Inside the Olympics with John Canzano
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August 2, 2012, 7:58 am
Wednesday was a tough day for the U.S. Olympic team, as Mariel Zagunis – one of the headliners of this year’s games – came up short in her hunt for a third consecutive Gold Medal. John Canzano joined Brian on The Sports Insider Wednesday to talk about Zagunis’ performance and he discussed the other storylines making news around London.
Canzano insists that there was something off in Zagunis’ behavior Wednesday compared to the five days prior. The first few days of the games she was focused, but she still had a happy, bubbly demeanor. When he saw her prior to the semifinal match Wednesday, she looked tired, and unfocused and she did not appear to be having fun.He believes that the pressure of holding the flag and being one of the main faces of the American team finally got to her. As a result, Zagunis folded in her fencing semifinal match versus Jiyeon Kim of South Korea – this after having a 12-5 lead at one point. Zagunis later added insult to injury by losing the bronze medal match to Olga Kharlan of Ukraine.
After her disappointing performances, Zagunis told Canzano that she wasn’t herself in those final two rounds. She said she rushed herself through everything in her semifinal round. And when Kim tied the match up at 13-all, she stopped attacking and started reacting – because it was a position she was not familiar with.
In addition to his analysis of Zagunis, Canzano broke down the British impact on the games. He maintains that for the Brit’s there are really two Olympics going on – one consisting of athletic events, one consisting of partying. As he states, the Brits are excelling in the latter, but struggling in the former.
Take a listen to his great analysis of Zagunis and be sure to check 750thegame.com for up–to-the-the minute updates and tweets from the Bald man himself.
