Watching Saturday’s coverage of the Olympics, we certainly could have found a Stud of the Day* from the United States: Michael Phelps set a world record in the 400m IM to win his first gold medal in Beijing. Mariel Zagunis, Sada Jacobson, and Becca Ward swept women’s individual sabre, the "punk rock of fencing." Alexander Artemev, an alternate, reminded us why men’s gymnastics doesn’t just do away with the dreaded pommel horse (and helped the U.S. qualify for the team finals). So why did we go with Latvia’s first Olympic beach volleyball team, Martins Plavins and Aleksandrs Samoilovs (pictured)? Because they made us root against our own country.
Plavins and Samoilovs scored the biggest upset in beach volleyball history, beating gold medal favorites Phil Dalhausser ("The Thin Beast") and Todd Rogers ("The Professor"). The facts:
• The teams had met only once before, and the Latvians (ranked 23rd in the Olympic pool of 24) were destroyed in 32 minutes.
• To prepare for Beijing, they trained up to eight hours a day on the Baltic Sea — scrimmaging two on six to simulate the kind of talent they’d face.
• Announcers Karch Kiraly and Chris Marlow said all the international players were quaking in their boots at the thought of meeting 6′9" Dalhausser, "the most intimidating player in the world," at net. Not these two. Whereas most teams serve to Rogers, Plavins and Samoilovs gunned for the big man (President Bush’s nickname for Dalhausser) and made him work more than he’s used to. That’s straight out of Rocky IV, and we love it.
Who was your Olympic Stud of the Day?
* Not just a man or woman who turns us on. (Necessarily.)
Comments (1-30) of 48 Add your comment
Spaniard Samuel Sanchez, who won the gruelling road race. Yowsa!
Okay, I don’t usually watch the NBC version of the Olympics, so didn’t catch that Beach Volleyball match, but just seeing the name Karch Kiraly in print makes me want to nominate him as past-stud of the day!
Clay Stanley of the US Men’s Volleyball team…he rocks!
Jim Lampley, the NBC studio host should get his clock cleaned for his obnoxious and completely idiotic comment after the match ended.
They were my pick also!they rocked
I’ll have to go with Michael Phelps during his pre-taped interview (with his mom and coach). My god he looked exactly like John Krasinski!! I died a little watching that and was cheering when he won!!
I also have to nominate the Men’s Gymnastic’s team. They were too cute for words – especially Sasha.
Wait, these are all the exact moments I thought were cool -that’s freaky. Anyway, I would like to 3rd this nomination. I now want to watch every match they play in to see how they do. I especially loved that Samoilovs calls his hair “the microphone” and promised his Dad he would shave it all off if they got a medal!
oh my…just saw the blond guy on the Australian Men’s 400×4…HOT-ness, folks. Also, HAHA France! We smashed you!
Here’s the Aussie I just mentioned: http://www.nbcolympics.com/athletes/athlete=1143/bio/index.html
Anyone else want to vote him as hottie of day 3?
Whatever you do, make sure that Team USA (Phelps, Weber-Gale, Cullen, and Lezak) are your studs of the day for Sunday. There are no other options… these guys blew me away, especially since Weber-Gale is my landlord’s son (and a fellow Longhorn). Talk about breathtaking swimming…
try another aussie in the relay team, eamon sullivan. hot and managed to break the 100m freestyle world record as the first leg.
These guys are cool and all, but on Sunday? Team USA! That relay was…incredible.
I’m glad I wasn’t the only one who thoroughly enjoyed this volleyball match! I loved watching the Latvians earn their victories.
Danged NBC, kept interrupting my commercial marathon with 5-8 minutes of gymnastics or swimming thingys last night! Thank goodness those things didn’t last long, and I could return to my beautiful and informative beer, credit card, and car commercials!
ranndino: Wow, what a jerk! Lampley, I mean, not you!! Someone should get that man a map or a globe.
The worst part of the Olympics is the condescending attitude by some of the broadcasters, including the comment made by Lampley. Every country competing, large or small, deserves some respect.
I watched the entire beach volleyball game, and the intensity left me screaming by the end! Dalhausser seemed to have nothing left. Latvia really knocked them out.
They totally did make me root against my own country! They were so alive. Their talents, in all physical connotations of the word, were increeeedible. Who knew they bred them that fine in Latvia?
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