The Tokyo Olympic Games

[ithanos]

Thompson-Herah yes!  but Mboma!

 

JAM  Elaine Thompson-Herah    21.53s

NAM  Christine Mboma            21.81s

USA    Gabrielle Thomas           21.87s

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

3 hours ago, Which Tyler said:

The best system (IMO) is 4 points for gold, 2 for silver and 1 for bronze.
Ultimately though, sport is about winning; and Silver is "first loser" - which is why the official tables use silvers to split draws in the gold rankings

Three bronze medals in track and field is significantly more impressive than a gold for horse dancing, but this measurement system would say otherwise.

Just show the total counts, gold counts and number of Olympic and/or world records broken. 

1 hour ago, BigFatCoward said:

For me that makes him a dick.

Lyles nearly saw what happens when you fuck about, very lucky. 

There should be more showboating in sports. A dash more of professional wrestling makes it more entertaining. 

[HexMachina]

3 hours ago, The Anti-Targ said:

That's the shittest phrase in all of sport. The other way to look at silver is that you are the second best person in the world out of over 7bn people at the thing, which is extremely impressive and only a tiny bit less impressive than being the best in the world. Excellence in sports should be acknowledged much more than Gold or bust. That's such a narrow view. Personally I think anyone who goes to the Olympics and achieves a PB should be more acknowledged than they are at the moment. I do like how at this Olympics the results screen always shows a PB when it's an even where PB is a thing. If you do a PB at the Olympics it means you have really extended yourself and shown up for the big event. That in itself is an achievement when so many people get to the Olympics and underperform because the big occasion knocks them off their edge.

Also, if I believed in Hell I would want a special place reserved for all the Simone Biles haters. All those armchair gymnasts who haven't got a clue and who's greatest achievement in sport is to sit and criticise the athletes who actually get out there and do it. A specially spiked seat for Piers Morgan.

Yep. And let's not forget the horrible abuse that came to light front the U.S coaches. I have all the sympathy and empathy in the world for her and the pressure she's under. I competed nowhere near that level and there were times I'd finish a routine and run and cry in the toilets because I was so anxious.

Piers Morgan criticising while he walked off a morning talk show for *checks notes* being confronted for something he said. Pathetic.

Very happy she was able to compete on beam today though, excellent routine as always. The bronze was a nice bonus but I'm sure it felt good to her just to feel able to compete.

I really loved the gymnastics, as I always do. The coverage on the BBC was so frustrating though, especially in the women's team all -around. The coverage left out so much talent to focus on a select few. My understanding is that the BBC only have limited control over what footage they get though

[BigFatCoward]

1 hour ago, Tywin et al. said:

 

There should be more showboating in sports. A dash more of professional wrestling makes it more entertaining. 

Once you've actually done something. The Rock earned the right to drop the people's elbow, that teenager has achieved fuck all so far. 

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

4 hours ago, BigFatCoward said:

Once you've actually done something. The Rock earned the right to drop the people's elbow, that teenager has achieved fuck all so far. 

I mean, earned is a bit funny in this context considering it's scripted. Personally though I think sports is most entertaining when the athletes are clearly having fun, so let them stunt if they accomplished something. 

[Winterfell is Burning]

13 hours ago, BigFatCoward said:

Well I wasn't expecting that. Jesus christ.

Imagine being told you were going to run 46.72 and then finishing 3rd. Or as Rai Benjamin put it "If you would've told me that I was going to run 46.1 and lose, I would probably beat you up and tell you to get out of my room," 

 Men's finn class sailing race has had me on the edge of my seat, I love these sports I'd never watch otherwise. This is what the Olympics is for.  

How utterly American to count total medals for the medals table rather than Gold > Silver > Bronze. You aren't fooling anyone you gobshites. 

Alison dos Santos actually beat the Olympic record and still finished 3rd. Unbelievable. 

And yeah, the way Americans are counting the medals is just pathetic. No way in hell they would be doing that if China was first in overall medals, but 2nd in gold.

[Impmk2]

 

Men's sport climbing prelims yesterday, and there weren't many surprises. Ondra still sucks at speed. Mickael Mawem pulled it out of the hat on boulder and topped the qualifiers. But I'd say Narasaki or Ondra are still probably hot favourites for gold.

But the commentary was fucking terrible. I believe we got the eurosport stream here in Australia, it was painfully obvious that these guys had never watched a world cup, let alone been involved in competitive climbing before.

They were mispronouncing competitor's names, didn't know basic rules and terminology, let alone nuances of technique. It was kinda embarrassing to listen to. Had to mute it after a while.

[Padraig]

The 400m race was insane.  The Norwegian said he would have been on a flight home if he was told the time the American would run before hand.  The Swedish polt vaulter was close to breaking a world record also.  And the American 800m race looks really strong too.  A lot of impressive results.

I always think Ireland should do better at showjumping, given the horse industry here.  We a actually did very well today but besides qualifying, have to start all over again.

And congrats to Simone Biles!

 

[polishgenius]

1 hour ago, Impmk2 said:

They were mispronouncing competitor's names, didn't know basic rules and terminology, let alone nuances of technique. It was kinda embarrassing to listen to. Had to mute it after a while.

 

 

The Eurosport commentary has been terrible on everything I've seen. I've been watching the boxing and even though at least one of the three I've heard calling it is a long-time professional boxing commentator, there was a glaring disrespect to the amateur game, with all of them clearly not knowing who various competitors are and how they box, getting confused about application of rules that are different to the pros, failing to call how fights are going in a heroic attempt to seem neutral even when it just makes them sound stupid... it's been awful. 


And that's boxing! It's not niche!

[ithanos]

4 hours ago, Padraig said:

The 400m race was insane.  The Norwegian said he would have been on a flight home if he was told the time the American would run before hand.  The Swedish polt vaulter was close to breaking a world record also.  And the American 800m race looks really strong too.  A lot of impressive results.

I always think Ireland should do better at showjumping, given the horse industry here.  We a actually did very well today but besides qualifying, have to start all over again.

And congrats to Simone Biles!

 

The 400m was a race for the ages, there's some cynicism about the fast track and shoe technology rising the tide for a lot of athletes, but no denying the top 3 are are the best in the world (and ever) with Warholm just an absolute beast to kick away from Benjamin after that last hurdle.    

 

The bold reminds me that there are over 300 athletes of the equine variety competing in Equestrian and Modern Pentathlon events - and unfortunately one (14yr old gelding, Jet Set) suffered an injury on the cross country course and later had to to be euthanised

[BigFatCoward]

Womens 400m hurdles also insane. Bronze would have been the WR 2 months ago. Maybe they measured the track wrong or something. 

[Which Tyler]

This climbing is absolutely insane - hadn't realised it was a 3-event event.

What do we think about these ridiculously young competitors - average age of all 6 women's skateboarding medalists is 14, with the Japanese silver medalist aged 12.
There won't be any hard and fast answer, but I really question whether they're psychologically mature enough to cope with the pressure - not so much now, but creating problems for 10-20 years time. I'm sure this has come up with other sports before (tennis, gymnastics and the combat sports spring to mind) with a lower age limit required.
And that's without looking at the long and inglorious issue of abuse / exploitation.

[Which Tyler]

Insult to injury for KJT

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

7 hours ago, BigFatCoward said:

Womens 400m hurdles also insane. Bronze would have been the WR 2 months ago. Maybe they measured the track wrong or something. 

And yet none of the men would have medaled in the 100m if these were the London games.

[ithanos]

Tactical running from the Kenyan and Botswanan runners in the Men's 800m Final, they controlled the pace at the 250m mark, bunching everyone up behind them.

Men's 200m Final coming up to finish the night at the track.
Noah Lyles is not in a good starting lane (3) due to only qualifying as one of the two fastest losers. He should still be the favourite but deGrasse or Bednarak could well upset him. The kid's one dark horse, he's been strong in the straight so if his bend running is a blinder, he may usher in a new  era - I don't think its coming tonight, in 3yrs in Paris though, look out. The other dark horse will be Fahnbulleh, who finishes like Christine Mboma, but only if this was run over 210m.  

DeGrasse takes it out for Canada!

CAN Andre DeGrasse     19.62s
USA Kenneth Bednarak   19.68s
USA Noah Lyles               19.74s

 

 

[baxus]

Today was quite a good day for Serbian athletes still in Tokyo - all three of our teams (women's basketball and volleyball and men's water polo) all made it through to semifinals, two of our representatives in kayak advanced to semifinals of their events, and our wrestler won bronze.

[Corvinus85]

Team's Pursuit is the weirdest sport I've seen at the Summer Olympics. It seems to me it's the closest thing the Summer Olympics has to a team bobsled event. 

[Denvek]

2 hours ago, Corvinus85 said:

Team's Pursuit is the weirdest sport I've seen at the Summer Olympics. It seems to me it's the closest thing the Summer Olympics has to a team bobsled event. 

Wait until the madison gets going.

[Padraig]

10 hours ago, Tywin et al. said:

And yet none of the men would have medaled in the 100m if these were the London games.

I suppose after Michael Johnson, 400m had a lull period and it became all about Bolt.  Bolt drove everybody to be faster over 100/200m.  And now the 400m is back.  The interesting thing about 400m is that there are 2 runners rather than 1 very dominant one. 

Or maybe the track is ideal for 400m running.  You don't get as much from it over 100m.  Because yes, the 400m for women was equally eye-popping.  And it may have 3 runners once the Dutch women gets a little older!

It seems that Sifan Hassan is going to have more of a challenge in the 1500m.

19 hours ago, ithanos said:

The bold reminds me that there are over 300 athletes of the equine variety competing in Equestrian and Modern Pentathlon events - and unfortunately one (14yr old gelding, Jet Set) suffered an injury on the cross country course and later had to to be euthanised

Ouch. 

Our 3 showjumpers inevitably failed in the final.  Although, the team final was always going to be more likely for them.  Not that i'd expect them to win a medal in that either.  3 going clear in the first round is a great tease.

And I watched a surprising amount of skateboarding.  Amazing performances.  But yes, the age of the female athletes is ridiculous.

[Impmk2]

Woman's sport climbing qualifying last night*, no surprises that the Slovenien climber Janja Gambret was utterly dominant. She's so far above the rest of the field in bouldering it just isn't even believable. Came out flashed everything (ie completed the problem in 1 attempt), casually campusing (no feet!) through a 3-finger roof pocket on women's problem 4, which had stopped most other climbers. She's also ranked 2 in the world in lead having won multiple lead world cups, so in this combined format she's basically unstoppable. 

14 hours ago, Which Tyler said:

This climbing is absolutely insane - hadn't realised it was a 3-event event.

Yeah it's kinda contraversial. Even amongst climbing, which while growing isn't the biggest of sports, speed climbing is considered extremely niche. It requires very specific facilities (15m 5degree overhung wall with a standard hold configuration), a completely different physique being basically a leg powered vertical sprint, and most pro climbers don't train it at all. The other 2 disciplines have their origins in outdoor climbing, and a lot more overlap in the skills / build required, though bouldering is obviously shorter and more intense requiring more raw power, and lead more endurance. It's also kinda pointless as the speed specialists are very unlikely to medal (now watch one of them win one) as 2/3 of the scores come from disciplines they're normally terrible at.

For 2024 they're going to split it into a combined boulder / lead with speed getting a seperate medal, which makes a lot more sense.

*I muted the commentary and listened to the usual IFSC world cup cup commentator talk shit on his simulcast youtube channel, which while he wasn't taking it at all seriously was 5000% more informative than the Eurosport crew.