Two Olympic athletes from the United States had very different experiences today.
Nathan Adrian took an unexpected gold by one-hundredth of a second in the men's 100-meter freestyle swim. And Travis Stevens, the American judoka, started off spectacularly, only to lose in a controversial decision by a judge.
We were struck by two quotes spoken by the athletes after their respective events.
Stevens told The Los Angeles Times he was "devastated." He added:
"My grandfather died last year," he said. "And this pretty much feels the same way."
An elated 23-year-old Adrian told the AP:
"I kinda touched the wall and I was like, 'Sweet I won,' you know. So it takes about 10 or 15 seconds then I was like, 'Holy crap.' This is the Olympics, like, I've been watching this since I was a kid, so, you know it felt good."
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