Olympics

[Numbers]

Well this starts on Friday with some rowing and the mens cycling team road race is on Saturday with our team being Tao Geoghegan Hart, Geraint Thomas, Adam Yates and Simon Yates, they should be in with a shout I reckon.

[switchskier]

Looking forward to the cycle race. For the men the Belgians should be the big favourites with evenapole able to go later my and Van Aert able to wait for the sprint or late attacks. Fascinated to see what can see pole does for the dutch. GB can only win by making the race super hard and getting one of the yates boys away in a select group, but at least there should be a few strong countries also wanting to try that. For the women it feels pretty much a foregone conclusion that the dutch will win sadly.

Crazy that it's scheduled for the first weekend though. Not exactly conducive for those that just finished the tour to fly straight out.

[Stom]

I've decided enough is enough for me. This isn't about sport, it's about making money for despotic regimes, as shown by both the decision of the IOC to hold the bloody thing in the first place, and the new decision to not show any pictures of any sportsperson taking the knee...

Bunch of absolute thundercunts who should be roundly boycotted. F em.

[Digby]

Okay yes being a money making exercise is a huge part of it, but that applies to all pro sports.

Don't the detail of what they do/don't want to show about people taking a knee, but you can be pretty sure there'll be people taking a knee, and they'll get exactly the sort of publicity they're hoping to avoid.

[Banquo]

My niece is there as part of the SA Olympic Squad, Water Polo. Chuffed to bits for her- absolutely inspirational attitude, always turn up, never stop trying.

[Galfon]

Don't the detail of what they do/don't want to show about people taking a knee, but you can be pretty sure there'll be people taking a knee, and they'll get exactly the sort of publicity they're hoping to avoid.

Just seen a beeb sports report showing the TeamGB & Chile soccer (ladies) teams all ttk before proceedings - presumably the games will have the usual swarms of reporters covering the same events for different branches of the same media organisation ( must be in the contract..) so it will be public enough.
Damned if you do, damned if you don't it seems.

[Mellsblue]

The Olympics have always had a ban on political statements, rightly IMO, but are ‘allowing’ athletes to take the knee. Hate to defend them, as it’s a mostly corrupt org with little to no moral compass, but it’s quite a big step for them to take, and it will prob open a can of worms.
As Banquo points out, you can hate the org but still enjoy the talent, and the sacrifices made by that talent, that is on show.
Not everything needs to be about your/the latest cause celebre. Can’t we just watch some of the worlds finest athletes without ranting about something or anything beyond the sport itself..... Some people watch sport to get away from the bs in normal life not be reminded of it.

[Banquo]

The Olympics have always had a ban on political statements, rightly IMO, but are ‘allowing’ athletes to take the knee. Hate to defend them, as it’s a mostly corrupt org with little to no moral compass, but it’s quite a big step for them to take, and it will prob open a can of worms.
As Banquo points out, you can hate the org but still enjoy the talent, and the sacrifices made by that talent, that is on show.
Not everything needs to be about your/the latest cause celebre. Can’t we just watch some of the worlds finest athletes without ranting about something or anything beyond the sport itself..... Some people watch sport to get away from the bs in normal life not be reminded of it.

Don't be silly. Enjoyment is so last century.

[Big D]

The IOC is in a no win situation regarding political statements to be fair.

Once you allow one you need to allow them all and around the world the full spectrum of political views are held.

Most on here would agree with taking the knee but I would feel uneasy with signs of solidarity with far right issues because they aren't my politics of choice. But if you allow one you should allow all whether agreeing with the message or not.

[Puja]

The IOC is in a no win situation regarding political statements to be fair.

Once you allow one you need to allow them all and around the world the full spectrum of political views are held.

Most on here would agree with taking the knee but I would feel uneasy with signs of solidarity with far right issues because they aren't my politics of choice. But if you allow one you should allow all whether agreeing with the message or not.

I wouldn't necessarily agree with "once you allow one, you need to allow them all." While a lot of critical people have tried very hard to conflate all sorts of things into it, taking the knee is just a support of "Black people shouldn't be discriminated against." That's not (or really shouldn't be) a controversial statement and is unequivocally, unarguably a morally good sentiment. It's not political, per se, and you could easily allow it without requiring you to allow anything else.

The reason why the IOC won't allow it is that it's easier for them to say "No exceptions, no matter how moral they are," than it is for them to have to make decisions in the future about something that is very slightly more problematic.

Puja

[Which Tyler]

[Donny osmond]

My niece is there as part of the SA Olympic Squad, Water Polo. Chuffed to bits for her- absolutely inspirational attitude, always turn up, never stop trying.

Feel like I really need the Olympics right now, for exactly this kind of inspiration.
Congrats to her, I'll be supporting the SA water polo squad now.

Er... Apols if that sounds creepy, it's meant genuinely!

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[Which Tyler]

Miss my hockey days

[Banquo]

My niece is there as part of the SA Olympic Squad, Water Polo. Chuffed to bits for her- absolutely inspirational attitude, always turn up, never stop trying.

Feel like I really need the Olympics right now, for exactly this kind of inspiration.
Congrats to her, I'll be supporting the SA water polo squad now.

Er... Apols if that sounds creepy, it's meant genuinely!

Sent from my CPH2195 using Tapatalk

Lol! That’s fine. They got hammered today- my niece is 1st reserve but she did get to go to the opening ceremony, has got all the stash and has been chatting with Andy Murray. Great experience for her.

[Which Tyler]

Well, that explains the shit coverage.
The Americans bought the European rights, and shoved it behind a paywall. BBC only allowed to show 2 events live at any time, aoof you're more interested in such and such a sport - tough titties, barring those times when there's a GB contender going, and it's popular enough.

https://metro.co.uk/2021/07/24/why-bbc- ... -14983122/

Might have to watch on the computer, and teach it an Aussie accent, or something

[morepork]

The IOC is in a no win situation regarding political statements to be fair.

Once you allow one you need to allow them all and around the world the full spectrum of political views are held.

Most on here would agree with taking the knee but I would feel uneasy with signs of solidarity with far right issues because they aren't my politics of choice. But if you allow one you should allow all whether agreeing with the message or not.

I wouldn't necessarily agree with "once you allow one, you need to allow them all." While a lot of critical people have tried very hard to conflate all sorts of things into it, taking the knee is just a support of "Black people shouldn't be discriminated against." That's not (or really shouldn't be) a controversial statement and is unequivocally, unarguably a morally good sentiment. It's not political, per se, and you could easily allow it without requiring you to allow anything else.

The reason why the IOC won't allow it is that it's easier for them to say "No exceptions, no matter how moral they are," than it is for them to have to make decisions in the future about something that is very slightly more problematic.

Puja

Such as taking a ventilator in protest of a tone-deaf super spreader event?

[morepork]

Fuckin-A brother.

[Galfon]

Customary slow start from TeamGB due to the schedules:
disappoinments already with Thomas crash, Jones loss (TaeK.) and Murray withdrawl (singles). Peaty going ok & new names Artingstall & Sinden to the fore.
Glover probs. not G. this time.Shame about the crowds but sure it build.

[Donny osmond]

Judo is frustrating to watch. You sit for ages and nothing happens, you move your eyes for 0.001 seconds and it's all over with an ippon.

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[Which Tyler]

Just in case anyone set the 7s to record - it was supposed to be on the red button (if at all) - but wasn't.

2Hr 30min into the BBC1 feed (also available on iPlayer) (341 minutes, starting at 10.25pm)

ETA: Okay, coverage is terrible; even when there's not a lot on. The above showed Fiji vs Japan and GB vs Can; before switching to the same sport the red button was showing.
As far as I've been able to find, they didn't bother showing a single match from the 2nd round of matches; just the highlights of GB vs Japan

Grrrrr

[Big D]

Adam Peatty really deserves more recognition. Not many people in racing sports have dominated the way he does owning the top 15 times of all time or something daft.

Pidock looks a bit special. Would expect him to do some damage in future big road stage races. Not necessarily winning tours but winning stages etc,

[Digby]

Swimming is not a good spectator sport though, live or on TV. But yes he's done very well, even taking no swimming into his stride (or stroke)

[switchskier]

Adam Peatty really deserves more recognition. Not many people in racing sports have dominated the way he does owning the top 15 times of all time or something daft.

Pidock looks a bit special. Would expect him to do some damage in future big road stage races. Not necessarily winning tours but winning stages etc,

I cant wait to see Pidcock at the belgian classics next year. He was already good in Strade Bianche and second in Amstel Gold. I want to see what he can do in Liege, though he might be too small and lightweight for the cobbles.

Never been enthused watching swimming. The diving is pretty spectacular though.

[Donny osmond]

I do like watching swimming to try and analyse technique, or really just to appreciate how graceful the bodies are thru the water. Very few things as beautiful as watching an expert carve thru the water in freestyle.

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[Numbers]

The Olympics have always had a ban on political statements, rightly IMO, but are ‘allowing’ athletes to take the knee. Hate to defend them, as it’s a mostly corrupt org with little to no moral compass, but it’s quite a big step for them to take, and it will prob open a can of worms.
As Banquo points out, you can hate the org but still enjoy the talent, and the sacrifices made by that talent, that is on show.
Not everything needs to be about your/the latest cause celebre. Can’t we just watch some of the worlds finest athletes without ranting about something or anything beyond the sport itself..... Some people watch sport to get away from the bs in normal life not be reminded of it.

Considering the marquee event or track and field is dominated by black athletes this is a stage where they can highlight plight on a global scale, all power to them, some people don't have the option of getting away from the BS.