Every time the USA wins gold, you win points!

Christian Taylor competed in the Men's Triple Jump and took home Gold. The random drawing goes to... Spain (Dakota Decker) - 10 pts which means Cuba (Amy Brennan) gets 10 pts also.

Ashton Eaton competed in the Men's Decathlon and took home Gold. The random drawing goes to... Croatia (Steve Keller) - 10 pts which means Denmark (Erin Cress) gets 10 pts also. Congratulations to the world's greatest athletes on the 100th anniversary of the Decathalon.

Claressa Shields competed in the Women's Middle in Boxing and took home Gold. She became the first American woman to win Gold in the Olympics! The random drawing goes to... Kenya (Dan Perez) - 20 pts plus 20 more points for being his own team.

After a long and fierce competition, the women's American Soccer team played Japan and beat them in the finals making them the Gold Medalist team. This sweet victory was even greater since they had lost to Japan in the World Championships.

The random drawings go to... (all worth 5 pts)

Heather Mitts: Italy (Pam Keller) and Slovakia (Danielle Gibb)

Kelley O'Hara: Azerbaijan (Brian Hughes) and Jamaica (Zach Martin)

Tobin Heath: Brazil (Hannah Martin) and Ethiopia (Gary Keller)

Megan Rapinoe: Poland (Marshall Cress) and New Zealand (Amanda Winningham)

Heather O'Reilly: Canada (Derek Gutierrez) and Armenia (Brian Cress)

Becky Sauerbrunn: France (Lori Cress) and India (Sean McDonald)

Christie Rapone: Slovakia and Italy

Carli Llyod: South Korea (Tina Torres) and Uzbekistan (Sue Martin)

Amy LePellbet: Romania (Elyse Jarvis) and Norway (Kevin Rafferty)

Rachel Buehler: Norway and Romania

Sydney Leroux: Turkey (Brittany Cress) and Czech Republic (Emilie Torres)

Amy Rodriguez: Denmark and Croatia

Shannon Boxx: Hungary (Allison Montanille) and Georgia (Graydon Cress)

Lauren Cheney: Jamaica and Azerbaijan

Alex Morgan: Sweden (Fletcher Martin) and Netherlands (Adrian Garcia)

Hope Solo: India and France

Nicole Barnhart: Uzbekistan and South Korea

Abby Wambach: Belarus (Carrie Stockton) and Ukraine (Krystyn Slack)

Also for the women of the Olympics, the women's water polo team for the first time in history took home Gold for the USA.

The Random Drawing goes to...

Lauren Wenger: New Zealand and Poland - BONUS 10 pts for double card

Heather Petri: Cuba and Spain

Annika Dries: Argentina (Alix Boyd) and Japan (Kathy Smith)

Eisie Windes: Czech Republic and Turkey

Turnualalli Anae: Ukraine and Belarus

Betsey Armstrong: Netherlands and Sweden

Melissa Seidemann: Germany (Simona Hareer) and Bulgaria (Dave Martin)

Maggie Steffans: Ethiopia (Gary Keller) and Brazil (Hannah Martin) BONUS 10 pts for double card

Jessica Steffans: Switzerland (Jessica Marshall) and Kazakhstan (Lisa Blair)

Kelly Rulon: Japan and Argentina

Courtney Matthewson: Bulgaria and Germany

Kami Craig: Armenia and Canada

Brend Villa: Kazaakhstan and Switzerland

Congratulations to all of our teams with bonus points!

And as Always,

May the Odds be ever in your Favor!

Tenth Submission FYG (Find Your Greatness) Photo Contest:

How did Brian Hughes (Azerbaijan) find his greatness?

He helped organize the first event of a brand new sport, synchronized television watching.

Graydon Cress (Georgia) saw this commercial while watching the Olympics and loved it. Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bGpi8I6YVjk

5 Bonus Points for Georgia (Graydon Cress) and Hungary (Allison Montanille).

Ninth Submission FYG (Find Your Greatness) Photo Contest:

How did Erin Cress (Denmark) find her greatness?

She tried for a Gold in gymnastics!

Here is Erin getting ready for the competition.

Chalking her hands for the first piece of her competition - the uneven bars.

Her Uneven Routine

Preparing for the next event

Next the Floor Routine

Doesn't quite make the splits

Balance Beam:

A Bit of a Rocky Start

but she pulls it back together

The Vault:

There is Erin's journey through Olympics. You be the judge whether she earned Gold.

What's next for Erin?
She is thinking about picking up running.

Adrian Garcia (Netherlands) suggested Cat Throwing as an Olympic sport.

Watch this video and see if you agree:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lw-YgvUADPg

The Olympic Committee had a difficult time deciding whether or not this should be allowed points but since it is underdog day 5 points to Netherlands (Adrian Garcia) and Sweden (Fletcher Martin).

Eighth Submission FYG (Find Your Greatness) Photo Contest:

How did Pam Keller (Italy) find her greatness?

She went and participated in Hot Yoga in Kirkland, Washington. She nominates that Hot Yoga be the next Olympic Sport.

She also posted this video to support the sport about a 93 year old women who is still a Yoga instructor.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1n1GtOaL7XU&feature=em-share_video_user

5 Bonus points to Italy (Pam Keller) and her partner Slovakia (Danielle Gibbs).

Amy Brennan (Cuba) submitted a new Olympic Sport, Competitive Research and as a bonus after the following email she has been named the Gold medal champion of the sport!

Here is what she sent: (We took the liberty of adding a few pictures)


"I was curious if I had seen all of the Olympic sports this year, so I was looking up the full line-up of
events. I’m also still irked that the IOC dropped baseball and softball from the Summer Games, and
wanted to see what other sports have been dropped from the Olympics, so I turned to my friend
Google.

Here’s what I found:

Current sports:

Archery; Athletics; Badminton; Basketball; Boxing; Canoeing and kayaking; Cycling; Diving; Equestrian;
Fencing; Football (soccer); Gymnastics; Handball; Field hockey; Judo; Modern pentathlon; Rowing;
Sailing; Shooting; Swimming; Table tennis; Taekwondo; Tennis; Triathlon; Volleyball; Weightlifting;
Wrestling. I think I’ve seen at least one event in all of these except Taekwondo, modern pentathlon and
table tennis.

Interesting fact: The only summer sports that have never been absent from the Olympic program
are athletics, swimming, fencing, and artistic gymnastics.

_

Past sports:

Baseball – from 1992 – 2008
Basque Pelota – 1900 only

Cricket – 1900 only
Croquet – 1900 only

Golf – 1900, 1904 and returning in 2016
Jeu de paume – 1908 only

Lacrosse – 1904 & 1908
Polo – 1900, 1908, 1920, 1924, 1936
Rackets – 1908 only

Roque – 1904 only

Rugby union – 1900, 1908, 1920, 1924
Softball – from 1996 – 2008
TUG OF WAR – from 1900 – 1920

Water motorsports – 1908 only

I don’t even know what half of these are, but I do love that tug of war used to be an Olympic event.

Coming to the 2016 Summer Games:

Golf & Rugby Sevens

Sports that could be Olympic events if they wanted to:

To become an Olympic sports event, the governing body of that sport must first be recognized by the
IOC. These sports whose federations are recognized may then apply for inclusion in the program of
future Games. For example, the governing bodies of baseball and softball are applying to once again
become Olympic sports in a future year.

The governing bodies of the following sports, though not currently contested in the Olympic Games,
are recognized by the IOC:

Bandy;

Baseball; Billiard sports; Boules;

Bowling; Bridge; Chess; Cricket; Dance sport; Floorball;

Karate; Korfball;

Lifesaving;

(This is the current Australian Lifesaving Champion - specializing in surf.)

Mountaineering and Climbing; Netball;

 Orienteering;

 Pelota Vasca;

Polo; Racquetball; Roller sports; Softball; Sport climbing; Squash; Sumo; Surfing; Tug of war; Underwater sports;

and finally Wushu.

Again, I don’t know what many of these are, but I would be most interested in seeing surfing become
an Olympic event."


Thanks Amy for Contributing all of these awesome facts, rules and regulations about the Olympics. Maybe one of us will be the first to medal in one of the more unusual sports. So bonus points wise - 15 pts for Gold and 10 points for all of this research. In total - 25 Bonus points to Cuba!

And 25 Bonus points to Spain (Dakota Decker) since this is Underdog day.

And as Always,
May the Odds be ever in your Favor!