A swift trip through another day at the Rio Olympics

Let’s put this story into rewind mode and see what you might have missed, or forgotten, or might not have known you cared about, or might have purposely avoided just so you could relive it here. A look back at Day 9 of competition at the Rio Olympics.

Love story

Some have felt that the tone of the Olympic Buzz has been a little on the negative side, like life can only be viewed through algae-covered, green-shaded glasses. So what better way to fix that than to tell the story of He Zi and Qin Kai?

They are a couple of Chinese divers. He Zi won the silver in the women’s three-meter springboard Sunday, and as she stepped off the podium Qin got down on bended knee and started talking, probably longer than he needed to, and finally opened a small box. You know what was inside.

All eyes were on the couple, and you know that people were wishing, baby, just say yes.

Qin will be the underachiever in the family, having won only a bronze in the men’s three-meter synchro.

Shake it off

U.S. gymnast Gabby Douglas took some heat last week when she wasn’t military style during the playing of the national anthem after the U.S. won the team gold. Then it was thought she wasn’t adequately supportive of teammates Simone Biles and Aly Raisman in the all-around event. People speculated that she was having trouble adjusting to not being the star of the team, as she was in London in 2012.

Douglas waited until Sunday to answer her critics after finishing seventh in the uneven bars and her message was clear: Haters gonna hate, hate, hate.

“I support them and I’m sorry that I wasn’t showing it,” Douglas said. “And I should have, but for me, it’s been a lot. … I still love the people who love me. Still love them who hate me. I’ve just got to stand on that.”

She was also miffed at why people thought her body language during “The Star-Spangled Banner” was viewed as disrespectful. Douglas was the only one of the five without her hand on her heart.

Blank space

The fear was that the Maria Lenk Aquatics Center would turn into one giant wasteland of nothingness. The pool was green and synchronized swimming was next on the docket. But when the athletes arrived Sunday, the water was clear, the pool having been emptied of its almost 1 million gallons and refilled with fresh water.

Still, synchronized swimmers are a suspicious lot (there’s a reason they always wear nose plugs) and they may have wondered if the pool was really a nightmare dressed like a daydream.

But all was well.

“At last, this is real water,” Natalia Ishchenko of Russia told the Associated Press. “The visibility is good, not ideal, but compared to before, at least the water is a normal temperature.”

Anita Alvarez of the U.S. also gave the pool a big thumbs-up.

“It was a lot better than it was the other day,” Alvarez said. “Switching the water helped a lot.”

Knew you were trouble

Being accountable is a good thing. And then there is Andrew Fisher, a sprinter from Bahrain.

He was disqualified from the semifinals of the men’s 100 meters when he false-started. It ‘s one and done in track, keeping people from anticipating the starting gun.

Now, some runners might accept the false start and realize the blame is on themselves. Not Fisher. He blamed a helicopter for disturbing his concentration.

“It was the chopper,” he said in his defense. “That should never happen at a meet this big.”

You could say the same thing about false-starting.

The story of us

There are a few U.S. teams for which success is an unfamiliar feeling. It causes them to stick together, be a team, support each other. So it’s a great feeling when you can spot one of those moments, when the athletes no longer feel as if they are standing alone in a crowded room.

Enter Sarah Robles and the weightlifting team. The U.S. won its first medal in 16 years when Robles was awarded the bronze in the 75-kilogram (165 pounds) class.

Combining her two lifts, she hoisted about 630 pounds, or roughly the weight of a female elk, should you be in the mood to do some elk lifting.

Her celebration made you feel good. She went down to her knees, let out a big roar of happiness and then blew kisses to the crowd.

Help provided by Times staff writers Kevin Baxter, Lisa Dillman, Helene Elliott, Nathan Fenno, Bill Plaschke and David Wharton.

john.cherwa@latimes.com