Olympics

[Ulysses]

Any ideas why the Japanese are so vaccine-shy?

[Vrede too]

For whatever reasons Japanese labs did not invent their own, and the govt dropped the ball on imports. Shameful, the people are pissed off.

Japan PM seeks faster COVID vaccine delivery from Pfizer

Takeda agrees to supply additional 50 million Moderna COVID-19 vaccines to Japan

Wiki: COVID-19 vaccination in Japan

[O Really]

It may be just my old-guy memories, but it seems like back in the day watching the Olympics was easy and entertaining. NBC or whatever network would have marathon sessions, going some during the day, then starting back from around 8-11 each evening. As I recall, some was live, some re-play, and you didn't get every event, but they covered at least highlights of most of even lesser sports in addition to the more popular ones.

I looked for "how to watch Olympics" and found several articles and schedules with programming in a bunch of different places, NBC, USA, NBCSports, Peacock, yada. But it seems all the choices make it less likely I'll actually get to see what I want. F'rinstance:

"Schedule
Your streaming hub for 5000+ hours of LIVE Olympic coverage!
Browse below to watch what's currently live, or scroll to the bottom for upcoming schedules by TV network and sport."

https://www.nbcolympics.com/schedule

[Vrede too]

It may be just my old-guy memories, but it seems like back in the day watching the Olympics was easy and entertaining. NBC or whatever network would have marathon sessions, going some during the day, then starting back from around 8-11 each evening. As I recall, some was live, some re-play, and you didn't get every event, but they covered at least highlights of most of even lesser sports in addition to the more popular ones.

I looked for "how to watch Olympics" and found several articles and schedules with programming in a bunch of different places, NBC, USA, NBCSports, Peacock, yada. But it seems all the choices make it less likely I'll actually get to see what I want. F'rinstance:

"Schedule
Your streaming hub for 5000+ hours of LIVE Olympic coverage!
Browse below to watch what's currently live, or scroll to the bottom for upcoming schedules by TV network and sport."

https://www.nbcolympics.com/schedule

Idk, but I THINK it's better now. Broadcast NBC is still pretty much what we always watched - their selection of the "best", but no longer featuring Bob Costas. The rest of the stations give us more. Maybe not, though. Let us know.

[GoCubsGo]

It always seems different to me when the Olympics are in a different hemisphere. Everything is taped delayed and just does not have the same vibe as watching live.

Plus, like everything else we've become desensitized. It's just not really an event anymore now that there's 14,532 other things to stream and or watch.

[O Really]

All good points. So what are all your favourite events to watch? Other than womens' gymnastics which is a given for 98% of the world. I like the equestrian events, particularly cross country; wrestling, weight lifting, jumping sports (high jump, pole vault), diving, and throwing events (discus, javelin). Not too fond of running, and don't care anything about most of the team sports like I can see on TV every week of the year.

[GoCubsGo]

I still love women's soccer. Beach volleyball and Swimming is always in my hit list (like every thing else, only every four years), loved watching Usain Bolt in the past, gonna have to find someone to root for to make it interesting.

The rowing and sailing events can be exciting, women's softball and basketball too.

[Vrede too]

It always seems different to me when the Olympics are in a different hemisphere. Everything is taped delayed and just does not have the same vibe as watching live.

It also makes discussion harder. One doesn't want to be a spoiler, but may not know when an event will or did air. For example, I heard about the US losing to France in basketball - horrors! - early yesterday, but didn’t see that the game started on TV until MN ET.

Plus, like everything else we've become desensitized. It's just not really an event anymore now that there's 14,532 other things to stream and or watch.

Even just the Olympic options can be a disadvantage. It used to be that we had a collective unity in what we experienced thanks to nanny NBC.

Costa Rican gymnast Luciana Alvarado takes a knee to conclude floor routine during Olympic qualifying in nod to Black Lives Matter movement

Costa Rican gymnast Luciana Alvarado concluded her floor routine during Olympic qualifying on Sunday by incorporating a tribute to the Black Lives Matter movement....

Alvarado said the closing of her routine was choreographed in homage to the Black Lives Matter movement that spread around the world after George Floyd, a Black man, was killed by Derek Chauvin, a white police officer, in Minneapolis last summer.

After she performed the same move at training on Friday, Alvarado said that she hoped to highlight the importance of equal rights on a global stage and champion treating all with respect and dignity.

Cool.

... The International Olympic Committee has implemented rules to try to limit protest actions by athletes. But Alvarado's gesture, incorporated into her artistic routine, is unlikely to trigger repercussions....

Smart.

This was exciting:

Australia's rising swimming star Ariarne Titmus beats Katie Ledecky for gold in Olympic women's 400-meter freestyle

... Titmus, who trailed by nearly a full body length at the halfway mark of the eight-lap race, turned on the speed to touch in 3 minutes, 56.69 seconds.

Ledecky was the defending Olympic champion and world-record holder. She settled for the silver this time in 3:57.36 -- the fourth-fastest time ever recorded....

No one else was even close. The bronze went to China's Li Bingjie in 4:01.08....

I think I heard them say on TV that Ledecky has only once swum faster, her world record, and that Titmus has never swum faster.

Momiji Nishiya, 13, gives Japan sweep (men & women) in Olympic street skateboarding; Brazil's Rayssa Leal, also 13, takes silver (Japan bronze)


Olympic Highlights : Momiji Nishiya won Gold Medal becomes first women's skateboard champion



The new King of Tunisia:

Michael Phelps hails "unbelievable" Ahmed Hafnaoui after 18-year-old Tunisian's shock victory in the men's 400m freestyle

Slowest qualifier, lane 8. The middle 4 lanes got skunked.
18-years-old, youngest in field.
Beat America and Australia.


Tunisian swimmer Ahmed Hafnaoui claims stunning 400m freestyle gold

[O Really]

So Biles is running second, Ledeky got beat for gold, basketball team loses. Sure, they're still top of the heap in the world - Biles probably will win, along with Ledeky, but is it possible there was a little too much American hubris hype in all the "can't be beat" articles?

[Vrede too]

So Biles is running second, Ledeky got beat for gold, basketball team loses. Sure, they're still top of the heap in the world - Biles probably will win, along with Ledeky, but is it possible there was a little too much American hubris hype in all the "can't be beat" articles?

Heard somewhere:

Silver is the worst medal to get.
Gold = Winner!
Bronze = Happy to have medaled.
Silver = Coulda won.

[Vrede too]

Rotten year for Naomi Osaka.

Lydia Jacoby, 17, becomes first Alaskan swimmer to win Olympic gold, capturing medal with major upset in 100-meter breaststroke

... Jacoby, 17, surprised everyone by finishing ahead of South Africa's Tatjana Schoenmaker and the United States' defending gold medalist, Lilly King. Schoenmaker took the silver. And King captured bronze, her first defeat in a 100-meter breaststroke final since December 2016.

... The only younger U.S. swimmers to collect an individual gold in the past 20 years were Katie Ledecky and Missy Franklin.

Jacoby, who is from Seward, Alaska, moved to Anchorage earlier this year to train. Her community watched live from Seward, jumping and screaming in joy as No. 1 displayed against her name in the pool.

Fun on TV.

... Jacoby is the first Olympic swimmer, and only the 10th Olympian, to be born in Alaska.

Alaska has one 50-meter pool, one.

Flora Duffy wins women's triathlon at Tokyo Games to give Bermuda first gold medal in Olympics history

Flora Duffy won the women's triathlon on Tuesday, becoming the first Bermudian in Olympics history to take home a gold medal.

The 33-year-old Duffy crossed the finish line with a time of 1 hour, 55:36 minutes, more than a minute ahead of second-place finisher Georgia Taylor-Brown of Great Britain. Katie Zaferes of the United States earned bronze.

Duffy's gold marks just the second Olympic medal for Bermuda, an island territory with a population of 64,000. Clarence Hill won a bronze medal in boxing in 1976.

"I think (the medal) is bigger than me. It's going to inspire the youth of Bermuda and everyone back home that competing on the world stage from a small island is really possible," Duffy said....

Duffy has previously said this would be her last Olympic Games.

She's an animal. I'm not sure about this year, but she's often the only rep from Bermuda. At times, she's not just the only athlete, but also her own coach, trainer and bike mechanic.

[Vrede too]

So Biles is running second, Ledeky got beat for gold, basketball team loses. Sure, they're still top of the heap in the world - Biles probably will win, along with Ledeky, but is it possible there was a little too much American hubris hype in all the "can't be beat" articles?

Possible US women's gym and futbol spoilers below - I get confused on the timing - but they should be spoiled rather than watched. Continue reading at your own peril.

Why Katie Ledecky, a fiercely competitive GOAT, was actually satisfied with her first Olympic loss

... A clock was all she saw as she put her head down last month to prove that she still had Rio-esque times in her. In the 400-meter freestyle, she hadn’t cracked 3 minutes and 59 seconds in almost three years. She knew she’d have to, and then some, to beat Titmus. But Titmus was an intangible target. Times were tangible.

Times were what Ledecky chased when she flung herself into a pool here at the Tokyo Aquatics Center on Monday. And her time? Superb. A 3:57.36, her best in five years and second-best ever, a time that would have won every other international women’s 400m free in the history of the sport.

In Tokyo, it wasn’t quite fast enough. Titmus’ greatness, inspired by Ledecky’s, won the day. Ledecky was nonetheless proud. “Proud of how I swam,” she said. “Proud of how I got to that point.” At peace with the work it required....

That's a cool take on it.

Jinx, O Really. Biles punted on the team try, US silver to Russia's gold. We'll see how she does in individual events and the all around, but I wouldn't bet on her.

USWNT sleepwalks into Olympic knockout stage, where its current form won't cut it

Here are two best things that can be said about Tuesday's 0-0 tie between the women's soccer teams of United States and Australia.

1. Due to local COVID restrictions, no actual fans paid money to watch this pillow fight.

2. The game took place in the middle of the night back in the United States, so hopefully most American fans just slept through it.

Since both teams needed just a tie to advance to the knockout stages of the Olympics, they played a cautious, sleepy, mostly useless game.

... The teams combined for just six shots on net.

Other than that, large segments of the game were sloppy, non-competitive or straight-out boring by design. Australia controlled the ball 61 percent of the time, mainly because it just passed it among the defense. Footage of the second half in particular should be burned and buried to spare innocent children from ever witnessing it....

The good news for the U.S., which finished with four points in Group G, is they get to avoid nemesis Sweden, which delivered a shocking 3-0 drubbing last week, until the August 6 final.

Whether the Americans can actually handle the Swedes if they see them again is undetermined. Sweden won all three games in group play and looked like the team to beat here, not the world No. 1 Americans.

It’s a fresh slate now though for the USWNT, which they know well. At the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, they won their group only to get beat 1-0 in the quarterfinals by Sweden. It was the earliest exit from a major international tournament ever for the U.S.

This time they’ll have to do the reverse. The loss to Sweden ended a 44-game unbeaten streak and sent the Americans reeling. They rebounded with a 6-1 victory over a weak New Zealand team, but that proved little.

Australia represented a better test and a fairer fight, but little happened, perhaps by design.

Either way, it’s on now. The Americans are trying to become the first country to follow a world cup title with Olympic gold.

If they are going to do it, they’ll have to play better than they’ve shown. Or in the case of this game, just pretty much just play at all.

Ouch.

[Vrede too]

A new queen of the pool?

Aussie swimmer Ariarne Titmus wins gold in women's 200M freestyle, second victory in Tokyo over Ledecky who comes in 5th (Canada bronze)

[Vrede too]

Katie Ledecky wins gold medal in 1,500 freestyle at Tokyo Olympics, US teammate Erica Sullivan takes silver

America’s Katie Ledecky has done it again. The most versatile swimmer at these Olympic Games won a gold medal in the first-ever women's 1,500-meter freestyle, a little more than an hour after finishing fifth in the 200.

Ledecky finished first in 15:37.34, followed by U.S. teammate Erica Sullivan, 4.07 seconds back....

Ledecky, already the most decorated female swimmer in history, won the silver medal in the 400 freestyle Monday with her second-best time ever, beaten only by the swim of a lifetime by Titmus.

It is the first time women have been allowed to swim the 1,500 at the Olympic Games. Ledecky was the strong favorite for the gold medal in that event.

Katie is from my childhood 'hood (sorta), Bethesda, MD.

[Vrede too]

It may be just my old-guy memories, but it seems like back in the day watching the Olympics was easy and entertaining. NBC or whatever network would have marathon sessions, going some during the day, then starting back from around 8-11 each evening. As I recall, some was live, some re-play, and you didn't get every event, but they covered at least highlights of most of even lesser sports in addition to the more popular ones.

I looked for "how to watch Olympics" and found several articles and schedules with programming in a bunch of different places, NBC, USA, NBCSports, Peacock, yada. But it seems all the choices make it less likely I'll actually get to see what I want. F'rinstance:

"Schedule
Your streaming hub for 5000+ hours of LIVE Olympic coverage!
Browse below to watch what's currently live, or scroll to the bottom for upcoming schedules by TV network and sport."

https://www.nbcolympics.com/schedule

It always seems different to me when the Olympics are in a different hemisphere. Everything is taped delayed and just does not have the same vibe as watching live.

Plus, like everything else we've become desensitized. It's just not really an event anymore now that there's 14,532 other things to stream and or watch.

This touches on the issues you've both raised:

The Tokyo Olympics are turning into NBC's worst nightmare

[Ulysses]

Simone Biles has withdrawn from the competition, citing mental health reasons.

[Vrede too]

I know that you're so butthurt and obsessed that you follow me around in order to post and that you see that as some sort of pathetic victory, but you just look even more stupid and desperate when you just rehash conversations that have already happened.

[Ulysses]

Vrudy Fooliani is a hilarious clown.

And, he keeps on planting his face in shit.

Go figure.

[Vrede too]

viewtopic.php?p=141064#p141064
Deflect, wussy Useless, desperately deflect.

[GoCubsGo]

This is so sad, I do feel for her as we will never know what she is really going through.