OT: Olympics chatter

[crankles]

Originally Posted by 72gmc

The women's final, too. Lee Kiefer and Lauren Scruggs put on a good show.

I also really liked Kiefer in the semis. Touches were so clean. The gold match was a but nuts.

and explaining/spottin right of way is like explaining/spottin off-side in soccer.

I fenced in high school and college (and a bit after...anyone need some nice russian pistol grips and a heavily oxidized 30 yr old Lame, just me know LOL). I judged a bit as well. It's surprising how the actions slow down the more you judge, yet I still would rub eyes as often as not. Video reply is huge.

I try to introduce folks to epee...least explanation necessary. I pity anyone trying to call sabre action. Holy moly.

[crankles]

Originally Posted by prototoast

1)
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.

at 14/14, I agreed with the 1st abstention, didn't with the 2nd, but the 3rd call was correct.

Cheungs touch to bring to 14 all was a thing of beauty.

[prototoast]

Originally Posted by crankles

I also really liked Kiefer in the semis. Touches were so clean. The gold match was a but nuts.

I remember watching Kiefer when she made the world championships semifinal in 2011 as a 17 year-old. Even then, it was clear that there was something special in the way she moved on the strip. Since then she has continued to improve, and is such an impressive fencer to watch.

I try to introduce folks to epee...least explanation necessary. I pity anyone trying to call sabre action. Holy moly.

Saber is what I fence, so I want to defend it, but I'm honestly not thrilled with the current state of how things are being called. There's been a relatively recent push to eliminate calls of simultaneous attacks, so instead referees force the call to one side or another in ways that are highly subjective and inconsistent.

Personally, I liked saber better the way it was circa 2008, and not just because I was younger, faster, and had more hair back then.

But with that all said, the gold medal bout was actually pretty clear, and a reminder of how good saber can be.

If you ever feel like getting back in the game and giving saber a try, there's a low-key club I go to that's just down the hill from you in Oakland.

[Bruce K]

Having fenced, judged, and refereed in the early electronic era (Sabre still had 4 judges to call touches) it is all so much better now.

But yes, explaining, let alone understanding, and calling right of way in Foil and Sabre when the action is subtle, nuanced, and lightning quick is crazy.

BK

[benb]

Sounds like Triathlon will be very very screwed up if they don't get the river OKed and they have to switch it to a Duathlon.

Apparently the way this works normally is:

- Strong swimmers get out of the water first, they are usually not the fastest runners
- The strong swimmers try and stay away on the bike to build a lead going into the run (this format does allow drafting, so this group works together to stay ahead of the secondary pack of riders made up of slower swimmers)
- Everyone hits the bike with relatively OK legs since swimming doesn't blast your legs

If it switches to Duathlon it's actually run-bike-run. Apparently then the top swimmers are screwed, the top runners just sit in for the bike and then dust everyone, and the fastest cyclists hit the bike with dead legs from the first run, so the entire thing just becomes unbalanced towards the fastest runners.

I get the river thing.. successfully getting it cleaned up will/would be a huge accomplishment. Being able to have the Olympic Triathlon in the river would be this huge sign of success.

[weisan]

[72gmc]

Originally Posted by benb

Sounds like Triathlon will be very very screwed up if they don't get the river OKed and they have to switch it to a Duathlon.

Apparently the way this works normally is:

- Strong swimmers get out of the water first, they are usually not the fastest runners
- The strong swimmers try and stay away on the bike to build a lead going into the run (this format does allow drafting, so this group works together to stay ahead of the secondary pack of riders made up of slower swimmers)
- Everyone hits the bike with relatively OK legs since swimming doesn't blast your legs

If it switches to Duathlon it's actually run-bike-run. Apparently then the top swimmers are screwed, the top runners just sit in for the bike and then dust everyone, and the fastest cyclists hit the bike with dead legs from the first run, so the entire thing just becomes unbalanced towards the fastest runners.

I get the river thing.. successfully getting it cleaned up will/would be a huge accomplishment. Being able to have the Olympic Triathlon in the river would be this huge sign of success.

What a bummer if you're a swimmer. Could they make them run through knee-deep water, Chariots of Fire style?

[cgolvin]

Originally Posted by Mark McM

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.

It's a photo finish in the corruption finals with the IOC edging FIFA by a nose.

[AngryScientist]

Originally Posted by benb

Sounds like Triathlon will be very very screwed up if they don't get the river OKed and they have to switch it to a Duathlon.

Apparently the way this works normally is:

- Strong swimmers get out of the water first, they are usually not the fastest runners
- The strong swimmers try and stay away on the bike to build a lead going into the run (this format does allow drafting, so this group works together to stay ahead of the secondary pack of riders made up of slower swimmers)
- Everyone hits the bike with relatively OK legs since swimming doesn't blast your legs

If it switches to Duathlon it's actually run-bike-run. Apparently then the top swimmers are screwed, the top runners just sit in for the bike and then dust everyone, and the fastest cyclists hit the bike with dead legs from the first run, so the entire thing just becomes unbalanced towards the fastest runners.

I get the river thing.. successfully getting it cleaned up will/would be a huge accomplishment. Being able to have the Olympic Triathlon in the river would be this huge sign of success.

Totally messed up. They should not have selected the river as part of the course if they werent damned sure they could clean it up to acceptable levels. It's not fair to switch it up on the athletes like that.

[cgolvin]

Originally Posted by weisan

snip

Both of them were running Berd spoked wheels?

[smontanaro]

Originally Posted by AngryScientist

On topic: Really though? What are they thinking trying to hold swimming events in the Siene? Basically just hoping for some water sample roulette to go right? Seems like terrible planning for a big event.

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

I see a lot of the water sports are going off in Tahiti. Why not hold all the open water events over there?

I live in Evanston IL. We're just south of Wilmette Harbor, which drains the North Shore Channel, which... gets effluent from the Northside Metropolitan Water Reclamation facility. It doesn't take much of a rain event to flush the bad stuff out of the North Shore Canal, resulting in high e. coli readings in Lake Michigan near Wilmette Harbor (beach closures in Evanston, for instance). I'm sure the same is probably true for the Seine. But yes, they are probably just spinning the roulette wheel, despite the fact that they can even consider it suggests the Seine is a whole lot cleaner now than before they started.

I was an open water swimmer or triathlete, I'd prefer Tahiti too. It's big enough for an Olympic distance triathlon it would seem.

[merckxman]

".....around 90 riders will line up in the men’s and women’s (road race) events in Paris. To be specific, the provisional start lists show 88 riders for the men’s race, and 95 for the women's. "
Small!

[crankles]

Originally Posted by prototoast

If you ever feel like getting back in the game and giving saber a try, there's a low-key club I go to that's just down the hill from you in Oakland.

HA, I DO have a practice sabre in my bag ;-).

Someone mentioned womens 7s. That match was fun to watch and I'm getting a better handle on the game.

I'll watch just about anything that has the world "doubles" in it.

[crankles]

Originally Posted by cgolvin

It's a photo finish in the corruption finals with the IOC edging FIFA by a nose.

milk nose!

[fiamme red]

Aren't there any cleaner lakes or rivers near Paris that could be used for the triathlon swim?