By Frank Gogola | @FrankGogola

Sports Capital Journalism Program

RIO DE JANEIRO – I had been waiting for the Olympic Games to start. I attended the Opening Ceremony and saw interim Brazil interim president Michel Temer declare the first Olympic Games in South America open. I saw spectators flock into the Olympic Park and watched sports at several venues.

But it didn’t feel like the Olympic Games had started for me. That’s because the first eight athletes I covered all failed to medal. Josh Prenot changed that Wednesday with a silver in swimming, finally giving me my first Team USA medal story to write.

This postcard isn’t about shaming the athletes I covered who performed poorly. But, just to recap and compile all the early-round loses and heartbreakers, here’s a breakdown of the first eight athletes I covered, swimming being my initial event:

• Swimming: 27^th out of 34, eliminated in heats
• Judo: Ninth, lost in round of 16
• Judo: Seventh, eliminated in repechage (or loser’s/bronze medal bracket)
• Canoe: Seventh, missed medaling in final
• Shooting: 10^th, eliminated in prelims
• Shooting: 14^th, eliminated in prelims
• Shooting: 14^th, eliminated in prelims
• Shooting: Seventh, lost in three-person shoot-off to make semifinals

At first, it just seemed like a loss. Everybody’s not going to medal, right?

Then the judo losses – including one unexpected upset – on Monday were a little disheartening, especially with the emotional interviews.

I did get to see judoka Rafaela Silva (-57 kg) win Brazil’s first gold medal of the Olympic Games, which was a sight to behold in a standing-room-only Carioca 2. I wasn’t covering her, though.

And I wasn’t covering Lily King when I saw her beat Russian Yulia Efimova to win gold in the women’s 100-meter breaststroke.

But canoe seemed like a good bet on Tuesday. Ten of the 11 canoeists would make the finals, where anything can happen. But that’s when I learned about the brutality of penalty seconds, awarded for touching the gates on the canoe path. Four penalty seconds put the kibosh on my first medal story.

Later that night, I went to watch Serena Williams play for the first time. I’m sure you can guess what happened if you haven’t already heard. She was upset by Elina Svitolina in straight sets.

This couldn’t be happening, could it? It had to end at some point, right?

This is around when the jokes about bad luck, randomness – whatever you want to call it – began. But with four shooters competing on Wednesday, someone had to finally medal, right?

Nope. Three were eliminated in prelims. The other one lost in a three-person shoot-off for the last spot in the semifinals. The guy he lost to was an Independent Olympic Athlete who would go on to win the first gold medal by an athlete from Kuwait.

I was still at the point where I’d just laugh to myself in a mix of amusement and bewilderment.

So, like I said, I had been waiting for the Olympic Games to truly start for me. And they did, mercifully, when Josh Prenot took home a silver medal in the men’s 200-meter breaststroke Wednesday night.

It was the fifth day of competition. My ninth athlete covered. And my first U.S. medal story.