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The Tokyo Olympic Games


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40 minutes ago, kairparavel said:

But wait - there's more!

 

This one I found especially strange after first reading about it. The racist overtones are obvious.

Also, wouldn't the slightly less aerodynamic caps be a minor disadvantage? Like even if you weren't a racist piece of shit, what's your actual argument against allowing swimmers to use them?

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4 hours ago, larrytheimp said:

Who fucking cares?  It's not any different than having a beer except that one is on the banned list.  She didn't waste the last 4 years of her life.  I'm sure there were some rewarding or positive things there beyond the Olympics.

 

Well i guess she cares and her coaches and her sponsors. 

And I'm sure constant physical exhaustion and pain and loneliness, limits on her social life and time away from friends and family, living out of suitcases has been very rewarding and she absolutely wasn't doing it for Olympic glory. 

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Things I'm interested in, cycling, athletics, swimming, rowing and random niche sports that you never hear about otherwise (archery is awesome). 

Things I'm not interested in golf, tennis, basketball etc where the most important tournament isn't the Olympics. 

Also even though Britain have a probable superstar who is only 12 I can't see how skateboarding is an Olympic sport (I also have a very big general problem with any sport that a judge has to tell you who wins if you don't understand it). 

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1 hour ago, Tywin et al. said:

This one I found especially strange after first reading about it. The racist overtones are obvious.

Also, wouldn't the slightly less aerodynamic caps be a minor disadvantage? Like even if you weren't a racist piece of shit, what's your actual argument against allowing swimmers to use them?

I'm guessing the important part is 'have to follow the natural shape of the head' to stop people making aerodynamic caps. 

Though just being bigger is obviously not an advantage. It seems strange that they have waited until now and all the negative publicity a month before  

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The big issue with the sprinter seems to be the US being a lot more liberal in their attitude towards weed than the rest of the world. She broke the world anti doping rules which she absolutely would be aware of at her level. It doesn't matter how stupid the rule seems to be.

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17 hours ago, DireWolfSpirit said:

I'll start this thread for posters interested in commenting on any of the trials, games, events.

Thank you for starting the thread.

It's interesting how the enforced extra year brought on by Covid-19 has resulted in (most) athletes appearing to double down and bring out amazing results in the lead up to these Olympics. Others unfortunately have lost that timing and are now a little off the pace.   

I've been enthralled watching first the NCAA conference championships (the SEC this year was amazing), followed by the Olympic trials of various countries. Here are some of the track & field athletes on my watch list - yes its US centric, would appreciate suggestions of athletes from other countries who would be contenders.

Women's 100m
Shelley-Anne Fraser-Pryce, at age 34, ran 10.63s for the 100m in the recent Jamaican Olympic trials. Sha'Carri Richardson, age 21, ran 10.64s for the 100m in the US Olympic trials semi-final heat. Their respective styles are so different (Fraser-Pryce's fast start vs Richardson's finishing strength) that an Olympics showdown would've been a dream. Alas, not to be. As a fan I am disappointed. It's a silly rule, but everyone who's in that US team would've been measured to the same rule. Could one ascribe Richardson's actions to the folly of youth? Maybe and she has the years ahead to come back stronger, faster.       

I guess the only one who may offer some challenge for Fraser-Pryce is her countrywoman Shericka Jackson, who ran 10.77s in the trial race. Jackson is a 400m runner (Bronze in 2016), best 400m of 49.47 in 2019, now running the 100/200 with times of 10.77s/21.82s (2021) respectively this year - holy fuck!

Men's 100m
Trayvon Bromell seems to have fully recovered from his Achilles issues from a few years back and he looks dominant with 10.77s recently.  

Men's 200m
Noah Lyles has the experience coming into the sharp end of the season, but immediately on his heels is 17 year old Erryon Knighton who this year has beaten Usain Bolt's Youth (under 18) and Junior (under 20) records as a Youth. The kid's a contender, maybe bronze or silver and the future is bright.

Men's 400m
Michael Norman & Randolf Ross in scintillating form for the US. Wade van Niekirk has been a little off pace this year but you can't count him out.  The individual contest could go several ways, but when it comes to the 4x400m there's just too much stacked in that US line-up.

Women's 800m

I've been following a few of Athing Mu's races, she was beaten indoors when she was skillfully boxed in, preventing her from overtaking the eventual winner before the finish, but at 19 she is a talent to watch out for, look for a possible medal.  

Women's 400m hurdles
Sydney McLaughlin set a new WR in the trials and is now favourite for the gold.

Men's 400m Hurdles
Others have mentioned before, the two to watch are Karston Warholm and Rai Benjamin, can't wait.

Men's Long Jump/High Jump
You'd think these two events go together, but the skills are very different, so to have an athlete in Juvaughn Harrison who has an 8.47m long jump and a 2.36m high jump (both ranked 2nd in the world this year) is more than a generational thing - that's just fu%king insane talent.

Men's Shot Put
Ryan Crouser seems indomitable. They need to add at least and extra 1m, maybe 2m to the end of the pitch just for safety.


The other Olympics events that I've been closely following is Weightlifting. I'll summarize who I'll be looking forward to watching in a follow up post.   

 

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My main interest for the Olympics will be seeing how well Jake Birtwhistle goes in the men's triathlon. Known him since he was a kid and he's won a few big races in the last few years. Covid screwed his preparation a bit but hopefully he's on form in Tokyo.

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4 hours ago, lmanion said:

The big issue with the sprinter seems to be the US being a lot more liberal in their attitude towards weed than the rest of the world. She broke the world anti doping rules which she absolutely would be aware of at her level. It doesn't matter how stupid the rule seems to be.

She was probably both aware and didn't care because her personal grief in the moment superseded everything else. She is after all a 21 year old who just lost her biological mother, and again, the way it keeps getting phrased suggests there were some complications there, plus the news was broken to here by some stranger. Her actions are pretty easy to understand and empathize with. 

And yes, it does matter how stupid a rule is. That's the entire reason to break the rules and show people why they're dumb. A decade ago I used to sell weed in large quantities, telling everyone it was going to be legal pretty soon. And I was right. Just because something is a rule or law doesn't actually mean it's sound, and if your thought process is, "Well, the rule is dumb, makes no sense, but still that's the rule" then I'm just left asking why are you so meek in not trying to change it?

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28 minutes ago, Tywin et al. said:

She was probably both aware and didn't care because her personal grief in the moment superseded everything else. She is after all a 21 year old who just lost her biological mother, and again, the way it keeps getting phrased suggests there were some complications there, plus the news was broken to here by some stranger. Her actions are pretty easy to understand and empathize with. 

And yes, it does matter how stupid a rule is. That's the entire reason to break the rules and show people why they're dumb. A decade ago I used to sell weed in large quantities, telling everyone it was going to be legal pretty soon. And I was right. Just because something is a rule or law doesn't actually mean it's sound, and if your thought process is, "Well, the rule is dumb, makes no sense, but still that's the rule" then I'm just left asking why are you so meek in not trying to change it?

Because we don't work for the relevant bodies. And the rule doesn't impact on me personally, nor anyone else in an unjust way, or way that makes me give a shit? 

There is no great societal injustice here. A rule exists and not breaking it is not that hard. If you do there may be consequences if you get caught. Suck it up and follow the rule. 

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1 hour ago, BigFatCoward said:

Because we don't work for the relevant bodies. And the rule doesn't impact on me personally, nor anyone else in an unjust way, or way that makes me give a shit? 

There is no great societal injustice here. A rule exists and not breaking it is not that hard. If you do there may be consequences if you get caught. Suck it up and follow the rule. 

You don't have to work from within the formal structure to change it. What would happen, per se, if all the top Olympians posted videos of them smoking weed on social media? Think the IOC would ban all of them?

Of course not, because no one watches the Olympics because of the administrators behind them. Fuck them.

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Very excited for wrestling.  Freestyle heavyweight looks amazing.  Have seen the U.S. representative since he was an eight grader and he is an athletic freak.

Back flipping heavyweight: 

Some studs from Georgia and Russia.  Should make for an awesome tourney.  A lot of very stacked weights especially since the Olympics cut back to only 6 freestyle men's weights (a travesty).  No knock on other sports but Phelps can compete in half a dozen or more races himself and only 6 individuals get to compete total for a country in men's freestyle wrestling (or Greco Roman).

 

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18 minutes ago, Tywin et al. said:

You don't have to work from within the formal structure to change it. What would happen, per se, if all the top Olympians posted videos of them smoking weed on social media? Think the IOC would ban all of them?

But, like BFC says, who cares? I really don’t give a shit either way if professional athletes are allowed to smoke weed.

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2 minutes ago, ljkeane said:

But, like BFC says, who cares? I really don’t give a shit either way if professional athletes are allowed to smoke weed.

Fans who want to see the best athletes compete? And if you don't care about them smoking weed, why have a rule against it? Why defend those who think there should be one? Especially when those same people are probably doing coke while they take their bribe money?

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6 minutes ago, ljkeane said:

I really don’t give a shit either way if professional athletes are allowed to smoke weed.

To be clear, neither do I for the most part.  Or at least it's not exactly a high salience issue on the list of injustices and iniquities.  I'd never even heard of this woman until yesterday.  I just don't get the piling on, particularly in a way that comes across like any of us have any right to be angry with and/or look down on her for smoking weed.

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1 minute ago, Tywin et al. said:

And if you don't care about them smoking weed, why have a rule against it? Why defend those who think there should be one? 

Because I don’t care. There are lots of rules in various sports I have no strong opinion about and I am going to continue doing absolutely nothing about.

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11 minutes ago, ljkeane said:

Because I don’t care. There are lots of rules in various sports I have no strong opinion about and I am going to continue doing absolutely nothing about.

And why is that? Do you not have an activist bone in your body, and can you not ride for a cause that's not your own if you do?

Personally I would love to see the US's three most dominate teams, the men's and women's basketball teams and the women's soccer team say they won't play if Richardson, possibly the best sprinter in the field, can't run. Stick it to those corporate dollars.

Because, more importantly, why the fuck are we doing any of this when Japan is in the mist of a giant outbreak during a global pandemic. What are we doing?!?!?

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