for Ingebrigtsen to be shut out of winning any medal at all. Kerr seemed to be a good sport about it and congratulated both Hocker and Nuguse for their races.

I didn't know Nuguse attended ND until one of the announcers mentioned it. Normally America's great middle distance runners go to Oregon, but Nuguse took a different path. I looked up Yared on Wikipedia and discovered he is an exceptional runner, holding many records. He was graduated from ND in 2021 with a BS in biochemistry and is now pursuing a master's degree in management at ND.

Way to go Yared!

 

[melstew]

Penn HS Grad Sara Hildebrandt will wrestle for gold after finally beating the Mongolian wrestler in her third Olympic try against her. She lives in Granger now. Her would be opponent could not make weight this morning so she will wrestle the (undoubtedly surprised) Cuban who lost 5-0 in the semis. She is a joy to watch as was Amit Elor.

 

[sjb75]

The men's 1500 yesterday was one for the ages. Down the stretch American Cole Hocker ran down and outkicked the favorites, Norway's Jakob Ingebrigtsen and Great Britain's Jacob Kerr, to take home the gold. American Yared Nuguse--a 2021 graduate of Notre Dame--took home the bronze, almost running down Kerr to take the silver. It is the first time two American men have medaled in the 1500 at the Olympics since 1912! The last 100m of the race were phenomenal. I don't closely follow middle distance running, but apparently Ingebrigtsen, the gold medalist in the 1500 at the 2021 Olympics, is quite the trash talker and he and Kerr have developed a pretty bitter rivalry. It had to be a bitter pill for Ingebrigtsen to be shut out of winning any medal at all. Kerr seemed to be a good sport about it and congratulated both Hocker and Nuguse for their races.

I didn't know Nuguse attended ND until one of the announcers mentioned it. Normally America's great middle distance runners go to Oregon, but Nuguse took a different path. I looked up Yared on Wikipedia and discovered he is an exceptional runner, holding many records. He was graduated from ND in 2021 with a BS in biochemistry and is now pursuing a master's degree in management at ND.

Way to go Yared!

Yared Nuguse's parents are from Ethiopia, quite the story and background.

Helluva race.

 

[melstew]

Final gold count USA 40 China 40 with US securing far more silver and bronze. Interesting 26.5 of our gold medals won by women--thank you ladies!

 

[irishalice]

Congrats to Jewel Loyd and Jackie Young. US Women beat France for the gold in basketball.
Jackie's hometown Princeton is about 20 minutes south of Vincennes.

 

[Drinking The Green Koolaid]

Favorite moments from the Olympics? Here are a few of mine:

1. Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone. What an impressive athlete. Not only did she win the 400m hurdles, she completely blew away her competition, smashing the world record time she set just a couple of months ago. I thought Femke Bol might give her a run for the money, but Sydney left her in the dust. Then last night Sydney runs a second leg of 47.71 in the 4 x 400m relays, again leaving the competition in the dust. That is just smoking fast. It is almost as if you expect Sydney to set a WR every time she sets foot on the track. She is just phenomenal.

2. The sustained brilliance of Katie Ledecky.

3. Simone Biles. The GOAT of women's gymnastics.

4. Leon Marchand. To perform like he did in front of his home country was remarkable. What a swimmer he is.

5. Watching Cole Hocker sneak in to win the 1500 in a massive upset over the two favorites, Norway's Jakob Ingebrigtsen and Great Britain's Jacob Kerr. That was sweet!

6. Watching Stephen Curry rain down 3's during the 4th quarter of the gold medal game against France. The "golden dagger" shot was just crazy. The man is clutch.

 

[Drinking The Green Koolaid]

Anyone following the Jordan Chiles bronze medal comedy of errors? First, the officials judging her floor exercise make a scoring mistake, leaving Chiles in 5th place, but then accept the US appeal over the scoring error and give the bronze to Chiles. Then the Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS) says, not so fast my friend, and reverses the successful US appeal because it was allegedly submitted four seconds late. Well, if the judging officials hadn't screwed up in the first place an appeal would have been unnecessary. The IOC steps back from the fray and washes it hands of the whole affair, saying CAS has spoken, and it is their call. Then the US submits time-stamped evidence that the appeal was in fact timely submitted, but CAS says they won't consider that evidence because it wasn't part of the original appeal, and there is no procedural basis under CAS rules to seek reconsideration. Now we learn that CAS never contacted the correct officials within the US Olympic team when the appeal was being put together, which explains why the evidence was not originally submitted with the appeal.

All of this seems like a chapter from Charles Dickens' Bleak House, where form is elevated over substance in the legal process, and doing what is right and just are only given lip service. “Why, Mrs. Piper has a good deal to say, chiefly in parentheses and without punctuation, but not much to tell.” Chiles won the bronze; why is she being penalized for a series of mistakes made by others?

That said, I do feel for Romanian gymnast Ana Barbosu, who thought she won the bronze and then had the rug pulled out from under her when Chiles' appeal was initially granted. That was hard to watch when it happened.

Maybe the right and just thing to do is to give both Chiles and Barbosu the bronze? That is what some are suggesting.

There are many people with egg on their face here.

 

[tbonesays]

All of this seems like a chapter from Charles Dickens' Bleak House, where form is elevated over substance in the legal process, and doing what is right and just are only given lip service. “Why, Mrs. Piper has a good deal to say, chiefly in parentheses and without punctuation, but not much to tell.” Chiles won the bronze; why is she being penalized for a series of mistakes made by others?

That's just another day at the court of appeals.