[Closed] I'm watching the Olympics!

HorsemurderingbourgeoisBastardball?

3 on 3 Basketball

Impressed by the Tom Daley medal, I did think he was late 40s now though. Tom Pidcock did well too on whatever that biking thing he does.

I've had it on, on my laptop all day at my desk. It's quite good as I can dip in & out, as & when.

Watched the skateboarding yesterday while the in-laws were round for lunch & my father-in-law thought the kids at the local skate park do it better 🙂

Gymnastics is currently on. It's impressive stuff, but not very interesting to watch.
I also don't really like the way that they have to land in certain ways, which while it looks 'neat' isn't very good for their joints.

I enjoyed the mtb this morning & will be tuning in for tomorrow's race.
Sorry to see that the tae kwando girl missed out on a gold.

I love the Olympics, there I said it. Off out for a bike ride now.

I absolutely love it.

Watching talented, dedicated people at the very top of their game doing what they have been training for years to do is so inspirational. For most of these sports there is no high profile world championships. Many of these sports aren't even televised in this country, but for a couple of weeks, every four years they have the chance to be on the front page of the media and be national heroes.

Despite my flippancy on the other thread there are no "easy" sports. Running 100m is easy. Doing it faster than anyone else on the planet is unique. The best, being the best.

(And that even applies to table tennis. I can't even see the ball, let alone have the ability to hit it back!)

I prefer the winterlympics.

This was awesome... I've seen this meme video knocking around for ages, of a little girl in a fairy costume trying repeatedly to land a stair drop..

She won silver.

OTOH, after the opening ceremony I'm now bitterly disappointed that they don't end every medal ceremony with the final fantasy 7 victory music. Dahdahdahdah duh dah dahdahdah

Impressed with the lack of protective gear the skateboardist wear.

I absolutely love it.

Watching talented, dedicated people at the very top of their game doing what they have been training for years to do is so inspirational. For most of these sports there is no high profile world championships. Many of these sports aren’t even televised in this country, but for a couple of weeks, every four years they have the chance to be on the front page of the media and be national heroes.

Nicely put. And the world needs some positive inspiration at the moment.

Just sat through the diving.

How the actual does the scoring for that work, with half of them crossed out? The commentator burbled something about 'averages' but I'm a geek and I couldn't see any pattern to it.

It really irks me with the sports that shouldn't be there so I've spent a worrying amount of time today mulling over the criteria they should apply

Possibly sports where Olympic success isn't the pinnacle in that individual sport? So golf, rugby, football, road cycling, even MTB, tennis etc. Get rid now

Track n field, track cycling, swimming, diving, pistols, sailing, Greco Roman wrestling, you're safe for now. Not sure about BMX. Possibly cut

I think there should be a heart rate / respiratory rate criteria. Anything that doesn't require at least 75% of max heart rate from all competitors should be cut.
(And no drinking of Red Bull to falsify heart rate readings)

I’ve spent a worrying amount of time today mulling over the criteria they should apply

Aye. I think my criteria might be "not already media saturated." Like, there's clearly not enough football on television already, niche sport which that is. International Competitive Tiddlywinks or Shuffleboard, I'd watch that.

As a non-sporty person I'm enjoying screen-time being devoted to anything and everything else. Plus, hey, the ladies get a go, who'd a thunk it.

As a non-sporty person I’m enjoying screen-time being devoted to anything and everything else. Plus, hey, the ladies get a go, who’d a thunk it

I did a bit of reading of women's sport at the Olympics. God its depressing.

I'm a massive sport Billy generally and will watch just about any sport so the Olympics is great for me. I kind of agree about football and golf but in some ways it's good to see these sports relegated to the same level as everything else - and it doesn't detract from the wider games

For me one of the best thing about Olympics is watching sports rarely seen on TV eg combat sports. But I've always been a fan of athletics and swimming as well.

Also enjoy watching sports I've previously done (and the list is long) including the Olympic new sports - skateboarding, climbing (and I get chance to complain about speed climbing being part of the comp), mountain biking, surfing - I also did athletics as a kid - sprints, lung jump, triple jump and Mrs OD was middle distance. (I also played rugby and football but plenty of that on TV already)

I'm also a sucker for a background story, underdogs or non-traditional countries winning.

Basically since LA ( when I'd just done my A Levels and stayed up all night to watch) the Olympics are a month fest of sport binging

How the actual does the scoring for that work, with half of them crossed out?

They disregard the lowest and highest score on each dive.

I prefer the winterlympics.

At least you can dispense with the whole "This sport shouldn't be the Olympics" drama, as it's essentially just variations on sliding...

Just sat through the diving.

How the actual does the scoring for that work, with half of them crossed out? The commentator burbled something about ‘averages’ but I’m a geek and I couldn’t see any pattern to it.

IIRC correctly, there are 7 judges who give marks out of 10 - the two highest and two lowest marks in each category are then removed

so, a score like this

3 - 3.5 - 5.5 - 6 - 6.5 - 9 - 9

would turn into

3 - 3.5 - 5.5 - 6 - 6.5 - 9 - 9

leaving only

5.5 - 6 - 6.5

add the together and multiply by the difficulty rating

For synchro divin like Tom Daley and Partner Otherdiver, you also have people judging how well synchronised they are

https://www.britannica.com/story/how-is-diving-scored

(and I get the chance to complain about speed climbing being part of the comp)

High fives old dog 😉
I like mixing the live view and iplayer for the more niche stuff.
Every Olympics I really enjoy the archery and make plans to buy a bow,then I forget all about it......until the next Olympics:-)

Woop! GB rugby 7s team just came back from 21-0 down to the USA and won it. Into the semi-finals!

Woop! GB rugby 7s team just came back from 21-0 down to the USA and won it. Into the semi-finals!

This SA vs Argentina match is delivering drama as well

SA must be missing ol Kwagga 🙂

Possibly sports where Olympic success isn’t the pinnacle in that individual sport? So golf, rugby, football, road cycling, even MTB, tennis etc. Get rid now

Track n field, track cycling, swimming, diving, pistols, sailing, Greco Roman wrestling, you’re safe for now. Not sure about BMX. Possibly cut

Depends what the purpose is. Yes, it's about the elite athletes getting a chance to compete and prove how good they are but has now become a medal chasing fest where national Olympic Committees fund and defund various sports based on percieved chance of winning medals.

There's a secondary (I'd argue should be at least equal) aspect of creating a legacy. OK, we had the games in 2012 and we have the physical legacy of world class veldrome and swimming pools and the like but to me the true legacy is every kid that watched Tom or Evie or Jolanda this morning and is currently hacking around the woods because they feel enthused. And the way that happens is by publicising a breadth of sports with inspiring people doing them.

So I kind of agree that sports like football and tennis and golf that can 'easily' be seen most of the time don't need the oxygen. Swimming and athletics are so traditional they'll always stay. The rest should be a showcase of sport with the intent to inspire the next generation, in sports that don't necessarily see the light of day that often.

And the rest is up to you and me as older people and parents to ensure that if your lad says tomorrow that they fancy a go at Taekwondo, or Triathlon, or diving, whatever, then you find a way to give them a go at it, instead of grumbling about whether it's a scored sport or a judged one.

Those divers or gymnasts are WAY stronger and fitter than you or I will ever be. If more kids are inspired to do it at recreational level and get all the benefits to physical and mental health of sports, and live longer and healthier lives as a result, who gives a shit about the medal table. THAT would be a proper legacy.

@fingerbang
Free Member
It really irks me with the sports that shouldn’t be there so I’ve spent a worrying amount of time today mulling over the criteria they should apply

@reeksy
Free Member
I think there should be a heart rate / respiratory rate criteria. Anything that doesn’t require at least 75% of max heart rate from all competitors should be cut.

Ohhh come on. As the OP said, there's already two threads for bitching and moaning about what should or shouldn't be there. Can't we just have one positive one?

I'd heard of rugby 7s before but never seen it. Way more exciting than normal rugby IMO (I know virtually nothing about rugby). Is it a full size pitch? Looks pretty big, is that why the matches are short, because they're all completely gassed from having to cover so much ground? Looks like one for the fitter lads, rather than the cabbage-eared behemoths you see in normal rugby.

How can anyone not love the Olympics? The randomness of the viewing experience is fantastic. I love trying to work out what's good in an event and what isn't, what on earth the rules (or even the point) of an event might be, and seeing how quickly you can use a technical term in conversation. "Yes, he really needs to avoid another gam-jon!"

I’d heard of rugby 7s before but never seen it. Way more exciting than normal rugby IMO (I know virtually nothing about rugby). Is it a full size pitch? Looks pretty big, is that why the matches are short, because they’re all completely gassed from having to cover so much ground? Looks like one for the fitter lads, rather than the cabbage-eared behemoths you see in normal rugby.

Yep, full size pitch and lots of running.
It's great fun to watch.

Now we're talking! Dressage! 😂

Sevens is great - it seems almost a cross between 15 a side Union and run & wriggle, where they can pass off the ground the game just keeps moving without the constant resets of rucks and mauls from the big game.

I wonder what 7's would be like played at 11-a-side for example - creating more need for clever passing if space was a bit more limited. Sometimes space looks a bit easy to find in 7's.

Wonder no longer (well, 10s, rather than 11s) .

What a lovely bloke that Lutalo Mohammed seems - Taekwondo expert summariser for the BBC.

(he's also 6'3 and kicks people in the head for a living, so in case he's reading, he really does seem a truly lovely man)

what do the gymnasts keep in those rucksacks? They could probably fit about 600 spare cossies.

I'm a huge fan of watching people do pointless things very well. Have the weightlifting on at the moment, and you don't even need to understand what constitutes a good lift to feel the tension and emotion.

There are a few sports I really struggle to enjoy but even with the limited offering from the BBC this year there's usually something to watch. I do miss having the choice of all the sports though.

EDIT: another bonus is the 4 yearly giggle at 'clean & jerk'

It's a hangup entirely of my own making, generated by the media not the games itself but if they could just stop with the bloody medals tables I'd be a lot happier. Remove them and my (freeky) inner turmoil about if a gold for shooting a gun equates to a gold for running a really long way equates to a gold for doing some moves in the surf goes away. And the fact that some people in some sports can aim for 7 medals by changes the way they tiddle their arms about or the distance they do the twiddling or by twiddling in relay whilst others have got just the one competition possibly available to them for the same level of commitment to training etc.

Get rid of the medal tables and just celebrate loads of sports coming together for a big play session and it's all good.

I think the medal table's good - gives all the events parity and gives the public a reason to be invested in the obscure stuff. One sport may be way more physically demanding than another but even the ones you probably don't need a shower after still take years of work and dedication to get to that level.

Olympic lunchtime there with the team gymnastics followed by a bit of dressage. Interesting contrast between the US and the Russian gymnasts, the Americans going for the more difficult moves and the Russians concentrating on being a bit simpler but doing it really well.

The dressage though - how do you get a horse started on that in the first place? How do you go about explaining, right Dobbin we're going to do something different today.

the one thing I can't watch is the weightlifting. Or rather I can but only through my fingers, after while watching a random channel flick on Eurosport one night I saw a lifter dislocate his elbow under the stress.....

Have i ruined it for anyone else now?

Fun on Youtube "Top 5 Most GRUESOME Weightlifting Injuries" etc. Don't have to put up with all the boring successful ones 😉

Yep, the feeling you can execute perfectly and still drop the bar on your head because elbows are't really supposed to be under that much strain is a jeopardy I don't like. Even watching.

To quote my MiL, my arse is knitting buttons just at the thought.

Have the weightlifting on at the moment, and you don’t even need to understand what constitutes a good lift to feel the tension and emotion.

London ballot. Tick box for track cycling, another for some swimming, and...

then we saw the Women's superheavies.

Awesome. A really, really good live event. The bar weight goes up and up you're guaranteed the top lifters finishing the contest off and the fight for top places is always right at the end, not at all unusual for the very last couple of lifts to fight it out.

In the flesh it's quite easy to get out the way of a failed lift, one-in-a-bajillion busted elbow chances aside, you know very early on if it's going to stay up or not.

Two BMX medals including gold for Beth Shriever who had to crowdfund her training program after UK Sport dropped funding for women's BMX

She should have been allowed to choose her own tune instead of the national anthem.

I guess you need the low gearing for the start because track position and passing is hard but it always looks like a few more gear inches later on and you'd just ride past everyone! Still, pretty sure they're got it right.

Team GB, normally excel in the rowing. What's gone wrong?

Got quite emotional watching the BMX this morning. Bloody exciting races, wish I coul've seen the quals too

Is it me or is women's football a far more entertaining game than men's? Zero histrionics, haven't seen a single appeal to the ref for someone to get sent off and players getting tackled don't look like they've been snipered. 🙂

I guess you need the low gearing for the start because track position and passing is hard but it always looks like a few more gear inches later on and you’d just ride past everyone! Still, pretty sure they’re got it right.

https://singletrackmag.com/forum/topic/olympic-bmx-gears/

Magic.

Athletics have started, that's what the Olympics is all about for me, always has been. Pity it's on at stupid o'clock.

Team GB, normally excel in the rowing. What’s gone wrong?

Google Jurgen Grobler...He's left the team, he was the head coach of British Rowing. Many folk have said, that while successful, his methods were pretty bad mentally for the athletes. There's quite a bit of controversy

Crikey, seems like it - from th'ITV;

"Shortly after winning bronze with the men's eights, rower Josh Bugajski also alluded to transition.

He did not hold back, claiming he "popped a bottle of champagne" when head coach Jurgen Grobler left last year.

Bugajski said a "much better era" follows the departure of Grobler, who coached eight gold medal-winning British crews across seven Olympics.

"There were people that he seemed to take a disliking to, and what he did to them was destroy them, destroy their soul, destroy everything. He had complete power," Bugajski said.

Bugajski also questioned selection over the past few years, saying "for some people, one mediocre result was enough to put them in a boat"."

Re rowing I think several countries have caught up. The same may well apply to track cycling. We shall see.

Jurgen Grobler

I had the "pleasure" of watching him work, close up. Quite an eye opener for sure.

on a side note think i'm done with the Olympics, well past it's sell by date. Needs a complete overhaul of the sports.... Your sport isn't eligible unless 90% of Olympic family can enter a competitive team.

Get out, this is the Olympics positivity thread, the moaning thread is elsewhere!

The ping pong final was brilliant viewing - China v China, cool shirts, barely suppressed aggression, hilarious Best In Show-style commentary and jaw-dropping ping pong skills.

Feel a bit sorry* for the rowers, fine margins and all that. Don't like the "you got all that money, where are the medals?" narrative. Not like you can sign better rowers is it? Takes time to build.

*Only so sorry though - seen too many former rowers take up bike racing and discover they're really good at it, with their massive aerobic engines.

Currently watching the mixed triathlon relay. GBR’s Jess Learmonth has put Brownlee in a great position with T-B going next then Yee hopefully bringing it home. Really good to watch.

Fabulous event, I was just switching off for bed and now an hour later.......

Great tactics by Yee as well, had 20s at swim to bike transition and the French and US guys bust a gut to get back to him before the run, but he didn't sweat it, just sat on a wheel and then just burnt them off as soon as the run started!

Ha ha same here! That was ace, who'd have thought? Triathlon!

Hopefully see one of those huge Dina smiles today! 🙏🏻

Mixed swimming relay is ace as well! They can swim in any order, 2 women 2 men, strokes are usual fixed order. Some teams swam two men to start and had a big lead that was reeled in, some strokes are disproportionate for men vs women, basically you haven't got a clue who's really winning until the turn in the final leg

[clue: it's us]

That was ace, who’d have thought? Triathlon!

It was indeed.

Is it just me though,or does some of their cycling technique look a bit wrong,when I see them drafting on tri-bars in a bunch I almost have to look away.:-)

Mixed 4 x 400m on the track too this year (also any order)

The mixed tri relay was fab. Loved Alex Yee getting onto the wheel of the American. He seems weak in the cycling, but a machine in the swimming and running. Maybe because its a shorter course and he's used to cycling longer distances.

I wish the commentators could say 'sitting' instead of 'sat' all the time. Mini moan over.

I wish the commentators could say ‘sitting’ instead of ‘sat’ all the time. Mini moan over.

Tbf, that's no quite as bad as describing Yee as 'weak'!

Probably been done on other threads but if you are a Sky customer you can get Discovery+ free for 12 months and watch all the events either live or stream later. Mrs S found this out as she wanted to follow the equestrian events.

So I missed the triathlon relay. I assume it's a relay in each discipline. Be a bugger being fourth swimmer treading water waiting for the last handover.

No, two guys, two women doing a tri each - 300m swim, 6.8km bike, 2km run about 22-25 mins each

I don't know if order is set but everyone seemed to be doing F/M/F/M (cf the swimming where it's Back/Breast/BF/FS but you're free to put the team in whatever order you want)

DAS looking like not making the final, in fastest loser land and a quick heat to come in the other semis

4x100m mixed medley I think the only consistent leg from a gender perspective was breast stroke so maybe that’s where the biggest margin is, in part due to one Adam Peaty 😁

Is it me or is women’s football a far more entertaining game than men’s? Zero histrionics, haven’t seen a single appeal to the ref for someone to get sent off and players getting tackled don’t look like they’ve been snipered. 🙂

Thus post just looks like the usual anti-football posts.
The quality of Women's football is generally abysmal. Getting better though, but still not a patch on the men's game.

Also stayed up to watch the mixed Triathlon. Just a terrific win for the GB team. Gutsy start from Learmonth, brilliant run from Brownlee to set Georgia up and Alex Yee held his nerve and composure. It felt as though the French guy blew himself out trying to catch the GB and American athletes. I thought it was brilliant to watch as well as an outstanding result. And considering the slip at the start our mixed swimming relay team produced an awesome result. There has been some terrific sport on show so far and I have been loving it.

The quality of Women’s football is generally abysmal. Getting better though, but still not a patch on the men’s game.

Funny that, came here to ask if anyone knew why the men’s football was of such low quality! Caught some of Mexico v S Korea, qurter finals and it was like watching women’s sunday league. Had to turn it off.

(ps. Women’s rugby 7s is where its at. Real quality entertainment.)

Archery is weird isn't it.
It's a very elaborate set-up of carbon fibre scaffolding containing built-in sights and counterweights. I think it could be livened up no end by doing it from horseback with points for both accuracy of the arrow and riding style.

Funny that, came here to ask if anyone knew why the men’s football was of such low quality!

Probably cos men's football rightly or wrongly disnae give a **** about the Olympics.

It's a far bigger stage for the women's game.

More stunning running from local lass Jemma Reekie again, she's been phenomenal in the last year.

Her and Laura Muir moved in together last march to form a training bubble, looking like it's worked really well for her yet again.

Really enjoying the athletics, but in 2020 is there really not a better way of identifying the athletes than attaching a sheet of A4 to their t-shirts with safety pins?

Reekie is awesome. So in control.

Anyway, mixed relays… loving them. Not so much the commentary over them. Continually questioning whether the track 4x400 should even be held while the final is being shown was annoying… like reading a STW thread live alongside the race. Do that downplaying and old timer shouting at clouds another time, not while we’re watching the race.

GB Women currently 2 up vs Ireland in the hockey. Not a bad game.

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🥉🥈🥇

I don’t know if order is set but everyone seemed to be doing F/M/F/M

It is set in the triathlon relay, unlike the swimming. Not sure why, I think it would make it more exciting if they could do it in any order, for the same reason the swimming relays are.

🇯🇲🇯🇲 ........ 🇯🇲

Fixed

They didn't look best of friends

Quite liked the fancy protection on the track in the build up to the W100m race

They didn’t look best of friends

It did look like more than just the disappointment of missing out on gold. Some proper personal beef there.

Not so much the commentary over them. Continually questioning whether the track 4×400 should even be held while the final is being shown was annoying… like reading a STW thread live alongside the race. Do that downplaying and old timer shouting at clouds another time, not while we’re watching the race.

I'm watching Eurosport so that I don't have to suffer Steve Cram.

It is set in the triathlon relay, unlike the swimming. Not sure why,

It would cause carnage in the transitions. At least if the order is set, most transitions happen roughly at the same time.