Athletics (Track & Field)

[surfgirl]

2 hours ago, Souris said:

I think it is because the U.S. men are so focused on individual rather than team, they don't practice nearly enough. And some of it may be mental at this point because it's such a weighty history of screwups.

At least the ladies got it together.

Exactly my point. I think the men are too individual thinking and there isn't enough training time with them as a relay team.

[Quickbeam]

America….we just can’t pass the baton. Maybe that should be our national motto. I’m really old and I’ve seen this play out over and over again. Sigh.

[NUguy514]

3 hours ago, blackwing said:

Somewhere, Noah Lyles is thinking that if only they had the incredible him on the team, this wouldn't have happened....  even though I believe the guy that replaced him was running either the 3rd or 4th leg, so it would have happened regardless.

Yes, Fred ran the final leg (which Noah would've run), and he ran the second leg in the earlier round; the pass between Kyree and him was fine.  The issue was with Kenny, who replaced Courtney Lindsey in the lineup and was running the second leg in Fred's place.  Kenny was always going to be running in the final, but I wonder if he would've run the second or third leg if Noah had been able to run.  Who knows, but the point is that the guys always fuck it up in the most ridiculous way possible!

1 hour ago, Quickbeam said:

America….we just can’t pass the baton. Maybe that should be our national motto. I’m really old and I’ve seen this play out over and over again. Sigh.

Our ladies pass the baton just fine.  It's our men who don't know how to run and play with their batons at the same time.

[wanderingstar]

45 minutes ago, NUguy514 said:

Our ladies pass the baton just fine.  It's our men who don't know how to run and play with their batons at the same time.

That. Part.

[NUguy514]

Rai Benjamin is delightful.  And so hot.

But that's neither here nor there.

[Souris]

11 hours ago, NUguy514 said:

Rai Benjamin is delightful.  And so hot.

But that's neither here nor there.

That would be Here and there. 😂

[Thumper]

On 8/7/2024 at 6:40 AM, wanderingstar said:

Same! My heart is always in my throat when I watch it.

 

From Jonathan Liew at The Guardian: Hocker has last laugh after Kerr and Ingebrigtsen’s tiresome war of words

 

I learned two new words from that article:  “confected” and “parlous” (which I did wonder if it was meant to be “ perilous”)!   😂

Edited August 10 by Thumper

[Souris]

Grant Fisher just hit the turbo boost right at the end for bronze again! The Bobby Finke of track?

[Daisy]

Canada loses gold by 1.100th of a second. 
but we love silver too, Marco!!!

[ProudMary]

OMG, this High Jump final has my heart racing! Two jump offs so far. 

[MaryMitch]

18 minutes ago, ProudMary said:

OMG, this High Jump final has my heart racing! Two jump offs so far. 

Last Olympics they also had a jump-off, and the 2 top men finally said "can we have 2 gold medals?"  Apparently the jump-off is optional and this was allowed.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athletics_at_the_2020_Summer_Olympics_–_Men's_high_jump

[Souris]

The U.S. women Katie Ledecky-ed that 4x400 relay! (I am going to keep making swimming comparisons, apparently.) I was hoping Ireland would end up on the podium.

Congrats to the men’s 4x400 team, too. That was a closer finish!

I wish the high jumpers had shared the gold. That would have helped our gold medal race with China. 😂

Edited August 10 by Souris

[wanderingstar]

So, Ingebrigtsen picked himself up from losing the 1500m to triumph in the 5000m final. This was also a fun race to watch, though it didn't match the drama of the 1500m (what could, though)

[Daisy]

LOL the US Women legit could have walked that race they were so ahead. 

[ProudMary]

1 hour ago, MaryMitch said:

Last Olympics they also had a jump-off, and the 2 top men finally said "can we have 2 gold medals?"  Apparently the jump-off is optional and this was allowed.

 

1 hour ago, Souris said:

I wish the high jumpers had shared the gold. That would have helped our gold medal race with China. 😂

I watched the full coverage of Track and Field on Peacock. The commentators there added one more piece of information as to why there was a jump off. For the first time ever, there was a $50,000 cash prize for the gold medal. They didn't get into specifics, so I don't know if this is across all sports, or just Track and Field, or just High Jump and Pole Vault; but that's the reason Kerr and McEwen opted for the jump off. Sharing a gold medal is one thing. Having to split $50,000 ups the ante.

[ProudMary]

On 8/8/2024 at 12:39 PM, ProudMary said:

Question on Relays:

I just want to be sure about this. I know it works this way in swimming and want to be certain for T&F. If a sprinter runs in one of the heats, but not in the final and the team makes the podium, they still get a medal, right?

 

On 8/8/2024 at 1:15 PM, Notabug said:

Yep, the people who ran the prelims and got replaced for the final still get a medal.

 

On 8/8/2024 at 1:48 PM, Tachi Rocinante said:

They just don't get to go the ceremony.

I stayed with Peacock's coverage of all of today's Track and Field events to the very end so I could see all of the medal ceremonies. 🏅 (Yes, I am a geek. 🤓)

It turns out, every team member who ran, can indeed attend the medal ceremony. 

For the Men's 4x400, the US had only the the four runners from the final, but a fifth gold medal was in the box had 16 year old Quincy Wilson attended. Great Britain had six runners on the podium and each of them were presented with a bronze medal.

The medal presentation for the Women's 4x400 was even wilder. Evidently, all three teams had several substitutions leading up to the final. Here's the breakdown of all the women who were awarded medals at the ceremony:

• Bronze/Great Britain/8
• Silver/Netherlands/6
• US/Gold/7

[Quickbeam]

3 hours ago, Daisy said:

Canada loses gold by 1.100th of a second. 
but we love silver too, Marco!!!

But Canada won the women’s C1 sprint by the same! It evens out! 🥇

[Daisy]

45 minutes ago, Quickbeam said:

But Canada won the women’s C1 sprint by the same! It evens out! 🥇

that was insane. 

[Dr.OO7]

I knew the post-Usain Bolt (and his fellow sprinters) era would be difficult for Jamaica to live up to, but I never expected to be so disappointed. I can't believe we didn't even medal in races that we've essentially owned for the last 4-5 Olympics. Not to dismiss what we did win, but it's quite paltry compared to years past.

[ProudMary]

26 minutes ago, Dr.OO7 said:

I knew the post-Usain Bolt (and his fellow sprinters) era would be difficult for Jamaica to live up to, but I never expected to be so disappointed. I can't believe we didn't even medal in races that we've essentially owned for the last 4-5 Olympics. Not to dismiss what we did win, but it's quite paltry compared to years past.

I have many of the same thoughts. I expect Jamaica to be one of the top competitors in the Track and Field events. It's shocking for that not to be the case. It also didn't help matters that Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce withdrew with an injury(?) Has there been any additional information on her need to withdraw? That was a huge loss.

[NUguy514]

I don't remember the specifics leading up to the decision to share the gold medal in Tokyo (although that was one of my favorite memories from those Olympics), but I was confused by the jump-off in the high jump since it would seem like there should've been a tiebreaker in place for this scenario.  Leading up to the three misses each at 2.38m, Kerr's two misses were at 2.31m and McEwan's two misses were at 2.34m.  I would think having those misses occur at different heights would matter in terms of placements, but I guess that doesn't matter.

I don't know how Masai Russell managed to come back and lean her way to gold, but wow, that was brilliant!  And what an amazing race by Samba-Mayela!!  I was so focused on Russell vs. Camacho-Quinn that I didn't see how she was doing.

Because of the angle of the camera, I thought lovely Letsile would catch radiant Rai at the end of the men's 4x400, and I think he would've had there been seven more meters.  Still, that was an amazingly competitive relay!!  So thrilled for our guys for gutting out that gold (especially after barely qualifying for the final), and Botswana was phenomenal!  I honestly didn't know who'd win and didn't really care because both teams were so terrific.

By contrast, the women's 4x400m relay was basically the American quartet going all Secretariat on everyone, and I think they'd have broken the world record if Alexis Holmes hadn't slightly relaxed those last few meters.  A dominant, incredible performance.

I said after the women's relay that Gabby Thomas repeated Allyson Felix's 200m, 4x100m, 4x400 trifecta in London, and the American guy on the world feed said a minute later that Gabby had repeated Allyson's feat from Beijing.

All of them were referring to the Botswana team as "Botswanans," which...

I guess I shouldn't expect, you know, accuracy or anything in the announcing, but the demonym for the people of Botswana is "Batswana."

The camaraderie displayed between all of the track and field athletes, though?

An amazing week of athletics!!!!  Congratulations to all the athletes!!

[Daisy]

1 hour ago, ProudMary said:

I have many of the same thoughts. I expect Jamaica to be one of the top competitors in the Track and Field events. It's shocking for that not to be the case. It also didn't help matters that Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce withdrew with an injury(?) Has there been any additional information on her need to withdraw? That was a huge loss.

from everything i read - (and youtube) she just was suffering from injuries didn't really feel right and then withdrew. it was a shame

 

 

2 hours ago, Dr.OO7 said:

I knew the post-Usain Bolt (and his fellow sprinters) era would be difficult for Jamaica to live up to, but I never expected to be so disappointed. I can't believe we didn't even medal in races that we've essentially owned for the last 4-5 Olympics. Not to dismiss what we did win, but it's quite paltry compared to years past.

it's so nuts. 
Canada suffered this in a lot of sports after the boon of the 2010 games. but it will swell up again. i know it. :)(I mean for Jamaica LOL)

[surfgirl]

3 hours ago, NUguy514 said:

All of them were referring to the Botswana team as "Botswanans," which...

I guess I shouldn't expect, you know, accuracy or anything in the announcing, but the demonym for the people of Botswana is "Batswana."

Kealeboga thata, rra! Did you live there too? This bugs me no end, there is no suck word as Botswanians. Jesus H Christ, how hard is it for commentators to do their jobs?

[NUguy514]

1 hour ago, surfgirl said:

Kealeboga thata, rra! Did you live there too? This bugs me no end, there is no suck word as Botswanians. Jesus H Christ, how hard is it for commentators to do their jobs?

O amogelesegile, mma!  (I did have to look that up.😆)

No, I haven't been lucky enough to live there, but I did visit in 2018.  My best friend and I traveled around southern Africa for almost a month; we went on a group tour starting at Victoria Falls and wending all through Botswana (including a peerless night in the Okavango Delta) and Namibia and ending in Cape Town, and we did an additional three nights in Cape Town and three nights in the Timbuvati Game Reserve abutting Kruger.  I will never take a better trip in my life.  Ever.

The real reason I know that Batswana is the correct demonym is that I'm a walking atlas.  Seriously, I am a savant when it comes to geography; I've always loved it, and I love traveling because the world is a beautiful, phenomenal place!  My insane party trick is that I can name all the capitals and countries of the world in under five minutes.😬

In particular, I've always been fascinated by and loved Botswana.  It's truly a success story.  It's been a stable democracy since its independence in a part of the world where that is unheard of.  Through smart, forward-thinking policies that exploit the country's resources (diamonds, especially) carefully, it's gone from being one of the world's poorest countries to having the second highest per capita GDP of all non-island countries in sub-Saharan Africa (and the distribution of wealth in Gabon, which has a slightly higher per capita GDP, is, let's say, not as equitable as Botswana's).  I also remember watching Mpule Kwelagobe of Botswana win the Miss Universe pageant in 1999 (I'm a gay boy; I used to love my pageants) when I was in college and being completely captivated by her, and I have devoured both The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency books and TV series.

So, yeah, I love Botswana.🇧🇼🥰

[surfgirl]

I love your Pula love! I must say though, there is a dark.side to the country in terms of development dependency syndrome, but I think and hope with this younger generation that will get better. But yes, utnis a beautiful country and in my mind ther eus no safari that can touch one in the Okavango, hands down its Eden. xo

[galaxygirl76]

Sifan Hassan ran the 5k, 10k, and the marathon and medals in all. I'm tired just from looking at that sentence. 

[Crashcourse]

I'm pretty sure that announcers from Botswana or other countries would mispronounce some words spoken in America, so I don't see it as an issue.  Hell, even within countries, words might be pronounced differently in different parts of the country.

[kittykat]

That women's marathon was 🔥.  Sifan Hassan becomes first woman to win medals in 5k, 10k and Marathon.  What a way to end the games. 

[Salacious Kitty]

5 minutes ago, kittykat said:

That women's marathon was 🔥.  Sifan Hassan becomes first woman to win medals in 5k, 10k and Marathon.  What a way to end the games. 

She's also the first since 1952 to win on both the track and the road. Amazing! 

[surfgirl]

1 hour ago, Crashcourse said:

I'm pretty sure that announcers from Botswana or other countries would mispronounce some words spoken in America, so I don't see it as an issue.  Hell, even within countries, words might be pronounced differently in different parts of the country.

I personally feel that if a commentator is working on an even woth names they might know how to correctly pronounce, then they ought to do some cursory homework and take some notes so that during their broadcast they say the names correctly. Not doing so feels patronizing and colonialistic to me, like 'I'm from X country, I don't need to know how to properly pornohnce name from some little Y country nobody's heard of.' The official Paris Games site has a directory of each athlete pronouncing their own name, it's right there.for anyone to learn.

In other news, did anyone watch clips last night of the Marathon Pour Tous? Paris 2024 held a marathon for non-Olympic athletes last evening so regular folks (well as regular as one can be running a marathon!) could experience a little amuse bouche of what it's like to be in tbe Olympics. I thought it was a really beautiful idea and just another reason these Games have been so special!

[Crashcourse]

3 minutes ago, surfgirl said:

I personally feel that if a commentator is working on an even woth names they might know how to correctly pronounce, then they ought to do some cursory homework and take some notes so that during their broadcast they say the names correctly. Not doing so feels patronizing and colonialistic to me, like 'I'm from X country, I don't need to know how to properly pornohnce name from some little Y country nobody's heard of.' The official Paris Games site has a directory of each athlete pronouncing their own name, it's right there.for anyone to learn.

Well, we'll have to agree to disagree because I, personally, don't see it as that big of a deal. 

[NUguy514]

1 hour ago, Crashcourse said:

I'm pretty sure that announcers from Botswana or other countries would mispronounce some words spoken in America, so I don't see it as an issue.  Hell, even within countries, words might be pronounced differently in different parts of the country.

Mispronunciations are one thing, and I agree with you (hell, even my South African tour guides pronounced Gaborone, Botswana's capital, with a hard "g" sound, rather than the guttural "h" sound, and looked at me funny when I used the latter pronunciation).  However, "Botswanan" is not a mispronunciation of "Batswana"; it's the wrong word entirely.

This has happened before: I can't remember if it was during London's or Rio's Opening Ceremonies, but Bob Costas referred to the delegation from Gabon as the "Gabonian" delegation.  The correct demonym is "Gabonese."

You may not think it's a big deal, but I don't think cultural ignorance is an excuse for not using correct descriptors for other countries (which I know is not what you were saying, by the way), especially because the countries this happens to are always countries with majority black or brown people (African or South Pacific nations, in particular).  That gets into some murky, race-related territory that I do think is a big deal.

[Quickbeam]

In pronunciation news, I did feel that the announcers did a good job with, say, Czechia which was news to me. As well as Türkiye. I heard several commentators explain that these were the preferred names and pronunciations for these countries.

[wanderingstar]

Para Athletic Schedule At The Paris 2024 Paralympic Games - The Running Channel

Edited August 30 by wanderingstar

[wanderingstar]

I'm catching up on some of the events I missed this week, and the men's 100m T47 final was amazing! Korban Best of the USA nearly won the gold, before being edged out by the Brazilian Petrucio Ferreira Dos Santos. Korban's delight at winning the silver was so great to see!

I'm loving that Peacock lets you watch replays of the events.

[possibilities]

Saw the women's 5000 meter track race today on... I think it was CNBC. 

Exciting! Someone came from way behind to win the gold on the last lap.

Also, it seemed like there was a lot of friendliness among the women who won. They stayed on the sidelines smiling and talking with each other after the race, even though they are from diffrerent countires. I like that.