I love the Summer Olympics

I love the Summer Olympics! What can I say—I’m a fan. They’re not over yet, and there have already been amazing performances. Michael Phelps, the most decorated Olympian EVER, comes away from Rio with five golds and one silver, to bring his extraordinary total to 23 golds, and 28 total medals. He has the most total gold medals, and the most individual gold medals with 13. Katie Ledecky, only 19 years old, set world records in the 400m and 800m (a race in which she beat the second-place finisher by more than 11 seconds!), and also added two more golds and a silver medal. Here she is finishing the 800m without anyone else even in the picture! Out of 15 individual finals at World Championships and Olympics, Ledecky has won all of them. Simone Biles, the 4’8 USA gymnast, has already won three gold medals (team, all-around, and vault), and could win two more with the vault and floor exercise. It is a consensus that she is the best gymnast in the world, and she might be the best ever. Here is a video of her floor exercise, and here is a cool interactive flip-book-style article about her. And then on the track, there is Usain “lightning” bolt, who became the first person to win the 100m in three consecutive Olympics. Here is a great picture of Bolt grinning as he dominates his competition.