USA Olympic Committee
Is there a functioning Olympic Committee in USA to adequately ensure the needs of USA Olympians are met? Does the public view the USA Olympic Committee with favor or disdain?
Concerning those who represent USA at the Olympics, do they carry themselves with dignity? What is their usual medal count and in which disciplines? Has there been previous allegations of cheating or doping?
Summary of USA at the Olympics
As much as the swimming portion of the Olympics has been about saying goodbye to the legendary Michael Phelps, it has also been about introducing Katie Ledecky to non-swimming fans.
The 19-year-old American is building a legend of her own, capping her Rio Olympics with a stunning win in the women's 800-meter freestyle Friday night. Stunning not for the fact that she won, but in how she did it.
Toward the end of the eight-lap race, the television cameras had to pull back so viewers could see Ledecky's competitors. Ledecky broke her own world record with a time of 8:04.79 and finished a staggering 11 seconds ahead of second-place finisher Jazmin Carlin from Great Britain.
Ledecky has five gold medals, having added a quartet this year in addition to a gold in London in the 800 free.
And if the IOC let women swim the 1,500 meters like the men do, she'd have one more gold.
She'll leave Rio having set two world records.
As for Phelps, he didn’t win his final individual race in the Olympics, the 100-meter butterfly. Phelps was one of three swimmers who tied for silver. One more hundredth of a second and any of them would have been fourth. Joseph Schooling won the race, earning the first ever gold for Singapore.
Schooling has long cited Phelps as his idol. In 2008, Schooling's parents helped to host a meet with the US swimming champion, where the Singaporean met Phelps for the first time.
The other two medal races Friday were won by Americans. Anthony Ervin became the oldest Olympic swimming champion with gold in the men's 50-meter freestyle and Maya Dirado earned her first gold of the Rio Games in the women's 200-meter breaststroke.
The United States women’s soccer team - which had never failed to medal in the Olympics -- wasn’t nearly as successful. It lost to Sweden in a penalty kick shootout after a 1-1 draw in regulation play.
US goalie Hope Solo - who allowed Sweden’s final penalty kick -- told reporters that Sweden played like cowards. The better team lost, she said.
Track and field competition got underway Friday, and a record fell on the first day. Ethiopia's Almaz Ayana smashed the decades-old mark in the 10,000 meters.
She finished in 29:17.45, 14 seconds faster than the record set in 1993 (When Ayana was 2).
American Michelle Carter - whose Twitter handle is @ShotDiva - became the first US woman to win gold in the shot put.
On the cycling track, Bradley Wiggins - who won the Tour de France four years ago -and his British teammates set a world record in a pulsating men’s pursuit final victory over Australia. Ref. CNN.
Of course it would not be Brazil if this didn't happen:
US Olympic swimmers Gunnar Bentz and Jack Conger have been ordered not to leave Brazil until they make a statement to police about an alleged robbery in Rio de Janeiro, their attorney said.
Bentz and Conger left the airport with attorney Sergio Riera hours after they were pulled off their flight to the United States. The attorney said the two swimmers did not provide a statement to Brazilian authorities.
He said the two were frightened and confused as to why they had been taken off their flight and from what they were being ordered to do by different authorities. He said until that confusion is resolved Bentz and Conger will not be making a statement.
A U.S. Consulate spokesperson for Rio de Janeiro was at the airport to offer consular assistance. It is not clear if the passports of the two swimmers have been taken, but they have been told by authorities they definitely cannot leave the country. Ref. CNN.
The US Olympic Committee has issued an apology for the ordeal involving four American swimmers who reported being robbed over the weekend in Rio de Janeiro.
Brazilian police have accused the athletes of vandalism.
US swimmers Gunnar Bentz and Jack Conger have left Brazil. Ref. USAToday.
U.S. Olympic Committee did not heed sexual abuse warnings
Nearly six years before USA Swimming was rocked by a series of sexual abuse accusations against coaches, the national governing body sent two letters to the U.S. Olympic Committee in 2004 and 2005 asking it to take the lead in developing policies to protect young athletes across the Olympic movement. "One thing that has been made clear as we learn more and more about the past is that the Olympic community failed to protect its athletes," USOC chief executive officer Scott Blackmun said in a statement to USA TODAY Sports. Ref. USAToday.
US Olympians at 2016 Rio Games were infected with West Nile virus, not Zika. US Olympic and Paralympic athletes and staff who traveled to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, for the 2016 Summer Games did not become infected with Zika virus but did test positive for other tropical, mosquito-borne viral infections, including West Nile Virus, Dengue Fever and Chikungunya. Source 8b.
Nikki Haley, U.S. Ambassador to U.N., says it's an 'open question' if U.S. Athletes will compete in 2018 Games. Rising tensions between the U.S. And North Korea might jeopardize Team USA's participation in the 2018 Winter Olympics. Source 6s.