Olympics Recap July 26: Typical. American. Dominance.

Banks7/26/2021 3:30 PM

Xavier Laine. Getty Images.

Welcome to the Banks' Olympic blog, your #1 source on the internet for all things Olympics over these next 2 weeks. I've been doing these things since the 2014 Games in Sochi… most of them are lost forever (thanks a lot, Devnest). It's simply a recap of all of the day's fun happenings, along with what to watch for on the given day and maybe even some good ol' fashioned eye candy. I dunno if we're still doing that in 2021. Plus these blogs are liable to get shut down by NBC at any given moment. We'll see.

Let's hit it.

The United States is off to a decent start in the medal count over the weekend, racking up 7 golds and firmly in the mix with Japan and China in the overall count. The Americans won the medal count running away at the 2016 games (121 medals to China's 71) , and they're expected to do the same here this year.

Lee Keifer and Anastasija Zolotic each made history by winning gold in fencing and taekwondo, respectively.

The US swept the men's and womens' skeet shooting medals, with US Army Reserve member Amber English setting an Olympic record on her way to winning gold and Vincent Hancock following suit in the men's.

William Shaner was actually first on the board in shooting, winning gold in the 10m Air Rifle over the weekend. Absolute dominance by the Americans on the trigger. Ya love to see it…

The first medals the Americans took at these Games were in the men's 400m individual medley by Chase Kalisz and Jay Litherland.

Always love to see the ol' 1-2 on the podium

And lastly, the Americans took gold in the 4x100 freestyle relay, which Jeff D Lowe has covered here:

In non-medal happenings, Katie Ledecky is off and running, winning her 200m freestyle heat. Plenty more where that came from.

USA Rugby came up with a huge start with W's over Ireland and Kenya, including a clutch try in the final minute against Kenya after the Americans were against the ropes

Who doesn't love a good walk-off?

And lastly, American basketball stinks.

On to the fun stuff!

We had an absolute disaster in the men's triathlon, as a tv production boat blocked half the field from getting off the block… have a clue one time!

The guy who actually ended up winning it….

He uh…. left it all out there

Nobody… and I mean nobody… has ever been more hype to see somebody catch a W than Australian swimmer Ariarne Titmus' coach. I mean… she beat Katie Ledecky in the 400m free… we get it

We have middle schoolers winning golds out here in women's skateboarding…. bonkers

6 hours, 150 miles, and THIS was the difference between silver and bronze

We've got ourselves a good ol fashioned mountain bike wipeout!

I could not imagine a more graceful landing than this one. Fantastic form.

Same here… remarkably tragic

Today/tomorrow's main event (13 hour time difference, time zones are weird) is all about swimming. 9:30 PM ET baby. Men's 200m freestyle, 100m backstroke, and women's 100m backstroke all coming your way.

Can you wager on these events? You better believe you can (responsibly). Barstool Sportsbook has got it all right here.

The Americans surprisingly don't really have a top contender in the 200m free (Olympic veteran Kieran Smith is your top guy at +1000), but the two backstroke events should be spicy.

In the men's, it's considered to be a head-to-head showdown between ~~Russia~~ ROC's Kliment Kolesnikov and USA's Ryan Murphy. Murphy swept the 100m and 200m backstroke at the 2016 Games, but is actually a slight underdog (+150) to the odds-on favorite Kolesnikov here. 100m is a sprint (there and back), so it should make for a thrilling race.

The women's 100m backstroke looks to be a 3-horse race - Australian Kaylee McKeown and American Regan Smith are currently co-favorites at +130, with Canadian Kylie Masse the other contender at +350. Here's hoping Regan pulls through.

Enjoy Day 4 of the Summer Olympics. Til next time….