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2024 Summer Olympics Thread

Started by bing101, July 28, 2024, 11:11:18 AM

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bing101



jgb191

It was just announced a couple of days before opening ceremony that the Olympics will return to Utah....yes Salt Lake will host the games for its second time in 2034 a decade from now.
We're so far south that we're not even considered "The South"

CNGL-Leudimin

I feel like this thread should have been named "2024 Summer Olympics" instead, thus making one change I said back in the day at Changing one letter of a thread title real.
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Big John

^^I don't see this as necessary as there is no 2024 winter Olympics.

WillWeaverRVA

Quote from: Big John on July 29, 2024, 08:11:14 AM^^I don't see this as necessary as there is no 2024 winter Olympics.

Basically this.
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NWI_Irish96

Fencers from Notre Dame won 3 of the 18 available individual medals--a gold and bronze for the US and a bronze for Hungary.
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Molandfreak

Has anyone else noticed that the John Williams theme hasn't been playing as much this year? I've heard the ending a little bit, but that isn't the part I care about. It's like having a Star Wars movie without the opening notes of the Star Wars theme, the feeling is off.
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Henry

Not surprisingly, the Americans lead in total medals won (94), while China is second with 65 and host country France comes in third with 51.
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triplemultiplex

That semi-final game for the Men's Basketball team was quite entertaining.  Trailing Serbia the whole game until they dug deep in the fourth quarter and came back in the last few minutes.
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english si

Quote from: Henry on August 07, 2024, 09:48:32 PMNot surprisingly, the Americans lead in total medals won (94), while China is second with 65 and host country France comes in third with 51.
Ahem, Team GB has been level with the frogs by total medals pretty much throughout this week. And with the 4x400m relay Bronze, our 60 has overtaken the hosts' 59.

However total medals is a joke as Gold is worth more than Bronze* - I guess the US do that so they can top the table in Beijing (and currently Paris - though the gap is now just 1 - which you could have had had the high jumpers shared the honours rather than keep on jumping off) where China got more golds.

By Golds-first count this current 6th place (14 G + 20 S + 25 B = 59) is the UK's weakest showing for some time: 4th in Tokyo (22+20+22=64), 2nd in Rio (27+23+17=67), 3rd in London (29+18+18=65), 4th in Beijing (19+13+19=51), 10th in Athens (9+9+12=30).

*And I'd love to be 10 medals above the Aussies, rather than 4 golds behind them; 18 above 4th place Japan, rather than 3 behind them; and one above the French rather than one behind them, but fair's fair.

epzik8

US basketball...incredible.
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Rothman

China winning more gold than the U.S. with a couple hundred fewer players is stunning.
Please note: All comments here represent my own personal opinion and do not reflect the official position(s) of NYSDOT.

epzik8

I've never been much of a basketball fan, but I can't deny the US' Olympic basketball prowess with all that gold.
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JayhawkCO

Quote from: Rothman on August 11, 2024, 10:34:13 AMChina winning more gold than the U.S. with a couple hundred fewer players is stunning.

Count again.

Rothman

Quote from: JayhawkCO on August 11, 2024, 02:00:41 PM
Quote from: Rothman on August 11, 2024, 10:34:13 AMChina winning more gold than the U.S. with a couple hundred fewer players is stunning.

Count again.

Heh.  Thought things had wrapped up.  So, China got the same amount of gold with fewer players...
Please note: All comments here represent my own personal opinion and do not reflect the official position(s) of NYSDOT.

Ted$8roadFan

I really enjoyed the Olympics much more this year than in the past. A combination of the venues and the compelling events made them worth watching, although the time difference didn't make it easy.

Rothman

Quote from: Ted$8roadFan on August 11, 2024, 04:32:45 PMI really enjoyed the Olympics much more this year than in the past. A combination of the venues and the compelling events made them worth watching, although the time difference didn't make it easy.

I don't know.  For me, it's comparing someone who didn't really care much at all to someone that glanced at the medal count for a day.  Watched more "I did not qualify for the 2024 Olympics"-ish TikToks than the Olympics themselves, or clips of that Australian break-dancer making a mockery of the entire event, than the events themselves.

So, sure, technically, I cared more.  But I'm still not enthusiastic about the overall event.  The practice of athletes "country hopping" to get into the Olympics rubs me the wrong way and I'm now wondering if letting professional athletes compete was a good decision in the long run -- sort of like how I enjoy college basketball much more than the NBA.

I don't see me running out trying to attend the Olympics any time soon.

But hey, I'm headed to the United States Grand Prix in Austin this year, so...I wear hypocrisy well. :D
Please note: All comments here represent my own personal opinion and do not reflect the official position(s) of NYSDOT.

english si

With the major professional sports that have a lot of money in them, Tennis treats the Olympics as a de facto Major tournament - Murray (someone who I worked out I'd been aware of as a top notch tennis player for more than 25 years after I turned on my telly just in time to see his final point as a pro player) chose to bow out in Paris, not his home patch at Wimbledon. Roger Federer and Serena Williams had as-big a place in the Opening Ceremony (as athletes went) as anyone, despite not being French. The Olympics matter to the sport, and the sport matters to the Olympics, and there's a very healthy relationship there.

Men's football is not a major international tournament (not least due to Olympic rules for team formation - under 23s with some token older players). Woman's football treating the Olympics as a big thing is surely the main reason why it continues as 90 minutes, 11-a-side, rather than some variant (cf Rugby Sevens) which is more suited to the Olympic format (one city, short timeline) but isn't the typical way the game is played.

Basketball depends whether or not Team USA wants to win by making up an NBA All-Star team (even if some of the team are "country hopping") to win - and they do often enough for it to not be just 3x3 or go the way of Baseball or Cricket where it keeps ebbing in and out of being an Olympic Sport despite being very popular with a decent enough number of countries able to field a side which isn't awful.

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Cricket - possibly the most tradition-loving sport in the world - ditched the amateur (basically moneyed people, who often earned more than the pros due to sponsorships) vs pros (people who got paid to play) distinction where amateurs were somehow more worthy than pros in the 60s. Soccer ditched it 150 years ago after working class teams like Blackburn started outplaying the poshos like Old Etonians!

Amateurism was always about keeping the plebs out, rather than anything noble about not getting paid. That's not to say that money isn't a corrupting influence and there is a purer form of the game away from it (not that college sports aren't swimming with money, just because the people earning that money don't receive it!) - the Championship is a more fun watch than the Premier League, etc. There's nothing wrong with pros in the Olympics. Olympic boxing has a strict amateur rule which basically stops people winning again - because they win gold, get offered a match for big bucks, and then lose eligibility. Sure, keep the helmets on and all that, but don't reject the best people simply because they have received money.

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Anyway, roll on the Paralympics (pun somewhat intended) - not least because Team GB will get a lot more gold! I wouldn't be surprised if we (who came second to the US in bronzes) topped the table of fourth places in Paris.

Also good for fans of sports you don't normally see on TV (as the Olympics are, but more so), if you actually get the Paralympics on TV, beyond just a paltry highlights show. We have a network that made a big deal of it in 2012, and carried on.

SEWIGuy

Quote from: Rothman on August 11, 2024, 03:51:47 PM
Quote from: JayhawkCO on August 11, 2024, 02:00:41 PM
Quote from: Rothman on August 11, 2024, 10:34:13 AMChina winning more gold than the U.S. with a couple hundred fewer players is stunning.

Count again.

Heh.  Thought things had wrapped up.  So, China got the same amount of gold with fewer players...


China concentrates its efforts in a smaller number of sports in which they feel they can excel.

Also, they qualified in less team sports than the United States did.

Rothman

Quote from: SEWIGuy on August 11, 2024, 08:14:01 PM
Quote from: Rothman on August 11, 2024, 03:51:47 PM
Quote from: JayhawkCO on August 11, 2024, 02:00:41 PM
Quote from: Rothman on August 11, 2024, 10:34:13 AMChina winning more gold than the U.S. with a couple hundred fewer players is stunning.

Count again.

Heh.  Thought things had wrapped up.  So, China got the same amount of gold with fewer players...


China concentrates its efforts in a smaller number of sports in which they feel they can excel.

Also, they qualified in less team sports than the United States did.

When I lived in Russia, I was struck by their education system and how they split kids into specialties a lot earlier than the U.S. did.  The results I perceived in the population did bring to mind the phrase, "Jack of all trades, master of none" when reflecting on my own experience in the U.S.

China's got a gazillion people over there.  Given their economic progress over the last fifty years, one can only expect that their specializations will grow accordingly.  I mean, U.S. produced about 600 Olympians with about 330m people?  Given China's population, it's only a matter of time until they dominate the Olympics and world sports. :D
Please note: All comments here represent my own personal opinion and do not reflect the official position(s) of NYSDOT.

SEWIGuy

The United States has a GDP per capita that's in the top 10 worldwide.

China's is similar to Argentina's and Malaysia's. They have a lot of people sure, but its really not all that wealthy.

Rothman

Quote from: SEWIGuy on August 11, 2024, 08:45:17 PMThe United States has a GDP per capita that's in the top 10 worldwide.

China's is similar to Argentina's and Malaysia's. They have a lot of people sure, but its really not all that wealthy.

Not sure why Argentina and Malaysia would not be considered wealthy nowadays.  GDP per capita gets tricky that way.  I mean, the U.S.' is a third of Monaco's.  Does that mean that the U.S. is poor?  Where is the line in GDP per capita between rich and poor?  China's right around what the world GDP for capita is...
Please note: All comments here represent my own personal opinion and do not reflect the official position(s) of NYSDOT.

SEWIGuy

Quote from: Rothman on August 11, 2024, 09:18:08 PM
Quote from: SEWIGuy on August 11, 2024, 08:45:17 PMThe United States has a GDP per capita that's in the top 10 worldwide.

China's is similar to Argentina's and Malaysia's. They have a lot of people sure, but its really not all that wealthy.

Not sure why Argentina and Malaysia would not be considered wealthy nowadays.  GDP per capita gets tricky that way.  I mean, the U.S.' is a third of Monaco's.  Does that mean that the U.S. is poor?  Where is the line in GDP per capita between rich and poor?  China's right around what the world GDP for capita is...


You were comparing China and the USA. So was I.

mgk920

My sense of mens' basketball is that many of those opponent players are just happy to be playing a competitive game on the same floor as the USA team.

It is also my sense that if cricket is added that the USA would field a highly competitive team that will likely be on the podium, there are enough immigrants and their descendants from places where the sport is a national passion here in the USA for that to be a 'no brainer'.

IMHO, some events is the Paralympics could make to jump to the regular games, particularly wheelchair divisions in the marathons.  Competing in a wheelchair does not necessarily mean that one is 'disabled' in any way, it is a test of upper body strength and stamina.

I would like to see some 'mind' games (ie, chess, bridge, etc) being added as medal events, too.

Mike

english si

#24
Quote from: mgk920 on August 12, 2024, 12:47:57 PMIt is also my sense that if cricket is added that the USA would field a highly competitive team that will likely be on the podium, there are enough immigrants and their descendants from places where the sport is a national passion here in the USA for that to be a 'no brainer'.
Competitive, certainly - they won't be a token side that's only there as they are hosts. But not so sure about that podium. The US sought to do well in this years Cricket T20 World Cup (same format as will be in the Olympics) that they co-hosted with the Windies - and they did better than expected. They beat as many top sides as semi-finalists England (1 - the US beat Pakistan, England beat the Windies), but they came 8th overall - not least as England destroyed them with a very quick defeat in the Super-8.

They'll do better in the Olympics (bigger crowd effect, all games at home, 4 years more development, no Windies combined team) - but its unlikely they will make the semis. (I don't know about the ladies here)

Yes there's a lot of Indian-Americans, but if they get good at cricket, they'll move to India (where the money is - even vs England or Australia), or they'll be transitioned into some sport with a similar skillset that is more likely to have a program available to them.

There's also the 'oh no, I need to spend less time playing and more time studying' stereotypical pressure. Like, sure, it's a generalisation, but England has a lot of Indian immigrants and their descendants, lots of cricket programs, but doesn't produce many Anglo-Indian/Indo-English cricket players who are pro - because they reduce, rather than the needed increase to turn pro, their participation in cricket when they get to their mid-teens when everything goes up a level and decisions about what path to go start to be made.

QuoteIMHO, some events is the Paralympics could make to jump to the regular games, particularly wheelchair divisions in the marathons.  Competing in a wheelchair does not necessarily mean that one is 'disabled' in any way, it is a test of upper body strength and stamina.
'Para' means alongside, not inferior - it's not a qualitive decision (if wheelchair racing counts, why shouldn't blind football, etc?) - but one of whether the benefits of integration (which The Commonwealth Games does) justifies the costs.

You'd have a lot more athletes to house, feed, provide training facilities for, and for a longer period with everyone (a 3- or 4-week big event, rather than 2x2-week ones). The Olympics struggles enough to get competent hosts for, as it's a costly investment and requires a lot of planning. Making both planning and the financial outlay higher is not a good step.

You'd also have the overshadowing of paralympic achievements by olympic ones taking place at the same time - Paralympians like having their own thing, just as, say, women's sports tends to do so (while, say, The Hundred, Athletics, Swimming, etc do back-to-back stuff with male and female as double headers or integrated meetings, you don't see it most of the time). The Paralympians tend to prefer having a parallel event, rather than being integrated in.

The main reason why the Paralympics is in the same city as the Olympics, a week or two later is that it's the cheapest way to do it - the infrastructure is mostly there, and it's not much additional burden on the city. There's not much money in para-sports. Though perhaps if it was in the Olympics, the USA would try harder (3rd in Tokyo (behind China and GB), 4th in Rio (behind China, GB and Ukraine), 6th in London (behind China, Russia, GB, Ukraine and Australia) - they are nowhere near as dominant as they are in the Olympics) as would others, it would be more visible, and there'd be more money.



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