Off-Season Olympics Coverage

[Trini]

Will the 2022 Winter Games be getting a subforum?

[CheshireCat]

On 1/17/2022 at 3:45 PM, Trini said:

Will the 2022 Winter Games be getting a subforum?

We're working on it.

[xaxat]

My forever Olympic crush (and eleven time gold medalist)  Allyson Felix announced that she will be retiring after the season today.

Best wishes for your future Allyson.

[AimingforYoko]

After a disappointing meet at the Olympics in Tokyo, the US Track Team has come back hard on home soil at the World Championships in Eugene, OR. Sweeping the Men's 100 and 200m, and then there's this young woman:

22, folks.

[xaxat]

What is it with the US men's 4x100 teams and baton hand offs? This event was by no means their worst exchange, but it feels like they have regularly struggled going back to the Seoul Olympics in the eighties. 

[Salacious Kitty]

3 minutes ago, xaxat said:

What is it with the US men's 4x100 teams and baton hand offs? This event was by no means their worst exchange, but it feels like they have regularly struggled going back to the Seoul Olympics in the eighties. 

At least they didn't drop it? 

[NUguy514]

4 hours ago, Salacious Kitty said:

At least they didn't drop it? 

That is something.  As we all know, they drop it every single Olympics, and I laugh every. single. time.

[DearEvette]

The women's 4x400 is my favorite event no matter the competition:  Olympics, Worlds, NCAA championship (the 2018  NCAA women's 4x400 is a thing of beauty!).   Once again this race did not disappoint.  Fantastic race!

[Danny Franks]

As a Brit, it's so frustrating that we've finally produced an elite, genuinely top class athlete in Keely Hodgkinson, only to see the USA produce Athing Mu, who just seems to be that little bit better.

British track and field is still in pretty poor shape, when we can't even field competitors in a significant number of events. We still rely on two or three high profile competitors and, if they don't perform, there's nothing behind them.

Anyway, Sydney McLaughlin is, as the kids say, a whole vibe. As talented a runner as anyone I've even seen, absolutely gorgeous and also quiet and introverted. I really hope she converts to the 400m flat, because she could be an all-time great. 

[andromeda331]

2 hours ago, NUguy514 said:

That is something.  As we all know, they drop it every single Olympics, and I laugh every. single. time.

So do I. How do does it get dropped every single time? 

[Lady Whistleup]

Michael Johnson getting some heat for wondering about the WR's:

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/25/sports/olympics/michael-johnson-world-record-tobi-amusan.html

[Crashcourse]

Can't read the link.

[Lady Whistleup]

Michael Johnson thinks the WR's are sus.

[Danny Franks]

On 7/26/2022 at 6:03 PM, Lady Whistleup said:

Michael Johnson thinks the WR's are sus.

Does he think the timings are suspect or that the athletes themselves are suspect?

I know there was talk of this track being fast, and I think combinations of the more advanced tracks plus the more advanced shoes mean that some WRs are going to go.

In Tobi Amusan's case, those two races were technically perfect. She hit every hurdle in stride and went over them smoothly, she just didn't lose any time at any stage of the race.

[Lady Whistleup]

1 hour ago, Danny Franks said:

Does he think the timings are suspect or that the athletes themselves are suspect?

He thinks the athletes are sus because of how much they improved on their previous PB times.

[Salacious Kitty]

8 minutes ago, Lady Whistleup said:

He thinks the athletes are sus because of how much they improved on their previous PB times.

Is he also implicating Sydney? 

[Lady Whistleup]

3 minutes ago, Salacious Kitty said:

Is he also implicating Sydney? 

He did not mention her by name. What he said:

Quote

“I don’t believe 100h times are correct,” Johnson wrote on Twitter. “World record broken by .08! 12 PBs set. 5 National records set. And Cindy Sember quote after her PB/NR ‘I throughly I was running slow!’ All athletes looked shocked.

“Heat 2 we were first shown winning time of 12.53. Few seconds later it shows 12.43. Rounding down by .01 is normal. .10 is not.”

Unfortunately, I think track has such a record of PED's that no WR doesn't deserve the side-eye. Sad but true.

[xaxat]

Johnson's question about the times are more about the quickness of the track and the instrumentation (time/wind speed) for the women's 100 meter hurdles than an insinuation that PEDS played a role.

He was reacting to the fact that

Quote

What raised eyebrows, though, was not the result but the margin by which Amusan broke the record, and the sheer number of personal and national records set by competitors in the event.

The fourth-, fifth-, sixth- and eighth-placed runners in Amusan’s heat, a semifinal, also ran their best times ever. The other three runners ran their best times of the year.

And later wrote,

Quote

“As a commentator my job is to comment. In questioning the times of 28 athletes (not 1 athlete) by wondering if the timing system malfunctioned, I was attacked, accused of racism, and of questioning the talent of an athlete I respect and predicted to win. Unacceptable. I move on.”

[NUguy514]

Yeah, I thought Johnson was pretty clearly referring to the conditions and the clocks and not insinuating anything about the athletes themselves.

[Salacious Kitty]

14 hours ago, NUguy514 said:

Yeah, I thought Johnson was pretty clearly referring to the conditions and the clocks and not insinuating anything about the athletes themselves.

Fair enough. The article was paywalled, so I couldn't get a read on Johnson's remarks.

[AimingforYoko]

Jim Redmond, who famously helped his injured son across the finish line in the Barcelona Olympic games, dies at 81.

One of those great sports stories that almost justify the Olympic Games.

[Guest]

The Pan-Continental Curling Championships just finished. This is the first event of its kind, and is both a qualifier for world championships, and a way for teams from less curling-experienced countries (like Guyana, Brazil, etc.) to gain experience and move up.

The only reason I mention this is because Team Fujisawa of Japan, my Olympic crushes, won the women's tournament! Hooray!

[Guest]

More exciting curling news! (exciting to me anyway lol)

Team Fujisawa has just won their first ever Grand Slam of Curling event, the Co-Op Canadian Open! They were undefeated the whole event, and are the first team from Asia to win a Grand Slam title. Woohoo! It's a long way to Milan-Cortina 2026, but I hope these wins are a good omen!

https://thegrandslamofcurling.com/fujisawa-wins-co-op-canadian-open-to-become-first-gsoc-champion-from-asia/

[blackwing]

https://www.espn.com/olympics/story/_/id/35524812/ioc-seeks-pathway-let-russians-compete-paris-olympics

Article talks about how IOC wants Russian athletes to compete in Paris, but must do so under a neutral flag.  Then states that Russians have not competed under the Russian name since 2016.

What?!  If they are truly going to be "neutral athletes" then they should be required to march in with other neutral athletes like the refugee athletes.  There shouldn't be any kind of unified team uniform, they shouldn't be included in any medal count by country.  The whole "ROC" or "OAR" designation is an utter joke.  They're Russians... just under a different name.

[NUguy514]

Fuck the IOC.

[Guest]

Team Fujisawa wins again! This time the Zen-Noh Japanese Curling Championship. Not sure if this is THE Japanese Championship, but who cares they wonnnn! (Edited to add that apparently this is the official Japanese Curling Championship...Wiki didn't add this edition to its page until it was over, so I wasn't sure. So double woo!)

And Yoshida Chinami won tournament MVP!

Edited February 5, 2023 by tracyscott76

[AimingforYoko]

Canadian teen Summer McIntosh ends Katie Ledecky's 9-year U.S. run in 200m freestyle.

All good things come to an end and Canada might have a heroine for Paris next year.

[Mittengirl]

1 hour ago, AimingforYoko said:

Paris next year.

It really is only about 16 months until the next Olympics, isn’t it?  It seems like the last Summer Olympics was just a year ago.  

[JustHereForFood]

There's more and more talk about terrorist countries russia and belarus being potentially allowed in Olympics next year. Fuck every single person that isn't disgusted by this and is willing to watch if that happens. We need to make sure that everyone understands there's going to be massive boycotts and not repeat the fucking embarrassment that was the World Cup in Qatar last year.

 

 

Edited March 19, 2023 by JustHereForFood

[AimingforYoko]

Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone is ridiculous. Completely bored with setting WRs in the 400m hurdles, she's now dominating the field in the US Track Championships open 400. She's all of 23.

Edited July 9, 2023 by AimingforYoko

[tanyak]

The 2023 swimming worlds ended yesterday. The U.S. appears to be in an interesting spot. There seems to be a dearth of big names. Katie Ledecky is around and winning, of course. And so is Ryan Murphy, but I don't think his name is recognizable among those who only pay attention in Olympic years. Caeleb Dressel, who was clearly being billed as the next big thing after Phelps and Lochte, left midway during Worlds last year, went on an extended break to manage mental health issues, and then didn't even make the team this year. Plus, he and his wife announced just this week that they are having a baby. Who knows, but I kind of get the feeling that he might not come back for the Olympics, and Rowdy Gaines and Dan Hicks very briefly touched on that this week. 

And on top of all that, even though the U.S. won the most medals, we only won five gold, which is the lowest number in years and years. The announcers didn't seem too worried about it. It will be interesting to see how it all shakes out. Swimming has had top billing basically since the 2008 games and this go around NBC couldn't be bothered to show more than a one-hour compilation. Thank goodness for Peacock!

[Guest]

3 hours ago, tanyak said:

The 2023 swimming worlds ended yesterday. The U.S. appears to be in an interesting spot. There seems to be a dearth of big names. Katie Ledecky is around and winning, of course. And so is Ryan Murphy, but I don't think his name is recognizable among those who only pay attention in Olympic years. Caeleb Dressel, who was clearly being billed as the next big thing after Phelps and Lochte, left midway during Worlds last year, went on an extended break to manage mental health issues, and then didn't even make the team this year. Plus, he and his wife announced just this week that they are having a baby. Who knows, but I kind of get the feeling that he might not come back for the Olympics, and Rowdy Gaines and Dan Hicks very briefly touched on that this week. 

And on top of all that, even though the U.S. won the most medals, we only won five gold, which is the lowest number in years and years. The announcers didn't seem too worried about it. It will be interesting to see how it all shakes out. Swimming has had top billing basically since the 2008 games and this go around NBC couldn't be bothered to show more than a one-hour compilation. Thank goodness for Peacock!

To me, a lack of U.S. dominance - or, put another way, innumerable U.S. wins not being a foregone conclusion - would make swimming a little more interesting to watch. It's just so repetitive in format, so uncertainty in the outcomes can only help. And as far as NBC coverage during the Olympics goes, a little less swimming and a little more of the lesser-known sports would be welcome.

On a related note, while the network might only have done a one-hour compilation, NBC's social media has been all over the swimming worlds, posting endless updates, highlights, clips of Rowdy Gaines and Michael Phelps in the booth, etc. Same for the various recent track and field tournaments. It reminded me that when the actual Olympics start, I have to unfollow NBC's social media because it's such a relentless glut (and full of spoilers!).

Edited July 31, 2023 by tracyscott76

[tanyak]

3 hours ago, tracyscott76 said:

To me, a lack of U.S. dominance - or, put another way, innumerable U.S. wins not being a foregone conclusion - would make swimming a little more interesting to watch. It's just so repetitive in format, so uncertainty in the outcomes can only help. And as far as NBC coverage during the Olympics goes, a little less swimming and a little more of the lesser-known sports would be welcome.

On a related note, while the network might only have done a one-hour compilation, NBC's social media has been all over the swimming worlds, posting endless updates, highlights, clips of Rowdy Gaines and Michael Phelps in the booth, etc. Same for the various recent track and field tournaments. It reminded me that when the actual Olympics start, I have to unfollow NBC's social media because it's such a relentless glut (and full of spoilers!).

Ahhh, that’s right. I think I was following their Instagram up until the Tokyo games, but then unfollowed because of spoilers, and then never re-followed. And that’s a good point about a little less swimming giving some other sports more exposure. 

It’s interesting because I haven’t seen any Olympics ads. They usually start previews about a year out, but they’re  probably trying to figure out who to feature. For sure Suni Lee, Katie Ledecky, Sydney McLaughlin, Noah Lyles. Actually, a handful of track and field folks. My guess is we will start seeing some soft promos during the Track and Field worlds next month.
 

 

[Guest]

9 minutes ago, tanyak said:

Ahhh, that’s right. I think I was following their Instagram up until the Tokyo games, but then unfollowed because of spoilers, and then never re-followed. And that’s a good point about a little less swimming giving some other sports more exposure. 

It’s interesting because I haven’t seen any Olympics ads. They usually start previews about a year out, but they’re  probably trying to figure out who to feature. For sure Suni Lee, Katie Ledecky, Sydney McLaughlin, Noah Lyles. Actually, a handful of track and field folks. My guess is we will start seeing some soft promos during the Track and Field worlds next month.
 

 

The only tv ads I really remember seeing so far were the ones quite awhile back featuring Paris Hilton, as a play on the name of the host city. Social media has started showing some featuring Dolly Parton, but you're right that there hasn't been much featuring athletes yet in the way of ads. Don't want another Dan & Dave situation!

[AimingforYoko]

Sha'Carri Richardson makes it all the way back:

 

[Crashcourse]

Eh, well, she looks different.  Almost didn't recognize her.

[NowVoyager]

On 8/21/2023 at 5:48 PM, AimingforYoko said:

Sha'Carri Richardson makes it all the way back:

 

WOW! What an Amazing Personal Best & World Title performance from Sha'Carri to win from lane 9 after a slow start! Absolutely exhilarating!!! I loved the giggles & camaraderie among the 3 top women post race!

It's been a long 4 years for Sha'Carri after that cannabis DQ. Has anything changed with the rules since then?

On a shallow note, I am soo glad Sha'Carri has lost the obvious wig and super long fake nails. She's never looked more elegant and beautiful. I hope this trend continues to spread.

[Salacious Kitty]

Sha'Carrri's nails are like 3" long! 

Congrats to her bronze in the 200, and to Gabby Thomas with the silver. 

[Crashcourse]

On 8/23/2023 at 5:28 AM, NowVoyager said:

On a shallow note, I am soo glad Sha'Carri has lost the obvious wig and super long fake nails. She's never looked more elegant and beautiful. I hope this trend continues to spread.

I guess you didn't see her today.  She's still got obvious fake hair and super long fake eyelashes.  And those nails! 😱

She's obviously physically in great shape, but I wonder about her mental state.  I know she wants to be like FloJo with those nails, but she needs to stop it.

[AimingforYoko]

Since both the US Women's and Men's 4x100m relay teams avoided disaster and took home gold, the US Women's 4x400m team took it upon themselves to uphold tradition and get DQ'd.

Still, 3 out of 4 ain't bad. ¯\_ (ツ)_/¯

[NUguy514]

6 hours ago, AimingforYoko said:

Since both the US Women's and Men's 4x100m relay teams avoided disaster and took home gold, the US Women's 4x400m team took it upon themselves to uphold tradition and get DQ'd.

Still, 3 out of 4 ain't bad. ¯\_ (ツ)_/¯

Well, karma dictates that if, by some miracle, the men's 4x100 team doesn't fuck up a baton pass, another American relay team must fuck up a baton pass in their stead.  This year, it was the 4x400 women's turn.  You'll get 'em next time, ladies!

[NowVoyager]

On 8/25/2023 at 3:48 PM, Salacious Kitty said:

Sha'Carrri's nails are like 3" long!

 

On 8/25/2023 at 7:59 PM, Crashcourse said:

I guess you didn't see her today.  She's still got obvious fake hair and super long fake eyelashes.  And those nails! 😱

She's obviously physically in great shape, but I wonder about her mental state.  I know she wants to be like FloJo with those nails, but she needs to stop it.

Oh, dear... Maybe I shouldn't have brought up the issue? 😬 Just to be clear, I am an African-American woman just like Sha'Carri. I thought her braided hairstyle was very refreshing & flattering compared to the previous, obvious wigs--- even though, yes, she was still wearing extensions. Regarding the nails & eyelashes--- well, they are a choice & everyone should be free to choose what they want, but--- I am just hoping the current social trends return to natural beauty. 

Now what else is going on? Lol.

[NowVoyager]

USA Alexis Holmes chased down The Netherlands Femke Bol so hard she fell ON HER FACE a yard short of the goal in the mixed relay!:

Later:

On 8/26/2023 at 5:26 PM, AimingforYoko said:

Since both the US Women's and Men's 4x100m relay teams avoided disaster and took home gold, the US Women's 4x400m team took it upon themselves to uphold tradition and get DQ'd.

Still, 3 out of 4 ain't bad. ¯\_ (ツ)_/¯

Alexis Holmes turned around before securing the baton! She was out of the zone! OMG! USA Disqualified! Hero one day, getting dragged on social media the next! 

Then:

Femke Bol & The Netherlands get their revenge--- her kick at the end was EPIC!

WHEW!!! This was soo good! Cannot wait for the Olympics! Scores to settle all around!

 

Edited August 28, 2023 by NowVoyager

[Crashcourse]

I don't understand the point of Noah Lyles attacking the NBA for being called  world champions.  Is he gonna attack the MLB for playing in the World Series next?  He's a track superstar, but I think he needs to shut his gator mouth about other sports.  

https://www.nbcsports.com/nba/news/track-star-noah-lyles-questions-nba-title-winners-being-called-world-champions

[AimingforYoko]

On the one hand, he's right, North America is not the world. On the other hand does any one believe any club in any league in any country would beat the NBA Champs?

[Crashcourse]

1 hour ago, AimingforYoko said:

On the one hand, he's right, North America is not the world. On the other hand does any one believe any club in any league in any country would beat the NBA Champs?

Yeah, technically, he's right, but my point was that I wondered why he focused on the NBA in the first place.  Why couldn't he just enjoy his fucking medals?

Also, NBA players have won gold medals in the Olympics, so I guess he forgot about that.