RIO DE JANEIRO -- West Virginia shooter Ginny Thrasher got our region's Olympic hopefuls off to a golden start Saturday, but she wasn't alone in building momentum toward more.
Meghan Klingenberg and the U.S. soccer team outlasted France, 1-0, in Belo Horizonte to improve to 2-0 and clinch a berth in the quarterfinals. Klingenberg, of Gibsonia, started and logged 81 minutes, not performing especially well against the aggressive French. But Hope Solo made five saves in earning her 200th cap, and Carli Lloyd scored in the second half from 3 yards out.
Only Colombia remains in the round robin -- Tuesday at 6 p.m. Pittsburgh time -- and a win or draw would clinch Group B for the two-time defending champions.
Most likely opponent in the semis, if you're the type to look too far ahead: The brilliant Marta and the host Brazilians. Just saying.
Christa Dietzen didn’t start the opening match for the U.S. volleyball team, but the captain out of Hopewell and Penn State came on to contribute to a 25-17, 25-22, 25-17 sweep of Puerto Rico Saturday at the Maracanazinho.
Despite the lopsided score, the Americans needed an 8-1 run to finish the first set and establish the dominating tone that had been expected of the world’s No. 1-ranked team.
“In general, I think we’re always using matches to learn,” Dietzen said. “Each match, we’re working to improve, and I think we did that tonight. Now, we’re preparing for Netherlands.”
That happens Monday at 2 p.m.
THE GLOBAL HEADLINE
The first truly ugly scene of these Games occurred not on the streets but in the men’s gymnastics competition, when France’s Samir Ait Said landed awkwardly after a vault and snapped his left leg violently enough that it could be heard throughout the arena.
The video is everywhere. I’m not linking it here. It’s awful.
The grotesque injury might do plenty to raise awareness of what many inside gymnastics feel is an increasing pressure on athletes to achieve things the human body wasn’t meant to achieve, rather than the Nadia Comaneci days of emphasizing perfection.
It also might raise awareness that gymnastics, contrary to what might be its public perception, can be as physically punishing as a team contact sport. Or more punishing.
“Everybody knows gymnastics is the hardest sport in the world,” Danell Leyva of the U.S. said. “And if you don’t know it, you don’t know about gymnastics.”
It was otherwise a quiet Saturday from the global perspective, so here’s hoping for something significantly more uplifting Sunday.
THE SCENE
A single bullet that pierced the roof of the media tent at the Olympic Equestrian Center on Saturday afternoon -- an estimated 100 journalists were inside, but no one was hit -- was dismissed by Brazilian security officials as "an unfortunate incident," though they didn't acknowledge any arrest or suspect at that time.
"The first information we got is that they can clearly determine this area was not the target. It was a stray bullet," organizing committee spokesman Mario Andrada said. "They can confirm it has nothing to do with the Games, but they cannot be more precise at the moment."
There also was a loud blast near the finish line of men's cycling that briefly alarmed anyone close, but police later explained it was a controlled blast of an unidentified bag.
My own impression of the first day of competition was that, whether or not these Olympics are frightening the rest of the world, they sure aren't having that effect on the natives. Olympic Park in the southern Barra district of Rio was packed, joyful and, if anything, the most visible problem was long lines. At many recent Games, particularly those expecting trouble, the problem is the opposite: Citizens stay away for a week or more until feeling it's safe.
I also took a ride back through the center of Rio -- their very metropolis-like downtown that surprised me in that regard -- and saw sidewalks spilling over with people enjoying outdoor cafes, bars and, of course, the Olympics on every TV.
On one corner, people appeared mesmerized by a judo competition.
I asked someone why, though I needn't have.
"We cheer for anyone wearing green and yellow."
My other impression: Security doesn't look great. At all. And not just in terms of these individuals not appearing to be Brazil's best and brightest, judging on body language alone, but also because multiple checkpoints were strikingly closed on the first day of competition, funneling far too many people too quickly through fewer queues.
LET'S GET PERSONAL
For as long as I've typed on the Internet, meaning beginning in 1998, I've been blessed to call Alexandre Giesbrecht one of my most loyal readers, all the way down here in Brazil. We exchanged emails, thoughts on the Pittsburgh sports teams he's adopted as his own -- the Penguins above all -- and he followed my writings wherever I want, including subscribing to this site on the first day.
And in all that time, I'd had it kind of set in my mind that I'd never actually have a chance to meet the man.
That finally changed Monday, when Alex was able to take advantage of a business meeting in town to stop by my hotel for a late-night Java:
MORE OLYMPICS
• LOCAL • MEDALS • SCHEDULE/RESULTS
Column: Thrasher finds bull's-eye
Column: A stark, spectacular start
Column: Let's rise with Rio
