UNSCRIPTED: 2024 OLYMPIC FACES!
Unscripted By Keith Edmonds
FWIS Contributing Writer
Well they’re over! The flames have been vanquished, medals awarded, and the 2024 Olympic Games are now history! I don’t know about you out there that are reading this, but I THOROUGHLY enjoyed this event! I became a fan of sports that I wouldn’t have DREAMED of being a part of just because it was the OLYMPICS! I found myself waking up (early) every morning just to catch a glimpse of sports like: Table Tennis, Archery, Judo, and who could ever forget Breaking! (lol) I was pulled in by the storylines of athletes that sacrificed the past 4 years to pour their heart and souls into the various sports that they were “specialists” in to have the title of becoming the World's Best! In today’s UNSCRIPTED, I will take a final look at the 2024 Olympics and if you were anything like me, you too had a favorite athlete, event, or team that kept you compelled to watch throughout these games and made you become a fan (if for only 2 ½ weeks) of them. If you can remember, in my previous story in Ink Spot I predicted a few things that I felt would happen during these games. Not because I’m an expert but more so to see if you could say “What you talkin bout dude!” (lol) Here are my predictions and how I did...
MEN’S BASKETBALL: (Prediction) Now here’s the most obvious place to start as the United States Men’s team is LOADED with stars from the NBA. LeBron James, Kevin Durrant, and Steph Curry will lead us to Gold without much of a challenge even though Spain and Slovenia are out there waiting.... (Reality) After barely beating Serbia in the semi-finals, Team USA, in one of the most exciting games that I’ve EVER seen, defeated France 98-87 led by a phenomenal performance by Steph Curry of the Golden State Warriors to win the Gold!
WOMEN’S GYMNASTICS: (Prediction): The US team led by Simone Biles and Suni Lee will win the TEAM Gold and Biles will win the All-Around Gold simply because they are the most dominant gymnasts in the world! I also like Jordan Chiles to medal in the floor exercise and Suni Lee to medal in the beam. Keep an eye out on 16-year-old Hezly Rivera who’s competing in her FIRST Olympics and though I don’t think she’ll medal, what a wonderful experience for her! (Reality): The US team DID win the Gold, Biles won 4 medals including the All-Around, Vault, and Team Gold, along with winning a silver in floor exercise. Suni Lee won the bronze for All-Around and a Team Gold. Jordan Chiles won the Team Gold and was given a controversial bronze medal in the floor exercise. (Her bronze was later stripped due to a scoring error.) Hezly Rivera won the Team Gold and will be a force to be reckoned with in the 2028 Games!
MEN’S GYMNASTICS: (Prediction/Reality) This team doesn’t get the recognition as the women, but I like them simply because they work hard and may slip up on a few teams in the tournament! I really like Fred Richard from the University of Michigan. He looks strong and yes; I like seeing our folks in competitions that don’t involve the “traditional sports!” Go win a medal big fella! Shh.... I cheated, they just won the bronze last night in the TEAM competition! USA! USA!
MEN’S & WOMEN’S SWIMMING: The United States teams usually do well in the Olympics and are expected to do well again this summer! To me, the most interesting storyline is Katie Ledecky who’s competing in her 4th Olympics and after winning 10 Olympic medals beginning at the age of 15 is now one of the oldest competitors at the age of 27! On the Men’s side, while there is no Michael Phelps to bolster our team, we have some great swimmers in Caleb Dressel and Luke Finke to carry the load. Germany and Australia are so tough on us in swimming! (Reality): Dressel added 3 medals (2 Gold) to his collection during these Olympics to raise his overall total to 10 for Olympic participation. Ledecky won 4 medals (2 Gold) during these Olympics (bringing her career total to 14 Olympic medals) and won her 1500-meter race by so much that she could have eaten a sandwich and had a cold Pepsi as well! BOBBY (not Luke) Finke set a world record in his 800- meter gold winning performance!
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL: (Prediction): Aja Wilson, Diana Taurasi, and Brittany Griner lead this team to Gold and NO game will be close... PERIOD! I’ll bet my Ink Spot salary on this! (lol) They’ve won 7 Olympic Golds in a row (and number 8 will be clinched by the time this goes to press). China is out there but anyway... (Reality): Yes, the USA won the Gold but man! It was a struggle to beat France in the final by 1 point! (So, I get to keep my salary, but I was sweating the whole game!) Lol!
TRACK & FIELD: (Prediction): I love watching our athletes compete in these events! I predict that Sha ‘Carri Richardson will win the Women’s 100 meters and anchor the 4X100 meter to Gold. Noah Lyles will win the Men’s 100-meter Gold and the US 4X100 team will win silver by getting upset by Jamaica for the Gold. (Reality): Sha’Carri Richardson won the silver medal in the 100 meters; The US Men &Women’s teams won the 4x400 relays, the US women won the 4x100 meter relay and Noah Lyles won the Gold in the 100 meters and bronze in the 200 meters. But there were so many OTHER stories surrounding track & field that there’s not enough room to cover. YOU saw it with your own eyes!
WOMEN’S TENNIS: (Prediction) Coco Gauff will Medal (Reality) Gauff lost in the 3rd round eliminating her from medal contention.
BOXING: (Prediction): Roscoe Hill will win the Bronze Medal. (Reality): After winning his first fight Hill lost in the Round of 16 or 2nd Round Hill lost to Billal Bennama of France.
MENS GOLF: (Prediction): Scottie Scheffler will win the Silver Medal. (Reality): Scheffler won the GOLD!
WOMENS GOLF: (Prediction): Nelly Korda will win the Silver Medal. (Reality): Despite being ranked #1 in the world, Korda finished a disappointing 22nd in the Olympics with no medal opportunity.
WEIGHTLIFTING: (Prediction): Olivia Reeves will Medal (Reality): Reeves won the Gold medal securing the USA’s 2nd weightlifting Gold since 2000.
That wraps up Olympics 2024! See you in 2028 in Los Angeles!