OT: Olympics chatter

[cgolvin]

Speaking of gorgeous venues, the beach volleyball with the Eiffel Tower in the background is a treat. These manufactured "beach" settings are always a bit of a head scratcher, but this one's a winner.

[72gmc]

Originally Posted by Hank Scorpio

Four positives in two separate incidents, both linked to tainted food sources? Cleared by WADA because the athlete’s home country did an investigation.

Yeah pull the other one, it has bells on it.

https://apnews.com/article/olympics-...41cdf1861fa663

They need to find the Bad Actor who's dusting all of these kitchens with performance-enhancing substances ...

[slowpoke]

Originally Posted by cgolvin

These manufactured "beach" settings are always a bit of a head scratcher, but this one's a winner.

Considering how many beaches ship import sand, maybe it's not that outlandish!

[72gmc]

Originally Posted by cgolvin

Speaking of gorgeous venues, the beach volleyball with the Eiffel Tower in the background is a treat. These manufactured "beach" settings are always a bit of a head scratcher, but this one's a winner.

Agree, it's a great venue.

The more I see of the surfing venue, the more I think those athletes might feel lucky with their small island-themed opening ceremony, and their no-press-allowed accommodations that also have real beds.

[BRad704]

Originally Posted by AngryScientist

Tri was postponed today due to poor water quality...

One of the US triathletes (Seth Rider) is from Memphis too. I'm actually more friends with his dad Walt, who I've known since I was a kid in the 90's. He owned a small 1-man bike shop and my parent's fixed his cars a few times (they owned a body shop). I remember Walt upgrading my fork and brakes on the old Cannondale 26" mtb I had in high school.

Randomly, I got to ride a few hours with Walt this spring and he was BEAMING with excitement about Seth's tri career and telling me all about the racing and European travel. I'll be very excited to see how the tri goes for Seth and the USA.

[BRad704]

Also... Rugby is awesome to watch! forget american football.

Everyone needs to go watch the replay of the Women's 7's bronze medal match. This was SO EXCITING!

[C40_guy]

Unofficial Olympic events...

11,000 athletes, 300,000 branded condoms handed out in the Olympic village

You do the math...talk about marathons.

[IJWS]

Originally Posted by prototoast

On the flip side, the fencing events are being held in the Grand Palais, which is an absolutely gorgeous venue.

Grand Palais is such a cool venue. The Trocadero/action sports area also looks very cool. Bercy looks a little strange in the aerial footage but is a very special building.

[XXtwindad]

Originally Posted by BRad704

One of the US triathletes (Seth Rider) is from Memphis too. I'm actually more friends with his dad Walt, who I've known since I was a kid in the 90's. He owned a small 1-man bike shop and my parent's fixed his cars a few times (they owned a body shop). I remember Walt upgrading my fork and brakes on the old Cannondale 26" mtb I had in high school.

Randomly, I got to ride a few hours with Walt this spring and he was BEAMING with excitement about Seth's tri career and telling me all about the racing and European travel. I'll be very excited to see how the tri goes for Seth and the USA.

Really cool story. I think hearing “back stories” like this enhances the viewing experience. The men’s gymnastic team was chock full of warm and relatable stories. There seems to be a genuine bond between them despite (because?) of their diverse backgrounds. I see a Wheaties box in the future.

[LJohnny]

As someone who knows very little about fencing, could you please explain why the Italian team was so upset? I understand the disappointment of losing on a close call, but was it controversial indeed?

Originally Posted by Bruce K

As a fencer in my college and post college days, I find Olympic fencing riveting.

It seems to slowly be gaining more interest but I think it would gain more support if the rules were more clearly explained and slo-mo replay was used better to explain touches/scoring hits.

I try to watch every bit that is broadcast

BK

[prototoast]

Originally Posted by LJohnny

As someone who knows very little about fencing, could you please explain why the Italian team was so upset? I understand the disappointment of losing on a close call, but was it controversial indeed?

1) the Italian team was upset because several close calls did not go their way.

2) they also made allegations that it was unfair that the referees were from Tapei and Korea, which were too closely connected to Hong Kong rather than Italy (without getting into the full geopolitics, I think it's pretty clear that the Italian team views Eastern Asia as more homogeneous than Western Europe).

3) I watched, and agreed with the referees' calls. That doesn't mean that a different ref couldn't have called them differently, but they were at least reasonable, and well-within accepted standards.

4) from what I have read, the Italian fencer himself has been much more reasonable in his statements than either his coach or the Italian fencing federation president. The Italian coach in particular was getting extremely upset during the bout, which is not uncommon for a coach who is highly invested in a particular outcome, but is not a good indicator of whether the calls were objectively correct.

[LJohnny]

Thank you!

[Mark McM]

Originally Posted by C40_guy

Unofficial Olympic events...

11,000 athletes, 300,000 branded condoms handed out in the Olympic village

You do the math...talk about marathons.

The math is simple: As explained by a former Olympic athlete during an interview, the Olympic branded condoms are place out for anyone to grab, so everyone walking by (athletes, coaches, technicians, visitors, etc.) grabs a handful as souvenirs.

[fijichf]

With the Paris Olympics having a theme of sustainability among many other themes, I keep scratching my head about shipping 48 athletes, their support crews and broadcasting crews to Tahiti and back, while staying on a cruise ship, with a transport ferry.

I also read that 200 horse/rider teams will be in Versailles, with most of the horses and their support crews being shipped to France. 8 horses for the US being shipped from JFK to Belgium and 16 other countries are also competing in equestrian events. Plus the US horses had to get to JFK. Estimated cost (from the US) is $30,000 round trip per horse. I wonder why the riders didn’t claim that their horses are service animals?

[Mark McM]

Originally Posted by fijichf

With the Paris Olympics having a theme of sustainability among many other themes,

Ha, Ha, Ha, Ha, Ha, Ha, Ha, Ha, Ha, Ha, Ha, Ha! That IOC is so funny! If the Olympics were supposed to be sustainable, they'd set up the Olympics in a single fixed venue, so that Host cities wouldn't have to build all new venues every 4 years (2 years, if you include the Winter Olympics), much of which gets torn down in the years following the games. But if that happened, then: 1) The IOC might be on the hook for actually the cost to build/maintain the venues; and more importantly, they wouldn't have an opportunity to receive bribes, er, I mean "gifts and honorariums" from potential Host cities every few years.