The COVIDLympics, Day Twelve

• Days after winning silver in the women's shot put, throwing up the "X" in protest on the medal stand, and daring the IOC to take the medal from her as a result, Raven Saunders has lost her mother.
• This has been given as a reason the IOC suspended the investigation of her protest.  (Inside the Games)
• Simone Biles has also announced she lost her aunt during the Games.
• The United States, with just three days to go in track and field, has won two track gold medals.  A lot of Americans felt this was where they were going to make up on the Chinese -- it's just not happening.
• Canada won the men's 200 last night with Andre de Grasse snagging the gold out of the hands of three Americans.  
• An interesting note from a USENET poster:  de Grasse actually continues a very interesting Olympic streak.  For the 27th consecutive Summer Olympiad, an athlete from the University of Southern California has won a gold medal.
• But if American interests are a disappointment in these Games, what do you think the Jamaicans, especially the men, have to be thinking at this juncture?  Jamaica has only five medals in track, all five of them women (the 100 women's sweep, Thompson-Herah winning the 200, and a bronze in the sprint women's hurdles).
• As in the pool, USA is dominating the total with 16 track and field medals and does top the table.  The problem?  Only 3 gold medals -- 9 silvers!
• 25 track and field events have been completed -- 18 different nations have won events.  Only four nations have won five or more medals of any kind.
• The IOC named four new members to it's Athletes' Commission on Wednesday:  Japanese fencer Yuki Ota, former NBA star Pau Gasol, swimming star Paulina Pellegrini, and cyclist Maja Wloszczowska.  They will serve seven year terms, through Beijing, Paris, Milan-Cortina, and Los Angeles.

More Inside the Games...

• The race walk and marathon events have both been moved to the northern Japan city of Sapporo due to the intense heat of the weather in Tokyo.
• The women's skateboard park competition might as well have been called the girls' skateboard park competition -- the medalists in the event were either 12 years old or 13!  Age limitations are sport-by-sport.
• Ben Maher of Great Britain won the individual jumping event in the equestrian events yesterday.  The reason I'm including it here?  He won it in a jump-off after SIX riders completed the original course with no fouls.
• Civilian Tokyo COVID-19 cases continue to break records during the Games.  Not unlike the exploding cases in the United States, now 93% seen to be the Delta Variant.   
• Double-gold medalist Elaine Thompson-Herah has been banned from Instagram for two days for illegal posting of (her, I presume) Olympic highlights!

One quick thought:

• It's beginning to look like the "explosion", as it were, will probably come from any inquest Team USA does into it's performance or the like.  This has been a very quiet last couple of days, at least away from the competition -- and we are now getting to the point where the schedule starts getting spottier.

National Dick-Waving Contest:

• At this rate, China may be the only nation to reach 30 golds.  Advantage is seven in the golds with three-plus days left of competition.  China 32, USA 25. Japan 21, Great Britain and Australia 15 each, Illegal Russian Team 14.
• Dan Wetzel of Yahoo won't curry favor with too many Americans with this piece.
• Total:  USA 79, China 70, Illegal Russian Team 53, Great Britain 48, Japan 40, Australia 36
• 243 of the 339 events have been completed -- only 96 sets of medals are left to give.
• Sixty nations have now won gold medals in these Games.  That eclipses the total in Rio and that is a new Olympic record.
• 85 nations are now on the table.  One more than London, one fewer than Rio.  Record is 87 from 2008.
• Again, no new medal maidens or gold maidens broken.  Only three gold maidens and two medal maidens broken.