Note: This will be a running post for the next few weeks of the Olympic Games, with each day highlighting competitions that may not have made it to the top of the feed.

July 30-August 1

Fencing:

Haven’t seen fencing yet? Lee Kiefer won a third gold medal, a record for U.S. women’s fencing, taking both gold individually and for Team USA in foil fencing. In fencing, the Italians and French reign supreme–when the Russians aren’t around–so for the U.S. to take a medal is an achievement.

Archery:

Team USA’s Brady Ellison and Casey Kaufhold faced a tough schedule of Koreans, Germans, Turkish, and … well, the list of starters in archery is one of the longest in the world. But America’s got some game, especially with four-time medalist Ellison on the team. Ellison will shoot in the quarterfinals again on Sunday; he still doesn’t have a gold in his stack yet.

Cycling Mountain Bike:

The report just says “Batten: Silver.” But what American Haley Batten had to do, after suffering mechanical problems in a crucial stage of the race, was an Olympic sort of miracle. Always be nice to your pit crew! And the gold medalist, Ferrand-Prevot of France, was an unstoppable beast.

Water Polo

The American women, going for the fourth gold in a row, were upended by the crafty and patient Spaniards! They took out their revenge on the Italians and move on to play France.

July 28-29

Your brain is probably full of Simone and Suni, finding joy in their vaults and bars again. Maybe you watched the American men brush the Joker (Nikola Jokic) aside on their way to dunking on Serbia or noted that most of the American women were a foot taller than their Japanese counterparts on the court. (Japanese took the silver in Tokyo so is no pushover.)

But if you want something a little different, it might be worth taking a second look at:

Surfing:

Round 1 for the Women, Heat 1 with Caroline Marks, Sara Baum, and Yolanda Hopkins was on July 27th. Whether Marks will make it deep into the medal rounds or not, this heat really demonstrates what surfing is about. The waves in Tahiti are scarier than they look (a two-story drop) and there’s a clear illustration between the experienced and the novice. One drops in a flies through the shoot; another has to be picked up by the surf patrol.

Archery:

Lim Si-hyeon smashed the Olympic Record and even beat the World Record in the qualification level, hitting 694 out of a possible 720 points. It’s something special when the world record goes in the qual. round. Lim and her South Korean teammates then took another Olympic Record as the South Korean women took their tenth straight gold, one of the longest active Olympic winning streaks (and longer than USA Basketball, both men and women).

Another Archery barn burner happened on the men’s side. Home field advantage is real: the French team, which had never medaled, squeaked out into the gold medal match by defeating Turkey with a shoot out that had to be measured in the end with a magnifying glass. Then, the South Koreans shot 175 out of 180 to reaffirm their reputation.

Fencing:

The U.S. women’s foil team did something that the Americans had never done before. Two of their teammates faced off for the gold. If you are home town favorite of Paris, then you might prefer watching Women’s Sabre. Hong Kong pulled a medal for both men and women. Everyone is secretly happy that the Russians are missing, because they normally cut a huge swath through the medals.

The best part might be the Grand Palais venue: the fencers enter one level above the piste and audience and descend a long grand, rococo staircase. There’s no music, but you can’t help but here French horns–oh yes, FRENCH HORNS–sound a fanfare.

The difference between Foil and Sabre: Dancing about vs. Pirate Slashing. Foil is delicate and must hit precisely, so there is a lot of foot movement. Sabres can slash with the point and the side all over the body. There might be screaming.