The Finish Line_ Track, Water Polo and Field Hockey

1) The United States won its first gold in women's water polo with an 8-5 win over Spain in the gold medal match; the two teams met earlier in the preliminaries and the game finished in a 9-9 tie. Earlier, Team America had won a highly competitive 11-9 game over Australia in the semi-finals.

The team was lead in scoring by Maggie Steffens, 19, (we believe that is her pictured top) who will go on to play for Stanford, scored five goals in the final. She scored 21 goals overall. Her older sister Jessica Steffens was among her teammates as well as a holdover from the 2008 team that won silver in Beijing.

2) The Dutch women's field hockey team was a social media sensation because of the team members' good looks and their flashy orange uniforms, ironically, a quarter of the team, including captain Maartje Pausen (profiled in Aug. 9th entry) is lesbian. The Netherlands/Holland won gold in the event, also in large part because of Ellen Hoog who scored the game-winning shoot-out goal over New Zealand in the semi-finals. In the final, the Dutch beat Argentina 2-0 with one goal coming from Pausen.

3) Turkey's Olympic team was being skewered back home due to a low medal tally. But, that radically changed when Asli Cakir Alptekin, 26, who won gold (pictured) and her teammate Gamze Bulut, 23,  (silver) came through in the 1,500-meters. Along with weightlifter Naim Suleymanoglu aka "The Pocket Hercules" setting a world record at the 1988 Seoul Olympics, the moment is now considered to be one of the greatest in Turkish Olympic history. Alptekin edged out Bulut by a time of 4:10:23 to 4:10:40.

In the same event, Maryam Yusuf Jamal, 28, won bronze for Bahrain; it was the tiny gulf Arab nation's first-ever medal. She finished with a 4:10:74. Other countries that won first time medals in London, include Botzwana, Cyprus, Grenada, Guatemala and Montenegro.

UPDATE: In an earlier version of this post, we wrongfully reported that Afghanistan had won its first ever medal in London, but actually Rohullah Nikpai, who won bronze in men's taekwondo, had actually won a bronze at the 2008 Beijing Olympics as well.


Links:

http://www.politicscultureandotherwastesoft.blogspot.com (Our sister blog with a sister entry)

http://www.usawaterpolo.org

http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com

http://www.rnw.nl/

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

Our Favorite Olympic Athletes_ Vollyeball Anyone?

Here is a look st six of our favorite Summer Olympics athletes and brief rundown of their accomplishements so far:

1) Sarah Attar, 19, Saudi Arabia, track and field (pictured above)_ Attar broken a gender barrier by competing as one of two female athletes for Saudi Arabia. The conservative kingdom which governs in accordance with strict Islamic law has never allowed women to compete before. Attar finished last in 800-meters with a time of over 2 hours and 44 minutes, but she is one of the most inspirational stories in London so far.

2) Nesilhan Darnel, 28, volleyball, Turkey (pictured center)_ Darnel was the flag-bearer for Turkey and she came through with an outstanding tournament. But, Turkey was a tough group and they lost to Brazil, China and The United as a result though they defeated a very talented South Korean team which advanced to the semi-finals. On a personal note, we were surprised to learn that Darnel got her start at the Yesilyurt Sports Club in Istanbul, which I frequented when I visited Turkey as a child and teenager.

3) Anna Esper, 19, water polo, Spain_ The United States won the gold medal match for water polo today over Spain, but it was outstanding tournament for many Spanish players, including Esper who score four goals in the team's semi-final win over Hungary.

4) Maartje Paumen, 26, field hockey, Netherlands (pictured bottom)_ The openly lesbian captain of the popular Dutch field hockey team will play Argentina in the gold medal game this weekend; they beat New Zealand in a shoot-out to get there.

5) Marketa Slukova, 24, beach volleyball, Czech Republic_ Along with teammate Krstyna Kolocva, Slukova helped upset the Brazilian upset the Brazilian duo of Antonelli and Artune on Saturday; the Czechs lost their next game in the quarter-finals to the American duo of April Ross and Jennifer Kessey, which won silver.

6) Kim Yeon-Koung, 24, volleyball, South Korea_ The ever gorgeous and extremely good volleyball who plays volleyball professionally in Turkey helped propel her team to the semi-finals, which surprised many volleyball insiders. South Korea now plays Japan in the bronze medal game.