This was a missed opportunity to highlight Zagunis’s stellar career and fencing’s growth in the United States. Wise wrote that “no one but fencers care about fencing after the Olympics are over.” Not true. Every four years, kids get a rare chance to watch the brilliant, beautiful and intense sport of fencing on national TV and say, “Hey, I’d like to try that.” In 10 years, one of those kids might be the next Mariel Zagunis.
Sally Gifford, Washington
The writer is a member of D.C. Fencers Club in Silver Spring.
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It was extremely disappointing to see Michael Phelps’s accomplishment of becoming the most-decorated athlete in Olympics history not take top billing on the Aug. 1 front page. It should be a huge measure of pride for our region and the nation. What did you not understand about his accomplishment? Instead, gymnastics came first, along with other articles, and his image was distorted by the fold of the paper. Shame on you for not providing appropriate credit for an event that will be remembered for decades and a record that may never be broken.
Stuart Claggett, Springfield
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The Olympics provide many of us with an opportunity and an excuse to follow sporting events that are unfamiliar to us and to cheer for athletes that we may never have heard of. For this reason, my eye was drawn to the photo on the front page of your Aug. 7 edition. I saw players celebrating a United States semifinal win over Canada in women’s . . . what?
Yes, there were hints. The final score, 4-3, pretty much ruled out basketball or volleyball. Water polo? No, the uniforms were clearly wrong. Field hockey? Well, who knows; I’ve never watched field hockey.
Further scrutiny yielded a clue, a reference to “last year’s Women’s World Cup final.” I should probably know what that is, right?
My guess — soccer — was confirmed by flipping to page D1 to read the accompanying article.
Why did I have to work so hard for such basic information?
Linda Del Bene, Arlington
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The women’s 10,000 meters is a marquee event in track and field at the Summer Games and one of the favorite events worldwide. Tirunesh Dibaba’s victory deserved more than the footnote it received at the end of the article featuring American shot putter Reese Hoffa’s bronze-medal performance [“For Hoffa, bronze is plenty revealing,” Sports, Aug. 4].
The Post could have found a way to elaborate on Dibaba’s victory. Especially for the thousands of Ethiopians living in the Washington area who are rabid track and field fans.
Samson Woldemariam,
Falls Church
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Congratulations on finally providing some non-comedic coverage of the sport of dressage in the Olympic Games. After nonstop, uninformed silliness, the primer [“Dressage 101: What to expect when you tune in,” Aug. 2] in the Sports section and the well-written article in Style [“Dressage: “Horse prancing” sidles up smartly to its moment in the humor spotlight,” July 31] were welcome.
An important point of the Olympic Games is the putting aside of politics; an important part of the games since 1912 has been the equestrian sports. I’m relieved they have finally been treated as sports; you provided helpful basics to those whose experience with horses might be limited to the racetrack.
Anne Ballenger, Middleburg
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