Boycott Olympics!

[Hereward]

I feel exactly the same way about the Premiership, which is why I haven't watched it for 15 years, but I recognise that some people love the business/sport combo and can somehow reconcile that with their (often recent) professed tribal allegiance. Likewise, my tribal allegiance will make the Olympics unmissable for me. I'll watch every British medal chance and cheer like a maniac.

[Slick Mongoose]

Suddenly, track cycling becomes the greatest sport on earth.

[Hereward]

Word.

[The BlackBear]

If it involves sitting down the British are in with a shot.

[Dr. Pepper]

I try to be a decent person.  I pretty much boycott all other professional or commercial sporting events and do my best to educate those about the reasons why when asked.  But I just can't quit the summer olympics.  When I look closely, I can feel that bit of self hatred pit in the bottom of my belly, but doesn't seem to stop me.  I don't even like sports so and I do my best to find broadcasts that aren't american (the most annoying commentators, I swear), so who knows why I keep watching every four years.  

[lmanion]

Didnt bolt tear a hamstring or something recently? The sort of recent that would put him out of the olympics?

[williamjm]

3 minutes ago, lmanion said:

Didnt bolt tear a hamstring or something recently? The sort of recent that would put him out of the olympics?

I think he's recovered from it. He won a 200m race in London last Friday.

[lmanion]

Ah right must not have been as bad as the news report i saw was saying then

[DireWolfSpirit]

Bolt has raced exactly once this yr and he blazed a 200m victory recently. He did have a minor injury earlier but it appears hes put that behind, the article basically made theme about Bolt being highly motivated by an American trash talking sprinter. Seems the trash talk has him ready to prove whose still King of the hill. I think this may turn into a lesson over what happens when you poke a resting cheetah. 

 

[Jo498]

I think a big chance for reform was missed after the first huge public doping scandals of the early 1990s. By then it was obvious that many sports, especially but in no way restricted to track&field were dependent on doping. An option (that I actually have seen suggested somewhere) would have been to scratch all records, say in 2000 and start new with harder controls and also trying to put less of a focus on records. A 100m-race is not more exciting when the guys run 9.7-9.9 than when they run 10.1-10.2 but the latter is "lame" compared to the records. Same with swimming, rowing etc. It would have helped some but the Tour de France (where there are no record times because the routes are always different) shows that it could help only so much.

So yes, there is doping, and Russia is only the most obvious example and welcome scapegoat because if one looked closer on other teams one might find similar results (probably not quite that bad, but still).

And there is blatant corruption in the committees, host countries/cities etc. Of course. This is very similar in any big (public) money field.

I also have been watching Olympics basically since I was old enough (the first I remember well is 1984) and I love especially track events too much to boycott them. But I am well aware of the problems.

[baxus]

10 minutes ago, Jo498 said:

A 100m-race is not more exciting when the guys run 9.7-9.9 than when they run 10.1-10.2 but the latter is "lame" compared to the records. Same with swimming, rowing etc. It would have helped some but the Tour de France (where there are no record times because the routes are always different) shows that it could help only so much.

Result in rowing depends rather much on race conditions on the day so "world record" (I think it's called "best result" actually) is not really held in such a high esteem as in other sports.

EDIT:

Of course, I'm not saying that I would be able to row a great result under favourable race conditions, but it can add to or take some time off the final result. All it takes is a shift in the wind direction and the race becomes completely different.

[Veltigar]

2 hours ago, baxus said:

 

Of course, I'm not saying that I would be able to row a great result under favourable race conditions, but it can add to or take some time off the final result. All it takes is a shift in the wind direction and the race becomes completely different.

Don't say that, we believe in you!  

[Jo498]

You are right. Rowing and similar events are more like street cycling not like swimming and track&field. So most people would hardly realize if athletes were somewhat slower but of course doping can give you the edge over the others.

Still, the problem is exacerbated by world record premiums etc. in athletics. And I think that one problem is that the 1980s were never honestly dealt with. There were a few obvious "sinners", like Ben Johnson. But the outlandish records of "FloJo" or some eastern bloc athletes (e.g. 400 and 800m) still stand. So do several of the throwing records. High jump records (2,09 from 1987 and 2,45 from 1993) are also quite a bit from what people achieved in the last 15 years or so. Lord Coe also had held some world records (800 and 1000m) that held from the early 80s until the late 90s... go figure...

Maybe they were not all achieved with unfair chemical help. But it is extremely likely that many were. And it was also later  indirectly admitted that doping was recommended in the 1970s in Western Germany so that athletes would not always lose to Eastern bloc athletes. It was not as blatant or well organized but it was done. (Maybe it was because they were tougher or trained better for it but look how well some 1980s Decathletes like Hingsen and Thompson did in the final 1500 compared to many of today's who are actuall faster in the 400m and of much slighter build than those guys.)

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

On 7/26/2016 at 3:55 AM, DunderMifflin said:

USA beats up crappy basketball teams- pass

We trout out our All-NBA super teams to demoralize the rest of the world and to let them know that if we actually wanted to field a competitive soccer team we'd destroy the world and win the next 10 World Cups effortlessly. 

[DireWolfSpirit]

Just to clarify the record, FloJo never tested positive for any of her record setting performances. Any suggestion that she was doping would be pure speculation and unproven. Her medals, times,  still stand as official.

The deceased cannot rise from the grave to defend themselves so I like to be careful to be accurate over what we know happened or didnt happen and we do NOT know that FloJo ever doped.

[Veltigar]

I think this article from the Guardian is very enlightening given the current subject.

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/jul/27/biggest-threat-future-olympic-games-rio-2016-ioc-thomas-bach-hosts?CMP=fb_gu

[Dr. Pepper]

1 hour ago, DireWolfSpirit said:

The deceased cannot rise from the grave to defend themselves so I like to be careful to be accurate over what we know happened or didnt happen and we do NOT know that FloJo ever doped.

The dead are also the only ones who don't care a lick about what the hell we living are talking about or if we're accurate with it.  

I think speculation about doping is relevant whether the athlete is alive or not.

[DireWolfSpirit]

Theres as much evidence that FloJo had any involvement with doping as there is for Jesse Owens , Michael Johnson or Edwin Moses having been steroid users, Zero.

Some athletes are simply the best of their generation at their discipline, these 4 were examples of that.

[Dr. Pepper]

45 minutes ago, DireWolfSpirit said:

Theres as much evidence that FloJo had any involvement with doping as there is for Jesse Owens , Michael Johnson or Edwin Moses having been steroid users, Zero.

Some athletes are simply the best of their generation at their discipline, these 4 were examples of that.

Well, then discussing her in the context of doping shouldn't be an issue.  If there's no evidence nor any suggestion from anyone who was involved in her career, then I'm not sure what the problem is.  

[Hereward]

1 hour ago, DireWolfSpirit said:

Theres as much evidence that FloJo had any involvement with doping as there is for Jesse Owens , Michael Johnson or Edwin Moses having been steroid users, Zero.

Some athletes are simply the best of their generation at their discipline, these 4 were examples of that.

Untrue. She was not very good until she was in her mid-twenties, had spectacular muscle growth, acne problems and a noticably deeper voice. She also retired just before random testing came in, and it has been alleged that 20 other Seoul medal winners, including her, failed drug test, but the IOC hushed them up on the grounds that all the sprinting winners failing would have killed the sport, so she was told to retire instead.