US Women Dominate 2024 Olympics -- TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Photo from NPR

The 2024 Summer Olympics has concluded and Team USA took home the title. In the overall medal count, the United States finished with 126 medals: 40 gold, 44 silvers, and 42 bronze.

China tied the United States in gold medals but fell way behind in overall medals. China had 91 total medals: 40 gold, 27 silver, and 24 bronze. The next three countries to follow in line are Great Britain (65: 14, 22, 29), France (64: 16, 26, 22), and Australia (53: 18, 19, 16).

For the United States, the women dominated. Of Team USA's 126 total medals, women were responsible for 67 (53.17%). Women did account for 26 of Team USA's 40 gold medals (65%). This was the first Summer Olympics where we saw an equal number of men and women athletes participating.

Photo from NPR

Here are a few of the US women accomplishments:

-Bronze Rugby Sevens, Team USA's first ever rugby sevens medal

-Gold Women's Soccer

-Gold Women's Soccer, an Olympic record setting eighth straight gold

-Torri Huske, five swim medals

-Katie Ledecky, four swim medals including ninth career gold and most decorated US Female Olympian

-Simone Biles, four gymnastics medals becoming the most decorated US Female Gymnastics Olympian

-Gold 4x400m relay, an Olympic record setting eighth straight gold

-Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, gold in 400m hurdles

-Silver Indoor Volleyball

-Gold Women's Team Fencing

-Olivia Reeves, gold in women's weightlifting

Photo from Getty Images

These are just a few of the many Olympic medals the women athletes for the United States earned. In fact, the 26 gold medals accounted for by the women would rank third if they were their own country. 

Here at Cardinal Couple, we emphasize the joy and excitement of UofL women's athletics, but we certainly have admiration and appreciation for women athletes around the world who continue to have success and the growth in women's athletics around the world.

Happy Tuesday and Go Cards!

Jared

Praasterink Advances to 10M Finals -- TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Else Praasterink Advances to Olympic Finals

Photo from @LouisvilleSD on X

Recent University of Louisville diving alumna is making a name for herself at the 2024 Paris Olympics. The Dutch native has qualified for and advanced to the finals for the 10M Platform Diving.

After a 15th place in preliminaries, Praasterink stepped up and improved her position to 12th in the semifinals. The top 12 finishers advanced to finals so the Dutch native just snuck in.

Praasterink is the first Louisville athlete to compete in a diving event in the Olympics and therefore is now the only Louisville athlete to advance to an Olympic final in diving. She posted a combined score of 292.80 over her five dives.

 

Photo from GoCards

The leader is Honghcan Quan of China with a score of 421.05. The current second place finisher is Yuxi Chen of China with a score of 403.05. No other divers scored higher than 367.00. Praasterink is the only representative from the Netherlands in the finals.

The 10M platform diving finals will be today (08/06/2024) beginning at 9:00am ET (3:00pm GMT+2). It can be streamed on Peacock.

Happy Tuesday and Go Cards!

Jared

Ulrich Comes Up Just Short -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Jayden Ulrich Finishes 18th in Discus Qualifying

Make no mistake: getting into the Olympics is quite an achievement all on its own. After finishing second at the USATF Trials and advancing to Paris, Jayden Ulrich can add the Rings to her collection of tattoos. Unfortunately, her dream of a medal in 2024 ended yesterday when her throw didn't qualify for the discus final. Ulrich finished 12th in her group, but was 18th of 32 qualifiers overall. Only the top 12 throwers advance. Six of the finalists met the AQ mark of 64 meters, with American Valerie Allman classing the field with a throw of 69.59. The second highest qualifier was a 65.63. 

Ulrich threw a 61.08, and the lowest qualifying throw was a 62.63. The third American in the mix, Veronica Fraley, missed the final by 0.1m, throwing a 62.54. Congratulations again to Jayden and we wish her the best in the coming season!

Another Louisville connection did advance in track and field action, yesterday. DuPont Manual alum Yared Nuguse, who went to Notre Dame, advanced to the semifinal in the Men's 1500m run. In the same conversation as the top rivals for the gold medal, Nuguse had a bit of a scrappy opening heat, having to lean across the line to advance. Good luck to another Kentuckian trying to earn a medal in these Games!

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

We'll have four (probably) in action today. We're without Jared, but we await final word from Daryl as to whether a tree will allow her to participate. We'll discuss the week that has been for UofL, with Olympics, interviews, and more news and notes. You can check out the live stream of the show by going to the Cardinal Couple YouTube page and clicking on the live video. Jeff usually creates that about an hour before the show, which officially starts at 11 AM Eastern. If the live time doesn't work for you, there are plenty of playback options, so be sure to check out whichever is best for you!

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Until next time, Go Cards!

Case

Love for the Olympics -- TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Every four years, the world gets to witness the best athletes in the word compete against each other in the Summer Olympics. For me, this has meant spending hours each day on the couch watching tv. It doesn't matter what sport is on, I'm gladly watching.

I always cheer harder when I see a Louisville athlete or Team USA competing. Team USA women's indoor volleyball fell in a tight five-setter yesterday that included former Kentucky player Avery Skinner. Over the weekend, Lee Keifer won gold in the women's fencing. Keifer is another Kentucky alum. Many of the Louisville alums have not participated in their respective sports yet other than Carlik Jones and South Sudan, who won their opening men's basketball game in pool play.

The public certainly has their favorite sports such as swimming and diving, track and field, gymnastics, and basketball, but there are plenty of exciting sports to watch. Over the last couple Summer Olympics, I have become quite interested in water polo, handball, and rugby.

You might hear well-known names such as Simone Biles (gymnastics), Coco Gauff (tennis), Katie Ledecky (swimming), and LeBron James (basketball), all who are favored to reach the podium for their respective sports.

Team USA has fared well so far in the overall medal count and leads all countries, but the gold medals have been sparse. The United States are several gold behind countries such as Japan, China, France, Australia, and South Korea. The Olympic Games are still in their youth for 2024 with two weeks to go, so we will keep an eye out how things play out. We will also make sure to share any news and updates of our beloved Louisville athletes competing in the games.

USA gold medal count:

-Lee Keifer, women's fencing

-Torri Huske, women's 100m butterfly

-Jack Alexy, Chris Guiliano, Hunter Armstrong, and Caeleb Dressel, men's 4x100m freestyle relay

Happy Tuesday, Go Cards, and Go Team USA!

Jared

Jayden Ulrich Headed to 2024 Summer Olympics -- THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Ulrich is First UofL Track and Field Athlete to Represent United States

Photo by GoCards

The success of Jayden Ulrich continues. Louisville Track and Field's top woman student-athlete is headed to Paris for the 2024 Summer Olympics. She will compete in the discus throw.

Ulrich is the first woman on Louisville's track and field team to represent Team USA in program history. She is the second woman in program history to compete in the Olympics. Chinwe Okoro, who represented Nigeria in the discus throw in the 2016 Rio Olympics is the first.

In 2024, Ulrich finished NCAA Runner-Up in the women's discus throw. She also won an ACC Championship in the event. The rising senior was named ACC Female Athlete of the Year. 

Photo by GoCards

The women's discus throw will begin on August 2. If she advances to the finals, Ulrich will compete on August 5 at 2:30pm ET. 

Other Louisville track and field athletes to compete in the Olympics in the past include Matt Hughes (Canada - 2016, 2020), Wesley Korir (Kenya - 2016), and Ben Williams (Great Britain - 2020). Former coach Ron Mann was one of the coaches for Team USA in 2008.

NBC will carry the Olympics again this year. You can also stream all events on Peacock. $7.99 to watch every single Olympics event is a pretty solid deal.

Happy Thursday and Go Cards!

Jared