Olympics - does anyone actually care anymore?

[Scaly piscine]

Good stuff from Jade Jones, cruised it apart from that second round where she went defensive.

 

[Bahnz]

Might be slightly controversial, but Nick Willis must be pretty close to being New Zealand's greatest track athlete. Yes, he's never won a gold or held a world record like Walker, Snell and Lovelock did, but their achievements all came back in the days when the Olympics were lily white. Given how much more competitive and diverse track and field is these days, I'd take a silver in the modern era over a gold from the 60's. Throw in the fact that he's just qualified for his third successive 1500m final (the only NZer to do so), holds the New Zealand record, and has medalled at the world indoor champs, and you've got an incredibly impressive resume.

I'd still put Snell narrowly in front on the grounds that Snell did something that no other athlete in history has done (winning gold in both the 800m and 1500m in the same games). But Willis is now ahead of Walker for me.

 

[hendrix]

Yeah Nick Willis is an extremely impressive athlete.

 

[Burgey]

Carn Bolt

 

[vcs]

The guy looks injured and still cantered home.

 

[Burgey]

Has there been a better Olympic athlete ever? I really don't know that there has been, including Phelps. It's not like Bolt can do a three-legged race/ standing on his head race/ running backwards thing.

Incredible performance.

 

[straw man]

It's not like Bolt can do a three-legged race/ standing on his head race/ running backwards thing.

Athletics should reintroduce a few of the ancient races to compete with all the arbitrarily impaired swimming events imo. Bolt's not bad but how would he go in the hoplitodromos?

 

[Burgey]

I reckon he'd go ok. He might look to redesign the helmet into a more aerodynamic shape but otherwise he'd dominate.

 

[Athlai]

Thats ridiculous, at least be serious. Give us our 100m skipping race.

 

[Daemon]

I'd like to see the 100m t-rex hands race

 

[RossTaylorsBox]

I'd like to see bullrush.

 

[Burgey]

I want to see the sailing done in Viking longboats, and when you're jostling for position you should be able to swing a cutlass at your opponents on other boats, ram them and if their boat is faster, board it and take it over. Also, the buoy markers should have apex predators on them, so when you round the mark you can get close if you want to, but run the risk of a polar bear or a Siberian tiger clawing you to death and eating you. It would spice things up.

 

[Magrat Garlick]

Is it a Northern European thing to bitch at another person's throat? Do people in Northern Europe say stuff like "Man, your throat is ugly"?

It's a handball thing, I think. Grown women groping each other on field while trying to act like polished angels off the field. It's...a spectacle.

 

[andruid]

At the expense of support staff though?

It's not a great article for the point I'm making, but if you read Bindra's criticism over the years on sports in India, it makes you pretty mad. When you have politicians all over India sitting on sports governing bodies who've got zero body of any relevant experience behind them, you know there's definitely some deep seated corruption going on behind the scenes. I wrote a rubbish essay on this once in school, was a breeze to find ***ual harassment cases, financial irregularities, age cheating, scathing statements from affected players and even the cabinet rejecting anti corruption bills. When you combine all that with widespread poverty and a lack of facilities (our Winter Olympians practice by sending their luge down a ****ing highway), it's really not surprising we're so ****.

But of course, vegetarians are the number one cause of the lack of medals. Now that the beef ban is in place it's only going to get worse.

Hangers on and officials tagging along for a jolly isn't unique to India.

Definitely not unique to India. and it is not mooching accommodation and travel tickets that should go to the athletes and coaches check this out!

Nike submitted 1,900 pieces of uniform both for training and racing to the 52 athletes who were in Rio. Nike had a different set for coaches, trainers and officials,” said a Kenyan Sports ministry official who accompanied the DP.

“Each athlete was given one kit for training and another for competing. The rest are understood to have been diverted to the local market here in Kenya. Nike were categorical that this was not the first time officials were failing to distribute uniforms to athletes and said they were fed up,” said the official who did not want to breach the rules of confidentiality by speaking on the record

What doesn't make sense at least from a Kenyan stand point is how your athletes can't go out and win medals regardless of all this incompetence

 

[straw man]

I want to see the sailing done in Viking longboats, and when you're jostling for position you should be able to swing a cutlass at your opponents on other boats, ram them and if their boat is faster, board it and take it over. Also, the buoy markers should have apex predators on them, so when you round the mark you can get close if you want to, but run the risk of a polar bear or a Siberian tiger clawing you to death and eating you. It would spice things up.

Aka the ancient Olympic chariot race, but on water.

Polar bears and tigers would also spice up some of the other boring-er sports, like golf.

 

[andruid]

Aka the ancient Olympic chariot race, but on water.

Polar bears and tigers would also spice up some of the other boring-er sports, like golf.

Pity there aren't so many polar bears and tigers, even lions nowadays.

 

[Burgey]

Yeah, it makes an otherwise realistic and viable proposition unlikely.

On a related note, I think Roy and HG should be made to call all Olympic gymnastics forever. "Bangs the flute into the floor and offers the tool box to the judges" is the greatest piece of sporting oratory of all time.

 

[Burgey]

And who could forget Eric the Eel? Has there been an Eric the zero moment at these Games (apart from McEvoy and the Campbell sisters, obvs)?

 

[Magrat Garlick]

From the "even NBC couldn't make this **** up department": The American shot put guy who broke a late-80s Olympic record hails from the town of Boring, Oregon.

 

[_Ed_]

And who could forget Eric the Eel? Has there been an Eric the zero moment at these Games (apart from McEvoy and the Campbell sisters, obvs)?

It wasn't as great as I remember that being, but there was this guy: Rio Olympics: Overweight, slow Ethiopian swimmer draws attention - LA Times