Tag Archives: 2008 Beijing Games

Hypolito Takes Home the Silver in the Men’s Floor Exercise at the 2016 Rio Games

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2016 Rio Games

The third time’s the charm for Diego Hypolito…

The 30-year-old Brazilian gymnast took home the gymnastics silver medal in Men’s Floor Exercise at the 2016 Rio Games.

Diego Hypólito

Hypolito, a former world champion on floor, had failed to medal at his first two Olympics. But now, with the 2016 Summer Olympics in his home country, he has that long coveted medal.

But that’s not all, he was joined on the podium by teammate Arthur Nory, who took home the bronze.

Diego Hypólito & Arthur Nory

Nory crouched on the floor in a fetal position, covering his face with his hands while he waited for the American Sam Mikulak, the last gymnast, to finish. When Mikulak’s score was posted, assuring Nory he would get a medal, he began sobbing as the crowd serenaded him and Hypolito with cheers of “Bra-sil! Bra-sil!”

Hypolito cried on his coach’s shoulder and then hugged Nory. The two grabbed a Brazilian flag and jumped up on a nearby podium to wave to the adoring crowd. The two medals give Brazil six medals at these Olympics, and Sunday gave the home country one of its best moments so far.

Diego Hypólito & Arthur Nory

The gold medal went to Britain’s Max Whitlock.

This was the first time Brazil had qualified a full men’s team to compete at an Olympics, and a medal of any color is sweet for Hypolito. He went to the 2008 Beijing Games as the reigning world champion on floor exercise only to fall in the final and finish sixth. Four years ago, at the 2012 London Games, he didn’t even make the final after falling in qualifying.

Hypolito, said that “winning a medal today was the most important thing in my life.”

Nadal & Marc Lopez Win the Men’s Doubles Gold in Tennis at the 2016 Rio Games

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2016 Rio Games

Rafael Nadal has taken full advantage of a golden opportunity…

The 30-year-old Spanish tennis star has added a second Olympic tennis gold medal to all of his Grand Slam trophies, teaming with childhood friend Marc Lopez to win the men’s doubles championship for Spain at the 2016 Rio Games.

Rafael Nadal & Marc Lopez

Nadal and Lopez came back from a break down in the third set and claimed the last three games to beat Florin Mergea and Horia Tecau of Romania 6-2, 3-6, 6-4 in the final Friday.

Nadal, a 14-time champion at major tournaments, also won an Olympic title in singles at the 2008 Beijing Games after defeating Chile’s Fernando González. This is the first medal for Lopez.

The silver for Mergea and Tecau is the first tennis medal for Romania in Olympic history.

The bronze went to Steve Johnson and Jack Sock of the United States. They beat the Canadian team of Daniel Nestor and Vasek Pospisil 6-2, 6-4 earlier Friday.

It was another busy day for Nadal, who won his singles quarterfinal in three sets earlier Friday.

Nadal does not play doubles often on tour, focusing on a singles career that has included stints at No. 1 in the rankings and a record nine French Open titles.

Of his nine previous doubles championships, four came with Lopez as his partner, although they hadn’t played even one match together this year until arriving in Brazil.

Lopez won his first Grand Slam doubles title at the French Open in June, pairing with Feliciano Lopez to beat American twins Bob and Mike Bryan in that final.

Valentín Earns Her First Olympic Medal in Weightlifting at the 2016 Rio Games

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Paula Pareto

The third time’s the medal for Lidia Valentín…

The 31-year-old Spanish weightlifter has earned the bronze medal in the Weightlifting Women’s 75 kg competition at the 2016 Rio Games.

Lidia Valentín

Despite being in the lead much of the competition, Valentín was ultimately surpassed by Belarus’ Darya Naumova and North Korea’s Jong Sim Rim, having to settle for third place.

Valentín lifted 116kg in the snatch and 141 twice, for a total of 257. Just after her last attempt, Naumova lifted 142kg to snatch the gold away from Valentín, but her joy of making it onto the medal podium.

Lidia Valentín

Valentín competed at the 2008 Beijing Games and 2012 London Games, finishing in fifth and fourth place, respectively.

However, in 2016, after the retesting of the samples from that category at the 2012 Summer Olympics, it was discovered that the three medalists all tested positive for prohibited substances; if the B samples return positive, the medals would be stripped from them, meaning that Valentín would be the gold medalist for the event.

Ortiz Takes Home the Silver in Judo at the 2016 Rio Games

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2016 Rio Games

It’s a bittersweet defeat for Idalys Ortiz…

The 26-year-old Cuban judoka, the reigning Olympic champion, lost to France’s Emilie Andeol in the Judo Women’s >78 kg Gold Medal bout at the 2016 Rio Games.

Idalys Ortiz

Ortiz and Andeol’s was a hard-fought bout that went into a golden score period, judo’s version of sudden-death overtime.

The judoka battled for an extra three minutes of golden score time before Andeol earned the win by holding Ortiz down. After 10 seconds, the point at which a yuko gets awarded, Andeol had secured her victory, but she was able to pin Ortiz for another 10 seconds, thus attaining an ippon.

With the loss, Ortiz now holds an Olympic medal of every color.

The three-time Olympian earned bronze at the 2008 Beijing Games, gold in 2012 London Games, and now silver at the 2016 Summer Olympics.

del Potro Knocks Out World No. 1 Novak Djokovic in the First Round at the 2016 Rio Games

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2016 Rio Games

Juan Martin del Potro is proving to be Novak Djokovic’s Olympic curse…

For the second Olympics in a row, the 27-year-old Argentine player has taken down Djokovic.

Juan Martin del Potro

del Potro, who beat the current ATP World No. 1 in the bronze-medal play-off at 2012 London Games, again overpowered Djokovic, taking down the Serb tennis star in the first round at the 2016 Rio Games 7-6 (7-4) 7-6 (7-2).

Djokovic was in tears as he left the court after the match, which lasted two and a half hours.

“This is one of the toughest losses in my career,” said Djokovic, who was trying to win his first Olympic title.

Djokovic became the first man for 47 years to hold all four Grand Slam titles by winning the French Open in June.

He suffered a shock third-round loss to American Sam Querrey at Wimbledon but won his 30th Masters title in Toronto last week.

“It’s not easy to handle, especially now, just after the wounds are still fresh,” he added after failing to improve on the bronze he won at the 2008 Beijing Games.

“But you have to deal with it. It’s not the first or the last time that I have lost a tennis match. But the Olympic Games, yeah, it’s completely different.”

del Potro will face Portugal’s Joao Sousa in the second round on Monday.

The former US Open winner has dropped to 141st in the world after two years of injury problems but did not face a single break point on his serve against the 12-time Grand Slam champion.

“It was a wonderful evening from the beginning,” said del Potro.

“After all the effort I’ve put in to get back to playing tennis, I’ve defeated the number one. It was a dream night.”

Pareto Claims Argentina’s First-Ever Olympic Gold in Judo at the 2016 Rio Games

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Paula Pareto

It’s a special first for Paula Pareto…

The 30-year-old Argentine judoka won the gold medal on day one of the 2016 Summer Olympics’ judo competition, earning her country it’s first-ever judo gold.

Paula Pareto

In the process, Pareto, who had previously earned a bronze medal at the 2008 Beijing Games, is the first athlete of Latino descent to earn a medal at the 2016 Rio Games.

Pareto, who works as a physician in her home country, dominated Korea’s Jeong Bokyeong in the final and won by waza-ari in the women’s -48kg category.

“Todo es posible! ‪#Judo ‪#Rio2016 ‪#JuegosOlimpicos,” tweeted the 2015 world champion after her golden accomplishment.

In December 2015, Paula received the Gold Olimpia Award as the best athlete of the year from her country.

Nadal to Compete at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio

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It appears Rafael Nadal will be swinging for gold this summer…

The 30-year-old Spanish tennis star’s name appears on the final entry list for the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio.

Rafael Nadal

Nadal, a 14-time Grand Slam tournament champion hasn’t played since pulling out of the French Open because of an injured left wrist and needed the International Tennis Federation‘s Olympic Committee to approve his appeal because he hasn’t played Davis Cup.

Nadal won the gold medal at the 2008 Beijing Games.

But Nadal isn’t the only Latino player set to compete at the 2016 Rio Games.

Twelve Latino players, including 2012 London Games bronze medalist Juan Martin del Potro, will compete in the men’s singles tournament.

In the women’s draw, six Latinas will be competing in singles, including French Open champion Garbine Muguruza, who will also compete in the doubles draw.

Half-Spanish tennis star Caroline Garcia, who won the women’s doubles title at this year’s French Open, will also compete in singles and doubles for France.

In all, here will be 64 players in the singles draws and 32 in doubles. Singles entries were based off the top 56 players in the June 6 rankings, with other ways to qualify for the final eight spots.

Each country is allowed a maximum of four singles players and two doubles teams for six players total on the men’s and women’s sides. Sixteen mixed doubles teams will be determined in Rio from players already in the Olympics.

Here’s the list of Latino players expected to compete:

MEN’S SINGLES ENTRY LIST

Argentina
Juan Martin del Potro, Federico Delbonis, Juan Monaco, Guido Pella

Brazil
Thomaz Bellucci, Rogerio Dutra Silva 

Dominican Republic
Victor Estrella Burgos 

Spain
Rafael Nadal, David Ferrer, Roberto Bautista Agut, Albert Ramos-Vinolas

Uruguay
Pablo Cuevas 

WOMEN’S SINGLES ENTRY LIST

Brazil
Teliana Pereira (ITF) 

France
Caroline Garcia 

Paraguay
Veronica Cepede Royg (TRI) 

Puerto Rico
Monica Puig 

Spain
Garbine Muguruza, Carla Suarez Navarro  

MEN’S DOUBLES ENTRY LIST

Argentina
Juan Martin del Potro/Maximo Gonzalez, Federico Delbonis/Guillermo Duran

Brazil
Marcelo Melo/Bruno Soares, Thomaz Bellucci/Andre Sa (ITF)

Chile
Julio Peralta/Hans Podlipnik (ITF) 

Colombia
Juan Sebastian Cabal/Robert Farah

Spain
Marc Lopez/Rafael Nadal, Roberto Bautista Agut/David Ferrer 

WOMEN’S DOUBLES ENTRY LIST

Brazil
Paula Cristina Goncalves/Teliana Pereira (ITF) 

France
Caroline Garcia [paired with Kristina Mladenovic] 

Spain
Garbine Muguruza/Carla Suarez Navarro, Anabel Medina Garrigues/Arantxa Parra-Santonja

 

del Potro Earns His First-Ever Olympic Medal at the London Games

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London Olympics 2012

Don’t cry for Juan Martin del Potro Argentina…

Following a heartbreaking, hard-fought loss to world No. 1 Roger Federer in the semifinals, del Potro has claimed his first-ever Olympic medal.

Juan Martin del Potro

Del Potro, the world’s No. 9 ranked player, pulled out all the stops to defeat world. No. 2 Novak Djokovic of Serbia to win the bronze in men’s tennis on Sunday at the 2012 Olympic Games.

He needed less than two hours to dispatch Djokovic, winning the match 7-5, 6-4 to give his country its first medal at the London Games. Djokovic was the defending singles bronze medalist from the 2008 Beijing Games.

It was a far cry from the long hours del Potro put in on the grass courts at Wimbledon in his semifinal defeat on Friday. The match, a 3-6, 7-6 (5), 19-17 loss to Federer, lasted 4 hours, 26 minutes—the longest three-set men’s match of the Open era.

Figueroa Picks Up an Olympic Silver Medal in Weightlifting

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Talk about an Olympic-size comeback…

Following his heartbreaking showing at the 2008 Beijing Games, Óscar Figueroa returned to Olympic competition in tip-top shape to claim his first medal.

Oscar Figueroa

Competing in his third Olympics, the 29-year-old Colombian weightlifter—who left the 2008 Olympic Games empty handed due to a hand injury—won the silver medal in the men’s 62 kg weightlifting event at the 2012 Olympic Games in London, placing behind North Korean Kim Un Guk.

Figueroa claimed the shock silver with a total of 317kg (140, 177), his clean and jerk setting a new Olympic record.

Oscar Figueroa

Eko Yuli Irawan of Indonesia took bronze.

In Beijing, Figueroa failed to make a lift in the snatch category, after an injury to his right hand prevented him from getting a firm grip.He left the games with DNF on the board and his trials and tribulations were broadcast around the world.

According to Australia’s Seven Network Olympics coverage at the time, Figueroa had earlier had an injection to his right hand which reportedly resulted in a loss of feeling.