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The Tokyo Olympic Games


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On 8/4/2021 at 2:33 AM, HelenaExMachina said:

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

My son was the only boy in his gymnastics club for about a year and a half, and he was bullied by some of the girls, most of whom were older than he was. His coach was brilliant but the bullying pretty much went unnoticed. There seemed to be no obvious reason for the bullying, given there is no direct competing between boys and girls. But I think it was because my son monopolised a lot of the time of the male coach who was definitely the best coach in the gym after the founder of the club decided to give up coaching and focus on managing the club. So I guess that is a form of competition in a way. Fortunately, in a way, one summer my son had a growth spurtm as you do, and his strength to weight ratio and flexibility went to the shit, so there was no way for him to be able to progress any further as a gymnast with the level of effort he had put in previously. So he left that toxic environment and went to springboard diving and a very supporting environment. Unfortunately he developed a fear of the higher boards and couldn't jump anything higher than the 3M. So now he's a black belt in Kung Fu where he gets to play with quaterstaffs and broadswords.

As to the Olympics, I am sick of stinky horses getting all the glory for the animal kindgom. I want to see dog agility events and pigeon racing become part of the Olympics. 

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On 8/4/2021 at 1:29 AM, Tywin et al. said:

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

Should be under the rhythmic gymnastics banner since it is entirely about style, performance and general athleticism as opposed to winning a wrestling bout.

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2 hours ago, Padraig said:

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.

We also have to factor in the shoes. I keep hearing runners are using some space age shit that makes a huge difference, much like those swimsuits from either the '08 or '12 games.

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8 minutes ago, The Anti-Targ said:

Should be under the rhythmic gymnastics banner since it is entirely about style, performance and general athleticism as opposed to winning a wrestling bout.

Now you just have me picturing Will Ferrell in Old School.

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Craziness in the Men's sport climbing finals last night. The 1st place qualifier in speed DNS, due to tearing his bicep during qualifying. He was meant to be racing the last place speed qualifier (and overall gold medal favorite) Adam Ondra in the first speed heat. This gave Ondra a default win and bumped into automatically (and very controversially) into 4th overall straight out - which should've put him in prime position given that's by far his weakest discipline. The Spanish lead climber Alberto Gines Lopez won the round somewhat luckily due to false starts / slips on the part of his opponents.

The bouldering round was not the greatest in terms of the problem setting - problem 1 was too easy, problem 2 was ok, and problem 3 was too hard (looked impossible given the heat / humidity). Didn't achieve great separation in the competitors. The difference between 2nd-5th place was basically the number of attempts to zone on boulder 2. The favorites, Naraski and Ondra, came out of it 2nd and 6th respectively, with the Coleman from the US winning the round. Importantly one of the favorites, Japanese climber Naraski didn't win either of his preferred disciplines. Lopez came dead last.

The lead route was fantastic. Long and winding, several heart in the mouth moves. The favorites to win this round going in were definitely Ondra or Austrian Jakob Schubert, with Coleman, Lopez, and Duffy (US) also very strong on lead. Naraski fell earlyish as expected, pretty much ending his medal chances. Ondra climbed extremely well, coming within a couple holds of topping the route. He was sitting in silver medal position as the final climber, Schubert, who'd qualified first in lead came out. Due to the (confusing) multipicative scoring system if Schubert got 2nd or 3rd he'd bump Lopez down to 4th in lead, giving Ondra gold, Lopez silver, Coleman bronze. If he slipped at the start and got 4th or lower Lopez would get gold, Ondra silver, Coleman bronze. Instead he topped the route giving him 1st spot in lead. This pushed Ondra to 2nd place (multiplying his score from his previous rounds 2x), and overall into 6th and out of the medals. Final standings were:

Alberto Gines Lopez (Spain) gold

Nathaniel Coleman (US) silver

Jakob Schubert (Austria) bronze

 

Neither of the 2 hot favorites - Ondra or Naraski were in the medals. Women up tonight.

 

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On 8/3/2021 at 2:38 PM, Winterfell is Burning said:

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.

All I can tell you as an American (and hey, so are you :P) in his early 30's is that my entire life watching the Olympics I've seen the media track both the gold count and the total count, because we can take pride in that we have a good shot to win out in both categories. Total metal count is long over, but we could maybe catch China in the gold. Our beach volleyball team is looking real good right now.

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Team GB absolutely smashed the madison in the Track cycling. It shows how insanely dominant we were at previous Olympics when 2 gold and 2 silver so far is seen as a huge let down by many. 

I wonder if Laura and Jason Kenny have turned down being Knighted/made a Dame? Because their medal hauls suggest they both should be when compared to their peers. 

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52 minutes ago, Which Tyler said:

That was heart breaking for Schleu in the modern pent show jumping - never had her composure, never earned the horse' trust, and TBH, pushed the horse further than she should have done

Laser run is well exciting. Like biathlon, it's all in the head now. 

I know nothing about this sport but it looks like the British girl just schooled everyone. 

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On 8/4/2021 at 3:12 PM, Denvek said:

Wait until the madison gets going.

Ha, I just watched the highlights for the women. This even shouldn't exist. Weird and stupid dangerous. Like someone wanted NASCAR at the Olympics, but was told that the participants need to actually show some athleticism, so they did it with bicycles. 

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