Bewitched

I feel like advertisers were reliant more on athletes who had already proven themselves or had retired rather than trying to capture the next big thing. I saw ads with Gabby Douglas, Missy Franklin, Michael Phelps, and then of course Simone , Ladecky, and Ryan Murphy (who according to the small print does not take the medicine he is in the commercial for). Not sure who the "up and comers" would have been this Olympics, but no one was willing to give them a shot at selling stuff on TV.

It would definitely make good TV but I'm so glad I got to see Andrade. To me, she has a great mix of tumbling and dance. My untrained opinion is that Jade is almost all tumbling, Ferrari was almost too much choreography, whereas Rebeca was "just right".

I didn't stay up to watch the mixed relay (forgot about it). I love the concept because for some of these swimmers, it probably brings back memories of their early years of summer swim when they first learned to love the sport. Mixed relays in summer swim are great. There is a different energy to those than to single gender events.

I think he doesn't know how to pace himself. He's been taught to sprint everything and in the IM you have to save a little to push at the end. His dad's training technique is not suited for this event or really anything over 100m (sounds like Phelps agrees with me). My daughter swam and the breaststroke killed her IM (bad technique), but she knew to keep a little in the tank to sprint the free home.

It's interesting to me how carefully all the commentators are choosing their words about Andrew. And how quickly Rowdy wrote him off after the final turn in the IM (correctly).

That was also the era of the suits that are now banned.

If your friend was "cooled" after the cardiac arrest (the formal name is targeted temperature management), the process takes roughly 3 days. He stays cool for 24 hours, is very slowly rewarmed, and then kept strictly at optimal body temperature for 24 hours before they will let him fully wake up. Fever is bad for the brain which is what the cooling process is trying to protect. Best practice says that no prognostication should happen before the 72 hours are over.

So after watching the abridged NBC coverage, my initial reactions are that Jade far exceeded my expectations. I also noticed that she wore no makeup. That isn't a positive or a negative, just an observation. I was impressed with her focus. OTOH, Simone almost came across as flippant. Whether it was just because she knew she could rely on her start values or she doesn't know how to handle the mistakes, it just seemed like something was off.

I just watched the end of the women's road race. One of the pre-race favorites from the Netherlands didn't realize someone had gotten ahead of her and then thought she had won. A rider from Austria actually finished about a minute and a half ahead of her. The usual radio communication amongst teams isn't allowed at the Olympics and therefore she had no idea she needed to catch anyone. That was a bit awkward.

I also missed some American routines but I loved seeing how excited Chinese Taipei/Taiwan was. They were just joyous.

I think Sanne Wevers will be back for the Dutch. She won gold on the beam in Rio.

My family went a couple weeks ago. Had a great time but they are suffering from a severe employee shortage and as a result, many of the food venues had reduced hours or were closed altogether. I don't know that it impacted the shows, but I felt that a couple of the rides were down randomly and I wondered if it wasn't personnel related instead of maintenance. The cinnamon bread and the fireworks/drone show both live up to the hype.

We were on vacation last week and went to Dollywood. We had a great time but had a moment when I thought of this community. I went to a Gospel music show and the tenor was a 24 year old with a receding hairline and a J name. He could have been a Duggar! I mean he really looked like he was a cousin or something. Cracked me up. However, he was too talented to be an offspring of JB and M.

The danger of a pool in a rainstorm is the lightning but also the rain may obscure the visibility of the bottom of the pool. If the lifeguards can't clearly see the bottom, they will clear the pool.

I think they could "cheat" and have her swim in prelims. That way she would still get a medal if the finals relay team does.

Ladecky had a race like that in Rio. She finished 11 seconds ahead of the next swimmer in the 800. It was a little bit like Secretariat when there was no other competitor in the close up shot and they kept panning farther and farther out to find someone else.

I am only guessing but at most big meets there are "time trials". For a fee, you can have the opportunity to attempt a swim that meets a qualifying time. So for instance, if someone has been injured and hasn't yet had the opportunity to swim a certain event to meet the Olympic qualifying time, they can pay the entrance fee and try to gain entry into the field. The disadvantage is you are swimming against yourself instead of using your competition to pace you. I see it a lot in the age group swimmers when they are trying to make a National cut or something.

I was able to watch Aerobic gymnastics (which I didn't know existed) last night on the Olympic channel website by confirming that I have a regular cable subscription. It appeared that rhythmic gymnastics would be available that way as well. I used my Chromecast to watch it on TV. BTW, aerobic gymnastics was the Eurovision of the gymnastics world. Over the top, weird remixes of music and lots of sparkle.

I haven't seem much of the coverage but the only player I"ve seen highlighted loudly supporting Naomi is Novak.... which is probably not great for her messaging. As an introvert whose job requires interaction with the public often in emotionally charged times, I totally get her need for space. However, I agree with previous posters that it is all about the delivery of her message. She is a wildly talented player who doesn't have the ability to tell the press to shove it like some of the other top players. I

Not exactly accurate. US swim trials finish on June 27th. Olympics start July 23rd. Pfizer vaccination takes a minimum of 31 days for full inoculation, so not enough time in between. Gymnastics has the same timeframe. Most of the teams want to arrive at least a week in advance to adjust to timezone, altitude, climate, etc. Just isn't feasible for the US team, much less countries without our vaccine supply. I guess in theory USOC could use the J&J vaccine but that still barely works with the timeframe.

Not every country has access to the Pfizer vaccine which I think is the only one approved for 12+. There are a lot of athletes who haven't secured their spot for their country's team. Do you vaccinate everyone you think might make it? In every country? That gets tricky and would be a logistical nightmare. The US could pull it off, but if Japan is having issues, imagine what less developed countries would be enduring. I wouldn't want an Olympics with only 1st world countries. Give me oiled up Tonga man and the Indonesian ping pong (ok, table tennis) teams alongside Simone Biles and Katy Ladecky to make it the world wide event I really want to see.

You absolutely do not have to answer this question, but did you have COVID before getting the shot? I have heard anecdotal evidence of more severe reactions with the first shot if your body already recognizes the virus. Your reaction is also a replica of what some people experience when they contract COVID. Not everyone gets the pneumonia, some people just have an overdeveloped immune response that puts the body on "heightened alert" for a long period of time.

According to this article, the Moderna is slightly less effective for people over 65. It's still pretty good, but Pfizer may be better for older adults. If the FDA moves as expected, Pfizer may expand eligibility to 12 and up soon so there may be more of a demand for that supply. Side effects tend to be similar between the two as they are based on the same technology.

Don't sweat the 17-22 day window. That is how the vaccination schedule was tested and so how it was approved in the US, but she can get the second shot safely for the next few weeks at least. Some other countries have been giving the shots on a very different schedule and its working just fine. As for the other issues, has she started a new medication that could be causing depression? So sorry you are dealing with all this.

"Muscle memory" is very real. I love that the music triggered your quest. Lovely story.