The Olympics

[Thumper]

Well, we endured months of pre-Olympics doom and gloom reports, worse than usual. And then the opening ceremonies happened and everything seemed okay. My highlights:
I've never been a huge Michael Phelps fan, but I cannot deny that he is still the Man. I was surprised at how excited I got watching the men's 4x100 free relay. Phelps' "the turn" in the second leg was astonishing. Katie Ledecky is awesome. She crushed her own world record in the 400 free with a 3:56. I can swim that far in about 8 minutes. She would have been out of the pool, showered, and off to lunch before I finished. When asked what comes to his mind when someone says Katie Ledecky, Phelps said, "Total Stud." There was a cute picture of a little Katie waiting in line to see her idol Phelps years ago and grab an autograph.
Women's beach volleyball: Walsh-Jennings is an absolute machine. She's incredible. Also saw the US women's indoor volleyball in a comeback win against the Netherlands yesterday. They were impressive. Brazil took apart Argentina (at least until I fell asleep). A few minutes of synchronized diving, yes they're very talented, but not my thing. The in-laws are going Ga ga over Team Handball. I played this in high school (inter-mural), but it seems 35 years later, nobody has heard of this sport. The very first gold medal awarded in the games went to a 19 year old woman from West Virginia (my WV buddy is stoked) in Air Rifle. I didn't even know air rifle was an event. As always, the gymnastics is a mixed bag for me. Incredible athleticism, but you're waiting like a NASCAR fan for "the Crash." Well, we got a big one when a French vaulter shattered his leg on the landing, laying there with the lower half of his lower leg bent out at a 45 degree angle. As hard as they hit, I'm surprised it doesn't happen more often. Looking forward to Track and Field. Also rooting for the the Syrian swimmer competing under the Olympic flag for the refugee team. Look her up, amazing story: Yusra Mardini.

[SciFiFisher]

It will be interesting to see if any of the competitors get sacked for doping. There has been a lot of news about it lately.

[SciFi Chick]

I really liked the video that NBC did of the various competitors to the sound of "Rise" by Katy Perry.

[Parrothead]

Canadian women won Bronze at women's rugby sevens, woohoo! The Dutch woman that crashed during the road race, yikes! The Canadian men beating USA at indoor volleyball?! They will face Brazil today. Beach volleyball always entertaining to watch. Some surprise finishes for Canada in the pool. I even watched some the other day.

Track & field starts next week.

[Thumper]

Yeah, I was impressed with Canada Men's VB. They worked real hard last night but Brazil wore them down. Man what a powerful game. I would not want to be on the receiving end of one of those hits. I think I'd rather be shot with a .22. I've been hoping to see some Rugby 7 men's or women's but not yet. Phelps and Co. won another strong relay. And an individual gold in his famous butterfly.

WRT doping, some are calling Ellie King unsportsmanlike for taunting and calling out the Russian swimmer for doping. I'm not. This woman was suspended for over a year, tested positive again, then somehow was reinstated to the swim team just before the games began. King called her out, called her a cheater, BEFORE the finals, then whipped her @ss in the pool. When she was again criticized for not congratulating her in the pool immediately after the finish, she simply said, "I'm probably the last person on Earth she would have wanted congratulations from at that time." Yeah, she's arrogant, but she talks the truth and she backs it up. Read a great story where at the trials, she saw two little fans right after she got her gold medals and gave them to the girls. She said, "I'm not materialistic, besides I've got bigger things in mind." Awesome.

I've seen a little table tennis. It's so fast I can't see the ball.

Missed the US women dominating gymnastics. Apparently impressive. Comments from team members from other countries were very flattering. I think I was watching Canada volleyball at the time. Too much going on at the same time. I need picture in picture in picture. Or 3 TV's.

[SciFiFisher]

Frankly, I have a hard time understanding how China, Russia, and some of the other countries are even allowed to compete. The blatant cheating and win at any cost mentality is mind boggling. It is one thing when an occasional individual gets caught but when it's practically an organizational standard it should be obvious that these organizations are constantly creating and researching new ways to cheat and that they will not stop unless the consequences are severe enough to make it a waste of their time.

[Thumper]

We can't defeat the evil empire if we don't invite them to the competition...

[Thumper]

Oh that's right, the Olympics aren't supposed to be political...

[SciFiFisher]

Oh that's right, the Olympics aren't supposed to be political...

I sense the sarcasm in this.

[pumpkinpi]

Not having cable, I'm forced to watch what the main NBC channel provides. Watched the Phelps reign continue in swimming live, and after that they had the tape-delayed gymnastics. I already knew the US had won, but would love to had seen it. It was after 10 when it started, and I went to bed/

[Parrothead]

I enjoyed a number of the men's rugby sevens matches today. SF and medal matches go tomorrow mid-day and late afternoon. These 3 day tourneys go quick! The cycling this am was interesting with the rain. A bunch of swimming again this evening. The green water in the diving pool and now water polo pool. One of the canuck divers quipped, the green actually helped in spotting, there was more contrast between sky and water.

Heck, I noticed NBC even delayed the opening ceremonies, by half hour/hour last Friday. They were quite a bit behind what was airing on CBC and TSN, up here.

[Rommie]

In Europe, no tape delay exists, which is good for excitement but bad because I'm essentially not going to see Katinka Hosszu win all her gold medals this year! That woman has a weird as hell relationship with her coach/husband, but she's been pretty amazing.

Gymnastics is prime time here though, so that's been fun to watch.

[Thumper]

... I'm essentially not going to see Katinka Hosszu win all her gold medals this year!

Funny how the US mainstream TV hasn't covered her much. Seriously, I've never heard of her, had to google her. In swimming, it's Phelps, King, Lochte, and Ledecky and a couple of their evil villians. Apparently, no one else is swimming.

[Rommie]

Considering she's just as good as Ledecky, yes!

No really, all countries have super biased coverage of their own athletes. I'm watching the BBC and the announcers get almost orgasmic a the thought of someone winning a bronze. Similarly, the Dutch station showed more coverage of the Dutch womens' gymnastics team that finished second from last in the finals than they did of the USA...

I will say though overall because there's far less "now let's have a montage of a heartwarming backstory" in other nations, and no tape delays or commercial breaks, while there's definite bias it doesn't feel as over the top for Team USA as it does watching NBC!

[SciFiFisher]

I think it's kind of cool how each country pays more attention to their own athletes.

Of course, it's a nasty thing called nationalism. Drats! But, it's still cool.

[Thumper]

No commercials? WTF?

[pumpkinpi]

Guys....we'd better make sure we are following NBC's rules on how other news outlets report on the Olympics, otherwise they might sue us. Keep all Olympics talk out of XOF News!

[WGN] News Anchor Goes On Epic Rant About NBC’s Olympic Coverage
http://www.towleroad.com/2016/08/nbc-olympic-coverage/

[Parrothead]

Men's rugby sevens medal matches ended about half an hour ago. Entertaining to say the least. I won't put up a spoiler, in case NBC airs it later. I may have to dig out my old sega genesis and slap in the WC Rugby '95 cartridge, one of these days.

edit: re pumpkinpi's link, LOL! I recall late night tv show hosts having fun wording segments and putting up other images or videos, during the London and other Games, avoiding the same issues.

[Parrothead]

Women's 100m free, what a finish! The young canuck now has a medal of each colour. 2 Bronze, 1 Silver and 1 Gold. The finish was confusing at first, shows Penny in first and OR in the american's lane. Hmmm, they played the US anthem then Canada's anthem, at the medal ceremony. Yup, surprise finishes for Canada in the pool.

[Thumper]

Missed the end of the Brazil-US men's volleyball. Looked like a great match but I had to go to bed. I still don't understand why an Olympics that is nearly in my time zone has events at 11:00pm. Anyway, actually saw some non US stuff while I was at the gym yesterday. There was some martial arts (I think it was judo, no sound) and women's archery. That was refreshing. In other news, Phelps got another gold and Lochte continued to be the greatest US swimmer not named Phelps.
(No mention whatsoever of any Hungarian swimmers...)

[Rommie]

No mention? Well Hosszu will probably get another gold in the 200m backstroke, so keep an eye out! It's right before the 800m freestyle, which Ledecky is favored to win.

That said, second place in the heats for 800m freestyle was another Hungarian woman, so you may yet see one Thumper.

[Thumper]

I'll keep an eye out, but NBC usually goes to commercials right after they show and American win...
And yes, Ledecky will win the 800 Free, probably by 10 seconds.

Did you hear the Canadian broadcaster who mixed up Phelps and Lochte last night? Hilarious. I mean the two guys couldn't look more different from each other.

[Parrothead]

T&F underway. The women's 10 000 m final Gotta feel for the fourth place finisher, ran a time under 30 mins and does not make the podium.

Men's 800 m heats have been held. Women's 100 m prelims getting underway.

The late start times, uhm it's Rio. They have had a midnight local time beach volleyball match, every night.

Broadcaster flubs, there was an article in today's paper listing a bunch of them from various media outlets. The joys of live television.

[Thumper]

T&F underway. The women's 10 000 m final Gotta feel for the fourth place finisher, ran a time under 30 mins and does not make the podium.

Yikes! I'd have to get on my bike to go that fast.

And found out that USA men's indoor VB indeed accomplished a must win against the Brazilian juggernaut.
And the green diving pools are neat.

[Parrothead]

Forgot to mention earlier, yay! Estonian men won a Bronze in quadruple sculls, the other day.