It was a busy, busy Saturday in London. “Super Saturday,” I heard it called. Lots to get to, so I won’t dawdle.
• Serena Williams steamrolled Maria Sharapova. Most thought that Serena was going to win – handily, even – but I don’t know that anyone would have put it at 6-0, 6-1 in 63 minutes. The wind had a little fun afterward, as the American flag got loose during the medal ceremony.
• The U.S. men’s basketball team got a scare from Lithuania. Good. After Thursday’s victory, they needed to be reminded that they needed to do more than just show up to get an 83-point victory.
• Swimmers closed out their time in the pool in grand style as Michael Phelps and Missy Franklin each added gold medals to their haul from the 2012 Games.
• Mexico’s soccer team pushed through to the semifinals. And despite their reputation as divers, one of their players had good reason to go down in their game against Senegal.
• Meanwhile, host Great Britain won’t be playing for a medal in soccer, as they lost to South Korea in penalty kicks, 5-4. The Brits’ final shooter did a stutter step fake move and was denied. As a former goalie, you pull that, you deserve for me to beat you. And hey, don’t mope about it afterward.
• Back on Wimbledon’s Centre Court, American’s Bob and Mike Bryan won gold in amazing fashion, scoring the winning point on a hustle play to save a smash, and … well, just watch it.
• American Carmelita Jeter fell .03 short of retaining her world’s fastest woman title, losing the 100 meters to defending Olympic gold medalist Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce of Jamaica.
• Also on the track, South Africa’s Oscar Pistorius moved onto the semifinals in the men’s 400 meters. The big deal, Pistorius is a double amputee, and ran using artificial blades. He finished second in his heat, and will continue at 12:40 p.m. Sunday.
• It’s not often a triathlon will require a photo to determine the winner. But that was the case Saturday morning in the women’s race. After 1 hour, 59 minutes, 48 seconds of swimming, biking and running, Switzerland’s Nicola Spirig beat Norway’s Lisa Norden by a margin less than 6 inches.
• And lastly, Guatemala won its first-ever medal, a silver in the 20km racewalk. (Yes, the racewalk. They have judges making sure you're not running.) Anyway, the medalist, Erick Barrondo, used his new fame to make a stirring call to his home country.
AND NOW SOME FUN: A couple of fun things found around the Internet.
• Some of you may have seen it on the broadcast, but a Reuters’ photographer decided to catch Friday’s full moon in its full glory as part of the Olympic rings. Some pretty shots to check out.
• Also, despite an athlete’s need to stay focused while leading up to their competition, organizers want to make sure they’re prepared for everything. Durex provided 150,000 condoms to the athletes at the Olympic Village (and put up a pretty funny ad as well). And, apparently, Australia had some brought in as well.
• It’s not everyday a coach pushes one of his players to skip training. But that was the case with the New York Jets’ Nick Mangold, who was able to head off to London to root on his sister, Holley, who is competing in weightlifting.
UPCOMING: Again, lots and lots of track on the docket Sunday. The men’s 100 meters will be run live on the Internet at 1:50 p.m. (NBC will save it for primetime.) The 3,000-meter steeplechase (that’s the run with the single hurdle over water) will go at 1:25 p.m. The men’s tennis final will be a rowdy one, as Andy Murray looks to avenge his Wimbledon loss to Roger Federer (playing for his Golden Slam). That one will be live in all time zones. Earlier in the morning, Serena Williams and sister Venus will play in the women’s doubles final. The gymnasts are back (after two days of trampoline), as the individual apparatus competitions will take place. And there are two American women in the 3-meter springboard finals (which I would expect the main network to show in the evening).
