2016 Olympics - Opening Ceremony and beyond....

[MerenthaClone]

Yeah, I decided that foil really shouldn't be aired live.  It'd benefit tremendously from the ability to have a much, much more in-depth discussion of the rationale behind each touch and a slower replay than can really be shown live.  Probably sabre too, though epee would be fine.  Though I'd still like to see that delayed too because they spend so much time trying to explain the calls that they really don't have time to explain the tactics changes.  Szasz' adaptation yesterday was so incredibly brilliant and I'd have loved to see more discussion on it.  

 

e: vvvv Same.  

[Philokles]

I'm really enjoying the Rugby 7s. I can't stand the full version of the sport, but in this format it is much quicker and more free-flowing.

[williamjm]

2 hours ago, kairparavel said:

Dutch Twitter says she's conscious and in shock, and in an ambulance. Took NBC long enough to break from their canned programming to report. Oi.

That was a really horrific looking crash. On the British commentary Chris Boardman seemed genuinely angry about how dangerous that bit of the course was.

[Hereward]

13 minutes ago, Horse of Kent said:

I'm really enjoying the Rugby 7s. I can't stand the full version of the sport, but in this format it is much quicker and more free-flowing.

Heretic.

[Philokles]

Horrible if this update about Van Vleuten is correct.

[kairparavel]

1 hour ago, Horse of Kent said:

Horrible if this update about Van Vleuten is correct.

Yes but many watching, myself included, thought the crash might have killed her.

[The BlackBear]

I was rather amused by Ian Robertson inability to call the Sevens team British, he just kept saying England.

Heard about the crash horrible stuff.

1 hour ago, williamjm said:

That was a really horrific looking crash. On the British commentary Chris Boardman seemed genuinely angry about how dangerous that bit of the course was.

“Looking at the edges of the road, nothing was done for the vast majority of the climb to protect the riders in the event of a fall,” Boardman said.

“Whoever signed of that course to say it was safe enough was wrong,

“It wasn’t technical it was dangerous,” he added.

[Arkash]

One of the best races of the Olympics is coming... the 4x100 freestyle relay ! 

Go France ! 

[SkynJay]

How do I always end up watching Gymnastics?  Well I am not upset with myself this time, watching greatness is always awesome and Simone Biles is the real deal. 

Also Phelps second leg of the 400 relay was impossibly good; by my count he gave the team almost a second and a half (making up the deficit plus the second+ he gave them in the lead).

I also watched a bit of women's handball today which has always fascinated me.  When a gym teacher introduced it to us in high school I honestly thought he made the game up; soccer but with your hands?  So I try to watch it every year now and honestly it is so damn entertaining.  The women from Brazil were quite impressive.

[ljkeane]

5 hours ago, The BlackBear said:

I was rather amused by Ian Robertson inability to call the Sevens team British, he just kept saying England.

In fairness the team is pretty much just the backline from the England World Cup winning side. I haven't spotted a non English player yet.

[Which Tyler]

There's a token Welsh lady in there (she got the yellow card for minor petulance). No Scots or Irish though.

 

I think the men's team is a bit more representative.

At least SCW was able to remember which gender were playing yesterday; he utterly failed at that Day1; though he still seems surprised that the women actually play rugby. He also regularly demonstrates that he knows nothing about 7s, and presumably thinks himself above doing his home-work for a punditry job.

[Kyoshi]

The Van Vleuten crash had me really frightened. The coverage on it in RSA has been really poor, which really surprises me.

I caught the artistic gymnastics events by mistake and ended up very delighted to have done so. Simone Biles is really amazing. I'm not even American but I found myself actively rooting for her.

I noticed that the men's gymnastics has the rings apparatus, but the women's doesn't; and that the women's has uneven bars, while the men's doesn't. Are they equivalents of one another for the different genders? And why does the women's floor routine have music while the men's doesn't?

While still on the music--it somewhat instantly made me enjoy the women's routines far more than the men's, as did the glitter for that matter. I think after athletics, this is now my favourite event at the Olympics.

[Which Tyler]

Men's and Women's gyumnastics really aren't comparable to each other. Women's is much more about masking the power with beauty and suppleness; whilst the mens is basically raw power.

The Floor and Vault are the only aparatus they both share; only the women do Asymetric bars or the Beam; whilst only the men do the Pommel, Rings, Parrallel bars and High bar.

 

Both are awesome (in the literal sense); but I'd only call the women's beautiful.

[HexMachina]

2 hours ago, Kyoshi said:

The Van Vleuten crash had me really frightened. The coverage on it in RSA has been really poor, which really surprises me.

I caught the artistic gymnastics events by mistake and ended up very delighted to have done so. Simone Biles is really amazing. I'm not even American but I found myself actively rooting for her.

I noticed that the men's gymnastics has the rings apparatus, but the women's doesn't; and that the women's has uneven bars, while the men's doesn't. Are they equivalents of one another for the different genders? And why does the women's floor routine have music while the men's doesn't?

While still on the music--it somewhat instantly made me enjoy the women's routines far more than the men's, as did the glitter for that matter. I think after athletics, this is now my favourite event at the Olympics.

As Which Tyler said, men and women compete on different apparatus, save for floor and vault. Men have High Bar, Parallel Bars, Ring, Pommel, Floor, and Vault. Women do A-Bar, Beam, Floor and Vault.

And there are some really great gymnasts competing right now. I'm impressed by both men and women's teams for GB, and Team USA are really strong too, especially the women. Simone Biles and Gabby Douglas are superb. Brazil were also quite a surprise yesterday in the women's, much better than I've seen them compete in the past. I was relieved that Downie wasn't put out of the competition and made it back to compete on vault. Apparently she was led out of the stadium by medics after she injured herself on floor, but she was back for the next piece, much to the relief of the commentators 

I always feel a bit sorry for the women who don't compete as part of a team (the likes of India and Sweeden for example). It must be tough having no teammates there with you. Also, I really liked the Sweedish woman's (I didn't catch her name) floor routine yesterday. 

 

[Aniel]

The Swedish gymnast is Emma Larsson. The Swedish commentators were super disappointed they didn't get to see her until her floor routine came up XD

I'm watching the cross-country riding now, the first Swede just started. Three horse have already fallen, two while jumping and the other just now while turning. One horse almost rolled over his rider, and another almost hit his in the head with his hoof.

They aren't even showing the Swede, they showed her ride out and then they went back to the German lady before her, and now that the German lady finished they're showing an American guy who rode out after the Sweden. Oh look, NOW they're showing her.

[dbunting]

2 hours ago, Which Tyler said:

Men's and Women's gyumnastics really aren't comparable to each other. Women's is much more about masking the power with beauty and suppleness; whilst the mens is basically raw power.

The Floor and Vault are the only aparatus they both share; only the women do Asymetric bars or the Beam; whilst only the men do the Pommel, Rings, Parrallel bars and High bar.

 

Both are awesome (in the literal sense); but I'd only call the women's beautiful.

Damn good way to describe the differences!

My daughter and I watched quite a bit last night, US feed. Same as always, we watch and think, wow that was a flawless floor routine, then the judges deduct 1.68,...then the next one goes and its like, well that wasn't good and the judges deduct 1.  Never will understand it!

Katie Ledecky (sp?) wow. I have never seen a swimmer win by that large of a margin in the Olympics.

[HexMachina]

Caught up some of the gymnastics I missed, but it was the US coverage. I'm not keen on the commentators on the videos I saw, they talked really loudly so you couldn't hear the music and none of what they said seemed particularly intuitive or beyond what you would say while watching at home.

Catchig up on swim in now, I saw Micheal Phelps nabbed his 19th(?) gold?

[Dr. Pepper]

6 minutes ago, HelenaExMachina said:

Caught up some of the gymnastics I missed, but it was the US coverage. I'm not keen on the commentators on the videos I saw, they talked really loudly so you couldn't hear the music and none of what they said seemed particularly intuitive or beyond what you would say while watching at home.

Catchig up on swim in now, I saw Micheal Phelps nabbed his 19th(?) gold?

Yeah, the American commentators are the worst, and I find them especially appaling with gymnastics.  If you go catch up on some old videos on youtube from past events, like say the US Olympic trials, you'll just be cringing the entire time.  I watched one gymnastics event where one of the commentators couldn't stop pointing out how utterly adorable the gymnasts were or discussing the various colors of their leotards.  World class athletes and somehow NBC saw fit to turn this into a narration of how cute they were.  NBC gets away with it because there is no ratings competition.

I've been tuning into the Canadian feed and omg it's like a breath of fresh air.  Still some bits of casual sexism here and there, but the commentators tend to respect the athletes and the audience by allowing us to watch without talking over everything.  

[kairparavel]

I got SO tired of the little brother analogy during the US and Canada men's volleyball on NBC yesterday. Canada was playing in their first Olympic match since 92 and referring to them as the younger sibling most of the match just grated. Well,  little brother won 3 sets to nil. 

@Dr.Pepper where/how are you getting the Canadian feed?

[Dr. Pepper]

5 minutes ago, kairparavel said:

 

@Dr.Pepper where/how are you getting the Canadian feed?

This will probably get deleted but I'm using a vpn to access the feeds on the CBC Olympics website.  I've not had any luck tuning into the BBC feed this way.  

In my defense, I did try really hard to get the American feed by legal means, but NBC makes it impossible unless one is willing or able to drop big dollars for two weeks of cable.