2016 Fantasy Olympics Winners

As revealed at our Closing Ceremonies, here are your 2016 Fantasy Olympics Medalists:

GOLD - PiranhaMama
PiranhaMama attacked the podium with the ferocity of 100 swarming fish and was the only team to break 200 points.  She featured a balanced attack with only 3 picks not earning any points.  Her team was led by Simone Biles, of course, raking in the golds.

SILVER - Brazil Nuts
Michael Phelps paved the way to the fantasy silver for Brazil Nuts on all the gold medals he won at these games.  Despite 6 picks not earning any points, Brazil Nuts chose wisely when called upon, and perhaps their patriotic approach paid off with Team USA finding ways to win across the board.

BRONZE - Team Mark
Team Mark languished in last place virtually the entire time, however, his drafting strategy of choosing the most reliable team picks clearly paid off in the end, as Team Mark jumped from last to 3rd all on the final day of competition.  Usain Bolt also clearly helped put Team Mark on the medal stand, contributing 3 gold medals.

Here's the final standings, along with consolation prizes for everyone else:

Ultimately, the standings were close, top to bottom.  A few different results and everything could have wildly changed.  I did get last (booo) but if the Australian Men's Field Hockey team had won gold as projected, I would have won the Bronze.  One result can change it all!

It was an exciting games - thank you all for participating, and we will see you all in 2018 in PyeongChang for the Fifth Fantasy Olympiad!

Day 15 - Twas the Night Before the Closing Ceremonies

Day 15 - Here are the standings as we head into the final day of the Rio Olympics, with PiranhaMama sinking her teeth into the top spot:

PiranhaMama seemingly has a very comfortable lead at 21 points after a big day.  Brazil Nuts is trying to break the streak and finally end up on the medal stand, and then what a race with 4 teams within 6 points of each other.


Golf - the Women's tournament finished with Lydia Ko, New Zealand, of Fogo de Champion taking the Silver.

Diving - Tom Daley of my team Fogo de Champion, set an Olympic Record in the 10m platform prelims yesterday, then gets dead last today.  What a mess.
In the finals, David Boudia rallied for the Bronze for It Phelps if you Walsh.  Qiu Bo was expected to win, but finishes in 6th, leaving Team Mark toasted.

Basketball - the Women's Tournament concluded with the USA women getting gold again, as expected, and Real Winner picked the winner.  It Phelps if you Walsh gets the silver with Spain and PiranhaMama gets the Bronze with Serbia.

Water Polo - The Men's tournament concluded with the battle of the Eleys - Serbia takes the Gold for Guanabara Gladiators over Croatia of Team Mark.  Montenegro lost to Italy in the Bronze match, leaving Fogo de Champion frustrated.

Ryan Lochte - Negative 73926393 points for the dumbest interview I've ever seen.  What an idiot.  This is not an overexaggeration - what an idiot. Please just stop talking.  -20 more points.

Football - It Phelps if you Walsh danced a samba after the thrilling penalty kick shootout between Brazil and Germany.  In a storybook ending, Neymar came to the ball and delivered his team a Gold medal.  No medal meant more to Brazil than this one, and 20 points means quite a lot to It Phelps. Fascinatingly, the only points for any of our teams in Football.

Rhythmic Gymnastics - Guanabara Gladiators' Russian powerhouse Yana Kudryavtseva just couldn't quite twizzle those ribbons well enough to beat her teammate, and claims the all-around silver.

Distance-Field-Decathlon-Heptathlon Super Category:

• Chaunte Lowe comes up short in 4th in the Women's high jump, and It Phelps gets no points.
• The men's 1500m race was something so epic - one of my favorite moments of the Games.  Matt Centrowitz of the US held off a strong field to win the first gold medal for the US in the event since 1908.  Asbel Kiprop of Team Mark finished off the podium.
• Mo Farah gets double gold for PiranhaMama with a win in the 5000m after also taking the 10000m last week.  The big winner in this category.

Sprinting

• Women's 4x400m relay brought USA Gold and PiranhaMama another gold with Allyson Felix
• Men's 4x400m relay brought USA Gold and merited a Gold for Guanabara Gladiators

Volleyball - The Women's Indoor tournament concluded and USA women did pull out the Bronze for Real Winner.

It all comes down to this...Carrie has been singing about it for two weeks but OOOOOOOOOOOOH SUNDAY NIGHT is upon us.

What to watch for:

• Men's Indoor Volleyball - Brazil has a chance a Gold for Team Mark and Russia has a chance for Bronze for Guanabara Gladiators
• Handball Men's final has Team France going for Gold for Team Mark
• Basketball Men's final has USA (Team Mark) vs. Serbia (Fogo de Champion) going for Gold.  Spain plays for the Bronze for Guanabara Gladiators
• Rhythmic Gymnastics team final concludes, with Russia looking strong for Guanabara as well.

SO What this means is everyone is sweating it out while the Eleys challenge for the podium.  I'm officially last.  Bummer.

Day 14 - One Weekend to Rule them All

Day 14 has concluded and we only have one full day left in these, the games of the 31st Olympiad.

Sprinting was showcased with the exciting relays putting on a show.  Canada wins the posing out of the tunnel competition, but not anything that matters.

• The US women claimed gold in the 4x100, and that was welcomed by PiranhaMama (Alyson Felix) and especially by Brazil Nuts who went all in and gets double points from English Gardner and Tori Bowie.
• The US Men were disqualified.  Would have received the Bronze.  Justin Gatlin (Fogo de Champion), and Trayvon Bromell (It Phelps if you Walsh) disappoint.
• Jamaica's mens team cruised to the victory behind Usain Bolt (of course) of Team Mark
• Jamaica's womens team took silver and Elaine Thompson got 5 points for Team Leroy

Distance - Real Winner gets another medal from Almaz Ayana in the 5000m, though this time Bronze.  The announcers all but handed her the Gold before she faded at the end.

Football - The women's tournament concluded - 0 points handed out to any of our teams as Germany took gold, Sweden the Silver, and Canada the Bronze.  USA, France, Great Britain, and Brazil all leave their teams reeling. (Brazil Nuts, PiranhaMama, Real Winner, Team Mark)

Field Hockey - Team Mark had a chance for Gold, but the Netherlands women fell short to Great Britain.  Silver it is.

Water Polo - Real Winner picked the dominating US Women's team, and they held serve crushing Italy for the Gold.  PiranhaMama and Team Leroy end up with 0 points from their respective Australian and Spanish teams

Synchronized Swimming - PiranhaMama sinks her teeth into gold and 20 points with the Russian women's team defending their championship with a near perfect score.

SO, what's left and what to watch for this weekend in the race for Fantasy Gold

Here's your Saturday lineup and who to cheer for either for your team, or to the detriment of your nearest competitor in the standings.

• Women's Golf on the line - Fogo de Champion and Real Winner watching closely
• Women's Basketball - Real Winner and USA take on It Phelps and Spain for the Gold.  Brazil Nuts also pits France against PiranhaMama's Serbia for the Bronze
• Men's Water Polo - It's an Eley showdown as Guanabara's Serbia takes on Team Mark's Croatia for Gold.  Fogo de Champion has hope with Montenegro playing for Bronze
• Men's Football - It Phelps if you Walsh has the only hope in the game that the country cares about the most - Brazil goes for gold against Germany
• Volleyball - US Indoor Women play for Bronze for Real Winner
• Men's Diving 10m platform is a showdown between Team Mark (Qiu Bo, China), It Phelps if you Walsh (David Boudia, USA) and Fogo de Champion (Tom Daley, GB)
• Rhythmic Gymnastics - Yana Kudryavtseva of Russia is in second place after the qualifying.  Guanabara Gladiators is hoping she can finsh the finals in first.
• Track and Field - Still some events to conclude with a few potential medals to win

Day 13 - Team Time

Day 13 Scoreboard:

Highlights:

• Lightning strikes twice - Bolt secures double gold for Team Mark in the 200m.  Lashawn Merritt finished off the stand for Guanabara Gladiators, and Justin Gatlin sat the final out after being lazy in the semifinals and getting passed at the end, also negative points for blaming it on a "stiff ankle."  I'm not actually giving him negative points because he's on my team, but geez man it's the Olympics run through the line.
• Also, you should all be glad you didn't have one of the idiot swimmers - definitely negative points for all.  Although it isn't a facebook or instagram post, I think lying on the today show and vandalizing on a security camera count the same.  Ryan Lochte, pathetic.
• PiranhaMama celebrated a big team gold from Alison (The Wooly Mammoth) and Bruno in Men's beach volleyball, which moves her onto the medal stand right now.

Also, it's interesting to look and see how well we did in different sports that have concluded -no more points to be awarded in the below, but check out who drafted well and who was a dud:

Archery

The Koreans were on the mark.

Cycling

Biggest miss - Jason Kenny of Great Britain track cycling with a triple gold - 30 points left on the table

Fencing

One Russian was on point, another...a bit dull.

Gymnastics (Artistic)

Simone Simone Simone

(Rhythmic still to come - get ya popcorn ready)

Rowing 

The biggest news due to the nature of the set-up is that PiranhaMama and Team Leroy didn't get the gold and 20 point score.

Swimming

Phelps outdid the projections and Brazil Nuts was glad for the gift.  Australia...barf.

Table Tennis

China will destroy us all with tiny spinning balls.

Tennis

Disappointment all over the place.  Goose egg city. Small fuzzy green goose eggs.

The big dominoes still to come are the team events concluding over the next few days.  Big points still out there and could swing the standings!  

For example - don't sleep on Team Mark - he may be in last place now, but his remaining point potential is off the charts - Team Mark picked some good Teams and is counting on those 20 point bonuses.

106 points waiting for the taking (Brazil Women's Football curiously the one in the Bronze medal game):

 

Days 9-12

Hey Everyone!

Sorry for the lag on posts but here's a bit of catch-up for Days 9-12

So you can see the progression...

Day 9 Scoreboard

Day 10 Scoreboard

Day 11 Scoreboard

Day 12 Scoreboard (CURRENT STANDINGS)

Biggest events swinging point totals:

• Simone Biles didn't get her 5 golds, but still picked up a Bronze in the Beam.
• Sprinting is getting a lot of Silvers, except for Teams Leroy and Mark who both have Jamaicans
• Table Tennis - Team China domination - all 3 Men and Women on each team were on fantasy teams and secured Gold.
• Beach Volleyball - huge upsets in the Women's tournament lead to only Brazil Nuts salvaging a Bronze medal with Team USA of Walsh-Jennings/Ross getting the Bronze
• Australian Men's Field Hockey doesn't medal - I am annoyed, and I get 0 wild card points from those bums. Never picking Aussies again

A lot of sports have concluded now, so I'll look to recap those tomorrow and you can analyze how well your picks did!  We're in the home stretch - who will land on the stand on Sunday?

Day 8 - The Race for Gold

Day 8 Scoreboard:

Look at that point spread from 1-4!  This will be a crazy race here in Week 2 of the Fantasy Olympic Games.

Rowing:

• US Women's 8 scores Gold for Guanabara Gladiators
• Germany Men's 8 gets a disappointing silver for PiranhaMama

Tennis

• Women Singles concluded with no medals awarded
• PiranhaMama has Timea Bacsinszky of Switzerland going for the Gold in doubles on Sunday
• Guanabara Gladiators also has a chance for Men singles Gold with Andy Murray making it to the Gold Medal Match Sunday
• Venus Williams of Brazil Nuts is in the mixed doubles Gold medal match Sunday

Trampoline

• No one picked him but Dong Dong got silver, which is an upset.  Just bringing you guys the important news.

Fencing

• Women's Team Sabre netted a Gold for Fogo de Champion and Sofia Velikaya
• Brazil Nuts claimed a silver from Olga Kharlan of Ukraine
• Mariel Zagunis of the US and Team Leroy took home the Bronze

Cycling

• Team Mark grabbed a Bronze in the crazy Keirin with Anna Meares.  This race is wild with a pace moto-bike that releases the riders for a couple laps. We also watched a wreck happen which damaged the floor, and they seriously patched the hole with duct tape.  Maybe it will at least seal out any algae growth.

Distance/Field/Dec/Hep

• PiranhaMama was FREAKING OUT watching Mo Farah run the 10k.  He cruised through the first 5 or 6 laps in LAST PLACE, then moved up only to be tripped and fell down on the track.  However, Mo got up, won the race, and repeated as Olympic Champion.  Gold.

Sprinting

• The first medals in Sprinting were given out in one of the premiere events - the women's 100m.
• Elaine Thompson, Jamaica of Team Leroy grabbed the Gold and Tori Bowie, US of Brazil Nuts secured the silver
• Brazil Nuts tried to corner the market selecting English Gardner of the US as well, but English did not cast her seeds on fertile soil, finishing seventh.

Swimming is finally over!

If you haven't been paying attention, Michael Phelps is good at swimming.  NBC will probably make sure you know this 159327 times over the next week.  Pretty incredible.

His dad showed up for his final race.

And now Phelps can return home to relax

For everyone who didn't pick a lot of swimmers, or who picked a lot of bum Aussies, it's time to put this portion of the games behind you and focus on the finish

• The women's 50m had Simone Manuel from the US winning silver - that's 30 points overall for a swimmer not drafted by any team.  Cate and Bronte Campbell failed again
• There were a smattering of points across the relays, so here's a final look at Swimming and who drafted the best (And Worst) swimmers.

Day 7 - Track and Field is here!

Day 7 Scoreboard:

Quick Hits:

USA Women Football lost in the Quarterfinals to Sweden.  Hope Solo lost it and threw a hissy fit, and Sweden said SCOREBOARD.
However, I am disappointed the US lost, and Brazil Nuts are definitely disappointed as a sure 20 points turns into 0.


Rowing:

• Brazil Nuts did get a Gold from the Men's Lightweight Double Sculls France Team
• Real Winner secured a Gold from the Team GB coxless pair

Distance Running

• Real Winner secured a Gold from Amaz Ayana in the 10000m race - setting a world record!  Molly Huddle of the US set an American Record, could have won basically all the last Olympics, but loses by almost a minute here.

Tennis

Men's Doubles concluded with NO ONE getting anything.  Nadal got gold, but went undrafted.

Archery concluded today

• Ku Bon-Chan is eating Bon-Bons with Team Leroy as the top point-getter in Archery, securing Double Gold.
• Brady Ellison, USA, picks up the Bronze for PiranhaMama, beating out Sjef Van Den Berg of It Phelps if you Walsh

Fencing - Real Winner gets a Bronze from Alexander Massialas, USA, in the Team Foil

Carrie Underwood - STILL obsessed with Sunday night

Cycling

• PiranhaMama gets a Gold from Zhong Tianshi in the Women's Team Sprint
• Kristina Vogel, Germany, eeks out a Bronze for Team Leroy over Anna Mears, Australia, of Team Mark

Swimming

• Katina Hosszu gets a chink in her armor as the IRON LADY is edged for the gold by Maya Dirado of the US in one of the most exciting races of the games.  It Phelps still gets a Silver.
• Michael Phelps also loses for the first time and ends up in a TRIPLE TIE for Silver - Brazil Nuts will take it
• Katie Ledecky destroys the competition as the announcers try to describe her climbing rocks or something because they are bored by her dominance.  It Phelps if you Walsh wins another gold
• The 50m insanity race resulted in a silver for Manaudou and Team Mark, and Adrian of Fogo de Champion got a Bronze

Day 6 - Medals Galore (Unless you're Australian)

Day 6 Scoreboard:

(Note: I noticed yesterday it wasn't counting the number of medals correctly, but the total score has been correct.  I've corrected the medal counts on the scoreboard!)

Swimming - some Rowdy Gaines quotes on Australian swimmers

• Mitch Larkin - PiranhaMama "Has had a disappointing meet, but got some redemption" - Silver
• Emily Seebohm - Real Winner "Mitch Larkin's girlfriend and the queen of backstroke...well there's going to be a new queen of backstroke" - 6th in a semifinal
• Cameron McEvoy - Team Leroy "A disappointment" - 7th place
• Cate and Bronte Campbell - "Should be the first sisters to medal in the same event" - no medals

Also:

Michael Phelps - Brazil Nuts- "Old Man Swimmer" - really good at swimming, another Gold

Ryan Murphy - Team Leroy - Another Gold for the Irish Backstroker

Kosuke Hagino  - Real Winner - Proves a solid pick with a gold, silver and bronze across the games

Sarah Sjostrom - Team Leroy - Matches the feat with a gold, silver, bronze

Rowing had it's first medals given out today

• Team Leroy with a silver from the Men's Australian Quad
• Fogo de Champion struck gold with, as Google describes, the "Men's Coxless Pair" from New Zealand
• Team Mark gets 20 points from the Croatian Doubles
• It Phelps if you Walsh sang a high note getting a Gold from his Swiss Men's Lightweight Coxless Four

Fencing:

• PiranhaMama gets some redemption with Xu Anqi getting a silver with Team China in the Epee

Cycling:

Track cycling began with the Team Sprint!

• Eddie Dawkins of Team New Zealand led them to a Silver, setting an Olympic record in a Heat over Joachim Eilers of Team Germany and It Phelps if you Walsh.  Team New Zealand was only beat by Great Britain and their amazing effort to improve by .2 seconds over their heat time, which stole the Olympic record from the Kiwis.  Germany did not make the medal stand.

Rugby concluded with Fiji winning the country's first ever medal.  It Phelps if you Walsh disappointingly doesn't get any points as New Zealand somehow finishes off the podium in 5th.

Archery featured the Women's individual tournament - 

• Ki Bo-Bae pulled out the Bronze for Fogo de Champion
• Surpisingly, this was the only medal awarded with contenders Mackenzie Brown of Brazil Nuts, Tan Ya-Ting of Real Winner, and Choi Mi-Sun of Team Mark all being upset along the way.

Gymnastics - As expected Simone Biles of PiranhaMama is the queen of the games winning the all-around gold.  Aly Raisman of Guanabara Gladiators threw it down and won the Silver.

And finally.  TABLE TENNIS, what you've all been waiting for, especially if you're Team Leroy

• Ma Long as expected dominates the gold medal match 4 - 0 winning for Team Leroy
• Zhang Jike of Fogo de Champion sat there and let Ma Long punish him with ping pong balls, but still gets a Silver for being present.
• Jun Mizutani of Real Winner was also successful winning the Bronze

Day 5 - Stayin' Alive

Day 5 is in the books!

PiranhaMama has started slow, but lots of action tonight with the Simone Biles train to come...

Highlights:

Cycling - Real Winner picked a winner as Anna Van Der Breggen picks up a Bronze in the Time Trial to go with her Gold from the Road Race.  Chris Froome also bolstered Guanabara Gladiators with a Bronze.

Diving - Qin and Cao from China were upset and ended up with a Bronze in the springboard synchronized diving - hurting PiranhaMama and Team Leroy in the process

Table Tennis - The first medals were won in the sport with the Women's finals occurring - it was a bout between the Chinese powerhouses Ding Ning and Li Xiaoxia.  Who won? Ding Ding Ding Ding - Team Mark gets the Gold and PiranhaMama gets the Silver.

Swimming:

• Madeliene Groves finally breaks through with a Silver for PiranhaMama
• Nathan Adrian scored a disappointing Bronze in the 100m dash for Fogo de Champion
• Ledecky gets another Gold - of course! for It Phelps.

Gymnastics - Kohei Uchimura eeked out the Gold in the men's all-around by .09 points.  It took a big hop on the final landing by the silver medalist to seal the deal.  WHEW - double gold for Fogo de Champion.

Day 4 Recap

Day 4 Scoreboard:

Quick Hits:
Fencing - It Phelps gets a Bronze from G-Money Gauthier Grumier

Swimming - the powerhouses are rolling in the golds...

• Michael Phelps Michael Phelps Michael Phelps double gold for Brazil Nuts
• Iron Lady Iron Lady Iron Lady another gold for Katinka Hosszu and It Phelps if you Walsh
• Ledecky Ledecky Ledecky - another gold for It Phelps!  Swimming U
• Kosuke Hagino also picked up a Bronze for Real Winner

GYMNASTICS:
Team USA delivered the big points with Simone Biles, Aly Raisman, and Laurie Hernandez all steamrolling the competition to team Gold.  PiranhaMama, Brazil Nuts, and Guanabara Gladiators all were thankful for the performance.
Real Winner also received a Bronze from Fan Yilin of China.

And Serena Williams loses in the singles tournament.  Unbelievable.

Days 2 and 3 Recap

Sorry about not having a full recap yesterday, but I thought I would try and combine some updates into one post for Days 2 and 3.


Day 2 Updated Standings:

HIGHLIGHTS:

• Fencing hosted a showdown of teams in the gold medal match of the men's individual foil (which is so complicated - I watched it and have no idea what was happening - most of the time the point went to whoever hit the other fencer second, which is totally not realistic - if you get stabbed in a duel first you CLEARLY lose and die right?)
  Enrico Garazzo, Italy of Team Mark took a big lead against Alexander Massialas, of Team USA and Real Winner, but Massialas made a huge comeback to make it very close at the end.  The Italian managed to fend off the flurry of attacks and Garazzo wins gold for Team Mark.
• More Archery success was found with the powerful Korean team - this time Team Mark and Fogo de Champion were singing you are Mi-sun-shine Bae when Team Korea cruised to Gold on the shoulders of Ki Bo-Bae and Choi Mi-sun.
  Real Winner was singing a sad ballad like Tanya Tucker when Tan Ya-Ting and the Chinese Taipei crew failed to reach silver as projected, instead settling for a Bronze in team Archery.
• The diving duo of Shi Tingmao and Wu Minxia cruised to the gold - Wu becoming the most decorated diver of all time - 5 golds!  Brazil Nuts and Real Winner were glad for the returns.
• The women's road cycling race resulted in a dramatic finish with one rider from the Netherlands leading, but having a terrible crash on the final hill.  Then Mara Abbott of the USA seemingly was cruising to the finish, but a trio of riders passed her with a mere 100 m left.  After 4 hours, what a crushing blow.  Real Winner breathed relief with Anna Van Der Breggen ending on top of that trio and claiming Gold.
• Of course swimming - the 100m relay proving an exciting spectacle for the USA and Brazil Nuts/Fogo de Champion with the Phelps/Adrian duo claiming Gold. Team Mark claimed a silver from Manadou of France and Team Leroy a Bronze from Australia's Cameron McEvoy.  Sarah Sjostrom also contributed a Gold to Team Leroy, redeeming from the first 2 events, and Katie Ledecky dominated as expected giving It Phelps to Walsh a Gold.
• Tennis was basically a dumpster fire for our picks - Serena and Venus Williams, winner of doubles Gold in the last 3 Olympics had NEVER lost as a duo at the Olympics - lost in the first round to some scrub Czechs.  Novak Djokovic also lost in the first round in the Singles Tournament.  Brazil Nuts, Fogo de Champion, and Team Leroy are all reeling from the carnage.

Day 3 Updated Standings:

HIGHLIGHTS:

• Gymnastics - Kohei Uchimura and Kenzo Shirai helped deliver Gold for Team Japan and for Fogo de Champion and It Phelps if you Walsh.  China, projected for Silver, said "Deng" and took Bronze instead behind Deng Shudi and You Hao, hurting Teams Leroy and Mark with their Chinese gymnasts.
• Fencing - Brazil Nuts and Fogo de Champion ended with less than stellar results as their two fencers picked to lead the pack were passed by another Russian to settle for the silver and Bronze.  Mariel Zagunis of Team Mark did not medal in the event.
  We tried to locate PiranhaMama's fencer Xu Anqi, and I pointed out she lost in the round of 32.  I was punched in the arm. It kind of hurt.
• In Diving, more medals were awarded in Synchronized platform to Tom Daley of Fogo de Champion (Bronze) and David Boudia of It Phelps if you Walsh (Silver), but no one chose the Chinese dominant team that took home gold.
• The first TEAM medal was awarded in Rugby - not a designated event, but one in which two teams chose WILD CARD slots - Australian Women's won the Gold medal and the coveted 20 points for Guanabara Gladiators, with New Zealand claiming Silver for Real Winner.  
• Swiming again dominiates the first week of the Olympics and additional medals were earned by the IRON LADY Katinka Hosszu of It Phelps, and Ryan Murphy of Team Leroy.  I pointed out to PiranhaMama that her pick Mitch Larkin of Australia had really sucked it up, getting 4th in an event, to which I received another punch in the arm and a vow to not read these updates until she has more points.

On to Day 4!

Day 1 Recap

Here is your scoreboard after Day 1:

Guanabara Gladiators jumped to the lead after Day 1 with strong performances from key picks - Cate "Soup" Campbell from Australia ate her Chunky soup and blasted through the final leg of the 4x100 relay to capture gold for Australia.  This also have Fogo de Champion a gold with sister Bronte Campbell providing the appetizer course to Cate's closing speed.

Archery provided multiple medals on the day with the key showdown of Korea and USA in the men's team finals.  Ultimately, the Korean's dominated and set world records in the process, as expected, and Guanabara and Team Leroy received the gold medal points from Kim Woo-Jin and Ku Bon-chan.  PiranhaMama claimed rights to Brady Ellison on draft night, and while the US came up short with the silver, this was still better than the projected Bronze - so PiranhaMama will take the 2 bonus points.

It Phelps if you Walsh your hands (...) had a strong day with the performance by the "IRON LADY" swimmer Katinka Hozzu.  She obliterated a world record in the process and left no doubt in capturing gold, also giving very *ahem* humble interviews in the process.  Another swimmer on It Phelps, the dominant Katie Ledecky surely has more gold opportunities to come, but was able to gain a silver for the team with USA's finish behind the Campbell sisters in the 4x100 relay.

In the final medal awarded to our teams, Real Winner also claimed a swimming medal with a gold from Kosuke Hagino of Japan.


Now the other story that defines how our teams are doing is what could have been:

• Team Leroy - Sarah Sjostrom of Sweden swam in 2 events - only moral victories
• It Phelps if you Walsh - Sjef Van den Berg had more names than arrows available in Archery as the Netherlands fell to the dominant Koreans.
• Guanabara Gladiators had double-gold medalist Chris Froome from the London Olympics fall short in the cycling road race finshing 12th, but fortunately he finished, as half the field crashed along the crazy descent to the finish.
• Fogo de Champion drafted maybe the best gymnast of all time according to news sources, however Kohei Uchimura spent too much time playing Pokemon and didn't concentrate on the high bar - his best event.  He fell off disastrously in preliminaries, which means he did not score high enough to participate in the event finals where he was projected for gold.  From hero to zero, but bonus more time to find Pikachu. 

Onward to day 2!

Your 2016 Fantasy Olympics Teams

The 2016 Rio Olympics have arrived - the Opening Ceremonies gave us some captivating silver pillows, spiders, projectors, interesting neon pink arrow fashion choices, and of course fireworks.

The biggest fireworks of the evening certainly came as the fantasy draft launched.  PiranhaMama sunk her teeth into Simone Biles, the USA powerhouse gymnast - projected for 5 golds and 50 points - to kick off the draft.  It Phelps to Walsh Your Hands After Swimming in the Poop Infested Water (IPTWYHASITPIW) kept true to the swimming theme and grabbed Katie Ledecky of the USA second.   Guanabara Gladiators continued the mad-grab for swimming in the first round with Cate Campell of Australia. Michael Phelps may be older, but still a powerhouse and chosen by Brazil Nuts.  Real Winner broke with the project point total and moved down to Emily Seebohm, swimming, Australia. Team Mark looks for lightning in the bottle with Usain Bolt once again.  Team Leroy jumped back to swimming grabbing Cameron McEvoy of Australia.  Closing out the first round, Fogo de Champion took the top projected Men's gymnast on the board in Kohei Uchimura of Japan.

Each team leader drafted players into the following 16 categories, then also two WILD CARD slots that could be from any category or other sport also at the games.  Individual medals are worth 10 for Gold, 5 for Silver, 3 for Bronze and Team medals are worth 20 for Gold, 10 for Silver, and 6 for Bronze.

The draft continued throughout the night featuring twists, turns, wild Wild Card picks, and plenty of sophomoric humor.  Nothing brings people together like splitting into teams.

That being said, here are your eight 2016 Fantasy Olympics teams:

In addition, each team drafted a Tiebreaker Country, only to be implemented in the case of a tie in the final standings.

I also ran a quick tabulation of the teams drafted and how the final standings would look if every prediction came true - think of this as a Draft Grade.

PiranhaMama...we're coming for you.  You may have never won a medal in the previous Fantasy Olympics, but you have a commanding lead in the projections.

Best of luck to all!  But mostly best of luck to my Fogo de Champion elite team. (And go USA!)

ALSO - we have our first expansion franchise!  Katie and Nick participated in a previous Fantasy Olympics with us, and has taken the fun to another state.  The Fantasy Olympics fever is spreading (and is something you WANT to catch, unlike Zika).
Check out their updates at Tell City Fantasy Olympics

WELCOME everyone to the 2016 Fantasy Olympic Games!

Please be mindful of the established rules:

2016 Summer Fantasy Olympics Rules

1. Each team will have 18 athletes and/or teams and 1 tiebreaker country.

2. Draft order will be determined by a random draw.  Draft order will reverse each round.  Ex. Round 1 will go in order from 1-9, round 2 from 9-1, round 3 from 1-9, etc.  Each player gets one pick per round for 19 rounds.

3. Each player will select a total of 18 athletes that will fill the following roster spots on your team: One athlete or team per sport (16) and two wild cards from any sport.  Everyone must also choose a country to serve as a tiebreaker.

4. All remaining athletes will become free agents.  However, all teams will lock on 06-Aug-2016 at the beginning of the first event.  Trades may be made between teams, but only on the night of the draft.  No changes can be made to the rosters after these first events begin. A player may draft a tiebreaker country in any round, but remember that the medals won by that country will only come into play in the event of a tie.

5. The winner will be the player with the most points at the end of the 2016 Summer Games.  Points will be assigned as follows: INDIVIDUAL EVENTS: 10 points for a gold medal, 5 points for a silver medal, and 3 point for a bronze medal. TEAM EVENTS: 20 points for a gold medal, 10 points for a silver medal, and 6 point for a bronze medal.  Each player's final score will be based on an aggregate score from his or her team members.

6. If an athlete competes in both team and individual events (for example, a swimmer), that athlete can be selected as an individual, earning medals for both the individual and team events.  The team cannot be selected as a unit.  If, however, medals in an event are only awarded on a team-by-team basis (for example, basketball), only the team can be selected.

7. Medal counts will be updated in the official spreadsheet by the Commissioner or the Commissioneress on a more or less nightly basis and posted to the blog http://fantasyolympicgames.blogspot.com

8. Each player will select one country whose total medal count will be used to determine a winner, in the event of a tie among two or more players' aggregate scores. If the total medal count fails to break the tie, then the gold count, silver count, and finally the bronze count, will be used.

9. In the event that an athlete on your team is caught doping at any point during the games, you will be deducted 5 points.

10. In the event that an athlete on your team is kicked out because of a stupid facebook or twitter post at any point during the games, you will be deducted 5 points.

11.  If an athlete is stripped of a medal you will lose the points for that medal.