Olympics

[Whistler]

A lot

[noosard]

Olympics use to be amateur, but now just a lot of pros

[Whistler]

Olympics use to be amateur, but now just a lot of pros

For many years the Olympics were dominated by shamaturs. In the USA they had college athletes on huge scholarships, most of the Communist block had athletes in their armed forces and drawing salaries. Look back at those days and see the medal count.

At least now it is a more even playing ground, in the developed world, but still tough on poorer nations unless their athletes get a leg up and get into programs in one of the rich nations.

[Doodoo]

update
USA 71 medals
France 45
China 44
GB 37
Australia 31

UK slipping, now 7 behind

[Stantheman]

Here's a link for anyone interested in medal count at Olympics
https://www.google.com/search?q=current ... gws-wiz-hp

[Laan Yaa Mo]

I am really enjoying these Olympics. Unlike in Canada, one can see a wide variety of events on Thai TV featuring many countries and is not subjected to endless images of mainly U.S. and Canadian athletes. I was first impressed with the ladies' volleyball team from Turkey, and the South Korean archers, in particular, Nam stood out. She had ranked 61st in the world and pulled off a silver medal. The U.S., Great Britain and Jamaica have been superb in track and field, and the U.S. and Algeria shone in gymnastics. Australia have been pulling above their weight, as usual, and is always fun to watch. China, Denmark, Hong Kong, Malaysia, South Korea, Japan, India and Thailand put on impressive displays in badminton. The old guy representing Serbia won the tennis gold. France has been competitive in everything. I like Denmark in men's water polo. The best athlete, of course, is the winner of the Decathalon, and he is from Norway. Lots of fun so far.

As far as medal counts go, the gold medal category is the important one. It's a shame that the British Empire is not included for they would be far and away the leader. All of those U.S., Australian, Hong Kong, Indian, New Zealand, Canadian, South African, Kenyan, Nigerian et al medals would be assigned to the Empire.

[Drunk Monkey]

Olympic boxing farce some saw coming many years ago.

https://youtube.com/shorts/2RM9aBnhqZI? ... ICq4ycMhDR

[Doodoo]

AH, to be in the Olympics representing your Country it must be a feeling of, well you name it.
Whether you win a Medal or not is not the answer. You might be there as a contestant, an official, medical assistant, a volunteer, but you are there.
This will be recorded in the future when someone is sitting around and says "Oh, ya I was at the Paris Olympics in 2024 helping Team -------- my home country compete" Didnt win a medal, but was just there

[Whistler]

I had the good fortune to be at the Sydney 2000 Olympics. The vibe was indescribable, Sydney has always welcomed visitors but that ramped up.several degrees. My nephew from GB was carrying an injury so could not compete in the pentathlon, but I sat with his girlfriends parents when she blitzed the field in the final discipline and won Gold.

Many highlights, three worth sharing.

As the marathon was on the final road about to enter the stadium, over the loudspeaker came a laconic Aussie voice. 'PLEASE DO NOT TRIP UP THE ATHLETES, IT IS NOT A NICE THING TO DO' of course the crowd cracked up

The train transport to the main Olympic park was outstanding, fast moving queues. Boarding the train at the end of one day, the platform staff waved people along the platform, while doing a coordinated Macarena with the music coming over the speakers

The best for me, I was in my private car after dropping family off about 2km from Olympic Park and 4 of the wrestling team from Nigeria approached me, their bus to take them to their venue failed to appear, they were due shortly 15 kilometres away. They piled into my car as I drove to Darling Harbour. At every road block I explained to the cops what I was doing, despite knowing no.private cars were allowed, we were waved though every road block and they got to their venue on time.

[mak]

Close.

[Potamoi]

Gotta appreciate the Ozzy Man review of these athletes even if they can't use video from the games.

[Bandung_Dero]

Was very disappointed with the outcome of woman's swim marathon. Surley the Australian coaches must have seen what was happening, the Dutch girl was being dragged along for many laps just to conserve enough to win in the last 200 metres.
As is seen in all long distance events the leaders change position to get a tow/ride and conserve energy.
Anyway, we'll done for the Silver.

[Bubbler]

It's crazy to think there might've been a medalist that young back in 1900. Makes you wonder what other hidden stories are out there from the early Olympics.

[tamada]

Nice interactive graphics here. You can see how the Aussies have been on a real, 4-year on 4-year roll since London 2012 when it comes to bringing home medals.

Brits hanging onto fifth after being pipped for gold on a fair few of their 'best' opportunities.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/olympics/pa ... e-results/

My only disappointment is being unable to listen to ANY of the live Olympic coverage on the BBC Sounds online radio while offshore due to "rights restrictions". Even using a VPN has been frustrated. I guess the commercialization of the event and ownership of big-ticket events like the NFL, F1, EPL, etc., has spread to the 'people's Olympiad' which means that you have to pay a lot of money to some faceless, greedy corporate giant just to stand outside the stadium.

[Declan MacPherson]

Congratulations to my Cousin Sha'Carri and GOLD!!!!

FAM REUNION GOLD this year!!!

[tamada]

Congratulations to my Cousin Sha'Carri and GOLD!!!!

FAM REUNION GOLD this year!!!


Sha'Carri Richardson USA.png

Awesome. Congratulations and well-earned. This erases any stigma of her missing out on the selection for Tokyo.

[tamada]

How about Australia's ladies break dancing though? Right now it's doing that viral thing on the internet.

[Declan MacPherson]

3 letters: USA

U.S. women BLOW AWAY the field in women’s 4x400 relay to take gold

[tamada]

Digging deep doesn't quite cover it but Steph Curry rescued team USA in the basketball semi-final against Serbia and pretty much did it again in the final against France. However, Victor Wembanyama, arguably the NBA's hottest prospect since LeBron James, scored more individual points than Curry for France's silver medal.

[Laan Yaa Mo]

Well, it's over. China and the U.S.A. tied with each earning 40 gold medals. Markus Rooth of Norway won the Decathlon as the best athlete at the Games. The saddest moment for me was when the Spanish badminton player, Carolina Marin, had to withdraw from her semi-final match against China's He Bingjiao with a knee injury. Marin was leading by a large margin when she left the court. He ended up with the silver and made a nice tribute to the Spaniard when receiving her medal.
One of the best moments to me was when the male representatives of Taiwan and China tied for third in the horizontal bars On the podium, both men talked and laughed together when receiving their bronze medals. This was an excellent example of putting sports above politics.

China's Zhang Boheng and Tang Chia-Hung of Chinese Taipei each scoring 13.966. Because both men had the same execution score, they were each awarded a bronze medal.

https://www.scmp.com/sport/paris-olympi ... nts-honour

The female volleyball team from Turkey that I followed after their stunning comeback victory over the Netherlands could not overcome the blocking ability of Italy and lost six straight sets to them in regular and semi-final play. Turkiye ended up fourth with Italy the gold medal winners by taking the U.S. in straight sets.