Swimming 4 x 100 Medley Relay - US Women and Men - Gold Medal

source: Rebecca Blackwell, AP
L to R: Kathleen Baker, Lilly King, Dana Vollmer, Simone Manuel

source: USA Today
L to R: Ryan Murphy, Cody Miller, Michael Phelps, Nathan Adrian

A big congratulations to the US Men's and Women's Relay Teams for winning the 4 x 100 Medley Relay yesterday in Rio. My handsome fave, Nathan Adrian (see Aug 4, 2012 entry), got his second gold medal in relays (anchoring both teams), having won a gold medal a few days earlier in the 4 x 100 Freestyle.

What was most notable about both relay teams is that ALL of them had earned medals in their individual events.

Team rosters and order of swim:
Backstroke - Kathleen Baker, Ryan Murphy
Breaststroke - Lilly King, Cody Miller
Butterfly - Dana Vollmer, Michael Phelps
Freestyle - Simone Manuel, Nathan Adrian

For the Baltimore superhuman, Michael Phelps, there's nothing that'll compare to his 23 gold medals, 28 total. My only lame claim to his fame is we share the same birthday.

And, Mr. Phelps's heir apparent, Washington DC native Katie Ledecky. Her 4 gold medals were already impressive. What was so eye-popping was shattering 2 world records of humongous margins of 4.77 and 11.38 seconds. She's only 19.

Nathan Adrian - "Bok Choy"

Photo courtesy of Channel APA

Count me among the millions of women who find Olympic swimmer Nathan Adrian absolutely adorable. As I'm probably in the same age range as his parents, I'll admire him from afar. He's from Bremerton, WA (in the Seattle area) and a recent UC Berkeley graduate, with honors, so he's no slouch in academia either.

At the start of the 2012 Summer Olympics, all the publicity was on teammates Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte. Nathan got heads turning when he upset favorite James Magnussen of Australia in 100m Freestyle which earned him a gold medal. He also swam the anchor leg (freestyle) in the men's 4 x 100 medley relay which got him another gold medal.

Cute, smart, and based on what we've seen and heard from him, humble, and friendly, with a quick smile (Reminds me of someone special I dearly miss). On top of that, his mother Cecilia was born and raised in Hong Kong, which makes his ancestry half-Chinese. When swim teammates found this out, they nicknamed him "Bok Choy" (Chinese cabbage).

Sigh. Best of luck to you, Nathan. You've got a bright future ahead. And I wish you even more luck in fighting off the swarm of women who'll desperately want to be your girlfriend.