Rio-2016

At the risk of making some here cringe - congrats to Fiji on their nation's first gold in rugby sevens! For me sevens has been the stand out sport of the Olympics to this point. Love the aggression, the athleticism, the sportsmanship, the fast-paced, continuous play, and the distinct lack of theatrics. Sevens seems destined to become one of the more popular, longstanding Olympic events in the future.

I guess somebody ought to give Michael Phelps some acknowledgement here. He looked like a man amongst boys in the 200 individual medley tonight. Fourth successive Olympic gold medal in that event for a total of 22 golds during his 16-year Olympic career. Astounding, and he may yet add more.

joerand posted:

At the risk of making some here cringe - congrats to Fiji on their nation's first gold in rugby sevens! For me sevens has been the stand out sport of the Olympics to this point. Love the aggression, the athleticism, the sportsmanship, the fast-paced, continuous play, and the distinct lack of theatrics. Sevens seems destined to become one of the more popular, longstanding Olympic events in the future.

Totally agree. Playing at a different class in the final and you could see how much it meant to them. Has been a great success at the Olympics and hopefully will remain a fixture. For essentially a scratch side Team GB can be very happy with their contribution. Has to give interest in playing Sevens a kick in popularity, no bad thing for schools and the lighter weight players that don't fit the increasingly power dominated 15 a side game.

Phelps is a phenomenon but one I find strangely hard to warm too. Maybe he is just too good. Always seems gracious in both defeat and victory and he is clearly an astonishing athlete but his dominance somehow fails to get me excited. We like our athletes fallible in the UK!

Great to see the velodrome events starting. Always so much drama and crowd noise. Team GB starting with some brilliant times and a first Gold. Going to be a team pursuit to savour for the men, and the women just looked to be way ahead of the field.

Bruce Woodhouse posted:

joerand posted:

At the risk of making some here cringe - congrats to Fiji on their nation's first gold in rugby sevens! For me sevens has been the stand out sport of the Olympics to this point. Love the aggression, the athleticism, the sportsmanship, the fast-paced, continuous play, and the distinct lack of theatrics. Sevens seems destined to become one of the more popular, longstanding Olympic events in the future.

Totally agree. Playing at a different class in the final and you could see how much it meant to them. Has been a great success at the Olympics and hopefully will remain a fixture. For essentially a scratch side Team GB can be very happy with their contribution. Has to give interest in playing Sevens a kick in popularity, no bad thing for schools and the lighter weight players that don't fit the increasingly power dominated 15 a side game.

Phelps is a phenomenon but one I find strangely hard to warm too. Maybe he is just too good. Always seems gracious in both defeat and victory and he is clearly an astonishing athlete but his dominance somehow fails to get me excited. We like our athletes fallible in the UK!

Great to see the velodrome events starting. Always so much drama and crowd noise. Team GB starting with some brilliant times and a first Gold. Going to be a team pursuit to savour for the men, and the women just looked to be way ahead of the field.

I really hate that I missed the Rugby. Ever since my Hong Kong days I am a fan of Rugby Sevens. Great for Fiji.....

Bruce Woodhouse posted:

Phelps is a phenomenon but one I find strangely hard to warm too. Maybe he is just too good. Always seems gracious in both defeat and victory and he is clearly an astonishing athlete but his dominance somehow fails to get me excited. We like our athletes fallible in the UK!

Athletes struggle with fame and Phelps has shown his fallibility - pot smoking and an arrest for DUI (less than two-years ago) got a lot of press in the US. So in some regard his continuing dominance has been well earned by overcoming personal demons, and he certainly does not need to continue competing. Even without the current Olympics, there's little sensible argument against him being called the greatest Olympian as far as medal counts go. Maybe the larger issue has to do with his country of origin? Imagine him from a third world nation and his story probably gains warmth.

Bert Schurink posted:

JamieWednesday posted:

Not much interest by Brazilians it seems. Every stadium so far seems at most half full, sometimes near empty. Brazil playing beach volleyball, in Rio, at the weekend, maybe 2/3 empty.

Bit different 4 years ago when you couldn't get tickets gor anything!!

Oh and thanks US networks for fking around some timings already, for the benefit of US audiences, making some events later in the day/evening in Rio, but now too late to watch in Europe.

I guess it had to do something with the security lines and as well that Brasilians are more focused on sme core sports and can't be bothered by some of the non Brasilians sports...

I suspect it has much to do with ticket prices and disposable income, the latter far lower than in UK. It is a shame that the organisers don't make last minute seats available at a very much reduced price to fill the stadia- some income from the otherwise empty seats is better than none, and noise of crowd urging them on so much better for athletes in most sports.

joerand posted:

Bruce Woodhouse posted:

Phelps is a phenomenon but one I find strangely hard to warm too. Maybe he is just too good. Always seems gracious in both defeat and victory and he is clearly an astonishing athlete but his dominance somehow fails to get me excited. We like our athletes fallible in the UK!

Athletes struggle with fame and Phelps has shown his fallibility - pot smoking and an arrest for DUI (less than two-years ago) got a lot of press in the US. So in some regard his continuing dominance has been well earned by overcoming personal demons, and he certainly does not need to continue competing. Even without the current Olympics, there's little sensible argument against him being called the greatest Olympian as far as medal counts go. Maybe the larger issue has to do with his country of origin? Imagine him from a third world nation and his story probably gains warmth.

I don't think being from the USA has any bearing. I just find swimming a bit dull!

I prefer sports where it is more of a challenge against the opponents, a bit of strategy etc rather than just against the clock. Much I love to watch cycling but the time trial is basically a bit dull even if you can respect the athletic achievement. I think the psychology of high end sport when it really comes down to the two people or teams and that last match/dive/lap or whatever is what actually makes it fascinating more than pure physical prowess.

Bruce

Innocent Bystander posted:

It is a shame that the organisers don't make last minute seats available at a very much reduced price to fill the stadia- some income from the otherwise empty seats is better than none, and noise of crowd urging them on so much better for athletes in most sports.

Probably doesn't play into the overall economic model. Folks that bought in advance at full price would be cheated. Maybe planners should have reduced their expectations and made the stadia smaller? Archery has been great to watch but I'd be hard-pressed to count more than a hundred or so spectators in the relatively empty venue. Many such venues are portable/disposable and will be torn down after the events.

Brilliant girls! Trott, Archibald & co destroyed the Americans superbly!

G

winkyincanada posted:

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sp...1f9d379c3c4da16de15e

Hitting other players with sticks? Publicly complaining about the ruling? Coaches publicly complaining about refereeing? I guess it's the 'strayan way. Disgraceful.

(And who was the Einstein that came up with "Hockeyroos"? Really, that's the best they could do? Just add "roo" after the sport's name? See also Socceroos.)

More public moaning from the 'strayans.

http://www.canberratimes.com.a...20160813-gqrz6x.html

And also....."Matildas"? Who comes up with this stuff?

For a little island on the edge of oblivion, we seem to be doing quite well just now

JamieWednesday posted:

For a little island on the edge of oblivion, we seem to be doing quite well just now

Up to second, ahead of China which has around 20 times the population (and whose sporting infrastructure is infinitely better funded)!

Our little island is populated by people of great spirit and invention and will always punch above its weight, no matter what bedwetting Bremaniacs say.

winkyincanada posted:

More public moaning from the 'strayans.

http://www.canberratimes.com.a...20160813-gqrz6x.html

Ha! To quote the great Jonesy, "They don't like it up 'em!"

Constant commercials really is a pain in the US, and this week seemed to be dominated by swimming, one time late i got a 10 minute glimpse of the US team gymnastics. GAAAAAHHH!!!!!

BBC coverage in UK is first class IMO. Outstanding job, though sometimes a bit overwhelming across three main channels. Great on digi telly to be able to watch your event of choice from about a dozen feeds.

Scooot posted:

Much less keep up with the Jones and show boating.

But the rowing, canoeing and sailing is what holds my interest!

JamieWednesday posted:

BBC coverage in UK is first class IMO. Outstanding job, though sometimes a bit overwhelming across three main channels. Great on digi telly to be able to watch your event of choice from about a dozen feeds.

Not very impressed with the BBC coverage. In my region only 2 channels, BBC1/2 alternating and BBC4. Red button occasionally offers an additional choice, but mostly not. But two main gripes: firstly, too frequently in the evening one channel will be focussed on one sport, and the other shows exactly the same thing for a while - why not say the other is covering and carry on with something else? And, although occasionally - far too infrequently so mostly missed - there will be a summary timetable of what's coming up, they don't include that in the schedule information, so it is impossible to decide which channel to watch to see what sport and when, the only option being to keep flicking between them. Infuriating, and so easy to miss whatever is actually of interest.

Am I alone in struggling to equate the value of gold medals between different sports? Intense strength over a short time, or stamina, or athletic skill, at a personal level, vs team sports where a group of people must work together, vs sports that depend primarily on skill without any demanding level of physical fitness, etc.  How do the medalists from different sports feel sharing the limelight with the others? Examples include:

• Tennis, the final requiring 4 hours of continuous energetic and skilled play;
• 10,000m running, etc, requiring stamina as well as speed. 
• Diving or Trampolining, with just a few seconds of intensely controlled and skilled athleticism, repeated a few times 
• 100m run, over in 10s, or sprint cycling over not much more - extremely intense, but over quickly 
• Sitting on a horce prancing (dancing?), or target practice with a gun, or golf.
• Rugby

Some of your examples point out another Olympic gripe I have - too many sports that in my opinion shouldn't be in the Olympics. Tennis and golf should be out because they have their own stage. (Even though I like baseball, I think it is proper being out of the Olympics.) Others like synchronized swimming, rhythm gymnastics; too many "subjective" sports.

But it's mostly about the money and filling air time, so unlikely to change.

I think the BBC coverage is excellent, especially considering the challenges of timing and suddenly having to follow the news and action of simultaneous events. Great to have a strong female set of presenters chosen for the right reasons. The experts are also well chosen and curb some of the excess patriotism. I cannot imagine the Olympics with adverts every few minutes so I think we should be grateful for what we have.

Anyway, an amazing day for Team GB. The athletics medals appeared to be hugely deserved and we just own that velodrome. I did not stay up for Usain Bolt but very pleased he did it again.

Bruce

I thought it was supposed to be all about personal physical prowess, which includes both stamina and strength, so in my book it is yes to athletics and gymnastics except team events, swimming, diving, canoeing, cycling except team events and tennis (singles). No to team sports including sailing, rowing and synchronised anything, golf and shooting.

Of course that's a personal view, but it does seem to me that for those who have put in every ounce of physical effort the medals are devalued by someone also receiving one for, say, dressage, and the event is getting so big and so much crammed in that even multi-channel TV can only cover a fraction, while stadia are more than half empty for most events (I accept that latter has other contributory factors)  and the cost to the host country increases with every different type if sport.

Great viewing last night - Max Whittlock a dignified stand-out amongst the GB stars.

G

Surely it's arguable that crowning four years (and more) of effort and preparation with an Olympic performance is justified, whether they spread it out over 5 matches/4 hours final or they cram it all into a 1 minute routine?

Innocent Bystander posted:

I thought it was supposed to be all about personal physical prowess, which includes both stamina and strength, so in my book it is yes to athletics and gymnastics except team events, swimming, diving, canoeing, cycling except team events and tennis (singles). No to team sports including sailing, rowing and synchronised anything, golf and shooting.

Of course that's a personal view, but it does seem to me that for those who have put in every ounce of physical effort the medals are devalued by someone also receiving one for, say, dressage, and the event is getting so big and so much crammed in that even multi-channel TV can only cover a fraction, while stadia are more than half empty for most events (I accept that latter has other contributory factors)  and the cost to the host country increases with every different type if sport.

Why should sports where a high degree of skill dominates over physical prowess not be included? Sailing, table tennis, fencing, shooting and archery come immediately to mind. I have no doubt the dedication of the participants to training over 4 years is no less than those who spend the interval in the gym.

Why also no events that require a team? For me seeing athletes working together and producing more than the sum of the parts is one of the pleasures of sport.

Bruce

Innocent Bystander posted:

I thought it was supposed to be all about personal physical prowess, which includes both stamina and strength, ....

It's all about a big money machine that provides high-priced commercial entertainment to the masses, and secondarily a means for the host nation to come away with the possibility of breaking-even on their expenditures years after the events conclude.

Future Olympic sporting events will come and go as generational interests change. Looking at the construct of the modern Olympics more as 'sport' than as 'a pure entertainment investment' seems outmoded, perhaps naïve in the large scale.

That said, no reason not to sit back and enjoy the entertainment for what it's worth. Just happy that here in the US I have six channels to surf between (including Canadian broadcast: CBC is great!) to help avoid the insufferable commercials.