THURSDAY 08/21

-Slow day. I came in early to cover for a runner who was working off-site at BMX, but it got rained out. The rain was so heavy that my shoes got drenched on the way in, and I spent most of the day padding around the research room in my socks.

-Watched Modern Pentathlon with mild amusement. For the show jumping part of the event, horses are assigned by random lottery, and a few of the horses were extremely naughty and either refused to jump or threw their riders.

-Met Brian for dinner in the commissary and decided to go watch the women’s soccer gold medal match, USA vs. Brazil. The game was awesome. It was nil-nil the entire way through, and it seemed impossible that Brazil didn’t manage to score—their ball-handling made the US team look like they were in middle school, and the US spent most of the game desperately playing defense. In the first overtime, the US took one lucky shot that went in, then fended off the vicious Brazilian counter-attacks for the remaining 25 minutes. Some amazing saves by Hope Solo. Stuck around for the medal ceremony and heard the US national anthem for the first time in person.