Las Vegans had a month to remember at Rio Olympics
History was made at the 2016 Rio Olympics by several athletes with Las Vegas ties.
Swimmer Cody Miller helped Michael Phelps win a gold medal in what may have been the last race of the superstar’s Olympic career.
Inbee Park added to her impressive list of major victories when golf returned to the Olympics for the first time in 112 years.
Connor Fields became the first American to win the BMX competition, despite undergoing a five-hour surgery on his left hand in April.
Local athletes pocketed a total of four medals at the Summer Games, which ended Sunday. Three of those medals were gold, with area athetes competing in nine events in five different sports.
Here’s how the seven local athletes Olympics fared during the games:
THE MEDALISTS
Cody Miller (U.S.)
- Events: 100-meter breaststroke, 4×100 medley relay
- Finishes: bronze in 100-meter breaststroke, gold in 4×100 medley relay
- Olympic experience: first
- Local tie: Palo Verde High School grad
Recap: Miller opened his first Games with a medal, outswimming fellow American Kevin Cordes to win bronze in the 100-meter breaststroke in 58.87 seconds on Aug. 7. Adam Peaty of Great Britain won gold in the event with a world record time of 57.13.
Miller later swam the breaststroke leg for the U.S. in the 4×100 medley relay, and the Americans set an Olympic record with a time of 3:27.95 on Aug. 13. When Miller handed the race to Michael Phelps the U.S. was in second thanks to an amazing breaststroke leg by Peaty, but Phelps and Nathan Adrian closed the race strong.
Inbee Park (South Korea)
- Event: Women’s golf
- Finish: Gold
- Olympic experience: first
- Local tie: Bishop Gorman High School grad
Recap: Park won the first women’s Olympics golf tournament in more than a century by five strokes, with a total of 268 after four rounds on the par-71 Olympic Golf Course.
Lydia Ko of New Zealand was second with a 273 and Shanshan Feng of China took bronze with a 274 in the event, which concluded Aug. 20.
Park was consistent throughout the tournament, shooting a 66 in the first, second and final rounds. She shot a 70 in the third round but still held a two-stroke lead heading into the final day.
Connor Fields (U.S.)
- Event: Men’s BMX
- Finish: Gold
- Olympic experience: second
- Local tie: Las Vegas native, Henderson resident
Recap: Four years after crashing in his first Olympic final as a 19-year-old, Fields showed how skilled he is when he stays on his bike.
Fields, who didn’t win any of his preliminary races before the final, crossed the BMX finish line first to take gold in 34.64 seconds on Aug. 19.
He and fellow American Nicholas Long were at the head of the pack for much of the race, until Fields pulled away and finished 0.67 seconds ahead of silver medalist Jelle van Gorkom of the Netherlands.
THE COMPETITORS
Vashti Cunningham (U.S.)
- Event: Women’s high jump
- Finish: tied for 13th
- Olympic experience: first
- Local tie: Bishop Gorman High School product
Recap: In her Olympic debut Cunningham, 18, managed to make it to event finals but failed to stay around long.
Cunningham cleared the first height, 1.88 meters, on her first attempt. She failed to clear the next one, 1.93 meters, on three attempts and was knocked out of the competition on Aug 20.
Ruth Beitia of Spain won gold in the event by clearing 1.97 meters.
Jake Dalton (U.S.)
- Event: Men’s gymnastics team, floor exercise
- Finish: fifth in team, sixth on floor
- Olympic experience: second
- Local tie: Reno native
Recap: The qualification and final rounds went very differently for Jake Dalton and the U.S. team.
The Americans posted the second-highest score of the qualification round, thanks in part to Dalton putting up the second-best score on the floor exercise.
When the slate was wiped clean for finals though the U.S. struggled. The team finished fifth on Aug. 8 and Dalton was sixth on the floor in the individual event final on Aug. 14. He scored a 15.600 in the event in qualifications but put up a 15.133 in the final.
Alex Cejka (Germany)
- Event: Men’s Golf
- Finish: Tied for 21st
- Olympic experience: first
- Local tie: Las Vegas resident
Recap: Alex Cejka started the Olympic Golf Tournament well but eventually faded back into the pack.
His opening round score of 67 was the fourth-best of the day, but his subsequent round scores were 71, 74 and 69. His final score of 281 put him in a six-way tie for 21st place in the event, which concluded Aug. 14.
Justin Rose of Great Britain won gold with a 268.
Uhunoma Osazuwa (Nigeria)
- Event: Heptathlon
- Finish: 29th
- Olympic experience: second
- Local tie: Clark High School grad
Recap: Uhunoma Osazuwa did not place well in her second Olympics, but she managed to compete in all seven events of the heptathlon after injuries forced her to pull out of the 2012 London Games early.
Her final score of 4916 was far behind her personal-best of 6153 in the event, which concluded Aug. 13. She lost a lot of points for being disqualified in the 800 meters.
In individual events she finished 17th in the 200-meter dash, 20th in the shot put, 21st in the high jump, 28th in the long jump and 29th in the javelin throw.
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