Salute to NCAA college sports (2 of 3)

The six student athletes picture here are 1) Alex McMurtry, women's gymnastics, Florida; 2) Sarp Gobeloglu (originally from Turkey), men's basketball, Montana State; 3) Dominique Wilson, women's basketball, NC State; 4) Myles Yorke, men's soccer, Radford; 5) Paige Neuenfeldt, women's volleyball, UNC, and 6) Zac Epperly, wrestling, Virginia Tech

Our Favorite Athletes- Logan's Run

Well, as luck would have it, we could not come up with an image for American women's volleyball player Logan Tom, but we could find one for her teammate Destinee Hooker (pictured above). The other photos are of Angel McCoughtry, who (well, obviously) plays basketball, and of Julie Zetlin who doesn't play basketball, but is a rhythmic gymnast. Here is a look at some of our favorite American women athletes who competed in London:

1) Dawn Harper, 28, East St. Louis, Ill., track and field_ Harper ran the 100-meters hurdles in an amazing 12.37 seconds, but that was two-tenths of a second slower than Sally Pearson of Australia, so she is going home with a silver, which is certainly well-deserved. Harper also competed for UCLA during her college years, and she won gold in the same event at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

2) Destinee Hooker, 24, San Antonia, Texas, volleyball._ Hooker, who competed in both volleyball and track and field at the University of Texas, will be helping Team America in its efforts to win a first gold medal in women's volleyball against the defending Olympic champions from Brazil, who got off to a sluggish start. Hooker is known for her effective skills and frequent scoring.

3) Angel McCoughtry, 25, Baltimore, Maryland, basketball_ She lead Team America in scoring in a win over Turkey in the preliminaries and this former University of Louisville star continues to be a great contributor for Team America. Professionally, McCoughtry plays for the Atlanta Dream in the WNBA and Fenerbahce (Istanbul) in Turkey.

4) Jessica Steffens, 25, San Francisco, Calif., water polo- Steffens was the leading scorer for the national water polo team, and she helped guide the team to its first ever gold medal at the Olympics. Steffens scored an amazing seven goals in the team's first game over traditional powerhouse Hungary, a game that the USA won by a 14-13 score. Yesterday, she scored five goals in the 8-5 gold medal win over a very talented team from Spain.

5) Logan Tom, 31, Salt Lake City, Utah, volleyball_ Tom and teammate Destinee hooker look to make history tomorrow when the United States faces Brazil in the gold medal match. Tom made the Olympic in Sydney when she was just 19. She is ranked as the 91st sexiest woman in the world according to "FHM" magazine, and she plays professionally for Fenerbahce, the Turkish club team is considered to be one of the best in Europe.

6) Julie Zetlin, 22, Bethesda, Maryland, rhythmic gymnastics_ The United States has never been strong at rhythmic gymnastics, a sport dominated by the likes of Russia and Bulgaria. But, Zetlin made a noble effort at the 2012 Olympics. The daughter of Zsuzsi Zetlin, who competed in the same sport for Hungary, finished
21st in London. Zetlin won a gold medal at the 2011 Pan Ameircan Games.

http:/www.wnba.com/dream

http://www.usawaterpolo.org

http://www.usavolleyball.org

http://www.teamusa.org

UPDATE: Since I published this entry earlier in the afternoon, "The Bleacher Report" has posted a subjective, but interesting list of the 50 hottest American Olympic athletes, including one paraplegic female swimmer, of both genders. Of the six athletes in this entry, both Logan Tom (#17) and Julie Zetlin (#34) made the list.

http://www.thebleacherreport.com

Olympic Mosaic_ Thrill of Victory; Agony of Defeat

Since I am a human secularist and a Turkish-American, I thought it would delightfully ironic to post an entry dedicated to a Muslim athlete from Kuwait who wore a hijab while competing at the 2012 London Olympics as well as mention a major success in women's weight-lifting for Armenia, one of Turkey's main rivals.

For Turkey, it was a day of great athletic glory and tremendous agony at the same time; the explanation for that will follow.

Here is a run-down of some unique Olympic stories we have come across, alas since time is short, we will skip details we might otherwise try to go further into.

*-Turkey (4-1) has been an unexpected success at the 2012 London Olympics in women's basketball as the squad won over Croatia 70-65 today with 14 points from Quanitra Hollingsworth, who is an American who obtained Turkish citizenship to compete for Turkey's national team. Nevriye Yilmaz added nine rebounds and Birsel Vardarli (pictured top with her infant child) and Isil Alben added three assists. The only loss for Turkey came against the United States, which is the overwhelming favorite to win gold.

*-Turkey (2-3) was not able to come through in women's volleyball in spite of high expectations, given that the team ranked eighth in the world. The top-ranked United States team (5-0)  won in straight sets (25-27, 16-25, 19-25) with Destinee Hooker providing 17 spikes for the Americans. In defeat, Turkish star Nesilhan Darnel, the country's flag-bearer put forth a valiant effort; Turkey lead 13-7 in the first set before a major rally from the American side.

*-The 2012 London Olympics are the first ones in which female athletes from all 204 nations and territories are competing and that includes every Islamic country competing. One of those athletes is Maryam Arzouqi, 25 (pictured center), of Kuwait who learned about through a sports blog related to Muslim female athletes. Arzouqi who competes while wearing the hijab finished 44th in the 50-m rifle shoot, which was won by American Jamie Lynn Gray. The Kuwaiti college student also finished 28th in the 10-m rifle, an event that was won by Sylwia Bogacka of Poland.

*-Armenia had a very successful day in the United Kingdom as the former Soviet Republic won a silver medal in men's wrestling (Arsan Julfalakyan); in women's sports, Hripsime Khurshudyan (pictured below), who actually does not boast the longest name so far at the games (that distinction appears to belong to an Iranian wrestler) won a bronze medal in women's weight-lifting. Zhou Lulu (gold, China) and Tatiana Kashirina (silver, Russia) finished ahead of her.

http://www.muslimwomeninsports.blogspot.com

http://www.usavolleyball.org

http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com

http://www.armenianlife.com

Olympic Chat on Twitter- Losing in Soccer the Hard Way

We learned many things tonight on Twitter between the hours of 19:00-20:00 (New York time), some of which actually spoiled tonight's NBC coverage of the 2012 London Olympics tonight (we are the last people in the world to see the games here on the east coast, except for those who reside in Hawaii which is six hours behind the east coast).

We also encountered a fervent Greek nationalist who was boasting of how Greece has proven its vast athletic superiority over the whole world with two bronze medals, including one from Ilias Iliadis in men's judo (90-kg); this would have been fine with us except the flag-waving fanatic had to mention that it was two more than Turkey had won (no medals so far for my father's country).

Then, this person had to add that Turkey lost to the United States, my native country by a 89-58 margin in women's basketball. Turkey did prevail handily over China by an 82-55 margin in the team's next game, and Greece lost to Team America in the exact same sport by a 89-58 margin in Riga, Latvia, on July 3, 2009.

Of course, we have nothing against Greeks or Greek-Americans in general, but there are jingoists who unfortunately soil the Olympic spirit.

As for the tweets we read tonight, some interesting things were discussed; here are six of them:

1) @TheSun_Football: "BREAKING NEWS: Great Britain lose to South Korea 5-4 on penalties at Olympic football quarter-final stage (The image above is of English soccer legend Frank Lampard, but it is not from today's game)."

2) @Current:  "Sex, training and winning the gold: @jonnymoseley reflects of the life of an Olympian (this is actually in reference to Jonny Moseley, an American skier who fared well at the 1996 Nagano Winter Olympics)

3) @Olympic: "Total Gold Count: USA with 26, China with 25, GBR with 14."

4) @SpencerGeorgeM: "Just got really emotional watching the recap of how Jessica Ennis won the Gold. Huge congratulations to her. Once again proud to be British." (Ennis is pictured in the center).

5) Chet_Cannon: "You deserve a tardy slip @joejones. Wow @Aly_Raisman and the women gymnasts are incredible....GO USA!" (Aly Raisman is part of the Fab Five gold-medal winning USA women's gymnastics team; she is pictured below).

6) @HuffPostComedy: "If you're competing in the #Olympics you probably have no life."


http://www.jessicaennis.net

http://www.usagym.org/

http://www.haaretz.com

http://www.olympicair.com

http://www.turkishairlines.com

Turkey Loses to USA in Women's Basketball; Team Rebounds Against China

There were high hopes amongst those watching the game live at midnight in Istanbul that Team Turkey would pull off an amazing upset against the top-ranked American team with some of the best women's basketball players in the world.

But, it was not to be as Turkey fell to the United States by a 89-58 score with 18 points coming from Angel McCoughtry, who was a stand-out with the Louisville Cardinals in women's college basketball.

Today, it was a different story for Turkey, which also has a women's volleyball team that won over South Korea on Friday, at the 2012 London Olympics on the court.

Nevriye Yilmaz (pictured) scored 16 points and her unlikely teammate Quanitra Hollingsworth, an American who played for the VCU Rams in college and gained Turkish citizenship to join the team grabbed 11 rebounds, as Turkey defeated China 82-55 with a surprisingly large margin of victory.

Turkey (3-1) will next face Croatia (1-3) in a pivotal game on Sunday.

http://www.tbf.org.tr

Turkey Versus USA Women's Basketball Preview

Though we have not checked the Las Vegas odds, Team Turkey will face Team USA at the 2012 London Olympics as a decisive underdog in a game that is crucial for both teams; assuredly if Turkey pulls of the upset, it would likely be the greatest Olympic moment for the country since weightlifting legend Naim Suleymanoglu lifted for gold at the 1988 Seoul Olympics.

Ironically, viewers in Philadelphia, who can watch the game live at 5:00 p.m, will have advantages of television spectators in Istanbul as the game will air at midnight since the tip-off will be at the unusually late hour of 10:00 p.m. local time in England.

Team USA beat Team Turkey by 19 points in a pre-Olympic friendly in Istanbul earlier this summer. Many American players, including stand-out Diana Taurasi (pictured bottom), a star at the University of Connecticut and in the WNBA, have played professionally in Turkey.

Interestingly enough, there is actually one American Quanitra Hollingsworth* (pictured top), who played college basketball for the VCU Rams, who is playing center for Turkey. Hollingsworth obtained Turkish citizenship earlier this year to play for Turkey's national team.

Turkey has defeated Angola 72-50 and the Czech Republic 61-57, which means both teams head into the game undefeated at 2-0.

Hollingsworth is not the only Turkish team player who was born outside Turkey. Esmeral Tuncluer (pictured middle), reported to be the team's strongest shooter, was born in the Netherlands to Turkish parents. Neriye Yilmaz, one of Turkey's top forwards who has WNBA experience, was born in Bulgaria, which until 25 years ago had a significant Turkish minority.

http://www.usabasketball.com

http://www.womenshoops.wordpress.com

http://ww.tbf.org.tr/

*- Her name is not spelled correctly in the tags

Teaser- Here Come the Olympics

The 2012 London Olympics get underway with the opening ceremonies on Friday. Those of us in the United States will once again be relying on the voice of Bob Costas, the NBC sports announcer who broke through as a baseball announcer, to help guide up through an event with 10,500 athletes from 204 countries.

Jordyn Wieber, 17, (pictured above) will likely be one of the American athletes which Costas and company will focus on the most as she is the 2011 all-around champion in women's gymnastics.. Since Mary Lou Retton, 44, gave a break-through performance at the 1984 Olympics, the sport has been among the most popular ones for tv spectators in this country on a continuous basis.

Guor Marial, 28, an Iowa State alum who is a marathon runner, will be one of the very few athletes not representing one of the 204 countries at the summer games as his country South Sudan which broke away from Sudan is not yet recognized in the international sports community. Similary, Marial has not lived in the United States long enough to qualify for citizenship. So, he will be walking in the opening ceremonies under the Olympic flag.

For those of us of Turkish heritage, there is also excitement because for the first time since 1960 Turkey will have teams competing in The Olympics. There are actually two teams from Turkey that will be at the games in both women's basketball and women's volleyball.

Nevriye Yilmaz, 32, the first Turkish woman to play in the WNBA, with her last stint being with the San Antonio Silver Stars in 2004, is one of the most-recognized members of the squad. Yilmaz was actually born in Bulgaria, but her family of Turkish ethnicity emigrated to Turkey when she was nine.

Amazingly enough, one of Yilmaz's teammates for Team Turkey is an African-American basketball player Quanita Hollingsworth, 23, a Virginia Commonwealth Univeristy alum who now plays for the New York Liberty. She obtained Turkish citizenship to play for Turkey's national team.

Hollingsworth said she will have mixed emotions when Turkey plays the United States in group play; the two countries also face each other in women's volleyball (see earlier entries about Turkey and the Olympics..

http://www.aroundthehorns.wordpress.com

http://www.cyclones.com

http://www.jordynwieber.com

http://www.olympic.org

Olympics Host Cities Distance Quiz (6 of 6) London to Rio de Janeiro

We conclude our six-entry series on the distances between Olympic cities as we look at how London, England, United Kingdom, the city that will host the Olympics next week, is from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, the city that is scheduled to hold the summer games in 2016. Rio de Janeiro will be the first South American city to host the games, and the first Latin American city since Mexico City hosted the Olympics in 1968.

One of the most interesting questions that many Olympic spectators have is which country will be most competitive with the American men's basketball team. Joining Team America in Pool A are Argentina, France, Lithuania, Nigeria and Tunisia; the first game for the American squad will be against France on July 29th.

For those of us who are Turkish-Americans, we will be in a bit of a delicate situation as far national loyalties as the United States faces Turkey in both women's basketball (on August 1st) and women's volleyball (on August 5th). But, shockingly, Turkey's men's national basketball team with NBA players Hedo Turkoglu and Mehmet Okur apparently did not qualify for London.

For American travelers, it should be pointed out that I read in a magazine article recently that an American tourist who had traveled all the way to Brazil had to return home because he did not get a visa beforehand! 

So, how far are these two cities?

A) 5,567 miles

B) 5, 667 miles

C) 5, 767 miles

D) 5, 867 miles

SIDEBAR: Of course, our sincerest condolences go out to to family members and surviving victims of the shooting at a movie theatre in Aurora, Colorado, which killed at least 14 people, during the midnight premiere of "Batman: The Dark Knight Rises." We are planning a possible blog entry to explore how the tragic event was discussed in various social media outlets, such as Facebook and Twitter.


UPDATE: The answer is C....yeah, it's a very long flight!

Bonus Road Trip- (6 of 10) Charleston, WV, to Charleston, SC

As we are posting this the West Virginia University's women's basketball team is beating Boston University 63-46 late in the second half at home in Morgantown. We mention this, even though the school is a good two and half hours north of the West Virginia state capital, because the team was giving away free mustaches to the first 1,000 fans in attendance. And, our image is of one of the home team Mountaineer's stand-out players Natalie Burton, a senior from Australia.

We also wish to extend our greetings to those of you who are reading this blog in Armenia and Mongolia today (yes, we are not making this up!). Of course, this means people in my own backyard are likely ignoring us.

Since we went with an image of the Mountaineers, we thought it was only fair to go with the mascot of the University of South Carolina Gamecocks, even though the school is in Columbia, which is about two hours from Charleston, SC.

If you are confused, you are not the only one. We believe that the Southern Atlantic League, a single-A minor league in baseball, decided two teams couldn't be called Charleston; so there is now the Charleston River Dogs, the team in South Carolina, and the West Virginia Power, for the team in West Virginia (obviously), which is perhaps one of the oddest names in all of sports. Assuredly, someone probably thinks it's also the name of a utilities industry.

Charleston, SC, was recently (and reportedly) named the best city to visit in North America by "Travel and Leisure," beating out the likes of San Francisco, New York, New Orleans and Montreal. Dinning is one of those main reasons, so we are chooing Magnolia's as our point of destination for the caostal town. Charleston, SC, is also the hometown of political comic/actor Stephen Colbert.

For the other Charleston, the one in West Virginia, we are simply going with Main Kwan Chinese Restaurant. Charleston, West Virginia, is also known for its music scene and the documentary film director Morgan Spurlock ("Supersize Me!") is from Beckley, W.Va., which is 45 miles south of West Virginia's capital.

So, is the distance between the two Charlestons?:

A) 8 hours even

B) 8 hours, 15 minutes

C) 8 hours, 30 minutes

D) 8 hours, 45 minutes

E) 9 hours even

SIDEBAR: We loved this tweet from Lorna Appleby, a resident of Vancouver, Canada, that was posted yesterday: "The main problem with hunting your own turkey is that the gun shots scare the other shoppers."

SIDEBAR TWO: We imagine that University of North Carolina men's basketball fans are bemoaning the Tarheels' 73-72 loss to the University of Kentucky Wildcats in Lexington, Ky. But, it was a much worse day for the men's basketball team from the New Jersey Institute of Technology; they lost to the Georgetown Hoyas 84-44 today.