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And the lights went out

All very recently built soccer specific stadiums. Good choices honestly, those are all premier MLS stadiums in places that won’t melt players cleats off with humidity in August. All in the 30k capacity range. Providence Park in Portland would be fun but it’s on the opposite side of the age spectrum to these, same for SLC and Colorado’s stadiums. Disappointing that Boston’s new stadium will still be 4+ years from opening in 2028. We could have actually ended up hosting something Olympic related.

And on the topic of design elements. Let me, perhaps, introduce you all to a new frontier in Olympic branding: the Venuegram! As far as I remember, although other games have had basic graphics of their venues this is the first time the venues are presented in the same design style as the pictograms and the rest of the design marks for the games. I hope this can be a new part of Olympic design canon because there's a lot more fun that could be add portraying venues stylistically and not just with photos and text. High res versions can be found at the official venue page.

I knew these were based off the shapes figure skaters would carve into ice but until I did some research into figure skating history, I didn’t know that used to be a fundamental element of the sport. Which certainly ages me a bit young, “figure” drawing skating was only removed from the sport 1990.

Big name would be Chloe Kim. She, in my sphere, is the biggest star in the team. She has a similar appeal as Coco Gauff in 2024. Malinin would fill that role for the mens side. Other name would be Jaelin Kauf who could be a the first time Dual Mogul's Olympic champion and is one the best US mogul skiers of all time, although she would make a better closing ceremony choice if she does win. Stolz is my guess for men's closing ceremony bearer. I follow this stuff and didn't know his name until today. If he goes and wins a few golds he'll become a star overnight.

Interesting to see another take and one 7 medals higher then what I was saying but in agreement on most events. I have no vision into speed skating long or short so I wouldn't be surprised if I discounted that. On one hand it seems crazy to have 12 more medals then in 2022 but you just need a couple athletes in high medal count sports to have a good games and that's easily achievable. I have a sense that because of a lot of other things happening here there's very low engagement with the games right now, but general patriotism and olympic patriotism are two different things and if we get 37 medals a couple weeks from now I'll be riding that high till LA.

And I had her wikipedia page open when I wrote that. Good catch, pretty clear which Lindsey I was thinking about at the moment. Interesting on the short track, I wasn't looking that deeply at is but good to know there's some medal chances. Might balance out a potential snowboarding collapse.

Someone has to tally USA up, I'll make it as short as I can. Alpine Skiing: 2-5. Shiffrin and Vonn have a chance to medal in any event they are a part of. Small chance for a men's athlete to medal like in 2022. 1 gold and 1 silver to Shiffrin. Gold in women's team. 3 total. Bobsled: 1-3. Women's monobob team has the former gold medalist (Kaillie Humphries), the most recent world champion (Kayasha Love), and a medalist in both (Elana Meyers Taylor). Two medals in the event is very possible with a two woman as a chance. 1 gold in monobob Cross-Country ski: 1-4. Jesse Diggins has been ripping up the world circuit since her 2022 silver in 30km free and bronze in sprint. She'll get another medal this year, and could go for a legacy games with 4. 2 gold and 1 silver to diggins. So 3 total Figure Skating: 3-5. Ilia Malinin for men's, Madison Chock and Evan Bates for ice dancing, and the team event are some of the safest medals for team USA. I would expect another medal or two from the women's singles, but it's thin ice there between 2 medals or 0 in that event. 1 gold to Ilia, Chock and Bates, and the team. 1 silver to Liu in women's. 4 total Freestyle skiing: 6-11. The best winter sport for team USA, with 8 medals in the last Olympics and 9 at the 2025 worlds. High medal chances in men's aerials, slope, half and women's dual moguls, aerials, and mixed aerial teams. Good chances in men's big air and women's single moguls. Double medals in the strongest events is also likely. I'd say 9 is reasonable as the inclusion of double moguls could give 1-3 just in the women's event. 9 in total, too many to count Ice Hockey: 1-2. The women's team medals, they have done it every time and shouldn't stop this year. An NHL lead men's team should be getting a medal but a chance encounter with Canada could slow things down. Gold or silver for women's, bronze for men's. 2 Short Track Speed Skating: 0-1. There's 8 events the US has qualified for, it's a chaotic sport, one odd medal seems possible but not likely. 0 likely Skeleton: 0-1. Mystique Ro won 2 medals at the most recent world's albeit on home ice in Lake Placid. She has 2 chances to show up in individual and mixed relay and could win a medal. Bronze to Ro. 1 Snowboard: 0-4. This is a rough year for US snowboarding. Although we invented the sport, like skateboarding, the Japanese have mastered it. Chole Kim sits as the sole star for the team and if she's recovered from her recent injury should win halfpipe, but it's a looming question. There's chances in men's slope and big air from Ollie Martin or maybe Red Gerrard. The 4th medal would come from Men's snowboard cross where there's 4 top athletes. Maybe a bit harsh, we could go 5 or 6 if things align, but we could also reasonably get nothing. 3 seems doable, 1 gold to Kim, 1 bronze to Marin, 1 cross medal in men's or mixed team. 3 Speed skating: 3-6. I had no idea the US team was this strong. Jordan Stolz is that guy and based on recent championships should medal in the 3 shortest distances if not win a few. Add in a very strong team pursuit squad for men's and a top 5 women's team and good athletes in the mass start event and we could see this as US's second best sport. 3 medals to Stolz, one in men's pursuit. 4 So tallied up the range is 17-42, which is basically a meaningless range to be honest because neither extreme is possible. I went back over and gave an official prediction with 30 medals total. 5 more then in Beijing. Maybe optimistic, but I think that makes sense with extra chances in double moguls, a stronger men's hockey team, and the Stolz having a good games. Reasonable range is 24-32

9/10 Surprises and Heartbreak: Many surprises in track, men's 1500 with Hocker, 400 with Hall, and women's 100m hurdles with Russell come to mind. The one rowing gold was probably the only thing I didn't have on my radar. Swimming the surprise was Torri Huske's 100m butterfly, although that was a surprise against Walsh getting the win. Locking gold at the women's foil semis was a nice surprise watching it live. Outside of golds the women's rugby team probably got the most surprising medal, maybe US men's gymnastics bronze up there too. Lots of heartbreaks, 44 silvers will get you that. Jordan Chiles losing the floor bronze is still a fresh wound. Men's 200m and 4x100m were both tough to see. Swimming's heartbreak has to be Regan Smith's 3 individual silvers. Some disappointment in BMX and Skateboarding, no golds in either is not what's expected but at least there were medals. Beach volleyball not going anywhere was rough. US women's water polo not defending their gold and not medaling is the biggest team heartbreak. Gotta highlight climbing, Brooke Raboutou's silver was the only positive of the team. Sure Sam Watson has a WR and bronze, but he would have gotten into the finals without a slip. Colin Duffy with 4th and Natalia Grossman not making it to finals are both massive heartbreaks for what on paper should have been the strongest boulder/lead team after Japan and Austria. Interestingly, Japan ended up having identical results as the US, a 4th and a 2nd. Goals Achieved Nothing officially is set by the USOC in terms of results, but we all know what the expectation is: 1st place in the medal table. In that regard, it's a tight but in the end proper success backed up by the highest total medal count of a non-hosted games. There's strong foundations going into LA to have a blockbuster Olympics where I think the goal will be an ambitious 50 golds and 150 medals. Future Investment You're going to see lots of Lacrosee, Flag Football, and Softball money in the US in the next 4 years. Cricket will also get a huge boost. I don't think there will be much changes in the basic US team formula: focus on the big 3 (athletics, swimming, women's gymnastics) with hope the diversity and strength of the country's sport infrastructure can produce stars in a plethora of individual events and rank in most team events. 2028 Stars: Ledecky, Richardson, and Lyles should still be competing for the home games and expecting to achieve more than they did in Paris. The new generation of swimmers will need to form in the next 4 years but Torri Huske and Gretchen Walsh will lead that pack to SOFI. Too many stars in track and field that will still be at the height of their game in LA. If the NFL allows their players to compete in flag football there will be a new crop of athletes that rival the biggest basketball stars.

Very sound predication in the end. In reality: 121 medals, 40 golds. Considering the 44 silvers won there were many many opportunities to get one more gold. The reasoning for the prediction also came true. A very strong track meet pulling slack for a less successful swim count.

My favorite moment was all of August 3rd, the first day I spent in Paris. - Taking a bike ride along the Siene retracing the opening ceremony path and the course of the road race that started only 30 minutes before. - Getting close to the balloon. - Going to see the road race live and seeing twice the peloton pass by. - Watching the end of the race on a tv bar huddled with dozens of other on lookers as the final riders pass behind. - Getting to dinner while watching the judo team finals and hearing a cheer from bars, windows and the street every time a French judoka won their match. - Walking back to the hotel and passing a community watch party in the park and seeing the 4x400 mixed relay and Femke Bol’s great final lap. The other days in Paris were wonderful, I could write a similar summary for each but the magic of that first day and seeing the wonder the games brought to the city is what I’ll probably most fondly remember from these games.

I’ve been waiting 7 years for that hand off ceremony. Good acts, some nice shots of the city, Tom Cruise was fun. However, it didn’t inspire pride in my hometown beyond our musical pedigree.

That’s the fastest 44 year old I’ve ever seen

Silver for Kenny. Well deserved

Shame for Watson with a minor stumble in the semi. Still a bronze and WR is not a bad combo to be going home with. Congrats Indonesia. I’m next to their contingent and it was a massive celebration