The Rio Farce, End of Day 15: Didn't Think They'd Make It, But They Have

I was wrong.

I admit it.

The Games of the XXXIInd Summer Olympiad have made it to the final day, the day of the Closing Ceremony.

Couple of wrestling tournaments, boxing and basketball finals and a couple others, and the men's marathon -- and then the Closing Ceremony, where the youth of the world will be called in four years to the shadow of Fukushima and Tokyo.

• Interesting story from the track tonight.  5,000 meter silver medalist Paul Chelimo of the United States was disqualified for stepping off the track.  There was quite the amount of bumping and barging in the race -- in fact, at one point, Chelimo looked he had been clipped as eventual champion Mo Farah of Great Britain (the double-double!) was beginning to kick in the last couple of laps.  Chelimo protested the disqualification.  The result, from Sara Germano of The Wall Street Journal:

Full IAAF decision on DQs and appeals in men's 5,000 meters. pic.twitter.com/KBV6nWOfor

— Sara Germano (@germanotes) August 21, 2016

• Chelimo's was the sixth medal from 800 meters on up in these Games, the most for the USA in a non-boycotted Games in over 100 years, according to Germano -- including the first gold medal in the 1500 meters in well over 100 years (Matthew Centrowitz, who, according to Germano, feels set for life now).
• Nick Zaccardi of NBC:  31 medals for the USA in athletics -- the most it has had since the Los Angeles Olympics...  of 1932! (Germano retweeted that fact.)
• Love the Deadspin GIF on this one:  Since riders do not bring their own horses for the modern pentathlon equestrian event, you can get one of these that basically says "Fuck This!", dumps the rider over the obstacle, and runs off.
• IOC President Thomas Bach insists no public money was used on the Rio 2016 Games even though the Games needed a bailout just to be held!  (Inside the Games)  Can I ask what he is smoking?
• The continuing travails of Australia in Rio:  Nine athletes were fined for sitting in the wrong seats during one of the semifinal basketball games.  The offense, in Brazil, is a five-year-in-prison felony (falsification of documentation), but the nine were fined about $3,120 apiece.  The AOC will handle the fines and the athletes have been apologized to.  (Inside the Games)
• After a sit-down meeting, the Australian swimmer barred from the Closing Ceremonies understands the seriousness of the offense and will be allowed to attend tonight's Ceremony.  (Inside the Games daily blog)
• Sebastian Coe of the IAAF has hand-written a letter to Yelena Isinbayava (disqualified Russian trackster elected to the IOC), congratulating her.  Isinbayava is not buying it.  (Inside the Games)
• Another Russian track DQ from retesting:  Shot-put silver medalist in London:Evgenia Kodolko.  Two Chinese ascend to silver and bronze. (Inside the Games)
• Ryan Lochte has apparently admitted his lies in recent interviews -- will be interested to see how long he is banned and how many (if any) USA gold medals are disqualified.
• Another disturbing Russian story, this one of abuse:  Izza Trazhukova claims the country's wrestling coach struck her in the face twice after she lost her bronze-medal match at 63kg.  (Inside the Games daily blog)
• And to the table, as most of the Dick-Measuring and Waving comparisons are now basically settled:  USA will top the table in both total and golds by a significant margin, now with 43 golds and 116 total and favored to win at least two more golds (men's basketball and the defending women's boxing champion in a weight class yet to complete).  Great Britain has 27 golds to China's 26, but China has no further finals to be in to overtake, unless a Chinese runner comes from nowhere to win the marathon.  China has 70 in the total to GBR's 66.
• Interesting story from the official Rio 2016 website:  One of the reasons Great Britain has set an interesting Olympic record is because they used lottery proceeds toward their Olympic team.  The record is that no nation, four years after hosting a Games, has increased their medal total, until now.  The resources I have note Great Britain won 65 medals in London -- this year, 66!