COMEBACK COUNTRY! USA STUNS CHINA, WIN 2020 Olympics!

In a shocking turn of

events, the USA capped off the 2020 Tokyo games with eight medals in the final two days of competition to oust China 39-38(113-88 in overall medals to capture their third straight “World Title”

at the Summer Olympics. This was unexpected, considering the USA had cruised to 46 Golds(128 medals) in 2016, and were underperforming throughout the games on the overall medal board. However, that epic comeback was just one of the many surprises we bore witness too if the past 18 days. Let’s dive right in!

My Top 5 Most surprising results from the Olympics:

1. NOVACK DJOKOVIC LEFT TOKYO WITHOUT A MEDAL:

The Serbian entered this tournament as the heavy favorite to keep his chase for a “Golden Slam” alive by winning the Olympics. But unfortunately for Novak, not only didn’t he win gold, but didn’t even medal, first falling in the semifinals to eventual champion Alexander Zerev 1-6, 6-3, 6-1, but he also fell in the Bronze medal match to Pablo-Careano Busta, in three sets, 6-4, 6-7, 6-3 leaving Tokyo empty handed. On the bright side, Novak Djokovic can still net the “Calendar slam” if he takes home the US Open title in New York this Fall. If he were to do it, he would pass rivals Rodger Federer(20) and Rafael Nadal(20 for the most grand slams in titles in tennis history.

1. USA WON GOLD IN Karate/Taekwondo

For the first time ever, the USA took home golds on the matts. 18 year-old American Anaasjia Zolotic became the first athlete to bring home gold, let alone a medal for the US in Taekwondo,when she defeated Tatiana Minnina(ROC) 25-17 in the games -57kg event, and Ariel Torres became the first American ever win gold in Karate, by defeating Antonio Diaz of Columbia in the finals, 26.72-26.34 in a classic.

1. FENCING GOLD IS COMING HOME

• Lee Kiefer made USA history, by becoming the first to bring home a Gold Medal in the sport of Fencing. A few rounds before her 15-13 Gold Medal game victory over ROC’s Inna Deriglazova she rallied to defeat Canadian Eleanor Harvey in the round of 16, with two pints in four seconds as the clock wound down, before adding another one late to lock up a 15-13 win, keeping her then still ongoing road for a Gold Medal alive. It was the first ever title for the USA in the sport of Foil.

1. USA women’s soccer OUSTED, Canada WINS GOLD:

• You would think that having won the last two World Cups, and last two Olympics going undefeated in tournaments that the USA winning Gold would be a sure thing. However, it was anything but that as they immediately fell in their first game to Sweden 3-0, but still managed to squeak into the playoffs after a 6-1 win over New Zealand and a scoreless tie with Australia.

But for fans who were expecting a “Flip of the switch”, you were rewarded in round one, as the US edged by the Netherlands in a shootout, but were then shutdown 1-0 by Canada in the semifinals, sending them to the Bronze medal game. The team would salvage the tournament by defeating Australia 4-3 for the Bronze, but Canada would astonishingly finish off a surprising run themselves by winning gold in a shootout over Sweden giving Canadiens another reason to smile this summer on the heels of their Montreal Canadians reaching the Stanley Cup Final this past hockey season.

1. USA WOMENS VOLLEYBALL COMPLETES REVENGE TOUR:

I honestly didn’t expect the Woman’s USA volleyball team to bring home the Gold medal in these Olympics, because their two nemesis in Brazil and Serbia were better than ever entering Tokyo. But the USA shocked everyone by battling through two five setters to go 4-0 in group play, before sweeping the playoffs, featuring wins over the reigning -champion Serbia in the semifinals, and the 2012 champions in Brazil for the Gold.

BONUS:

USA STUNS CHINA IN GOLD MEDAL COUNT:

Shockingly facing a 36-31 deficit in the Gold Medal count to China with two days remaining, , the USA roared back with eight medals in two days to stun China 39-38, for their third straight “Overall Olympics Gold”.

Both the men’s(87-82 in the final over France for their fourth straight GOLD) and women’s basketball(90-75 over Japan for their seventh straight Gold, and 56th straight win overall) teams took home titles, while the women’s Water Polo took down Spain 14-5 to secure a three-peat of their own. On the track, the Women’s and men’s 4X100 relay team took home gold.

The women's star-studded squad featured of Sydney McLaughlin, Allyson Felix, Dalilah Muhammad and Athing Mu.

The men's 4x400-meter relay team gold-medal wining lineup featured Michael Cherry, Michael Norman, Bryce Deadmon and Rai Benjamin.

Also noteworthy was Nelly Korda who took home the Women’s Golf tournament Gold Medal, completing a sweep for the Americans, with Xander Schauffle taking home the men’s title earlier in these games.

Ultimately, it came down to Cycling, and Women’s Volleyball, where the USA took home the gold in both events, to not only claim Gold in those sports, but for the entire Olympiad as well.

THE FINAL 2020 MEDAL COUNT:

1. USA: 113( 39 Gold, 41 Silver, 33 Bronze) 232 pts

2. CHINA: 88( 38 Gold, 32 Silver, 18 Bronze) 196pts

3. ROC: 71(20 Gold, 28 Silver, 23 Bronze) 139 pts

4. Great Britan: 65 (22 Gold, 21 Silver, 22 Bronze) 120 Pts

5. Japan: 58(27 Gold, 14 Silver, 17 Bronze) 126 pts

OFFICIAL OVERALL OLYMPIC PODIUM:

1. USA(39 Golds)

2. China(38 Golds)

3. Japan (27 Golds)

JUST SHY:

1. Great Britain (22 Golds)

2. ROC(20 Golds)

We hope you enjoyed the Jewish Voice’s coverage of the 2020 Summer Olympics from Tokyo. There will be a couple

Of opinion-based awards given out over the next couple days from yours truly, before we look ahead to the 2024 Olympiad in Paris! But for now as they say in Japanese, ARIGATO!