Day 5: Swimming Upstream

 Swimming featured today, not only in the pool, but also in the Seine, as the triathlons got to jump into the slightly-less-than-yesterday contaminated water.

Katie Ledecky, Captain America, throws down once again in the 1500, finshing with no one else even close - she can do this all day! She secured the Olympic record and also she now owns the top 20 fastest times ever. She's so far ahead of the rest of the world, could she legit keep doing this until she's an ancient 30 year old? Athletic Avengers hope her domination keeps up in these games.

Leon Marchand is Le Capitaine France - securing DOUBLE GOLD today, and his third of the Games. What a clutch pick for the Synchronized Race Walkers.

Other Swimming winners:

• David Popovici - Eiffel Power - Bronze
• Kyle Chalmers - Don't Ledecky Us Get Hot - Silver

Gymnastics - Men's All-Around final provided an exciting finish, but not one that any of our teams wanted - NO MEDALS awarded. Daiki Hashimoto once again did not deliver as expected and finished off the podium for Macronian Cheese. He finishes his Olympics with one Gold medal, but not the 3 expected. 

Diving - China wins, you knew it would happen. Seine Superstars and Baguette the Gold celebrate

Rowing had it's first finals today!

• Netherlands Men - GOLD - Hunchback of the Swimming Lane
• Italy Men - SILVER - Athletic Avengers
• Great Britain Women - GOLD - Team de Triomphe
• Netherlands Women - SILVER - Eiffel Power

Judo

• Japan men lost! but Golden Beret still takes a silver. Athletic Avengers celebrate as the Georgia Men grab the Gold.
• France Men get a Bronze for Don't Ledecky us Get Hot.

Canoe - Jessica Fox of Australia gets her second GOLD for Hunchback of the Swimming Lane

Fencing - Hungary claims the silver in men's team Sabre - salvaging some points for Hunchback of the Swimming Lane

Day 4: Gymnastics (And Math) is Hard

 The women's gymnastics team final finished with the expected top team winning this time around - USA behind Simone Biles hit the floor running and ran away with the gold. Team de Triomphe is pleased to have her #1 pick deliver! Seine Superstars and Eiffel Power also score the gold with Suni Lee and Jade Carey. Shoutout to Hezly, who got to be 16, in Paris, getting a Gold medal, and not having to do anything but ride the wave.  In the interview she really said "just so glad to be here." Yeah I bet!

Special condolences to Macronian Cheese, who under the guise of team TokYoMama in the last games, also selected Biles #1, but finshed 4th in the final standings.  Had the twisty's not occurred, you can bet TokYoMama would have likely been on the podium.

Other special condolences extend to Great Britain, who were in a tight battle with Brazil for a potential Bronze medal.  A tradgedy in pictures:

After completing their final routine on the balance beam, GB were elated to look up and see themselves in medal position on the podium! All 5 girls were celebrating wildly, seeing they were sitting in medal position. However, Simone Biles was still to perform and once her score was posted, the US would re-assume the top spot and knock team GB off the medal stand. Their coach walked over during the celebration, explained that Biles was about to drop kick them, and held up 4 fingers. Elation turned to devastation.  That's the Olympics. Golden Beret swings in for the Bronze from Rebeca Andrade and Brazil.

Rugby Sevens concluded today with the Women's final matches. New Zealand won as expected, taking out Canada for the Gold, and boosting Eiffel Power to new heights, as she jumps to 3rd place with the help of the Kiwis.

The US women pulled off a dramatic final run as time expired to score and beat Australia to win the Bronze, securing their first ever medal in Rugby at the Olympics! I don't understand all the rules, but Spiff Sedrick (what a name) absolutely trucked some Australians and took it to the house just like she was playing on Super Bowl Sunday.

You just got SPIFF-ARMED!

 

In Table Tennis, the Chinese mixed doubles team topped the podium for gold beating North Korea, pinging 10 points to Hunchback of the Swimming Lane (Wang) and Baguette the Gold (Sun). Doo Hoi-kem of Team de Tripomphe finshed off the podium, losing in the Bronze medal match. The top story, was the podium - North Korea took Silver and South Korea the bronze, and the teams took a selfie afterwards, no DMZ present.

The Fencing Epee team gold medal match came down to Italy and France, and went into overtime on the last matchup to decide the winner. Auriane Mallo-Breton of France faced a similar circumstance in the Epee individual final a few days ago - vying for the Gold, heading to overtime. Unfortunately for Mallo-Breton, her Olympics end in double heartbreak - losing both matches. Synchronized Race Walkers do claim the Silver, after having Mallo's teammate Candassamy. However, Seine Superstars have the elite Alberta Santuccio of Italy, who DID get the final touch in overtime to seal the Gold for Italy and 10 points for the stars. 

Judo slams:

• Japan Men - GOLD - Golden Beret
• Georgia Men (Not the Bulldogs) - SILVER - Athletic Avengers
• France Women - BRONZE - Hunchback of the Swimming Lane (Seriously their 4th Bronze - come on girls get to the gold medal match!)
• Kosovo Women - BRONZE - Team de Triomphe

Swimming once again rounds out the day:

• Australia beats US again - Kaylee McKeown (Team de Triomphe) edges out Regan Smith (Baguette the Gold) in the 100m backstroke
• So many Irish names representing other countries on our teams - O'Callaghan, McIntosh, McKeown, Murphy, McEvoy...but an ACTUAL Irishman named Daniel Wiffen won the Gold in the 800m freestyle, beating out Bobby Finke of the US and Golden Beret, who settles for silver.
• The 200m men's freestyle relay interestingly featured none of our picks. Oh well.

Day 3: Stuck Like a Toothpick in a Club Sandwich

 WOW what a fun day at the games! The Men's Gymnastic team final led the way bringing the heat and the bro attitudes. The girls give the nice half-hugs and occasional high fives, but the dudes go full fist pump and mosh pit after every performance. It was a sight to behold today, and major ramifications for our teams, as China, Japan, and unexpectedly, the US, battled out to get on the medal stand. Macronian Cheese's Daiki Hasimoto continued some of his unexpected struggles falling off the pommel horse, but once some of the Chinese gymnasts turned in less than perfect performances, it opened the door. He closed it by finally delivering on the high bar and sealing the Gold for team Japan. China were strong favorites, and still secured the silver, making a solid pickup for Hunchback (Zou Jingyuan) and Athletic Avengers (Liu Yang).

But of course the US team is what we were all watching, and it all came down to Rivers Cuomo, ready to take the stage on his island in the sun. 

The US was not expected to be in this position, and all the pressure was on him, but he said "I don't care what they say about us anyway." He had to wait through every event to deliver a performance on his only event - the pommel horse. Of course, that's where he wants to be, livin' in the pressure filled moments. Despite the pressure, he did not come undone, he delivered, and the US secured the Bronze medal and the first spot on the podium since 2008.

Say it ain't so? Nope - it is! Synchronized Race Walkers celebrate big, with their double-first-named dude Fred Richard sticking the solid landings for the team all night. This three points felt so much bigger.

Diving featured the 10m platform springboard finals - China were nearly flawless with Yang Hao and Lian Junjie securing 10 points for Golden Beret and Eiffel Power. Noah Williams paired up with old man Tom Daley and splashed in for silver for Hunchback of the Swimming Lane.  Cassiel Rousseau (AUS) was ice cold for Don't Ledecky Us Get Hot, finishing 6th.

Men's Archery team finals met the expected mark with S. Korea winning the team gold - hitting the bullseye for Macronian Cheese, Seine Superstars, and Team de Triomphe. The S. Korean archers are treated like NBA basketball stars back home - earning huge wages and having fantastic facilities and technology to help them devote their time to honing their craft. It clearly pays off with double team golds.  Turkey secured the bronze behind their leader, Mete Gazoz, and Athletic Avengers bag the 3 points.

Judo was slammin' again:

• Japan women BRONZE - Synchronized Race Walkers
• France women BRONZE - Hunchback of the Swimming Lane
• Japan men BRONZE - Golden Beret
• France men SILVER - Don't Ledecky Us Get Hot

Canoeing featured the men's Slalom with France (Macronian Cheese) getting the Gold and Great Britain (Athletic Avengers) squeaking out the silver by 0.2 seconds over 3rd.

Fencing continues to feature plenty of unexpected results, with none of our competitiors making it to the medal rounds today.

Swimming rounds us out on the points for the day:

• Summer McIntosh of Canada drank her maple syrup today and dominated the 400IM, securing gold for the Golden Berets.
• David Popovici (Romania) popped everyone's hopes at the last moment to win the 200m free final and gets the Gold for Eiffel Power.
• Ryan Murphy hung on just long enough to still earn the bronze in the backstroke for Eiffel Power
• And the final big event - the Kangaroo showdown led to teammates Mollie O'Callaghan (Hunchback) and Ariare Titmus (Macronian Cheese) in lanes next to each other in the 200m freestyle final. Good golly Miss Mollie turned on the afterburners and put it away in the last 50m to get the gold.  Titmus earned the silver.

For those at the bottom of the standings - don't lose heart. There's so much to come including all the premier team events.  Points will pile in quickly!

Day 2: Millimeter Matters

The Archery women's team final appeared through the scope as if the S. Korean women were cruising to another gold, in an event they have never lost...ever. Every Olympic champion has been the S. Korean women. China roared back to win the third and fourth sets to force a fifth and deciding set.  After three arrows each, the score was tied at 27, so the judges got out the magnifying glass and looked to verify if two arrows shot by the Koreans may have barely grazed the line between 9 and 10.  After this Sherlockian inspection, the shots were upgraded to 10s and S. Korea claimed the Gold once again.  

This had major implications for three teams - as each member of the Korean team was selected on our squads: Hunchback of the Swimming Lane, Eiffel Power, and Golden Beret all aimed their sights on the 10 points and were glad to add this to their quiver. In one of the few non-S. Korean picks, Baguette the Gold unfortunately did not bake to golden brown, but burnt to a more Bronze color with Mexico defeating the Netherlands.

Judo matches continued - Tripomphe's Kosovo women made the gold medal match, but got pinned for the silver. France continued flexing with another Bronze for Hunchback. However, Japan dominated with a men's gold medal win for Golden Beret.

Canoeing competitions launched from the dock today - beginning with the K2 slalom.  Jessica Fox of Australia did not have exceptional qualifying heats, but made the final and secured the chance to fulfil her destiny - both of her parents were champion canoe competitiors in the past.  She then proceeded to out-Fox the tough course and stake a claim at the lead.  It all came down to the final competitor from Germany, with possibly the best chance to beat Fox or at least medal, but she ran into the wall and missed the next to last gate. Devastation turned to joy for Fox and Hunchback of the Swimming Lane.  Also, this gave a bronze to Great Britain and Golden Beret, as they were able to hang onto the medal stand.

Swimming will be a nightly fixture for a while - 

• Leon Marchand of France wowed the home crowd with a gold in the 400IM for Synchronized Race Walkers
•  However, the Race Walkers were tripped up when Gretchen Walsh was edged out for Gold by her teammate Tori Huske

Fencing rounds out the set of medals tonight - 

• Alice Volpi of Italy could not stab a medal for Eiffel Power - falling in the Bronze medal match.
• Lee Kiefer of the USA defender her gold medal in the women's Foil final defeating another member of Team USA!  However both were undrafted by our teams!

Elsewhere around the games, sweaty moments for Team de Triomphe, as #1 pick Simone Biles seemed to have injured her ankle during the preliminaries today, even crawling back on the mat at one point.  She was able to overcome this twist without any other "twistys" situation and dominated the remaining competitions. She still has a chance for 5 medals in these games. Rebeca Andrade ended in 2nd for Golden Beret, and Suni Lee in 3rd for Seine Superstars, setting up a great competition for all-around medals.

Day 1: Quasimodo-ring to a Fast Start

Ring the church bells - Day 1 is in the books and one team has jumped to a small lead. There's no looking back now, which is good because he can't see over his back.

I'll celebrate while I can, because so much will change. Unfortunately, the HOSL missed out on a bolus of points - the home team France pulled out the improbable victory in Rugby Sevens, taking down Fiji and dealing the Fijians their first ever loss in an Olympic match. Fiji still claims the silver, but this became a lower value wild card pick.

Elsewhere, HUSL did claim a gold from the Australian relay team and Mollie O'Callaghan, and Judo got underway with a bronze from France.

The Race Walkers started out with a strong gait, led my their dominant Japanese Women Judoka team securing their first gold. Don't Ledecky slammed a silver, with Macronian Cheese and Golden Beret finding bronze.

Swimming is always big in the first week - aside from O'Callaghan above, Ariarne Titmus (Macronian Cheese) and Caeleb Dressel (Seine Superstars) secured gold, with Summer McIntosh (Golden Beret), Kyle Chalmers (Don't Ledecky) and Kate Douglass (Baguette the Gold) scoring silver.  Last but not least, Katie Ledecky did get her first medal in the 400m for Athletic Avengers, however her golden moments are on their way with the longer races.

Diving fell as expected with China on top of the 3m springboard synchronized final - Team de Triomphe and the Race Walkers both splash with joy.

One of the big additional stories - Daiki Hasimoto of Japan gymnastics failed to qualify for two event finals where he was expected to medal. This deals a huge blow to Macronian Cheese, as this was a top pick that once again denies them Gymnastics glory.

Day 2 will heat up the competitions!

Let The Games Begin! Draft Grades

Thank you everyone for coming to the 2024 Draft! What a magnifique soirée!

Special thanks to Alex for making a billion crepes for us to enjoy, they were très délicieux.

After a long and winding road, we all survived the 24 rounds and selected our squads.  Good luck to all the competitors!

I loaded in all Write-in selections and have totaled up the projected points from all our drafted teams.  Here's the projected finish table if all the predictions come true:

Of course, this is the Olympics and we have to EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED.  Let's GOOOOO

Welcome to the 2024 Paris Fantasy Olympiad

 Hello and welcome to the 2024 Fantasy Olympic Games! 

We are so excited to enjoy all that the Paris Olympiad will offer - from underdog stories, to athletic feats never seen, to dumb decisions in the village, to political intrigue...there's nothing like the Olympics drama to come.

We will be utilizing an online draft during the Friday event - please be prepared with a device on which you can select your team.

We have 10 teams registered for this year's Olympiad - picks will be restricted to 45 seconds, or faster if you can manage it.  

Here, you can find the rules set for this Olympics:

2024 Summer Fantasy Olympics Rules

 1. Each team will have 23 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 1-10, round 2 from 10-1, round 3 from 1-10, etc.  Each player gets one pick per round for 24 rounds.

 3. Each player will select a total of 23 athletes/teams that will fill the following roster spots on your team:

One athlete or team per sport (21) and two wild cards from any sport.  Everyone must also choose a country to serve as a tiebreaker.

 4. All remaining athletes/teams will become free agents.  However, all teams will lock on 27-Jul-2024 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 2024 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.  COUNTRY EVENTS: Same points as Individual, but received for each medal awarded to that country in the sport. Each player's final score will be based on an aggregate score from his or her team members.

6. There are three categories of athletes/teams which can be drafted:

(1)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 (ex. 4x100m relay team) cannot be selected as a unit. 

(2) If medals in an event are only awarded on a team-by-team basis (for example, basketball), only the team can be selected.

(3) Select sports will be labeled as ""Country"" selections, such as Rowing, Weightlifting and Wrestling.  These selections will be scored based on total points for all individual medals won by a drafted country.  For example, if USA women win 3 gold weightlifting medals, then the team that drafted USA women as their Weightlifting group will earn 10x3=30pts.  Note: specific named athletes in this category cannot be chosen as Wild Card selections, but Country selections in these sports can be selected as Wild Cards.

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, and bring shame to your team.

10. In the event that an athlete on your team is kicked out because of a stupid facebook, instagram, X, or TikTok 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, and bring shame to your team.

Here is the List of Sports included in this year's Fantasy Olympiad:

For those interested in the matrix of all the sports and potential medal events, here is the list below.  Note: those with a priority order of "2" were just not included in the mandatory slot list above.  You can still draft either additional from any of the mandatory sports, or "Write-in" a selection from one of the other sports as a WILD CARD pick.

One caveat: I will be ranking the selections by possible points once we get data entered this week - if I find imbalance in the possible point totals I may shuffle some sports selections.  This is unlikely, but I will confirm before Friday.