Harrison showed incredible courage in bringing charges and testifying against the coach who sexually abused her as a young teen.* I wasn't able to see the actual gold medal match, but watching the highlights of her realizing she's won and then jumping into the stands was itself incredible. Good on her.

*I speak from personal experience--I didn't have that courage myself at the same age.

The video, though it probably won't stream for those outside the US.

Man, I get no credit at all, do I.

3: Nah, I had already e-mailed this to Heebie, but asked her to hold it until after it aired in the US.

Gibbons, btw, demonstrates true sportsmanship at the end of the video clip, especially impressive insofar as she's the reigning world champion and was just beaten in front of her countrymen. I'm loving not only the hugs, but also what appeared to be Gibbons leading the applause for Harrison.

If I were Harrison, I'd be alarmed to hear afterward that Putin had been in the audience. There is a guy on whose radar I don't want to be *at all*.

Heh, I didn't actually add any value with that comment. I hadn't realized they're actually showing judo in the US. The never used to.

My main reaction to the story was "Hmm. Her new coaches moved her up three weight classes? Growth? Lifting? Those lucky judo people get to actually have mass."

7: She was pretty young, wasn't she?

That is an amazing story.

2: Her excitement in the video is really touching.

One other Olympics human interest story which I was just reading and appreciated: Luol Deng playing through injuries on the Great Britain team.

There's really little in this for Deng. Except for a raging desire to play basketball for a country he believes saved his family when it had to escape his native Sudan when he was a child. England welcomed the Dengs when others would not. They found a good life in a London suburb of Brixton. He has never forgotten it. When talking about his childhood recently, he said his family never felt the need to leave Great Britain. No place was going to seem better.

On Sunday he didn't complain about fouls that were not called. He didn't ask out of a game in which he played all but one minute, five seconds. He didn't demand to be treated like a NBA star doing the home country a favor.

Instead this is what he said:

"It's an experience that can never be taken away from me."

Well that just makes my 6 look petty. Thanks a lot, NickS.

Or 3, that is.

This is the Olympic thread? It looks short.

Anyway, people on Twitter were all excited a few days ago about the diverse British medal-winners. To the extent that they were grouping together a mixed-race woman, a Muslim, and a redhaired guy as people who overcame prejudice to achieve the incredible. My question is ... is this a joke? Or is there actually some prejudice in the UK against redhaired people that is in any way comparable to racism, anti-Muslim, anti-immigration sentiments?

They didn't used to like the Irish so much.

This (NSFW) will make you like the Irish a lot more.