Today on Tuesday, their were some very suprising winners of Bronze Medals, the US men’s gymnastics team, and a Kayaker representing the west African country of Togo, Benjamin Boukbeti.
In the case of the US Male gymnasts, a few months ago, there was some talk of going head to head with their formidable hosts, the Chinese men. Injuries to stars Paul and Morgan Hamm were thought to be too much for the young and mostly untried Americans to overcome to even make the final round. Not only did the two reservists participate, but they put in a gritty, gutsy performance to help the Americans win the team Bronze. Quite an accomplishment in the face of adversity.
In the case of Benjamin Boukpeti, a man born in France of a French mother and a Togolese father, he had initially been in the French system, but a shoulder injury made members of the French Kayak Federation wonder if he would ever become a top level kayaker. He ended up going to the 2004 and these Olympics representing the country of his father. The man who today calls Toulouse home made a clean run in his last shot to bring a Bronze medal to Togo-it’s first ever Olympic medal of any kind.
This is the kind of stuff that makes the Olympics such a compelling thing to watch and follow. The US Bronze might get lost in the shuffle of the other medals that American athletes will probably win-but for Benjamin Boukpeti, it’s a safe bet that somebody is planning a BIG party for him in Lome`, the Togolese capital of this small west African country of about 5 million souls.
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